Su Qingcheng continued to diligently train over the week, leaving her with only a few more days before she had to leave with Su Yanran to go to Bailing City, where the White Spirit Competition would be held. Unbeknownst to her, Su Qingcheng had already been targeted by the mistress of the tower far from Tang Gu City. This tower naturally did have a name, but nobody dared to utter its name, simply calling it ‘that tower.’ Many people knew Fang Li, but only as her nickname, the Snake Mistress. As such, it was unsurprising that Su Ran, one of the strongest people in the entire Bailing Empire, could be qualified enough to talk to the Snake Mistress on decent terms, even able to send her away as if she were a junior.
In fact, if you were to compare ages, Su Ran was actually a bit younger than Fang Li. However, the former could be said to be much stronger. As a result, Fang Li was very interested in Su Qingcheng, who had continuously displayed miraculous feats and when she broke through to third rank User, she was already eligible to inherit the Nie Family’s “Ghost Calamity Palm” technique. Though this kid didn’t know anything about it (Su Ran had decided to retire it for good), Fang Li was confident that if Su Qingcheng did well in the White Spirit Competition, she would definitely be able to practice it at a low, rudimentary level.
Regardless, Su Qingcheng at present was only working on her two stances. The Black Hole Stance which she was now able to use at a very high level, ignoring the fact that she lacked battle experience needed to be able to counter most things, and the Night Lily Stance which she was able to do at an even higher level due to the fact that the Night Lily Stance did not require an immediate amount of actual combat experience to use well unlike the former. Yao Meiyue hoped that Su Qingcheng could use the White Spirit Competition itself as a way to improve her battle experience, as it was highly likely that not everybody there was of a high moral standard.
Yao Meiyue continuously cautioned Su Qingcheng to treat each battle as if it was life-and-death. Even if her opponent conceded, she would not be allowed to let her guard down in case of a sneak attack. Taking this advice to heart, Su Qingcheng took her training seriously. She also deep down knew inside Su Yanran was doing the same thing. Each of them had their own secrets and it might even be likely that they face off against each other on the stage. However, Su Qingcheng obviously hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Regardless, Su Qingcheng’s training nevertheless persisted and she continued to try and temper her stances to the utmost pinnacle her body and power rank could permit. It was arduous and difficult, but by the dawn of the penultimate day before leaving the Tang Gu City to set off to Bailing City, Su Qingcheng had done the best she could. Her Night Lily Stance had reached an unprecedented level of mastery for her age and rank, while her Black Hole Stance needed a lot of polishing and battle experience but could easily catch up in the future.
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On top of this, Su Qingcheng was able to acquire some basic knowledge of attacks from Yao Meiyue and the Nightflower Tome. She would definitely make extensive use of these at the competition, knowing that revealing her Star Vortex Fist at the wrong moment could be very detrimental. Unfortunately for her, she had no clue that Fang Li was already determined to witness the youth use her secret techniques and trump cards. As she was a fierce power in the empire despite not owning a sect, she had a bit of influence when it came to the drawing of lots for the upcoming competition. However, that would have to come after everybody signed up.
It was to be said that one could not just simply sign up beforehand. You had to show up at the venue, walk in, and then sign up for the competition. This ensured that those who entered really wanted to enter, and did not just want to do so in order to brag to someone they liked or to show face to their parents or families. This kind of registration process weeded out the weak-hearted right from the very first stage, as those who were determined to fight would sign up anyways regardless of the conditions.
Su Qingcheng herself was quite amped for the upcoming competition, and it could easily be seen on her beaming face. Su Yanran was quiet but otherwise just happy enough to be by her sister’s side. At this point it was blatantly obvious that Su Yanran had some feelings for Su Qingcheng. As to how intense or what kind of feelings they actually were, was something only Su Yanran knew for now. Su Qingcheng just believed Su Yanran cared deeply for her as a sister and the thought that it might be some kind of different love never even passed her mind.
Time passed quickly. Soon, it was already time for Su Yanran and Su Qingcheng to set off to Bailing City in order to attend the White Spirit Competition. Su Ran had already promised to give them carriage escort. As a result, they would only spend about a day or so, or perhaps even less time, to get to Bailing City provided nothing happened. Normally, nothing happened, but Su Qingcheng had a bad feeling. She did hope that nothing would happen, but if news got out that she was going to go to the White Spirit Competition, she was confident that Xiao Tie would make another move on her again. At this point, she knew that Xiao Tie was a scheming little sly fox who was much smarter than he appeared to be.
Just like that, Su Qingcheng and Su Yanran were already seated inside a moderately sized cabin carried by a wooden platform hoisted by four large wheels. It was being pulled forward by a group of horses. Three of them, Su Qingcheng counted. Su Ran watched the both of them from the side and silently nodded, waving towards them in a gesture of giving good luck as the pair of them were taken out of the residence, making their way through the Tang Gu Market under the watchful gazes of the peanut gallery.
Su Qingcheng could hear them chatting about the commotion this was all making, but like Su Yanran who had fallen asleep at this point, Su Qingcheng ignored the noise and simply gazed out the window opening of the cabin. Hopefully, nothing bad would happen to them along the way. As they had gotten up fairly early to get all of this set up, Su Qingcheng herself was also getting rather sleepy.
Eventually, she couldn’t stay awake anymore and decided to fall asleep on the carriage going to Bailing City.