The items available in the Electronic Girlfriend Store (Qi Refining Stage) were quite limited.
Chen Huaian already found some of them beneath notice—ordinary magic tools, low-grade spirit stones, basic talismans that were only really used by Li Qingran… They technically counted toward “consumption value,” sure, but wouldn’t spending money on these be a complete waste?
Thankfully, the store refreshed one limited item every week.
Last time, a set of clothes had been refreshed—and he’d bought it for Li Qingran.
And today just so happened to be Monday, when a new item was refreshed at the bottom of the store.
[Lingxiao Flying Boat — Price: ¥8888]
Can fly long distances. Speed equivalent to a Nascent Soul cultivator flying with a sword. Maximum capacity: 12 people. Full-speed flight consumes 1 spirit crystal per hour. First-time purchase includes 6 hours of flight time.
“Oh yeah, this is perfect!” Chen Huaian grinned. “It’ll save Li Qingran and Yue Qianchi from the fatigue of traveling—and reduce the chance of accidents!”
Without hesitation, he topped up another ¥2222 and bought it with a wave of his hand.
Boom!
Above Qinghe City, a ripple of intense spatial energy tore open the night sky. A sleek flying boat emerged from the void, hanging silently in the air.
The city was under curfew. But the sudden sight in the sky left the night patrol guards dumbfounded.
“Look! That’s gotta be an immortal’s flying boat!”
“An immortal! It’s an immortal!!”
“Hahahaha! An immortal has arrived! I need to go home and get my wife—maybe if we pray to him, we can have a child!”
…
“Flying boat!?”
In the Qinghe City Lord’s Mansion, a young girl sitting in a tree opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. Her gaze was clear and bright like spring water, but as her brows furrowed, two faint red lights flickered in her pupils.
“The Zen Sect? Could they be here already…? No, that doesn’t make sense…”
[Not the Zen Sect.]
A low, hoarse voice echoed in her ear—sometimes distant, sometimes near, drifting in and out like the wind, murmuring with a sinister tone.
[Hehehe… I see it clearly now. That flying boat belongs to two little girls—one’s at peak Qi Refining, the other is in early-stage Golden Core. They look delicious. Especially the Qi Refining one… how about it? Go. Kill them. Devour them. Let’s grow stronger together!]
The voice was manic, feverish. The more it spoke, the more it distorted, dripping with twisted excitement. The girl’s eyes flickered with a dangerous glint; clarity was slowly being replaced by greed and violence.
Her right hand trembled as it landed on the hilt of a black blade at her side. The sword trembled in response, its blood-red demonic energy beginning to seep through the sheath into the cold night air.
[Yes, that’s it… pull me out… let your killing intent flow… heheh…]
Snap!
The girl suddenly threw the sword to the ground, then leapt down from the tree and stomped hard on its scabbard.
“Tch. Keep dreaming.” She snorted coldly, and clarity returned to her gaze.
[Y-You dare toy with me!?]
The black sword shuddered violently.
The wild sword intent from the weapon slashed through the surrounding stone slabs, carving them with crisscrossed gashes.
“So what if I am? If you’ve got the guts, kill me.”
But the demonic sword knew it couldn’t kill this girl.
It slowly calmed down and stopped moving, lying motionless on the ground.
It hissed with malice:
[One day… you will be under my control, Mo Shumei. When that day comes, I hope you’re still bold enough to talk back to me like this!]
As the final words echoed in her ears, the sword fell completely silent.
The girl—Mo Shumei—picked up the black blade and reattached it to her waist, her expression troubled as she looked toward the flying boat still hanging in the sky.
Behind her, the gate to the inner courtyard of the City Lord’s mansion creaked ajar.
In the moonlight, corpses could be faintly seen scattered all around.
The Lord of Qinghe City had committed countless atrocities—harboring evil cultivators, exploiting the people, bleeding the city dry. His crimes had left Qinghe destitute and starving.
