Within a fraction of a second, they recognized who the young woman, who appeared out of nowhere, was.
Although they could sense that something had changed about her, there was no doubt as to her identity.
She was the one and only! Miss Gu! The bastion of hope for the ancient martial arts world!
They thought both Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan had already fallen on the battlefield. But she was here alright! Gu Xiqiao! She’s back!
“Miss Gu!” The first person to call out to her was the great elder who was walking behind Jiang Han. His eyes were open so wide that they almost popped out of their sockets. He could not believe Gu Xiqiao had truly come back. Raising his hand, he rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren’t fooling him. Underneath the sunlight, a being as radiant as a shining crystal appeared before him.
Gu Xiqiao had really come back. He called out her name softly with a trembling voice.
“Qiao Qiao…” Shu Chen approached her. With shaky hands, she grabbed Gu Xiqiao’s hands and caressed her face. She was relieved upon realizing that what she was feeling was warm and alive…
Shu Chen could not hold back her tears, which flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks. As her mother-in-law, this was the first time Shu Chen broke down into tears before Gu Xiqiao.
It was as if her soul had withered away after she was informed by the Elders’ Pavilion about Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan’s deaths. In the blink of an eye, not only had she lost her own son, but her beloved daughter-in-law as well. This was the ultimate blow against her morale. Still, it was not the time to wallow in anguish. With an iron-will, she continued assisting the ancient martial arts world by maintaining peace and stability. After all, this was the best way she could make sure that their deaths would not have been in vain!
However, the amount of stress she was facing was overwhelming. Seeing Gu Xiqiao return was the final spark that lit up the bonfire of emotions, which was channeled out of her body through her tear ducts. Gradually, she felt a heavy weight fall off her shoulders.
She knew that Gu Xiqiao’s return meant that the problem they were facing was no longer a problem!
“Mom, I’m sorry for making you worry,” Gu Xiqiao hugged Shu Chen and apologized. “It’s alright, Brother Jiang’s safe and sound. He’ll be back in no time.”
“As long as you two can return, all is well…” Shu Chen knew that Gu Xiqiao’s sudden return meant that there must be quite a lot of things to do. Not wishing to hold her back, Shu Chen returned to Jiang Han’s side.
Gu Xiqiao looked over at Tengen. “Thank goodness we have you around, Tengen.”
Tengen was visibly excited when he received that compliment from Gu Xiqiao. “Master, you’ve come back!”
“That’s right,” answered Gu Xiqiao with a light smile. Although her smile was subtle, it was enough to calm down the chaotic atmosphere that was plaguing this place.
“Let’s not delay things now,” said the Great Elder. “Miss Gu, the morale of the ancient martial arts world is at an all-time low. Do hurry up and tell them about your return! They’ll be overjoyed!”
“Alright,” replied Gu Xiqiao while nodding. She then looked up at the sky.
This time, she did not float up into the air as she did previously.
Instead, what they saw was the clouds parting way, revealing a colossal silhouette of a person up in the sky. Slowly, the silhouette solidified into an actual physical entity.
Any oddities happening within the ancient martial arts world could be detected instantly by its inhabitants. All of a sudden, they felt a sudden drop in air pressure that came from the heavens. It was so overwhelming and came so suddenly that they struggled to breathe. In horror, they stared up at the sky.
“What’s that? What on earth is happening! Hurry up and contact Peace Manor!” yelled a young person who had just emerged from the trial tower.
An old man, who was standing on the side of the road wore a petrified expression as dark clouds descended upon him. “A monster must be coming for us! Run! Everyone! Run while we can…before we’re doomed!”
“Stay calm! We must have faith in Peace Manor! We must have faith in Miss Gu and Young Master Jiang!”
“She’s dead! They’re both dead! The ancient martial arts world is done for!”
“I believe in Miss Gu! She must still be with us!” responded a little girl, who appeared to only be seven or eight years old. She was still loyally holding onto an autographed photo of Gu Xiqiao.
“Monster! Run everybody!”
***
News of Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan’s death had already spread like wildfire across the ancient martial arts world. These two individuals were the heart of their defensive structure. Now that their main force was down, how could these people ever feel secure and protected?
The clouds were getting more and more packed together and at this point, it had become quite clear what it was morphing into.
“Mom, look. That’s Miss Gu,” said the little girl as she tugged on the sleeve of her mother’s clothes.
“Oh stop it with the nonsense, Miss Gu is already… she’s already…” Her mother stopped halfway through her sentence. She stared at the sky, dumbfounded by what she saw.
High up in the sky, the silhouette had taken up a physical form. That being was wearing red clothes which contrasted well with her waist-length ink dark hair. Her beautifully arched brows, and that slender contour of her face. Everyone knew instantly who that person was! It was Gu Xiqiao’s face they were looking at!
“Miss Gu…” At that moment, the chaotic footsteps around the ancient martial arts world stopped. Everyone stared up at Gu Xiqiao with their breaths held.
“You all disappoint me,” said Gu Xiqiao with a smile. Although her voice was soft, it made their hearts quiver in fear. “The ancient martial arts world belongs to all of us. I have trained you all for so long, and together with the Peacekeepers as well. And why do you think I did that? Of course, it was so that you all can protect your homeland and your family during times of crisis. But… to think I would be greeted by such a scene the moment I return. Where is your vigor?! Where is your will to fight?! Where is the courage that seemed limitless in the past?! I’ll let you see what the Peacekeepers and the teams from the ancient martial arts world are up to right now!”
