Chapter 85: The First Move

As the saying goes, a happy event brings a refreshed spirit.

Moreover, "When the Golden Wind and Jade Dew meet, it surpasses countless encounters in the human world."

On such a joyous and festive day, even if Ji Jue disliked the Young Master Lou, he couldn't help but want to go up and ask: "Eh? How did you know I just obtained the Sage's legacy, the Matrix of Non-Aggression?"

It’s just a pity that Young Master Lou didn't seem to have any interest in handing over a cigarette and asking where the best spot to fish was.

Or rather, just restraining himself from tearing this prick into beef jerky was already quite difficult...

It wasn't that Lou Feng lacked breeding, nor that he lacked patience.

Although the Lou family's upbringing didn't reach the exaggerated level of universal compassion and oneness with all things, they never lacked the basic etiquette, rules, and social graces.

As one of the Chosen Ones pushed forward by this generation, Lou Feng was not without depth and cultivation.

However, no matter how deep one's depth and cultivation, they started to become ineffective when encountering a dog-like thing such as Ji Jue.

Suppose it were you; every time you went through great pains only to have some fool you looked down upon get there first, your mentality would inevitably explode. Not to mention the thick shadow brought by the "septic tank iaido"...

At this moment, the frenzied spiritual essence permeating the Rift had already dyed a layer of blood-red into everyone's pupils along with their breathing and spiritual fluctuations.

As if they were ready to choose someone to devour.

"It's you again—"

Lou Feng squeezed the words through his teeth, staring fixedly at Ji Jue, looking at the overflowing harvest on the little cow-horse behind him, and even the biggest difference on his body now—that pair of hands covered in complex totems.

And even, the spiritual fluctuations that were already completely different from before...

"It really is 'Non-Aggression'?!"

His pupils contracted for an instant, and then a scorching flame rose within them.

He couldn't look away anymore.

Even if he had collected so many materials through great hardship along the way, at this moment, everything compared to the achievement on Ji Jue's hands was nothing but dung.

Even without comparing, just having this thought was an offense to his intelligence and reason.

Non-Aggression!

A matrix of heaven and man from the Sage...

You must know that for a matrix, the most important thing, besides its own effects, is the crucial legacy within it.

Having undergone the spiritual nourishment and correction of generations of users, it is not only worlds apart in usage compared to the experience of one just freshly forged, but it can also exert its own power to the greatest extent.

Especially after the user achieves the status of Heaven and Man... the matrix will transform from the essence of the tapestry, imprinting traces of Origin Theory or Doomsday Theory.

If utilized well, inheriting the same origin or doomsday is not impossible!

Not to mention whether there are techniques left behind by the Sage, or whether it is possible to reproduce the theory of the lost mercury-fluid alchemy, just using this to reproduce a Heaven and Man matrix lost in history is already a discovery shocking enough to stun the whole world.

Even a Master could not refuse such honor!

A brand-new matrix represents a brand-new lineage, a family line capable of being passed down for thousands of years, a new force that cannot be ignored...

The inheritance of the Chaocheng Lou family contains four different matrices, covering the fields of Transmutation, Entropy, Mirror, and Ruin, all of which have the potential to reach the Heaven and Man realm. The appearance of every brand-new Heaven and Man matrix will push the family's influence to a brand-new level!

At this moment, the instant such a weight appeared before him, the balance in his heart was silently overturned.

Not just for himself and his teacher, but also for the family.

He must take down such an important harvest!

This was no longer a matter of worrying about the Lou family's face or his own life; no, even if he died here, it wouldn't matter... even if it meant total failure, he had to do it!

Even if he were left without a corpse!

"Mr. Ji—"

Lou Feng took a deep breath, restraining his emotions and maintaining calm, even if Ji Jue were to conjure another hundred thousand septic trucks to run over him, there would be no change.

"Not just for me, but for the entire Lou family, Non-Aggression is equally important."

He spoke: "You can name any price. I have full authority. As long as the Lou family can satisfy it, there will be absolutely no hesitation.

I want to talk to you.

No, as long as you are willing to hand over Non-Aggression, anything can be discussed—Heavenly Craft, inheritance, beauties, wealth, or status, none of it is a problem.

There is no irreconcilable hatred or conflict between us. I don't care about the previous misunderstandings. Even if you make me kneel on the ground and apologize to you, it's no problem.

I guarantee to you with the Lou family's thousand-year legacy that all conditions promised to you can be bound to the Lou family through a Heavenly Origin Contract, as long as you are willing."

The wording could not be called anything but humble, nor could it be called anything but sincere.

Especially when Lou Feng pulled off his necklace and held up the Lou family's emblem, the faint glimmer within it proved the truth of his words. No member of the Lou family would dare to joke about this.

Even if Ji Jue told him to act like a dog and bark, he would immediately lie on the ground without hesitation and keep barking until Ji Jue stopped.

But it was precisely this attitude that made Ji Jue feel a headache.

Damn it, this shitty rich second generation is playing for real...

How did the new matrix he just picked up, which he hadn't even had a chance to show off, get targeted by a thief already?

At this time, he should be playing along with him, at least to probe the reality and grasp the details, before making a choice when he could occupy the greatest advantage.

Even if it were just to stall for time.

Ji Jue should have been good at this, but he just didn't want to say it.

Not only because he was facing Lou Feng, who had discarded his dignity and personality to achieve his goal, but also because of everything he had seen in his old dreams, his own wishes and dreams, his teacher's orders and entrustments, and even the gaze of the Prophet beside him.

