*Beep Beep Beeep!!!*
“Winner, Yang Ling!” The Orc Referee announced the conclusion of the match between her and a random cultivator. Her first win might have been a fluke to others spectating her, but it no longer seemed to be the case when she also won the following one in under 30 seconds.
“You might actually be a natural at this.” Jin laughed bitterly at Yang Ling, who was pleased with the results. Unlike the vast majority of his current customers, Yang Ling had magical grades at advanced levels (which she was trying to keep a secret from Jin, but it was impossible under the all seeing System) as well as the previous cultivation that her father had taught her.
With Jin’s modified gearbox equipped, she was able to stabilise herself in a modified cultivation stance for the past month since Yang Ling last saw him. Thus, it allowed her to start cultivating her Royal Zodiac Tiger Style once again. It might not look much to other people, but to her, it meant everything as it allowed her to start to regain her former life once more.
Not just her, even the Tiger Clan doctors regarded this miraculous recovery progress as a fantastic sign. Though she only recovered to the level of Grade Two of her Royal Zodiac Tiger Style, there were signs that her chi circuits along with her active mana circuits were used in conjunction to bypass the damaged nerves in the cauda equina region.
The doctors also said that she was the few uncommon cultivators able to utilise both mana and chi circuits due to her special circumstances. (since most cultivators could only use either one circuit.) They advise her that if done right, she might potentially be the powerhouse that the Royal Zodiac Tiger family had been looking for.
Yang Ling took the information with a pinch of salt, especially when the very same doctors were previously filled with disdain after they knew that she was incapable of cultivation many years back. “That injury was a blessing in disguise, my ass…” She said to herself as she smiled back at them for providing such an optimistic diagnosis.
However, the information from the doctors also meant that slowly, but surely, she was able to walk small steps without the aid of Jin’s modified gearbox. Yet, as per Yang Ling’s request, the Tiger Clan doctors did not reveal such optimistic information to her father, Hu Yuan Ba. It might be the secret trump card that she could keep in case people like the Banned Emperor Assassins were to target her or her family again.
This particular spinning top game, on the other hand, seemed to be an excellent opportunity to allow her to use both chi and mana circuits at once, practising and compensating each of the circuits in her body to regulate her power. As magic had no animal or monster forms, she could use the excuse of portraying her tiger silhouette via her psychic abilities, but in actual fact, it was a disguise for utilising her tiger cultivation.
Even though the majority of the crowd did not realise her true identity since the Tiger Princess rarely made her appearance as compared to her older brothers, she still had to be cautious in utilising her chi cultivation. The Royal Zodiac bloodlines made her particularly unique, enabling those who were sensitive to chi able to seek them out easily.
Thankfully, Yang Ling’s high grade magical powers still overshadowed the chi energy that was given out and everyone in the vicinity believed she was a magical user that appeared to be close to Boss Jin since he was there to accompany her.
The match highlights immediately displayed her fights against the other two players that had been defeated and the Orc Announcer had wonderfully showcased her fight to the rest along with the King of the Hill event that was ongoing.
Xiong Da had also mercilessly crushed one opponent, but he took his sweet time since he was utilising a defensive route with his spinning top to provide Yang Ling with the opportunity to challenge him. By the time he initiated the fight against his second challenger, Yang Ling was already midway fighting against her third one.
But unlike Se Lang or Xiong Da, Yang Ling’s spinning top fights were just plain…normal for some reason. Even though she could have portrayed the tiger silhouette with some of her magical powers, she decided to keep it hidden from the others for now.
From the spectator’s point of view, her control of the spinning top was top notched and based on the commentary by the Orc announcers during the highlights, they had acknowledged that her magical powers gave her the leverage to control her spinning top to the strictest level. They believed that the finesse of her spinning top in addition to the accelerated charger she received in the lottery was the key to winning the last two matches.
True enough, her top spun rapidly in slightly lowered angle, allowing it to hit the enemy’s base of the top, causing it to topple almost immediately even with the opposing cultivator’s continuous infusion of chi into the top.
“Winner, Yang Ling! You are now qualified to challenge the King of the Hill event!” the Orc Referee overseeing the third match said to her.
“Look at the Spinning Points you’ve received. You should use some time to buy a few parts to modify it before the Xiong Da challenges the next cultivator.” Jin advised Yang Ling as he wanted her to win very badly. He had no intention to participate in the Escape City Dungeon instance because he knew exactly where the routes to take were to reach the end goal.
That was one of the reasons why he did not wish to participate since he was not willing to reveal the secrets to the masses. If he won the Escape City Dungeon Instance, it could be considered cheating.
But if he purposely lost the dungeon instance, his dungeon supplier competitors such as the Ruby Rat owned King’s Monster would surely start to spread rumours criticising how weak the dungeon supplier had become, making others lose faith in his dungeon designs. They would comment on how Jin was too greedy in creating a dungeon that could not be beaten, and it was one of the ways to trick the cultivator’s money.
