Lucifer Liushui glanced back towards the room, catching Gan Jin’s eye, when he noticed someone blocking the doorway. Biluo? No! It was Huang Quan!

Since Huang Quan was here…” Lucifer Liushui pursed her lips, casting a flirtatious glance past Huang Quan toward Gan Jin, and the slightly ajar door was closed.

“Huang Quan…” Lucifer Liushui lounged on the soft, wide bed, hands clasped behind her head, her single, bright eye flickering with confusion and doubt. “How can there be a woman this incredibly powerful? Not only a Great Mage, but now likely a Sixth-Tier Great Mage? How did she train? Is she aiming for Magus status this year?”

Just last night! Lucifer Liushui would never forget how, rising in the dead of night, she found someone in the courtyard and was instantly frozen solid without being able to activate her Bloodline Battle Form.

If she activated the Bloodline Battle Form? Lucifer Liushui considered it seriously. She probably still wouldn’t be a match for that strange woman unless she used the Demonic Eye of Destruction, or reached the level of the Six Battles of Demon Slaying—only then would this woman be no match for her. Six Battles of Demon Slaying… Lucifer Liushui gave a wry smile. Even with the strength of a Bloodline Warrior, one couldn't jump from the First Battle to the Sixth Battle just by sleeping; hard training was still necessary.

“Can you invite me to a waltz?”

Gan Jin stared blankly at Biluo’s question, nodding woodenly and mechanically extending his arm in invitation, secretly wondering what was going on tonight. Why did everyone want to dance with him? Had his skill in dancing reached such a peak?

After the dance concluded, Huang Quan said nothing more, instead taking out the magic core Gan Jin had gifted her and beginning a meticulous study.

Gan Jin stood aside and watched for a while. Although the Sand Python’s magic core was missing one crucial magic circle—absorbed when Duan Fengbuer’s Nine-Headed Snake Bloodline awakened—the remaining magic arrays were still not to be underestimated. However, extracting and analyzing them was quite troublesome.

Even for a Great Mage, a genius Great Mage, understanding all of this was no easy feat.

When the Nine-Headed Snake Bloodline awakened, the magic circles within that core were also extracted. Just channeling a bit of magic power into them would project the arrays, but even projected, truly grasping everything was difficult.

Magic wasn't simply about arranging magic elements and casting the spell; that didn't mean you had truly learned it.

Although Gan Jin couldn't use magic himself, he understood that truly grasping magic required understanding certain underlying principles; only then was there a chance to develop new spells.

“Is there an issue with this magic array?”

Gan Jin sat before Huang Quan, gazing intently at that advanced magic from the sand wall.

Huang Quan did not reply immediately. She raised a hand and gently tapped a spot within the array. The projected magic circle immediately magnified where she pointed, revealing several strings of strange magical sequences.

Gan Jin studied the arrangement of the magic elements. It was indeed very peculiar. He supposed arranging the magic elements here must be extremely cumbersome.

“These arrangements should control the output, right?”

For the first time, a trace of surprise flickered across Huang Quan’s icy expression. Wasn't this man completely unable to cultivate magic? How could he see through in a single glance what she had spent days researching?

“Actually, this output control could likely be modified. After all, the spirit power and other aspects of a Sand Python differ greatly from a human’s,” Gan Jin analyzed seriously, relying on the knowledge he gleaned from magic inscription studies. “The human body is different from a Sand Python’s. If we reduce a portion of the output here, and then reverse the elemental arrangement to form a cross-output instead of a single-direction output…”

Swish swish swish!

Sand and dust from the earth shot skyward instantly, forming a state resembling a vortex or perhaps a barrier, enveloping Gan Jin.

“That effective?” Gan Jin looked at Huang Quan in surprise. He knew this woman was a genius in magic, but learning a single elemental arrangement this quickly, and wielding it with the fluency others achieved after a thousand practices, was astonishing.

Huang Quan dismissed the sand barrier spell. Her deep, still eyes now shone with a light a hundred times brighter than Gan Jin’s surprise. What kind of man was this? If she hadn't known him earlier, knowing he had no magical talent and couldn't even perceive spiritual power, she would have sworn he was some Archmage.

He was someone completely incapable of using magic, yet he could instantaneously alter the arrangement of a spell’s output, modifying a spell unusable by humans so that it was usable, and with an effect even better than the Sand Python’s.

This… this required what depth of magical theoretical knowledge? Huang Quan studied Gan Jin. Where did his magical theory knowledge come from? The guidance he just gave—even a Magus couldn’t achieve that in such haste!

