Ji Changqing, who had been forced to make a name for herself in the league, was currently “bullying” Tao Jun for being a social butterfly and deliberately drawing aggro to her.

Getting famous with such a bizarre reputation was not what she wanted at all, okay? Victory in nine moves? That was because in the first few matches, her opponents weren’t experts. After two or three exchanges, she had a clear grasp of their abilities. She could have ended things quickly, but she felt a strange need to respect everyone’s enthusiasm for the competition, so she let it go on for a few more moves before taking them down.

Later, when people who wanted to annoy Tao Jun came for her, they would unleash their ultimate moves the moment they stepped onto the stage, trying to defeat her with a blitzkrieg. Naturally, she had to return the favor and beat them until they were seeing stars. As fate would have it, she just so happened to knock them off the stage on the ninth move.

Later still, she vaguely sensed that her cultivation realm was loosening, so she wanted to add some pressure on herself. Against weaker opponents, she would observe for a few more moves to see if she could gain any inspiration. Against stronger ones, she would try to finish them as quickly as possible to challenge herself.

Defeating a weak opponent in nine moves and forcing herself to defeat a strong one in nine moves were two completely different things. It had to be said that this combat rhythm was beneficial for her.

In the end, after that explosive hot post went viral, “victory in nine moves” became her idol burden.

And just like that, more than half the fun was gone!

It was all this guy Tao Jun’s fault! Who else was she supposed to beat up?

The instructor standing to the side said with an amused tone, “Alright, that’s enough. Get down here!”

“Instructor, we’re just having a friendly spar!” Ji Changqing declared righteously, landing two more punches on Tao Jun as she spoke. “Isn’t that right?”

Tao Jun gritted his teeth and took the two punches, then desperately threw one back, bruising the corner of her eye. Only then did he grunt, “Right, a spar!”

He found Ji Changqing to be completely unscientific. When others cultivated their physique, it wasn’t unusual to advance one level a year for the first three levels. But the higher one went, the harder it was to advance.

When Ji Changqing enrolled, she had just broken through to level seven. Now, after more than a hundred matches, she had broken through to level nine a few days ago!

In contrast, he looked pathetic. He was already at the early stage of level eight when he enrolled, and he still hadn’t broken through to level nine.

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me? I made a huge contribution to your path to fame!” Tao Jun was furious. Yes, even if those people’s initial goal was to annoy him, didn’t those idiots end up paving the way for Ji Changqing’s point accumulation, becoming the very fire that lit her path to fame?

Moreover, thanks to their dedicated sparring, they had indirectly contributed a tiny bit to this girl’s breakthrough to level nine.

And now, the biggest beneficiary wasn’t thanking him but was beating him up instead!

Ji Changqing dodged the angry punch he threw, sidestepped behind him, and mercilessly kicked him, sending him sprawling to the ground face-first. “They came looking for trouble and got turned into points because I can fight. What does that have to do with you?”

What angered her most wasn’t that those people came looking for trouble—she wasn’t afraid of trouble, anyway. What angered her was that this guy, Tao Jun, didn’t reflect on the trouble he had caused her and was instead smug about helping her become “infamously famous.”

He’d said things like, “Becoming famous across the Alliance is not a dream,” and told her to thank him and not to be so ruthless every time they fought, because it was making him lose face.

“I did it precisely because you can fight!” Tao Jun was about to explode. If Ji Changqing weren’t an interesting person, decent, and powerful enough, he would never have challenged her so openly. And after getting pinned to the ground and thrashed, he wouldn’t have spread the embarrassing story to pave the way for her! Just try that with anyone else! He could have thrown a sack over their head, dragged them into an alley for a beating, or secretly made things difficult for them—any of those would have let him vent his anger.

Therefore, he felt particularly wronged this time. It was his fault for having too many enemies, but he really hadn’t encouraged them to challenge Ji Changqing, okay?!

Through a series of coincidences, Ji Changqing had dealt with them and gained both fame and fortune. What right did she have to come back and find fault with him?!

Even if he couldn’t win, he would fight her to the bitter end!

The instructor below couldn’t help but facepalm, lamenting the twisted friendship between these two. “Get the hell down here, both of you! Time’s up!”

He needed to close the training ground and get off work on time!

Under the intimidating aura of an instructor obsessed with clocking out on time, the two who had been fighting inextricably finally stopped. They obediently came down from the dueling platform and squatted side-by-side on the ground, getting a thorough scolding from the instructor.

Anyone who delayed him from getting off work on time was a class enemy!

Once the instructor had vented his fill and mercifully told them to scram, the two of them, bruised and swollen, supported each other as they headed for the medical bay.

Tao Jun’s face was still tense, clearly written with the words: I’m still angry!

“Alright, I know you meant well. Thank you.” Ji Changqing’s mood had improved after the beatdown, and she felt she could spare a moment to humor the kid. Although they looked the same age, by Blue Star standards, well, Tao Jun was a good ten years younger than her eldest nephew.