On the other hand, if he won, spies like the Ruby Rat Triad members would be able to gauge and determined his strength from the dungeon run. Although it was not indicative of his true strength since it did not include the System, the lesser information they had about him, the better for Jin. In the modern day, succeeding on espionage runs meant that half of the battle had already been won.
Alternatively, he could have a close door dungeon run with Yang Ling and Xiong Da, but they had already announced it in front of the public without thinking of the consequences for him. (Perhaps they did not care to think at the heighten limits of their adrenaline.) That was why Jin was going to aid Yang Ling as partial as he could.
“But the queue at the store will be very long. I don’t think I even have the time to shop properly or make payment at the cashier.” Yang Ling rolled her eyes as she joined the queue for the King of the Hill event.
“There is a list of nicely catalogued items in the Pandamonium App which you can check it out. If you wish to buy anything, I can get it for you instantly.” Jin offered to aid Yang Ling with the navigation to the online store in Pandamonium App.
In the meantime, he was thinking if he should add voice activated commands to make searching of options even easier since the app was getting more and more extensive with every update. “With a price on top of it, so there will be no favouritism involved,” Jin said, hoping to entice Yang Ling.
“What are you talking about, you helping me to get the items, is already considered favouritism. So, no. I do not need your help, but I honestly appreciate the gesture.” Yang Ling said as she went close to Jin’s face and playfully pressed on his nose. The rest of the cultivators saw the public affection from Yang Ling to Boss Jin and begun to have speculations about their relationship with each other.
“Stop… stop it. The rest seem to be watching.” Jin frantically mumbled when he saw the other cultivators looking at him with an oddly approving look.
“Looks like they acknowledged our presence.” Yang Ling said to him with a gentle smile. She initially wanted to take the opportunity to wrap her hand over Jin’s shoulders, but in the end, she stopped her teasing after her comment.
Despite her desperate urges, Yang Ling remembered that they were not as close as they should be. She should be lucky that Jin was not too adverse with her sudden advances.
She also did not understand why she became so daring as if something…Some kind of desire was brought forth within her and had overcome Yang Ling to made her perform things that were out of the norm. Yang Ling got control on herself eventually and did not dare to do anything further so as she knew the misunderstandings in body language might pose a problem to him and her down in the future.
If Jin had not been a target of the Banned Emperor’s subjects for the botched assassination, this particular gesture that Yang Ling had made publicly may have repercussions for Jin. She could only hope that no such people were monitoring at them for the moment. Lynn’s kidnapping was a perfect example that had occurred to Jin, and Yang Ling inherently believed that she must train harder before she could even be near Jin.
“As you wish, my princess,” Jin said when Yang Ling’s expression turned for the worse after she commented on them. He did not know what was going through in her mind, but it seems to Jin that Yang Ling did not want his help any further. “Perhaps she wanted to prove herself?”
“But at the very least, take this or else you might not be even able to scratch Xiong Da’s spinning top based on the specs of your spinning top.” Jin said as he grabbed Yang Ling’s hand and placed a weighted disc on her hand.
“It will give you a slight edge in the battle. I assure you can find the same weighted disc at the store too.” Jin said and Yang Ling hesitantly accepted his gift. The part that was given to Yang Ling was of a higher grade that could be paid with the current Spinning points she received winning the first three matches.
Despite her initial stance, Yang Ling felt a slight comfort that Jin was persistent to aid her. She too had some lingering doubts that she could win Xiong Da although the tiger princess was too proud to show it out. Besides, it’s been a long time since Yang Ling relished for a challenge, so it’s a win win situation for her. (even though it’s a lose lose scenario for Jin.)
However what Yang Ling did not know was that even though the weighted disc had the same exact attributes as stated by Jin in the Pandamonium Online Store, it had functions hidden from the main analysis page on her Pandamonum App. The System also knew the risk that Jin was exposed to, and decided to aid him once for free.
The weighted disc was imbued with an auto rotating inscription charm as well as an invisible charm to make sure the inscription activations could not be seen with the naked eye or be felt by chi or magic unless deliberately searched. It was also a one time use inscription that would be activated by the System automatically. That means after this particular battle with Xiong Da, those two inscriptions would disappear.
With the System as the grand overseer of the entire King of the Hill event, it would not allow Jin to be under unnecessary exposure to the public too, so the Orc Referees were given the signal to cheat the checking of the Yang Ling’s item. It was slightly despicable but an essential move.
The one time use of those inscriptions also meant that no trace of evidence could be found if Xiong Da would to query. Besides that, the System had prepared to coordinate video filming of the magic eye to look the other way so as to prevent any possible evidence from leaking.
It did an extensive search around the compound to ensure that no search magic was being cast by any cultivators at the same time. Everything had already been preplanned by the System to ensure that the cheat would move as according to plan.
Jin might want to be an honest businessman when he first started out, but businesses around him will never be legitimate. Sometimes, cunning schemes and shrewd thinking were the only ways to ensure he remained honest for most of the time.
