Beyond Jingzhen

Who am I? Where am I? What happened? Ji Jue lay sprawled on the ground, his vision swimming with darkness. There wasn't a single spot on his body that didn't throb with pain. Only after a good long while did he catch his breath. He reached out to push himself up, but failed to lift off the ground. Pushing a second time, he realized that the angle of his arms seemed slightly wrong. After fumbling around for a bit, he discovered that his face had been twisted around to his backside. A minor issue. With a sharp crack, he twisted it back into place, tilted his head to dump the blood from his ears and the fluid from his brain, smoothly switched into his Regeneration form, and began repairs. [Heavy Damage] From head to heels, practically not a single part was intact. Still, it wasn't as bad as it looked; it merely appeared gruesome. A patch here, a weld there, reconnecting joints, running Three-Phase Alchemy through a couple of cycles, and he was back at full vitality in no time. Only an Ember could pull off such an ungodly method of healing. A momentary crushing defeat didn't demoralize him; on the contrary, if he had actually won, Ji Jue would have suspected he had fallen under the illusions of Mirror or Heart Pivot. Ah, Heart Pivot was far too wicked! Embers was still the best. Losing to his teacher was nothing to be ashamed of—it was only natural. If he had lost to Old Lou, *that* would truly be the sky collapsing. What he was more curious about was how exactly he had lost. [Isis, replay the recording.] And so, Ji Jue's eyes lit up. The footage of that split second emerged before his eyes, looping continuously. After slowing it down to the absolute limit, Ji Jue still felt it wasn't enough, so he went ahead and activated the blessing of the Aether lineage within Chunjun, recreating the record and projecting it directly into his consciousness. Reliving the shifts and sights of that fleeting instant. Truly immersive. Within that infinitely slowed time, Ji Jue leaned in from a third-person perspective, looking at the hand of black flames he had thrust toward his teacher. Viscous flames curled around the five fingers, shifting and swirling, illuminating Ye Xian's pupils. And in that instant, upon her normally tranquil, unrippled expression, a flicker of excitement and delight surfaced—sending shivers down Ji Jue's spine. That kind of look was one Ji Jue usually reserved for fine materials lying on a dissection table. And then, Ye Xian raised a finger. Facing the hand of black flames, she tapped forward. In a fraction of a millisecond, the lightning of Zhanlu's transmutation burst forth, only to be instantly swallowed, corroded, and assimilated by the black flames, completely ineffective. Ji Jue's eyelid twitched. He felt no joy over this advantage. On the contrary, in that single instant, the nature of the black flames had already been deciphered by his teacher. If he had truly wanted to deal with an opponent like Ye Xian, he shouldn't have brandished such an art so openly. Instead, he should have exploited the elusive, formless nature of his third spiritus hand—closing the distance and seizing an instant that left no room for reaction, detonating it point-blank. Striking the opponent the very moment it materialized! Only then could it inflict maximum devastation and threat... But the real question was, what would Ji Jue gain from doing that? A couple more remedial sessions of spiritus offense and defense? Only someone with a screw loose would pull out lethal moves against their own teacher during a sparring match. Besides, as if a sneak attack would have actually worked. If he had triggered Ye Xian's instinctual counterattack, he probably would have been turned into raw dissecting material on the spot—just like what happened next. Within that interval so fleeting it was practically nonexistent, Ji Jue saw the Nine Forms transmutations—far surpassing his own—manifest one by one across Ye Xian's raised palm. Chixiao, Yuchang, Zhanlu, Chengying, Chunjun, Pan Ying, Juque... The nine fully transmuted spiritus variations converged and overlapped, only to disperse without warning right before detonating, as if she felt using this to pummel Ji Jue was a bit too much of a bullying move. Then, right after, a spine-chilling aura emerged from her palm. Two intersecting fissures split open out of thin air, as if unlocking some concealed restraint, before the seals snapped shut again, the chains tightening once more. *No, if I use this, the student will shatter into pieces—you wouldn't even be able to scoop him up with a shovel.* In Ye Xian's eyes, a fierce gleam flared for a moment before fading. A razor-sharp edge that felt like thorns prickling his back flashed past, carrying a hint of annoyance and displeasure. *Can't use this, can't use that. Not a single one works.* *Quite annoying.* It was just like looking at a lavish spread of delicacies, only to find that this one was off-limits due to calories, that one was banned for purines, and another didn't suit her taste... In the end, she could only lazily poke around with her chopsticks, settling for whatever was at hand. And so, Ye Xian's raised hand reached toward the hand of black flames. In the slowed time, the thrust of the black flames seemed to shudder to a halt, shattering something, surging forward with crushing ruin, penetrating joint after joint, breaching layer after layer. Yet within that meager span of less than twenty centimeters, there seemed to lie endless perils—layer upon layer of invisible barriers, like composite armor stacked hundreds and thousands deep, neutralizing and canceling out every ounce of the black flames' power. By the time the two palms finally met, the erupting black flames were already at the end of their rope. In the snap of a finger, Moxie had shaped thousands of layers of material repulsion, shutting out the eruption and