Chapter 185 - 149: Not Even Pretending Anymore

The special training... continued until ten o’clock at night.

"What a shame!" Huo Qiming said, retracting his fist and exhaling. A hint of regret appeared in his eyes. "You still haven’t learned it! But... that’s to be expected."

Huo Qiming paced back and forth. "I should be leaving... But you! Ah, forget it."

He deliberately put on a show of hesitating repeatedly before finally looking like he’d made up his mind...

"I wonder if you would be willing to become my disciple?" Huo Qiming asked, his words firm and powerful as he looked Chu Bamboo straight in the eye.

Li Kang’s breath caught, his eyes filled with unconcealable excitement. He knew all too well just how high Captain Huo’s status was.

He was the Director of the Jinghai Police Chief Bureau, the part-time Captain of the Special Operations Brigade, and the supreme commander of the Captain’s Office’s armed forces in Jinghai City.

You could say that aside from the regular military, he had sole command over every other armed force in the entire city of Jinghai!

Moreover, he was in charge of everything from mortal forces to Extraordinary ones.

To be able to manage both Extraordinary and mortal affairs simultaneously...

That meant he was a figure favored by the Emperor!

Not to mention, Li Kang also knew that this man held the concurrent post of Governor for the Captain’s Office, responsible for overseeing the Captain’s Office’s judicial affairs—

What did that mean?

In the entire Captain’s Office, there were only two Governors in total.

One was stationed in the Imperial Capital, and the other was stationed here on the East Sea Coast!

On the surface, it seemed he was only stationed in a single city... but in reality, the subtext was that he could interfere in any matter concerning the Captain’s Office in the southern region of Daqian, all according to his own will!

This was a true magnate, second only to the Commander of the Captain’s Office.

If Chu Bamboo were to just nod, he would truly soar to the heavens in a single step...

"Why do you old geezers always like to pull this stunt?" Chu Bamboo rolled his eyes and laughed in exasperation.

"? Who else?" Huo Qiming’s expression turned serious.

’It’s fine if I take Mr. Zhu as my disciple... After all, he and I are life-and-death friends. Back then, when Mr. Zhu was eleven, we drank together at a post-war victory banquet and almost became sworn brothers... But someone else!’

’Which acquaintance is trying to take advantage of me?!’

"Hu Kaikang, who else," Chu Bamboo said, his face expressionless.

For a moment, Huo Qiming’s face stiffened. He narrowed his eyes, the smile vanishing from his face. "Ah, Bishop Hu."

After a brief silence, he gave Chu Bamboo a deep look. "You didn’t..."

"He’s not worthy," Chu Bamboo said succinctly. ’My relationship with that old geezer of a Bishop is very pure. The kind of relationship where if I catch a big fish today, I can spend three hours swaggering back and forth in front of him.’

". . . ?" Li Kang looked like he wanted to say something but held back. ’Won’t that be too hurtful to that lord?’

And then...

He watched, dumbfounded, as Huo Qiming actually nodded in deep agreement. "That’s true! I’m very gratified that you have such a clear understanding of yourself, and of him."

’Huh? For real...?’

Li Kang’s mind was in chaos. He was already trying to figure out what hidden identity Chu Bamboo could possibly have that would put him on par with a Cardinal!

’Don’t be fooled by the fact that the Cardinal holds no official position; even Governor Lu has to be polite and respectful in his presence.’

’Do you have any idea how intimidating the number one religion in all of Daqian is!’

’Suppression is one thing, but attitude is another.’

"A pity. Since you’re unwilling to become my disciple, I can only..." Huo Qiming was hesitating, wondering if he should come back in a couple of days and give some pointers under the guise of the Masked Hero. ’But if it really comes to that, with Mr. Zhu’s cleverness, he’ll definitely realize...’

"Oh, that’s fine! What I mean is," Chu Bamboo said with a smile, "see you in a bit."

Huo Qiming: "?"

The next instant, Chu Bamboo bit down on the poison.

