Chapter 99: Cultivation

"Ah? Who?"

Ji Jue blinked, taking a long time to react to who she was talking about. He immediately patted his chest and guaranteed: "Don't worry, I keep my word. I can't help it if there are missing limbs, but as long as the money hits the account, I will never tear up the ticket!"

"No need to be nervous. If you encounter any situation during Rift Realm exploration, there's no need to hesitate when it's time to be ruthless. Just a young master, it doesn't matter if he's dead or alive. I'm just reminding you that the corpse is also quite useful; don't waste it."

Professor Ye shook her head with emotion: "Compared to this, your talent for kidnapping, extortion, and scraping the ground three feet deep is what makes me, as a teacher, look at you with new eyes. The Ember Path has somewhat delayed you."

It wasn't that she was dissatisfied with Ji Jue; after all, in her earlier years, when she really encountered any situation, Ye Xian was much more decisive than Ji Jue when she took action, and she was a person of few words.

If someone really didn't have eyes and offended her, there wouldn't be many opportunities left to keep the body intact and throw it into the furnace to extract blessings.

Besides, wasn't giving Kong Qingyan a few big slaps her instruction?

It's just that Ji Jue's style was truly too unique, with every step landing outside of expectations.

Went out for a trip and came back with a matrix, a blessing, and almost moved Mercury's entire collection back. Did you go out to explore archaeology, or to blow things up for demolition?

Did you catch the Rift Realm Friday sale and ride a three-wheeler to stock up?

She felt she needed some time to accept it and think carefully: Did she get the cultivation direction wrong? It's possible that this student of hers has a much higher talent for killing and arson than for being an artisan...

But immediately after, she heard Ji Jue's *huffing and puffing* sound.

"And there's also that... Fluid Alchemy."

Ji Jue rubbed his little hands and confessed shyly: "Accidentally, I learned it all."

"..."

Professor Ye was silent again, looking at him for a long time, as if doubting her own ears, "What did you just say...?"

"Fluid Alchemy, the one Mercury is best at, the swan song of classical alchemy, the art of ten thousand changes, the great achievement of purification; I've learned it."

Ji Jue nodded frankly, without hiding anything: "Although limited by my personal ability, the current application is still relatively restricted. However, the relevant core concepts, basic theories, and advanced content will be organized in the next few days."

As he spoke, he reached directly into his pocket and took out a bottle of converted mercury he had been using to practice in the last two days, and made a little Niu Ma on the table on the spot.

The lifelike little three-wheeler twisted and turned, *put-put-putting*.

This was the best evidence.

Irrefutable.

From the spiritual quality circuits and construction unique to the classical period above, one could clearly distinguish that distinct aura.

One look, and it's Mercury's direct lineage!

"..."

In this long silence, she took a deep breath, as if she had finally accepted this bizarre reality, took off her glasses, and rubbed her sore nose bridge.

Deep breath.

"What else don't I know?"

Professor Ye sighed lightly and put her glasses back on: "Say it all at once, don't be afraid, I can accept it."

"Seems, there's still a bit... much?"

Ji Jue hesitated and replied: "Mainly, I came into contact with the history of the Mohists when the Heavenly Pillar collapsed four hundred years ago, and then I was lucky enough to learn Fluid Alchemy. As for the rest, I don't know how, but I seem to have blown up Mercury's workshop, and the Rift Realm is gone... Mercury's remains were also burned to ashes. In the middle, I seem to have touched a sword, called what... Blade of Change? But I don't know where it went later."

"Oh, and this..."

As he spoke, he reached into another pocket and took out the metal bird that had curled into a ball to sleep, placing it gently on the table. The bird sensed his finger, closed its eyes and rubbed against it twice, then continued to sleep soundly.

In this wave of messy reports, Ye Xian, who had keenly sensed several key terms, hadn't reacted yet, her gaze attracted by the ball-shaped bird on the table, and she asked subconsciously: "This... is what?"

