Daily life of a teacher in the martial arts department

That's right, that's the feeling Ying Qin Guan gave Ye Jiaofang—not an ancestor, nor a mythical creature, but a 'god'.

It gives me a feeling of being like a god...

You can never find a single flaw in him. He doesn't need any tricks or ingenious moves to defeat his enemies; he can conquer any foe simply through fair and square combat. Just like now, Ye Jiaofang felt that Ying Qin Guan hadn't used any particularly powerful moves since the start of the battle, except for the sword and blade technique and the space-time slicing move that hadn't actually caused him any real damage. Yet, he was being suppressed and struggling to breathe.

If we were to describe the difference between Ying Qin Guan and Ye Jiao Fang, it could probably be described with the following words.

Ye Jiaofang was born into this world for the sake of martial arts. He was born into this world for the sake of martial arts. Everything else is just a passerby in his life. Struggle is his destiny, and martial arts is his ultimate goal. He was born for struggle and martial arts, and he is the purest martial artist.

What kind of feeling did Ying Qin Pass give Ye Jiao at this moment? It felt like... like...

"All martial arts existed in this world for his sake."

boom!

A violent explosion rang out. Ying Qin Guan's colorless inner energy swirled around his body, and his intense qi almost solidified. After dozens of exchanges, Ye Jiao Fang's inner energy circulation failed to keep up. Ying Qin Guan seized this opportunity precisely, punched Ye Jiao Fang away, and attempted to seize the sword.

However, Ye Jiaofang had no intention of giving up on the Ten Absolute Techniques. If Ying Qin Guan were to obtain this set of weapons, the already difficult battle would become even more challenging.

His gaze was cold and stern as he maintained his inner energy fluctuations and manipulated the airflow, intending to take the Ten Absolute Techniques with him. However, Ying Qin Guan's speed was terrifying; he was chasing after him like a meteor. If he continued to float in the air, he would definitely be hit with a combo.

Ye Jiaofang had no choice but to release his inner energy. His inner energy had certain personal characteristics, which he usually concealed using secret techniques. However, at this moment, he naturally couldn't care less. Purple inner energy formed outside his body, turning into two giant hands that fiercely pierced the ground, leaving several deep trenches on the ground that stretched for dozens of meters before he could barely stabilize himself.

This technique is a variation of the False Self Visualization Method, allowing the detached internal energy to maintain a certain physical form. Although its overall power is inferior, its practicality is slightly better than the False Self Visualization Method. This is because when using this technique, Ye Jiaofang's true body can still do other things.

While regaining his footing, Ying Qin Guan lunged forward again. At this time and distance, anyone else would have already been waiting to die. But Ye Jiao Fang had many methods, and he still had three ways to escape: No Leaks in the Wind, Mirror Turn, and a move that consumed a lot of internal energy. He ruled out the last one first because it was an area-of-effect attack, which was too costly and ineffective against a single target.

The remaining options are No Leaking Wind and Mirror Rotation... The weakness of Mirror Rotation is that it cannot be used to leave with the Ten Absolute Machines, which is unacceptable to Ye Jiaofang.

Therefore, the only remaining option is to eliminate air leakage.

In an instant, an invincible and terrifying storm raged.

Ye Jiao unleashed his flawless attack, but a vague unease crept into his heart. He suspected that Ying Qin Guan had already guessed how to counter it... This was originally a powerful trump card he had reserved, intending to use it in conjunction with another deadly move against Ying Qin Guan. However, during the battle just now, he hadn't been able to find a suitable opportunity to use it.

Unfortunately, this actually happened.

The moment Ye Jiao unleashed the No Leakage Wind technique, Ying Qin Guan also unleashed the No Leakage Wind technique!

The two unleashed their "Airtight" technique simultaneously, creating a violent clash between two powerful storms. Terrifying air currents swirled within, and even a mere wisp of it shattered distant road posts. The internal energies intertwined within collided and battled, unleashing astonishing power. But ultimately, both dissipated, their forces exhausted. Neither Ying Qin Guan nor Ye Jiao Fang moved an inch.

