The fat boy’s punch was ferocious, whipping up a gust that made Ling Yixue’s clothes flap loudly.
Sand and stones flew around.
If that fist had landed square on Ling Yixue, she’d be dead or crippled.
But spars between Tianren Academy and Qianlong Camp had no such limits.
Death was fine, so was maiming.
Soul-Seizing Palm!
Ling Yixue stood her ground, casually delivering a palm strike. Its breeze wasn’t fierce, the scene not grand.
Yet the lazy-looking boy watching nearby paled.
He knew the fat boy’s strength was his gigantification technique, boosting martial skills’ power.
But his physical might came at the cost of a weaker soul.
Soul-based attacks were his kryptonite.
And Ling Yixue opened with a top-tier martial art, Soul-Seizing Palm.
Against ordinary top-tier moves, they’d be fine, but a soul-targeted one? If Ling Yixue’s soul power was strong enough, the fat boy was doomed.
It wasn’t about raw strength.
He was just countered hard.
Sure enough, as Ling Yixue’s palm struck, the fat boy, mid-charge, froze for a split second, his wild punch slamming into the ground at his feet.
Boom!
A massive crater split open, cracks spreading, the ground sinking beneath him.
His huge frame tilted.
Ling Yixue didn’t miss her chance, leaping up and landing a palm on him.
Not on a vital spot, but an odd place no one would’ve guessed.
It was the exact weak point of his gigantification technique.
“This woman’s terrifying, how’d she spot that flaw? Did our intel leak?”
The lazy boy’s face darkened.
More than the fat boy’s loss, he feared a breach.
He didn’t know the weakness wasn’t Ling Yixue’s find, but Ling Xiao’s, relayed through Tianlong True Essence.
One palm, and the fat boy shrank back to normal, then passed out cold.
He was a late-stage seventh-rank martial master.
Ling Yixue, a mid-stage seventh-rank martial master.
The gap wasn’t big, and with her countering him perfectly, she won with ease.
“Told you, no fight, no certainty,” Ling Yixue said, returning to Ling Xiao’s side.
“Congrats, Senior Sister, you’d have won without me,” Ling Xiao whispered.
“I could, but not this easy. That gigantification’s a pain, I wouldn’t have found its weak point quickly, I’d have struggled,” she replied.
Ling Yixue’s real strength was her calm, always seeing her flaws and strengths clearly.
Every fight brought her solid growth.
“Heh, Tianren Academy’s geniuses are just so-so,” General September scoffed, finally venting his pent-up frustration.
The fat boy’s face reddened, but he didn’t dare act out, General September’s cultivation far outstripped his.
“Hmph, one more spar, it’s not over,” the lazy boy said, his eyes flashing with killing intent as he glared at Ling Xiao.
“Right, one more, and you lose,” Ling Xiao stepped from the crowd, grinning at General September, “General, any rewards if we win?”
“Of course, both winners get a quasi-transcendent martial art each,” September nodded. “And Tianren Academy provides them, you pick freely.”
The spar was first proposed by Tianren’s dean, Wan Ben, aiming to snag all of Qianlong Camp’s quasi-transcendent arts.
Lin Ze, under pressure, agreed, figuring quasi-transcendent wasn’t full transcendent, and Qianlong had a decent stock.
He thought the spars would be competitive, good for Qianlong.
But since they started, Qianlong hadn’t won once, always handing arts to Tianren’s disciples for study.
“Not bad,” Ling Xiao said, smiling. He didn’t like fighting for nothing.
“Nice, but you won’t win!” the lazy boy snapped, pulling a strange weapon from his storage ring, half-knife, half-sword.
Flat and long, single-edged like a knife, but wide like a sword, odd-looking.
“This is just a spar, but I won’t hold back. Don’t bore me, let’s have fun!” he said.
Ling Xiao didn’t draw his Ice Glass Sword, wanting to test his newly advanced second-layer *Tianlong Golden Body*.
He’d fight barehanded.
“Ten moves, max,” Ling Xiao said coolly.
The lazy boy’s face twitched, “Good, great! Let’s see how you beat me in ten, hope your tongue doesn’t trip you up!”
Flash!
His words barely landed when he pointed his weird blade at Ling Xiao, blurring into a shadow, aiming for a vital spot.
Screech!
A pale blue sword light tore the air, sparking blue electric arcs, the friction nearly melting the atmosphere.
Ling Xiao stayed calm.
Golden light shimmered over him, a black bear’s shadow rising behind.
Clearly, this was Murong Shao’s martial soul remnant, black bear soul, chosen for its raw power and ferocity.
Ling Xiao, fighting barehanded, aimed to overpower with strength.
He threw three punches, golden *Meteor Fist* meeting the blue sword light.
Crack!
Crack!
Like shattered scrap metal, the blue light didn’t reach his fists, smashed apart by the golden glow, fragments bursting outward.
A stray shard hit a bystander, piercing them clean through.
Just scattered residue, yet so deadly, showed how fierce that sword light was.
Still, Ling Xiao broke it, effortlessly.
“Second Flash!” the lazy boy called, unfazed.
He didn’t expect one move to down Ling Xiao, that’d be too dull.
Plus, Ling Xiao wasn’t that weak.
As Ling Xiao shattered the first light, a shadow appeared behind the boy.
A figure wielding the same strange blade.
Not towering, barely two meters, but its raw power was undeniable.
“Swordmaster Ninja Spirit! One of the ninja clan’s top spirits, refined to seventy percent, this kid’s got talent,” General September muttered, impressed.
Same late-stage seventh-rank as the fat boy, but this guy had no glaring flaws, sharper mind, cooler head.
As the spirit emerged, he stepped into a weird pattern, his frontal charge shifting impossibly to Ling Xiao’s left flank.
A route that shouldn’t exist, made real by his bizarre footwork.
