Chapter 1036 — Help Me Level Up!

If it was feeling at all, it was nothing but a muddled tangle of emotions born of that chaotic scene in the basement. Once Qiu Lingshan saw that clearly for herself, perhaps she would not feel this way anymore.

So Wei Zhao asked Qiu Lingshan, "You miss me?"

"Mm." Qiu Lingshan nodded without the slightest hesitation.

"Miss me for what?" Wei Zhao pressed.

"I... I want you to come and help me level up..." Qiu Lingshan said, her face red.

Coming from anyone else, those words would have been perfectly ordinary. If Uncle Qing, say, asked Wei Zhao to help him level up, there would be nothing to it — it would simply mean having Wei Zhao use his energy to raise his strength. In fact, these past few days Wei Zhao had been doing exactly that for Uncle Qing.

But for Qiu Lingshan to ask Wei Zhao to help her level up carried a certain ambiguity.

How Qiu Lingshan had broken through last time, and under what circumstances, was something both she and Wei Zhao knew perfectly well.

That method of breakthrough gave Wei Zhao no end of headaches. Qiu Lingshan had used him as an object of fantasy, and just like that she had broken through. It sounded absurd no matter how you told it, and yet it had truly happened.

Of course, Wei Zhao did not believe that was the root of the breakthrough — merely a trigger. If that alone could do it, then Qiu Lingshan could have stayed home touching herself whenever she had nothing better to do and probably reached the Heaven Rank long ago.

So clearly the method was not viable. Qiu Lingshan had likely been close to breaking through already; that incident had merely served to nudge her over. Wei Zhao had not looked into it deeply, of course — this was not something he could figure out. Every family's cultivation method was different, and he had no time to spare for such research.

"Fine. When do you want me to come help you level up?" Wei Zhao hesitated a moment, but agreed to Qiu Lingshan's request.

"Uh..." Qiu Lingshan was actually stunned by how readily he agreed. Just like that? No hedging at all?

"What is it?" Wei Zhao asked when she said nothing.

"Nothing. Then... this weekend, come to my house?" Qiu Lingshan said, a little excited.

"All right." Wei Zhao nodded.

"Then I'll be waiting for you..." Qiu Lingshan's heart pounded hard. Wei Zhao had said yes, and it made her very happy.

In her excitement her breathing quickened. Clutching the phone, Qiu Lingshan suddenly felt a hot flush spread over her whole body, and remembering that peculiar sensation in the basement that day, she could not help sliding her hand under the covers...

After hanging up, Wei Zhao did not think much of it and went straight into cultivation. The situation was not encouraging. The Yu and Xiao families had temporarily lowered their banners and stilled their drums, but who knew whether a greater storm might follow the calm?

So Wei Zhao could not slacken for even a moment. He had to cultivate with all urgency and strive for an early breakthrough. Only with sufficient strength of his own could he overawe those restless great families.

That night, Wei Zhao would again pass in cultivation.

That night, Uncle Qing too would pass in cultivation.

That night, the young miss and Xiaoshu whispered together until they drifted off to sleep. They were talking about Feng Xiaoxiao — their life as best friends was suddenly to admit a third person, and there were things that had to be discussed...

That night, Tang Yun slept well. She was happy: in a day or two she would be moving into the new house, and her mother, at her urging, was preparing to buy some bamboo charcoal packets.

That night, Feng Xiaoxiao again passed a sleepless night. She was thinking about the future — the first time she had ever thought about the future of her life, and about a future with Wei Zhao... She felt a little lost, a little like retreating...

That night, Qiu Lingshan drifted into sleep amid her excitement. Outside the window a fine rain began to fall. In her dream, Qiu Lingshan lay listening to the wind and rain in the deep of the night, and Wei Zhao came to her in his pajamas...

On that rainy night, Songshan City seemed especially quiet. The vagrants and beggars in the streets had all vanished somewhere, and many restaurants and shops had closed early — on rainy days there were few customers.

But there was one place packed to overflowing. Even with the rain pouring down outside, it was still a roar of voices, bustling beyond measure.

That place was An Jianwen's underground boxing ring.

Yang Maoling looked at the opponent on the stage who had just won two bouts in a row, and could not help frowning.

How was this man so formidable? When someone had first approached him, all they said was that he would be fighting in an underground black-boxing match and could earn a hundred thousand yuan in commission. A hundred thousand! And that was win or lose.

Yang Maoling's heart was moved. He was a small-time thug from the market, making a bit of pocket money by bullying the vendors with extortion and petty demands — two or three thousand a month at the very most. Now someone was offering him a hundred thousand, and he accepted gladly.

As for why he had staged the appearance of fleeing in fear of punishment, that too had been Xiao Luozi's idea. The reason was simple: Xiao Luozi had told him beforehand that win or lose he would get a hundred thousand, but if he won he would get another three hundred thousand. And if he beat his opponent to death, the opponent's hundred thousand would be his as well — five hundred thousand in all.

But if you killed a man, you would have to run, wouldn't you? If you simply vanished for no reason, people would surely suspect you. But if you fled out of fear of punishment over some small matter, with a plausible cause, then people would naturally overlook you.

A little trouble like that would never make him a wanted man, so Yang Maoling thought it over and decided it made sense. He was big and burly, a thug by birth, and brawling was meat and drink to him. If he happened to kill his opponent by accident, that was hardly difficult.

And hearing that a win would bring another three hundred thousand, Yang Maoling knew this match would be a fight to the death. When a man's last strength was gone, who would be willing to let three hundred thousand in prize money slip away from under his feet?

So to win, he could only beat his opponent to death. Only that way could he be sure of victory — and get his hands on the other man's hundred thousand as well.

Yang Maoling was a thug to begin with, and he did not much care about human life. Especially in a place like this underground ring — if someone really was beaten to death, the owner certainly would not want a fuss. He could simply walk away, and after a few years, once the matter had blown over, nothing would come of it.

Only, Yang Maoling's thinking was fine; reality was cruel.

When he saw that short, stocky man on the stage — who did not look like much — win two matches in a row, Yang Maoling began to feel uneasy.

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