Qin Ruqing checked her task progress and had just completed her fifth task, with the sixth one approaching.

She had heard from the armor that the Fifth Lingyu’s eighth task would be ending soon, and, driven by a bit of competitive spirit, Qin Ruqing naturally hoped to outperform the Fifth Lingyu.

So, she set a small goal for herself: to finish by the seventh task at most, preferably by the sixth.

Given this “best” standard, it meant the next task was up next!

However, as Qin Ruqing reviewed the previous hunting tasks, she didn’t see any sign of ending. “If this goes on, it will never end! Maybe there’s something wrong with my approach to the tasks… or maybe I haven’t grasped the meaning behind these tasks well enough,” Qin Ruqing pondered thoughtfully.

Fortunately, this time, the trial tower didn’t rush into the next task like before, giving Qin Ruqing enough time to reflect.

Once she clarified her thoughts, Qin Ruqing called out, “Master, I’m ready.”

A beam of light descended, and the imposing armor appeared again.

“Trial participant 946, confirm the next task?”

“Confirm!”

Instead of directly teleporting, the armor asked, “The previous medicine taken by the trial participant has expired. Do you need to take another one?”

Hmm… Should she take another blue pill? Qin Ruqing was genuinely torn.

After so many tasks, she had completely understood the pill’s effects: it blocked pain and emotions.

This blocking didn’t make one completely numb but rather provided a pushing force. For instance, during the task of assassinating the third sister, although Qin Ruqing understood the principles and might have made the same decision eventually, the pill’s influence allowed her to decisively stab the third sister’s chest without hesitation.

The pill did help in completing tasks, but should she take it?

After much internal debate, Qin Ruqing slowly shook her head, “This time, I won’t take it.”

Everything has its pros and cons.

Blocking emotions also blurred her feelings and insights.

Moreover, with the pill, she was cold and sharp, which didn’t fully align with her true self.

She preferred to rely on her own will and understanding rather than on medication.

The armor said nothing and quietly departed, leaving Qin Ruqing to enter her sixth trial task.

This task felt the strangest to her because it didn’t feel fictional at all.

She was now in the Qin family’s South Ridge residence, and her identity was still the Qin family’s most talented Fifth Miss.

The plot was about a commercial clash between the Qin family and the Zhang family, where she had killed Zhang Li, detained Zhang family elders, and was now at the point where the Zhang family was coming to exchange people.

Qin Ruqing wondered why the illusion was just replaying past events without any new plot.

Could this still be called an illusion?

Anyway, the plot quickly progressed to the point where the mysterious black-robed figure, Tang Zifeng, came to the door.

Tang Zifeng negotiated with the Qin family and stayed with them.

Up to this point, Qin Ruqing still hadn’t found the target for this sixth task.

If previously, she could identify targets through faces like Ancestor or Third Sister, which had appeared in reality…

Now, Qin Ruqing was at the Qin family’s residence, where everyone was someone she knew in reality.

Since the target hadn’t appeared yet, she decided to put that aside and continued her old habit of teasing Tang Zifeng.

She couldn’t imagine life without teasing him—it was just too fun!

Seeing Tang Zifeng at this stage, Qin Ruqing felt a sense of novelty.

At this time, Xiao Tang was still a silent, gloomy young man who had been expelled from his family.

He wore a black robe all the time and avoided contact with others, even when at the Qin family’s house.

His silence and need for help made him seem easy to tease.

Qin Ruqing, who was in a stage where she disliked everyone, enjoyed teasing him and making use of his crafting skills.

Even in the illusion, she kept up this amusement—how could she not tease him?

It was so entertaining!

Looking at Tang Zifeng’s wooden expression and dark, mask-like face, with his lips set in a line of anger and his inability to argue, Qin Ruqing found it amusing.

As she watched him, she remembered the real Tang Zifeng and felt a sense of time passing.

Comparing then and now, Tang Zifeng had changed significantly! He was no longer the gloomy boy.

Although he still spoke little, his demeanor was now calm and warm.

He exuded a reassuring, confident glow after overcoming his inner struggles.

He stood firm and radiant, glowing with inner strength.

Qin Ruqing reflected on this change. Perhaps because she hadn’t taken the pill, she felt more involved in the illusion and her emotions were more active.

Next to her, Tang Zifeng couldn’t stand Qin Ruqing’s strange gaze.