Although the "No Leaks" move has no wind-up animation and can be cast instantly as long as there is internal energy in the meridians of a specific area, it does have a certain after-swing animation, making it basically impossible to launch an attack immediately after casting this move... Of course, that's not the focus right now.

Ye Jiao's gaze remained calm and unwavering. His Dao heart was as firm as iron, and he was indomitable, but even so, he was now somewhat shocked.

While it is true that there is no air leakage, there is a weakness that is not exactly a weakness. This weakness is not something that anyone discovered; it is inherent to the design and cannot be remedied.

The weakness is that Wu Lou Feng (无漏风) can be countered by Wu Lou Feng. Because of its unique internal energy operation mechanism, once Wu Lou Feng encounters another Wu Lou Feng, unless the difference in strength between the two is too great, the key internal energy flow path controlling the airflow will be cut off, causing both Wu Lou Fengs to become ineffective. This isn't really a weakness, because previously, only Ye Jiao Fang possessed Wu Lou Feng.

Upon witnessing Ying Qin Guan's mastery of the "No Leaks" technique, Ye Jiao Fang immediately attempted to set a trap, luring Ying Qin Guan into it. However, he couldn't find a suitable opportunity, and despite his meticulous planning, he never anticipated that Ying Qin Guan would ultimately exploit this weakness, forcing him into a perilous situation!

Chapter Seventy-Five: The Severed Arm!

At the critical moment, Ye Jiaofang made a decision.

He couldn't abandon his weapon after the secret of "no leaks" being exposed. Losing it would make it difficult to wrest it back from Ying Qin Guan, and getting Ying Qin Guan to possess the weapon was a major problem. While a martial artist's strength doesn't entirely depend on their weapon, a good weapon can indeed greatly enhance their power. Secondly...

Ye Jiaofang is not like Ying Qin Guan; he doesn't have the support of the military, and no one is there to provide him with weapons.

Therefore, we have no choice but to fight hard!

Ye Jiao's gaze sharpened, and terrifying internal energy poured out from behind him, halting his retreat and giving him a forward force. At the same time, powerful internal energy erupted from his wrists once more... In the previous fight, the internal energy in his eyes and the corresponding meridians throughout his body had been completely depleted, preventing him from using instant-cast skills. He needed to wait for internal energy from other areas to replenish it, but the internal energy in his hands remained constant!

Guided by his inner energy, the steel longsword seemed to have its own will, breaking free from Ye Jiaofang's control and flying up on its own, aiming for Ying Qin Guan's forehead!

Sword Control Technique!

...Although I really want to say this, in reality, there is no skill like sword control in this world, but there is a certain kind of flying sword technique.

What is the difference between flying sword technique and sword control technique?

—Sword control technique, as the name suggests, "control" means to manipulate or control. Flying sword technique... to put it bluntly, it's the kind of technique where you throw a sword out and can't take it back.

Because internal energy is uncontrollable when separated from the body for a certain period of time and distance, a skill like sword control is simply impossible. However, if one continuously releases internal energy, maintains the connection with the weapon, and keeps the range close enough to oneself, then it is possible to barely achieve a pseudo-sword control effect.

Take Ying Qin Guan's previous sword and saber technique, for example. The concept behind that move was far inferior to the sword control technique. If it were made into a move in a game, all its attributes would be E-, except for its concealment, which would be S+. But that would be enough, because concealment is basically equivalent to effective hit, and what modern martial artists pursue is effective hit—effective hit means striking a part of the opponent's body without an internal energy barrier, or the move still being lethal after the internal energy barrier is broken.

Ye Jiaofang's move was clearly less concealed. However, its destructive power was significantly increased. He used this move at this moment simply to relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao. Although he hastily mobilized his inner energy, the basic power of this move was certainly not as strong as Ying Qin Guan's punch. However, the Ten Deadly Skills helped Ye Jiaofang compensate for this weakness to some extent.

