117: Be my girlfriend

Gu Xiaoyue's mind was completely occupied with the allocation plan for the Golden Herb—

Xiao Jiu and Qingqing didn't need it anymore.

Little Bear was devastated because its absorption of the han jiang grass had failed, so it had to be given one.

Little Green was a mid-grade Mad Demon, so it deserved one.

But who should get the last one? Xiao Lan was also a mid-grade Celestial Immortal, but Xiao Hei had arrived earlier, and Xiao Mo also contributed often—

In reality, she still had four Golden Herbs reserved for Yinglong and Hou, which couldn't be touched now.

While she was still struggling with the decision, He Zhichen snuck a glance at her, his face flushing red as he said, "Student Gu Xiaoyue, be my girlfriend!"

Gu Xiaoyue, who had been lost in thought, snapped back to reality. What did He Zhichen just say?

Chu Li spat out a mouthful of rice. Was he about to get his home base stolen?

And right in front of him, too?

Shui Lingyu's face darkened. After holding it in for a moment, he managed to choke out, "Student He, watch your words!"

Gu Xiaoyue's brain stalled for a moment. She put down her chopsticks and asked, "Wait a second, what did you say?"

He Zhichen's face turned slightly red, and he repeated himself somewhat bashfully, "Gu Xiaoyue, be my girlfriend!"

Gu Xiaoyue blinked, looking disbelieving. "What do you like about me?"

She almost blurted out, 'Whatever you like about me, I'll change it—'

He Zhichen replied very seriously, "I like that you are powerful. The way you summon your pets is incredibly charming!

The bond between you and your pets shows how well you treat them. You are a partner worth entrusting one's life to—or even a spouse!"

After listening, Gu Xiaoyue continued shoveling rice into her mouth. So, it was just a psychological attraction to strength—did that even count as genuine affection?

Gu Xiaoyue believed that He Zhichen probably didn't even realize that his 'liking' was no different from idol worship.

"Xiao Yue, do you agree?"

He Zhichen had taken the liberty of changing how he addressed her to sound more intimate.

Chu Li felt secretly pleased. 'She didn't agree, so naturally, that's a rejection!'

'Who confesses like that? It would be a miracle if that actually worked!'

Shui Lingyu also suppressed the corners of his mouth and continued eating in silence.

Until Gu Xiaoyue finished her meal, she wiped the corners of her mouth and said to He Zhichen, "You say you like my strength, but what if you meet a girl who is stronger than me in the future?"

He Zhichen shook his head and said affirmatively, "It's impossible for there to be a girl stronger than you!"

Gu Xiaoyue covered her forehead. Was this a case of self-hypnotic lovesickness?

"That's hard to say. There is always someone better, and there is always a heaven above heaven. There are many people stronger than me!"

"If you meet one later, will you abandon me?"

"You'd better think it over clearly!"

After saying that, she picked up her tray and left.

Chu Li and Shui Lingyu followed, leaving He Zhichen alone, dazed on the spot.

Back in the dormitory, she fed the two Golden Herbs to Little Bear and Little Green.

The two babies would need to sleep for seven days to absorb the energy.

Gu Xiaoyue struggled for a long time over which pet to give the last one to, then she went back to Coach Huo's office.

"Coach, I need han jiang grass and Golden Herb!"

Coach Huo's face scrunched up. "What? Didn't I just exchange three for you?"

"You want more? Did you blow up your cauldron while alchemy-making?!"

Gu Xiaoyue switched into shameless mode. "I have a use for them!"

"We're in closed training now, so send someone to the Beastmaster Association to collect them for me!"

"Even if it costs 150 million, I want them!"

"You, you, you—" Coach Huo pointed at Gu Xiaoyue, his finger trembling. "Do you know that you are disrupting the market!"

Gu Xiaoyue stared at Coach Huo with a pitiful expression, remaining silent.

Coach Huo stared back at her. After a long standoff, he sighed. "How many more do you need? I'll have Jiang Xuan collect them for you."

