Combining techniques like the Super Brain Dissection Skill to sketch out the future, or Yin-Yang Manipulation to cultivate inner power, or training disciples and mentoring followers, or forging weapons and nurturing sword spirits, or even trying to knock some sense into the dark demon soldiers—Jill Young honestly wished she could twist it all up like a pretzel, right now.
Oh, and a month later, Paladin led the second squad of the Order of the Silver Hand, which Jasper Xiao had set up on Earth, as they arrived in Middle-earth.
Too bad for them, they landed smack in the middle of a thieves' den.
Then again, those monsters weren't so lucky either, because the twins were in a 'chill' mood and had plenty of free time. They teamed up and wiped out all the enemies like it was nothing. This little side quest earned the twins a bunch of reputation points and some sweet experience. Too bad they didn't run into any Nazgûl.
"Ugh, so annoying! I had a whole plan to snatch some of that miasma when we took down the Nazgûl," Jill Young said, sitting on a giant demon corpse in the chaos of battle, basking in awe-filled stares. "First, I could study the miasma and see if there's any way to wipe it out for good. Second, I could use the miasma's connections to track down the rest of the bad guys. But the mini-boss didn't even show up—what a waste of a trip!"
Next to Jill, Jasper Xiao held his helmet, bloodstained but still dashing: "Sauron isn't a brute. After losing two Nazgûl in a row, he's definitely on high alert. He's hiding all his best minions—clearly planning something. Honestly, I've been feeling a weird sense of foreboding lately, like something big is about to happen. I just hope this storm isn't too much for us to handle."
Strength is what keeps the rain off your head, so don't sweat the small stuff, kid. Of course, the Silver Hand's powers are pretty unique, and your path forward is special too, so I won't butt in. By the way, your whole order's Holy Light can actually resonate and stack together—now that's something you don't see every day." Jill Young stood up, waved goodbye, and said, "I'm out. If you need me, just call. I can't promise I'll show up instantly, but I won't take forever either."
—Everything mentioned above took up half the twins' time. As for the other half, everyone did their own thing, keeping the pace nice and steady.
Jill Young kept diving into the deep sea, working on her Power Matrix and training the new Dragon Elephant Technique. After lots of experiments, she found that staying at the bottom too long wasn't much help—ten days was just right.
You know what they say: "A thousand-mile levee can be destroyed by an ant's nest." When you're pushing your limits, it's the tiny things that can totally wreck you. Once the Power Matrix is set up, all your strength flows together, letting you patch up the weak spots in your iron body and fix any gaps in your training.
Jill Young wasn't messing around in the shallow waters anymore. She started at three thousand meters and went deeper into the ocean every day. The deeper she went, the stranger the sea creatures she encountered—big, small, dangerous, docile, you name it.
About a month later, Paladin led the second squad of the Order of the Silver Hand—Jasper Xiao had set it up on Earth—and they descended right into Middle-earth.
Unfortunately for them, their luck was rotten—they landed smack in the middle of a thieves' den.
Of course, the monsters in that den weren’t any luckier, because the twins just happened to be in 'relax mode,' with plenty of free time. They teamed up and steamrolled all the enemies like a pair of wrecking balls. This little side quest earned them a bunch of reputation and experience points in the Order of the Silver Hand. Too bad they didn’t run into any Nazgûl.
“Ugh, so annoying! I had all these plans—wanted to snatch some miasma when we took down the Nazgûl.” On the chaotic battlefield, Jill Young sat atop a giant demon corpse, basking in the awe of onlookers. “First, I could study the miasma and see if there’s any way to wipe it out for good. Second, I could use the miasma’s connections to track down the rest of the bad guys. But the mini-boss didn’t even show up—what a waste of a trip!”
Next to Jill, Jasper Xiao hugged his helmet, bloodstained but still dashing: “Sauron isn’t just a brute. After losing two Nazgûl in a row, he’s definitely on high alert. He’s hiding all his best minions—clearly plotting something. Honestly, I’ve been getting these weird vibes lately, like something big is about to go down. Let’s just hope this storm isn’t too much for us to handle.”
“Your own strength is what keeps the rain off your head, so don’t sweat the small stuff, kid. Of course, the Holy Light is pretty unique, and your path forward is special too, so I won’t butt in. By the way, I’ve never seen a whole order’s Holy Light resonate and stack together like yours.” Jill Young stood up, waved goodbye, and said, “I’m out. If you need me, just call. I can’t promise I’ll show up instantly, but I won’t be late either.”
—Everything above took up half the twins’ time. As for the other half, everyone just did their own thing, kept the pace steady, and went with the flow.
Jill Young kept diving into the deep sea, working on her Power Matrix and training the new Neo Titan Spirit Method. After lots of experiments, she found that staying at the bottom too long wasn’t much help—ten days was just right.
You know what they say: “A thousand-mile levee can be destroyed by an ant’s nest.” When you’re pushing your limits, it’s the tiny things that can totally wreck you. Once the Power Matrix is set up, all your strength flows together, letting you patch up the weak spots in your iron body and fix any gaps in your training.
Jill Young wasn’t hanging around the shallows anymore—she started at three thousand meters and went deeper into the ocean every day. The deeper she went, the weirder and wilder the sea creatures: big, small, dangerous, docile, you name it.
Among them, she ran into those strange, transparent membrane monsters a few more times, only to realize the one she met before was just a 'teenager.' The adult membrane monsters—let’s call them Membrane Beasts—were way bigger and thicker. At nearly four thousand meters deep, Membrane Beasts drifted along with the ocean currents like huge clouds of mist, hunting anything in their way.
