Chapter 116 – Li Qinghe Completely Loses It, System Explodes With Big Prize!

The evening wind was bitterly cold.

Li Qinghe’s heart felt equally frigid as she stared at Qin Yang walking along the path below, feeling her entire worldview had been overturned.

The moment she saw Qin Yang enter the array, she started counting the time. Even if he could break it, it should take at least forty minutes, right?

But the result…

This time, Qin Yang’s array-breaking was even more absurd than last time!

Less than thirty seconds…

What could be accomplished in that time?

Not even enough to finish a meal!

She had worked so hard setting up the array for a full hour!

And you break it in thirty seconds?!

Could you at least show some respect?

All her confidence about definitely winning this time and driving this bastard out of Jianghai City had been in vain.

Extreme unwillingness filled Li Qinghe’s heart. Feeling dizzy, she struggled to maintain her balance in the night wind before descending from the pavilion eaves to the ground.

The aftereffects of depleted mental energy combined with her agitated state left her in poor condition.

Array formations represented the lifeblood of every array master.

She had poured her heart and soul into meticulously setting this up.

And this was the result she got?!

What Myriad Formation Diagram, what Illusory Array—they were all trivial matters in Qin Yang’s eyes… How was she supposed to keep playing this game?

Thinking this, Li Qinghe knelt on the ground clutching the Myriad Formation Diagram, utterly devastated, her complexion pale and dispirited.

……

“So? The array’s broken now.”

Amid the wild grass, Qin Yang slowly approached her, crouched down, patted her cheek and said with a laugh: “Time to keep your promise, my good disciple, isn’t it?”

“I…”

Li Qinghe hesitated, then snapped back to reality and looked up unwillingly. “Qin, just how did you do it?”

She considered herself a person of her word. Since she lost the array competition, she at least needed to understand why she failed.

Only then could she accept defeat wholeheartedly.

“How did I do it?”

Qin Yang pretended to look around puzzled, then slapped his forehead teasingly: “Oh! You mean that Illusory Array of yours? Isn’t it… something anyone with hands could do?”

His calm words hung in the air.

“You!”

Li Qinghe gritted her teeth, struggling internally. “Absolutely impossible!”

This time, Qin Yang’s array-breaking was far more outrageous than last time at the library.

Last time at least he tried to find the Array Eye, breaking through at a single point by disrupting the scattered Starstones.

But this time?

He didn’t even bother pretending, just laid his cards on the table!

Without even using Formation Dao knowledge, he simply erupted with Star Power, using brute force to overcome technique, forcibly crushing a third-level array formation, turning everything upside down!

“Just how powerful is this Qin guy really?”

Li Qinghe stared at the carefree Qin Yang before her, feeling frustrated.

During normal times, she never saw him cultivating…

So why does breaking arrays now seem as ordinary as drinking water or eating rice to him?

“Could it be… I really have to acknowledge this slacker as my master?”

After some thought, Li Qinghe hesitated, suddenly remembering Li Zixuan.

Given how close Qin Yang had been with her these past few days, what if he mentioned this to Zixuan-mei? If comparisons were made, wouldn’t her image be completely exposed?

At this thought.

Li Qinghe frowned deeply, immediately feeling like reneging.

If Zixuan-mei found out I acknowledged her Senior Brother as my master…

How would the seniority work then?

Would the three of us each follow different rules?

You call him Senior Brother, I call you Martial Aunt, and you call me cousin?

“Tsk~”Just thinking about that scene made Li Qinghe’s stomach ache with regret. She really wanted to slap her past self who had been so arrogant.

The louder she had boasted before, the more it stung now.

“Hey, made up your mind yet?” Qin Yang crouched in front of Li Qinghe, watching her hesitate for so long that he couldn’t help but grow suspicious. “You’re not thinking of backing out, are you?”

“Bullshit! How could I possibly go back on my word?”

Hearing this, Li Qinghe lifted her delicate face, panting lightly from exhaustion. “I’m just a bit tired and need to rest.”

“Tch, don’t give me that. With your mental fortitude, you call yourself an Array Diagram master? It’s just one word—are you going to say it or not?”

After speaking, Qin Yang studied her somewhat heroic features, then closed his eyes and patiently waited for her response.

After all.

He hadn’t come all this way for nothing.

A moment later.

The night wind rustled, moonlight spilled over the reeds, and the mountains lay in silence.

Li Qinghe hesitated for a long time, her expression shifting multiple times until it finally turned ashen. Her throat moved, and at last, two words escaped her lips—

“Shifu…”

The voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, mingling with the chirping of crickets under the moonlight.

It seemed to take all her strength to utter.

Humiliation. Resentment.

Qin Yang picked at his ear, hearing her words, and instantly felt pleased.

This girl had indeed conceded.

This challenge hadn’t been in vain.

Wuwuwu~

Soft sobs emerged.

As soon as Li Qinghe finished speaking, her delicate frame suddenly trembled. Burying her face in the grass, her whole body shook uncontrollably—she had actually started crying.

She had been pampered since childhood, gifted with exceptional talent, and rarely faced setbacks—truly a flower raised in a greenhouse.

“?”

“Huh? Crying already?”

Hearing the sound, Qin Yang glanced at Li Qinghe and was immediately speechless.

Seriously…

Did I even ask you to do anything?

Just calling me ‘Shifu’—was it really that devastating?

This girl was all bark and no bite, her resilience even weaker than expected.

But in the end, she had kept her promise.

He had been prepared for her to renege, thinking he’d just let it go, but she had actually called him ‘Shifu.’

………………

Lying in the grass, Li Qinghe thought of the “Shifu” she had just uttered and felt both ashamed and furious, her eyes misty with tears.

She was the esteemed young lady of the Li Family—when had she ever suffered such humiliation?

But now, after encountering Qin Yang, she couldn’t defeat him and had to swallow her pride.

So infuriating!

She felt utterly wronged!

“Cry then, take your time. There will be plenty more times for you to cry in the future.”

Listening to her broken sobs, Qin Yang smiled faintly and paid no further attention, turning to walk toward Xiaobai.

After all, a bet was a bet.

These past few days, Li Qinghe had been used to being willful and domineering, and she had brought this hardship upon herself by running into someone like him.

Letting this inherently tsundere young lady suffer a little was actually good for her.

So she wouldn’t be overwhelmed by minor setbacks in the future.

“I wonder what the reward will be for breaking Li Qinghe this time?”

Just as Qin Yang was anticipating this, the system’s voice, delayed as ever, finally rang out—

“Detected that the host has broken through Array Grandmaster Li Qinghe’s Myriad Formation Diagram. Reward amplified fiftyfold!”

“Acquired one Array Law Shard, Array Core.”

Huh?

Seeing this, Qin Yang checked the reward’s description.

What is the Array Core?Array Formations have eyes that can determine the four directions and eight positions, guiding toward fortune and avoiding calamity.

Yet this Array Core is even more extraordinary—it aligns oneself with the Formation Dao of heaven and earth, merging into the myriad laws.

I am the direction, I am fortune and calamity; all things in the four directions are under my dominion.

(End of Chapter)