The Sword as Measure, a Philosophy's First Ring

Mingde Hall, Seventh Soul Tool Comprehensive Testing Grounds.

Rather than a room, this place was more like a massive cavern wrapped in high-strength alloy. The walls were covered in energy-absorption runes and high-speed recording Soul Tools, while the air carried a mingled scent of ozone and metal.

Xiao Hongchen stood at the center of the grounds, his face filled with undisguised pride. Three dazzling diamond-shaped shields floated beside him, their surfaces rippling with runes that formed intricate energy circuits and emanated powerful defensive fluctuations.

"Watch closely, Ji Juechen." Xiao Hongchen snapped his fingers, and the three shields instantly spread out, forming a perfect equilateral triangular energy field that protected him at its center. "This is the result of a week of blood, sweat, and tears from my team and me—the Hongchen Barrier Unit 1! Not only can it provide physical defense, it can actively analyze, deflect, and even assimilate incoming energy attacks! Its resistance against the filthy Soul Power of Evil Soul Masters in particular has increased by three hundred percent!"

He looked at Ji Juechen, who stood at the edge of the testing grounds still holding that battered Iron Sword, his gaze provocative. "Come on, try it with your sword. Let me see whether your sword that cuts through 'trouble' is sharper, or whether my crystallized wisdom is sturdier!"

Ji Juechen did not move. He merely spoke calmly. "Energy output: thirty-five percent. The second node in the lower-left core circuit has a 0.3-second delay. At full operation, the connection point of the right-wing shield will overload upon receiving the third Heavy Hammer."

Xiao Hongchen's proud expression instantly froze.

[Target: Hongchen Barrier Unit 1]

[Structural Analysis complete... Constructing energy flow model... Marking weaknesses...]

[Calculation result: Breakthrough requires 1.7 seconds. Optimal route planned.]

The system's analysis silently appeared before Ji Juechen's eyes.

"H-How did you know?!" Xiao Hongchen cried out. The tiny delay at the second lower-left node was a flaw he had only discovered during the final adjustments and had not yet had time to optimize! As for the projected overload at the right-wing connection point, even he had not simulated that far yet!

Jing Ziyan, standing in the observation area, let out a puff of laughter and blew a round smoke ring. "See? I told you, your turtle shell is as transparent as glass in the eyes of a real expert. Ji Blockhead, get up there and dismantle that flashy thing!"

Meng Hongchen helplessly rubbed her forehead nearby. Huo Yuhao had only just arrived and happened to hear Ji Juechen's terrifyingly precise "assessment," a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes. His Spirit Detection had also noticed the slight obstruction at that node, but he could never have given such a precise, second-by-second prediction of a breakthrough like Ji Juechen had.

Ji Juechen moved.

There was no earth-shaking burst of Soul Power. He simply took one step forward, his figure trailing an afterimage like a ghost. The Iron Sword in his hand rose, its pitch-black blade devoid of any glow, carrying only an intent to sever all things.

Xiao Hongchen's heart tightened. Instinctively, he drove his Soul Power to its limit, and the Hongchen Barrier blazed brightly!

Yet Ji Juechen's sword did not slash at the energy field's thickest frontal defense, as Xiao Hongchen had expected. As if he had foreseen it, the sword precisely struck an apparently insignificant node at the lower side of the field—the very spot marked by the system, where the 0.3-second delay in energy circulation had created an infinitesimal "ripple"!

"Buzz—!"

The instant the sword tip struck, the entire dazzling energy field twisted violently like a pierced bubble and flickered! Though it did not shatter immediately, a trace of disorder appeared in its stable structure.

Now!

Ji Juechen flicked his wrist. The Iron Sword swept backward along the disrupted energy flow, like a master butcher disassembling an ox. Following an unimaginable trajectory, its edge pierced through the energy field's defenses and stabbed directly at the connection between the right-wing shield and the main body!

"Bang!"

A muted impact, not particularly loud. The diamond-shaped shield on the right wing abruptly went dark. Its energy link to the main body had been forcibly severed, and it fell crookedly toward the ground.

The entire process took exactly 1.7 seconds.

The testing grounds fell silent.

Xiao Hongchen stood dumbly within the now-incomplete defense formed by the two remaining shields, all color drained from his face. The masterpiece he had been so proud of had been so utterly vulnerable in the other man's eyes? Its weaknesses had even been seen through completely!

Ji Juechen sheathed his sword and looked at Xiao Hongchen, his tone flat and calm. "Shields are dead. Trouble is alive. Trying to use one fixed model to defend against every attack is itself the greatest flaw."

Those words struck Xiao Hongchen's heart like a Heavy Hammer. What he had always pursued was the ultimate, perfect defense—defense that could be calculated with formulas. Yet Ji Juechen's sword had told him that true defense lay in perceiving change and anticipating the enemy's moves.

Huo Yuhao stepped forward, casting Ji Juechen a complicated glance before speaking to Xiao Hongchen. "His words may be blunt, but they make sense. The energy structure of your Hongchen Barrier is extremely exquisite, but it lacks the flexibility to deal with 'unexpected' situations. Perhaps... we could try adding a Dynamic Calculation module, allowing the defense itself to 'learn' and 'evolve.'"

Xiao Hongchen abruptly raised his head and looked at Huo Yuhao, then at Jing Ziyan, whose face said, What did I tell you? Finally, his gaze settled on Ji Juechen's Ancient Well-still face.

An unprecedented sense of defeat and... excitement surged into his heart, Intertwined.

The perfection he pursued seemed to have gone down the wrong path before these "monsters."

"Dynamic Calculation... Learning Defense..." Xiao Hongchen murmured, light reigniting in his eyes—the light of someone whose fixed thinking had been shattered and who had glimpsed a wider world. "Ji Juechen! Huo Yuhao! You two... excellent!"

Not only was he not discouraged by failure, he seemed as though his entire body had suddenly been opened up. "I need your data! Especially you, Ji Juechen—how exactly does that damned insight of yours work? And you, Huo Yuhao, what is the limit of your Spirit Detection's precision? We have to redesign it!"

Watching Xiao Hongchen instantly fall into a frenzied state of research, Jing Ziyan leaned close to Ji Juechen and lightly poked him with her pipe. "Hey, Blockhead, it seems you accidentally flipped some incredible switch. He's probably going to pester you to death from now on."

Ji Juechen watched Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen gather around Xiao Hongchen and begin discussing "dynamic defense." He was silent for a moment.

[Analysis: Target Xiao Hongchen's research potential has been stimulated. Cooperation value greatly increased.]

[Analysis: Collaborative research and development with Huo Yuhao, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen can accelerate the establishment of the Team Command Link database.]

[New mission recommendation: Provide combat data within limits and guide the research direction of new Soul Tools.]

"Trouble," he said quietly. Yet this time, his tone seemed to hold less rejection and a little more... acceptance.

Jing Hongchen had appeared in the shadows of the observation area at some unknown time. He watched the unusual group below—the fanatical genius Soul Engineer, the calm Spirit Type Soul Master, the wisecracking controller of purple smoke, and that sword serving as both "measure" and "core."

A meaningful smile curled at the corner of his lips.

The seeds had been sown, and the soil was already fertile. Once wind and rain arrived, they would break through the earth and become a forest. And that "wind and rain" might arrive sooner than he had expected.