Hu Linglei continued to lead Su Qingcheng through the crowds of people. With the imposing presence of this mighty woman, the masses of people seemingly split apart like butter. Su Qingcheng continued to meekly follow her, admiring her chiseled and incredibly well-built body that could even make a man feel ashamed of themselves. Yet Su Qingcheng could sense that at the same time, there was a kind of confident elegance you could only see in a woman proud of herself both physically and mentally. Truly, this kind of confidence could only be exuded in a powerful Tianqi Emperor, especially one of the fourth rank, merely one and a half steps away from entering godhood.

Su Qingcheng dared not to ask any questions; it was already a miracle that Hu Linglei permitted this weakling to even get any pointers from her. Eventually, they left Tang Gu City entirely and entered a secluded forest clearing. It was a tranquil environment but the clearing itself was large and covered by dense trees. It was clearly an outdoor training place. Hu Linglei soon turned around to face Su Qingcheng, who stared at her blankly in response. With a toothy grin, Hu Linglei flashed her thumbs up. “Kid, you’re really strange. You’re barely a step into your cultivation, yet you dare to show your face in front of me,” she joked in a sarcastic manner. “Really, to be honest, I’m only humoring you because your technique interests me. Such a strange essence in your body is really making me curious too. So, I’m going to give you this chance to show me what you’ve got.”

This lady is not simple. I’ve only taught you the movement technique but nothing you can use will be able to do any damages to her. Yao Meiyue lamented. Even if she didn’t fight you by herself, you can only resort to enchanting your fists with Nightflower Tianqi to do damage. Hopefully that will be enough to pique her interest, and you may get some benefits from Hu Linglei.

Su Qingcheng swallowed her saliva, cupping her fists and bowing towards Hu Linglei. “Senior Sister! I will be happy to demonstrate my meagre knowledge to you.” Su Qingcheng then turned her gaze towards the Tianqi Emperor, who stepped back and cracked her knuckles. It looked like Hu Linglei displayed no intentions of actually doing any fighting herself. Instead, she snapped her fingers and a bright light surrounded her for a brief second. Once the light died down, a giant suit of armor about Hu Linglei’s size appeared in front of her, getting into a fighting stance. Where the head was located, a wisp of purple flame was burning brightly, causing a chilling sensation to crawl down her back.

“You will be fighting my Emperor Demon Puppet, Sage Level,” Hu Linglei laughed. “Naturally, I won’t make a little kid like you fight me at full strength; that’s just bullying. But that mysterious tianqi in your body is definitely something not to underestimate. Fortunately for you, you met me, I can be considered to be magnanimous towards a fellow woman. Ha haaa!” Hu Linglei bellowed out proudly, causing Su Qingcheng’s stance to tighten.

Emperor Demon Puppet! This is Hu Linglei’s treasure, the thing that made her famous in Lingdou continent! Yao Meiyue growled. It seemed she recognize this Tianqi Emperor after hearing her name. This old lady who won’t die; I remember her! She’s famous for being ruthless towards men, but very nice and considerate towards women! Seems like today’s your lucky day. She’s taken a liking to you!

“Then this junior will do her best!” Su Qingcheng took Yao Meiyue’s comment to heart, letting the Nightflower Tianqi boil in her veins; soon she ignited the energy and let it coalesce and solidify into a dark vortex that warped a tiny space around her fists. This caused Hu Linglei to be a bit alarmed. However, she smiled and let the Emperor Demon Puppet rush forward to strike towards Su Qingcheng, who quickly used Fire Tianqi to rocket herself out of the way, sticking her feet against a tree. Hu Linglei nodded with approval as the suit of living armor turned its body, arms raised as flames erupted. It began to launch fireballs which agglomerated from the flames around its arms at Su Qingcheng, who gasped and proceeded to jump from tree to tree using Frog Style.

“Not good. It can launch long-ranged attacks while I don’t have any way to counter-attack!” Su Qingcheng cursed under her breath while bearing the laughter of Hu Linglei, who seemed to view the battle as more of a show than something serious. As Su Qingcheng kept trying to evade the fireballs, she finally leapt to the ground level, rolling forward, catching the Emperor Demon Puppet off-guard. With a ferocious punch, Su Qingcheng jammed her palm into the armored chest of the puppet, injecting it with fierce Nightflower Tianqi. Immediately, launching the strike caused Su Qingcheng to fall back as she felt some backlash from attempting to directly attack the Tianqi Sage-level puppet.

“What a brave kid! Not every day you see a Tianqi User attempt to directly attack a thing about three ranks above her!!” Hu Linglei laughed boisterously as the Emperor Demon Puppet stumbled back, but her eyes widened as she saw flames erupt from the point of impact. They were purplish-red flames that reminded her of something very mysterious. She then stared incredulously at Su Qingcheng who was kneeling, panting and keeping her gaze focused on the Emperor Demon Puppet. At this point, Hu Linglei snapped her fingers, extinguishing the purple flame and causing Su Qingcheng to look at Hu Linglei with a despondent look.

“Don’t blame me, kid! I need that thing to help me fight too!” Hu Linglei frowned.

One of the debilitating effects of Nightflower Tianqi is the ability to corrode anything of the Metal element! Hu Linglei’s Emperor Demon Puppet, is a heavyweight class Metal Puppet which has the ability to raise or lower ranks depending on the flame used to ignite the core. Yao Meiyue explained as Su Qingcheng caught her breath, staring at her fists.

“Uh…” Su Qingcheng frowned.