corruption of the black flames. No, it wasn't just Moxie! Ji Jue's eyes widened. He leaned in closer to Ye Xian, studying and sensing with rapt attention. Cold sweat soaked his back. There was also—Ganjiang?! Within this very body, alongside the fully operating Moxie matrix, there was another complete matrix! Two matrices that should have been utterly incompatible had now been unified under a single consciousness and soul! Fitting two terabytes of data onto a one-terabyte hard drive, running two operating systems on a single computer that coordinated and complemented each other without interference, creating an effect where one plus one was greater than two? Wait, did that even make sense?! No... Ji Jue broke into a cold sweat, his vision going dark as he finally caught onto the truth. No wonder Ye Xian hadn't stopped him back when he planned his bodily modifications, and had even offered insightful pointers... His teacher had turned her own body into a matrix relic as well! Its degree of completion was countless times higher than Isis'! The soul harbored Moxie; the flesh forged Ganjiang! At this moment, Ganjiang and Moxie converged. She gripped the hand of black flames, entirely immune to that terrifying corruption and assimilation, and then casually launched her counterattack! Boom! A ripple visible to the naked eye erupted between their palms, instantly swallowing Ji Jue. Everywhere it swept, material properties ran wild, and spiritus disintegrated. Ji Jue was blasted backward! In that instant, he finally snapped awake from the "nightmare," gasping in terror. Even more incredulous. "Was that Jingzhen?" [Yes, Jingzhen,] Isis replied. [Although the manifestation differs, its underlying principles align with the theory in our database.] Of course they aligned; that *was* Jingzhen! Yet the crucial point was that there wasn't the slightest trace of the Nine Forms' transmutations in it! How could it possibly be Jingzhen? Or was it an upgraded version?! "Ganjiang and Moxie?" Realization struck him in a flash. Ganjiang's material fusion, Moxie's material repulsion—two matrices following the theory of the Dissociation Art, jointly exerting diametrically opposed influences and effects. Layered atop each other, matrices born from the same source unleashed a terrifying tempest: the binding and parting of material properties, a turbulent overload! All permutations shattered at the slightest touch! And this was with her holding back—there was no infusion of Nine Forms transmutations inside, and she had restricted its destructive scale and force. Otherwise, Ji Jue would have turned to ash and scattered to the wind in seconds! The entire process had been clear and straightforward, without concealment or reservation. Just like a demonstration! A live masterclass! There was no need for superfluous theoretical guidance. The moment the direction was pointed out, thoughts flashed across Ji Jue's mind like lightning. Countless theories shattered and reassembled, extending an entire tier higher. Opening the gate to a brand-new realm! Integrating the Dissociation Art into the Nine Forms yielded Jingzhen; dividing Jingzhen into Yin and Yang, inciting each other, allowed one to step into a whole new realm. Too bad he didn't have such diametrically opp— Wait! Since the theory held, there was no need to worry about whether it would work! If the mutually generating and repelling matrix effects of Ganjiang and Moxie could be realized, then wouldn't a collision between Supreme Goodness and Great Sin... Ji Jue's eyes gleamed, and his hands began tracing motions unconsciously, totally lost in thought. He wished he could sprint back to his workshop this instant to test it out. Only after a long while did he come back to his senses. He noticed Ye Xian standing nearby with her hands behind her back, her expression as calm, breezy, and indifferent as ever, casually glancing at his ecstatic face. "Understood?" "More or less," Ji Jue nodded. "Though in terms of practical implementation, there are still quite a few problems to solve." "Then go research it yourself." "Mm." "Another Heavenly Work?" Ye Xian asked suddenly. "Yeah." Ji Jue nodded again. "Though it's still a ways from true completion." "Go research it yourself," Ye Xian repeated. With her hands behind her back, she walked ahead. "Let's go. Since you're here, fulfill your duties as a student and come lend a hand." "Seriously?" Ji Jue froze for a moment. *Me?* *Lend a hand to Teacher?* *Are you for real?* It wasn't that he was unworthy, but that Ye Xian normally disdained such help. Whether it was Ji Jue, Tianlu, or any other artisan, her perfectionism tolerated no one meddling with her creations. Her exacting standards meant she had no use for anyone beneath her level getting underfoot. Then Ji Jue realized he had gotten the wrong idea. This wasn't assistant work for an apprentice at all; this was his duty as Ye Xian's graduate student—they didn't go to the crucible workshop at all. Instead, they headed straight to the processing center on the second basement level. Ji Jue navigated deftly through the various machinery, casting his gaze toward the center of the processing center. Mounted atop the suspension platform stood a steel giant of uniform grayish-black. Even kneeling on one knee, it was still over four meters tall. Compared to it, the large industrial exoskeletons produced by Haian Industries were mere dwarfs. As for power and configuration, there was no comparison at all—this was an out-and-out suit of military armor! "Is it finished already?" Ji Jue let out a soft breath of admiration. "So fast!" This was a project Ye Xian had been working on since before he became her disciple. Back then, Ji Jue had merely run errands and performed trivial chores in Ye Xian's research group. Now, seeing it once again, he had never imagined its completion would be so breathtakingly far along.