In the afternoon, Xue Jing watched the [Twin] skill on the panel shine with a pale golden glow again and decided to experiment further.
"The usage time is about 20 seconds. Once it's used up, it takes around six hours to restore it..." he noted.
"But the cool down time varies. If I use [Twin Speed] for one second, leaving 19 seconds remaining, then one could say; one-twentieth (1/20) of six hours is 18 minutes, meaning I'd regain the full 20 seconds after 18 minutes."
Xue Jing meticulously documented the usage data.
With the Lv1 twin usage time being so short, he had to use it cautiously.
"Interestingly, my practice of the Hibernating Dragon Technique is also an 'action' that can be accelerated by [Twin Speed]," he thought.
"This can directly double the efficiency... But the duration is too short for now, so I'll leave that for the future."
---
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Xue Jing still didn't go to school, having taken the entire day off.
Taking the bus to Canglong Dojo, he noticed a shift in the receptionist. Instead of the girl from earlier, there was another beautiful receptionist in a cheongsam.
Though she hadn't seen Xue Jing before, she seemed to have been briefed and shown his photo. Upon seeing him, she stood and greeted him as "Jingye" sweetly, which felt a bit strange to Xue Jing.
"I feel like this title isn't much better than 'young master,'" he mused.
Upon entering the dojo, Xue Jing headed to the training hall to take a look.
"No, no, your way of exerting force is too rigid. There's an old saying among us martial artists, 'train a thousand pounds of strength, and use four ounces of power.' You're only using muscle power, which is 'dead force.' It's not only laborious but also ineffective..."
In the training hall's center, Zhu Shanying was instructing an ordinary disciple while many others watched from the sides.
The moment Xue Jing entered, Zhu Shanying turned toward the door, her eyes lighting up as she waved and called out happily, "Hi! Junior brother, over here, come here!"
Xue Jing hesitated briefly, finding it hard to refuse, and walked toward her.
"Is he the new disciple of the old master?" whispered one of the onlookers.
"He looks impressive, much more so than Senior Brother Chen..."
"I heard he defeated Senior Sister Zhu, and the old master was so amazed by his talent that he accepted him on the spot!"
"Who told you that? That's nonsense. Senior Sister Zhu was just careless and didn't dodge..."
Many disciples who hadn't seen Xue Jing before turned their curious eyes toward him, the new junior brother.
"Junior brother, you came at the right time. Let's practice together and show them the correct way to use strength," Zhu Shanying said with a smile, taking Xue Jing's hand and leading him to the ring beside her.
Her hand was soft and tender, not at all like a martial artist's. Her touch might have swayed a weaker-willed man, but Xue Jing stood firm.
Zhu Shanying looked puzzled when she couldn't move him.
"Well... maybe I should pass. I'm not very skilled at martial arts; I doubt I'd be a good teacher," Xue Jing suggested.
Zhu Shanying glared at him. "Didn't you beat me? How can you say you're not skilled? Come on, I'll go easy on you. It won't hurt at all..."
Xue Jing remained calm, sensing that Zhu Shanying still wanted to settle the score from their previous encounter.
He thought it over and nodded in agreement.
Zhu Shanying was overjoyed, pulling Xue Jing into the ring with her. This overly familiar gesture broke the hearts of countless male disciples watching.
"Hey, who do you think will win?" one of them asked.
"Of course, it'll be Sister Zhu. She was just caught off guard last time. Junior Brother has only just started martial arts training; how could he win?"
"Alas, I hope Sister Zhu will be gentle and not hurt our junior brother."
"fuck! you know what, I bet 50 cents on Sister Zhu to win!"
The watching disciples were buzzing with excitement.
In the ring, the two stood opposite each other.
"Junior Brother, be careful," Zhu Shanying warned, crouching slightly and taking a stance.
Xue Jing nodded and imitated her stance, though he had never practiced it. Even the ordinary disciples could see he was a complete amateur in fighting.
But Zhu Shanying, having experienced Xue Jing's power firsthand, didn't underestimate him. Her eyes were focused.
However... in the next moment, she suddenly tilted and fell to the right.
"Eh?"
Xue Jing had suddenly squatted down at an incredible speed, sweeping his right foot in a powerful low arc that knocked her off her feet.
The move was unexpected. Typically, opponents wouldn't use a low sweep at the start unless they were very fast, allowing for freer attacks.
Zhu Shanying, surprised by this lack of foresight, was about to use her hands to regain balance.
But in the brief moment when she was airborne with no leverage, Xue Jing had already grasped her wrist with unreasonable speed...
"Bang!"
Zhu Shanying hit the ring floor, her expression blank, unsure of what had just happened.
Another shoulder throw, the same result.
This time she had used her strength to defend in advance and didn't faint.
But it made no difference to her; this was a match, not a life-or-death fight, and she had already lost.
The onlooking disciples fell silent, their chatter abruptly halted.
"Thank you, Senior Sister Zhu," Xue Jing said softly to the dazed girl lying on the floor.
Then he turned and walked off the ring, heading slowly toward the training hall's door.
As he walked, the disciples stepped aside as if there were an invisible barrier around him, clearing his path.
It wasn't until Xue Jing had left the training hall that the disciples began to recover, looking at Zhu Shanying, who was still lying on the ring.
"Um... Senior Sister Zhu..." a disciple hesitated.
The girl didn't reply, staring dazedly at the ceiling.
---
Xue Jing made his way to his own training room, sitting cross-legged on the solid wood floor and opening the panel to check.
The pale golden light emitted by [Twins] had dimmed slightly.
The sparring match with Zhu Shanying had used about three seconds of twin speed.
Using this skill in actual combat for the first time, its effect was precisely what Xue Jing had expected, even exceeding his imagination.
It's incredible!
Not to mention the speed itself, but the element of surprise that defied common sense was the most terrifying part.
Zhu Shanying had already fought him once, knew his speed, and had prepared mentally, yet she had no time to react to his sudden burst of speed.
If he could leverage this drastic speed difference well, the advantage would be enormous.
Anyone who's played games knows how tormenting a "fast and slow knife" strategy can be. (It's a way of maintaining control and unpredictability in gameplay, often leading to psychological pressure and confusion for the opponent.)
[You have experienced a battle, Fighting experience +97]
[You have experienced a battle, fitness experience +81]
[You have experienced a battle, feeling happy, health experience +49]
[You have experienced a battle, aiming experience +26]
[You have experienced a battle, Twin experience +69]
[Twin is upgraded to Lv2 (9/500)]
"Huh? Doesn't count as a weak victory over a strong one?" Xue Jing raised an eyebrow.
The last time he defeated Zhu Shanying, the panel indicated a weak victory over a strong one, but not this time.
It seems the panel judged that with twin speed activated, he wasn't weaker than Zhu Shanying anymore.
...
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