A Star Reborn: The Queen's Return

Chapter 7 - The Dance Battle

This chapter has been translated by Atlas Studios. All credits belong to them.

"What's there to bet? Ye Xingling is going to lose for sure!" Many said.

In their eyes, Ye Xingling and Lu Tao were in different classes altogether. There was just no way of setting up the betting odds.

Xia Ling maintained a calm expression, did a few warm-up stretches, and then indicated for the referee to start. The referee, who was chosen by the trainees who were watching on from the sidelines, upon seeing that Xia Ling was ready, verified with Lu Tao that he, too, was ready to start before signaling the start of the battle.

It was naturally disadvantageous for females to do the windmill dance move, but nobody could take their eyes off Xia Ling as she placed her hands on the ground, stretched herself out, and started to spin. Her long, straight legs gracefully kicked through the air in a perfect arc, cleanly, purposefully, and with a flair that could only be executed due to her confidence. Many people practiced the windmill move, but those who could execute the typically gruff dance move with such flair and elegance were few and far between. No, more accurately, no other person could do so.

The gaze of many onlookers landed on Xia Ling, and they remained staring at her.

"Oh my God, is this even the windmill..." A girl remarked in awe. "She's so graceful. It doesn't look like a break dance at all."

"Yeah..." Another boy continued. "It's both beautiful and cool. Her dance is one of a kind."

Xia Ling's focus at this moment was not on the murmurings of the crowd, but instead on the spinning world in front of her eyes. Colorful and confident. Although her forte was not in break dancing, this did not mean she was not good at it. In her past life, she filmed an MV that required her to do the windmill on set. The director then suggested that she use a stunt double, but Xia Ling had insisted on completing the move herself. For that MV, she trained hard to learn the move for quite some time, developing an interest in it along the way. Even after filming the MV, she would do the dance the move every now and then for fun, treating it as her daily exercise and training both her coordination and flexibility.

Pei Ziheng had even said that she was blessed by the Gods. Many had tried to learn the dance move for years but failed. She, on the other hand, learned it while treating it as a game, and easily hit a number of spins that was simply shocking.

But...

Xia Ling's thought drifted further away. Pei Ziheng... did he ever consider how much work she had to put in to be able to build her dance foundation to such a level? To be able to excel in all dance styles and to use them flexibly to fit every song and situation?

She vaguely heard the people around her counting out loud.

Those in front were counting for Lu Tao. "32, 33, 34..."

Those at the back were counting for her. "29, 30, 31..."

She had started at the same time as Lu Tao, but her speed of spinning was much slower than Lu Tao's. That was inevitable since Lu Tao's specialty was in break dancing, which required the moves to be slick and cool. In her case, when she was filming the MV, the director had requested for a slow take to bring out a mysterious and enchanting atmosphere. Even later, when she was doing the windmill for fun, she had focused more on an aerobic, flexible style.

She had never trained for speed.

Lu Tao spun faster and faster, seemingly never getting tired. "46, 47, 48..."

Xia Ling continued to follow at her own slower pace. "40, 41, 42..."

A look of surprise slowly entered Lu Tao's eyes, since he had never thought that there would be anyone other than him that could persist for so long. The number of times that he looked toward Xia Ling while switching hands became increasingly frequent.