Need More Practice

It could only be said that the difference between them was far from slight. The foundation of the Dissociation Art lay in unraveling, while the essence of Jingzhen lay in violence; the fusion of the two was a superposition of technique and brute force. At this moment, the clash of Jingzhen was unraveling against unraveling, violence against violence. Experience, technique, ability... both quality and quantity were indispensable. It was like two supercomputers violently bridged together, unleashing massive computational power in a duel against one another. Between the ten locked fingers of their hands, thunder detonated! Taking no unfair advantage of Ji Jue whatsoever, the spiritus transmutations Ye Xian applied were likewise Pan Ying, Chunjun, and Zhanlu, yet her mastery over dynamic flow, stillness, and microscopic subtleties surpassed Ji Jue's by countless orders of magnitude! First, thirty percent output— Across the back of Ye Xian's hand, a fissure cracked open. In that split second, her pupils contracted slightly as if in genuine admiration—she had actually been suppressed on the sheer scale of operation? Then, fifty percent. The Jingzhen shockwave surging wildly toward Ye Xian across the bridge of their ten fingers came to an abrupt halt, unable to advance another inch—and was even beaten back! In a snap, Isis's myriad fine manipulations were like bubbles slamming into a slab of iron. The precise operations that had worked flawlessly against Tao Chen proved entirely futile before Ye Xian's thoroughly tempered application of Jingzhen! It was as if, despite sensing every single fluctuation of the opponent and making the most appropriate response in real time—while simultaneously harassing, infiltrating, interfering, and warping—it was all utterly useless! No matter how many feints were thrown, none could deceive Ye Xian's perception; no matter how many variations unfolded, at the decisive instant of head-on clash, they would inevitably solidify. Regardless of how deeply he tried to interfere or infiltrate, he couldn't affect Ye Xian's spiritus at all. Though it was a shockwave like an explosion, in her hands it remained as steadfast as a mountain, unmoving and unshakable. A technique of infinite variation, yet in her hands it answered myriad shifts with unchanging stillness! She had already found the optimal solution, cleanly cutting through the Gordian knot. At identical power output, she relied on pure fundamentals to brutally dismantle every conceivable shift. In turn, she casually crushed Ji Jue's fingers into powder. The sound of shattering was unending. Fingers, palm, wrist, elbow... Beneath that thread of surging spiritus, the arm of steel ruptured like thin paper. "Decent moves," Ye Xian critiqued. "Pity your experience is lacking." She said, "You need more practice." Before the words had finished settling, her other fist had already driven forward brazenly toward Ji Jue's dumbfounded face, the sonic boom roaring like thunder—the exact same transmutation of Jingzhen. A punch meant to smash his head in! Ji Jue barely managed to raise an elbow in front of him before he was sent flying backward. His raised arm was bent out of shape, stamped with a crystal-clear fist imprint. "Why are you being so secretive, Ji Jue?" Ye Xian did not pursue. Standing where she was, she let Ji Jue repair both arms, wearing a mocking smile. "A true artisan now, already starting to hold secrets back from your teacher?" "That's right." Ji Jue nodded, utterly shameless. His solemn, resolute expression was less like an artisan guarding his trade secrets and more like... a child who had made a prized treasure. Carefully tucking it away inside his shirt, refusing to show it to anyone no matter who asked. Unwilling to be critiqued, and unwilling to hear anyone speak ill of it. At that, Ye Xian smiled. "Very well." She nodded with deep gratification, then raised her fist once more. "Then as your teacher, it's my duty to broaden your horizons a bit more." It was a good thing for a student to make progress. Though that had nothing to do with the teacher's desire to beat him up. Since he considered himself an artisan, she would respond in kind with the attitude of an artisan. Keeping output matched on equal terms, she would invest ninety—no, seventy percent of her focus. Time to bring out a little real skill... With that, Ye Xian raised a hand and tapped the empty air. Ji Jue's vision went dark, the hairs on his arms standing on end. In his wolf's perception, a crisis erupted violently, howling toward him. Without a second thought, he launched himself backward, rocketing off the ground amidst a burst of flame. Yet where he had just stood, nothing happened at all. The invisible power dissipated before it could even erupt, never revealing its true form from start to finish, leaving behind only a numbing turbulence of spiritus in his perception. He hadn't even been able to see what that terrifying power was in the first place! And... "You never taught me this move, Teacher!" "Of course you haven't—your teacher keeps secrets too." Ye Xian's playful voice carried over: "Move faster, Ji Jue. Faster. Otherwise... I'd rather not have to clean up the sect." The sound of rushing air whistled past his ears again and again. Chills ran down Ji Jue's spine in unrelenting waves. There was clearly nothing there, yet he felt his hair stand on end as if doom were descending, sickening him almost to the point of vomiting blood. Then, he actually coughed up blood. Just as that dark-cloud foreboding manifested once again, Ji Jue stopped dodging and swooped straight down! Ye Xian flicked her finger once more. And then, Ji Jue felt the blood mist he had silently dispersed losing control inch by inch within a fraction of a second, as though the effects of Non-Offensive's barehanded alchemy were being erased bit by bit! This is... —Moxie?! Just as the realization struck him, an invisible sword bore down upon him. Piercing straight through his body! In a moment's cross, a fissure silently surfaced across Ji Jue's face, splitting open flesh from his visage down his neck to his chest, fractures blooming across his bones. Blood gushed forth. A savage silhouette plummeted from above, arriving right before her eyes! Her smile grew all the more amused. Fine jade after all—a single hint is enough to enlighten him, a single test enough to master it. You really did manage to dodge it... Did he dodge it? Perhaps. Ji Jue had chosen to take it head-on. At the critical juncture, he had reverted