On Saturday morning, Xu Yuebing received a call from Sunx Yanhong and Yaoo Siyu early in the day.
"The weather is so nice, let's go shopping."
"No, I have something to do later."
Xu Yuebing did the Pile Skill for the first time yesterday, and she's still sore in her waist and legs, but the effects are indeed good. Under Ye Qingzhou's careful guidance, she clearly felt her progress.
Although her physical strength hasn't fundamentally improved, her control over her power has increased significantly. So, Xu Yuebing decided to strike while the iron is hot, and soon she will continue with special training at Ye Qingzhou's place to enhance the effects of her exercise.
On the other end of the line, Sunx Yanhong said bluntly, "Going to hang out with Ye Qingzhou again? Didn't he tire you out enough after school yesterday?"
"Wait, how do you know I was with him yesterday..."
"Hehe, of course it's because... um um um..."
Yaoo Siyu quickly grabbed Sunx Yanhong's phone, covered her mouth to prevent her from revealing anything: "It's nothing, we won't interrupt your two-person world with Ye Qingzhou!"
With that, she hung up the phone immediately.
Xu Yuebing was full of questions, and just as she was feeling puzzled, her phone rang again, but this time it was her sister Xu Yunxi calling.
"Sis!"
"My dear Little Bing, have you missed your sister?"
"Sis, I've grown up already, can't you stop talking like you're coaxing a child?"
"I still like your cute and clingy self from childhood, how about you revert a bit?"
"Sis!"
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore."
Xu Yunxi smiled warmly. The two sisters have been close since childhood, but since Xu Yunxi became a professional Martial Artist, she's been busy daily with exploration tasks in the Secret Realms, leading to them rarely being together. Xu Yunxi always can't help but reminisce about those carefree times of childhood.
"Sis, didn't you say you're coming home today?"
Holding the phone, Xu Yuebing's bright eyes twinkled, revealing her vague anticipation.
Sadly, things didn't go as expected. Xu Yunxi sighed, "I'm sorry, the Martial Arts Association detected some anomalies within Lingyun Grotto Heaven. We're short-handed, so I have to pause my vacation and join the team to see what's going on."
"Well... alright..."
Xu Yuebing was a bit downcast but knew that the right things had to be prioritized.
The Lingyun Grotto Heaven is located within the jurisdiction of Linjiang City. If a powerful beast were to escape from the Secret Realm, it would be an extremely terrifying disaster for a city with a permanent population of 5.5 million.
The tragedy that occurred in Wudu of Dian County Royal City 150 years ago still haunts human society to this day.
Seemingly wanting to avoid her sister confronting such heavy topics too early, Xu Yunxi changed the subject and jokingly asked, "Little Bing, have you fallen in love at school?"
"No!"
"Then, is there any boy you like?"
"Also no!"
"There are so many brilliant talents in First High School, is there no boy that catches your eye?"
"Humph, compared to you, Sis, they fall far short. They're either all childish to the extreme or greedy for money beyond reason."
Xu Yuebing's standards are quite high, not because she's too picky, but because from a young age, Xu Yunxi has always been too outstanding, raising her expectations.
At merely ten years old, Xu Yunxi was found to have an extraordinary Martial Dao aptitude, nurturing a strand of Innate Geng Metal Sword Qi within, mastering Swordsmanship at a rapid pace, hence receiving tremendous support from her family.
At sixteen, Xu Yunxi led a team to victory in the Cyan Wave Sword Fighting Competition on her first attempt, acing it, and during her sophomore year in college, she successfully passed her professional assessments, earning the Martial Artist's license.
She later achieved a top-eight finish in the national professional Swordsmanship tournament, being the only female Martial Artist among the top eight. Her Swordsmanship was so brilliant that even the current Celestial Sword Sikong Jingming highly praised her, believing that if not for her young age and insufficient foundation, she would have a chance at competing for the championship in the professional Swordsmanship tournament given a few more years of growth.
