You are not allowed to date a trainer.

Chapter 43: Firewatch

——I’m afraid I’ll have to buy a bigger tent when camping outside in the future.

This was Qin Zhen’s first thought after waking up.

I was clearly the only one in the tent when I fell asleep last night, but when I woke up in the morning, the three Poké Balls placed beside me were all empty.

Now there is Serpentar at the side of his neck. The little snake hugs its big tail and shares the same pillow with its trainer, sleeping very ladylike; Growlithe has crawled deep into the sleeping bag, and the body temperature of the fire elf has made the sleeping bag warm; Miladon is too huge to fit into the sleeping bag, so it chooses to coil around Qin Zhen, filling the spacious double tent with almost no place to stand.

Picking up the Poké Ball and collecting his sleeping companions one by one, Qin Zhen walked out of the tent and took a deep breath. The cold mountain air entered his throat, like swallowing a mouthful of ice water. Qin Zhen shuddered and instantly became much more awake.

In the camp, a giant bear wearing a conical hat sat in front of the fire, as if he had not moved all night. In front of it stood Gardevoir, this beautiful Psychic Pokémon with an apron tied around her waist, bending over to tend the soup pot. At this moment, a few strands of green hair fell down, and Gardevoir raised her hand to tuck them behind her ears, revealing her plain face, which really looked like a good wife.

Qin Zhen stood at the side and could almost perfectly appreciate the other person's soft and gentle curves like a spring mountain. He was embarrassed to look at it for too long, so he lowered his head and walked to the side of the giant bear and sat down.

"Nai~"

Seeing Qin Zhen, Gardevoir raised her hand and greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Gardevoir." Qin Zhen waved at the other party and asked, "Is Master Gu awake?"

Gardevoir smiled and nodded, raised her hand and pointed to the right. Qin Zhen turned his head and saw the mountain ridge in the distance rising like a roof. The owner of Qingcheng Pavilion was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the dark green roof, facing the snow-capped mountains, like a monk in meditation.

Qin Zhen walked out of the camp and headed towards the Qingcheng Pavilion Master. When he was about ten steps away from him, he heard the Qingcheng Pavilion Master's voice.

"How was your sleep last night?" The Qingcheng Pavilion Master didn't turn around.

"Not bad." Qin Zhen raised his hand. "Master Gu, what are you doing here?"

"Take three steps forward and look up."

Qin Zhen was stunned. He took three steps forward, then raised his head and took a deep breath. He saw a whole huge rock wall, slowly rising up to become a triangular peak, like a giant silver sword shooting straight into the sky. The grandeur and beauty of the snow-capped mountains came to his face.

This is actually an excellent viewing platform for the snow-capped mountains.

"The snow-capped mountain before you is called Yaomei Peak, the highest peak in the Siguniang Mountains. In our Jinguan dialect, Yaomei means the youngest sister in the family. It has three older sisters: Daguniang Mountain, Erguniang Mountain, and the Sanguniang Mountain right here at our feet." Gu Changfeng said, "People call Siguniang Mountain the 'Queen of Shu Mountains' and the 'Sacred Mountain of the East,' but these titles have nothing to do with its three older sisters; they all refer to it alone."

"Very beautiful snow-capped mountains." Qin Zhen nodded and sat down next to the Qingcheng Pavilion Master.

Qin Zhen looked at the handsome face, and finally his gaze stopped at the legs of the Qingcheng Pavilion Master sitting cross-legged, and then asked: "Master Gu, are you cultivating super powers?"

"If it's about cultivation, I would choose to return to Qingcheng Mountain and my academy." Gu Changfeng shook his head. "Qin Zhen, do you know the Fire Watcher?"

Qin Zhen also shook his head.

"It's a type of forest ranger. Its full name is fire lookout observer. Their job is to stay in the forest and watch for fires." Director Gu smiled and pointed at his nose. "I am the fire watcher of this Siguniang Mountain."

"Aren't you the owner of the Qingcheng Gym?"

"It is precisely because he is the Qingcheng Pavilion Master that he is the Fire Watcher. All previous Qingcheng Pavilion Masters have been the Fire Watchers of this mountain."

"Look at the fire?" Qin Zhen turned his head and looked in the direction Gu Changfeng was looking, but he only saw white snow. "Can there be a fire on the snowy mountain?"

"Of course, and it's even more terrifying than a forest fire." Gu Changfeng looked up at the sacred Yaomei Peak and said quietly, "Once that white fire ignites, it will never stop until it devours everything, because... it's alive."