With a wave of her hand, an image suddenly appeared in the sky. It showed the scene of the Peacekeepers fighting against a horde of mutant beasts. Yao Jiamu appeared in front of them and it was quite clear that he had sustained a number of injuries on his body. The same held true for the rest of the Peacekeepers. Still, there were countless mutants before them. The Peacekeepers showed no signs that they were going to retreat despite their wounds. Valiantly, they fought on, with the hope that the battle would end in their favor.
The young ones from the ancient martial arts world who had trained under Gu Xiqiao too, continued massacring their enemies. Like the Peacekeepers, they didn’t seem like they were going to give up just yet.
“The Peacekeepers are putting their lives on the line and for what?! Are they not doing this for the ancient martial arts world?! I should remind all of you that they are merely regular humans, who in theory, shouldn’t be meddling with your affairs! However! For the sake of the ancient martial arts world, they are walking on the razor’s edge! And you people are still thinking about retreat. I know that some of you have even packed up your items, about to leave this place for good!” Gu Xiqiao’s tone started to sound a little harsh. “Great Elder, Second Elder, Mister Luo, and even Mister Zhuge… they have all been fighting to ensure the ancient martial arts world’s survival. And you people… really disappoint me.”
Each word from Gu Xiqiao forced the people of the ancient martial arts world to lower their heads in shame.
“I will not remain here forever. If you continue on like this, then I see no point in staying here any longer. What you all need desperately is growth, without which your eventual decay is inevitable.” Gu Xiqiao ended the projection after saying that.
The bright red figure disappeared from their view.
This time, Gu Xiqiao did nothing to drum up their morale. She was let down by the ancient martial arts world. Or perhaps it was her old memories that had compelled her to say such things to them.
Hearing her words made the people of the ancient martial arts world panic.
“I’m sorry Miss Gu!”
“We have wronged you, Miss Gu!”
“Miss Gu, I will prove to you that I really have become stronger!”
“I won’t let you down this time…”
“…”
And yet, Gu Xiqiao chose to ignore them. She looked over at Luo Wenlang and sighed. “I appreciate your hard work this time around.”
It was highly likely that Luo Wenlang felt a bit disgruntled to be forced to do something for the ancient martial arts world despite being a regular human.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” responded Luo Wenlang with a smile. “But still, Miss Gu, you have to come back to Nine Heavens for a visit.”
“Nine Heavens?” Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes when she heard that came out of nowhere.
The incident here at the martial arts world shouldn’t have spread to the secular world so quickly, right?
“Yeah, Chu Enterprise has just rolled out a batch of talents. They’re now in negotiations with Yu Ning. They say they want to conduct tests on Star Net,” Luo Wenlang’s brilliant mind had already worked out what Chu Enterprise had up their sleeves a long time ago. “Nine Heavens’ network creation department was too attractive for them to allow it to slip away. The Virtual Network itself is already a game-changing creation but with the addition of Yu Ning’s Star Net, control of the world wide web now rests in our hands. This is why Chu Enterprise is so dead set on acquiring Star Net. Their intention can be seen in their move to purchase Yang An’s software. But, I still think they’re after Nine Heavens’ technology in the grander scheme of things. With you here though, they are fairly reluctant to make the first move…”
With news of Gu Xiqiao’s death spreading around, the time has finally come for them to reveal their fangs!
Who wouldn’t want a piece of Nine Heavens’ technology?
“Understood,” replied Gu Xiqiao, who more or less understood what was going on after hearing the brief report from Luo Wenlang. Squeezing her own fingers, she continued. “Luo Wenlang, you go ahead and inform the Peacekeepers about this. I will head over to Nine Heavens myself.”
She disappeared into thin air right after saying that.
***
At Nine Heavens’ Headquarters.
The representative of Chu Enterprise glared at Yu Ning arrogantly. “How about it Yu Ning? Will you kneel to us?”
“Never!” Before Yu Ning could reply, Mu Zong, who was standing next to him, grabbed him and responded to that man with a look of contempt.
After receiving Star Net, these bastards still have the audacity to demand for Yu Ning to kneel before them? How outrageous!
Yu Ning slowly raised his head. His fists were so tight that his knuckles turned white. It was pretty evident from his eyes as to how conflicted he felt at the moment.
Seeing him like this made the representative of Chu Enterprise laugh mockingly. “I heard that apart from your employees, outsiders and their children are allowed to stay in your company-owned dormitory? Would be a shame if a fire was to raze it all to the ground. I wonder how the public would react to such news?”
“Don’t you fear Miss Gu’s retribution?” asked Mu Zong as he eyed Yu Ning.
The representative froze up when he heard Mu Zong mention Gu Xiqiao, but he was able to regain his composure fairly quickly. “Miss Gu? Do you mean Gu Xiqiao? You think I’m afraid of her? If anything, tell her to come see me! Cut the crap, please. It only takes one phone call and that building gets reduced to ashes.”
The representative whipped out his phone right after issuing his threat.
“A new phone, from a specific fruit-branded company. With an eight-core S8 processor, pretty impressive…” Without warning, someone grabbed the phone out of his hand and started speaking to herself. Her voice was crisp and clear as she listed out the phone’s features in detail.
How dare this person take his belonging without his permission! Was she suicidal?
The representative of Chu Enterprise turned around, only to be greeted by the face of a young woman.
An ominous ambiance suddenly engulfed the meeting room. With a sweet innocent smile still on her face, she threw the phone on the ground. Then, narrowing her eyes at the representative, she said, “I heard you. I heard you say that you wanted to meet me. That, and you threatening to burn down our employees’ dormitory… Oh, right.” Gu Xiqiao turned towards Yu Ning. “And you wanted to make him kneel before you?”
