Prison Time

As the saying goes, joy lifts the spirit. Furthermore, "When golden wind meets jade dew, it surpasses all worldly encounters." On such an auspicious and festive occasion, no matter how much Ji Jue disliked Young Master Lou, he couldn't resist the urge to walk up and ask: "Huh? How'd you know I just obtained the Sage's legacy, Matrix: Non-Offensive?" Unfortunately, Young Master Lou didn't seem in the mood to offer him a cigarette and ask where best to set up bait. Rather, merely restraining himself from tearing this bastard into dried meat was already taking everything he had... It wasn't that Lou Feng lacked breeding, nor was it that he lacked patience. While the Lou clan's upbringing hadn't reached the exaggerated heights of universal compassion and cosmic oneness, they had never lacked the basic courtesies, proprieties, and social graces. As one of the Celestial Chosen pushed to the forefront of this generation, Lou Feng was hardly devoid of shrewdness or refinement. Yet no matter how deep one's composure and culture ran, they began to fail utterly when confronted with an insufferable piece of work like Ji Jue. Put yourself in his shoes: if every time you went through untold hardships only to have some despised idiot beat you to the punch, your mental fortitude would snap too. Not to mention the lingering trauma of that dung-cart quick-draw... At that moment, the frantic spiritus permeating the Border Realm had seeped into everyone's eyes along with their breathing and spiritus fluctuations, dyeing their irises a blood-red tint. It was as if they were beasts ready to devour man. "You again—" Lou Feng forced the words out between clenched teeth, his glare locked onto Ji Jue, taking in the overflowing pile of spoils on Little Niuma behind him, as well as the single greatest change upon Ji Jue himself—those hands now covered in intricate totems. And even more, spiritus fluctuations completely different from before... "It really is 'Non-Offensive'?!" His pupils contracted for an instant before blazing with a searing fire. He could not tear his eyes away. Even after all the materials he had painstakingly gathered along the way, compared to the achievement resting upon Ji Jue's hands, everything else was nothing more than dirt. In fact, calling it a comparison would be an insult to intelligence and reason. Non-Offensive! A Celestial-Human matrix left by a Sage... For a matrix, aside from its inherent effects, the most critical element was the vital legacy carried within it. Having been nurtured and refined by generations of wielders, its performance was not only worlds apart from something fresh out of the kiln, but it could also unleash its full power to the greatest possible extent. Especially after a wielder attained the Celestial-Human realm... the matrix would undergo a metamorphosis born from the essence of the Tapestry, branded with the traces of either Genesis or Apocalypse doctrines. If utilized well, inheriting an equivalent Genesis or Apocalypse was not out of the question! Setting aside whether it contained techniques passed down by the Sage, or whether it could recreate the bygone theories of Quicksilver's Fluid Alchemy, merely resurrecting a Celestial-Human matrix lost to history would be a discovery grand enough to shake the entire world. Even a master could never refuse such an honor! A brand-new matrix represented an entirely new lineage, a family line capable of enduring for centuries or millennia, a rising faction that no one could overlook... The Chaocheng Lou clan's heritage held four distinct matrices in total, encompassing the domains of Ascension, Entropy, Mirror, and Desolate Ruins, all of which possessed the potential to reach the Celestial-Human realm. The emergence of every new Celestial-Human matrix would elevate the clan's influence to an entirely new height! The instant such a heavyweight bargaining chip appeared before him, the scales in his heart shifted without a sound. Not merely for himself and his mentor, but for the entire clan. He had to seize such a monumental prize! This was no longer a matter of preserving the Lou clan's face or his own life. No, even dying here would not matter... Even if failure meant total ruin, he had to see it through! Even if it left him without a grave! "Mr. Ji—" Lou Feng drew a deep breath, suppressing his emotions to maintain an air of calm. Even if Ji Jue conjured a hundred thousand manure trucks to run him over right now, it would not shake his resolve. "Non-Offensive is just as vital to the entire Lou clan as it is to me." He spoke up, "Name your price. I have the full authority to decide. As long as the Lou clan can provide it, there won't be the slightest hesitation. "I want to negotiate with you. "No, as long as you're willing to part with Non-Offensive, everything is open for discussion—Celestial Craft, inheritances, beauties, wealth, or status. Nothing is off the table. "There is no irreconcilable feud or grievance between us. I don't care about the minor misunderstandings before; even if you want me to kneel and apologize, I will do it without hesitation. "I swear on the Lou family's thousand-year legacy that every condition promised to you can be bound to the Lou clan through a Tianyuan Contract, as long as you agree." His words could not have been more humble, nor could they have been more sincere. Particularly as Lou Feng yanked off his necklace and held up the Lou clan's insignia. The faint glimmer upon it proved the veracity of his statement. No member of the Lou clan would ever dare joke with such an emblem. Even if Ji Jue demanded that he get down on all fours and bark like a dog, he would drop to the ground without a moment's hesitation and bark until Ji Jue told him to stop. Yet it was precisely this attitude that gave Ji Jue a massive headache. *Damn it, this rich piece of shit is playing for keeps...