Ying Qin Guan's gaze remained calm, just as Ye Jiao Fang had guessed, and he did not choose to back down. Although Ye Jiao Fang had deliberately used the pseudo-sword control technique, a move that could potentially lead to his weapon being taken away, if he were to abandon his attack now and choose to seize the sword, he would truly be falling into a trap.

He drew a circle with his left hand, his inner energy surging, weakening Ye Jiaofang's attack. His right fist, however, continued its momentum, attacking Ye Jiaofang's wrist. From a martial artist's perspective, this was utterly inexplicable. Ye Jiaofang no longer had a sword in his hand, so why attack that spot? But for a martial artist, this "part of the opponent's hand that was just used to execute a move" was the most worthy of attack. This meant that the opponent had used up some of their inner energy there, making it impossible to maintain a strong inner energy barrier.

Therefore, it's said that a martial artist is most vulnerable immediately after unleashing their ultimate attack. Releasing an ultimate attack requires mobilizing all of the martial artist's internal energy, essentially leaving them defenseless. Of course, this notion is largely irrelevant in modern times. Modern martial artists, including Ying Qin Guan, generally don't possess any particularly powerful or wide-range ultimate attacks.

A sword is ultimately longer than a hand. Although Ying Qin Guan threw the first punch, Ye Jiao's flying sword struck him first, and a thick barrier of internal energy appeared in front of Ying Qin Guan. This sword strike reduced a significant amount of Ying Qin Guan's internal energy, but ultimately failed to break through the barrier.

But Ying Qin Guan's side is about to unleash a whole combo.

Just as the blow was about to land, he abruptly changed his fist into a palm, grabbing Ye Jiaofang's arm. A surge of violent internal energy pierced through, attempting to invade Ye Jiaofang's body.

For a martial artist, in a life-or-death battle, the entry of foreign internal energy into the body is more serious than losing a hand, foot, or offspring. It means that you will never be able to smoothly circulate your internal energy, almost all instant-cast skills will become ineffective, and the pre-cast animation of moves will be greatly increased. The output of internal energy will also be far less than before. It is equivalent to being given a debuff that is comprehensive and without any blind spots.

Ye Jiaofang's expression was icy. He hadn't faced this kind of problem for over nine hundred years. Few opponents could get this close to him, especially since this opponent was of the same level as him. If they weren't of the same level, and the opponent was weaker than him, it would be easier to remove the alien internal energy.

Even more critically, the airtight internal CD wasn't fully booted up, and even if it were, Ying Qin Guan could still crack it.

Ye Jiaofang's eyes revealed a bloodthirsty intent, but he was not insane. Even with such a brutal expression, he remained calm.

Just as Ying Qin Guan's alien internal energy was about to invade, he suddenly twisted his arm, and his arm broke off completely at the joint, with blood spurting out from the severed arm like a hidden arrow!

He broke his arm!

This move was incredibly decisive and insane. Even knowing that something worse would happen after being invaded by the alien's internal energy, how many people in the world would dare to break their own arm like that?!

The sound of flesh being torn apart rang out, but Ye Jiaofang remained calm as ever. The pain, which was enough to make a person faint, could not shake him in the slightest. Dark red blood spurted out from the broken part of his arm, heading straight for Ying Qin Guan's eyes!

This was a sure-fire blow. No one could have predicted that Ye Jiaofang would break his own arm at this moment, so there was no way to stop these two arrows of blood.

This move is similar to a sword strike, lacking both strategic intent and devastating power. Yet, it's virtually impossible to defend against; no matter how experienced you are in combat, you'll inevitably fall victim to it.

Faced with Ye Jiao's desperate attack, Ying Qin Guan had no room to dodge and could only gather his inner energy barrier.

