Chapter 815 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 82

Their exchange appeared evenly matched on the surface. Qu Luo’s dangerous intuition, born from life-and-death combat, and her efficient killing techniques even seemed more impressive and practical compared to Mo Lan’s moves, which still carried traces of the classroom and were somewhat flashy.

But Mei Ye could see clearly — if this continued, the one falling behind would inevitably be Qu Luo.

The reason was simple: Mo Lan’s learning speed and rate of improvement were far too fast!

Her techniques were becoming streamlined and flexible at a visible pace, shedding all the parts that were style over substance.

Moreover, the moment she digested and mastered a particular technique, she would immediately begin varying her moves, experimenting with new combinations and approaches — as if she were never satisfied with the status quo, always probing and pushing boundaries.

Most crucially, she hadn’t used a single Magic skill the entire time, clearly intent on honing her martial technique alone.

One fighter relied entirely on instinctive reactions — efficient, yes, but essentially running in place. The other was deliberately treating every exchange as a whetstone, improving at breakneck speed through constant trial, error, and adjustment.

Given enough time, the difference would be obvious.

Mei Ye recognized the issue and called a timely halt.

The two immediately separated.

Mo Lan was slightly out of breath, a sheen of sweat at her temples, but her face bore a look of exhilaration and the smile of someone who had reaped a bountiful harvest. She had clearly gained enormously from the exchange.

Qu Luo, on the other hand, seemed as though all her strength and what little courage she possessed had been drained from her in an instant. She stood off to the side with her head bowed, letting out a long, quiet sigh of relief, profoundly grateful that she hadn’t accidentally injured her classmate this time and had avoided the worst possible outcome.

Instructor Mei Ye first nodded at Mo Lan:

“The issues with your technique — you should have already felt them yourself.

Going from classroom to real combat, from learning to mastery, requires exactly this kind of tempering.

I won’t belabor the point. Just find more opportunities to practice and reflect on your own.”

Her critique was concise and to the point, knowing that Mo Lan was perfectly capable of understanding and making adjustments on her own.

Then she turned her gaze to Qu Luo, who looked like she wanted nothing more than to disappear into the shadows. Her tone grew several shades more serious:

“Qu Luo, your practical combat experience truly far exceeds that of your peers, and your battle instincts and talent are sharp enough.

However, if you rely solely on instincts forged through life-and-death situations, your combat level will struggle to advance much further.

The combat techniques and skills passed down by predecessors are the crystallized wisdom of countless refinements.

Relying purely on self-taught intuition leads to painfully slow progress, and once you hit a bottleneck, you’ll find it nearly impossible to break through.

I strongly recommend you sit in on at least a few of the school’s various courses.

How will you know you don’t need them if you’ve never tried?

Even just some systematic training would absolutely elevate your control over your abilities to the next level and let those outstanding instincts of yours unleash far greater power.

I hope you can understand — true strength comes from perfectly combining innate intuition with systematic study.”

Mei Ye watched Qu Luo standing there with her head down, fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes, utterly silent, and knew at once that the girl’s mind hadn’t come around at all — she was still resistant to the suggestion.

Reasoning alone clearly wasn’t going to work!

Mei Ye deliberated for a moment, then made her decision. “Alright, you two — go again.”

She turned specifically to Mo Lan, her gaze stern as she emphasized: “This time, don’t use her as practice. Go all out.”

“!?” Qu Luo looked up in surprise, glancing at Instructor Mei Ye, then instinctively stealing a look at Mo Lan across from her, who had shifted into combat mode in an instant. She had just blocked all of Mo Lan’s attacks with ease — in her eyes, her opponent’s techniques had far too many openings. She didn’t think she couldn’t beat Mo Lan. In fact, she had a vague feeling that if she’d really gone all out, the fight would have been over long ago.

Why would the instructor say something like that?

Though she didn’t understand, the instructor’s order had been given, and Mo Lan across from her had already entered her combat stance.

Seeing this, Qu Luo had no choice but to grip her short spikes once more, take a deep breath, and forcibly suppress her reluctance as she prepared to face Mo Lan’s attack.

“Begin!”

The instant Instructor Mei Ye’s voice fell, Mo Lan’s figure shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging in at a speed far exceeding before. Her blade work was fierce and domineering, carrying an undeniable, overwhelming pressure!

Qu Luo’s pupils contracted slightly. Her body reacted on instinct once again, calculating the distance, preparing to dodge and block as before, then find an opening to counterattack…

But just as she focused all her attention on Mo Lan’s incoming trajectory — everything changed in an instant!

A searingly brilliant white light erupted before her eyes without the slightest warning. The blinding radiance was impossibly intense, swallowing her vision whole in an instant.

All Qu Luo could see was a blank expanse of white. She couldn’t see a thing!

The sudden loss of sight sent a surge of terror through her heart. An unavoidable hitch of hesitation and panic crept into her movements.

She could only rely on hearing and her other senses to roughly judge the direction of the incoming attack, desperately retreating backward while swinging her short spikes in a frantic attempt to block.

The moment a blurry image began to return to her vision, she saw Mo Lan’s blade already slashing down almost directly in front of her face!

She twisted sideways in a panic. Her left short spike deflected the blade by the narrowest of margins, while her right spike thrust instinctively — almost simultaneously — toward Mo Lan’s seemingly wide-open waist.

This was her battle-hardened counterattack instinct — fast, precise, ruthless!

It looked like the spike was about to sink in, but Mo Lan didn’t dodge nimbly as she had before, as though her reaction was half a beat too slow.

“No!” Qu Luo’s heart plummeted — she had absolutely no desire to seriously injure a classmate! But it was too late to pull back!

Yet the instant her spike made contact with Mo Lan’s waist — the “Mo Lan” she had struck vanished into thin air like a phantom!

As if she had stabbed nothing but empty air.

At the same time, an icy touch silently pressed against the bare skin of her neck.

Qu Luo’s entire body went rigid. Eyes wide with shock, she slowly lowered her gaze.

A training short knife rested steadily across her throat, the chill of the blade raising goosebumps on her skin.

And Mo Lan — no one knew when — had appeared behind her like a ghost, her breathing steady, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

“Qu Luo,” Mo Lan’s voice sounded right beside her ear, carrying a touch of smug satisfaction, “you lose!”

Qu Luo stood frozen in place, her neck and ears flushing crimson with embarrassment and lingering fear. But she couldn’t spare a thought for her embarrassment now. She spun around abruptly, no longer bothering to avoid Mo Lan’s gaze, and asked urgently:

“You — how did you just… do that?”

The white light, the figure that vanished out of nowhere… all of it was completely beyond anything she could comprehend.

Mo Lan put away her short knife and smiled, patiently explaining:

“It’s pretty simple, really. Just the Thorn-Spined Glowworm’s White Light Flash combined with the phantom leopard cat’s Lesser Mirror Image, plus a bit of footwork and psychological tactics.”

She carefully broke down her strategy: “My charge looked like I was going all-in, right? That was mainly to capture your full attention so you’d overlook me quietly activating White Light Flash.

The blinding light doesn’t just take away your sight — it also covers up any signs of me casting Lesser Mirror Image.”