Chapter 28 - Linkage!

Cheng Xiu leapt away.

"What's your cultivation method?" Lotus asked, observing the girl in front of her.

"Why do you want to know?"

"You're getting faster."

Cheng Xiu looked at her in confusion.

Lotus tightened her grip on the whip. "It's not just you getting used to the power of level 10. I imagine it has something to do with your cultivation method."

Cheng Xiu held her sword up, glaring. "Isn't it a bit rude to ask about someone's cultivation method?"

Lotus nodded. "I won't ask then."

The violet pools of lighting grew in colour and power.

Cheng Xiu tried not to cringe as she felt the hairs on her arms raised. The area around them was becoming more and more saturated with electric currents. She had to end this somehow.

Lotus was an expert in the game. She would have many battle tactics and a better understanding of her limits than Cheng Xiu had.

Cheng Xiu's heart thumped. It was crazy but somehow Cheng Xiu didn't feel fear. Instead, she felt excitement. There was something about thinking about ways to out-do a person so clearly outclassed that made Cheng Xiu's bloodlust rise.

For the first time, The Other World was more than a place to feel Qi. It was more than a place that she had to endure for Gu Shu's sake.

Cheng Xiu's dark eyes danced in excitement. She was enjoying this battle.

It finally felt like she was back in a game.

The hope that many VR games had raised in her of having Qi only to be disappointed time and again had made Cheng Xiu forget to enjoy games anymore. VR games had lost their charm for her.

But she felt it again. That hunger to win. That hunger to draw blood. That hunger that came with having a strong opponent.

The Grandmaster's Arena that had felt like a burden before felt like heaven's guidance. It showed her that in this world she could live her dream of being one of the best.

Cheng Xiu smiled.

Lotus frowned. The air had changed. The girl in front of her seemed to have had some kind of a breakthrough. Lotus's instincts screamed at her to be cautious.

"Senior," Cheng Xiu said with a smile. "Let's have a good match."

Cheng Xiu let her mind calm down and feel the Qi in her body. It was not easy. She should have been able to sense the Qi in her as it was a foreign entity to her but Cheng Xiu didn't feel the difference inside the game.

She remembered the desperation in her mind as she had watched the Lotus's attack near the trees but Cheng Xiu was far too hurt at the moment.

And then a feeling had risen from her chest. Unwillingness to yield. her heart and mind had blanked and the only thing Cheng Xiu had wanted to do at that time was to dodge. And it had worked. She had found the energy to move away with a flash of red in her sight.

Cheng Xiu felt her blood move faster than it did before. She could feel the breathless anticipation that came with that flash of red.

Lotus kept up her attacks, becoming more and more erratic as Cheng Xiu evaded her attacks with her eyes closed.

And her movements were also becoming faster.

Lotus felt frustrated. Her whips started to leave afterimages at the speed at which she was using her whip.

Towards the side, Yue stood up.

"Sister Yue?" Star Phoenix asked the rainbow-haired girl.

"Lotus is starting the linkage."

Star Phoenix gaped. "But...but the lightning pools are not strong enough right?"

"There is a new factor in the fight that led her to this decision," Frost said to him.

"What?" Long Hei asked.

"The Rookie is evolving."

"What?" Matchstick asked in confusion. "I didn't realize that could happen. I didn't even see her consume a monster core! Wait! Aren't Monster Core forbidden in the Grandmaster Arena?"

"She didn't use a Core," Frost said, her eyes glued to the blue-robed elegant form of Cheng Xiu. For the first time, Frost coveted a player. "She is evolving through Enlightenment."

"She is doing that during a battle?" Long Hei asked. "Isn't that something that you can do only during meditation!"

Frost tilted her head. "For most. Some can become focused during action but yes...Enlightenment during a battle...that indicates a strong mind."

"Hm," Yue looked back at San Zhe who was looking at Cheng Xiu with starry eyes.

"This is why you didn't answer Brother Star's question of if you know why your friend was improving to such a degree."

San Zhe froze and looked at her in horror.

