How Did the Reborn Empress Become My Bootlicker? - Chapter 15:

Chapter 15: You Want to Join Too? You Don’t Want to Be Separated From Him, Right?

Shangguan Ru only smiled faintly, standing still in place without moving.

The white gaseous energy coiled around her right hand suddenly expanded across her entire body as if it had a will of its own, forming a thin shield on her surface.

When Su Yuan’s fist made contact with this layer of Qi, it met enormous resistance and couldn’t go any further.

But Su Yuan had expected this.

He had only just awakened. No matter how high his Talent was, it was unrealistic to think he could hurt someone like Shangguan Ru, who was many realms above him.

What truly shocked him was—

The Source Energy he had condensed on his fist was actually decomposed by that white Qi!

Decomposing Source Energy!?

What kind of bizarre power was this?

“You’re already able to use Source Energy to strengthen your body during the Awakening Stage… your physique is truly excellent,” Shangguan Ru said with clear approval as she nodded.

Su Yuan had just snapped out of his shock, but hearing her say “physique” like that made him feel a little weird.

Calling people’s bodies ‘excellent’ like that all the time—wouldn’t people mistake her for some kind of… muscle-fetish perv?

“Right,” Shangguan Ru said, raising her other hand.

In her palm was a miniature Source Energy fluctuation tester.

The reading on it was—zero!

“See?” Shangguan Ru smiled brightly.

“My ‘Qi’ doesn’t rely on Source Energy at all. It’s an independent system. When I use it, there’s no Source Energy fluctuation. That’s proof.”

Su Yuan shook his hand, still tingling from the impact, and questioned, “Then… could this just be your Talent? Some Talents don’t require Source Energy, right?”

Shangguan Ru shook her head, “No, I can confirm this isn’t a Talent. When Talents awaken, the user knows clearly what they are. This ‘Qi’ was something I accidentally grasped during a university training expedition.”

Hearing this, Su Yuan grew even more curious. “If that’s true, then with your wealth and resources, you must’ve run multiple training experiments already, right? None of them succeeded?”

Shangguan Ru pursed her lips. “Actually, it’s only been a year since I gained control of ‘Qi.’ I haven’t conducted that many experiments. Besides—”

“SSS-grade Talents are rare to begin with. And SSS-grade physical enhancement Talents? Even rarer.”

“And this kind of ‘Qi’ can only be grasped through extreme physical tempering.”

“The previous testers all had weak willpower. They couldn’t even make it through the high-pressure endurance tests. They gave up before reaching the threshold…”

So that’s how it was.

Su Yuan glanced thoughtfully at Shangguan Meng, who sat cross-legged on the sofa.

Was the reason she gave him [Pity +300!] because she had personally witnessed Shangguan Ru’s training plan and was traumatized by its cruelty?

As if she could understand what his gaze meant, Shangguan Meng winked at him and gave a sweet smile.

“Don’t worry, big brother~”

“My sister’s training plan is very effective!”

“Even if you don’t manage to grasp ‘Qi,’ your combat strength and fighting willpower will far surpass others at your level~”

And she wasn’t lying.

Though all the previous test subjects had ended up with psychological trauma and reacted to Shangguan Ru like she was a grim reaper, their combat power did rise significantly.

One SS-grade physical enhancement Talent user even managed to fight toe-to-toe with an SSS-grade opponent of the same realm.

Of course…

These two playful sisters weren’t going to fool Su Yuan.

That bright, shining [Pity +300!] was slapped right across his face.

Think he didn’t notice?

Still—

All for Emotion Points!

Su Yuan took a deep breath and looked seriously at Shangguan Ru.

“Director, you’re strong, aren’t you?”

“…”

Shangguan Ru was caught off guard by the sudden question but nodded after a brief pause, “Yes. I’m strong.”

Su Yuan continued, “You’re the Chairwoman of Clover Group. That must mean you have incredible connections, and you know many top-tier powerhouses?”

Shangguan Ru replied, “That’s right.”

Su Yuan pressed further, “Then if I participate in your training program and successfully reproduce this ‘Qi’ you’ve mastered, would that cause a stir among your circle?”

Shangguan Ru straightened her posture. Her eyes filled with pride as her chest subconsciously puffed up, appearing even more majestic.

“A stir would be an understatement.”

“If we succeed, it would be a revolution worthy of being written into the history books!”

“The entire world would tremble from the weight of my theory!”

“And of course—”

“You would definitely attract the attention of the top powerhouses.”

Shangguan Ru had misunderstood.

She thought Su Yuan wanted to use this opportunity to rise up the social ladder and gain access to the elite inner circle of powerhouses.

Hmm…

Well, even if that kind of thinking was opportunistic—it was still a form of motivation.

So she gave an absolutely affirmative response.

She had no idea—

That in Su Yuan’s eyes, everyone, including her, was nothing more than a walking Emotion Point generator.

As a man blessed with a cheat system…

Su Yuan had his own mindset.

If he was going to act cool—

Then he was going to act super cool!

Showing off in front of peers? That was nothing!

The Emotion Points you could get were crumbs—not enough to do anything with.

He’d have to wait till the next century before he had enough for a hundred-pull draw.

So!

If he was going to show off—

He’d do it in front of the real big shots!

That’s why Su Yuan solemnly extended his hand and declared, “For the sake of changing the world!”

Shangguan Ru was stunned at first, but quickly realized what he meant.

She reached out and shook his hand, her radiant smile so beautiful it was dazzling.

“For the sake of changing the world!”

[Excitement +300!]

Xu Anyan: …

Shangguan Meng: …

Did these two just… instantly vibe?

Suddenly, Xu Anyan spoke.

“Director Shangguan, I want to join too.”

Su Yuan: ?

Shangguan Ru: ?

Shangguan Ru looked at Xu Anyan in confusion. “You?”

It wasn’t that she looked down on her.

But her training program was truly hell-level.

It required relentless pressure on the physical body to break through the limit threshold and trigger the body’s deepest potential.

Because of that, every test subject she had chosen so far had a physical enhancement Talent. The weakest was S-grade, the strongest was SS-grade.

Xu Anyan, although SSS-grade, had a shadow manipulation Talent—which offered no advantage in this kind of training.

If she accidentally broke this girl… she’d feel bad.

After some hesitation, Shangguan Ru tried to persuade her, “Xu, my training program is extremely intense. I’m not exaggerating. Several SS-grade physical enhancement Talents couldn’t even handle it.”

“So if you’re only interested because of the benefits I mentioned—”

“To be honest, the SSS-grade resource allocation you’re receiving is enough to help you cultivate far into the future.”

But Xu Anyan shook her head firmly and replied, “I can handle it.”

In her past life, she had missed her chance.

In this life…

Before she left Blue Star and entered the universe, she would cultivate Battle Qi!

And the conditions and resources Shangguan Ru offered were the best opportunity to achieve that!

“This…” Shangguan Ru frowned slightly.

Just then, Shangguan Meng, who was flipping through the dossiers on Su Yuan and Xu Anyan, suddenly let out a meaningful ‘oh~’ and said with a teasing smile:

“Ohhh~ So you two were childhood sweethearts?”

“You want to join the training because you don’t want to be separated from him?”