Rebirth of an Idle Noblewoman

Gu Xiqiao didn’t sleep that night, going into the virtual space to complete her daily missions instead. She hadn’t been able to level up her calligraphy or ancient martial arts recently, and was getting slightly frustrated at that, so she decided to research more information in the virtual space with the system spirit.

 If anyone else knew her thoughts, they would probably want to strangle her. She had reached Bone Refinement level after just a few months, and that itself was already unheard of, and now she was complaining that it was too slow?

 The database that the system had was comprehensive, and with Gu Xiqiao’s mental power and being able to read ten lines at a glance, they still hadn’t even gone through one-tenth of it. She didn’t know how long she was in the virtual space, and the books around her had piled up like a small mountain, her mind completely occupied by the data and information that she was going through.

 There was also a pile of books next to the system spirit, as the spirit itself was data, all it needed to do was scan the books to extract the information.

 Although, even saying that it was just a bunch of data, it could also get tired. So it decided to sneak a break, and looked over to Gu Xiqiao who was sitting opposite it, but it suddenly realized that something was wrong with her, and issued a warning immediately, [Beauty Qiao, wake up, your mental power is about to collapse!]

 After sounding out the alarm, it booted Gu Xiqiao out of the void with its authority immediately.

 The familiar voice pierced through the haze in her mind, and Gu Xiqiao opened her eyes. Her head hurt, and it felt like thousands of needles stabbing her brain, the pain coming in waves after waves. Her pale lips were pressed together tightly, all the blood had drained from her face. During this time, strands of black mist slowly inched toward her. Just when it was about to touch her body, a golden light flickered out from her, making the mist evaporate instantly.

 Gu Xiqiao’s endurance was extremely strong, managing to calm herself after about ten minutes. Hearing footsteps coming from the corridor, she immediately turned on her computer, opening a game.

 A knock sounded on her door not long after, and although the door was locked, she didn’t get up to open it. Instead, she waved her hands and a click was heard, and the door opened.

 Tang Qinghong stood outside the door, a pair of onyx eyes on his symmetrical face, a gentle smile on his lips. Unlike Jiang Shuxuan’s cold extravagance that made it hard for people to ignore, his was a kind of soft and silent tenderness.

 “Have you been in the room this whole time?”

 “Yeah, is there a problem?” Gu Xiqiao asked, raising her head from the screen to look at him with an indifferent expression on her face.

 “No, nothing.” From where he stood, Tang Qinghong could see the screen was displaying a CG scene which seemed to be ending soon. “Goodnight then.”

 Closing the door quietly, Tang Qinghong looked back at the corridor with a look of confusion on his face. He had clearly felt something unusual in the room just now, how did it just vanish suddenly? Could it be just him overthinking things?

 Seeing that Tang Qinghong had left, Gu Xiqiao calmed down. She looked at the screen and saw a group of characters, one of them was a lolita character with the username ‘For a Millenium’ on top of her head, and she was leading everyone else through the dungeon.

 The lolita character was unlike the others, whenever she struck out, a mini-boss would fall down, defeated. Lashing out to strike again, the bigger bosses health would drop by half, and soon enough, the hardest dungeon in the game was easily conquered by the group of players.

 [Party] Whispering Winds: Er Qiao… you’re quite violent for a girl.

 [Party] Brother Wu: Er Qiao, you were so cool!

 [Party] Merciless Sky: Wait, isn’t the great god a man?

 [Party] Fallen Underwear Upstairs: With such nimble and violent technique, if the great god is a woman, I’ll eat my keyboard!

 [Party] For A Millenium: = =

 [Party] Merciless Sky: F*ck it! Group photo with great god in front!

 The system spirit is the most advanced artificial intelligence, and playing its own game that it had developed was practically cheating. The godlike controls that it played the game with had managed to shock every other player in the game within just a short few days.

 Previously in the server, there was a player named ‘Common’ that was known to be the ‘richest under heavens’ that everyone wanted to get closer to. Later, there came another player that was known to be ‘undefeatable’, a high level PK-er with the username ‘For A Millenium’ that every player wanted to party with.

 The rich and powerful Common had a weird temper, while For A Millenium had an icy cold attitude. The former of them would throw a large sum of money out to kill someone when they were unhappy, accurately depicting the word ‘powerful’, while the latter wouldn’t say a word in a thousand years, being as cold as they were mysterious. So when For A Millenium replied in the chat box for the first time, it was screenshot and posted on the game forum that night itself, discussions breaking out between those who were interested.

 Gu Xiqiao didn’t have much interest in the games, so once Tang Qinghong had left, she closed the laptop, leaving the rest of the game to the system spirit.

 In the game, Whispering Winds was Xiao Yun, while Brother Wu was the shameless Wu Hongwen, who always took advantage of other’s titles. Just as Gu Xiqiao closed her laptop, her phone rang and she picked it up, looking at the screen to find it was Xiao Yun calling her.