A few breaths later, time began to reverse.

...

「The familiar Nuwa Base.」

Chu Bamboo got up calmly and stretched his body. "Man, that feels great!"

’I was worried at first. I didn’t know if I had ten resets, or if that would even be enough to learn it... But now...’

Chu Bamboo felt he could probably learn it after just three to five resets.

He might even get some unexpected surprises...

’Time to get back to training.’

Then, just like before, he pulled up the diary and waited for Li Kang and Huo Qiming to arrive. Even though he had already memorized the Memory Overwriting Technique, he still brought it out. After all, you can’t go fishing without bait, can you?

And then...

The special training, just like before!

Third time, activate!

Fourth time, activate!

Fifth time...

...

「In the Underground Temple Base.」

"Wait, something’s not right!"

Huo Qiming suddenly shot out his palm to stop Chu Bamboo’s counterattack. He stared at Chu Bamboo in astonishment, his voice trembling slightly. "You... How are you... Am I... Is this right?"

When they first started sparring, Chu Bamboo had seemed a little rusty, but then he became proficient at a speed visible to the naked eye.

During the sparring practice, he had even deliberately suppressed his physique to be on par with Chu Bamboo’s, intending to teach him some combat skills.

And then...

There was no ’and then’!

How was the guy opposite him perfectly reproducing his attack techniques?!

He felt like he was seeing a ghost.

As they fought, his opponent even started finding his weak points—and while he was deliberately leaving those openings as part of the training, how could someone possibly find them during their very first sparring session?!

He even wanted to ask, ’Are you sure your Divine Technique is memory? No... this has to be a lie!’

No matter how he looked at it, this Divine Technique felt a bit like the one belonging to that woman he’d fought when he battled his way to the Southern Border—one of the Five Poison Women from the Five Poison Sect, who possessed a Divine Technique suspected to be related to mirrors!

That woman’s Divine Technique was one of the most chilling he had ever encountered in his life—

It perfectly reproduced the person reflected by the mirror Divine Technique.

No matter what attack you used, your reflection in the mirror would execute the exact same move... with the exact same force!

"This is what memory is like," Chu Bamboo said, nodding calmly. ’The only reason I seemed rusty at the start was because I was faking it. I was mainly afraid of scaring the old geezer by being too good right from the get-go...’

’Of course, memory doesn’t provide a 100% perfect reproduction! But we’ve been sparring for five whole days and nights. If I still can’t remember it after all that, I might as well throw this Divine Technique away! It’d be useless.’

However...

From Huo Qiming’s perspective, this was far too terrifying. "...Are you sure it’s really memory?"

After asking, Huo Qiming naturally came to a confirmation. In a normal conversation with a friend, Chu Bamboo would only lie as a joke. But to emphasize it again and again could only mean it was the truth!

He was silent for a moment.

Yes, Huo Qiming knew that the gap between different Divine Techniques was immense! The disparity between them could be even greater than the one between a human and a paramecium...

There was no such thing as "no useless Divine Techniques, only useless people"—a Divine Technique was a Cultivator’s most important gamble in life! It was comparable to a normal person’s birth lottery.

But the problem was, you’re only in the First Realm right now—

Aside from those who specialized in attack-type Divine Techniques, a First Realm Cultivator was basically only a little stronger than a mortal! If they had a support-type ability, their hand-to-hand combat skills likely wouldn’t even measure up to a burly man who did manual labor year-round.

Regardless of whether your Divine Technique was strong or weak, the First Realm was the stage where the gap between individuals was the smallest!

To be able to use a Divine Technique that wasn’t a 100% reproduction-attribute type and display near-reproduction-level skill at this Realm... that was just too scary!

’So what, even though your Divine Technique isn’t Reproduction and only barely touches on that aspect, you can just use your talent to build on it and brute-force your way to a level comparable to an actual Cloned Divine Technique, is that it?!’

’Great, just great. You’re not even pretending anymore, are you?!’