Chapter 176 | The Galgame Martial Saint

【Great Record of Love】

【Current Favorability: 0/Unknown】

Before him, the ink-black long hair of the Great Record cascaded down. Her face was fair and flawless, her features exquisite, yet it was a beauty entirely different from the bold and unrestrained grace of the Hundred Bones Resonating phantom. Her eyes held no sharpness, nor much sorrow or joy; her irises were a silver-grey, and deep within her pupils, fine specks of starlight flickered. It was as if thousands of scrolls depicting the mortal world were alternating between light and darkness within them.

She was beautiful, yet there was always a sense of awkwardness about her, as if she were an existence that "should not be standing here in a mortal coil."

The expression on her face was like that of a chess player who prided themselves on treating all living beings as pawns, only to suddenly realize they had somehow become a pawn on the board themselves and been forced into a corner. Her silver-grey eyes widened slightly, and her mouth parted just a bit.

Then, she slowly raised her head, looked at Gu Chengming, and said through forced composure, "Interesting indeed."

She parted her vermilion lips, her voice still the same gentle and indifferent female voice from before, but the eight-directional resonance that had sounded like a divine echo of the Great Dao had suddenly dropped to a clear voice coming from the mouth of the girl before him.

"You have set a game I did not calculate." The Great Record folded her hands over her lower abdomen. "However, it was merely uncalculated, nothing more."

She tilted her head slightly, her waterfall-like black hair sliding over her shoulder.

"No matter what kind of unorthodox trickery you have used on me, you cannot shake the fundamental gap between us. You are a Third Realm cultivator, while I am an existence transcending the cages of this world."

Gu Chengming was in no hurry to respond. He was trying to activate his other techniques, but they all ended in failure... It seemed the rules here were the same as the other sections of the Laboratory of Love.

Meanwhile, the Great Record’s voice continued incessantly, as if she were trying to mask her own nervousness.

"I admit, your methods are indeed unique. In my ten thousand years of observing the universe, I have never experienced being forcibly dragged into the mortal world and bestowed a physical body." She lowered her eyes to her palm, her slender jade fingers curling and stretching slightly, as if experiencing this entirely different, tangible sensation.

"But this does not affect the big picture."

She raised her eyes again, her silver-grey pupils staring directly at Gu Chengming, her tone steady and unhurried. "You have pulled me from the formless into the tangible, from the void into the web of the mortal world... To you, this might be a humiliating feat to gloat over. But have you ever considered that I, possessing this body, can also—"

Her words came to a sudden halt.

This was because she had just tried to use her divine sense to investigate Gu Chengming’s destiny, only to find that her ability to see the karma of all things at a glance could now only observe within a range of three zhang.

What was this? Were her skills banned too?

The faint smile on the Great Record’s lips froze. She skillfully picked up where she had left off, the transition seamless. "—can also take this opportunity to observe you at close range."

"After all, the further the distance for observation techniques, the more blurred the destiny becomes. By dragging me this close, you have saved me the karmic depletion of observing from afar."

"Regarding this..." She even gave a serious, slight nod. "I should actually say thank you."

After hearing this grand theory, Gu Chengming felt a sense of irony.

—That half-breath pause before your "thank you" was you making up an excuse on the spot, wasn't it?

However, Gu Chengming did not expose her. He simply asked with a normal expression, "Are you the Great Record?"

Upon hearing this, the Great Record’s body gave a slight shudder, but she quickly put on an act and asked in return, "You recognize me?" Her tone was still calm, but the question itself betrayed her situation.

If her deduction power were still at its peak, she wouldn't need to ask at all. She would only need to see through the karma lines around Gu Chengming to know the answer.

"The technique Ji Yixi cultivates is called the Great Record," Gu Chengming answered frankly. "It can observe the variables of thousands of destinies, which is exactly the same as your behavior just now... However, you aren't the version she cultivates, are you?"

Seeing that she couldn't keep up the act, the Great Record could only speak up. "It seems you know quite a lot."

But she immediately followed up with a face-saving remark. "However, there is a world of difference between knowing and understanding... You know my name, but you do not understand my true meaning."

"I am a mark left in the void; karma cannot bind me."