One of Ying Qin Guan's major characteristics is his extremely fast internal energy flow. This results in his skills having shorter cooldowns than others, and his burst damage and defensive speed are also faster. Almost no one can make him truly take a solid hit. No matter what kind of attack it is, it will be blocked by his internal energy barrier.

Just like now, this move, which was almost guaranteed to hit, was still blocked by the inner energy barrier gathered by Ying Qin Pass.

The attack, which came at the cost of a severed hand, was blocked, but Ye Jiaofang's expression remained unchanged. Within that dark blood arrow, something seemed to be buried... Suddenly, Ying Qin Guan's inner energy barrier was pierced, and two needles emerged from the blood, aiming straight for Ying Qin Guan's eyes!

The variant of the Cloud-Suppressing Stone can shatter all protective internal energy within the world, truly the number one divine weapon for martial artists: the Soul-Breaking Needle!

Chapter Seventy-Six: The Heart of Struggle (Part 1)

If we only consider cold weapons, there aren't actually many powerful weapons in the world, as can be seen from Tianfang and Shajue.

These two weapons came from Po Xiezi, a master swordsmith from the Southern Qin Dynasty, a country that lagged behind the rest of the world by a century. However, the weapons he forged were used by Ying Qin Guan. Even with the logistical support of the entire military, Ying Qin Guan couldn't be equipped with better or stronger cold weapons... because their strength was capped; there would be virtually no significant improvement.

Of course, the military does have some more advanced weapons, but they are not much more advanced and cannot affect the situation at this level. It would be better to let Ying Qin Guan use the two hands he is familiar with.

If a top alchemist from three hundred years ago came to the modern era, in terms of breadth of knowledge, he probably couldn't even compare to an average college student. But if a top blacksmith from three hundred years ago came to the modern era, he would still be a top blacksmith.

The biggest weakness of cold weapons is that they require a lot of intense acceleration, collisions, slashing, and vibrations, which makes it almost impossible to inscribe magic circuits on them to form miniature arrays. In addition, their small external area also prevents them from being reinforced with stable magic circuits like the super bio-armor of the Jue Tian Army. Of course, even if the external area were large, it wouldn't be useful. The technology of the Jue Tian Army's bio-armor has not been cracked yet, and it is unknown how many years it will be before it can be applied to cold weapons.

Simply put, with current technology, it's impossible to enchant melee weapons. Otherwise, everyone would be like Darius, slashing with sparks and lightning, simultaneously charring themselves and their opponents to a crisp.

In this world context, apart from the incredibly powerful alchemist Mingxuan Hou who created the fantastical Ten Absolute Machines, there is almost no equipment that can be called a divine artifact. If there is any exception, it must be the Soul-Breaking Needle, which in ancient times was as precious as the Undying Worm.

Ying Qin wasn't entirely unprepared for Ye Jiao's sudden attack with the severed arm; to say he was fully prepared would be a lie. However, it was true he had some suspicion, which allowed him to react the way he did. But the fact that two Soul-Shattering Needles were shot out from within was something even a god couldn't have predicted.

Back in the chaotic province, Ji Fenming had also used the Soul-Shattering Needle on Ying Qin Guan. But his movements were quite large, and it was spat out from his throat, so Ying Qin Guan was prepared. However, Ye Jiao Fang's attack this time was far more stealthy than that, and more importantly... Ye Jiao Fang was not Ji Fenming.

The two Soul-Shattering Needles finally pierced Ying Qin Guan's eyes and became lodged there.

Ying Qin Guan was pierced in the eyes by the Soul-Breaking Needle, but he did not stop his attack. He did not even retreat or blink. Ye Jiao Fang lost an arm and continuously depleted his inner energy. At this time, he had little ability to resist. Ying Qin Guan threw a punch and sent Ye Jiao Fang flying. At the same time, his inner energy surged out and he seized the Ten Absolute Techniques.

Ye Jiaofang lost an arm and his weapon. He was sent flying backward, crashing through several houses. The snipers who had been waiting finally found Ying Qin Guan and Ye Jiaofang separated. Their dynamic vision was enough to catch someone's moment, and they decisively fired. After two bangs, they were taken away by the hidden weapon that Ye Jiaofang threw in the backhand.

