Wang Shangmeng laughed heartily and shouted, "Watch this! This is another one of my signature skills!"
As soon as he finished speaking,
A mass of blue misty substance suddenly appeared beside Youyin, flickering and indistinct, making it impossible to tell what it was at first.
But then, the blue unknown object converged, gradually revealing its general form.
Gu Ya's eyes widened, "This is..."
Two Youyin units simultaneously appeared in the sky, like mirrors, performing opposite actions.
The real Youyin moved right, while the mirror image moved left.
"Create a target machine!" Wang Shangmeng yelled.
Gu Ya complied, and a regular mecha instantly materialized in the sky.
The two Youyin units' aura suddenly erupted, and they shot up from the left and right in unison.
In just 0.5 seconds, the two Youyin units executed a series of attacks.
If Gu Ya hadn't had [Active Mind], his naked eyes wouldn't have been able to follow; Wang Shangmeng had unleashed ten sword strikes in less than a second!
"Hahahaha! I'm liking this mecha more and more! It can bring out my skills to their absolute limit!" Wang Shangmeng roared with laughter.
Gu Ya asked excitedly, "Tell me how you did it!"
"It's by using coolant to crystallize in the air, and a miniature holographic projector that can emit controllable light particles. Hahaha! The principle is very simple, but it's all just for show."
"The real power of this move lies in unleashing ten sword strikes from different directions instantaneously! Coupled with extreme speed and reverse mirroring, it creates a perfect illusion!"
Gu Ya nodded.
"Next, my ultimate signature move!" Wang Shangmeng's tone was suddenly filled with killing intent.
"To defeat me with Qilong..."
Gu Ya was shocked and shouted, "You're bullying me! Qilong can't even compare to Youyin's performance! Besides, Qilong is already injured, its combat capabilities have dropped to..."
"That's why I say you rely too much on the mecha's performance!" Wang Shangmeng said coldly, "When facing a desperate situation, turning the tide is the most basic ability of every Xianxia War God!"
Gu Ya was stunned. Xianxia War God?
"Master, are you treating me as a Xianxia War God?" Gu Ya asked.
"Hahaha!" Wang Shangmeng burst into laughter. "Precisely! In terms of strength, you can rank among the War Gods. But your fundamentals are too weak, your ceiling is capped."
"To raise that ceiling, your fundamentals must be solid!"
"The first step is to defeat a high-performance mecha with a severely underperforming one!"
Upon hearing Wang Shangmeng's words, Gu Ya was filled with heroic spirit. A surge of blood rushed to his brain, stimulating his neural pathways and causing a massive secretion of dopamine and endorphins.
"Alright! Please guide me!" Gu Ya responded with excitement in his eyes.
Qilong erupted with white energy and charged forward.
Twenty minutes later, the Qilong mecha slowly landed on the ground with a clang. Its knees buckled, it knelt on the ground, its head hung low, its shoulders slumped, like a fallen corpse.
Gu Ya kicked the cockpit door twice, forcing it open, and crawled out.
Youyin slowly descended from the sky, and Wang Shangmeng laughed loudly, "Practice well, we'll battle again when I return!" He reactivated Youyin, preparing to fly away.
Gu Ya's eyelids drooped. He thought Wang Shangmeng was trying to abscond with Youyin again and shouted, "Youyin, come back!"
Wang Shangmeng plummeted from a height of over ten meters. Gu Ya quickly deployed an air cushion to catch him.
"So stingy!" Wang Shangmeng yelled angrily, "I didn't even ask about your ultimate move, and you lent me Youyin to pilot!"
Gu Ya looked at Wang Shangmeng and then grinned mischievously, "No way!"
Wang Shangmeng froze and then shouted, "Hey, you're trying to get something for nothing!"
Gu Ya, with a straight face, laughed and said, "I learned it from you, Master!"
Wang Shangmeng put his hands on his hips and laughed, "Don't call me Master anymore! We're mentor and friend; let's call each other brothers from now on!"
Wang Shangmeng's smile faded as he looked at Gu Ya seriously. "I have one last question for you. Why do you want to become stronger?"
Gu Ya replied without hesitation, "To protect the people I love! And for Xianxia!"
Wang Shangmeng looked into Gu Ya's eyes, smiled, and nodded gently, "Follow your heart; your heart holds your answer."
Gu Ya quickly asked, "I also have one last question. What is your rank among the Xianxia War Gods?"
