Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 92 - 12: Harnessing the Momentum of Heaven and Earth (2nd Update)

Chapter 92: Chapter 12: Harnessing the Momentum of Heaven and Earth (2nd Update)

After lunchtime, Duan Mingyuan went to the medical room alone.

Xu Yi was arranged in a rest room on the second floor inside. The medical room teacher said that he was not seriously ill, and his constant stay in the ward was caused by psychological issues.

Jiuyue, upon hearing this news, took up the challenge, snatched up a chicken she had caught from somewhere, and entered the academy’s back kitchen. Before Duan Mingyuan came to visit the sick, she packed up a homemade braised chicken into a lunch box and asked Duan Mingyuan to bring it to this demoralized senior brother.

When he entered the room, Xu Yi was sitting on the bed with the upper half of his body exposed outside, looking down at his hands.

The noise at the door startled him, and when he turned his head and saw Duan Mingyuan entering, his flustered hands did not know where to go. Duan Mingyuan walked to the bedside, placed the still warm lunch box on the nightstand, and said, "I heard you didn’t go for lunch; your Shiniang cooked braised chicken, and I brought you some."

"Thank you so much, Teacher Mingyuan."

Xu Yi hurriedly picked up the lunch box and wolfed down the food, seemingly trying to cover up his mood by doing so.

Seeing this, Duan Mingyuan paused for a moment as well.

He had thought this genius of the Chess Institute had not tasted failure in too long and went directly into a state of lost appetite after being defeated by Yang Ping.

But unexpectedly, while eating, he even praised, "Shiniang’s cooking is really good, much better than the cafeteria."

Duan Mingyuan did not comment.

Ever since he started living with Jiuyue, he had given up ordering takeout; he hadn’t been to "Lao Sui’s Restaurant" for a long time.

He moved a chair and sat in front of the bed, patiently waiting for Xu Yi to finish everything in the lunch box.

After the meal, Xu Yi wiped his mouth and put the lunch box back on the nightstand.

It seemed that Jiuyue’s secret recipe for braised chicken had an effect. He steadied himself and finally decided to tell this new teacher about the confusion in his heart, "Teacher, actually I know that it’s not okay to continue like this."

"You mean?"

"I unintentionally heard the director talking; there is a group of malicious people trying to break through the barrier and force their way into the academy."

Before this, that group had already killed messengers who were out, and the few junior brothers from the Chess Institute he knew had not returned to the institute after going home for vacation.

When he asked the director of the Chess Institute, the director glared at him sternly and warned him to focus on his chess skills and not to be disturbed by other things.

But with such things happening at the institute, how could he, as the senior brother of the Chess Institute, ignore them?

Xu Yi clenched his fists.

Ever since he had been admitted to the institute, he had been crowned with the title of "genius," and he never wanted to let anyone down. In these years, he had never stopped his research, and he even dreamed of playing chess against others in his dreams.

But when the villains appeared, Xu Yi realized that as the senior brother of the Chess Institute, he had no ability to protect others.

"I should also thank Junior Brother Yang Ping; he has awakened me quite a bit, but is that still far from enough?"

The villains were not street thugs but assassins who had mastered Strange Gates and Devious Techniques.

Even if they picked up chessboards and faced the villains in a street brawl, they would probably end up decapitated.

"Far from enough."

Duan Mingyuan was not the kind of teacher who liked to give false encouragement. If the assassins of Yin Die were equivalent to the two they encountered halfway through, even a dozen Xu Yis together would just be serving their heads on a platter.

"As expected."

"However, I’ve seen your skills in class, and you’ve got a grasp on it."

Before coming to the medical room, Duan Mingyuan visited the library and briefly flipped through the Chess Institute’s classics, which mentioned that when top experts contend, they compete in "strength." That is, what he saw was entering the battle with their bodies, where each chess piece became a soldier, and the chess players were strategists who determined the outcome of the battle.

