Becoming a god starts with one certificate becoming eternal.

Chapter 78 We Can't Lose

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The breeze in the backyard still smelled the same, and the sunlight shining under the eaves made people feel lazy.

But the marks worn into the ground and the fist imprints on the black stakes remind people that people are practicing, sparring, and honing their skills here every day.

Xue Chan pushed the wristband up a little, her palms were clean, and her knuckles were slightly bent, as if she could grab something at any moment.

She glanced at Ye Xiao, her eyes bright, but she didn't smile.

"Stop dawdling today."

Xue Chan raised her chin and pointed to the side, her tone firm: "Inspection."

"What I've taught you over the past two weeks—positioning, lines, rhythm, distance, weaknesses—is all covered in this one session."

Ye Xiao nodded, unbuttoned his sleeve, and his fingers snapped open and closed, making a soft cracking sound.

Xue Chan added insult to injury, making the rules absolute: "The old rules still apply."

"I'll tap you three times first, then you've failed. If you can force me to back down, or tap me back once—then you've truly mastered it."

Ye Xiao looked up: "Okay."

Xue Chan didn't start fighting immediately. As if she suddenly remembered something, she lowered her voice slightly and said heavily, "By the way, I'll tell you something."

"Zhang Yuan attempted to break through to the third level of Blood Refinement last night, but failed."

Ye Xiao's eyelids twitched slightly.

Xue Chan stared at him, as if afraid he would follow in his footsteps, and reminded him, "His foundation is damaged. He probably won't be able to become a martial artist in the future, and will most likely be stuck at the level of a quasi-martial artist for the rest of his life."

Knowing he had no future, he also chose to leave the martial arts school.

"Don't follow his example—if you're not confident, don't take that step."

Ye Xiao hummed in agreement, indicating he had taken the information to heart, but offered no further explanation.

This step is an insurmountable chasm for others. One mistake, and most of the foundation is destroyed.

But it was different for him; he wasn't worried about failure, only about his path being blocked.

Xue Chan suppressed her anger, her gaze sharpening once more: "Come here."

The two stopped.

There was no call to start.

The next instant, Xue Chan's toes slipped, and she took a half-step closer, not to charge, but to steal the distance. Her shoulder dropped, her right hand seemed to be about to strike the center, but her left hand was a step ahead, slashing towards the inside of Ye Xiao's elbow to block it and prevent him from exerting force.

Ye Xiao did not resist.

He loosened his elbows slightly, allowing them to turn, while keeping his front foot still and pressing down with his heel, and gently twisting his waist and hips.

This small blow completely removed Xue Chan's elbow from its root.

A glint flashed in Xue Chan's eyes, and she immediately changed her strategy.

She stopped using her elbow and instead used her wrist, flicking and lifting her knuckles to try and sway Ye Xiao. In the past, every time she used this move, Ye Xiao would get flustered.

This time, however, Ye Xiao's hand was not taken away.

He slightly flipped the back of his hand, like a thin piece of iron, and pressed Xue Chan's gripping force back into place, then moved forward half an inch. It wasn't about chasing her, but about regaining control of the center line.

Xue Chan cursed inwardly: "She learns so fast."

However, she didn't stop moving. She shifted her feet and turned to the side, trying to get into Ye Xiao's blind spot on the right.

Ye Xiao did not chase after him.

Without moving his shoulders or hips, he used a single diagonal step to block her escape route. Xue Chan had just stepped aside when she realized her attack point was gone.

He immediately pressed forward, thus truly sealing off the distance.

"Snapped!"

It wasn't a fist smashing flesh; it was a bone-to-bone collision.

Xue Chan's hand coiled around Ye Xiao like a snake, and in the next instant, she was about to twist Ye Xiao's knuckles. Ye Xiao pulled his fingers back, changed his fist into a palm, and pushed with the heel of his palm against the tendon on the back of her hand, dissipating the force of her pull.

Xue Chan raised her knee, not to hit his abdomen, but to push against the inside of his thigh, making him stand more loosely.

Ye Xiao's heels didn't loosen.

He lowered his calf, his knee slightly rotated outward, and "locked" the downward-pointing knee against his own frame, as if finding a landing point for it.

When Xue Chan pushed forward, her legs went numb for a moment from the shock.

