What if I don't want to ascend to immortality?

Chapter 32 Genius vs. Genius

Making a hand seal gesture towards the other spiritualist was a universally accepted challenge signal from Han Jie's previous life, signifying an impending duel where victory or defeat was decided but life or death was not.

However, this world did not have such rules, so Yagyu Yume stared at his hand for a while and said suspiciously, "What are you going to do? Use your magic on me in the street? It seems you really don't know who I am."

She clenched her fists, striking a fierce pose reminiscent of a movie, "Xiao Tong, the partner you chose is just like you, a bit ungrateful."

Han Jie frowned and asked, "Qing Tong, what are the rules for sparring here? Tell me about them."

Meng Qingtong, her face drooping, said weakly, "Normally, spirit practitioners are forbidden from fighting each other. We are all valuable talents who protect the world, so why should we fight each other? Wouldn't it be better to fight the demons together?"

"I haven't heard anyone say such arrogant things in a long time." Liu Shengmeng took out her phone and sent a message, "I'll report it. Just register it as a practical exercise for the Second Academy's teaching. Xiaotong, go set up a formation in the square over there to avoid affecting ordinary people. I'll reimburse you for the material costs later."

Her gaze shifted to Han Jie, "But I won't be responsible for the medical expenses."

"No need for that trouble. You won't have a chance to affect anyone else." Han Jie turned and walked towards the small square, casually pulling Meng Qingtong to his side. He whispered, "How badly can I deal with her without causing you trouble?"

Meng Qingtong, both amused and exasperated, connected to the telepathic channel to avoid being overheard by Liu Shengmeng. "You still want to keep your identity a secret. Can't you just not fight? It's so boring to fight like this. Teacher Liu is really powerful. What if you lose control and kill her? What if you stop and get injured by her? Besides, why are you pretending to whisper? You know she can hear you. Your provocation is too obvious."

"There's nothing I can do about it," he said lazily. "I'm not good at dealing with people. But I'm pretty good at hitting people."

As soon as he entered the square, Yagyu Yume shouted, "Second Spirit Academy's practical training, clear the area!"

On a hot summer afternoon, there were hardly any people in the square. A few people who weren't bothered by the heat immediately got up and left when they heard this.

She took off her high heels and placed them to the side, then walked to the center wearing only her socks. Her attitude toward the battle was far less arrogant than her tone suggested.

Meng Qingtong knew that persuasion was useless, so she could only find a stone stool to sit on and watch with a stern face.

She knew in her heart that this was the best way to handle it. Otherwise, given Yagyu Yume's personality and her completely indifferent way of doing things, even without any subjective intention, such a separation would inevitably lead to rumors about her spreading throughout the academy.

If you want Yagyu Yume to keep quiet about what happened today, you have to make her ashamed to mention it herself.

Han Jie's choice was indeed the simplest and most effective. It's just that most people couldn't do it.

Neither Han Jie nor Liu Shengmeng had ever seen them fight against a spirit mage. So, despite her displeasure, she kept her eyes wide open, carefully observing every subtle change on the field, lest she inadvertently miss any important information.

Battles between spiritualists are usually very quick. As long as they don't encounter opponents with abnormal habits like cultivating their spiritual bodies and desperately focusing on defense, the outcome is usually decided in a minute or two.

When you're strong enough, it's all about who can take down whom first.

Meng Qingtong secretly pinched a few talismans into her hand, concealing them with her long legs, and waited quietly.

She knew that she should be more worried about her own academy's crazy teacher, but the image of the two-thousand-year-old senior's failed attempt at using the Wind and Thunder Wings kept swirling in her mind, prompting her to devise seven or eight plans in a short time to rush up and stop the sparring match.

Han Jie made a hand seal with his right hand, touched his sunglasses with his left hand, and felt that he was still not used to them, so he took them off and put them back on.

Yagyu Yume took his position, took out a coin, and made a hand seal with his right hand, ready to cast a spell. He said loudly, "The battle will begin when the coin lands. We will not kill each other. The battle will continue until one side admits defeat or is unable to fight. Any objections?"

Han Jie stared at her stance for a while, sighed, put his right hand in his pocket, and said with a hint of regret, "Never mind, let's get started. I'll give you a handicap."

Yagyu Yume's eyes widened, his anger rising, and his expression even carried a hint of murderous intent.

She'd been practicing for over ten years and had never been looked down upon like this before. Left hand holding sunglasses, right hand in pocket—were you here for a friendly sparring match or to have a photoshoot?!

The intensity that had been set in advance suddenly increased in my mind.

At worst, I'll just pay half of the medical expenses myself after the treatment.

Boom.

A soft sound.

The coin was flicked by a fair thumb, spinning and flying high into the air.

Liu Sheng Meng had already mentally reviewed the incantation for the spiritual technique, and his right hand, which was forming a hand seal, was simply waiting for the coin to land.

The coin flies to its highest point and then falls.

Han Jie smiled, raised his left hand, and tossed his sunglasses high into the air.

