204 OP Gacha Heroine
"We've got company."
Ma Ping glanced behind while he was flying south. Someone was following them by standing on a flying artifact.
Cao Mao also looked back. When he saw a weird hooded person on a flying snowboard, he got paranoid.
"Can you shoot him down? I don't like stalkers."
Ma Ping scanned the stalker's cultivation base. Even though they were almost a kilometer away, he could still hear Zhu Qiao's voice. She kept on screaming, telling them to wait for her.
When Ma Ping noticed the gender of the follower and her cultivation base, Ma Ping shook his head.
"Either you have an admirer or you forgot something. She's telling us to wait for her."
"She?"
"The girl is just a lowly 2nd-stage cultivator. She doesn't seem like someone who can hurt us. We should at least see what she wants with us."
"…"
Cao Mao turned around and waited for the lone pursuer. The other elders also stopped.
None of them realized that it was a big mistake.
…
"Finally."
Zhu Qiao smiled widely when she finally caught up with them. She paused 50 meters before the group and cupped her fist.
"Thank you for waiting. My name is Zhu Qiao, the youngest daughter of the Zhu Clan."
Zhu Qiao took off her hood and her mask, revealing her beauty. Yet, nobody cared about her look.
"It's been a while, E888," Cao Mao waved his hand. "Let's cut to the chase. What do you want?"
"You're still as crude as usual."
"..." Cao Mao unsheathed Killer Queen.
"Hey, hey! Calm down! Geez!" Zhu Qiao waved her hands in panic, "I just want to ask you something about the Myriad Cauldron Sect's previous event."
"What event?"
"It's the herb plane event last year."
"What about it?"
"Grr," Zhu Qiao had the urge to loudly complain that Cao Mao was too cold to her. Still, she held on. She took out a portrait of Xie Tian.
"Have you seen this guy inside the lower plane?"
Cao Mao squinted his eyes as he thought about the bounty of Xie Tian's corpse. He believed that Zhu Qiao was still looking for the dead body, "Are you looking for his dead body, too?"
"Could you please answer my question? Oh, I don't give a damn about his corpse. I'm looking for the person who killed the dude. Have you seen Xie Tian when he was alive or dead?"
Cao Mao sneered. He had the urge to tell Zhu Qiao that he killed Xie Tian, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.
"No."
"… Okay," Zhu Qiao raised her eyebrows, doubting Cao Mao. "Then, how did you get out of that realm? Many people told me they saw you getting captured by the dryads. From what I've gathered you're the only survivor that escaped from those monsters."
"Simple. I fucked them senseless, and I swagged out of there!"
Everyone: "…"
The elders sighed and shook their heads. This guy was the sickest pervert they had ever seen.
Normally, everybody would have thought that it was a lie since no sane cultivators had sex with monsters or demi-humans. Had they crossed the line, Qi deviation and Qi mutation would have ruined their cultivation future.
But in this case, Ju Shoufen and Ju Chen unhesitatnly believed Cao Mao. After all, only this sicko would do something absurd, such as having sex with monsters.
"So, you haven't seen Xie Tian at all?" Zhu Qiao still didn't want to believe him.
"I was too busy fucking the tree girls. I didn't have the time to look around and memorize the faces of others."
"Well, sure," Zhu Qiao took out a talisman from her spatial ring. Then, she tore it. "I'm going to ask the same questions, and I need you to answer me truthfully. Have you ever seen Xie Tian in the dryad's plane?"
"As I said before. Nope!"
BANG
A lightning bolt appeared out of nowhere and struck Cao Mao. It was a soft electrocution without the element Qi.
"Dafuq!?"
"That was a lie. The talisman I just tore is a lie detector. Whoever lies will get struck by the lightning of judgment. The first time is a warning shot, but the second time onward will be more severe. Mao Miaomiao, you'd better be careful with your words."
"You!!"
Cao Mao brandished Killer Queen and planned to kill Zhu Qiao here right away. However, the girl flew backward and tore 10 talismans at once. Her body faded into nothingness.
Yet, she could still talk without revealing her location.
[The next question is for Mao Miaomiao. Do you know anything about Xie Tian's death?]
Cao Mao expanded his senses while he looked around, searching for Zhu Qiao.
Her ability was the same as when he sparred with Zhu Qiao's clone. This was the part that made Zhu Qiao more dangerous than Xie Tian.
