Chapter Sixteen: The Taiji Diagram 0.2

Jiang Taixuan had studied patrol mechs and could simulate the fluctuations of radar particles to avoid detection. These two didn’t have time to look for a Particle Shield, so they must be relying on the radar particle simulation technique!

“Hide, quickly!” Shen Feng barked in a low voice, dropping swiftly into the dense forest below. “Taichu, cover us.”

Zhang Jing was startled as well and hurried to descend.

Meanwhile, the two opponents aimed at Zhang Jing and Shen Feng.

Bang!

At that very instant, Jiang Taichu and the adversaries fired simultaneously—two sniper rounds shot out in quick succession.

One of the opponents in midair immediately veered off, firing a shot at the two.

Bang! Bang!

Zhang Jing’s body exploded, marking his elimination. Shen Feng’s rapid descent spared him from a fatal shot, but the bullet still pierced his left arm, blood blooming in the air; their foe was clearly familiar with the Storm Mech—though slightly off, the bullet still hit its mark.

With a heavy crash, Shen Feng hit the ground, and in Jiang Taichu’s ear, the kill notification sounded: “You have killed ‘Profound Mystery’.”

One was still alive!

Startled, Jiang Taichu gazed through his sniper scope and saw a bloodied figure, gun in one hand, aiming straight at him.

The other opponent, who had fled into the air, had steadied himself and fired at him once more.

Two bullets tore through the air.

Cannon Perception!

Time slowed for the bullets. With a slight sidestep, Jiang Taichu weaved his body, dodging both shots.

Under the horrified stares of his enemies, Jiang Taichu pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A deafening crack—the genius’s head burst open, life snuffed out.

The last one left was no longer a threat; a single round from Jiang Taichu finished him off.

Game over!

As the victory message echoed in their minds, Tang Fatty exclaimed with excitement, “We won? That scared me—the last two shots were way too close.”

“We owe this round to you, Taichu. I didn’t expect your marksmanship to have improved so much since graduation,” Shen Feng remarked in surprise.

“Just luck,” Jiang Taichu replied with a smile.

“All right, I need to get to work,” Li Wenyue said.

“So do I. I’m meeting someone to go gold mining,” Shen Feng added.

“Taichu, shall we play another?” Tang Yu asked.

They were on break now, nothing else to do, and there was hardly any scenery on the Starlit Earth.

“No, I’m going to do some mech training on my own,” Jiang Taichu answered.

This ‘War’ game did little to temper him; nothing compared to facing a mech himself.

“We’ll play, then,” Zhang Jing chimed in.

The two started a new game. Just as Jiang Taichu was about to leave, a message flashed through his mind: “Bro, you really don’t hold back.”

Jiang Taichu: “??”

He sensed the message in his mind—it was from Profound Mystery. He was stunned: “Taixuan? Didn’t you used to go by ‘Gate of Marvels’?”

That was Jiang Taixuan’s old in-game name.

“I changed it recently. When you killed me, the system said ‘killed by Taichu’—that’s how I realized it was you,” Jiang Taixuan grumbled. “Couldn’t you let me off just once?”

“I only just realized it was you. Didn’t you recognize Tang Fatty and Zhang Jing? Why were you fighting them?” Jiang Taichu asked, perplexed.

“How would I know? Some classmates said they were being bullied and pulled me and a friend in to help.”

Jiang Taixuan, growing excited, continued, “Bro, did you just dodge a bullet?”

“Yeah,” Jiang Taichu replied. “It just happened; I don’t even know how.”

“Instinct? Are you messing with me? That was a sniper shot—no one at the first level of Qi Cultivation could dodge it without noticing. You call that luck?”

Jiang Taixuan clearly didn’t believe it.

“Believe what you want,” Jiang Taichu retorted, exasperated.

Jiang Taixuan chuckled. “Well, my friend wants a duel with you now.”

“Your classmate?”

“Yeah, top of the year—and a beauty at that… Hey, bro?”

“You brat, don’t try to trade your brother for love. No puppy love allowed,” Jiang Taichu warned, then promptly logged off.

He truly didn’t know how he’d learned to dodge bullets; it was all thanks to Cannon Perception.

In his perception, bullets and shells slowed down, but he couldn’t slow them down for anyone else.

Once the holidays came…

But he had to work overtime this month. Next month, during the break, he’d warn his little brother not to get into trouble.

He pushed the matter from his mind and returned to his mech training.

It was still fist against metal, pitting his flesh against the mechs.

He trained straight through until lunch. Tang Yu and Zhang Jing brought their trays and joined him in his room.

“Taichu, who’s that girl with Taixuan? She’s incredibly strong—never misses a shot and can even evade radar,” Tang Yu asked.

“Yeah, she seems to have a built-in Particle Shield. Isn’t that cheating?” Zhang Jing added.

“Have you ever seen anyone cheat in the ‘War’ game?” Jiang Taichu shot him a look.

This was a game crafted by the Supreme Array, Heavenly Dao—any hack was useless inside.

“So who is she? She keeps asking us to invite you to the squad,” Tang Yu said.

“Taixuan’s classmate,” Jiang Taichu replied.

“Taixuan’s got a girlfriend?” Both were shocked, envious, and impressed. “He’s really something!”

Jiang Taichu: “…”

Two hopeless cases.

After lunch, he drove them out and returned to his mech training.

Tang Yu and Zhang Jing, meanwhile, remained absorbed in the game.

In a blink, two days passed.

Jiang Taichu, as usual, refined a drop of Earth Essence, pushing his internal cultivation to 50.9%!

Buzz—

At the moment of breakthrough, the Creation Jade Disc trembled in his mind, and the Taiji Diagram manifested behind him, swirling in the air.

Taiji Diagram: 0.2%, Yin-Yang Intent, Prime Clarity Technique +300%, Defense +300%.

His cultivation speed had tripled, and his defense had likewise increased threefold!

Vital energy surged within him like a mighty flood.

He felt his mind clearer than ever, his spirit at peace, a sensation both profound and indescribable.

A unique sense of Yin and Yang lingered in his heart. Even the complexity of his mech seemed to fade.

“The Taiji Diagram seems to enhance more than just cultivation speed and defense,” he mused, immediately entering mech training to adjust his energy output.

Twenty-one, twenty-two… twenty-five percent!

He could barely maintain control at twenty-six percent, his head spinning.

“With fifty percent internal cultivation, I can handle twenty-five percent of the mech’s energy. If I reach full mastery, could I handle fifty percent?”

Excitement surged in Jiang Taichu’s heart; this was the new benchmark, the current limit of internal refinement.

He sparred with the mech at close quarters, testing his defensive strength.

Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven… thirty-five percent!

He continued, pushing the Yin-Yang Intent further.

The Taiji Diagram flickered, dissipating most of the mech’s energy.

He pushed it to forty percent, but beyond that, he could no longer keep up.

The mech moved too fast, battering him like a sandbag. Under such intense assault, he couldn’t maintain the enhancement of Yin-Yang Intent.

“Without Yin-Yang Intent, I can ignore a Qi Cultivator’s thirty percent strength attacks,” Jiang Taichu murmured. “But I’m becoming a bit one-sided.”

His defense was absurdly high, but his strength and speed lagged far behind.

For now, firearms could compensate for his lack of power.

But in terms of speed, he was still lacking.

It couldn’t be helped; not even the most advanced speed cultivation techniques could match a mech’s agility.

He glanced at the pills in his hand—twenty-two in total—enough to buy a speed technique manual.

With sufficient defense and added speed, mowing down foes in a hail of bullets would be entirely possible.

Dodge bullets?

By then, it would be the bullets dodging him!