Ye Jiao slowly walked out of the collapsed house. The blood from his severed arm had stopped flowing. His gaze was indifferent as he stared at the corner in the distance, where Ying Qin Guan was walking out.

Because of the shadows, Ye Jiaofang could only see Ying Qin Guan's lower body. But as the other party gradually stepped out, his face, hidden in the shadows, finally began to appear.

Tick-tock...

Blood dripped to the ground and quickly mingled with the rain. Ye Jiaofang knew that it was blood flowing from Ying Qin Guan's eyes. As he stepped out of the shadows, he reached out and used his inner energy to absorb the Soul-Breaking Needles from Ying Qin Guan's eyes, then flung them aside. He still held Ye Jiaofang's green steel longsword in his hand.

They exchanged blows, each gaining an advantage. Ying Qin Guan had his eyes pierced by the Soul-Shattering Needle, while Ye Jiao Fang lost an arm and his weapon, though fortunately, he wasn't affected by Ying Qin Guan's internal energy. Overall, Ying Qin Guan won by a large margin, but it was by no means a decisive victory. Being attacked in the eyes in front of the Grandmaster of Optics, Ye Jiao Fang, had immeasurable negative consequences, which was why Ye Jiao Fang was willing to lose his weapon to deliver such a blow to Ying Qin Guan.

Light and airflow are the two things he is most familiar with. And he also knows quite a bit about things related to these two, such as eyes and skin.

Despite losing an arm and a weapon, Ye Jiaofang was not discouraged; on the contrary, he became even more determined and full of fighting spirit.

He was quite certain that no one in the world would ever let him experience such a thrilling, back-and-forth battle again. Since his debut, he had never experienced such a battle, not even once. Even the Red Emperor, whom he had killed, was only skilled in strange methods; in terms of direct combat strength, Ye Jiaofang still completely overwhelmed him.

This is the first battle like this in a thousand years... Come on!

Clang...

Ying Qin Guan finally emerged from that shadow, and Ye Jiao Fang finally saw Ying Qin Guan's face when the battle entered the middle stage.

Ye Jiao looked over... Ying Qin Guan's hair was washed by the torrential rain, sticking messily to his face, his eyes were bloodshot, and his expression...

When Ye Jiaofang first saw him, even with a thousand years of life experience, he couldn't find the right words to describe his appearance. His face held two extremely contradictory emotions, like two ends of a life intertwined, impossible to describe with any known words. He had to create a new word to describe the complexity on his face.

If one had to use a word to describe it, then it would probably be "ready to die for one's country." If that were all, it would be easy to describe. But Ye Jiaofang also saw a kind of confidence and composure on his face. It was an invincible belief, a firm conviction that he was undefeated and that he could win every battle. Taken out alone, it is not difficult to describe.

But when these two emotions come together, things get complicated.

If a person believes himself to be invincible, he will not consider death as a possible outcome, so how can he be fearless in the face of death?

Therefore, Ye Jiaofang didn't know how to describe the expression on Ying Qin Guan's face, but he quickly guessed the source of that expression.

"Was that you...? What exactly did you show him?"

"Should I hate you for giving me such an enemy, or..."

Ye Jiao suddenly attacked, but not at Ying Qin Guan. Instead, he used Mirror Spin to teleport to the side of a nearby military officer. With a dash, he covered dozens of meters in the blink of an eye and snatched the spare weapon prepared for Ying Qin Guan from the officer's hand.

His eyes flashed with a sharp light. He gripped the knife in one hand, raised it in front of him, and at the same time opened his mouth to bite the scabbard. With a whoosh, he drew the knife, the silvery-white blade reflecting his excited eyes.

"Perhaps I should thank you; this is exactly the ultimate struggle I've been seeking."

Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Heart of Struggle (Part Two)