He bit his lip and silently took out the spirit tools he had crafted from his storage bag. “The spirit energy accelerator and thermostat you asked me to upgrade for the Qin family’s medicine mountain, I’ve made a prototype. Please, have a look…”

He wished she wouldn’t stare at him so intently.

Qin Ruqing saw the spirit tools she had longed for but didn’t take them immediately.

Instead, she rested her chin on her hand and stared at Tang Zifeng with bright eyes. After blinking a few times, she spoke gently:

“Xiao Tang, do you know you’ll have many little fans in Xiling in the future?”

“Of course, there will be fans and admirers. They’ll cheer for you and see you as a role model. Do you believe that day will come?”

Although he was still a struggling youth now, he would become a renowned crafting genius in the future.

The mention of Xiling seemed to affect Tang Zifeng deeply. His expression darkened, and he suddenly stood up and left without looking back.

Qin Ruqing sighed, taking her time. “Ah, prophets are always lonely!”

The lonely prophet saw the story move to the Hundred Clans Conference.

At this point, Qin Ruqing realized that since the illusion was entirely based on her past without any changes, she might as well go along with it.

Revisiting her past this way seemed to give her a new perspective, revealing things she hadn’t noticed before.

She hadn’t realized before how the Fifth Lingyu’s interest in her was far greater than it should have been from their first meeting.

Perhaps she had thought about this issue before, but not deeply enough.

She believed it was just the Director’s playful nature, but after subsequent events, she realized that the Fifth Lingyu wasn’t just a natural trickster; he was quite scheming.

For someone with deep schemes to show immense interest in her upon first meeting and then to provide her with many benefits seemed suspicious.

It’s often said that those involved are the last to see clearly, and even if she thought about it, she might not fully grasp it.

In addition, Qin Ruqing discovered that the Song family, known for their entertainment business, had a sharp commercial sense.

Although her initial ranking in the Tianjiao manual was low, after seeing her performance in the first round of tests, they immediately sent people to investigate her in South Ridge.

Third Elder Song decisively developed a series of marketing strategies for her.

Qin Ruqing had previously thought that her fame came first, and then the Song family followed up.

Looking back now, it seemed that the Song family had sensed her potential early on, which helped boost her fame.

Of course, these were external factors; her recognition at the Hundred Clans Conference was primarily due to her own strength.

One thing Qin Ruqing didn’t notice was the various money-making trinkets that the Song family had created, such as a booklet of her exclusive interviews, a handbook of outstanding rankings, and flashy fairy jade slips.

Qin Ruqing thought these were just for show, but unexpectedly, her South Ridge team members each bought several copies.

Especially Tang Zifeng… he nearly bought out all the fairy jade slips related to her and kept them hidden in a storage bag.

He would occasionally sneak them out to look at them when no one was around.

Qin Ruqing thought to herself, “I didn’t know Xiao Tang was this kind of person, so shy yet secretly obsessed.”

Then, she saw that when Fifth Lingyu wanted to talk to her privately and asked her to join the Fifth family, Tang Zifeng had used a small insect-like spirit tool to eavesdrop!

Wow, Xiao Tang, you have quite a few tricks up your sleeve!

Finally, she saw the scene of the Hundred Clans Conference’s weapon refining competition.

Tang Zifeng was sitting steadily among the master refiners, standing out because of his distinguished aura.

As the refining began, these top young refiners took out their materials and started preparing.

Tang Zifeng displayed a bunch of pouches, each labeled with: “Qingqing spirit tool outer shell,” “Qingqing spirit tool main material,” and so on.

Qin Ruqing vividly remembered the deep impression when Tang Zifeng gave her the artifact shell, her heart racing with excitement.

Someone cared for her so much, preparing such a precious gift.

But she hadn’t seen the effort behind it and couldn’t imagine how hard it was to get those materials.

Tang Zifeng made it seem like it was no big deal, as if giving her a semi-artifact was like just treating her to a meal.

Qin Ruqing realized for the first time how much preparation went into refining a semi-artifact, and most of the materials were so rare she hadn’t even heard of them.

How long did it take to prepare all this? Where did these materials come from?

Tang Zifeng once casually mentioned that the materials were obtained by taking advantage of the Spirit Tool Association, which seemed amusing at the time.

But now, she realized that such precious materials couldn’t be easily obtained from the association.

He must have paid a significant price, perhaps taking on many spirit tool orders for the association.