Meng Qingtong was dumbfounded, her mind racing with a barrage of thoughts: "Just fight properly, what are you pretending for (beep)?"; "Those sunglasses are so expensive, I'd rather give them to you than break them"; "You're standing here with your left hand and right hand in slow motion, and the opponent is a genius teacher from the Spirit Magic Department! Isn't this just courting death?!"

The moment the sunglasses reached their highest point, the coin landed.

With a flick of his right hand, Yagyu Yume instantly changed three hand seals, chanting repeatedly: "Immortal Cloud Body! Spirit Rock Armor! Heavenly Tribulation Hammer!"

The ability to generate three methods from a single thought demonstrates an extremely skilled mastery of spiritual energy. To possess such strength in a world where spiritual energy is so scarce truly earns the title of genius.

The choice of spiritual techniques was also flawless. The Immortal Cloud Body armor on the upper body was used to defend against the opponent's spiritual techniques, while the Spirit Rock Armor in the middle body was used to defend against physical attacks. With double defense, the Heavenly Tribulation Hammer, one of the three Heavenly Tribulation techniques targeting the soul, was used to decide the outcome in one blow, so as to avoid causing any difficult-to-treat disabilities.

After calmly finishing his mental assessment, Han Jie smiled slightly as he faced the surging waves of spiritual energy.

He had no interest in fighting a genius spiritualist in his current state of mind; that would be like carrying a mountain of garbage and trying to outrun a marathon champion.

So his right hand, which was in his pocket, was actually secretly summoning the Heart Sword Crimson Fury from under his leg.

With the Crimson Wrath in hand, he watched Yagyu Yume's movements as if they were a video on his phone played at 1/32 speed in slow motion.

The moment his sunglasses started to fall, he rushed out.

With two protective spells just cast upon her and the Heavenly Tribulation Hammer about to take shape, Liu Shengmeng had no extra energy to maneuver or shift her focus.

Moreover, she couldn't even catch Han Jie's movements.

Suddenly, the view in front of her disappeared. She was shocked and her mind raced as she realized that the other party's spiritual energy fluctuations had already reached behind her!
She quickly formed hand seals, preparing to forcibly guide the still-unfinished Heavenly Tribulation Hammer behind her.

But Han Jie's left hand had already passed through her messy long hair and pressed firmly against the back of her head.

The Spirit Rock Armor is very tough.

He doesn't need to worry about causing anyone to die.

So he decided to see which was harder: the Spirit Rock Armor or a large floor tile made with modern technology.

He slammed Yagyu Yume's head down hard, slamming it face down onto the ground of the square.

The hard floor tiles were smashed into pieces, and the impact created a crater covered with spiderweb-like cracks. The crater was quite deep, and Han Jie, who was bent over pressing his head down, had only half of his body above the horizon. While pressing his head down, Han Jie also used his divine sense to deliver a head-on blow to Liu Shengmeng.

The internal and external forces were simultaneously subjected to violent shocks, and the spiritual energy naturally ceased and dissipated.

The genius witch from the Second Academy, Liu Shengmeng, an elite teacher and head of the Department of Spiritual Magic, was pressed down in the pit of rocks, unable to even lift her face.

The sunglasses fell to the ground with a thud.

"Let me emphasize again, Lin Sisi's commission, and all of Qing Tong's commissions in the future, will be handled jointly by her and me. If any unrelated parties try to interfere, don't blame me for not showing any mercy."

After speaking slowly, Han Jie let go, stood up, brushed off the few strands of long hair that remained between his fingers, caught the sunglasses that flew towards him, blew off the dust, and walked towards Meng Qingtong.

Meng Qingtong stared at him blankly, almost accidentally crushing the expensive talismans in her hand.

Only now did she truly believe what Han Jie had said back then.

"No matter how talented someone is in this world, I am still more talented than him."

Han Jie walked up to her and smiled, "Let's go, we still need to go to the market, don't delay."

"Wait a minute," Meng Qingtong finally snapped out of her daze and hurriedly took out her phone. "I still have to clean up the mess. I need to report this to the dean. How badly is Teacher Liu injured?"

"There's no serious injury. I held back; I hit it first to break the Spirit Rock Armor. Otherwise, your academy's Spirit Magic Department would be in for a surprise."

Meng Qingtong hurriedly drafted a message and sent it to Dean Fang. After hesitating for a moment, she ultimately refrained from checking on Liu Shengmeng's condition.

She knew that showing concern for such proud and arrogant geniuses at this time would only have the opposite effect.

With a sigh, she pulled out a tissue, snatched Han Jie's sunglasses, carefully wiped them clean in the sunlight, and put them on his head, then shoved the straw hat over his head. "Let's go, there are probably already people taking pictures of you around here. By the way, how did you do that? How were you so fast?"

Han Jie lowered his voice and deliberately whispered in her ear, "To beat her, I tore a hole in my pocket."

The hot breath tickled her ears, and she flinched, then realized what was happening and immediately connected with her spiritual senses, "You put it in your pocket to use your Heart Sword?"