And, Xiao An, who was waiting for him to make a choice.

He had to set a good example for the child, right?

But no matter how many excuses he found, it was the same; he was unwilling, unreconciled, and even less willing to bow to someone who thought that just because he was willing to lower his head to make a deal, others should talk to him.

Especially unwilling.

So...

"Sorry, Brother Lou." Ji Jue shook his head: "If you want, you can pick anything from the car behind, but this one, there's no room for discussion."

"..."

Lou Feng was silent, staring at him fixedly.

In the silence, the Homecoming Knights behind him gradually became stern and ferocious. The blood-stained knights slightly raised the long spears in their hands, and the spiritual warhorses neighed and trampled the earth, emitting a clanging, low sound.

"Have you really thought about the consequences, Ji Jue?" he finally questioned.

Consequences?

Ji Jue was also amused.

"Young Master Lou, everything has a first-come, first-served order, why force it?" he sighed: "Everyone was barely polite for the sake of the sect's face before, but now that you're about to flip, you don't care at all, huh."

"Do you know how much I've been restraining myself?!"

Lou Feng interrupted him, squeezing the words through his teeth: "I don't want to say any more... For the sake of Master Ye, hand over Non-Aggression, and my guarantee remains valid.

Otherwise, I won't guarantee the consequences."

Ah, yes, yes, yes, this is more like it!

What came rushing toward him was the refreshing wind of struggle.

There was no need to wear a hypocritical mask anymore; this was the most straightforward method...

"Sorry, you know the rules."

Ji Jue brushed back his hair, gave a final mocking smile, and beckoned: "If you want it, come and take it yourself—"

In that instant, a whistling sound of air being torn arrived.

It locked onto his face.

Piercing!

Just at the moment Lou Feng flicked his finger.

There was no process, not even a gap!

The blade of spiritual essence that had been condensing and shaping in the dark from the beginning, the invisible and intangible long edge forged by the Skilled Worker, was already close at hand the moment it appeared!

And then, it stopped abruptly.

The shaping blade, capable of cutting gold and jade and comparable to a divine weapon under the Lou family's inheritance, was actually pinched!

Right between Ji Jue's five fingers...

It was hard for ordinary eyes to see or even distinguish, but Lou Feng's eyes saw it clearly: the strike he had forged with all his might had actually stalled in Ji Jue's hand.

And then, with the contraction of the five fingers, the blade rolled up like mud, collapsed, and in the end, actually dissolved into a paste, evaporating and disappearing quickly after hitting the ground.

Stop, control, eliminate!

Just in the flick of a finger...

Like a joke that overestimated its own strength!

His pupils had shrunk to pinpoints in an instant, instinctively unwilling to admit everything before him. When he waved his hand again, a giant hammer of spiritual essence descended from the sky.

With the momentum of thunder, it stirred up a storm, relying on the surging mass to crush and blast everything!

But the storm dissipated again.

He couldn't even hear a loud noise.

That hammer of spiritual essence, forged with all his might, had already collapsed and disappeared again.

From beginning to end, Ji Jue hadn't even moved a step, just lightly raised his finger to meet the thunder hammer that was pressing down.

A light tap.

And so, the thunder turned into a breeze, and the weight of ten thousand jun dissipated into the void.

The secret technique of the Lou family, the power of spiritual shaping, collapsed just like a joke, all of it proving futile.

"Sorry."

Ji Jue smiled, "I might not have told you: a move that has been used once will not work a second time in front of me... It's a pity, the techniques inherited by the Lou family have all been cracked by me."

In the dead silence, even the movements of the Homecoming Knights stalled for an instant, in disbelief.

Cold sweat seeped from Lou Feng's forehead.

He couldn't understand.

For a moment, he seemed to have really believed Ji Jue's casual nonsense, panicking. But soon, he looked at his hands in realization, and even the glowing light on the matrix totems.

The chill in his eyes grew stronger.

Non-Aggression!!!

In that instant, he raised his hand without hesitation. The spiritual light on his bracelet emerged, unfolded, and turned into a bow without a string. The blessing of burning operated within it, gathered on the arrow of spiritual essence, and flew out instantly.

Boom!!!

Amidst the loud noise, a scorching wind spread. A deep pit had already exploded where Ji Jue had been, with scorch marks scattered and ashes rising.

"Tsk—"

On the little cow-horse speeding in reverse, Ji Jue clicked his tongue in annoyance.

This time, he ultimately chose to dodge... After all, not many people with a normal brain would choose to go head-to-head with an explosive arrow made of pure energy.

Although he didn't expect his casual nonsense to fool the other party for long, the feeling of having this magic trick exposed was indeed a bit unpleasant.

After all, it was the thousand-year-old Lou family; it wasn't as if they hadn't encountered situations where their abilities or techniques were countered. They reacted extremely quickly, lacked no response strategies, and their experience could not be called anything but rich.

It’s just that, no matter how much they probed, that piece of unsettling unknown still existed.

As long as he wasn't stupid enough to go around explaining the effects of Non-Aggression, Lou Feng wouldn't be able to figure out where his abilities and techniques had gone wrong.

In the time that followed, he would have to feel the torture in the shadow left by Ji Jue.

Trembling guesses, probing like walking on thin ice, racking his brains to guess, scratching his ears and cheeks to think... all to seek that unreachable answer from the unknown.

"Start serving your sentence, Brother Lou!"

Ji Jue grinned and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Boom!