"Uh, seems to be Mercury's final legacy?"

Ji Jue wasn't sure either, "Hmm, probably... should be about right..."

Considering the teacher's cardiovascular endurance, he ultimately didn't dare to tell the story that this might be Mercury's precious daughter.

But looking at the frequency of Professor Ye's changing face, he still regretted not buying two packs of fast-acting heart-saving pills on the road.

Should he have laid the groundwork first to give the teacher some buffer time?

He took the Ghost Work Ball, which had shrunk to the bottom at some point, out of his pocket: "Brother Ball, do you want to add a few words?"

Brother Ball was silent, with no reaction, not even a sound.

Brother! You are my brother!

I beg you, don't say anything.

Brother Ball shivered, not daring to speak.

It was just like a calm afternoon, when suddenly a dozen screenshots appeared in a happy game group—a newbie just entered the pit, did a single draw and got a few cards, don't know if they are easy to use, can the big shots help me take a look?

That's enough, it's already enough.

Many big shots are already not as good as you!

Don't show off anymore!

If you keep showing off...

*Smack! *

The Ghost Work Ball fell into Professor Ye's hands out of thin air, the internal record briefing appeared and flowed out, reading completed, from the moment Ji Jue entered the Rift Realm until the first *clanging* sound of the Blade of Change.

In the long silence, Ye Xian was silent, for a long time, a light sigh:

"It is truly, unexpected."

Originally, she threw the travel toad out, hoping he could send a postcard back. Didn't expect this thing to pack the entire scenic spot back.

From the stone lion in front of the door to the dog raised in the scenic area, not a single thing was left behind!

Simply the Rift Realm demolition king.

Besides that, the collapse of the Heavenly Pillar, the afterglow of the Empire, the past of the Mohists, the Mercury Workshop, the explosion of the Rift Realm, and even... the Blade of Change!

The harvest was so rich, the experience so explosive, that even if Ye Xian had gone to so many Rift Realms and Time Ruins in her early years, she had never seen such an exaggerated battle.

Bizarre to the point of being unbelievable.

But to be so outrageous, it seems to be very real. It's just...

Completely throwing the teacher's safety education to the back of her head, after doing all the things that should and shouldn't be done, even touching such deadly things as the Blade of Change... After touching it, he wasn't burned to ashes, and came back whole, alive and kicking, as if nothing had happened, looking for the teacher to show off his results of courting death.

It really is...

She laughed softly, shaking her head helplessly.

"... Ji Jue."

Professor Ye took off her glasses.

Carefully folded the frame and placed it on the table: "A fruitful harvest, congratulations to you."

"Oh no, no, it's all thanks to the teacher's cultivation!"

Before Ji Jue could finish his habitual humility, he saw Ye Chun on the sofa suddenly jump up as if her butt was on fire, slapped her head: "I... I remembered, the socks haven't been hung yet! Oh my, how could I forget..."

Muttering, she ran away as if her feet were greased!

Making Ji Jue instinctively have a sense of unease.

"Speaking of cultivation..."

Professor Ye, who had been staring out the window, finally turned back. In the sunlight, a rust-colored shimmer flickered in those pitch-black pupils.

Suddenly, a gentle smile.

"Thinking about it carefully, as a teacher, besides the introduction to modern alchemy, I actually haven't taught you the crucial spiritual quality offense and defense. It's indeed very derelict, this is very bad."

She said: "It just so happens that I'm free today, let me give you some pointers."

What to do if a child is disobedient and loves to touch the electric gate?

Don't be afraid, just give them a beating.

She believed that after receiving a beating of love, any bad habit could be cured. If one time isn't enough, then come a few more times.

As for the slight unhappiness brought about by her student's abrupt showing off, what is such a small matter? It's just drizzle... She certainly doesn't care at all.

In the daze, before Ji Jue could react, his eyes blurred suddenly.