“Damnit, kid, your Tianqi attack is too fierce. My Emperor Demon Puppet is of the strongest Metal element materials! Don’t tell me your Tianqi can indiscriminately corrode Metal element things!” Hu Linglei laughed. “But that’s just as well. It gives me ideas on how to improve it. Let me test you one more time, kid!” Soon, the Emperor Demon Puppet’s flaming head changed color, from purple to white. It began to exude the aura of a Tianqi Emperor.

Isn’t this woman being a little too brash? She dares to test the armor of her puppet like this?! You’re not even a Tianqi Geomancer yet! If this weren’t such a private place, she would lose a lot of face for being a bully! Yao Meiyue grumbled as Su Qingcheng sighed deep in her heart. Indeed, the Emperor Demon Puppet was a strong opponent, she knew if she would get caught by the puppet’s attacks she would either be incinerated or crushed into a meat pulp.

“Senior Sister, can’t you be considerate? I’m only a second rank Tianqi User…” Su Qingcheng frowned.

“Haha. Don’t worry. What’s a little life and death experience training for a kid like you? Don’t tell me you’re lowering yourself to peers your age?”

“You saw very well I don’t know any fighting techniques!”

“Not my problem,” Hu Linglei shrugged. “How about this. If you last enough exchanges with my full power Emperor Demon Puppet, I’ll give you a nice reward or two.”

“What reward?”

Hu Linglei winked. “Secret.”

“Fine, if only to get that scary puppet out of my face!” Su Qingcheng yelled out indignantly. Soon, Emperor Demon Puppet rushed out forward before Su Qingcheng could react properly, causing her to quickly do a barrel roll to the side, barely evading the puppet’s punch which caused a small crater to form where she originally was. This caused a cold sweat to fall down her back as she stared at the horrifying Emperor Demon Puppet, which now looked at her as if it were looking at a mere pest. Hu Linglei continued to watch on the sidelines with an innocent smile.

“Hup!” Su Qingcheng flipped back onto her feet, trying to channel the Nightflower Tianqi into her fists. Smiling when she succeeded, she realized she couldn’t generate as much fire Tianqi into her feet as she could a while ago. Not good! The Emperor Demon Puppet is trying to steal the essence of fire in the air for itself! You won’t be able to move as quickly! Furthermore, I can sense your reserves of Nightflower Tianqi slowly running out!

Su Qingcheng inwardly cursed. ‘Oh, that’s right! I need to create some more later!! I used all of it trying to defend myself from whatever this terrifying thing is.’

The Emperor Demon Puppet whirred in place as it pounced forward, attempting to punch Su Qingcheng into a meat paste. Letting Nightflower Tianqi roil in her fists, she threw a punch to meet the Puppet’s fists, causing a look of incredulity to appear on Hu Linglei’s face, as if she were watching an idiot. However, that look turned into one of awkward awe as she saw the vortex around Qingcheng’s right fist become more solid, sucking essence and force from the Emperor Demon Puppet’s punch.

Little brat, I don’t recall teaching this to you. Yao Meiyue sighed as she remembered this technique Su Qingcheng was using was very similar to one of her powerful Nightflower techniques, Star Vortex Fist, which allowed the user to drain the essence and force from a touch attack. The user could then either keep the energy for herself or reflect it back on the attacker! Did you comprehend this just from the one time I used ‘Star Vortex Fist?!’

“Yeah, it’s actually working! I didn’t expect Master’s bragging to help me in a fight,” Su Qingcheng laughed softly to herself. Hu Linglei’s gaze turned increasingly pensive as she saw the mysterious technique Su Qingcheng used to block and receive the Emperor Demon Puppet’s fierce attack. Soon, Su Qingcheng extended her palm out, now coated in a nebulous black substance, causing fierce winds and flame to be emitted back out against the puppet’s body. The Emperor Demon Puppet, taken aback by this attack, was not damaged at all. However, its intelligence was in no way weaker than that of a human’s. It cautiously stepped back and maintained a defensive posture.

Su Qingcheng had not used all the energy she drained from the Emperor Demon Puppet’s attack, instead using the Star Vortex Fist to regain flame essence so she could use the Frog Style movement to its max potential. Soon, she leapt back explosively and clung to a tree. Smiling at both the puppet and Hu Linglei, Su Qingcheng threw out a thumbs up.

“Little brat, you do possess a monstrous talent. I’m afraid you might accidentally damage my puppet in a secret weakpoint,” Hu Linglei sighed, snapping her fingers as the living armor soon faded out into existence, turning into a ray of light that entered Hu Linglei’s body. “I guess a promise is a promise. I will give you a reward.”

Su Qingcheng got down from the tree as Hu Linglei fished out of her pockets and procured a scroll. “I saw the fist technique you used and could sense some strange stuff in it. This scroll I’m giving you is so mysterious that I couldn’t even understand anything beyond the first few movements. If you can understand it, I expect you to share pointers in the future,” Hu Linglei laughed. “So this is yours. Take it, or I’ll feel embarrassed that a little kid like you could fearsomely repel my Emperor Demon Puppet. It looks like I have to develop it further to counteract this weakness!”

Su Qingcheng bowed as she graciously took the scroll without rejecting it or saying anything. Hu Linglei then turned around to leave.

“Right, it’s time for me to get out of here. That Tang Gu Market had nothing of use to me, so I’m going to explore the continent. If fate permits, we’ll meet again. By then, I hope you’ve gotten stronger.”

Su Qingcheng nodded, thanking Hu Linglei loudly as the latter began to leave the clearing. While she did so, Su Qingcheng opened the scroll given to her. The large font on it read simply, “Dark Cosmos Fist…”