 “Er Qiao! You’re finally willing to show up!” Xiao Yun’s excited voice came through the phone, “Where are you now? You’re all alone this time, so let us know whatever you need and we’ll send it over.”

 Xiao Yun had turned into a mother hen immediately, and Gu Xiqiao leaned against the windowsill as she listened, her lips curving into a smile. “I’m fine, you guys can come over once I’m finished with what I have on my hands.”

 If she developed this place, she would inevitably need their help, as all those older companies would definitely have many connections. Her internet company was just starting out, and even though the company’s ability to earn money was strong, some things couldn’t be solved with just money.

 “Also, I’ve read through the book on the Firefly Illusions, and I don’t really understand it…” Xiao Yun said. She had already eaten the elixir that Gu Xiqiao had given her, but it seemed that there weren’t much changes apart from her skin becoming slightly better, and her strength getting a bit stronger?

 Not to mention, Yao Jiamu had already reached Beginner level, and even Wu Hongwen had started to feel the existence of chi. Why was it only she that couldn’t do it?

 Gu Xiqiao was silent for a while, before opening her mouth to reply cautiously, “You see, Xiao Yun, ancient martial arts depends on certain criterias, if you’re too dumb…”

 Before she could finish her sentence, the call was cut off, the dial tone echoing in her ear.

 [Beauty Qiao, Xiao Yin is so cute, how can you bear to hurt her!] The system spirit spoke up from the void space.

 “You’re being unusually emotional, are you jealous?”

 […please, no.] The system spirit replied, sculling away into a corner and continuing its game.

 Seeing that there wasn’t anything else that would distract her, Gu Xiqiao pulled out the bamboo tube from her inventory. As soon as the bamboo tube came in contact with the air, it began to vibrate violently without stopping. Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes, reaching out to knock on the tube, and it quieted down instantly.

 She touched the bamboo tube, and a book appeared in her other hand with a bright flash. This was a book that she had found in the void space, which detailed a record of the origin of this vengeful spirit.

 However, all the books that the system spirit had taken out were in tatters. The more valuable the book, the worse the condition it was, some of the words were unreadable, and the content was obscure and difficult to understand. It looked like she had her work cut out for her.

 According to the method written, Gu Xiqiao placed the bamboo tube on the floor, and then used her hands to quickly draw a pattern in the air. If the bamboo tube could, it would probably start struggling for freedom, but this entire space was already within her control.

 The bamboo tube quickly stopped its trembling, floating passively a bit above the ground. Gu Xiqiao glanced at the floating tube, her hands going faster and the tube slowly started rotating.

 As the tube prorated, a faint chi started leaking into the air.

 Gu Xiqiao seemed to not see it, her charcoal eyes trained on the bamboo tube unblinkingly.

 The bamboo tube finally stopped moving in mid-air, pointing down toward the ground!

 Crystal clear eyes followed the direction that the tube was pointing, looking at the ground. She gathered the chi in her body toward her eyes, and the floor that she was looking at slowly became transparent in her sight. In an instant, she could see the area below her house, the clumps of gray flooding her vision. Once it reached twenty meters below her house, she felt her mental powers straining.

 Taking a deep breath, Gu Xiqiao let her eyes droop slightly, the bamboo tube also falling at the same time. She reached out to touch it, and could feel the vengeful spirit being too quiet.

 Holding the bamboo tube in her hands, she pondered through the things she had found. It seemed like the problem was in her home, she had thought that it would be the mountain top. She wouldn’t need to go to the mountains for the time being then.

 [Beauty Qiao, since you’ve found the solution, the most important thing for you to do now is to upgrade your skills, especially your formations.] The system spirit said, watching Gu Xiqiao who was in a daze, [If you can’t handle it, then go to Jiang Shuxuan. This is really too weird of a situation, I’m worried that something will happen!]

 “Don’t worry,” Gu Xiqiao’s hand moved in a pattern again, “Didn’t you say I have quite the talent in handling this?”

 [It’s because you have the talent that I don’t want you to take unnecessary risks.]

 “This is not a risk,” Gu Xiqiao stood, patting herself to get rid of the non-existent dust on her body. “Help me redeem all the remaining points for time in the virtual space, I want to stay until I manage to advance my martial arts level!”

 Since Tang Qinghong had said that she was not high level enough, then she would just need to advance forward!

 If Tang Qinghong, who was next door heard what she said, he would surely be forced to puke blood again. Did she think that advancing your ancient martial arts level was like eating and drinking?! Say that you want to advance and you will? Was she looking down on all the geniuses on the list?!

 [Alright, but you have used a lot of your mental power today already, I will be closing the void space today, Beauty Qiao. You can come in tomorrow.] The system spirits paid close attention to Gu Xiqiao’s physical condition. It only had one host after all, and she was also adorable. If anything happened to her, then it wouldn’t be able to go on living.

