Moxie

It was said that in ancient times, there was a sixty-nine-year-old Celestial Chosen of Entropy who swept the realm without match with an ionic lightning whip. He once vividly captured the most critical secret of combat and slaughter in a few concise words: —Deceive and ambush! It wasn't that Ji Jue lacked martial virtue, nor was it that he didn't know his place or respect his elders; on the contrary, it was precisely because he could sense the terrifying gap between them that he understood all too clearly how minuscule his chances of victory were. No, winning was out of the question; even holding out for ten rounds would only happen if Professor Ye was patient, indulged him with a chance to show off, and went easy on him. Since that was the case, he had to go all out! Seize every opportunity, exploit every condition, while Professor Ye was still unaware of the properties of Fluid Alchemy and the buffs Non-Offensive granted him, plus his newly acquired, unrevealed blessing as a trump card... Without any wind-up or warning, the insignia of the White Stag manifested across Ji Jue's legs under the enhancement of Fluid Alchemy. Acceleration. Not just acceleration. The insignia of the Desolate Ruins was already manifesting across his chest, enhancing his physique and endurance. At the same time, across the palms of both hands, the insignia of the Swarm formed, bloody light bursting forth. Further boosting the corrosiveness and destructive power of his spiritus to the absolute limit! Under the spiritus manipulation traits of Non-Offensive, as long as this strike landed—no, as long as he could graze Professor Ye even a fraction in the subsequent transitions—he would still have a fighting chance! The sudden onslaught seemed to catch Professor Ye by surprise; even when he closed in within inches, she still hadn't reacted. Ji Jue's eyes lit up. There was a chance! —Smack! It was as if his mind went blank for an instant, retaining nothing. Ji Jue's vision went dark. When he came to, a raucous ringing filled his ears, the ceiling spun before his eyes, and... his back throbbed with excruciating pain. He was splayed out flat on the ground like a starfish. He could barely breathe. If he hadn't reinforced his body through the Embers lineage's material property interference and layered a shield with the Desolate Ruins insignia, he probably would have ended up straight in the ICU. Ji Jue stared with wide eyes, completely baffled. What on earth... just happened?! The answer was a shoulder throw. So practiced it flowed like water, so swift it defied reaction, of impossibly pure technique—a throw executed so perfectly that it seemed as though Ji Jue had delivered himself right into her hands! Faced with her student closing in to point-blank range, in that split second, Professor Ye merely turned slightly sideways. Ji Jue's fist grazed past her shoulder, failing to touch even a thread of her clothes. Then, she casually lifted her hand, seized his wrist, pivoted with his momentum, hoisted him into the air like a rag, traced a semicircle so perfect it could bring tears to one's eyes, and slammed him flat against the floor with a resounding splat. She had even deliberately paused for a fraction of a second to adjust the angle, preventing the back of Ji Jue's head from smashing into the floor and bursting like a crushed watermelon. All of this was projected before him by the puzzle ball recording from midair. Replayed at one-tenth speed, complete with high-energy warning prompts and a step-by-step breakdown of every motion. She was practically twisting the knife in his heart. "Taking the initiative and seizing control of the pacing is good. Your force was adequate, your mindset commendable." Professor Ye's face appeared in his field of vision. Looking down, she remarked nonchalantly, "Pity your lack of experience. "All of Non-Offensive's power resides in the hands. Whether creating, destroying, or altering, it is enough to determine the outcome. Precisely because of this, an enemy will be twice as wary of your hands. If you want to end it in one strike, conceal your intent. Don't wear everything plainly on your face. "Pulling that off, even an idiot would know something is up with your hands." Ji Jue's expression twitched. He couldn't smile. The probe had failed, and his situation was terrible. Professor Ye seemed to know Non-Offensive's properties inside and out, but that was still within Ji Jue's expectations; after all, if she hadn't understood it, she wouldn't have thrown him into the Border Realm to run the dungeon in the first place. No, he was still too naive. He had fought someone at Young Master Lou's rank too much; his game sense and execution had gotten sloppy. "Again!" He drew a breath, slapped his cheeks hard, and scrambled up from the floor. Once steady, he cautiously lowered his stance, bending down to drop his center of gravity to avoid another disastrous throw. From start to finish, Professor Ye stood with her hands idle, waiting for his next attack. Even though she hadn't made an effort to seize it, the initiative had undeniably rested in her hands all along. Ji Jue couldn't help squinting, observing her carefully for a long time... only to realize, to his embarrassment, that he couldn't discern a damn thing. "I suggest you hurry up," Professor Ye said, casually glancing toward the living room. "Otherwise, the tea I just brewed will get cold." The instant her gaze shifted, Ji Jue launched himself forward again. Without hesitation, he seized the opening she had clearly offered and pressed the attack. This time, abandoning the rigid punch, he brought his fingers together into a knife-hand strike, chopping toward Professor Ye's neck! Though Ji Jue lacked the power to conjure a blade capable of severing a strand of hair blown against it from thin air, his five fingers—their material properties altered through the Embers lineage's spiritus enhancement—were already no less formidable than iron or stone. Yet in the next instant, the knife-hand, whistling with a dull hum, ground to a halt an inch before Professor