Chapter 0: 141. Little Dragon Boots
Somewhere in the Secret Realm.
Two serene and elegant beauties, clad in Daoist robes and carrying swords, faced each other. Before they started spewing nonsense and laughing wickedly, it was difficult to tell which one was the true paragon of righteousness, the Evil-Slaying Saintess.
“What’s the use of just imitating my face? My exceptional figure, can that be seen through such loose and conservative Daoist robes?”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t the purpose of a imposter to replace me, infiltrate the group, sow discord, or launch a surprise attack? Unfortunately, there are still too many flaws. Anyone familiar with me can easily tell the difference. And as long as my hands aren’t bound, A’Qin would never mistake me, even with his eyes closed.” Li Yuanzhen chuckled.
“You’re stalling for time! We couldn’t determine a winner in our recent duel, but perhaps your reinforcements are on their way, so you’re babbling here, deliberately delaying me!” The woman in the Daoist robe’s eyes grew cold.
*Snap*
The Little Gambler clapped her hands with a smile, “Are you smart or excessively honest? It’s hard to say. What you just said is equivalent to directly telling me that after being successfully condensed by the Spirit of the Secret Realm, you can’t instantly dissipate and easily return your power to this land. Otherwise, why would you worry about me stalling, and just disappear?”
“But if I go all out, no matter how you obstruct me, you will pay an unimaginable price.” The woman in the Daoist robe unsheathed her sword, her voice sharp.
Li Yuanzhen glanced lightly at her left shoulder. The wound had almost healed, but the pain was still vivid in her memory. She knew the other party was also not doing well.
When the woman in the Daoist robe arrived, she had all the advantages, as if she had me cornered. Moreover, due to her special identity as a creation of the Secret Realm, she had a certain immunity to the Invisible Slash Spirit Tool. However, the dignified chief disciple of the Sword Questioning Sect, who had mastered myriad sword techniques of the world, was still not someone to be easily manipulated.
“Indeed, that’s why I came up with a compromise. Take a look in your right pocket?”
Upon hearing this, the woman in the Daoist robe reached into her pocket and pulled out an exquisite dice. Her eyes grew suspicious.
Li Yuanzhen’s eyes lit up with surprise, “It’s really there? Perhaps when I was bored and playing with it to relieve stress, the Spirit of the Secret Realm saw it and helped you imitate it? If that’s the case, you should have also realized that my greatest interest in life is none other than this! Aren’t you just trying to get me out of the way? Fine, as long as you can win against me in a single game, I’ll stop caring about where you flee next!”
“As soon as your reinforcements pass the ‘barrier,’ I will know immediately, so even if you want to stall…”
“Then hurry, right now!” With that, Li Yuanzhen unhesitatingly threw the dice in her hand directly at the other party, “Same old rules, exchange dice for inspection, lest someone cheats.”
“I hope you won’t do something you’ll regret!” The woman in the Daoist robe snorted.
At the same time, Li Yuanzhen successfully caught the dice thrown by the other party. They both released their hands almost simultaneously. Hearing the crisp sound of the dice hitting the ground, the Little Gambler had only rolled a two. Her luck with gambling had never been very good.
As for the woman in the Daoist robe, the dice from Li Yuanzhen, which had shown no anomalies, inexplicably landed on the lowest possible count of ‘one.’
“This…”
Li Xiaogou smirked repeatedly, “Don’t mind it. Me too. Many times before, I couldn’t see any clues!”
Before she finished speaking, the woman’s true form suddenly appeared, no longer lifelike, but gradually transforming into a dark stone figure. This was because, in that very instant, the seemingly ordinary dice had suddenly transformed into a seed with astonishing speed, unexpectedly piercing the core spirit array within its body, rendering everything useless. And now…
The dice had already transformed into a verdant ‘Bud of Taihuang’ seed clone.
At this moment, Li Yuanzhen approached with her sword. Facing the person who had initially been aggressive and aimed for her head, if not for the inspiration just now, she would undoubtedly have gone through a very brutal battle.
“Didn’t expect this, did you? I now possess A’Qin’s seed! Imposters like you can never imitate this!”
“Se-seed?!”
For a moment, the woman in the Daoist robe, lying on the ground, her stone body continuously shattering, roared in fury, “I have truly never seen a crazy woman like you! Is this some kind of trick to disrupt your opponent’s state of mind?! From the beginning until now, when I am already defeated, you still speak such vulgar nonsense!”
“What did I say? I… I meant a Bud of Taihuang seed, not…”
In an instant, even the dignified Li Xiaogou couldn’t help but blush, and she accelerated the other party’s collapse with a fierce sword strike, as if feeling her status was threatened. “You, how on earth did you manage to think dirtier than I did?!”
…
After everyone worked together to break through the so-called barrier restriction, they successfully rendezvoused with Li Yuanzhen.
The dog-girl, unwilling to make them worry, boasted that she was fine, but Qin Gou noticed that his Bud of Taihuang clone had been activated. Naturally, he knew how dangerous the previous battle had been and realized Li Yuanzhen had indeed been greatly depleted.
At this time, the large amount of precious Top-grade Spirit Stones that Qin Gou had been keeping for the Little Gambler came into play, and he personally helped her recover quickly.
Seeing this scene, the Little Gambler was almost moved to tears. If it weren’t for A’Qin, she probably would never have known that she could be so wealthy! She made up her mind that later, she would hand over all the remaining spirit stones to A’Qin, so he could continue to manage them for her.
Not long after.
Qingyu actively sought out the group’s location. Seeing Li Yuanzhen recovering her spiritual power, she couldn’t help but ask with concern, “What kind of Secret Realm trial did Yuanzhen encounter to expend so much energy?”
“Trial? Didn’t you encounter that strange Secret Realm Clone, Qingyu?” Li Yuanzhen looked at Qingyu, puzzled.
Qingyu shook her head, “No, I rushed here immediately after Chengying informed me of your direction.”
“Then I guess the Spirit of the Secret Realm didn’t choose to condense a clone of you, Qingyu. Or, even if someone who looked like you suddenly appeared, their strength wouldn’t be Exactly the same as yours.”
Hearing this, Qingyu suddenly seemed to ponder, “I wonder how similar the appearance of such a thing can be to the true body? It would be best if it could perfectly imitate even my true form.”
“Qingyu, you’re not thinking of…?” Li Yuanzhen’s eyes lit up, and she understood tacitly. The Little White Dragon had already covered her ears with extreme skill, repeatedly murmuring, ‘I didn’t hear anything, Banwei didn’t hear anything.’
“Doesn’t Yuanzhen always envy my ‘Little Dragon Boots’ from before?”
Qingyu looked down at her snow-white boot tips, then looked at the Little Gambler and smiled gently, saying heartily, “When the time comes, whoever sees it gets a share!”
