Chapter 621: Ling Shuang! Dressed to Impress!

After finalizing the cultivation plan for the Thorn Sword Grass, Xu Jingming sent a message to Ailin.

After getting an instant reply, Xu Jingming transferred 23 billion Blue Star coins from his bank card's 23 billion Daxia coins over to her.

He only kept 400 million Daxia coins for emergencies.

Fortunately, Daxia is one of the six giant nations on Blue Star, so exchanging Daxia coins for Blue Star coins is very convenient — it only takes a few taps on his phone.

It was already past nine in the evening now, and the resources on the cultivation plan wouldn't be delivered until the next day.

Xu Jingming was about to close his phone, put on his virtual helmet, and head into the virtual world to try out the strength of a lower eighth-rank Master Zongshi, when—

A text message was sent to his phone:

"Dear student Xu Jingming, the eleven copies of the battle technique 'Lei Huo' you repaired at the Lei Ting Wu Guan's Dayangzhou Melbourne branch have all been sold.

You have earned a total of 66,000 commission points, which have now been deposited in full to your account. Your current account balance is 613,000 points."

The message was sent from the Lei Ting Wu Guan's Daxia headquarters. In their records, Xu Jingming is still a member of the Prodigy Training Camp.

As for the account balance — because he won the double championship at the Genius Tournament, the martial hall rewarded him with 500,000 credits, equivalent to ten billion Daxia coins.

Added to what he already had, it accumulated to this much.

"Eleven copies sold this fast — not bad." A smile appeared on Xu Jingming's face.

Only the Lei Ting Wu Guan has this many lightning-type ability users; switch it to any other martial hall,

and this 'Lei Huo' battle technique would most likely draw no interest at all, or only sell a handful of copies.

"Speaking of which, the martial hall still has a lot of unrepaired battle techniques. Should I repair them all and list them to earn credits?"

Xu Jingming pondered to himself.

For him, repairing battle techniques was absurdly easy — all it took was ability points.

But after thinking it over, he chose to give up.

The points in his account were still enough for now. When he truly needed a large sum of funds, it wouldn't be too late to do it then.

"Eva, open an arena for me and set the opponent to be a lower eighth-rank Master Zongshi with an enhancement-type A-rank ability."

Putting on the virtual helmet, Xu Jingming's vision blurred, and he appeared inside the villa in the virtual world.

"Okay."

The little sprite-form Eva on his shoulder replied cutely.

Half an hour later, Xu Jingming took off the virtual helmet with a wry smile.

With Hearing Ling Shuang's reminder, he had already had some mental preparation for how powerful an eighth-rank Master Zongshi was.

But he hadn't expected that when he actually fought, he'd still be thoroughly defeated.

He fought five matches in total, and every single one ended within four minutes.

The SS-rank ability 'Doushen Shenlei', which had always been unbeatable, simply couldn't break through an eighth-rank Master Zongshi's defense.

Long-range spell-type techniques like Sky Thunder Art and Lei Shen Zhi—

even with the amplification of Lightning Burst Form and Lei Shen Jiang Shi, could only barely deal some damage — not even enough to count as a light wound.

Close-combat techniques like Thunder Piercing Demon-Slaying Spear and Cang Lei Ba Wang Spear might be able to deal more damage.

But he couldn't even unleash them!

Every time he closed in, the moment he raised his hand, the opponent would interrupt him with their weapon and then finish him off cleanly.

"Their neural reaction speed and strike speed are far faster than mine — there's just no comparison."

Only after actually fighting several matches did Xu Jingming realize there was still a considerable gap between himself and an eighth-rank Master Zongshi.

"Well, eighth-rank ability users are rare on Blue Star to begin with. If it were really that easy to fight across ranks, that would be strange."

Xu Jingming shook his head, but he wasn't discouraged.

He couldn't beat an eighth-rank Master Zongshi, but a peak seventh-rank Master was still doable.

At present, his strength was about the same as Yang Zhentian's back then — just slightly weaker.

In less than two years, going from an Awakener to peak seventh-rank Master combat power — Xu Jingming was already very satisfied.

"Cultivate the body, cultivate the mind, guard against arrogance and impatience. With the Deep Blue System backing me, reaching the peak of Blue Star is only a matter of time."

Xu Jingming rose steadily from the sofa, gripped the Molsa Obsidian Spear, and headed into the training room.