 Gu Xiqiao wasn’t someone who was reckless either, and could listen to advice when she needed it. Taking the advice of the system spirit, she obediently went to bed to rest.

 The night was black as ink, the darkness covering all the stars in the sky. The system spirit floating in the air, not resting. It sat in a daze, watching Gu Xiqiao’s slumbering face throughout the night without sleeping. It wasn’t like it needed sleep anyway. ╮（╯▽╰）╭

 Outside her room, Su Wen had been standing in front of the door for a while. He had come back after the fish banquet dinner, while everyone else had remained at the campsite, setting up the tents that they had brought. He couldn’t sleep, and so had come here instead, standing in front of Gu Xiqiao’s room, but the lights inside had already been extinguished.

 After a long while, he turned and went down quietly.

 In order for Gu Xiqiao to have a good rest, the system spirit had isolated the entire room, even if there was any loud noise outside, it wouldn’t be heard inside the room.

 ***

 At dawn, Gu Xiqiao got up and exited the room, bumping into Tang Qinghong who was also heading downstairs.

 Tang Qinghong gave her a warm smile. “Hey, morning.”

 “Morning,” Gu Xiqiao said with a yawn, heading downstairs to do her morning run.

 Su Wen had also woken up early, and he was sitting in the hall, occasionally dozing off. Turning to see Gu Xiqiao coming down from the stairs, he was stunned by her beauty for a moment, before pulling himself together to greet her, and even invited himself along on her morning run.

 “There are two paths, are you sure you want to follow me?” When Shi Tou had followed her, it was nothing, since he was a kid after all, and someone she was familiar with. But it was a bit awkward when it was another peer with the same age as her, and an unfamiliar one at that.

 “I’ll keep up somehow,” Su Wen said, touching his nose. He realized for the first time how thick his face was, and then he suddenly saw two villagers who were busy farming in front of them, he immediately became nervous, “What is…”

 Before he could complete his sentence, the two villagers were coming over, and Su Wen stiffened, his eyes following their movements.

 “Little Gu, going on a morning run?” The two villagers greeted Gu Xiqiao cheerfully, with warm expressions. They chatted for a bit before leaving, no different than usual.

 If there was anything strange, it would be that the two villagers were treating Gu Xiqiao a little too kindly. Su Wen let out a sigh of relief when nothing that he was worried about happened, and continued to run along with Gu Xiqiao. He raised his head after a while, and realized that there was someone approaching them again.

 As they followed the path, the villagers that were on the road would all stop to greet Gu Xiqiao. Su Wen started off being worried in the beginning, to being reassured, and finally to being numb. Wasn’t her popularity a little high? To the point that she was loved by all?

 “Let’s talk,” Gu Xiqiao said, looking in the distance. There were rows of small tents by the creek, so she didn’t go any further, finding another place to start her practise, “You’ve been nervous the whole time you were following me, why are you here?”

 Su Wen also started to go through the motions for his own practice.

 “I heard that Jia Wei was talking about you yesterday… I was worried about the villagers’ reactions, so I followed you. I didn’t expect for them to be so kind.” Su Wen had been pleasantly surprised, he had woken up early in the morning, expecting to see the judgemental looks of the villagers, he didn’t expect the villagers to be so friendly.

 Hearing that, Gu Xiqiao laughed lightly. “Did you think that we’re like the people back in your city?”

 The people in the village had been receiving Yu Man’s blessing since they were young, when Gu Xiqiao grew up and learned a little from Yu Man, she would be the one to nurse the villagers when they had headaches or fevers in Yu Man’s absence. Yu Man had wrestled countless people back from the hands of death, the numbers could possibly even reach hundreds, and there were many people who came here especially in admiration of her. In order to repay her, those people had sent all kinds of valuables, but the majority of them had been rejected by Yu Man.

 The villagers were well aware of this. Not only that, this child was beautiful, obedient, and well-behaved. Even if they were out of their minds, they wouldn’t doubt the child who they had watched grow up with their own eyes.

 If you were to ask them, they would say, Little Gu was such a wonderful child. A luxury car? What about it? She deserves that and even more.

 Listening to Gu Xiqiao’s words, Su Wen blushed, his movements turning sluggish, “I was just worried.”

 “Wrong,” Gu Xiqiao said, narrowing her eyes as she watched Su Wen’s movements.

 Gu Xiqiao didn’t reply, but dropped her hands and walked to his side. Two pale fingers came out to adjust his stance, “Your punching movement is wrong, you don’t have enough strength. The angle of your arm needs to be wider in order to exert more force, and when you punch, the palm should be facing upward…”

 Su Wen followed her instructions robotically, his mind blank as he could only focus on the feel of her shallow breathing, and her ivory white face. Looking a little closer, her facial features really were very delicate, untainted by even a speck of dust.