Gan Jin felt a slight chill under Huang Quan’s gaze. He shifted his eyes back to the Sand Python’s magic core, completely oblivious that he, a complete magical incompetent, was currently so formidable in magical theory that it could shame a Magus or even a Magister into suicidal wall-smashing.

“What about this magic array?”

Huang Quan tapped open another magic circle with both hands. This one had issues with spell control; the Sand Python’s core contained a very peculiar Dark-elemental magic, likely something like a fear spell that could cause extreme emotional fluctuations in an instant.

Gan Jin felt a sudden flash of enlightenment looking at this seemingly useless spell. What an incredible spell! If two supreme experts were fighting, and one suddenly suffered an attack from this magic, if their protective Battle Skill and Dou Qi couldn't block it, the affected party’s extreme emotional surge would easily create an opening. If it were a mage, they might even suffer mental collapse and have their brains explode on the spot.

“The Sand Python’s thought process is simpler than a human’s, so they only need one control point,” Gan Jin remarked, propping his chin thoughtfully. “If we make the control points three, forming that stable triangle, the control will naturally be much more stable…”

Huang Quan said nothing, only glancing at Gan Jin in astonishment. She raised her hand and activated the third magic array, then the fourth… the fifth…

In less than an hour, all seven magic arrays in the Sand Python core that were unsuitable for human study had been transformed into the most optimal forms for human learning.

Biluo watched Gan Jin return to his room to sleep and shook her head softly. She had always believed herself to be the most gifted and perceptive magical genius, yet Gan Jin, who couldn’t cultivate magic, had…

Biluo looked up at the star-filled night sky. Was it because Gan Jin possessed a magical intuition that even the God of Stars envied? Was that why a curse was laid upon him, preventing him from studying magic? A person absolutely unable to cultivate magic would never focus his main energy on studying magic arrays—it must be innate magical intuition!

“I never realized the Sand Python’s magic arrays were so simple. Teacher Akenash Rune only taught us the most basic things.”

Gan Jin pulled the magic cap over his head, and the familiar scenery quickly flickered before his eyes. His body reappeared in the quiet and peaceful small village. The door to the Enlak Dou Qi Chamber was closed as usual.

Gan Jin stood before the door, paused for a moment in thought, then pushed it open with both hands. The high-speed execution of the Iron Arm Mantis Bloodline’s Split-Gold Slash from his Dou Core, and its subsequent spontaneous, complete reformation shortly after shattering—all of this was drastically different from the Dou Qi sequences he had encountered before.

“Teacher Enlak,” Gan Jin said, looking at the sharp, powerful figure seated in the center of the room. “I’ve come to challenge your hall again.”

“Here again?” Enlak rested one hand on his right knee, using it to push himself up, and smiled at Gan Jin. “What do you take this place for? Do you really think you can come whenever you please, or exchange challenges for rewards whenever you want?”

Gan Jin paused, knitted his brows, and thought seriously for a few seconds, then nodded honestly. Although the difficulty here was manageable, Uncle Enlak had never truly made things difficult for him. How could he lie to such a mentor?

“Damn it!” Enlak’s eyes widened as he looked at Gan Jin. “I’ve never seen such an honest kid! Even if it’s the truth, you should give me some face! No, today I must beat you up! Come on, you want to ask a question, right? Come on! If you win, I’ll let you ask!”

Gan Jin looked around the Enlak Dou Qi Chamber. Besides Uncle Enlak and himself, there were no other people visible today. Did this uncle plan to fight personally? Or would he summon his Second Battle Body again?

“Kid, have you ever experienced a fight where the many attack the few?”

“Many attacking the few?” Gan Jin recalled the battles he had encountered before. “More often I encountered situations where beasts outnumbered the people.”

“Is that so?” Enlak asked with an expression of deep concern. “Then you need to seize the chance to practice! As a warrior, you might face any situation.”

Gan Jin scanned the surroundings, unable to detect any other opponents. Did Uncle Enlak plan to fight along with his Second Battle Body?

“For the first time, let’s try one fighting a hundred.”

Enlak snapped his fingers to himself. Suddenly, two warriors appeared behind him! Behind those two warriors stood four, and behind those four stood eight. They spread out like an opened fan behind Enlak.

Fifty! In the blink of an eye, fifty warriors materialized behind Enlak! Fifty warriors, each possessing strength at the level of the Ninth Battle of Demon Slaying or higher! One hundred warriors, carrying various weapons—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, shields, and warhammers!

“This…”

Gan Jin stared dumbfounded at the rapidly growing number of opponents before him. They were all formed from streams of Dou Qi ejected from Enlak’s body.

That’s right. Strictly speaking, all these warrior opponents could be considered Enlak’s Second Battle Body!