Tomorrow evening he was going to the Midie Sect gathering with Teacher Hearing Ling Shuang, and the combat intensity over the past month in the Clear Peak Secret Realm had truly been too intense.

He needed to rest for a few days, adjust his condition to its best, and then enter the Dayangzhou wilderness zone.

Of course,

his daily routine training would absolutely not be neglected...

The next day,

Xu Jingming welcomed a rare relaxing day.

In the morning, he stayed in the virtual world to build rapport with Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan.

Today was January 14th. Mo Da was about to start winter break, and the school courses weren't that many, so the two girls had plenty of time to soak themselves in the virtual world.

Of course, it wasn't just chatting — they were immersed in the arena.

Xu Jingming suppressed his strength to the same level as Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan.

He crushed them purely with combat awareness and experience.

At noon, he made lunch together with Xia Lan.

During that time, he also took a moment to call Catherine and push their dinner date to noon the next day.

In the afternoon, he trained and cultivated alone.

Because the Midie Sect gathering started at nine in the evening, Xu Jingming arrived at Teacher Hearing Ling Shuang's villa at half past eight, after dinner.

"Wait a moment for me, I'm still changing." Hearing Ling Shuang's voice came from the bedroom.

As an eighth-rank mid-tier ability user, she had already sensed Xu Jingming's arrival with her spiritual power.

Upon hearing this, Xu Jingming could only sit on the living room sofa and wait.

After about five or six minutes, a crisp and pleasant voice rang out:

"How is it? My outfit looks fairly normal, right?"

Xu Jingming instinctively looked up and saw an extremely stunning sight.

There was Hearing Ling Shuang, wearing a black evening gown, walking out of the bedroom like a goddess of the night descending upon the mortal world.

The form-fitting design perfectly outlined her slender, graspable waist, further accentuating the rounded fullness of her bosom.

It trembled gently with every step, drawing the eye.

The hem of the evening gown cascaded down like a waterfall.

A pair of Bai Xi, slender legs peeked in and out from beneath the hem, utterly alluring.

Her jet-black hair, usually draped loosely down her back, was now combed up and coiled into a high cloud-like bun, revealing her fair neck and delicate collarbones.

In the bun was pinned merely a single ancient phoenix hairpin in pale purple streaked with black — simple yet dignified.

Classical and modern were now perfectly united in Hearing Ling Shuang, appearing both gorgeous and elegant.

Even Xu Jingming, who had been thoroughly steeled by Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan, could not help but be momentarily stunned.

After all, those two women were still only girls of nineteen or twenty.

But Hearing Ling Shuang was different — every gesture fully displayed a mature, captivating charm.

"What? Is there something wrong with me?" Seeing Xu Jingming say nothing, Hearing Ling Shuang instinctively lowered her head to check.

"No, no, you look very beautiful."

Xu Jingming said hurriedly, "It's just that, Teacher, where did your tear mole go?"

At this moment Hearing Ling Shuang seemed to have applied light makeup — her features lovely as the moon, a pair of autumn-water eyes clear as a spring.

Her red lips pressed lightly together; composed, yet with a hint of nervousness.

Such looks could be called gorgeous, but the only thing missing was the tear mole at the corner of her eye.

"I was afraid of being recognized, so I covered up the tear mole," Hearing Ling Shuang replied.

"Don't worry, Teacher Ling — you look very beautiful.

Even someone like me, who has been around you for a long time, didn't recognize you at first glance — let alone anyone else."

Xu Jingming replied with a smile.

The tear mole is the soul — how could it possibly be erased.

"I've finally figured it out — you really do have quite the way with women; no wonder so many girls are smitten with you."

Though she spoke these words, Hearing Ling Shuang still rubbed the corner of her eye.

She dispersed the portion of powder she had deliberately applied thicker, revealing that faint tear mole.

"That's more like it, Teacher Ling — you're even prettier now." Xu Jingming's eyes lit up.

Just like the finishing touch on a dragon, the tear mole lifted Hearing Ling Shuang's beauty to another level entirely.

"Enough flattery — let's get going."

Hearing Ling Shuang gave him a playful scold, yet a faint blush rose on her pretty face.

A spatial gate opened beside them; Xu Jingming adjusted his facial muscles to make his features look more mature.

Only then did they teleport together to a secluded spot, heading toward the hotel where the Midie Sect was holding its gathering.