Xue Jing gently touched the Crouching Rabbit in his hand, his motions tender as if caressing a lover, feeling the tranquillity and softness of the blade.
"This sudden enlightenment was all thanks to you, Crouching Rabbit."
He pondered for a moment, then muttered to himself:
"Since it was realized from the scenery of the bright moon, let's call it the 'Tsukuyomi Slash'."
"Just one glance and the opponent kneels, it really is quite 'Tsukuyomi'-like..."
Xue Jing covered his face with one palm, revealing only one eye through the gaps between his fingers and suddenly felt a surge of adolescent fantasy.
"...True heroes kill with their gaze!"
...
Two days later.
On the running track in the small garden, Xue Jing stopped and looked at his status panel.
[Running upgraded to Lv7 (96/4500)]
He introspected and, seeing his enhanced legs and lungs, Xue Jing nodded in approval.
"Good, Running has finally been upgraded."
This skill, which got off to the fastest start, had gradually fallen behind.
That was because Xue Jing gradually placed less emphasis on it; after all, the improvements of other skills were so noticeable. In comparison, the cost-effectiveness of leveling up Running wasn't that high.
It was just something he did for an hour each day as a warm-up.
Xue Jing opened his panel to check his current stats.
[Fitness] was only two thousand experience points away from reaching Lv9, and [Health Cultivation], after several days of Dragon Thunder Powder Organ Training, was close to Lv7.
[Aiming], though not practiced much recently, was also about to hit Lv7.
[Swimming] and [Riding], these two new skills, had reached Lv3 in the past few days, nearing Lv4.
"It's quite luxurious."
Xue Jing, looking at the panel, felt a sense of satisfaction. your-NovelFire-source
He closed it and was ready to go back and play Dartboard to break through [Aiming] when his phone vibrated with a notification.
He checked it and saw a message from Wu Youqing.
[Wu Youqing: Come to the library now if you're free]
A summon from the boss could not be ignored.
Xue Jing replied with a 'okay' and immediately went home to shower. Then he took the bus to Qingcheng University, heading straight for the library.
After swiping his card, he made his way to the seventh floor.
What met his eyes was the ever-familiar scenery, a girl sitting gracefully on a wooden chair, reading a book, serene and picturesque.
Xue Jing felt an inexplicable sense of comfort, similar to meeting an old friend after years and seeing that they still looked the same as in his memory, that peculiar feeling of reassurance.
Wu Youqing was such a woman who could give people a sense of tranquility.
When she saw Xue Jing coming in, she closed the book in her hands, blinked, and pointed to the seat opposite her.
"Have a seat."
Xue Jing approached and sat down on the chair.
Two teacups had already been placed on the wooden table, and the one in front of him contained a black liquid with faint crackling sounds and occasional tiny bubbles rising to the surface.
It was clearly cola.
"Sis finally understands my taste, I'm touched."
Xue Jing said evenly, picking up the cup and taking a sip.
"..."
He twitched the corner of his mouth and looked helplessly at Wu Youqing.
The girl's originally calm face showed a trace of teasing, seemingly a bit smug.
"I've already arranged it for you, tomorrow's noon ship. I bought a ticket with your ID, direct to Maple City. You should have received a text message."
Xue Jing put the sweetened cola aside and checked his phone. Indeed, there was a message.
[Dear Infinite Nova cruise luxury suite passenger, the reservation for your...]
The message included the boarding time, check-in port location, cabin number, and a detailed introduction website to the 'Infinite Nova' cruise and so on.
"Thanks, Boss. That cruise ticket must have been expensive, right?"
Xue Jing asked with a smile.
Wu Youqing crossed her arms, "How expensive can a cruise be, it's not like chartering the whole ship."
"The main reason for taking the water route is it's fast. From Qingcheng to Maple City by land would require many changes and is very troublesome. Air travel... is not very safe, and you can arrive by water in one or two days."
She pulled out a document filled with many sheets of paper from the small bag sitting on the chair next to her and handed it to Xue Jing.