Her talismans were the real threat. Some of them could summon strong spells of a 6th-stage cultivator while many of them had strange abilities, such as generating various debuff effects on her foes, restriction spells, instant array formations, or even utilities.
Camouflage, teleportation, instant movements, and traps had been among the clones' favorite. When Cao Mao sparred with Zhu Qiao's clones, they usually used stealth talismans and ambushed him from a safe distance.
'This is bad. I've never found her when I fought with her clone. How am I going to find her in reality? Even if the real one is weaker than the clones, I don't think the talisman effect scales with her strength.'
While Cao Mao was looking for a way to counterattack, Zhu Qiao pressed on.
[You have a minute to answer my question. If you fail to answer, the lightning bolt will strike you again.]
Cao Mao clicked his tongue. Then, he glanced at Ju Shoufen and Ma Ping, asking for help with his eyes.
Ju Shoufen shook her head as she couldn't detect Zhu Qiao. As for Ma Ping, he had already activated his domain to search for the girl's whereabouts, but he couldn't find her.
"You should answer her question for now, Miaomiao. Give me a couple minutes."
Ma Ping wanted Cao Mao to buy time for him. He hadn't found Zhu Qiao, but he hadn't used his full strength either. He needed one minute to complete his ability. Then, he could seal the space within his domain and force everyone in the spiritual form to appear.
Cao Mao nodded, "Is there anyone else in your domain?"
"There are many weak people on the ground. Why?"
"Will there be anyone else who can hear my voice?"
"I doubt it. Most 6 and 7th-stage guys are in the city, and I don't think they are paying attention to us."
"Okay," Cao Mao turned around and gazed toward the place where Zhu Qiao had disappeared. "I know how Xie Tian died."
The lightning bolt didn't come for Cao Mao. Instead, a green light flashed on top of Cao Mao's head.
Ding-Ding
"…"
[It seems you're speaking the truth.]
Ju Shoufen stared at Cao Mao in shock. She didn't expect him to hide this piece of information from everyone. Since he could have exchanged this piece of information for essence cores from bounty hunters, it was illogical to keep it a secret.
Or, there was something that Cao Mao couldn't afford to reveal.
[Next question, who killed Xie Tian?]
Cao Mao clicked his tongue. He glanced at Ma Ping again, waiting for his help.
[You have 5 seconds to answer this question. Counting down… 3… 2… 1.]
Even under the pressure, Cao Mao chose to keep quiet.
[Time's up. Prepare for your punishment!]
BANG BANG BANG
Ten lightning bolts struck Cao Mao from every direction. This time, each of them contained a strong lightning element Qi, similar to the Heaven Will Eye that Cao Mao had fought.
Fortunately, Cao Mao had developed some resistance against the lightning element attack. He endured the electrocution and transferred some energy to KQ.
In the end, he was harmless.
Cao Mao chuckled. He planned to continue baiting for more lightning bolts while he was waiting for Ma Ping's help.
But Zhu Qiao was smarter.
[I'll ask you again, and I want you to say it within 3 seconds. Or else, the next lightning bolts will strike the weakest girl over there.]
Zhu Qiao targeted Ma Xingjuan, who was the weakest girl among the group.
Ju Shoufen and Pang Lingming had enough of this little 2nd-stage weakling's arrogance. They summoned their dao avatars.
"Enough of this impudence!" Cao Mao also already bought Ma Ping enough time to activate his domain power. The latter bellowed and unleashed his power.
Ma Ping's domain ability was similar to Jia Shan's power. As long as his target was within his domain, he could attack his prey at any angle without moving from his spot. But instead of using a sword, the ex-war hero used a halberd.
Ma Ping's nascent soul was completed, different from Jia Shan. The soul completely merged with his dao avatar, so he had another copy of himself, who had his own pool of energy and different abilities.
When a peak-ranked nascent soul expert fought, the fight would always become tag-team combat.
Ma Ping's nascent soul came out in the form of a knight in full-plate armor and two halberds. It was also riding a horse ghost with two sheep horns.
Without waiting for Ma Ping's command, the knight galloped its horned horse and charged toward the sky above everyone.
Suddenly, Ma Moxi appeared 3,000 feet above the ground. He was levitating 1,000 feet above Cao Mao and his family members, but his hand had caught something.
He caught the hooded cloth of Zhu Qiao.
"You've picked the wrong opponent, girly."