"I just meant the garlic's too strong, what did you think I meant? Oh, I get it too!" Jack Young quickly turned away, pretending not to look at the source of all this 'heavy taste,' overacting for effect. "Whoa, what are you thinking, you're the one with the wild taste!"
Jill once saw an adult Membrane Beast hunt a giant sea fish the size of a humpback whale. It was a wild, heart-pounding battle—the Membrane Beast wrapped the whole fish up like a mummy, layer after layer. The giant fish thrashed and fought back, but it was all for nothing. It couldn’t tear or bite its way out, and even smashing its head against rocks didn’t help.
In the end, because the water couldn’t flow in or out and there was no oxygen, the poor fish suffocated. The Membrane Beast settled in, layering itself over the fish’s corpse, ready to enjoy its victory feast.
Then—bam! A sword came flying out of nowhere and pinned the Membrane Beast right in place.
The Membrane Beast realized too late it had another enemy. Jill Young zipped over, whipped out hundreds of swords from her storage space—ordinary blades, but specially chosen to deal with Membrane Beasts. Like nailing cloth to wood, she circled the fish’s body, pinning the Membrane Beast down layer by layer with swords like giant nails.
“Heh heh heh, let’s see how tough you are now!” Jill Young taunted, drawing out every word for maximum sass.
Jill Young cracked her knuckles, her face half-shadowed as she moved in for the finish…
Ten days later, in front of the little bay cottage, two rocking chairs creaked back and forth. Jill Young held out a bowl to Teacher Yang: “Deep-sea cold noodles, want some?”
Teacher Yang quickly raised his hand, palm out: “No thanks, the flavor’s way too strong.”
“Hey, this is just regular cold noodles… Oh! I get it!” Jill Young exaggerated her expression, hugging her shoulders and shivering dramatically, as if spooked by Teacher Yang. “Whoa, what are you thinking, that’s some heavy taste!”
“I just meant the garlic’s too strong, what did you think I meant? Oh, I get it too!” Jack Young quickly turned away, pretending not to look at the source of all this ‘heavy taste,’ overacting for effect. “Whoa, what are you thinking, you’re the one with the wild taste!”
Crack! Their gazes collided in the air, and the bickering mode was officially activated!
“Wait a sec, if you don’t have a wild taste, how could you even think of what I was thinking?”
“Hold up, I was just making a comment, how do you know I was thinking what you were thinking?”
“And another thing—if you didn’t think of what I was thinking, how do you know my taste is wild?”
“Wait, wait, I was just…”
Honestly, their squabbles are probably the most pointless, boring thing ever. But as true Geminis, the twins seem to love it and have a blast. So, while Jill Young cruises the ocean every day, popping leftover pills to boost herself and trying to condense a new Dragon Power Seed, she’s always got banter on tap.
As for Teacher Yang, while Jill Young’s having fun in the water, he heads for the mountains—because, you know, some people just love mountains and rivers.
He doesn’t have to worry about inner power or his physical body, so he goes all-in tackling other challenges. These days, he’s trekked across all the famous mountains in Middle-earth, looking for a breakthrough. Without enlightenment from the Tree of Heaven or a masterful guide, his spiritual growth hit a wall. But Teacher Yang believes true spirit comes from within, not just from the outside world. Observing the universe and finding truth in his own heart—that’s real spiritual cultivation.
So he throws himself into his Supreme Spiritual Path, trying to connect with nature and understand the human experience. No forcing it, no overthinking—just letting things flow naturally.
One day, while chatting in the rocking chair, Jack Young rested his arm and gazed at the sky, a little troubled: “The Nazgûl wood will probably only last a few more months. After that, we’ll be short on power and need a new source. But where do we find one?”
“Speaking of that, I’ve made a huge discovery!” Jill Young said excitedly. “A few days ago, I found some tiny underwater volcanoes on the continental shelf. Turns out, Flame Tide and those volcanoes kind of resonate with each other. So I tried it out—guess what? It can actually absorb heat from the volcanoes! And it can release that heat again, super powerful!”
“Seriously? That’s wild!” Jack Young sat up straight. “Never happened before. Under the South Wilderness temple, with that huge lava lake and wild geological activity, Flame Tide just got livelier, but never actually absorbed energy. So why does it work here?”
“Maybe the volcanoes here are different from the ones in South Wilderness—maybe they’ve got some unique energy. Lava’s only so hot, but the One Ring can actually melt in Mount Doom, so there must be something special about the mountains and waters here. Even among volcanoes, Flame Tide absorbs energy differently. The continental shelf isn’t usually volcanic, and I haven’t gotten to the deep-sea ones yet. So, young man—” Jill Young slapped Teacher Yang’s shoulder and gave a thumbs up. “The guest geology expert job is all yours!”
“Don’t worry, I’m actually interested in this!”
That’s how Teacher Yang ended up running around the mountains.
In three months, Teacher Yang visited every famous active volcano in Middle-earth. At each one, he’d toss Flame Tide into the lava and feel the differences. He discovered Flame Tide absorbed not just fire energy, but a strange kind of magical energy too.
That magical energy was faint and rare—normally you’d never notice it. Only after Flame Tide soaked up tons of it could Jack Young sense it. It’s hard to describe and even harder to study. If you go by gut feeling, it just screams “hell.”
Flame Tide definitely has something to do with hell. Who knows what Steelbull City’s first overlord, Nightfall, has to do with all this?
Three months later, Teacher Yang was meditating by the mouth of a volcano. The air was scorching—one breath would poison a normal person—but right around him, it was cool and fresh, like a little oasis. Flame Tide swam through the lava lake, as happy as a dragon in the sea. After a long session, Teacher Yang suddenly shuddered and opened his eyes.
He’d figured something out.
“Maybe I can run the Seven Wheels backwards—Reverse Wheel Meridian Technique!”