Jiu Shen Vol 2 Chapter 14.1

Translators: Ash
TLC : Miki & WYN
Editors: Jennifer Liu, Naruto Kurosaki

Although Ji Dong had a stubborn personality, he was in no way a fool. He understood that the reason Lie Yan remained to guide him was because she was anxious due to that dangerous situation with Liu Jun. The fact that Lie Yan was worried about him made Ji Dong satisfied. He secretly resolved that regardless of how hard these 9 days would be, he would bear with it.

Lie Yan walked in front of Ji Dong, her left hand carrying the wine-cup and her eyes emitting a strict light that pressured him. “Remember, when you execute any skill, you should be completely focused from the start. When you take a single step forward, at that brief second although you begin to urge the magic power within your body, why not go all out then? Instead, you insist on going all out only when you use your fist movement. This one flaw can cause you to lose 10% of your magic power. And when you use the Bite of the Scorching Sun and Dark Moon Claw, why do you release two types of magic power? Did I not tell you already, that with the yin-yang spiral, you can control your magic power to be of one type? Only by changing this, can you display the total might of those standard skills. You will be able to display a power 3 times greater than compared to now.”

Ji Dong was startled, and he asked, “Are you saying that I must first convert my magic power to Bing-Wu-Yuan-Yang-Sacred-Flame and then use Bite of the scorching Sun? And after that, I must convert my magic power to Ding-Si-Ming-Yin-Spirit-Flame and then use Dark Moon Claw? The time to convert between these two ultimate flames is not small, and it will be very difficult to link these two skills.”

Lie Yan coldly snorted, “That is naturally because you are not very skilful. Even these standard skills are melee skills, not only must they have sufficient attack power, they also must be quick. Your current major problem is the way you attack and the speed of your attack. When you confronted Liu Jun, with those final two attacks, you already achieved my requests. But when you executed the two attacks just now, it was worse compared to that time. Carefully look through the two great monarchs’ memories and continue practising.”

Thus began Ji Dong’s days of suffering. The soft, gentle and indifferent Lie Yan of the past had disappeared. Currently, on that stone platform within the geocentric lake, Lie Yan’s voice constantly rebuking Ji Dong echoed.
……

“Are you an idiot*? Is this how you attack? Didn’t I say it many times, from the time you are prepared to make a move you should use all the power in your body!”
[TL: it literally translates to are you a pig? Which is Chinese for being stupid/idiotic. This made me realise what it means when that girl in Zhan Long novel calls the mc Pig….]
……

“You have become foolis.h.!.+You are unable to change your reasoning. Could it be that you don’t realise that using Dark Moon Claw first and then following it up with Bite of the Scorching Sun is better? Is that 0.5s paralysis effect of Dark Moon Claw just there for decoration?”
……

“You must not try to release your flame outside, you are still not at that level. If you do that, then it will be all in vain and you will lose more magic power.”
……

“Fool! With your current magic power, you ought to also be able to use the two standard skills in a regular situation, but why is it that after one time use all your magic power becomes insufficient? why didn’t you think carefully about this?”
……

“There are plenty of fire elements here, but the rate at which you regain your magic power is still very slow. Are you not able to use your thoughts to guide these fire elements to you?”
……

Similar statements and rebukes could be heard constantly during these 9 days. Lie Yan seemed to have been reborn as the strictest teacher possible and even the most minute of flaws in Ji Dong’s training would be angrily pointed out by her.

He continuously iterated between training and sitting down to restore his magic power. There was no concept of time within the geocentric circle, so Ji Dong was unaware how long he had been there. But his geological clock often reminded him of a suitable time when he must return to the academy.

“Lie Yan, I should go back now.” Ji Dong supported his body as he crawled up, and his eyes had already turned red.

Lie Yan looked at him and frowned. “Ok!”

The red lotus engulfed him and teleported Ji Dong away. The moment he left, Lie Yan’s facial muscles also relaxed. She slashed a halo in mid-air with her right hand, and among the flickering light rays, there was Ji Dong wrapped within the red lotus as he was being conveyed.

“Little Ji Dong, you must not think of me to be very fierce. This is all because I do not want to feel that anxiety again. Do you know, that I day when I saw that you were about to be killed and I couldn’t go to save you made me so painfully distressed? Only then did I realise that I am afraid to lose you. You will soon go to a strange region. Only if you can defend yourself can you survive among the humans. Even I do not know what I consider you as —a friend? A younger brother? Or someone else?”

Thinking aloud until here, Lie Yan shuddered a bit, and her eyes which were gazing at the light screen froze abruptly.

Because she saw that after Ji Dong got to his bar counter almost by crawling, and struggled to lift himself up by grabbing onto the edge of the bar counter. He seemed to incessantly sway and his arms also continuously twitched. But he still picked up his c.o.c.ktail mixer. He gnawed his lips fiercely, his eyes expressing his persistence.

Barely opening the cover of the c.o.c.ktail mixer, he grabbed a bottle to pour wine into, but, because his hands were trembling too much, he was unable to grasp it well. For a bartender, unstable hands were the cause of failing while making c.o.c.ktails.

Nine days, cultivating without rest, although the geocentric lake was extremely rich in fire elements that replenished magic power and even added a certain amount of physical power, his mental state was already on the verge of collapsing. Ji Dong’s blurry consciousness could not control his own hands.

However, he didn’t give up, and abruptly picked up a snifter. With a *pop!* it hit the bar counter, and immediately fragments flew in the air. Ji Dong picked up a sharp fragment and forcefully p.r.i.c.ked all the fingertips on his left hand. It was at this moment, that Lie Yan’s gaze froze.

As the nerves of the fingertips are linked with the heart, the intense pain stimulated Ji Dong’s mental state and made him sober. He didn’t bother to bandage his finger so as to not waste any time. He took advantage of the short-term soberness and quickly poured several different bottles of wine proportionally into the c.o.c.ktail mixer. The c.o.c.ktail was soon ready.

“Why, why am I getting emotional about this*? Is this the feeling humans have when they are about to weep? But, I cannot cry. Why do I feel as if there is a lump in my throat? Little Ji Dong, you are really the bane of my existence. No, this cannot happen. I must not get further involved with him, otherwise, I will be forever linked to him and will only suffer more.”
[TL: the literal translation is : nose feeling sour, which means getting emotional/weepy.]

Lie Yan suddenly waved her hand and scattered the light in mid-air. A light flickered in her eyes — it was apparent that she had come to a decision.

A short time later, Ji Dong, wrapped up in the red lotus, returned to the geocentric lake. He then handed over the finely blended c.o.c.ktail in his hands to Lie Yan.