from his Regeneration form back to his original state, reinforcing flesh and blood to weather the sword strike head-on, suffering heavy wounds. But had he remained in his Regeneration form, that single strike would have completely scrapped him! This was no closely guarded secret move at all—it was simply an application of the matrix that, even if taught, Ji Jue couldn't possibly learn: the effect of Moxie. Ganjiang and Moxie! He had not forgotten Ye Xian's past explanation: the effect of Ganjiang was to attract material properties and merge them together, while the effect of Moxie was to cause material properties to repel one another, making them incompatible. Back then, it was with this very technique that she had rendered his Dissociation Art ineffective, forcibly walling off Ji Jue's spiritus corrosion—and that had been nothing more than a trivial byproduct. Now, this was its true combative technique! The true essence of that invisible 'sword' was to forcibly make all material properties within its range repel one another, rendering them incompatible, conflicting, and incapable of coexistence. A true and absolute fatality tailored precisely against Ji Jue's Regeneration form! The more complex the system, the more exaggerated the destruction caused by this effect. And within this entire space, the most complex system right now... was probably Ji Jue's Regeneration form! Even with Ji Jue unifying it, he had zero confidence he could remain completely immune under Ye Xian's strike. It was merely a matter of degree, but even the slightest disruption under Ye Xian's control would cause irreversible catastrophe—a gentle touch might short-circuit his spiritus, while a cruel blow would blow his engine clean apart! Even taking it with his mortal flesh, Ji Jue felt his blood boiling, his skeletal movements growing stiff and sluggish. The applied repulsion effect had bypassed Non-Offensive to act directly within his body. He couldn't drag this out any longer! Forcibly unifying his flesh and blood, Ji Jue's speed soared. The plunder of the Wolf of the Forest had added plenty of raw stats recently, and after Deus Ex Machina devoured so many creations, the empowerment of Supreme Goodness essence had elevated Ji Jue's physical constitution far beyond what it once was. What was more, there was Isis... Ji Jue said, [Hold nothing back. End it fast.] Thereupon, full-scale takeover of the nervous system, followed by internal organs, arteries, veins, bones, and even muscle. In an instant, Ji Jue burned a scorching crimson. His Regeneration form flickered in and out, constantly shifting between flesh and machinery—switching to a mechanical chassis to run a forced overload and boost propulsion, then swapping back to flesh and blood to close the distance and strike in close quarters. Database mounted. Calculations initiated. The pouring rain reversed midair. Ji Jue's silhouette blurred into complete obscurity, moving faster and faster as he unleashed a fierce Jingzhen assault. By contrast, Ye Xian remained rooted in place from beginning to end, never shifting her stance, casually handling the increasingly terrifying speed and power. She was truly employing Moxie now. Boiling a frog in warm water. Under her consummate mastery, the effect of material repulsion pervaded the space dozens of meters around her—omnipresent, yet leaving no visible sign of abnormality. Only at necessary moments did it flash for an instant, nonchalantly introducing resistance and variables into Non-Offensive's barehanded alchemy, completely unraveling Ji Jue's meticulously calculated onslaughts. She even had the leisure to instruct him. "Do you see?" Ye Xian flicked her finger again, disrupting the intrusion of Non-Offensive. "Barehanded alchemy is certainly convenient, but alchemy is inherently far too complex—so complex that often the slightest interference can ruin everything... Against someone who doesn't understand it, it's naturally flawless. But against an artisan whose speed can keep pace with yours, its efficacy drops sharply. "For instance—" Smack! Ye Xian raised her palm, splaying her five fingers, and effortlessly caught Ji Jue's full-power punch in her grip. The mountain-splitting shockwave was dispersed layer by layer under material repulsion, while Non-Offensive's enhancement vanished without a trace beneath the unraveling of the Dissociation Art. Immediately following that, she twisted her wrist, deflecting the blow's vector with effortless ease, pivoting aside... Yet at the very same instant, her grip suddenly went light. The fist she held snapped clean off at the wrist! Forms shifting between flesh and machinery in a flash, Ji Jue had intentionally dismantled it... Meanwhile, taking advantage of his stagger, Ji Jue's other hand had already risen, pressing toward Ye Xian's face—accelerating! Accelerating further! At point-blank range, his speed exploded yet again! Unfortunately, the shifts in his skeletal and muscular structure had already been read by Ye Xian beforehand. With a mere step and a slight tilt of her torso, she slipped right past it. More than just slipping past. Before Ji Jue could even regain his footing, he felt Ye Xian's shoulder slam against his body, an unforeseen, ferocious force violently erupting. Iron Mountain Lean! Ji Jue was hurled backward, but the hand that had just grazed past seized the opportunity to snap back, grabbing Ye Xian's hand to anchor himself and steady his footing. Still a duel between Dissociation Art and Jingzhen. Yet at the same time, Ji Jue's other arm rose. The wrist was completely empty, but to Ye Xian's surprise—the third spiritus hand, hidden from the very beginning, manifested from the empty stump. He did not use it for a sneak attack, nor did he hold it in reserve to divert Ye Xian's focus. It materialized openly and upright right before Ye Xian's eyes. "Sorry, Teacher." Ji Jue grinned. Even after profoundly experiencing the immense gap between master and disciple, he still had not given up—in fact, he still wanted to pull a dirty trick. In that split second of transformation, his soul reflection manifested. Viscous, pitch-black flames of Chaos surged from the spiritus hand, bearing a transmutation utterly distinct from Ji Jue's own, and slammed down toward Ye Xian's face! Corrosion, assimilation, dissolution. The flaming hand that drove all material properties completely out of control, reducing them to chaos, thrust forward! Then, Ji Jue's vision went black. The last thing he heard was Ye Xian's soft sigh. Filled with such delight.