Chapter 37: The Secret Behind Spatial Abilities, Lu Jin Transforms

By the side of the canal, Lu Jin and Lu Ci were locked in a fierce battle.

Lu Ci struck out with his palm, his energy splitting into three distinct currents that snaked toward Lu Jin. Lu Jin, never one to suffer a disadvantage, instantly twisted his feet, his body swaying from side to side to narrowly evade the Ruyi Energy before delivering a palm strike of his own toward Lu Ci.

"Bang!"

The two collided head-on, both shaken by the impact, and retreated several steps. Lu Jin stepped back less than three paces, while Lu Ci was forced back more than five.

Lu Jin held one hand behind his back, extended the other, and chopped forward horizontally. "Lu Ci, do you still wish to fight?"

Lu Ci sneered. "Is this your innate Qi? Interesting. That was just a warm-up; the real show starts now!"

With that, the two clashed once more.

This time, because Lu Ci stopped trading blows head-on, they began to maneuver around, trading strikes back and forth. They quickly moved beyond the narrow confines of the canal bank and onto the pleasure boat. The deck thundered with the sound of their footsteps, and in their exchange, the ribbons, lanterns, and decorations hanging from the boat were torn to shreds.

"Good! Very good! Young Master Lu is mighty!"
"Go, Young Master Lu Ci!"

On the streets along the banks, the spectators, fueled by the spirit of watching a fire from the other shore and a love for a good spectacle, were whipped into a frenzy and began cheering.

Lu Ren, the eldest young master of the Lu family, covered his face with his hand. His younger brother’s temper was still too impulsive; how had it come to this? Still, he mused, the techniques of the Three-in-One Sect were truly extraordinary. Even with his own strength, he feared it would take considerable effort to subdue Lu Jin.

Lu Ren prepared himself to intervene at any moment; after all, he couldn't let his younger brother suffer a loss.

Elsewhere, Zhang Zhiwei was not watching the fight between Lu Jin and Lu Ci. He was still contemplating the Fire Escape technique Feng Ping had used earlier. He had observed the entire process of Feng Ping’s technique with meticulous detail.

"When Feng Ping activated the technique, a vast amount of flame erupted from his body. These flames formed a 'door,' and he was sucked into it."

"At the exact moment that 'door' appeared, the brazier Feng Ping had left on the pleasure boat—which had special runes or symbols etched upon it—began to flicker, forming an identical 'door.'"

"Immediately after, Feng Ping emerged from the 'door' in the brazier. The entire process happened in the blink of an eye. Because the whole sequence was accompanied by flames, to an outsider, it looked as if he had simply dissolved into a ball of fire and reappeared from another."

"So, this Fire Escape is truly a form of spatial teleportation. One leaves a mark in one location, and when activated, uses a medium to create a path between oneself and that mark to teleport!"

"The principle of the technique sounds simple enough, and since Feng Ping can use it, it’s clear that the difficulty isn't insurmountable. As long as one masters the method of spellcasting and the ritual required to craft that brazier, it should be easy to replicate."

"Of course, this must be a closely guarded secret of the Fire Virtue Sect, not to be passed to outsiders. Trying to imitate it after seeing it just once is still far too difficult!"

"However, I never intended to learn this technique just by watching once. Looking past the phenomenon to the essence, I am more interested in the 'Dao'—the medium—that is borrowed when this technique is activated."

"What is the medium for this teleportation? Why can it overcome the barriers of matter and space in an instant?"

Zhang Zhiwei pondered. For a fleeting moment, his mind flashed back to the Wang family head’s ability to retrieve objects from paintings. Had he used this same medium? Otherwise, how could objects be pulled from a painting? The Wang family’s Divine Painting technique certainly could not create something from nothing.

Wait...

More thoughts crowded Zhang Zhiwei’s mind. He realized this medium seemed to be used quite widely in the world of Outsiders.

