Nurturing

"Huh? Who?" Blinking, Ji Jue took a moment to realize who she was talking about. He immediately patted his chest in assurance. "Don't worry, Professor, I'm a man of my word! If he ended up missing an arm or a leg, well, that couldn't be helped, but as long as the money arrives, I definitely won't kill the hostage!" "No need to be nervous. When dealing with whatever crops up during a Border Realm expedition, there's no reason to hesitate if you truly need to play rough. He's just a rich young master; it doesn't matter whether he lives or dies. "I'm merely reminding you that a corpse is quite useful too. Don't let it go to waste." Professor Ye shook her head with a sigh. "Compared to that, it's your talent for kidnapping, extortion, and stripping everything down to the bedrock that has truly made me see you in a new light. "The Path of Embers has held you back, to an extent." It wasn't that she was dissatisfied with Ji Jue. After all, back in the day, whenever something happened, Ye Xian's own methods had been far more ruthless and efficient than Ji Jue's, and she was a woman of few words. If someone was blind enough to offend her, they rarely had the fortune of leaving behind an intact corpse to be tossed into a furnace for blessing extraction. Besides, hadn't slapping Kong Qingyan across the face a few times been her order in the first place? It was just that Ji Jue's style was truly too bizarre; every single move he made defied expectations. He went out on a single trip, and now he had a matrix, a blessing, and had practically hauled back Quicksilver's entire damn collection. Did you go out on an archaeological expedition, or were you doing demolition work? Did you hit a Black Friday sale in the Border Realm and ride a tricycle there to stock up on wholesale goods? She felt she needed some time to process this and think it over carefully: Had she chosen the wrong direction in mentoring him? It was entirely possible that her student's talents for murder and arson were vastly superior to his knack for craftsmanship... Yet right after that, she heard Ji Jue hem and haw. "And then there's, uh... Fluid Alchemy." Ji Jue rubbed his hands together and confessed bashfully, "Accidentally... I mastered all of it." "..." Professor Ye fell silent once more. She stared at him for a long time, as if doubting her own ears. "What did you... just say?" "Fluid Alchemy. The very thing Quicksilver was best at—the swan song of classical alchemy, the art of myriad transformations, the pinnacle of Purification. I learned it." Ji Jue nodded candidly, holding nothing back. "Though limited by my personal ability, its practical applications are still rather constrained for now. But I'll hurry and compile all the relevant core concepts, foundational theories, and advanced content over the next few days." As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of transformed quicksilver he had been practicing with over the past two days. Right there on the table, he molded a Little Niuma. The lifelike little tricycle wiggled and puttered about, chugging noisily. This was the best possible proof. Utterly irrefutable. From the spiritus circuits and structures characteristic of the classical era, one could clearly distinguish that unmistakable aura. A dead ringer—the direct lineage of Quicksilver! "..." In the protracted silence, she took a deep breath, as though finally accepting this bizarre reality. She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her sore nose. Deep breath. "Is there anything else I don't know?" Professor Ye sighed softly and put her glasses back on. "Say it all at once. Don't be afraid. I can take it." "It seems... there might be a bit much?" Ji Jue hesitated a moment before answering. "Mainly, I came into contact with some Mohist history from four hundred years ago during the collapse of the Heavenly Pillar. Then, with a bit of luck, I learned Fluid Alchemy. After that, somehow or other, Quicksilver's workshop seemed to blow up, and the Border Realm vanished... Quicksilver's remains were burned to ash as well. "Somewhere in the middle, I seem to have touched a sword called... Edge of Revolution? But afterward, who knows where it went." "Oh, and this..." With that, he reached into his other pocket, pulled out the little metal bird curled up fast asleep, and gently set it on the table. Sensing his finger, the bird rubbed against it with eyes closed, then went right back to snoring softly. In the midst of this chaotic debriefing, Ye Xian—who had keenly caught several alarming key terms but hadn't even had time to process them—was drawn by the sight of the bird