She spread her arms and chuckled with forced composure.

"This body you see is nothing more than a shadow forcibly gathered by your strange method. Even if you were to slash this shadow to pieces, it would never harm my essence. Therefore, you might as well save your strength."

—It seems Miss Great Record doesn't know her current situation yet...

Gu Chengming thought to himself, feeling a subtle sense of amusement.

"As I said..." The Great Record’s speaking speed slowed by half a beat, as if she were secretly weighing her words. "Although your method won the day by surprise, it cannot trap me. I am willing to discuss the Dao with you in this skin solely based on a bit of interest."

"Therefore—" She brought her hands back in front of her, regaining her initial composure. "I am willing to grant you an opportunity to seek enlightenment."

"What do you wish to explore?"

"The secrets of the old world, the mysteries of the unborn Dao Thrones, even the karma of the Cuiping Mountain abyss... I can resolve your doubts about all phenomena in heaven and earth."

"Of course, that is provided you can ask a good question worthy of my enlightenment."

However, Gu Chengming completely ignored what she was saying. What was on his mind right now was something else entirely.

It was impossible to use any techniques other than the designated target in the Laboratory of Love, but the problem was that Gu Chengming had never learned the Great Record at all.

Furthermore, the way to "clear" the Laboratory of Love previously was to defeat the final boss within the space.

For example, the Huiyuan Sword Manual of Love required defeating the phantom representing the limit of the Huiyuan Sword Manual, and the Hundred Bones Resonating of Love required defeating the Hundred Bones Resonating phantom.

And now... perhaps this phantom of the Great Record before him was the target he needed to defeat?

After making his judgment, Gu Chengming decided that he needed to "defeat" the Great Record.

However, the current situation was quite different from the previous times. After all, the previous times involved techniques that had already reached maximum favorability, and he used the techniques themselves to defeat the phantoms in the Laboratory of Love.

But he hadn't even learned the Great Record. How could he use the Great Record to defeat the Great Record?

Or rather, should he just defeat her directly without using any techniques?

At this thought, Gu Chengming looked at the black-haired girl before him.

I have no swords or techniques in my hands, but her hands are empty as well.

Isn't this just a mundane brawl, flesh against flesh?

He was a dignified Second Realm cultivator with a body at its peak, abundant spiritual energy, and a powerful physique tempered day and night by the Hundred Bones Resonating.

She, on the other hand, was a technique that had just been dragged into a mortal coil. He feared that even learning how to walk with two legs was something she had only learned a few dozen breaths ago.

Even if he couldn't display a bit of the Great Record’s divine power in this domain... who set the rule that a battle of methods must use spells?

Gu Chengming made up his mind and said, "I have no doubts to ask about."

The Great Record’s eyes shifted slightly. "Oh?"

Before her words could land, Gu Chengming had already moved.

The Great Record’s words were all stuck in her throat. Her silver-grey eyes widened as she forcibly activated her observation authority, but her domain, now only three zhang wide, could only deliver a magnified afterimage of an incoming fist when faced with a Gu Chengming who was already in her face.

Why did he start fighting after just one word?! Is this person a madman?!

At this thought, the Great Record gritted her teeth and made a decision. With a flash of silver light, her figure faded away like a splash of ink.

Gu Chengming’s punch hit nothing. What the Great Record had used was not an escape technique, but a leap to another slice of time.

Gu Chengming retracted his fist and stepped back, looking around. The white space remained the same, with only a few silver-grey glimmers lingering in mid-air before instantly dissipating.

Five zhang away, the Great Record reconsolidated her true form.

Her chest was heaving, and her breathing was quite erratic. For a creature that hadn't even possessed internal organs a few dozen breaths ago, this was truly a fresh and rather unseemly experience.

"You—" the Great Record spoke, her words losing their composure. "Have you truly gone mad?"

Coming from an existence that prided itself on being "beyond the constraints of realms," these words were a bit too pathetic.

She immediately realized her loss of composure and took a breath to calm her mind, but she wasn't accustomed to the body she had just acquired and coughed on the spot.

"Cough..."

She covered her lips with her sleeve, forcing herself into a composed stance. "A futile effort."