For one thing, in the stories he knew, when the Tang Sect was hunting down the evildoers of the All-Nature Sect, a practitioner of the Wild Maoshan sect used a technique called the "Exchange Nail." During physical contact, they could leave a mark on the target and, through spellcasting, directly bypass spatial limitations to teleport steel nails into the person’s stomach, causing them to die from internal rupture. This must have also borrowed this medium to transport the nails.

And what about the spatial ability of that junior, Feng Shayan, in the future? Was that also a utilization of this medium? It was just that Feng Shayan’s ability was an innate talent, a near-instinctive application she was born with. Yet, limited by her talent and comprehension, she could only use it in a shallow way, unable to perceive its essence, which was why her ability was strong but her overall strength remained weak.

In contrast, the spells used by acquired practitioners were the methods of ancestors who had discovered this medium and invented techniques to leverage its power. Thus, even weak Outsiders, completely ignorant of the "Dao" and "Logic" within, could use fixed spells to harness the power of this medium. Just like the Fire Escape technique used by Feng Ping before him.

Zhang Zhiwei even wondered if the "Great Luo Cave Observation," one of the Eight Miraculous Skills, might also have involved the observation and application of this medium.

"I don't know what this medium is... just a shallow application can have such effects. If one were to master it completely..."

His intuition told Zhang Zhiwei that once the essence of this medium was completely mastered, it would be terrifying—one might even be able to disrupt the rules of this world. But there was a chasm between knowing and doing. Mastering such terrifying power would undoubtedly be incredibly difficult, requiring both high-level techniques and a profound foundation of life and spirit.

After careful reflection, Zhang Zhiwei tapped his forehead, putting away his wandering thoughts, and muttered to himself:

"This medium is worth studying, but there’s no need to be obsessed and increase my own troubles. It might not be as magical as I think, and even if it is, that power must be built upon a strong foundation of life and spirit. If you want to forge iron, you must be strong yourself!"

"Taking shortcuts and excessively pursuing things that exceed one's foundational strength will only lead to a loss of virtue and catastrophic consequences."

Zhang Zhiwei had always believed in one saying: the height of a fountain cannot exceed its source; the strength of an Outsider cannot exceed the foundation of their life.

Zhang Zhiwei calmed his mind and turned his gaze back to the arena. "I really envy such a hearty, uninhibited battle. To be able to trade dozens or hundreds of blows—unlike me, my fights are always so boring!"

On the pleasure boat, Lu Ci and Lu Jin were still fighting.

Their speed was incredibly fast; they traded blows back and forth, colliding over a dozen times in a single instant.

"Lu Jin, if this is all your 'Three-in-One Transformation' amounts to, then I'm afraid I’ll have to apologize!"

Lu Ci finished his sentence, gathered Qi into his palm, and lunged toward Lu Jin. Lu Jin did not dodge or retreat, charging forward to meet him head-on.

"Bang!"

Their fists and palms collided, and they engaged in a rapid succession of strikes. Lu Jin’s Qi was fierce and powerful, his movements open and sweeping. Lu Ci’s Ruyi Energy was sinister, supple, and swift; occasionally, a strike would emerge from an impossible angle, like an antelope hanging its horns—natural and ingenious.

Every time Lu Jin established an advantage with his strength, this energy would immediately turn the tide, sometimes even leaving him at a slight disadvantage.

The two fought with increasing ferocity. Lu Ci feinted, his Ruyi Energy seeming to possess a life of its own; like a viper flicking its tongue, it struck toward Lu Jin’s waist from a devious angle. Lu Jin dodged the treacherous force but failed to evade Lu Ci’s physical strike, taking a kick to his lower abdomen.

Lu Jin used the momentum to roll away. He had suffered a loss in this exchange, having taken a kick, but there was no sign of regret on his face.

Lu Jin knelt on one knee, then slowly stood up. The energy around his body surged, and his skin tone began to fade—not just his skin, but his eyes as well.