"Teacher Mingyuan is joking. I only know how to play chess and am clueless about everything else."

Xu Yi smiled bitterly and shook his head. If it came to actual combat, he might not be better than other students of the Chess Institute, not to mention Junior Brother Yang Ping, who had faced evil beings several times before coming to the academy.

"Watch closely, I’ll demonstrate once."

Having said that, Duan Mingyuan shouted toward the door, "I suppose you’ve come for this as well? Then come in."

Xu Yi was taken aback at first, but before he could react, the door to the sickroom was flung open. The intruder, dressed in black with her face obscured by a veil, revealed only a pair of sharp eyes. Xu Yi could only discern from her figure that the person in black was a woman. She grasped a long sword in her hand and, with great effort, thrust it straight toward Duan Mingyuan’s chest.

The cold light reflected from the sharp blade alarmed Xu Yi greatly.

This sword was aimed to take a life.

This was not a street brawl, but a fight to the death.

Xu Yi was stupefied, not knowing what to do on the bed.

Faced with the flying sword that was near at hand, Duan Mingyuan calmly reached for the lunch box on the nightstand, seemingly casually deflecting, and directed the flying sword elsewhere.

The flying sword, capable of slicing through iron as if it were mud, didn’t even leave a scratch on the plastic lunch box.

The intruder showed delight on her face as she waved her hand to the right, and the deflected flying sword suddenly changed direction mid-air, pursuing Duan Mingyuan once again.

Xu Yi felt as if he was in a dream, forcing himself to calm down and not miss any detail of their exchange of blows.

The intruder’s offensive was fierce. As she threw the flying sword, she drew a short dagger from her waist and charged toward Duan Mingyuan for close combat, her attack as relentless as a scene from an action movie.

Duan Mingyuan’s speed, on the other hand, was in stark contrast.

He sat in the chair like a meditating monk, not moving even a step. Occasionally, he would lift the lunch box in his hand and lightly deflect, easily neutralizing the aggression.

The next moment, Xu Yi was suddenly taken aback.

The scene felt familiar to him.

He remembered the times he played chess with his juniors, and how they were always eager to attack to gain the advantage, just like the intruder before him.

The blind offense was naturally easily neutralized by him, who had gained the "advantage."

"It seems you’ve noticed," Duan Mingyuan said while concurrently handling the intruder’s attack and finding the time to observe Xu Yi’s condition.

In his view, the so-called "advantage" was the Mysterious Techniques created by the predecessors of the Chess Institute. However, out of respect for the founding principles of the library, they sealed this Mysterious Technique within the chessboard.

If one could bring this out of the chessboard, it would form a formidable Strength.

Thinking of this, Duan Mingyuan lightly picked up the chopsticks from the lunch box and pointed forward, touching the intruder’s wrist as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water.

The intruder exclaimed in pain, and her dagger instantly fell to the ground. As her concentration wavered, the flying sword deviated from its course.

Duan Mingyuan didn’t stop there with the chopsticks; he flicked them upwards, suspending the chopsticks just one centimeter from the intruder’s forehead.

The fight came to an end.

A gust of wind, from an unknown source, scattered the intruder’s veil, revealing her delicate features.

Her waterfall-like black hair flowed freely.

"’Advantage’ does not only exist within chess. What I have just demonstrated to you is how to assume the Advantage of Heaven and Earth," Duan Mingyuan said.

One who takes on the Advantage of Heaven and Earth will be blessed by the natural world and accomplish things with half the effort.

After speaking, he turned his gaze to the intruder.

"Also, fellow student Ning Ruyue, the latest school regulations prohibit students from dueling in private outside of the ’Defense Against Evil Spirits Class’."

"What’s forbidden is private dueling between students."

The girl, called Ning Ruyue, gave a sly smile, looking cunningly at Duan Mingyuan, "But there’s no rule against students seeking instruction from a teacher."