curled into a ball on the table. She asked subconsciously, "What... is this?" "Uh, seems to be Quicksilver's final masterpiece?" Ji Jue wasn't entirely certain either. "Well, probably... something along those lines..." Considering his teacher's cardiovascular tolerance, he ultimately didn't dare mention that this might very well be Quicksilver's darling daughter. Yet seeing how rapidly Professor Ye's complexion changed, he still regretted not buying a couple boxes of fast-acting heart-saving pills on the way here. Should he have built up to it first, giving his teacher some time to brace herself? He pulled out the puzzle ball that had shrunk down to the very bottom of his pocket at some unknown point. "Bro Ball, care to add a few words?" Bro Ball remained silent, giving no response, without so much as a twitch. *Bro! You're the bro here!* *I'm begging you, shut the hell up!* Bro Ball trembled, not daring to utter a peep. This was like a tranquil afternoon when, out of nowhere, a cozy gaming chat group was bombarded with over a dozen screenshots: *Total newbie, just started playing. Got a few cards from single pulls—not sure if they're good, could a pro take a look for me?* *Enough, that's already more than enough!* *Half the pros aren't as good as you!* *Stop damn well flexing!* *If you keep flexing...* *Smack!* The puzzle ball flew through the air and landed in Professor Ye's hand. Its internal logged summary surfaced and streamed out, finishing its playback from the moment Ji Jue entered the Border Realm all the way to the first ringing hum of the Edge of Revolution. In the long silence, Ye Xian said nothing. After a long while, she let out a soft sigh. "Truly... beyond all expectation." She had sent out a travel frog expecting nothing more than a postcard in return. Who could have foreseen that this creature would pack up the entire tourist attraction and bring it back? From the stone lions out front to the dogs kept on the premises, he hadn't left a single thing behind! A veritable king of Border Realm demolition. Beyond that: the collapse of the Heavenly Pillar, the fading glory of the Empire, the history of the Mohists, the Quicksilver Workshop, the explosion of the Border Realm, and even... the Edge of Revolution! The sheer wealth of his haul and the mind-blowing nature of his experiences were so staggering that even across all the Border Realms and Chrono-Ruins Ye Xian had ventured into in her younger years, she had never witnessed such an absurd spectacle. It was bizarre to the point of being unbelievable. Yet reaching such an outrageous degree, it seemed almost undeniable. However... He had tossed his teacher's safety lectures completely out the window, courted death in every conceivable way, and even dared to go groping around at something as lethal as the Edge of Revolution... And after touching it, he hadn't been burned to ash; he had returned in one piece, hale and hearty, acting as if nothing had happened while showing off the fruits of his death-defying antics to his teacher. He truly was something else... She let out a soft chuckle and shook her head helplessly. "...Ji Jue." Professor Ye took off her glasses. Folding the frames meticulously, she placed them on the table. "A bountiful harvest indeed. Congratulations." "Oh, no, no, it's all thanks to Teacher's fine nurturing!" Before Ji Jue could finish his reflexive modesty, he saw Ye Chun, who had been playing dead on the sofa, suddenly jump up as if her rear were on fire. She slapped her forehead. "I... I just remembered! I haven't hung up my socks! Aiya, how could I forget that..." Muttering to herself, she greased the soles of her feet and bolted! Her hasty exit gave Ji Jue an instinctive premonition of dread. "Speaking of nurturing..." Professor Ye, who had been gazing pensively out the window, finally turned back. Under the sunlight, a rust-colored glint flickered in her pitch-black pupils. Suddenly, she offered a genial smile. "Come to think of it, as your teacher, aside from introducing you to modern alchemy, I have yet to teach you the all-important matter of spiritus offense and defense. That is truly derelict of duty on my part, and very bad form." She said, "Since I happen to have time today, let me instruct you a bit." What should one do when a child doesn't listen and keeps sticking their fingers in electrical sockets? No need to panic—a sound thrashing will do the trick. She believed that after a dose of loving slaps, any bad habit could be cured. If one round wasn't enough, then multiple rounds would follow. As for that tiny sliver of displeasure from having her student abruptly flex