Chapter 238: Empty‑handed

Qianjie repeatedly slammed down on the spot where Xilin originally stood, and the terrifying force completely blew the metal floor of that area apart!

Crimson lava mixed with twisted metal erupted outward, scorching shockwaves rolled, instantly creating a small hellish scene there.

The entire Training Room shook violently, and the alarm sounded a second later with a sharp wail.

Xing, having sensed the danger when Qianjie erupted, performed a backflip and rolled into a relatively safe corner; now watching the wrecked "meteor crater" and the Qianjie at its center slowly rising, whole body ablaze, looking up and locking onto Xilin's Qianjie in the sky, they patted their chest with lingering fear.

(Good guy… this isn't sparring, it's demolition!)

Then, she looked at the floating, splendidly dressed Herrscher Xilin, blinked, and a thought sprang to mind:

(Is this… fully bringing out Qiana's second personality? I wonder if I have such a cool second personality? Maybe check with Black Tower someday?)

At this moment, Xilin's mood was not "cool" at all.

Being inexplicably punched (though uninjured, it was embarrassing!), before the harsh words could finish they were cut off by a louder roar, then she was smashed like a meteor target… a mud figure still has three percent earth, let alone the proud Void Arbiter?

She slowly raised the gloved hand, gently brushed the cheek she had just scraped, and in her golden eyes the last trace of doubt born from the opponent's abnormal hatred and overwhelming power was replaced by blazing fury.

"Heh…"

She let out a smile devoid of mirth, her gorgeous face full of murderous intent, "Madman… what a good madman."

Her gaze was like looking at a bug about to be crushed, locking onto the Qianjie in the molten pit below that glared up at her.

"Since you're so eager to find death…"

Xilin expressionlessly raised her right hand, thumb and middle finger lightly flicking together.

"Snap."

A crisp snapping sound rang clearly through the Training Room, filled with flame explosions and spatial alarm noises.

In an instant, countless purple cracks edged with golden patterns burst open throughout the vast space centered on Xilin!

As if mirrors shattered simultaneously!

From each crack, a Subspace Spear instantly sprang out, flashing with cold light!

All spear tips pointed at the same target—Qianjie!

Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

Dense and countless, covering the sky, almost filling the upper half of the Training Room!

The cold gleam intertwined with unstable spatial fluctuations, forming an extremely spectacular yet suffocating scene.

Xilin's right hand elegantly swept down, like a conductor delivering the final note.

"Then come and meet your death."

"—Target, that madman."

"Swish swish swish swish—!!!"

Ten thousand spears fired simultaneously!

The sound of cutting through space was mournful like a ghost's wail!

A violet torrent, bearing the power to tear space, rained mercilessly onto the crimson hell below!

Zhulin

"Breathing… should settle in the dantian, not the belly."

Hua's voice steadied as she corrected, "Perceive the flowing power within you, guide it, and try to resonate with the destiny force you're familiar with in the jade tablet, rather than oppose it."

Qingque weakly sat on the meditation cushion, each hand holding a jade tablet, striving to sense as Hua instructed.

She felt nothing in her dantian.

The so‑called "power" inside her?

She only felt the urge to fish battling the will to "listen seriously."

After several attempts, Hua concluded: Qingque's talent wasn't bad; in fact, her affinity and instinctive use of that strange "destiny force" showed some highlights.

But the problem was—she was simply lazy.

Spiritually scattered, lacking perseverance, she would sit rather than stand, would be perfunctory rather than earnest.

"Senior…"

Qingque seized a breathing pause, eyes flicking, trying to change the subject, "The girl we saw last time, the one great at sword dancing, Li… Li Su Shang, right? Why isn't she here today? I still want to ask her for advice!"

(Subtext: Can the teaching target be changed?)

Hua glanced at her, seeming to see through her little thought, but didn't expose it, calmly replying, "She's resting, or rather, adapting to the new environment, digesting the results of the previous contest."

"Oh, rest well, rest well!"

Qingque nodded repeatedly, then curiously asked, "So is she… my senior sister?"

She thought, if there were a senior sister, could she help share the firepower?

Hua paused, seeming to carefully clarify the relationship, then said, "Not exactly. She… is my disciple‑grandson."

"Disciple‑grandson?!"

Qingque's eyes widened slightly, surprised, "You… your disciple's disciple? Didn't expect the Marshal… uh, senior, you have so many disciples!"

Scenes from some storybook flashed through her mind—founding a sect, thousands of disciples, and so on.

"Past matters have become like clouds and smoke."

Hua's tone was unruffled, seemingly unwilling to discuss further, "Focus. 'Heart‑seed' is unstable, and you're already thinking about pulling strings?"

Qingque stuck out her tongue, quickly readjusted her posture, but muttered inside:

(If the disciple‑grandson is that strong, what must the disciple be like? Isn't your teaching pressure a bit heavy? So could you lower the expectations for this unpromising 'generational heir'?)

The air in Winterwood City was humid, the afternoon sun filtered through sparse clouds, casting mottled light on the park's sand.

Chang Ye Yue sat on a long bench, the Black Umbrella folded against her side, her crimson eyes calmly scanning the peaceful scene.

Her perception, like an invisible spiderweb, had already covered this area, delicately catching any trace of Huo Huo‑related fluctuations.

In the end, nothing was gained.

A Xing then was "busy" near the park's other‑end recycling point.

She was squatting beside a large green trash can, her golden eyes intently watching the lid's opening and closing mechanism, occasionally leaning in to sniff, and trying to poke the can's material with a finger to assess the difference from similar facilities in Beloberg.

To her, researching local "special facilities" was a fulfilling activity.

(No results found.)

Chang Ye Yue briefly reported via Spiritual Link.

In System Space, Heimu watched the light screen displaying Chang Ye Yue's feedback and the live footage of A Xing studying the trash can, Heimu's brow slightly furrowed.

"Location is Winterwood City; the world line should be correct."

Heimu lightly tapped his arm with his fingertip, "Could we have gone to the wrong parallel world line?"

"Recalibrating and deepening the scan now."

The system, standing by, let a torrent of data surge through its inverted‑cross pupils, "Eliminating parallel‑world interference, retrieving phase anomalies, and cross‑checking the local Holy Grail War historical records database… Retrieval complete."