The chair under his butt disappeared without a trace.

Not just the chair, the entire living room suddenly disappeared.

In the instant of trance, he was already in a strange space. The flipping walls slid back inch by inch. In the empty space, lights turned on one after another, illuminating pieces of ground that floated up from the darkness and assembled.

Vaguely drifting electric light flashed away in the air, and the accumulated dust disappeared in an instant.

The ceiling, walls, and floor all seemed to have life, constantly changing. In just a few snaps of the fingers, they formed a wide space enough for horses to gallop.

This is... underground?

Ji Jue subconsciously touched the floor, but sparks flew from his fingertips.

The huge organization that made up all of this did not respond to the resonance and call of the mechanical god, but instead moved away with disgust—Stinky brother, who are you talking to? Move back a bit, don't splash blood on me, it's very difficult to clean!

Ah this...

Are the local gangs so unfriendly?

Turning back, he saw Professor Ye's figure not far away.

With her hands behind her back as usual.

But on her usually cold and distant face, a subtle smile appeared that made Ji Jue's hair stand on end, with three parts calm, three parts helpless, three parts doting, and ninety-one parts expectation that you better not die too quickly later—for so many years, this formula of smile, he had only seen it when Lu Ma called Lu Feng to the kitchen to get the rolling pin, broom, and mop.

Generally, at this time, he knew that some unlucky guy was going to be beaten.

So who is this unlucky guy?

Oh, it's me... then it's fine.

No, something happened!

Ji Jue was already sweating profusely, while Professor Ye just pulled a strange-looking pair of handcuffs out of the air, all buckled on her right hand, and then adjusted the knob to the end. Suddenly, invisible shackles appeared from the void and bound her heavily.

"Don't worry, in order to ensure the teaching results, I will suppress my ability and spiritual quality level to the initial stage of the Invocation Period. Just treat it as a bottom-line test. You don't need to have any scruples, just play as you like."

Facing such a benefit, Ji Jue wanted to speak but stopped, unable to be moved at all.

When you find that Tyson is the referee, you should pray that the person walking up opposite is not Tero.

You know, the Ember faction, which purely eats operation and experience, is called "one hit, no sound" when an old hand hits a rookie.

It's like everyone playing the same game, some people start sitting in prison when they open the game, some people can roam the school, some people can take girls to fly. And some people, even if they easily get a hundred stars every season, still have to be beaten when they meet professional players. And in the professional field, the players who fight hard to climb to the top can only get the ticket to the strongest...

There is always someone higher than someone else.

For the Ember faction, even if it is just one point higher, it is enough to leave an invincible and terrifying shadow in the opponent's heart.

From Ji Jue's debut until now, not counting the games where the Blade of Change's fire top-account went online to play, the highest-end game he had played was just playing the side drum when Wen Wen beat Lawrence.

Now he actually has to play a teaching game with Professor Ye?

Me?

Are you serious?

But while shocked and terrified, he couldn't help but feel a trace of curiosity and excitement he had never had before, and by some stroke of luck, he took a deep breath.

No more hesitation.

He said: "Then please give me more pointers."

Seeing that he had discarded useless distractions so quickly, Professor Ye's eyebrows raised slightly, but the moment she nodded slowly and was about to say something... she heard the wind blowing in her face!

Ji Jue moved forward, galloping like electricity!

Just a snap of the fingers, he crossed a distance of more than ten meters, close at hand.

—Without hesitation, sneak attack! ===== CHAPTER 100 =====

He said: "Then I will have to trouble you for your guidance."

Seeing him discard useless distractions so quickly, Professor Ye's eyebrows arched slightly, but at the very moment she slowly nodded and prepared to say something... she heard the sound of wind rushing toward her face!

Ji Jue lunged forward, speeding like lightning!

In just a snap of the fingers, he crossed a distance of over ten meters, closing in to within arm's reach.

——Without the slightest hesitation, a sneak attack!