Qin Zhen frowned and said nothing.

"Forget it, let's not talk about these troublesome things." The Qingcheng Gym Master clapped his hands, his expression becoming relaxed again. "Qin Zhen, you said you came to challenge the gym, so do you have the badge?"

"I got it. Now I have two."

"Two!?" Gu Changfeng turned his head suddenly, his face suddenly changed color. He looked Qin Zhen up and down, as if he was looking at a monster.

"What's the problem?" Qin Zhen was stunned. "Qin Zhen, I see there's a Vine Snake in your team. You should be a senior this year, right?"

"Yes, I haven't graduated yet. In a few days I have to go back to Tanzhou to take the college entrance examination." Qin Zhen shrugged. "Although I'm likely to fail the college entrance examination."

"I didn't ask you about the college entrance exam..." Director Gu was silent for a moment, and finally asked cautiously: "Qin Zhen, what do you think of the Psychic Department?"

"Master Gu, you wouldn't want to take me in as your disciple, would you?"

"I'm not that shameless." Gu Changfeng gave a wry laugh. "Qin Zhen, if I assume you signed Serpenti on the first day of exchange week, then as of today, your Trainer career has totaled sixteen days. Sixteen days of two badges, that's an average of conquering one gym per week. And we have to deduct the time you spent traveling, which is..."

He was silent for a while, and finally shook his head.

"I don't even know how to describe the speed."

"Master Gu, is this going to be fast?"

Qin Zhen then remembered the Pokémon cartoon he watched before his rebirth. Although the protagonist Ash was a weakling in the annual competition, he never showed any mercy when challenging the gym. He would often collect all eight badges within less than a year of the animation airing.

As for the game, there is no need to say more. Xiao Qin kills gods and Buddhas in it, and it never takes more than one day to complete the eight major gyms!
"It's more than just fast. The current world record holder for the fastest promotion to a professional trainer is Master Ying from Wuyang City in our Donghuang Alliance. It took him two years and three months. But even he took a full two months to get his first badge."

"Record holder? Master Ying?" Qin Zhen was stunned. "So Jue is so powerful?"

"Who is Ajue?" Gu Changfeng was also stunned.

"Ying Jue, the master of Baiyun Gym."

"Isn't the Baiyun Gym's owner Ying Ziyu? How did he become..." Gym Leader Gu's expression suddenly changed. "Wait! Before I went up the mountain, I heard someone say that Old Ying initiated the Heavenly King Challenge, and he won!?"

Qin Zhen then realized that the other party was talking about the new king, Ying Jue's uncle, the handsome uncle who had his legs broken by his own sister when he was a child because he bullied his classmates, so he nodded silently.

The Qingcheng Pavilion Master fell silent. He stood up, facing down the mountain, as if he was about to jump.

"Hey! Master Gu! Calm down!"

Qin Zhen was horrified, thinking, could the excitement of a colleague's promotion to the King of Heaven be so great? Even such a virtuous wife, Gardevoir, could be abandoned and seek death?

He pounced forward like a tiger, trying to control the other party, but his attack was empty. The Qingcheng Pavilion Master in front of him disappeared on the spot like a wisp of green smoke.

"Hey! This way!"

The shout came from under my feet.

Qin Zhen was stunned and turned around to see the owner of Qingcheng Pavilion standing at the bottom of the ridge, waving at him with a bright smile on his face. He was as happy as an older brother who saw his younger brother being amused by him.

"Qin Zhen, let's go back and have breakfast! The signal here at camp is terrible. I need to go down a bit to make a call and ask the gym to send some Pokémon over." Gu Changfeng patted his waist. "I'm here to guard the mountain and watch the fire this time, and I only brought my main forces with me. I don't have any Pokémon suitable for the gym challenge."

"Oh! Okay!" Qin Zhen nodded and asked naturally, "Then why not use a satellite phone?"

Gu Changfeng, standing at the foot of the mountain ridge, was stunned. "What's a satellite phone?"

There are no satellite phones in this world? How is that possible?

Qin Zhen was shocked, but the Qingcheng Pavilion Master's confusion didn't seem fake. He was silent for a moment, then replied, "I heard about it too. It seems to be a new type of phone that can communicate with people even in places with no signal."

"Where can there be something so useful?" Gu Changfeng shook his head, but he couldn't help but think to himself: "Satellite phone? Are you talking about artificial satellites? But isn't that something impossible to realize? After all, there are..."

He suddenly became alert and immediately kept silent.

(End of this chapter)