Just look at what Ye Ling did to Leng Qingqiu.
Not only did he beat her until she was bruised and swollen, showing no mercy at all, he even deliberately suppressed his cultivation to deceive her. At least, that's how it looked from her perspective.
Taken together, Ye Ling's offenses were enough to be described as beyond recording.
If Leng Qingqiu's group of sycophants ever found out—
Then Ye Ling would just knock them out one by one with a single punch each.
There was nothing to be done. Leng Qingqiu's realm was still too low, and the level of cultivators she had contact with was limited. Compared to a cheat-like existence such as Ye Ling, the outcome was bound to be this brutal.
The two of them simply weren't on the same level.
"Hmph. If your skills aren't as good, you admit defeat. I'm not so petty as to get angry over something like that."
She refused to lose face, stubbornly denying it, though the resentment in her tone was impossible to miss.
[Leng Qingqiu's resentment toward Host +233]
"If you're angry, then you're angry. Just say it out loud," Ye Ling said casually.
He didn't pay any attention to Leng Qingqiu's words not matching her feelings. Some things made sense rationally, but emotions were another matter entirely.
Besides, he truly didn't care. Compared to letting Leng Qingqiu gain a bit of verbal advantage, Emotion Points were far more valuable.
Not to mention that Leng Qingqiu couldn't gain even the slightest advantage over him anyway—
"If I say it, will you let me beat you up?"
A glint of eager anticipation flickered in Leng Qingqiu's emerald-green eyes.
"Of course not."
Ye Ling shook his head decisively.
He could understand how she felt, but he wasn't generous enough to let her have a free beating.
And as Leng Qingqiu herself had said, if your skills aren't good enough, you accept the loss.
A fair duel didn't distinguish between men and women.
There was no reason for him to go easy on Leng Qingqiu during a fight.
Even if grabbing her chest on the arena was wrong, it didn't change the outcome of the duel.
So the compensation Leng Qingqiu wanted was something he naturally wouldn't accept.
"Hmph. Boring."
Leng Qingqiu rolled her eyes at Ye Ling. She knew perfectly well that he'd never agree to such an outrageous request. She'd only said it on impulse.
That said, once she'd voiced what was on her mind, she felt much better.
Even though she didn't actually get to beat Ye Ling to vent her anger, just saying it out loud already made her feel a lot more at ease.
"You really want to beat me up that badly?" Ye Ling asked, looking at her with amusement.
This girl wasn't very strong, but she had plenty of nerve. She clearly knew the gap between them, yet she still dared to bare her teeth at him.
Still, it wasn't exactly annoying.
If Leng Qingqiu had been completely beaten into submission, turning timid and obedient, that would've been far more boring.
He didn't need to be friendly, but he also didn't want people to fear him everywhere he went.
Leng Qingqiu's current state was just right. At least it kept him from getting bored.
"What do you think?"
Leng Qingqiu shot him a resentful look and said through gritted teeth, "But don't get too full of yourself. Once I cultivate properly, I'll challenge you again. You'd better be ready."
"Once you cultivate properly?"
Ye Ling wasn't stupid. The look he gave Leng Qingqiu turned playful.
He understood immediately. Leng Qingqiu hadn't believed a single word Bai Yiyi had said.
Poor Bai Yiyi.
But that was only natural. If someone came up to him and claimed they could train Qi in one day and reach Foundation Establishment in five, he'd think they were a scammer too.
It was only because he himself had created that miracle, and understood the principles behind it, that he could accept it. Otherwise, his reaction wouldn't have been any better than Leng Qingqiu's.
It was like an elementary school student learning to write lab notes one day, then researching anti-cancer drugs a few days later. No one would believe that.
"Alright. I'll wait for you."
Ye Ling still had enough emotional intelligence not to press the issue further.
Mostly because he was afraid that pushing her again might actually break her.
To be honest, after spending this bit of time together, he realized that although Leng Qingqiu looked rather irritating, she was surprisingly easy to tease.
"I don't need you waiting on me!"
Sure enough, Leng Qingqiu reacted exactly as Ye Ling expected, instantly bristling.
[Leng Qingqiu's resentment toward host +111]
Unfortunately, compared to Bai Yiyi and Ai Yueli, Leng Qingqiu's Emotion Points were nothing special. Ye Ling could drain her dry with little effort, which left him feeling somewhat regretful.
From what he had observed, Emotion Points seemed to be linked to strength. The stronger someone was, the more Emotion Points they could provide.
People like Bai Yiyi and Ai Yueli capped out at around 5,000, while Leng Qingqiu barely reached 2,000. The gap was obvious.
That said, Ye Ling knew his sample size was still too small. He would need far more testing before he could truly understand how it all worked.
One thing worth mentioning was that, likely because Leng Qingqiu was connected to his identity as an examiner, the Emotion Points he gained from her could also be counted toward his System tasks.
"Alright then. As long as you're happy."
Ye Ling gave Leng Qingqiu a gentle smile, immediately earning another small batch of Emotion Points.
"By the way, how long is this state supposed to last?"
He glanced at the sky. He had stepped onto the teleportation array sometime in the afternoon, and now sunset was close. Only the last trace of the setting sun remained, dyeing the clouds along the horizon red.