Ma Moxi ripped the hooded cloak. The invisible black cloth appeared after he separated it from its master.
Zhu Qiao managed to break free from Ma Moxi, but her body reappeared because of Ma Ping's domain suppression. The nascent soul of a ghost knight was also 50 meters away from her, and Ma Ping was about to swing his halberd.
Yet, she didn't show a sign of panic. She simply tore another talisman in her hand.
"None of you is my opponent, regardless of your cultivation base and skill!"
Ma Ping and his nascent soul swung their halberds, aiming at Zhu Qiao's neck.
CLANK!
A semi-transparent halberd suddenly appeared from her neck and blocked all attacks from Ma Ping!
At the same time, Zhu Qiao could hear her system's voice messages.
Ding
\u003cYou have used the ultra-rare talisman, COPYCAT.\u003e
\u003cYou have copied Ma Ping's cultivation base, abilities, energy pool, experience, and techniques. The effect lasts 20 seconds.\u003e
Suddenly, Zhu Qiao's cultivation base jumped from level 10 of the bone refinement realm to the peak-stage of nascent soul. She also took out an immortal-grade halberd and a heaven-grade tower shield from her inventory.
Zhu Qiao's nascent soul emerged. It had the same appearance as Ma Ping's soul, but something was different.
The semi-transparent horseman had floating spears behind its back!
The two knights began hacking at each other. At the same time, Zhu Qiao swung her halberd seventy times within a blink of an eye!
"!!!"
Ma Ping parried all domain attack from Zhu Qiao.
Yet, he was pushed back!
"IMPOSSIBLE!!"
Cao Mao, Ju Shoufen, Ma Moxi, and everybody was speechless. This weak girl suddenly transformed into a powerhouse elite that could suppress a nascent soul expert.
However, Ma Ping recognized the form of Zhu Qiao's nascent soul. It was the appearance of his soul when he was in his prime.
Ma Ping took the fight seriously. He decreased the size of his domain to focus on Zhu Qiao.
But the latter had another idea.
"Elder, if you keep on fighting, my next attack will be on them and him!"
Zhu Qiao swung her halberd again. This time, Ma Moxi was slashed. A long shallow wound appeared on his back. She also used her domain force to choke Ma Moxi's neck and used him as a hostage.
"DAMMIT!" Ma Moxi regretted not killing Zhu Qiao when he had a chance.
Ma Ping and Ma Shoucheng were panicking, "MOXI!!"
"I only want to ask questions, and I shall leave all of you alone after I get my answer. Now, Mao Miaomiao! Answer me! DID YOU KILL XIE TIAN OR WHAT!? I'LL COUNT TO THREE! IF YOU DON'T ANSWER, I'LL FUCKING KILL EVERYBODY!"
Zhu Qiao's presence grew to the point that everybody had a hard time maintaining their flight skill. They felt like the world's gravity increased by 10 folds.
Cao Mao gritted his teeth in frustration. Since he knew that Zhu Qiao's talismans and her abilities were dangerous, but he tried his best not to provoke her. Yet, Ma Ping lost his patience first.
Without a choice, Cao Mao confessed, hoping to save everyone, "FINE! I KILLED XIE TIAN! ARE YOU SATISFIED NOW!?"
"You should have told me that from the very beginning. You're wasting my time," Zhu Qiao snorted as she tossed Ma Moxi back to Cao Mao. She also commanded her nascent soul to stop engaging in combat and retreat.
Zhu Qiao got everything she needed to know. She disengaged and flew east.
Ma Ping and others didn't dare to pursue. They checked the condition of Ma Moxi and retreated south.
...
Unbeknownst to everyone, Zhu Qiao's clothes were drenched in sweat. Her heart rate reached 500 bpm, and it was about to burst from the nerve-wracking experience.
It was her first time using the copied abilities of a 7th-stage expert. Also, it was her first time bluffing so many powerful experts at once.
The talisman effect wore off, and her cultivation base reverted back to the level 10 bone refinement realm.
'That was fucking close! Why did I have to provoke them!? WTF brain!?'
Zhu Qiao held her head and screamed to the ground, releasing her frustration and her nervousness.
Also, her system quest updated.
Ding
\u003cYou have learned about the identity of the killer.\u003e
\u003cYou have many choices to proceed with this quest. Please pick one.\u003e
Zhu Qiao gritted her teeth. She read through her system menu.
Then, an evil smile appeared on her face.
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