Gu Xiaoyue immediately transferred 2 billion star coins to Coach Huo. "Use this 2 billion to collect as much as you can. I'm going to train!"

With that, she took off running, leaving Coach Huo standing alone in the wind, disheveled.

"That brat, just how many pets does she have!"

"I told her not to rely entirely on spiritual plants and herbs, but she just won't listen!"

Before Gu Xiaoyue even reached the training ground, Xiao Qi and Bi Fang had both leveled up.

Xiao Qi went from the late stage of Mature Rank 5 to the early stage of Mature Rank 6.

Bi Fang went from the 10th level of the Young life stage to the early stage of Mature Rank 1.

Gu Xiaoyue found a spot to sit down, feeling the ninth strengthening of her body.

The system also began rattling off the rewards.

"Ding—Congratulations to the host for breaking through to a new achievement—"

"9 pets at Mature Rank 1 (Completed)—Reward: 2500 points, 3 Golden Herbs."

"1 pet at Mature Rank 6 (Completed)—Reward: 4500 points."

Gu Xiaoyue felt a surge of joy. The system knew exactly what she wanted and gave it to her!

She exchanged the points for 2 Huanpo Lotuses, leaving over 2000 points remaining.

She now had a surplus of 4 Golden Herbs, enough to give one each to Xiao Hei, Xiao Lan, Xiao Mo, and Bi Fang.

After feeding them the Golden Herbs, there were 4 more sleeping babies.

Gu Xiaoyue calculated that Yinglong and Hou should be leveling up in a few days too.

She didn't feel any significant changes from her ninth body strengthening.

Wait a minute, she counted on her fingers—Xiao Qi was a mid-grade Celestial Immortal and a Mature Rank 6; if he ate a hua yu fruit, shouldn't he be able to speak human language?

Gu Xiaoyue summoned Xiao Qi, fed him a hua yu fruit, and then stared at him.

After eating it, Xiao Qi stared back at her, but showed no intention of communicating.

The two of them stared at each other.

Still couldn't speak?

Gu Xiaoyue began to doubt her own common sense. Had she miscalculated?

After a while, she asked Xiao Qi, "Xiao Qi, look at Qingqing and Little Bear, they have light around their bodies when they reach the Celestial stage."

"Why don't you have anything?"

Actually, this was a question Gu Xiaoyue had wanted to ask for a long time.

Except for Xiao Qi, all her other pets had light corresponding to their attributes around them; only Xiao Qi did not.

Xiao Qi pursed his lips, his voice clear and bright: "Isn't it because you wanted to keep a low profile!"

Before the words had even faded, a purple light ignited around Xiao Qi, even brighter than the others.

Gu Xiaoyue felt a bit awkward; Xiao Qi was right.

She thought back to over a year ago, when she had first transmigrated—

She knew she was a trash character with all attributes, so she hadn't really held much hope for awakening her talent.

At that time, she had indeed wanted to keep a low profile and just survive.

It wasn't until her strength began to crush her peers and she had means of self-preservation that she started to reveal her edge bit by bit.

Even now, she still had to work hard to become stronger, even going so far as to pay high prices to acquire immortal herbs to level up her pets.

Gu Xiaoyue certainly knew that Coach Huo was right; pets shouldn't rely too much on spiritual plants to level up.

But she was currently being hunted with a bounty on her head, even if it was only 300,000.

But what if a bigwig actually took it seriously? The clause attached to the bounty—that she possessed massive amounts of heavenly treasures—was also very dangerous.

Plus, she had offended the Xiao Family before; although she had redirected the trouble by having Xiao Mingyan deal with the Gu Family.

Who knew how long Gu Yongze could hold out?

At the end of the day, she had to be strong herself!

Gu Xiaoyue put Xiao Qi away. The first thing he did was roast her—he really was her good boy!

She went to find Chu Li for training, planning to wait peacefully for Yinglong and Hou to level up.

Unexpectedly, three days later, several uninvited guests arrived at the National Team.