Just this one moment.

Ye Xiao's right fist was delivered from the shortest possible distance.

It wasn't a deadly punch, just a clean, short punch that landed directly on the lower edge of the chest.

Xue Chan's pupils contracted slightly, and she instinctively took half a step back, managing to catch her breath.

After dodging the attack, she looked up, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Okay."

"It forced me to back down."

Ye Xiao didn't reply, but took a step forward half an inch.

Only half an inch.

But it's very dangerous, because that half inch completely blocks the opponent's escape route.

Seeing this, Xue Chan didn't back down; instead, she pressed herself against him.

But then suddenly there was another very slight feint, the shoulder line pulled back, as if to create distance.

Ye Xiao didn't chase after him; he had suffered the same loss more than once.

But just as he stopped chasing, Xue Chan made her real move!

She hooked her toes around Ye Xiao's front foot, and at the same time, she pressed down on the outside of his shoulder with her hand.

This is a rhythm trap.

It's not about force, but about how your newly learned habit of not chasing has backfired and hurt you.

Ye Xiao's body sank down, trying to use his steadiness to press it down.

But Xue Chan wouldn't press him down.

She turned around close to his shoulder line, like turning a hinge, and Ye Xiao's center of gravity was shifted by her by half an inch, causing his feet to slip.

Xue Chan gently patted his chest with her palm.

not heavy.

But it is a point.

"First point."

Ye Xiao's eyes flickered slightly, and he immediately pulled his foot back, shifting his weight firmly.

Xue Chan didn't give him a chance to catch his breath. The second strike was even faster, with the wrist touching, the elbow clamping, and the shoulder rubbing, three consecutive strikes falling like a musical score being dismantled.

Ye Xiao blocked both sections.

The third segment didn't block it—Xue Chan lightly tapped his ribs with her knuckles, still not hard, but so precise it was painful.

"Second point."

Ye Xiao finally looked up, his gaze tinged with a hint of fire for the first time.

He stopped guarding and started pressuring.

One step pressed the center line, two steps cut off her sideways movement, and the third step brought her to his elbows—Xue Chan's most comfortable distance was forcibly trampled away by him.

Xue Chan's breathing tightened slightly, but she was even more excited: This is it, this is what an inspection should look like, this is what a real test should look like.

Ye Xiao unleashed a barrage of short punches, each one light but hitting the right spot, forcing Xue Chan to constantly shift positions.

Faced with a series of attacks, Xue Chan was forced to retreat in an instant.

But as she retreated, a glint flashed in her eyes.

Suddenly she stopped.

It stopped at a position that Ye Xiao thought gave him a chance.

Ye Xiao pressed forward as expected.

With that one press, Xue Chan's shoulder sank, and with a flick of her wrist, as if pulling a needle from her sleeve, she gently touched the inside of Ye Xiao's wrist bone.

"Third point."

Ye Xiao paused on the spot.

It wasn't the pain, it was the precision of that strike, so precise that it cut off half a beat of all your effort.

Xue Chan withdrew her hand and stepped back, her breathing still steady, her eyes shining as if she had won a real battle: "I won."

Ye Xiao didn't argue. He looked down at his wrist bone, and after a moment, looked up and said, "Let's try again."

Xue Chan laughed and scolded, "You really aren't afraid of hardship."

She waved her hand dismissively: "Alright, that concludes the inspection."

"I may have won, but the way you forced me to back down just now already counts as passing the test."

She rubbed her wrists and stopped arguing: "You don't lack moves or techniques, what you lack is to hone them into habits."

"Go back and practice on your own, defend the lane, press the lane, switch positions, rhythm, practice until you can keep your head up even with your eyes closed."

"Come back in a few days, I'll check it again."

Ye Xiao nodded without saying another word, then turned and left.

His figure remained steady. He came every day during this period and learned more skills and experience than he had in the previous ten years.

Xue Chan stood inside the door, watching that figure walk away, her lips still curled up, but her heart was already tightening.

Not only is cultivation fast.

Even their fighting instincts are so fierce; they learn everything as if it were swallowed whole, and can use it immediately.

She let out a soft breath and muttered, "No."

I need to work even harder.

,

"It's one thing to be weaker than him, but we can't afford to lose in combat skills."

""