Wang Shangmeng walked towards Qilong, patted its leg armor, and looked up, saying lightly, "Only in the lower to mid-tier."
Gu Ya pressed, "Why haven't we seen the War Gods on the main battlefield?"
"Fix Qilong for me, and I'll tell you, hahaha!" Wang Shangmeng laughed.
"Brother, you're really good at bargaining!"
Gu Ya opened the system store and quickly browsed the latest model armed mechas, selecting a suitable one for Wang Shangmeng.
The space rippled, and with a flash of white light,
A brand new, never-before-seen mecha appeared before the two. It had a deep blue and black armor coating, was a head shorter than Qilong, and its compact armor was more ergonomic.
Five beam sword hilts were mounted around the hip.
This gave the entire mecha a sense of agile power.
Gu Ya's system voice chimed:
[Rare item drop rate triggered, acquired Future Tech Mecha...]
"Future Tech... I don't want to give it to you anymore," Gu Ya murmured, looking at the mecha.
Wang Shangmeng let out a loud laugh, "I accept it with pleasure!"
The mecha seemed to sense Wang Shangmeng's call, and its rising armrest "swooshed" out, landing steadily in Wang Shangmeng's hand.
Wang Shangmeng turned back and smiled, "Brother, we'll battle again when I return!"
"Hey, you still haven't told me the answer!"
Wang Shangmeng chuckled and said, "If the Xianxia War Gods appear, Black Star will dispatch pilots and mechas of corresponding combat power."
"Regardless of who wins or loses, the survivors will go on a killing spree."
"So, a strange balance has been reached. If you don't field War Gods, I won't deploy them."
"Most War Gods are dispatched overseas for secret missions."
"Alright! I have to go!"
Saying that, Wang Shangmeng slid into the mecha's cockpit. The mecha's orange aura erupted, and it shot into the sky.
It circled twice above Gu Ya's head before speeding eastward, disappearing into the horizon.
Gu Ya watched it leave, his heart filled with excitement.
Suddenly, he felt a surge of fighting spirit again! Ever since recovering his memories, he felt no attachment to this academy.
But now, Wang Shangmeng's words had rekindled Gu Ya's drive to become stronger.
"Defeating high-performance, even super-high-performance mechas with a junky mecha is unbelievable, yet exciting."
"It's like fighting a martial arts master with a ton of weight tied to your limbs, putting yourself in a desperate situation to unleash greater potential!"
At this moment, his communicator lit up.
Gu Ya answered and saw it was Sister Ling Ling. It was already past midnight, so it wasn't unusual for her to be awake.
"You little rascal, you visited your two sisters after coming home, but you didn't even come to see me." Ling Ling sounded a bit miffed.
"Sister, I was afraid I'd disturb your nightlife. What if you brought a young, handsome guy over and I bumped into you? It would be so awkward." Gu Ya forced a smile of apology, recalling the scene in the basement of Liehuang Company, which made him feel uneasy.
Ling Ling grew even more annoyed, her cheeks flushing. It was obvious she had been drinking. "Stop joking! Is the revenge over? Did you see Ye Ying? Hurry over here and tell me everything truthfully! I need to check if you're injured!"
"No drinking, but we can chat~"
Less than an hour later, Gu Ya arrived at Ling Ling's office.
The siblings exchanged pleasantries and chatted about their experiences in Yadaya.
Ling Ling proudly patted Gu Ya's shoulder and said, "I didn't expect you to improve so much in over half a year. When I first met you, you were still a poor kid without a mecha."
"Jude, the mecha-less one. When I first saw you, I thought you were crazy, hahaha!"
Gu Ya sighed and said, "Back then, I was stubbornly determined to save Youyou. But looking back, why didn't I just eliminate Wang Panpan and her gang? It was truly idiotic."
Ling Ling patted Gu Ya's head with affection, her face flushed as she said, "If you hadn't been so foolish, we wouldn't have recognized each other so soon, nor would the events that followed have happened! Come, have a drink with me, and then we'll look forward to the mecha bounty competition next week."
Indeed, it had been half a year, and the mecha bounty competition was due to start.
"Fight in the bounty competition with your War God's demeanor, and earn another million pocket money!" Ling Ling declared drunkenly.
However, this time, Gu Ya had a new idea.
"Sister, leave the opportunity to others. I have something more interesting to do."