Having such an overly excellent elder sister, from the time she became sensible, Xu Yuebing was often compared to Xu Yunxi by her family.
Although she deeply admires and relies on her sister, Xu Yuebing doesn't want to merely be a shadow of Xu Yunxi.
That's why she studies hard, trains diligently, and fights with all her might to become excellent herself, hoping that one day she will stand shoulder to shoulder with her genius sister.
The sisters chatted for quite a while before Xu Yuebing reluctantly hung up, her heart aflame as she held onto the slightly warm phone: "I really want to fight side by side with my sister in the Secret Realm! To achieve this goal, I need to become even stronger!"
......
Jiangshan Imperial View, Villa No. 168.
Ding-dong~
The doorbell rang; it was from the property management.
"Hello, is this Mr. Ye Qingzhou?"
"Yes, it's me."
"You have a visitor."
Soon, Ye Qingzhou saw through the intercom monitor the perfectly exquisite face of Xu Yuebing sitting in the back seat of a luxury car: "She's my classmate, let her in."
After confirming the identity, the security guard naturally let her in, unable to resist taking another glance at Xu Yuebing seated in the car. Mainly, the young girl in front of him was just too exquisite and beautiful, like a fairy descending to earth.
Xu Yuebing got out in front of the villa, turned to the driver, and said, "Uncle Yuan, you can go back first. Come pick me up later."
"Understood, Second Miss."
Uncle Yuan's gaze lingered slightly on Ye Qingzhou's house number before driving away.
After entering the house, Xu Yuebing saw Ye Qingzhou wearing only shorts and bare-chested. She immediately exclaimed and covered her eyes: "Ye Qingzhou! Why aren't you wearing clothes?"
Ye Qingzhou wiped the sweat off his body with the towel draped over his shoulder, "I just finished practicing swordsmanship. I was about to shower when you came over..."
"You, hurry up and put some clothes on!"
"Women are really troublesome."
Ye Qingzhou murmured, but he still put on his clothes, considering he had to respect his benefactor.
In the yard, Ye Qingzhou began teaching Xu Yuebing the Pile Skill.
On Blue Star, Martial Arts are different from those on Earth. Due to the existence of Primordial Qi, Martial Artists on Blue Star focus more on enhancing the upper limits of Cultivation, using Primordial Qi to continuously strengthen their physique.
In contrast, they don't emphasize the fine control over power, so they haven't developed a complete system for Pile Skill.
This is understandable since Earth's Martial Artists are limited by their power ceiling, so they can only refine their skills, constantly enhancing control and explosiveness. They can't develop like their counterparts on Blue Star who take the 'strength creates miracles' approach.
However, fine control over power is still very useful. Once someone reaches the Dragon Subduing and Tiger Suppressing state, they can perfectly control every ounce of their power, becoming invincible at the same level and even defeating stronger opponents.
In terms of Cultivation Foundation, Xu Yuebing's physique is much stronger than Ye Qingzhou's, yet she gets defeated every time with no chance to fight back.
It's because Ye Qingzhou's power is concentrated, while Xu Yuebing's power remains scattered, leading to her being defeated piece by piece with each skirmish.
Pa~
"Ah~"
Xu Yuebing's tender bottom received a smack, causing her to cry out from the soreness and numbness. She then glared at Ye Qingzhou with her almond eyes full of grievances: "Why did you hit me!"
At this moment, Ye Qingzhou somehow had a bamboo branch in his hand, using it like a pointer. Whenever Xu Yuebing's posture wasn't correct or she exerted force improperly, he would strike without hesitation: "If you do something wrong, naturally your bottom gets hit. Otherwise, where should I hit?"
Xu Yuebing suspected that Ye Qingzhou was doing it on purpose, angrily thinking, "This guy definitely has some strange fetish! Just wait, someday when I learn your skills, when the student surpasses the master, I'll definitely repay him in kind and hit his bottom with a bamboo branch!"
Pa~
Due to a lapse in concentration, Xu Yuebing received another smack, tearing up from the stinging pain.