Yue smiled. "She must have a really powerful mind to have Enlightenment during a battle."

"That...that is…"

Yue laughed. "An A-Ranked Rookie huh? That is powerful!"

Star Phoenix and the rest of the Immortals were observing San Zhe's every move, trying to gauss his reaction.

San Zhe looked around in panic.

In the centre of the battlefield, threads of lightning started to rise from the pools and moved towards the centre where Lotus had her whip raised. The electric currents coated on the whip became even more agitated and deeper in colour.

The lightning threads started to knit with each other.

"That looks so scary," San Zhe commented.

"The Lightning Spider Technique was a unique strategy that Lotus had created herself because she didn't want to just whip her whip around," Star Phoenix said to him. "The technique had five stages. The first Stage- the pools. Lotus lays down the Lightning pools strategically. There is a pattern to it."

"She laid a five-point pool pattern today," Long Hei said. He sighed. "She underestimated the Rookie. When she fights us Immortals she would use a 12-point pattern. Less predictable, apparently. Although, if you ask me, no one would try to guess any of the patterns unless they are playing for the Leagues."

"What's the next Stage?" San Zhe asked curiously.

"The Linkage," Frost said in a hushed tone.

San Zhe looked at her, waiting for her to explain further.

Silence.

San Zhe felt cheated. Why did she say it like that explained everything? It didn't.

Lu WenXian chuckled at the grievance written on the young man's face.

San Zhe looked at him curiously.

"It means using the lightning currents like threads and knitting the pools together. This will allow her to conserve her Qi reserve better. The entire strategy is based on affecting the enemy the most while conserving your energy and Qi the most."

"Oh," San Zhe looked at the violet pools. "But there is an optimal time to Link the pools? Perhaps when the threads are completely saturated by external Qi...no, then she would lose control over the pools...perhaps the currents have a point when they are separated enough from the source that they don't drain her Qi reserve as much but it would still be connected enough to her that she can exert her will over it."

Lu WenXian looked at the young man in surprise. He smiled. "It would seem that SelaXiu is not the only one with a great mind. You are just as capable as her!"

San Zhe frowned at him, forgetting where he was and who he was talking to. "How can it be? I'm only an A-Rank. Do you see me having the special privilege of being called the promise of our generation? Do you see me being able to handle the Demonic teacher's direct hatred head-on?"

Lu WenXian blinked. "If you are at A-Rank and SelaXiu is higher than you...then that means…"

San Zhe froze. He looked around him. The Immortals around them was looking at them curiously. Long Hei was moving his lips but there was no sound.

San Zhe turned to Lu WenXian, confused.

He smiled at him. "You seemed to have been too occupied with your thoughts. I put up a barrier when you started analysing Lotus's strategy. They have already pulled me into an Arena battle over SelaXiu. I don't want to be here more than I have to."

WuQi jumped on Lu WenXian. "What are you talking about with the newbie in secret?"

Lu WenXian's eyebrow twitched. His eyes met Yue's.

She turned away again.

Traitorous Little sisters!

Lu WenXian looked at San Zhe for help. After all, he had covered for the newbie, he should help, right?

San Zhe looked at him with pitying eyes and turned away like it had nothing to do with him.

Lu WenXian narrowed his eyes.

He looked down at WuQi who looked at him with pitiful eyes. Lu WenXian wanted to throw himself off a cliff.

"Brother Xian? What were you talking about? Were you giving the newbie tips?" WuQi used this excuse to hold onto Lu WenXian tighter.

Lu WenXian gritted his teeth and looked at the broad back of San Zhe as the Rookie forced Star Phoenix into a conversation so that he could pretend he didn't notice Lu WenXian's predicament.

"WuQi," Lu WenXian said.

"Yes?" the Indigo-haired girl asked with a giggle. She blushed.

"I asked little San on a date and he rejected me," Lu WenXian said with a pitiful voice.

San Zhe froze and whirled around, staring at Lu WenXian in horror.

"Huh?" WuQi asked in a daze.