all over her—what did such a trifle matter? A drop in the bucket... Of course she didn't care in the slightest. Frozen in a daze, Ji Jue had no time to react before everything before his eyes suddenly went dark. The chair beneath him vanished without a trace. Not just the chair—the entire living room abruptly disappeared. In an instant of bewilderment, he found himself standing in an unfamiliar space. Inverting walls slid backward inch by inch, and in the cavernous expanse, lamps flickered on one after another, illuminating sections of flooring that rose from the darkness and pieced together. Faint arcs of stray lightning flashed through the air, instantly vaporizing the accumulated dust. Ceiling, walls, floor—everything seemed to possess a life of its own, constantly shifting. In just a few snaps of the fingers, it formed a space vast enough to gallop horses across. Is this... underground? Ji Jue subconsciously touched the floor, but sparks faintly crackled at his fingertips. The massive mechanism comprising all of this did not respond to the resonance and summons of Deus Ex Machina. Instead, it pulled back in disgust, shifting away—*Little bro, who do you think you're messing with? Step back a bit; don't get your blood splattered on me, it's a pain to clean up!* *Ah, this...* *Are the local gangs really this unfriendly?* Turning around, he saw Professor Ye standing not far away. Her hands were clasped behind her back as usual. Yet across that ever-cold and distant face hovered a subtle smile that made Ji Jue's hair stand on end. It carried three parts calmness, three parts helplessness, three parts indulgence, and ninety-one parts anticipation that *you better not die too quickly in a moment*. Over all these years, he had seen this specific blend of a smile only when Mother Lu told Lu Feng to fetch the rolling pin, broom, and mop from the kitchen. Usually by this point, he knew some poor bastard was about to get beat. And who was that poor bastard? *Oh, it's me... Then that's fine.* *Wait, no, I'm screwed!* Ji Jue was already sweating profusely, while Professor Ye merely drew a bizarre pair of handcuffs out of thin air, snapped them both onto her right wrist, and turned the dial all the way down. Instantly, invisible shackles manifested from the void, binding heavily around her body. "Don't worry. To ensure optimal pedagogical results, I will suppress my abilities and spiritus level to the initial stage of Calling. "Think of it as a baseline assessment. "You don't need to hold back. Just show me whatever you've got." Faced with such favorable terms, Ji Jue opened his mouth but stopped himself, entirely unable to feel touched. When you discover Mike Tyson is the referee, you should be praying that the person stepping into the ring across from you isn't Ultraman Taro. One had to understand that for a faction like Embers, which relied purely on mechanical execution and experience, a veteran thrashing a noob meant total, helpless silence. It was just like people playing the same game: some opened it up only to endure endless suffering; some could dominate their entire school; some could carry cute girls effortlessly. And some, even if they easily hit top hundred-star rank every season, would still get annihilated when facing a professional player. Meanwhile, among those who fought tooth and nail in the pro scene to reach the very top, they had only barely earned a ticket to challenge the absolute best... There was always a higher mountain. For the Embers faction, being superior by even a single point was enough to cast an insurmountable, terrifying shadow over an opponent's mind. From Ji Jue's debut until now—discounting matches where Tinder hijacked his account to pilot him like with the Edge of Revolution—the highest-level match he had ever participated in was merely playing backup on the sidelines while Wen Wen beat Lawrence like a drum. And now he was supposed to play a tutorial match against Professor Ye? *Me?* *Are you serious?* Yet alongside the shock and dread, an unprecedented trace of curiosity and excitement involuntarily welled up within him. As if possessed by some strange impulse, he took a deep breath. No more hesitation. He said, "Then please guide me well, Professor." Seeing how quickly he cast aside useless distractions, Professor Ye raised an eyebrow slightly. But just as she nodded slowly, opening her mouth to speak... she heard the rush of wind in her face! Ji Jue charged forward, swift as lightning! In a mere snap of the fingers, he crossed more than a dozen meters, arriving right before her eyes. —A sneak attack, without a shred of hesitation!