* Why was it that every time he picked up a new matrix, before he could even show it off, thieves had already set their sights on it? In a situation like this, he ought to string the guy along, or at least sound out his strength and read his cards before making a move from a position of absolute advantage. Even if it only bought him some time. Ji Jue should have been good at playing that game, but somehow, he just couldn't bring himself to say the words. It wasn't merely because he was facing a Lou Feng who had discarded all dignity and selfhood to achieve his goal. It was also everything he had witnessed in the bygone dream, his own hopes and dreams, his mentor's orders and entrustment, and even the Prophet's watchful gaze beside him. As well as Xiao An, waiting at his side for his decision. A man had to set a good example for the kid, didn't he? No matter how many excuses he made, it boiled down to the same truth: he was unwilling. He refused to accept it, and even more, he refused to bow his head to someone who believed that just because he humbled himself to make a deal, the other person was obligated to negotiate. He refused most of all. So... "I'm sorry, Brother Lou." Ji Jue shook his head. "If you want, you can take your pick of everything on the cart behind me. But this matrix alone is non-negotiable." "..." Lou Feng fell silent, his eyes fixed on him in a dead stare. In the hush, the Knights of Homecoming behind him grew chilling and menacing. The bloodstained knights raised their spears slightly, their spectral warhorses whinnying and stamping the ground with dull, clanging thuds. "Have you truly considered the consequences, Ji Jue?" he demanded at last. Consequences? Ji Jue was amused. "Young Master Lou, everything follows first come, first served. Why force the issue?" he said wistfully. "Earlier, everyone at least maintained a veneer of courtesy for the sake of our mentors' ties. Now that you want to drop the act, you don't care in the slightest, do you?" "Do you have any idea how much restraint I've shown all this time?!" Lou Feng cut him off, grinding the words out through his teeth. "I don't care to waste any more breath... Out of respect for Master Ye, hand over Non-Offensive, and my promise still stands. "Otherwise, I can't guarantee what will happen." *Ah, right, right, right! Now that's more like it!* What swept over him was the bracing wind of open conflict. There was no longer any need to wear a hypocritical mask. This was the most straightforward way... "Sorry, but you know the rules." Ji Jue brushed back his hair, offering one last mocking grin as he beckoned. "If you want it, come and take it yourself—" In that instant, a whistling screech tore through the air. Locked straight onto his face. A thrust! The very moment Lou Feng flicked his fingers. There was no process, not even an interval! A spiritus blade honed and shaped in the dark from the very start—an intangible, formless edge forged by Deft Craft—was already upon him the instant it manifested! And then, it came to a dead halt. A shaped blade born of the Lou clan's heritage, sharp enough to sever gold and cleave jade, rivaling divine weapons, was caught in a bare-handed grip! Trapped between Ji Jue's five fingers... The mortal eye could hardly discern or trace it, but Lou Feng's eyes saw it with absolute clarity: the strike he had forged with everything he had was halted dead in Ji Jue's hand. Then, as the five fingers tightened, the blade curled like soft clay, crumbling apart until it dissolved into a slurry, dripping to the ground where it rapidly evaporated into nothingness. Stopped, controlled, erased! All in the flick of a finger... Like a pathetic, overambitious joke! Lou Feng's pupils shrank to needlepoints in an instant, his instincts refusing to acknowledge the reality before him. As he waved his hand once more, a colossal spiritus hammer descended from above. Crashing down like thunder, churning up a tempest, it relied on its surging mass to crush and annihilate everything in its path! Yet the tempest dispersed once more. Not even a roar was heard. The hammer forged of all his spiritus crumbled once again, vanishing into thin air. From beginning to end, Ji Jue hadn't even taken a single step. He merely raised a finger with absolute nonchalance, pointing it toward the crushing thunderous hammer. A gentle tap. And so, thunder turned to a breeze, and its crushing weight vanished into the void. The secret techniques of the Lou clan, the power of spiritus shaping, crumbled like an idle joke, completely undone. "My apologies," Ji Jue smiled. "I might have forgotten to mention: a trick used once never works on me a second time... Unfortunately, I've already cracked every technique the Lou clan has to offer." In the dead silence, even the Knights of Homecoming froze for a fraction of a second in disbelief. Cold sweat broke out across Lou Feng's forehead. It was incomprehensible. For a fleeting moment, he almost believed Ji Jue's offhand nonsense, seized by sheer panic. But soon, his gaze shifted in realization toward Ji Jue's hands, and to the faint, luminous shimmer across the matrix totems. The chill in his eyes deepened. *Non-Offensive!!!* Without a second thought, Lou Feng threw up his arm. The spiritus glow on his bracelet flared and unfurled, transforming into a stringless bow. The blessing of incineration surged within it, converging into an arrow of spiritus that shot forth in a flash. *Boom!!!* Amid the deafening blast, a gale of scorching heat billowed outward. A deep crater erupted where Ji Jue had stood, scorch marks radiating out as ashes rose into the air. "Tsk—" Reversing at high speed atop Little Niuma, Ji Jue clicked his tongue in annoyance. This time, he had chosen to dodge after all... After all, few people in their right mind would choose to take an explosive arrow composed of pure energy head-on. Though he hadn't expected his casual bluff to dupe the man for long, having his magic trick seen through still left him a bit annoyed. As expected of a thousand-year-old family like the Lou clan. It wasn't as though they had never run into situations where their abilities or techniques were countered; Lou Feng reacted with terrifying speed, had no shortage of countermeasures, and boasted no small amount of combat experience. Yet no matter how much Lou Feng tested the waters, that unsettling shroud of the unknown remained. As long as Ji Jue wasn't stupid enough to blab the mechanisms of Non-Offensive to everyone he met, Lou Feng would never figure out what was actually going wrong with his abilities and techniques. For the foreseeable future, he would be subjected to torment under the shadow Ji Jue had cast over him. Trembling conjectures, walking-on-eggshells probes, racking his brains in speculation, scratching his head raw in thought... all to grasp at an unreachable answer from the dark unknown. "Time to do some hard time, Lou!" Ji Jue grinned and pulled the trigger without hesitation. *Boom!*