"The agent I've arranged for you will contact you tomorrow. This document contains information about the opponents you'll encounter in the Maple City elimination round," she said.
Xue Jing reached out and took it.
"With your current strength, there's no real need to worry, after all, it's just an elimination round... But it's good to know more about your opponents to avoid any unexpected setbacks," Wu Youqing said in a gentle tone.
Xue Jing opened the file and, while looking through it, casually said:
"Boss, a few days ago, a guy from Cease-Blades named Ning Yuantai invited me to be an external member of Cease-Blades. He offered the same terms as White Crow, and I accepted."
"Is there anything I should be aware of?"
After thinking for a moment, Wu Youqing replied, "Ning Yuantai? That name sounds familiar. He must be from the Ning Clan.
"Since you are practicing martial arts, getting involved with Cease-Blades is generally a good thing.
"There's just one thing to be aware of."
Xue Jing quickly glanced through the document in his hand, not finding any opponent worth noting, and then closed it, looking at Wu Youqing curiously, he asked:
"Which is?"
The girl pondered for a moment before saying:
"Any task from Cease-Blades that has even the slightest connection to the words 'Troublemaker,' you should not accept."
Xue Jing looked puzzled, "'Troublemaker'? What do you mean?"
It sounded like a teasing nickname for a child. Could it be something like a Divine Relic?
Wu Youqing seemed somewhat uncertain about how to describe it. After deliberating for a while, she said uncertainly:
"It should be considered a terror organization... maybe?"
Xue Jing: "Maybe?"
The girl let out a sigh.
"Their official name is 'Troublemaker Club'... It's a very strange global organization."
"It's a name that sounds like a child's play, and in fact, the organization does seem to be playing... except that they play on a grand scale." Searᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"According to their own words, the sole purpose of their existence is 'to make the world more exciting.'"
Xue Jing pinched his chin, "Sounds interesting."
Wu Youqing nodded, "Indeed, it is interesting."
"But when anything goes to the extreme, it becomes a terrifying thing."
"They do things like kidnapping the children of Governing Councilors just to have a real gunfight with the Sheriff, releasing 'Titan-class' creatures from the Intersecting Boundaries in the city center and then posing as superheroes to defeat them, infiltrating two countries as spies, infiltrating both, and ultimately starting a war between them for fun...
Whatever they think 'makes the world more exciting,' they will do it."
"Sometimes, they would wage war against a major country for a small nation that has been humiliated; other times, they would obliterate a powerful Heretical God Cult with a history of a hundred years just for the tears of a little girl..."
"Simply put, they're a bunch of lunatics whose logic of action is hard for normal people to grasp."
Wu Youqing twirled a strand of her smooth hair around her finger, then pushed it back behind her.
"It would be one thing if they were just a bunch of lunatics, but these people... are outrageously strong."
Xue Jing nodded, "I can tell."
"In summary, they are terrorists who will do anything as long as they find it 'interesting' or 'lively.'"
"And they stick to you like a plaster. Once they've set their sights on you, they will never stop coming after you."
Wu Youqing pinched her temples and let out a sigh as if she had a headache.
"According to Cease-Blades, this group is 'a mound of shit when together, and scattered shit when apart.'"
"Even if there's a one-in-a-million chance, you better not get involved with them, or you will definitely regret it."
"I understand," Xue Jing nodded earnestly, committing the words 'Troublemaker' firmly to memory.
...
After spending a little more time with Wu Youqing and making small talk, Xue Jing left the library and took the bus home.
He intended to tell Miao Miao about taking the cruise ship to Maple City tomorrow, but he found that she was not at home again.
Xue Jing didn't pay much attention to it but instead picked up a dart from the dart container and began shooting at the dartboard.
Now, he had to apply only a light force, or else a single throw would burst the dartboard.
Every throw was pinpoint accurate to the center of the bullseye, right at the very heart of it, not even a millimeter off.
After about twenty minutes, a notification came from the panel.
[Aiming has been upgraded to Lv7 (1/4500)]
...