"I don't know."
Realizing she had overreacted, Leng Qingqiu stood up and walked toward the courtyard gate, speaking as she went. "I'll go ask."
"Stubborn, more than I expected."
Watching her put on a calm front as she left, Ye Ling chuckled softly.
In his eyes, Leng Qingqiu was probably a young lady born into a powerful clan. With her talent and her family backing her, she had run off on her own, hoping to accomplish something big and prove herself as an independent woman of the new cultivation era.
Girls like that often failed to realize that simply being born into a great family already gave them talent and resources capable of pushing them to heights others could never reach in an entire lifetime.
Of course, Ye Ling didn't dislike people like her. In fact, if that kind of luck had fallen into his lap, he might not have done any better than Leng Qingqiu.
If you could lie flat and coast through life, why bother going out and struggling?
So the fact that Leng Qingqiu was willing to leave home and strike out on her own was still worthy of encouragement.
That said, her pampered young-miss temper and her habit of looking down on others were genuinely irritating.
Ye Ling could understand her way of thinking, but that didn't mean he was going to indulge her.
Like when she looked down on Bai Yiyi. Ye Ling had personally beaten her up to vent Bai Yiyi's anger. Or rather, his own.
Even after knowing she was a woman, his fist hadn't hesitated in the slightest.
A young miss that pretty should cry for a long time after taking a punch, right?
Of course, judging from the outcome, Leng Qingqiu had been reduced to tears by Bai Yiyi. Saying she was scared into crying wouldn't be wrong either.
All in all, in Ye Ling's eyes, she was a not-too-bright, show-offy young miss.
Oh, and one more thing.
She also loved worrying about the fate of the nation and its people, but her thinking was shallow and lacked any real depth.
Just picturing Leng Qingqiu's righteous, solemn expression made Ye Ling want to laugh.
The creed he believed in was simple:
When poor, focus on yourself. When prosperous, take wives and concubines… and bring benefit to all under heaven.
You do what your strength allows.
Someone like Leng Qingqiu, who clearly didn't have much real power yet loved talking big, was hard to like.
What Ye Ling didn't know was that her lack of strength was only relative to him. If you removed him, this walking cheat, from the comparison, Leng Qingqiu was actually outstanding among her peers.
But for now, Ye Ling knew none of that.
All he knew was that he was strong, strong enough to match Golden Core cultivators, and even Nascent Soul experts couldn't do much to him.
Even so, he still lacked a proper benchmark to accurately judge his true strength.
...
Outskirts of Tianqiong City.
A shadowy figure stood on a tree branch. Below him stood five figures.
All five radiated the aura of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, and the surrounding Spiritual Qi churned restlessly under their presence.
"Ta Shan, do you know your crime?"
The shadow on the branch shouted coldly at the most burly man among the five.
"Know your crime?"
Faced with the shadow's accusation, Ta Shan didn't care in the slightest. He pointed straight at the figure and said arrogantly, "Gui Ying, don't take a chicken feather for an imperial edict. Your grandpa here isn't someone you can order around!"
"Oh?"
Gui Ying let out a faint note of surprise.
"Gui Ying, if there's nothing else, then your grandpa is leaving. I came here out of respect for the Holy Lord. Don't think too highly of yourself!"
Ta Shan's voice rang out like a massive bell. If this place weren't deserted and sealed off by a Formation, his words would have carried for miles.
Within the Heavenly Demon Sect, his strength placed him among the top tier. He had never feared anyone.
The only person he truly submitted to was the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
In his eyes, Gui Ying was nothing more than someone with a quick mind who had earned the Sect Leader's favor. If it really came to a fight, ten Gui Yings wouldn't be his match.
"Did you see that?"
Gui Ying ignored Ta Shan's shouting entirely, as if the man didn't exist. He turned to the remaining four and said calmly, "The corpse is talking."
"Stop pretending to be—"
A sense of danger flashed through Ta Shan's mind, but before he could finish his sentence, his vision spun violently.
In the next instant, he saw his own body, once as tough as a magical artifact, shattering on the ground like brittle glass.
Only then did he realize his situation. He was already in Gui Ying's grasp.
"It's the Heavenly Demon Curse! Gui Ying, you can't do this to me!"
Finally realizing he was finished, Ta Shan screamed in desperation. "I've rendered service to the Holy Sect! I've shed blood for the Holy Sect! Let me see the Holy—"
Gui Ying didn't allow Ta Shan's Nascent Soul to say another word. He opened his mouth and bit down, crushing Ta Shan's Nascent Soul on the spot.
A Tribulation Transcendence Stage powerhouse had fallen just like that, dying where he stood.
"Hmph. A fool who doesn't know his place."
Gui Ying looked down at the four figures below, who were already trembling, and said, "The Holy Lord has entrusted your Heavenly Demon Curse to me. You all understand what that means, don't you?"
The Heavenly Demon Curse was the contract sworn by disciples when they joined the Heavenly Demon Sect. Anyone who possessed it could easily decide their life or death.
"We will obey Gui Ying's every command!"
The four exchanged glances, then dropped to their knees together, swearing their loyalty to Gui Ying.