After a moment, the Great Record’s tone returned to calm. "You’ve seen it as well. I can move freely among slices of time—"

Gu Chengming stepped forward and charged again. Accompanied by the silver-grey light lighting up once more and her figure vanishing, he landed in a crouch.

This time, her landing point was eight zhang to Gu Chengming’s left front, the distance pulled even further—so far that it exceeded her suppressed observation range. she couldn't see Gu Chengming’s current expression clearly, but she could clearly see the figure approaching with a steady pace.

"I have said enough. Everything you do is a waste of effort."

The Great Record raised her voice, trying to pull this runaway situation back to the verbal battlefield she was most familiar with. "Calmly calculate. Can you gain a single benefit by attacking me? You cannot trap me, nor can you harm my essence. Although I have temporarily lost my great observation power, this time-shifting is still in my hands. Every time you throw a punch, I will leap once. You won't even touch the corner of my clothes."

These words did indeed sound reasonable, but Gu Chengming still noticed her distress. The interval between each of the Great Record’s reconsolidations was becoming longer. The first time-shifting had been instantaneous, but the second leap had an extra breath of pause. Time-shifting for her current self was definitely not without cost!

Gu Chengming’s footwork suddenly quickened. Sensing the approaching pressure, a flash of panic appeared in the Great Record’s eyes.

An observer of eternal ages would not fear a Third Realm cultivator, but that was indeed an emotion she had never been tainted by before.

"I am warning you one last time."

The Great Record took half a step back. The depletion from the two previous time-shifts made her suddenly realize that if she leaped again, she might...

"If you remain stubborn, I will surely turn your karmic destiny upside down!"

Even as she spoke the harsh words, she felt they were empty. Right now, she couldn't even clearly calculate when the opponent would attack; what could she use to manipulate karma?

Gu Chengming’s response was to speed up again. The Great Record gritted her silver teeth, but in that half-instant, Gu Chengming was already before her.

Silver-grey light poured out like water from a broken dam, and the Great Record’s figure began to blur again.

But this time, Gu Chengming did not throw a punch. Instead, he locked onto the position she was about to shift to. The previous two landing points had been behind him and to his left front; the next landing point was ten to one to his right rear.

Gu Chengming ignored the dissipating light and shadow before him, turned abruptly, and took two steps toward the right rear. The silver-grey light condensed exactly three feet ahead. The moment the Great Record landed, she ran straight into Gu Chengming, who was inches away.

Her pupils shrank; there was no escape.

"Wait—"

A punch, clean and direct, hit the Great Record right in the stomach.

"Guh—!"

A muffled groan, something that had never happened in the Great Record’s ten-thousand-year life and was quite a loss of face, was squeezed out of her throat.

Her body slammed forward, her long black hair falling like a broken beaded curtain, covering most of her face.

For the first time in eternal ages, the Great Record knelt on the ground, then curled up and rolled onto her side, her arms tightly clutching her abdomen.

Why did it hurt?

I am the Great Record, the legacy of the old world, transcending the mortal... transcending.

But it really hurts...

She curled into a ball, her long dress stained with dust, her jade-like black hair scattered all over the ground, and layers of mist rising in her silver-grey eyes.

The pain overflowed, and tears burst from her eyes. But for a creature that hadn't possessed a body until a few dozen breaths ago, this reaction’s grinding of her self-esteem was far worse than that punch to the stomach.

"You—"

She squeezed a single word through her teeth, lifting her face with effort.

With tearful eyes and red corners, curled on the ground clutching her stomach, the dignified "final legacy of the old world" was now glaring fiercely at the Gu Chengming before her in a state of utterly disgraced misery.

She was like a cat that had had its tail stepped on, wanting to bare its teeth but only able to let out a pained, aggrieved whimper.

"I originally wanted to discuss with you, yet you actually resorted to underhanded blows without distinguishing right from wrong—"

The end of her sentence trembled, half due to the pain in her abdomen and half from a messy emotion she couldn't yet categorize.

"You—you sort of—"

She tried to scavenge for a heavyweight word to label the fellow before her, but she was worried he would throw another punch, so she finally had to shut her lips in hatred and bury her face deep in her scattered long hair, her shoulders still trembling slightly, though it was unclear whether from pain or anger.