In the pure white settlement space, Ji Ye's soul floated in midair as he stared at the flashing S-rank evaluation for a long time without speaking.
S-rank.
It had been bought with countless lives, including his own.
He had won the local battle but lost the overall game. Qin Wuji's sword strike had made him understand that in this low-martial world, pure physical strength had its limits. Even if he mastered the "Dead Flesh Armor," it still could not protect his heart meridians against the Internal Strength of an Organ Tempering peak expert.
That level possessed not only power, but also "arts."
[Drawing purple rare talent...]
The roulette wheel before him spun at high speed, countless purple motes streaking past like meteors.
Ji Ye held his breath. Purple signified transcending the mundane, signified touching the rules themselves.
The light abruptly stopped.
A brilliant star, like a purple crystal, fell into his palm.
[Obtained Talent: Martial Arts Through Divinity (Purple)] [Effect: Your comprehension is extraordinary. You learn any martial arts move after seeing it once and master it after practicing it ten times; your internal cultivation speed increases by 500%, and you ignore the risk of cultivation deviation. Your control over your body is exquisitely precise, allowing you to accurately control every muscle and every nerve.]
Ji Ye's pupils suddenly contracted as he read the description.
Whatever he lacked, he received.
In his previous life, his greatest weakness had been his crude technique and complete lack of internal cultivation. He had possessed nothing but brute force, able only to squander it like a wild beast. Qin Wuji was strong because he had profound inherited swordsmanship and deep internal power built up from childhood with medicinal materials.
Now, that weakness had been remedied.
And it had been remedied with a vengeance.
[Please configure talents for the next life.]
Three empty slots appeared once more.
Ji Ye's gaze shifted between [Brute Force (White)] and [Martial Arts Through Divinity (Purple)].
Brute Force was very useful. It was what guaranteed survival in the early stages.
But in this life, he wanted to live differently.
He no longer wanted to be a meat shield that could only take hits. He wanted to become the sharpest blade.
With a thought, Ji Ye dragged [Martial Arts Through Divinity] into the first slot.
Then came the second slot.
Then the third.
[Ding!] [Configuration complete.] [Talent Slot One: Martial Arts Through Divinity (Purple)] [Talent Slot Two: Martial Arts Through Divinity (Purple)] [Talent Slot Three: Martial Arts Through Divinity (Purple)] [Current stacked effects: 1. Monstrous Comprehension: Cultivation speed increases by 1500%. You immediately attain perfection in any martial art you begin learning and can deduce, fuse, and improve cultivation methods. 2. Microscopic Control: Your control over your body has reached the micrometer level. You can control your heartbeat, blood flow speed, and even hormone secretion. 3. Martial Dao Heavenly Eye: In battle, your enemy's movements will be broken down in your eyes into their most basic force structures, while their weaknesses will be infinitely magnified.]
This was no longer a mere quantitative change.
This was a dimensional strike.
"Qin Wuji..."
Ji Ye looked at the panel, a cold curve lifting at the corner of his mouth.
"This time, I want to see whether your sword is faster, or my eyes are."
[Reincarnation begins.] [Target World: Great Liang Dynasty (No. 098).] [Resetting...]
The biting cold wind, the familiar earthen walls, and that one-eyed old crow croaking hoarsely atop a withered tree.
Ji Ye opened his eyes.
Before him was a pair of frostbitten hands, bluish purple from the cold, tightly clutching half a black-flour bun as hard as stone.
He was back.
His third life.
His body was still unbearably weak, and his lungs still ached as though bellows were being worked inside them. Without the boost of Triple Brute Force, this body felt as heavy as a burden.
But Ji Ye's perception had changed.
The world had changed in his eyes.
The path of the wind past the corner of the wall, the frequency of the old crow's wingbeats, even the faint tremors made by the One-Eye refugee stepping on the frozen earth in the distance... everything was terrifyingly clear.
An immense amount of information poured into his mind, instantly parsed and categorized.
"Hey, Sour Scholar."
That familiar, hateful voice rang out again.
The One-Eye refugee trudged over through the mud, wearing the same savage grin as always, and reached for the black-flour bun in Ji Ye's hand.
"This bun's hard. Let your lord help you finish it."
The exact same opening.
In his previous life, Ji Ye had crushed his wrist with brute force.
But this time, Ji Ye did not move.
He sat there, quietly watching One-Eye's outstretched hand.
In his vision, One-Eye's movements were as slow as a slideshow. He saw the shift in One-Eye's center of gravity, the sequence in which his arm muscles exerted force, and the tiny gap in the joint at his wrist.
That was a weakness.
A fatal weakness.
Just as One-Eye's filthy hand was about to touch the black-flour bun—
Ji Ye moved.
He did not grab. He did not squeeze.
He extended one finger—an index finger frozen red like a carrot—and lightly tapped a point on the outside of One-Eye's wrist.
He did not use much force, as though merely flicking dust from a sleeve.
Yet that single finger cut off One-Eye's point of force.
"Hm?"
One-Eye only felt his wrist go numb. His entire arm instantly lost feeling, and the hand that had been reaching for the black-flour bun drooped limply.
"You..."
One-Eye was greatly startled and instinctively tried to swing his other fist at Ji Ye's face.
Ji Ye remained seated, his eyes calm as still water.
He saw the movement of One-Eye's left shoulder and predicted the fist's trajectory.
He tilted his head slightly, and the fist swept past his ear. At the same time, the half black-flour bun in Ji Ye's hand moved.
Holding the bun, its edge sharp as a blade, he lightly drew it across One-Eye's carotid artery through the opening exposed by his punch.
He did not smash. He cut.
The black-flour bun was not a blade, but under microscopic control, its hardness and edge were exploited to the utmost.
"Pfft."
A soft, muffled sound.
One-Eye's entire body stiffened. He clutched his neck and looked at Ji Ye in terror. Though his carotid artery had not been severed and no blood sprayed out, that precise strike had compressed his carotid sinus.
His brain was instantly starved of blood.
One-Eye rolled his eyes and collapsed stiffly at Ji Ye's feet like a heap of mud.
Not a single scream had escaped him throughout the entire process, and he had not even drawn the attention of the other refugees nearby.
Ji Ye withdrew his hand and gently blew the dust from the black-flour bun.
"Just as expected."
He took a bite of the bun, feeling its dry, hard, coarse texture.
"Killing someone does not necessarily require strength."
He rose to his feet without sparing One-Eye another glance. This body was too weak. He needed to begin cultivating immediately.
This time, he would not need to beg Wang Meng to teach him the Mountain Splitting Saber Technique.
Because every martial art he had seen, practiced, or even merely heard of in the military camp during his previous life was now clearly imprinted in his mind.
Mountain Splitting Saber Technique, Tiger Demon Bone Forging Fist, Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield...
There was even the splendor of Qin Wuji's sword strike.
Ji Ye walked out of the alley into the bone-piercing wind, his gaze turning toward the county yamen.
"Captain Wang, this time, let's change the rules of the game."
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