"I was truly foolish, truly."
In the afternoon, under the radiant sunlight, Ji Jue lay slumped on the sofa, staring out the window at the sun like a complete idiot, drool and tears streaming down uncontrollably.
"I should have thought of it earlier... I should have realized long ago... I was so foolish..."
Even after so many days had passed, that damned grin still felt branded onto his retinas, impossible to shake.
Close his eyes, and he saw Tianlu baring his teeth at him.
Open his eyes, and he saw the Juzi shedding his disguise...
Tianlu! Tianlu! Tianlu!
Other than Tianlu, who the hell else could it be?!
This Tianlu was like a damn vengeful spirit—once stuck to you, you couldn't shake him off!
Ji Jue had even stepped up onto the table, grabbed that face, and pulled with all his might, but still couldn't pull it off—until in the end, throwing caution to the wind, he finally accepted this damned reality.
Marika is Radagon—who could accept that?!
The heavens had collapsed, alright?!
Yet how could he not accept it? Was there any more reasonable explanation? Otherwise, after storming out and severing ties with her sect, how could his teacher be so tightly entangled with Nirvana? And hailing from the Ye Clan and the Association, how could she know the Mohist legacy in such intimate detail?
Otherwise, why would that bastard Tianlu have helped him conceal his Lu Changsheng identity from the very beginning?
Why, even the fact of the disguise had been pointed out to him under that dog Tianlu's guidance!
Otherwise, how could the dignified Juzi, the world's number one terrorist, the kind of character who wore an iron groin guard to sleep, let someone spot a flaw in his disguise so easily? Looking at it this way, had he targeted Ji Jue, this fresh leek ready to be harvested, ever since Quicksilver's Border Realm workshop?!
At this moment, for the countless-th time, Ji Jue once again felt the cruelty and coldness of fate. Where in this world did free breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and late-night snacks ever fall from the sky?
Every bowl of braised pork rice gifted by fate had already been secretly stamped with a price.
And from the very beginning until now, Ji Jue, who had constantly tried to draw a clear line between himself and the Mohists, had long since become the most orthodox Mohist possible in this world.
How was this boarding a pirate ship?
This was waking up tied to the ship's bow, unable to jump off even if he wanted to!
The inheritance of Non-Offensive, Fluid Alchemy, the direct instruction and personal guidance of the Juzi... Even if Ji Jue went to report it to the Association, the Association would probably ask him in return: "Well, compared to a Mohist, what are you still missing?"
Oh, just one little thing.
A little red ball—come, put it on your nose right away.
"I was truly foolish... truly foolish... really..."
Tears welled up in Ji Jue's eyes once more. Slumped on the sofa, he flipped over, squirming like a maggot.
I'm sorry, a clown like me shouldn't be living under the sun. I'll just go find some dark corner away from the light to rot and die...
In the silence, the irritable rustle of a newspaper being flipped sounded.
On the living room sofa, Ye Xian raised her eyes impatiently. "...How long has he been like this?"
"Ever since he came back yesterday." Having finished her potato chips, Ye Chun let out a long sigh. "Eating, sleeping, drooling—what kind of blow did he take? His face is covered in doodles of little turtles and he doesn't react at all. If he keeps this up, I'm going to use his face to apply for online loans."
"I was truly foolish..." Ji Jue squirmed and squirmed, completely unresponsive, melting into an indescribable shape on the sofa, only to be kicked aside unceremoniously by Ye Chun.
"Don't block the TV!"
Looking at Ji Jue like this, she felt wave after wave of wariness, an uneasy premonition that her ecological niche was about to be usurped. Even the chips in her mouth lost their flavor!
You're just an illegitimate apprentice, how dare you steal my sofa and my spot?
You're going to get competitive over this too?!
Outrageous!
—This family only permits one useless piece of trash, and that's me!
She truly wanted to roar, *"Ji Jue, I'm the useless one!"* Yet she feared the bastard would snap back, *"Ye Chun, you'll regret this!"*
Mainly, she feared that if the household's concentration of useless trash got too high, her aunt might slap her upside the head while cleaning up.
After running out of drool and tears, like a chicken unable to finish pecking a mountain of rice, a dog unable to finish lapping a mountain of flour, and a flame unable to burn through an iron lock, Ji Jue finally let out a dull sigh. He looked up and asked, "Teacher, did you know all along?"
"Knew what?"
Ye Xian raised her eyes from behind the newspaper, looked over, and gave a mocking, quiet sigh. "Whether I knew or not, does it make a difference?"
She had lectured him endlessly, repeatedly ordering him not to stir up trouble, saying everything there was to say, yet this bastard's antics only grew bigger each time, his stunts more ruthless, jumping headfirst into pits with his eyes shut, and somehow pulling it off with style and flair...
And now, at the end of the day, you turn around and tell me, *Teacher, I don't want to join Nirvana?*
Look at the messes you've made!
From the Sacrificial Temple of the Ancient Beginning to the Kingdom of the Woods, incident after incident, you literally turned yourself into a mortal menace to the mortal realm. Even if Lu Changsheng came back to life, he would shake his head and pack up the Evil Transmutation Cult to flee overnight.
The man is already dead, how could he carry such a massive blame for you? Besides Nirvana, who else could catch such an enormous basket of trouble?
Even if you didn't sever ties with our sect, I'd want to clean house myself, alright?!
"It's so miserable! I'm so miserable... I'm too miserable..."