Ye's neck. His arm went numb out of nowhere. Blocked! Professor Ye's finally raised right hand didn't clash head-on with his fierce strike. Instead, it slipped through the centerline, slapping against his forearm to intercept and deflect before hidden force detonated, bouncing his arm away! Seamless and fluid. Her left hand swept across the moment Ji Jue lost his balance, brushing perilously close to his eyes. The wind trailing her fingertips stung his eyes so sharply that tears welled up, blurring his vision almost instantly. Fortunately, it didn't touch his eyes. No, how could that be mere luck? If she couldn't judge a distance of mere millimeters, she wouldn't be a master. She was simply holding back. If she had pressed forward another inch, scooping out his eyeballs would have been effortless. [Geng Sao to parry, Biu Jee to rake the eyes,] the puzzle ball's gloating voice rang out from the side. [Wing Chun, kid!] Ji Jue had no time to pay attention. Without even pausing to blink, he forcefully suppressed the discomfort and pain with spiritus enhancement, closing the distance once more and recklessly picking up speed. Yet compared to Ji Jue's frantic assault, Professor Ye appeared utterly relaxed. Waving her hands casually, deflecting and pressing with effortless ease, she parried all of Ji Jue's attacks. She even had the breath to critique and question: "Still too rushed. What's the hurry? Is there something you don't want me to know? Or are you trying to hide... some little tricks?" The moment she finished speaking, she drove straight in, pressing her left palm toward Ji Jue's chest. Even with an open palm rather than a heavy fist, the spiritus swirling around her fingers and the thunderous crack that erupted in that instant chilled Ji Jue to the bone. More than enough to deal an overconfident student a painful blow! Bang!!! A muffled boom erupted upon contact, yet it sounded not like striking flesh, but like smashing into an iron shell. Beneath Ji Jue's torn jacket, what appeared was a matte, dark-red sheen resembling steel! That was blood. Hidden beneath the jacket, the hardened cuff of his T-shirt had slit his skin, letting blood seep out. Using about fifteen milliliters of his own blood as material, he infused it into the chest of the T-shirt and applied Fluid Alchemy to harden it instantaneously. Under this double reinforcement, the flimsy short-sleeve shirt transformed into form-fitting armor! Not bad; very good. Although using blood to alter external objects bordered on cheating during a lesson on spiritus offense and defense, it was ingenious. In that instant, Ji Jue's right hand capitalized on the opening, swinging around in a hook. He distinctly caught a flicker of approval in Professor Ye's eyes—and, as always, mockery! Pity it was still petty cleverness. Quick reactions, knowing how to lure the enemy in deep. But did you forget your syllabus? Bang! Excruciating pain flared. Ji Jue's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. For right beneath Professor Ye's fingers, the blood-hardened armor shattered into pieces. She hadn't exceeded the agreed limit of strength; it was simply that, for the first time while thrashing her student, she used spiritus. Compared to the spiritus Ji Jue had poured into his assault, the amount she used seemed minuscule. Yet the technique she employed was a lesson that had been waiting for Ji Jue for who knew how long... —Dissociation Art! Under those five fingers, his hastily improvised Fluid Alchemy was like nothing at all. The spiritus circuit collapsed entirely in the instant impact, the hardening effect dispersing completely. Along with the insignia of the Desolate Ruins. Her fingers drove unimpeded against his chest and abdomen. Hidden force erupted, rattling his internal organs and triggering uncontrollable spasms and agony that doubled him over like a boiled prawn. Yet in that very split second, Professor Ye saw... ... the grin on Ji Jue's face! In the impact of the Dissociation Art, the scattered blood surged out like a living thing, seeping into Ji Jue's jacket, coursing through the fabric, and pooling at his right cuff. The faded jacket sleeve shredded instantly. Pulled and restructured by threads of blood, it wrapped back around Professor Ye's left wrist in reverse. Binding! Entangling! In this spark of flint, shape reforming, tensile strengthening, and matter manipulation—an almost unimaginable triple manipulation—had been completed! Fast, far too fast... So fast it was entirely beyond Ye Xian's calculations. Such blazing speed, a transmutation that followed thought itself, backed by hair-raising precision—even for Non-Offensive, it was absurdly exaggerated! Now, even if she destroyed Ji Jue's spiritus once more with the Dissociation Art, the sheer physical tensile strength of the cloth would be enough to bind her at this critical juncture... Ye Xian finally realized: So this was the real trap? And in that very instant, Ji Jue's left hand finally clamped down on Professor Ye's right wrist! Grip! His pupils flared, reflecting what seemed like the distant dawn of victory. The spiritus manipulation unique to Non-Offensive—activate! And then, his smile froze. His spiritus remained confined to his own left hand, entirely unable to penetrate Professor Ye's body, as though... completely shut out. Beneath his fingers, her wrist felt like utter blackness in his perception. As if what he held was nothing more than an empty void. Only then did he hear Professor Ye's appreciative commentary. "Blending feints and realities—very good." Savoring Ji Jue's ghost-stricken shock, Ye Xian said slowly, "Since you've shown me Non-Offensive, let me show you the traits of Moxie." With that, she raised her right wrist voluntarily, offering it before Ji Jue's eyes so her student could examine the fruit of his efforts. He had indeed caught it. Yet Ji Jue's spiritus could not make any contact with Professor Ye's skin, nor could he exert any manipulation over her arm! An invisible gap still separated them. For Non-Offensive, that hairline sliver was a distance beyond reach!