Unforgivable.
So she killed them all.
Not a single one left alive.
Every time her anger surged, blood had to be spilled—and that was exactly why she was constantly pursued by the so-called “righteous sects.”
The Zhongzhou Secret Realm was about to open.
She had been stuck at the late Golden Core stage for too long. She had to find the remaining fragments of the Raksha Heart Sutra inside that realm. Otherwise, just as the black blade warned, she didn’t know how long she could hold out before her fury erupted—and she lost herself, becoming the blade’s puppet entirely.
“My breathing has stabilized. Time to go.”
She pulled out a bottle of kerosene and doused the gate and the vermilion doors of the inner courtyard.
She flicked a finger—snap!
A spark ignited.
As flames began to rise, she had already vanished—leaping across the rooftops of Qinghe City, and within moments, disappearing into the wilderness beyond.
[The flying boat is ready.]
[You have used the advanced spirit gathering array. Do you want to move the advanced spirit gathering array onto the flying boat?]
<1> No. (Waste the current spirit gathering array)
<2> Yes. (Move the array directly)
<3> Top up ¥88 and use the secret technique: “Great Sumeru Hand” to transfer the array (No need to interrupt Li Qingran and Yue Qianchi’s cultivation)
Save when you can, spend when you must.
Chen Huaian was about to click <2>, but suddenly another prompt popped up:
[Alert! Your electronic girlfriend is breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage!]
Chen Huaian: “…”
Of all times, it had to be now?
He had no idea how long Li Qingran’s breakthrough would take. He might as well just spend ¥88 for a non-disruptive transfer, and take the chance to see what this so-called “Great Sumeru Hand” was.
As ¥88 vanished from his bank account…
Buzz!
A massive translucent hand glowing with spiritual energy descended from the heavens.
It reached into the building like plucking vegetables and ripped up the entire training chamber, roots and all.
Chen Huaian: “…F**k!”
The enormous hand even gave the room a little shake—flinging all the miscellaneous guests out the door like it was clearing trash. Once the freeloaders had been evicted, it spun the entire structure in mid-air and hurled it clean onto the deck of the flying boat.
Boom!
Perfect three-pointer.
“Good! Good! Big Sumeru Hand—you threw it beautifully!!”
Chen Huaian’s mouth twitched.
Thankfully, the people who got tossed were all cushioned by the energy of the Great Sumeru Hand, so nobody got hurt. He looked back into the training room—Li Qingran and Yue Qianchi were completely unaffected, still cultivating with absolute focus.
[Please confirm destination.]
Only one option appeared—Lingxi Valley.
Figures. Even if you buy props, the story still rails you onto the main plot.
Chen Huaian clicked confirm.
[Meridian-Opening Acupuncture Technique is advancing to Mastery. Estimated time: 3 hours.]
[You’re progressing too quickly. To prevent cerebral overload, please rest for now.]
A progress bar rolled across the screen—barely at 2%.
In the past, when he thought the “electronic girlfriend game” was just a silly app, he’d have laughed at this kind of warning about brain overload.
But now, he wasn’t so sure.
Because at this moment—his head was literally starting to throb.
The gap between “Minor Proficiency” and “Major Mastery” of the Meridian-Opening Technique wasn’t a crack—it was a canyon.
“Forget it. Nap time.” He turned off his phone and lay down on the bed.
When he woke up, the technique would probably have reached mastery…
Li Qingran and Yue Qianchi should also have arrived at Lingxi Valley.
Lingxi Valley —
“Nap a bit, and when I wake up, those two little rats from Sword Pavilion should be here.” Yun Suxin was about to lie down, but for some reason she felt strangely uneasy.
Still—this was Lingxi Valley, her own turf. What could possibly go wrong?
“Tch. I’m just scaring myself~”
She let out a soft hum.
Then shut her eyes—and peacefully drifted off to sleep.
