Chapter 101: You Will Know the Benefits of Small Stature Sooner or Later
“Golden Armor Array, huh?”
Bai Feng remembered that this was a quite interesting formation — in gaming terms, it’s what you’d call a buff-type Array. It boosts the defense of allies inside the formation and coats their surfaces with a faint golden film, which is also the origin of the name.
“But I’ve never tried making this kind of Array before. Might need some testing first.”
He paused for a few seconds, deep in thought. Since it was his first time, and considering that buff arrays are a bit different from regular ones, he didn’t exactly have high confidence in nailing it on the first try.
So, he said to Gu Yue Qing, “Could Senior Sister Gu please call Master Sister Yu Yao and Bai Yu Mo? Once I finish crafting the Array disk, we can go to the training grounds for testing — better to have more people, safer that way.”
Of course, more importantly, he didn’t want to be alone with Gu Yue Qing — after all, that person had some connection to the Child of Destiny. Just maintaining a normal friendship was enough.
Gu Yue Qing nodded gratefully, “Alright, thank you, White Junior Brother.”
……
“Done!”
Li Ming opened his eyes, extinguished his spiritual fire, and in front of him appeared a longbow and a longsword.
He picked up the longbow, gently tugged the bowstring, and a faint ripple spread across it.
“Nice bow!”
He was quite satisfied, nodding with approval. Even the irritation from overspending at the auction and building up bad mood was melting away.
He even felt a bit lucky — glad he spent the extra coins to buy it, or he’d have missed such a fine piece.
Then he looked at the longsword beside it. Unlike the bow, this sword had been eroded over time, losing much of its strength. Even after meticulous repairs, it only had about one-tenth of its original might.
“Could sell for a bit of money, I suppose.”
Li Ming reached for the sword, thought for a few seconds, then took out a rectangular wooden box from his storage bag and put the sword inside.
If he was visiting the city lord’s residence, this would make a decent gift. Might as well give the sword as a present.
He quickly wiped away any traces of his activity here and slipped out through a hidden passage behind.
Once out of the tunnel, the sunlight beating down on him made him subconsciously squint.
“Hmm?”
His gaze flicked to a flower boat on the water, noticing that the normally tightly closed windows were now half-open, from where he had just a perfect view inside.
Inside, a woman’s face, veiled with a light silk scarf, was seated by the window, plucking a guqin. Even from the riverbank, he faintly heard the melodious strings.
‘So beautiful…’
Li Ming couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
But why does that music sound a little sad?
Before he could analyze further, a noisy commotion came from the boat, and the window was promptly shut by an older woman.
Li Ming frowned slightly, itching to find out more. Although he didn’t know the woman, within those few seconds, he felt she was not just an ordinary courtesan — she must have some hardship behind her.
But he held back the urge to board, because they didn’t know each other, and boarding uninvited would probably get him beaten as a pervert.
Besides, he had more pressing matters to deal with.
……
“Surprisingly smooth,”
On the training field, Bai Feng held the Array disk for the Golden Armor Array. With Su Lan Qian’s help, he quickly produced it. But whether it worked or not still needed testing.
He handed the disk to Yu Yao, “Senior Sister, you try it first.”
“Alright, but why me?”
Yu Yao reached out to take the disk, curious. Shouldn’t such testing be done by Gu Yue Qing, the party responsible?
“Because your energy consumption is less, and the Array should be more stable.”
“Hmhm…” Yu Yao nodded, then suddenly paused. She lifted her little foot and kicked Bai Feng’s calf. “Little Junior Brother, what do you mean?”
Bai Feng coughed a few times, hurriedly urging, “Cough cough, testing’s important! Senior Sister, please activate it!”
“Tch, you’ll find out the benefits of small stature sooner or later. I even save a lot of fabric making clothes for myself!”
Yu Yao muttered about the perks of being petite as she activated the Array disk.
A flash of golden light, and her body was covered with a semi-transparent golden armor.
No, maybe “armor” isn’t quite right — more like a translucent golden film that enveloped her entire body and clothes.
“Not bad, not bad. Looks like there aren’t big problems,” Bai Feng circled Yu Yao, satisfied, then nodded. “Though there are minor flaws like blinding light during activation, those can be fixed. Senior Sister, you can turn off the Array now.”
A few minutes later…
Bai Feng picked up what was practically the final version of the Golden Armor Array disk and handed it to Gu Yue Qing, who had been waiting for some time.
“Senior Sister Gu, give it a try. If you feel uncomfortable or something’s awkward, just say so. Once I leave, only at Heavenly Sword Sect can you come find me to fix it again.”
“Mm.”
Gu Yue Qing nodded, mustering her internal excitement, and eagerly activated it.
A gentle golden glow flashed, and like Yu Yao, a faint film coated her body.
But before she could fully grasp the sensation, her brow suddenly furrowed in pain, and she crouched down, clutching her torso.
“Senior Sister Gu?” Yu Yao hurried over, worried. “What’s wrong?”
“My… my upper body hurts so much, ugh… and my lower half… too…” She gritted her teeth, trying to breathe deeply, “It’s hard to breathe…”
Seeing this, Bai Feng also rushed over. His brows furrowed, “That shouldn’t happen. Senior Sister Yu Yao, can you move your arm? I need to see where the conflict is.”
“…Can’t I move it?” Gu Yue Qing asked softly, turning her head away.
“How can I observe the Array if you don’t?”
Suddenly, Bai Feng caught on. He fell silent.
He’d never heard of a Golden Armor Array that also required specific body types!
Could it be that after shrinking the Array — the “golden armor” itself also shrinks? Or maybe Senior Sister Gu is just… super good-looking?
Careful inspection revealed the film was much thinner — almost ready to burst.
Oops, should’ve just had Yu Yao test it.
Meanwhile, Yu Yao remained clueless, staring anxiously at Gu Yue Qing.
“Senior Sister Gu, please turn off the Array first. I think I’ve pinpointed where it’s gone wrong.”
Bai Feng rubbed his head. This Array really was like a program — bugs could pop up out of nowhere.
“Alright…” Gu Yue Qing nodded. But then her expression suddenly turned anxious, “No, I can’t deactivate it!”
“No way!” Bai Feng hurriedly turned to Su Lan Qian. “Junior Sister Su, please help deactivate the Array!”
Su Lan Qian quickly moved over, placing her hand on Gu Yue Qing. But after a few seconds, her brow furrowed, and she shook her head at Bai Feng. “Can’t do it. The Array isn’t fully activated — it’s stuck.”
…
Bai Feng held his aching head, mentally cursing. Regular Array Failures? Easy. But he’d crafted this with multiple layers of “Thousand Arrays,” so the start-up method was different, and so were the bugs.
‘Using a thousand Arrays? The bug rate is even higher than I thought!’
“Nothing can be done now.”
Bai Feng exhaled. Luckily, he kept some backup plans.
He approached Gu Yue Qing, gently placed a hand on her arm, and said, “Senior Sister Gu, sorry about this.”
His eyes flashed with black and white light, and the semi-transparent film began to weaken, gradually fading.
Gu Yue Qing’s furrowed brow eased slightly. But suddenly, the cracks in the film covering her chest and hips appeared, spreading rapidly across her entire body.