Ji Jue began rolling around and wailing again.
Yet looking at his teacher, he suddenly felt that perhaps he wasn't quite that miserable after all.
Although he didn't know what kind of bizarre legacy governed their lineage when it came to severing ties with one's sect, just imagine: first having a falling out with your teacher and storming out, then turning around and joining Nirvana, only to look up and see it was the exact same company, the exact same boss, the exact same face—the sky must have collapsed!
Master and apprentice had actually crashed into the same tree and suffered the exact same loss... And thinking of Kanemoto far away in the Profound, one could only ask: what kind of legacy was this lineage anyway? Something always felt wrong with it!
"Enough, stop wailing like you're at a funeral. It's annoying."
Ye Xian folded her newspaper, gave him a blank look, rose from her chair, and pushed open the workshop door. "Since I rarely have free time, I might as well give you another lesson.
"Let this teacher see what progress you've made."
"Huh?"
Ji Jue froze, his hairs instinctively standing on end. "Wait, Teacher, I just recovered, and I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"
"If I wanted to find reasons, I could find a whole pile of them. But strictly speaking, those are just excuses." Ye Xian suddenly smiled faintly. "So, don't misunderstand—I simply want to beat you up."
How the fusion bomb was lost was none of her damn business, and whatever happened to the White Nation had nothing to do with her either. But thanks to a certain student who only knew how to yap, she would probably be mocked by that old bastard for a very long time...
Just thinking about that *"I won't say anything, but you understand"* expression he would wear the next time they met made Ye Xian's fists clench.
Ji Jue's tears instantly flowed uncontrollably once more.
Why was that damned Tianlu so rotten?!
Yet no matter how reluctant he was, hearing the long-lost phrase "spiritus offense and defense class" caused a faint, involuntary flutter in his heart. A tiny shred of curiosity and doubt about the gap between himself and his teacher suddenly welled up.
The rebellious bone of Embers was actually stirring slightly.
*Why not give it a shot?!*
He hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and decided to give it a try.
And then, he died.
Ten minutes later, in the battered subterranean space of the workshop, Ye Chun's gloating laughter echoed.
What a treat for her eyes.
Beaten black and blue, Ji Jue lay flat on his back, breathless.
Opposite him, Ye Xian had not even broken a sweat or gasped for breath, remaining as calm and breezy as ever—in fact, she looked even more relaxed than before.
Zero pressure.
No, none of the pressure she felt came from Ji Jue; nearly all of it came from herself.
When an opponent was far too weak, restraining herself from blowing him up with a single punch and instead slowly boiling the frog to give him room to gradually display his skills was truly troublesome.
Now that Ji Jue wouldn't be killed by a single blow, she could finally stretch her muscles a bit.
One could tell that his speed was faster, his application of Non-Offensive more agile, and with Zhanlu added to the Nine Forms, his variations had gained an extra layer of depth. His bones and his vitality were sturdier as well.
More importantly, his reaction and perception.
A wolf?
No, more than that—his style shifted too quickly.
Ye Xian keenly sensed the changes in Ji Jue, and what lay hidden behind them...
*Interesting!*
"What's wrong? Is that all the progress you've made?"
Ye Xian flicked her fingers, and the empty underground space shifted. Countless floor tiles and ceiling panels rose and fell, the environment transforming once more from bare emptiness into a wild, desolate landscape.
Even rain began to patter down from the void.
"Come on, I'll relax the restrictions a bit for you."
Ye Xian beckoned. "Although using creations is forbidden in class, that rule is mainly for me as the teacher. There's no need to make that one inside you sit on the sidelines any longer."
She paused, glanced at Ji Jue, and let out an emotional sigh. "Heh, treating yourself as a creation—you've really outdone yourself..."
"Huh? That wouldn't be proper, would it?"
Ji Jue seemed taken aback for an instant, appearing as if he wanted to say something, but in the next second, he breached the air with a deafening boom. The texture of flesh vanished as his Regeneration form manifested. Without hesitation, he leveled his fingers into a blade and drove them straight at his teacher's face—a sneak attack!
The result, as expected, yielded nothing.
The moment this dog Ji Jue opened his mouth, Ye Xian already knew what bullshit was coming out. Besides, she didn't care in the slightest; since this was from a combat perspective, anything went.
Faster speed, smoother transitions, but unfortunately, still not enough!
Long before Zhanlu's lightning coursed through Ji Jue's body, silently building pressure and storing force, Ye Xian had already noticed. Now, she casually flicked her hand.
With a slight pivot of her elbow into a short-bridge wing arm deflection, she effortlessly redirected Ji Jue's strike, which carried Jingzhen, off to the side. At the same time, riding Ji Jue's momentum, the five fingers extending past her raised elbow pressed fluidly toward Ji Jue's wide-open center.
Seemingly effortless, yet viciously lethal.
Aiming for his heart—or rather, the engine that was vital to him at this moment!
*Boom!*
Following the deflection of the wing arm, Ji Jue's body spun bizarrely midair. The other hand hidden behind his back finally revealed its dagger, the radiances of Pan Ying, Chunjun, and Zhanlu bursting from between his five fingers.
Without hesitation, tit for tat, he chopped down toward Ye Xian's thrusting palm!
The same Jingzhen!
Even surpassing the previous strike, completely unreserved, meeting attack with attack!
*Come on, Teacher!*
*Let me see the gap between your Jingzhen and mine!*
Chapter 656