This time around, Jin did not get distracted as he was fighting not one Demon Exorcist trainee but three of them. As it seemed that the trainees had not figured out that they were inside a dungeon instance yet, the System had withheld the teleportation of Rong’s body for a long while until Claire came down to pick it up.
Lian did not want to get distracted by Rong’s body and was relieved after Claire had taken it towards Grandma Yuan. However, the moment Claire returned to the Grandma Yuan’s side, the System initialised the body, transferring it to the Recovery Instance.
In the meantime, Jin and Lian clashed with each other furiously. He knew that her attacks could penetrate his blade after experiencing it first hand in the 30 seconds trial. But what if Jin had two weapons out? Jin held Boo in on the reverse so that he was able to manoeuvre the wakizashi more comfortably in hopes of defending the penetrating claw attack.
*Clang!*
Jin saw a slight spark as his wakizashi deflected a heavy push of strength from Lian’s claw attack. While he was elated that his theory worked, it made Lian extremely annoyed by the fact that he was able to defend it so smoothly this time around. But in terms of speed, she believed she had the upper hand and with the aid of her two teammates, should he even think of surviving the next strike?
“Su Zhen! Lein!” Lian shouted for the two’s assistance as she took a step back and charged her chi up. Even though she wasn’t the one that usually gave the orders out to the group, the other two obliged as they shared the pain of losing a comrade. However, it seemed to be hurting Lian more than the other two.
Su Zhen, the White Snake Demon Cultivator threw out her whip at Jin, but just like last time, he was able to estimate the length of the whip and dodged it by initiating a Panda Roll. Thanks to Pandaromic Eyes 2.0, he knew the estimated distance he needed to move away.
“Damn! You are barely wrong!” Jin thought to himself and the System as he could sense the whip’s end turning into a snake mouth attempting to bite him.
“Still User had evaded the whip part.” The System argued back as it recommended evoking White Panda Ice magic to prevent the Lein’s follow up attack. Jin already had the chi ready as his body immediately enveloped itself with a layer of thin but effectively strong ice of armour.
Unlike the previous time, he had no difficulty getting the chi out due to a lack of time. This current evocation of the White Panda Ice Armour was lightning fast. Zeru had been drilling the process of chi control into him, forcing him to be more nimble and faster.
While he was imaging the shape of the particular magic he wished to cast, Jin needed to roughly gauge how much chi was required as well as the direction of how the chi should be transferred out of his body.
For example, the White Panda Ice Armour. He imagined himself to be in a full suit armour while portraying the chi out from his entire body instead of it coming from his hands. Therefore, the trick quickened the process while the imaging of the armour allowed the chi to materialise itself.
“Intermediate Sword Arts, Thunderclap of the Qilin!” Lein used the same technique only this time Jin blocked the attack flawlessly with no damage to himself.
“Ice Prison Transference!” The moment Jin blocked the electrifying strike, he dropped his wakizashi and pushed himself forward to grab onto Lein’s hand, and the ice crept- no. Raced from Jin’s body and onto Lein’s arm. His sword immediately lost all electrical charge, and Lein was taken aback by this odd skill that his opponent used. The ice swiftly enveloped the entire right arm while the ice armour on Jin’s body lessened.
“As long as you have your imagination with you. Anything is possible with your magi- *Cough* chi abilities.” Jin remembered Zeru’s words during his training, and he had been using it prominently in battle.
To the spectators such as Qiu Yue and Lynn, it was a side of Jin which they did not see, and they were envious that he was able to perform such chi abilities. Even the Penguins climbed on the girl’s head or shamelessly squeezed themselves through their chest to watch the match.
“Ahh…Ming, I can practically hear you boasting about your grandson already. For you to combine western magic and eastern cultivations to the highest degree and use Jin as your experiment to perform Maqi. You are one heck of a crazy genius… I am glad I decided to follow you.” Kraft grinned as he saw Jin seamlessly used his newfound Maqi abilities on the terrified Qilin Demon Cultivator.
Maqi.
It was a term coined by Ming after he happened to discover a way to convert chi for magic purposes. (Chi can be pronounced as ‘Qi’ too.) He had taken the concept from modern cultivators like Jia Le, who had fused Eastern Cultivation and Western Magic to use the Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivation style thus allowing her to cast earth magic with chi.
This allowed Jia Le’s to create those magic spells out and like Jin, imaging played an important part. However, her cultivation only utilised the concept of chi.
For Jin, his Nineteen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation always emphasised on the being, how Jin had to be one with the spirit and body. To know thyself, he must go within thyself. The whole basis of his cultivation was based on the symbolism of a circumpunct; an ancient sign made of a circle with a point at its centre.
Ancient writings and historical records believed that the circumpunct was the most original aspect of God and that it also represented the consciousness of man. The dot in the middle of the circle represented a person’s origin, while the ring symbolised life experiences through one’s soul. Hence, the Astral component of the cultivation style.