They were practically from different generations.

The two of them had become friends through fighting. As the saying goes, the person who understands you best is often your opponent. By fighting, they had slowly gotten a feel for each other.

He was a prideful boy with a case of chuunibyou. By declaring, “She is the opponent I acknowledge,” he was expressing his admiration in a twisted, bizarre way. She is an opponent even I respect, so who among you dares to use dirty tricks? Are you looking down on me? It was his way of sending the message: “This person is under my protection.”

If Ji Changqing were still in her own chuunibyou phase, she would never have understood such twisted goodwill. She would most likely have thought this psycho was just a petty sore loser. An unending feud might be an exaggeration, but she definitely wouldn’t have had any positive feelings, only the desire to beat the crap out of the idiot every time she saw him!

The fact that she could now successfully decipher such a suffocatingly idiotic maneuver brought her no comfort at all.

It meant she had fallen!

Having been placated, Tao Jun let out a “humph,” and the tension in his face finally eased. In an instant, the frost melted, and spring blossoms bloomed. But his words were still stubborn. “Let me tell you, don’t be stupid. Hmph, they’re definitely all scheming to recruit you into their factions. I’m different. You’re not yet qualified to be my friend!”

His “they” had always included everyone, with no exception for people like Gu Changge and He Qingping.

Ji Changqing felt a bit helpless. Actively scouting and recruiting talent for one’s family was standard procedure. It was just like when she ran her own company; even if she wasn’t fully invested, she would unconsciously scout for suitable talent, enthusiastically persuade them to join, let them shine, expand the company’s business, and make good money for her.

As long as no underhanded methods were used, it wasn’t a big deal. It was better for others to see your value and be willing to spend time and effort recruiting you than for them to ignore you completely.

This just proved what a super-strong potential stock she was! Her future looked quite bright.

But in the eyes of an oddball like Tao Jun, friendships tainted with too many ulterior motives were a desecration of friendship! All those people had impure intentions; they were all trash!

Only he was pure. He only wanted to defeat Ji Changqing! She was merely a respectable opponent; he had no desire to be friends with her at all!

“Mhm, mhm, I know,” Ji Changqing replied perfunctorily.

Tao Jun wasn’t satisfied with her answer. He pursed his lips, which pulled at the wounds on his face, making him hiss in pain. He mumbled, “If they were really friends, why didn’t they team up with you this time? Why go on their own? Isn’t it because they’re starting to build their own teams?!”

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black. You’re all pretty much the same,” Ji Changqing said, treating it as if she were humoring a child. For once, she was patiently reasoning with him. You’re all doing the same thing, so why do you think you’re so fresh and unconventional?

“We’re completely different, okay? You and I are not friends!” Tao Jun was very displeased with Ji Changqing lumping them together. “I would never do something so misleading.”

They talk about being friends, but in the end, don’t they just want to make you part of their team? How is that any different from someone who calls you a good friend but then tries to hit on you?!

Wasn’t that the very misunderstanding he’d had back then? And then that petty woman had shot him in the head! All for offering her a few words of well-intentioned advice!

But clearly, Ji Changqing couldn’t comprehend his painstaking efforts. She just wanted to beat him up.

“I get it,” Ji Changqing replied nonchalantly.

Everyone had their own set of rules for life. If you couldn’t change them, you could only accept what you could and reject what you couldn’t. There was no need to accept or deny everything wholesale.

Although Tao Jun was an oddball, he certainly wasn’t wishy-washy. In fact, he was so purely utilitarian that it was almost cute.

Just like some people insisted on choosing partners from the same social class, he also required his friends to be his equals.

When he said Ji Changqing wasn’t yet qualified to be his friend, he was telling the truth. In his view, if they weren’t equals, one would inevitably become a subordinate. Even if they both considered each other friends in their hearts, others wouldn’t see it that way. They would only see Ji Changqing as part of his team.

It was better to be rivals!

At least it could elevate Ji Changqing’s status!

“Tao Jun’s friend” just didn’t sound as impressive as “Tao Jun’s fated rival”!

Ji Changqing deeply understood Tao Jun’s bizarre, twisted, yet transparently cold way of thinking. After all, she had her own painful, firsthand experience.

Back then, weren’t she and Yu Zhiyao in love and completely devoted to each other? Before Yu Zhiyao returned to take over her family business and become President Yu, no one knew the cruel truth of reality. Everyone thought they were a perfect match, incredibly happy.

But once Yu Zhiyao became President Yu, in the eyes of others, Ji Changqing suddenly transformed from an inseparable soulmate who was a perfect match from head to toe into a “kept woman.”

Even those who had previously thought they were a perfect match would casually say things like, “Wow, you really hit the jackpot.”

Even though she had force-fed herself ten thousand bowls of chicken soup for the soul back then, each one filled with “as long as we truly love each other, that’s all that matters,” didn’t she, in the end, still fall to the question of whether she was “good enough” for her?