“Yes. I used Crimson Fury to get behind her. Then I switched to Bloodlust to boost my power and gave her a mental shock so I could finish her off quickly.” He said casually, “After all, I’m prone to making mistakes when using spiritual techniques. When dealing with a skilled opponent, I should be more cautious.”

Meng Qingtong turned her head and glanced at the center of the square.

The emergency repair vehicle was almost there, but Yagyu Yume still hadn't gotten out of the ditch. She just stood there blankly where she had fallen, her face covered in mud and dust, looking extremely disheveled.

She must have heard what Han Jie deliberately said.

For a long time to come, Yagyu Yume will probably be racking his brains trying to figure out what method he could use to defeat her with just a hole in his pocket...

Meng Qingtong doesn't attend classes in the Department of Spiritual Law. Her usual task assignments are handled directly with her guardian, Dean Fang. So, she might have offended Teacher Liu quite a bit this time. She can only try not to take it to heart and comfort herself that she'll just have one less channel for recommending tasks in the future.

Teacher Liu didn't want her to keep going out, so now she can finally have some peace and quiet, and they can go their separate ways.

“You don’t need to worry too much about her. I know what I’m doing.” Seeing Meng Qingtong’s absent-mindedness while picking vegetables in the small kitchen, Han Jie couldn’t help but say, “What she’s really hurt about is her pride. With her talent, this might not be a bad thing.”

"Yes, that's why I didn't say anything to you. You meant well, you were trying to help me... Never mind, I won't think about it anymore. I'll just walk around her in the yard from now on."

“There’s no need for that.” Han Jie took a bite of the fried chicken wing he bought from the market. “She’s fundamentally trying to be nice to you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been so polite. Although her strength is mediocre, her combat experience is terrible. If you were to fight her to the death one day, you would definitely be the one who survives.”

"Don't imagine such terrifying things. I would never fight to the death with other spiritualists. The skills I've painstakingly honed are for dealing with evil spirits." She tilted her head back and sighed softly. "Tomorrow I need to hurry up and finish up Sister Lin's matter. Little Rabbit's situation is unprecedented, so I need to think of a way. I wonder if Dean Fang can help me apply for special permission."

"Don't worry. If the normal way can't solve it, we'll use our own methods." Han Jie remained nonchalant and said, "If that doesn't work, I'll leave a formation and tell Lin Sisi to keep an eye on the little rabbit and not to leave it easily. It should keep us safe for the next three to five years."

"Oh? What about three to five years from now?"

"We'll decide based on Little Rabbit's performance." He tossed the chicken bone into the trash can, then picked up another one, still not satisfied. "Letting demons and humans live together is already an exception, so we naturally need to observe them closely."

"Looking at it this way, it was really the right thing to send Qiao Mu over. Sister Lin is bewitched by the little rabbit's illusion and doesn't see the child as an evil spirit. If there's any special way to handle it, it's not easy to tell her directly."

As she spoke, Meng Qingtong had already finished chopping the vegetables. Judging from the improvement in her knife skills, she was indeed exceptionally talented in this area.

At least from Han Jie's observation of all the cooks in these buildings, apart from one who runs a restaurant, none of them are as good as Qing Tong.

Her rapid progress shows that she is not only talented but also very hardworking.

Han Jie was very satisfied with this.

Therefore, it's time to move to a bigger and better kitchen as soon as possible.

After preparing all the ingredients, Meng Qingtong set up the pot, turned on the stove, and suddenly said, "I'm in a bad mood."

"Hmm." Han Jie searched his mind and said seriously, "Do you need me to coax you?"

She shuddered and quickly shook her head, "No, no, no. You were misunderstood like that today, it's my job to comfort you."

"I know you're upset," Han Jie said softly. "Her misunderstanding shows that she already thought you might have done something wrong. She doesn't understand you. Why should you care about her?"

"Getting to know someone is never easy."

"It's not easy with you, you...you always guess what I'm thinking."

"Reading someone's mind and understanding them are not the same thing." She glanced at Han Jie, put the salt shaker she was about to screw the lid on back down, looked at the pot, and suddenly took out her phone, which was no longer used to display recipes. She found a rather upbeat song and said, "I'm going to go crazy for a bit to change my mood. Either don't watch, or if you do watch, don't laugh. If you do laugh, don't laugh so loudly. Thank you."

As she spoke, she tossed the wok in the pan and danced to the rhythm of the music, twisting her waist, shaking her legs, bobbing her head, and occasionally jumping around.

Han Jie watched silently while munching on a chicken wing, thinking to himself that her talent in dance was far less outstanding than her athletic ability.

Maybe... she jumped like that on purpose?
What kind of strange ritual was it?

I don't quite understand why this can improve one's mood; if I had to say, he, as an onlooker, would rather laugh.

He simply activated the search engine in his mind.

Huh? There really is such a thing as the Sun Dance?

Hmm... when you compare them side by side, her dancing is actually quite similar.

It really does change your mood, hahaha...

(End of this chapter)