And which animal had the most obvious symbol of a circumpunct in them? It was none other than the Pandas. With the connection to the Heavens via the System, and Jin being a product of circumstances, the Nineteen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation had been the perfect complement for Ming’s grandson.
That was why Ming also named it with the prefix ‘Lazy’. For only when one was lazy, they would question and ponder how they could improve their life so they can laze around even more. That was what Jin had been doing every single day despite his busy schedule.
How could he improve the lives of his team and monsters while making their life easier? How could he serve his customers better and more efficient? Jin might not have achieved enlightenment, but he did make an effort towards his own path of altruism. (Even though he was a businessman in nature.)
By attempting to knowing oneself and improving oneself spiritually, mentally and physically, Jin had unlocked the way how to use his cultivation correctly. But in technical terms, the most important aspect for him to utilise Maqi was the spiritual union with the Pandas.
Because of that fateful encounter, it enabled his cultivation to tap into the mana circuits without him knowing and it was the merging of the mana circuits and chi circuits that produced the by products of sludge.
The problem was that as Jin attained a higher grade, it also meant that his mana and chi circuits were merged to the point that they were either strengthening the circuits or even start growing new routes to accommodate and increase his Maqi output.
Thus, he produced even more sludge that contained not only by products from the merging process but Maqi infused in it to allow him to move them at his own will.
So, Jin was not simply a cultivator nor a mage, but a true blue Combat Magus. The perfect (well, almost in Ming’s theory) fusion of Eastern cultivation and Western Magic, akin to the Yin and Yang circle.
——-
“Lein, get away!” Lian burst herself like a bullet towards Jin when she saw what was happening to her fellow comrade. Su Zhen also assisted by trying to grab Lein by his waist via whip to pull him back.
“Not fast enough. Ice Prison Crush!” Jin grinned as he tightened his hand’s grip the moment he lost contact with Lein. The Ice armour encasing Lein’s entire arm tightened to the point that the White Panda Ice cut it off from his body. Lein screamed in agony from the intense pain and blood that was gushing out at a rapid pace.
Su Zhen quickly removed her outer shirt and wrapped it around the wound the moment she got a hold of him. She even cut apart her whip so that the snake that transformed from it could be used as a sort of compression to stop the blood from flowing.
In the meantime, Lian’s claws grew larger to the point it would impossible to evade via normal means, but Jin was anything but ordinary. Without a word, an Astral Pandas appeared grabbing on to the wakizashi that had dropped on the floor and transformed it into a huge enough shield to cover Jin. Simultaneously, the dungeon supplier had already gathered enough Black Panda Fire Energy as he slammed it into the ground.
A blast of Black Fire erupted beneath Lian as she tried to force her attack down against the defending Astral Panda. “AHHHHHH!!!!!” Lian screamed as she felt her skin being burnt from the attack. Even the high fire resistance inscription she had obtained from Royal Zodiac Clan was unable to withstand it.
“I am not done yet,” Jin ordered the Astral panda to jump up and slam her down while she was still in shock from the eruption attack. The moment the shield hit her, spikes emerged from the front of the shield piercing her through.
Yet Jin did not stop at that. He utilised Green Panda Wind energy to reinforce the impact from above. Lian had barely been able to survive the piercing shield charge, but the Wind Energy reinforced the destructiveness of the fire. There was nothing left but ashes and his Boo in shield form.
Lein saw the entire process and trembled in fear even though Su Zhen was trying her best to calm him down. “Stop moving or else the bleeding will only get worse!!”
“But it is no use! That guy! That guy is worse than a demon!” Lein screamed until Su Zhen slapped him to keep his sanity steady. Su Zhen looked back at the direction of Jin but realised he was already gone only for the next moment to feel the edge on her neck.
“Sorry.” Jin uttered after he slashed her neck off, leaving Lein all terrified with random thoughts. “How could a Grade 10 cultivator be killed so quickly by a Grade 8 cultivator? Is he really just a Grade 8 cultivator? Did he hide his true strength in our last encounter?” Lein thoughts were spoken out loud, and Grandma Yuan replied for him.
“Jin is indeed a Grade 8 cultivator.” Those words sounded like a lie to Lein as he saw Jin’s katana coming at him with Black Panda Fire.
“How is this possible? Where did we go wrong? It was a three against one fight! ” Lein could not comprehend that he was going to die. Throughout his life, he had felt like the main protagonist. Sure there had been hardships, but up until this point, Lein always overcame them. People around him even boasted that he might be the rare ‘once every century’ prodigy of the Extermination unit in the Royal Zodiac Horse Clan.
Nevertheless, right now, his life was controlled by this supposed Demon Exorcist trainee candidate. Lein could not fantom the power gap as his eyes were desperate for an answer even though it was blurry from all the tears that had fallen.
The next moment darkness enveloped him.
“There is one way. Practice more and…erm be humble.” Jin slashed Lein’s head away in one stroke to end any further suffering.
