Jia Nan Academy's guesthouse.
The surroundings were quiet and secluded, with few people even on the streets.
Still, the commotion here had drawn some people to stop and watch.
Some of them realized what was happening and hurried toward the city lord's manor to ask for its troops.
If they could get Jia Nan Academy to owe them a favor, then even if it could not get their descendants directly through the academy's admissions assessment, befriending the academy would still be a good choice.
At the center of the whirlpool, the Jia Nan Academy students hurriedly retreated at Instructor Ruo Lin's warning.
Some were even pushed into the courtyard and could only crane their necks to look outside.
Xiao Yao thrust both arms out of his spacious cloak, then turned his wrist, producing a standard-issue fine-steel spear in his hand.
Seeing that Xiao Yao had drawn his weapon, Instructor Ruo Lin sent the azure whip in her hand darting out like a spirit snake, lashing at him with incredible speed.
Inside Xiao Yao's Dou Qi cyclone, the Dou Crystal radiating dazzling golden light spun, and a vast surge of Dou Qi poured out in an instant.
The Dou Qi rushed along his meridians into the fine-steel spear in his hand, coating it in a faint golden glow.
Facing the whip as it tore through the air, Xiao Yao thrust his spear like a dragon, precisely striking its tip.
A surge of force entered the whip, sending ripples running along it like waves across the sea.
Instructor Ruo Lin raised an eyebrow and moved her wrist slightly. The whip, which had been trembling from the force, immediately steadied and lashed toward Xiao Yao's feet with a piercing rush of air.
Xiao Yao tapped his toes against the ground and, instead of retreating, charged straight at Instructor Ruo Lin.
The spear in Xiao Yao's hand had considerable reach, but Instructor Ruo Lin's whip had even more.
With the whip fully extended, everything within a radius of more than ten meters was within Instructor Ruo Lin's attack range.
If Xiao Yao did not close in, Instructor Ruo Lin would likely wear him down right where he stood.
He stomped the ground beneath him to pieces, then kicked out sharply, sending several jagged fragments of stone shooting toward Instructor Ruo Lin.
Instructor Ruo Lin remained unmoved by the fierce attack, continuing to control the whip with one hand as it struck at Xiao Yao.
She abruptly raised her other hand, and pale-blue Dou Qi gushed from her palm, forming an oval water mirror in front of her.
Force-Dispelling Water Mirror!
When the stone fragments, carrying considerable force, struck the oval water mirror, the swift current within instantly dispersed their force, and they fell slowly to the ground.
Dividing her attention between two tasks, Instructor Ruo Lin used the Force-Dispelling Water Mirror to avert the danger. Meanwhile, the whip in her hand, like a spirit snake, lashed straight at the center of Xiao Yao's back from a bizarre angle.
Xiao Yao's soul perception covered the entire area. Without turning around, as though he had eyes in the back of his head, he reversed the spear in his hand and, just as before, accurately struck the tip of the whip with his spear point.
This time, however, the distance between them had narrowed. Even though Xiao Yao blocked the incoming tip, a length of the whip still swept toward his waist.
A pale-blue Dou Qi glow shimmered over it. If it struck, even a giant tree would be whipped in two.
Xiao Yao remained calm in the face of danger.
Although he was not especially experienced in battle, and had even less experience fighting whip-type weapons,
his soul power was strong, allowing him to clearly sense the situation around his body and react in time.
The fine-steel spear spun in his hand, tracing an arc as its shaft smashed down at the sweeping whip.
Bang!
The pale-blue and dazzling golden Dou Qi collided and burst apart, becoming a shockwave visible to the naked eye that swept through the surroundings.
The whip was like the softest spirit snake. When the spear shaft struck it, droplets of water splashed down here and there.
The whip coiled upward with the blow, attempting to wrap around Xiao Yao's spear and restrict his movements.
Xiao Yao abruptly poured a great amount of Dou Qi into the spear, then shook it. Dou Qi burst forth, forcibly shaking the coiling whip loose.
Just as he was about to charge forward, he felt a strange stickiness beneath his feet.
Xiao Yao glanced down from the corner of his eye and saw that the water splashed down when the spear and whip collided could create a sticky effect, restricting an enemy's movements.
But faced with this puddle trap, Xiao Yao circulated his Dou Qi. Yang-Attribute Dou Qi erupted beneath his feet, instantly evaporating every trace of water within roughly a zhang of him.
Then he flicked his spear, shaking aside the incoming whip. Looking at Instructor Ruo Lin, he smiled and said, "Instructor Ruo Lin, you might as well put little tricks like that away."
Ruo Lin's expression grew grave.
From their series of exchanges just now, Ruo Lin could tell that her opponent was very strong.
At the very least, relying on ordinary methods alone, she would have a hard time defeating him even though her cultivation realm was higher.
Moreover, although his combat experience fell short of hers, his perception was extraordinarily sharp, allowing him to see clearly through the situation around him and grasp every slightest change in the battle.
Instructor Ruo Lin knew she could not defeat him without showing her true abilities.
With a flick of her wrist, the azure whip deftly recoiled and wound around her fair arm.
Instructor Ruo Lin poured all her surging Dou Qi into the whip. It then gushed out, carrying the whip with it, and turned into a water snake nearly ten meters long.
The water snake shot into the sky like a fountain, and droplets fell from its body, soaking the entire ground in the blink of an eye.
All these droplets had a sticky effect, controlling the enemy's movements.
Immediately afterward, the water snake bent its body and swept toward Xiao Yao with a terrifying force that blotted out the sky and covered the earth.
The students behind Instructor Ruo Lin could not help crying out softly.
"That's a mid-level Xuan-rank Dou Technique, Water-Spreading Datura!"
Looking at the astonishingly imposing Water-Spreading Datura, Xiao Yao took a deep breath and mobilized the Yang-Attribute Dou Qi in his body.
In the original work, Instructor Ruo Lin had held back the power of this move, and her water snake had been only two or three meters long.
But now, facing Xiao Yao, a Da Dou Shi, Ruo Lin was using it with all her strength.
Xiao Yao held his spear in his left hand and clenched his right into a fist. As his Dou Qi surged, a dazzling, blinding mass of energy condensed over his fist, bursting with brilliant light!
In an instant, the light illuminated the entire street. Golden radiance shone across the heavens, lighting up the sky over more than half of Wutan City.
Anyone in Wutan City had only to look up to see half the sky clear and bright, as though night had turned to day in an instant.
At the same time, rolling waves of heat spread from the mass of energy. The water on the ground evaporated instantly, turning into billowing white vapor that spread outward in a ring.
"Go!"
Xiao Yao gave a low shout and punched out. The dazzling golden mass of energy rushed toward the surging water snake like a small sun.
Before the mass of energy had even touched the water snake, the water forming it began to evaporate rapidly.
The next instant, the two collided. The mass of energy erupted with intense light and heat, instantly evaporating every trace of water that formed the snake and exposing the azure whip supporting it within.
By then, however, the whip had been coated in a layer of char.
The blast sent the whip sweeping back. Instructor Ruo Lin's face changed drastically as she tried to control it, but she could not reverse its momentum. She could only watch helplessly as it struck the courtyard wall, tearing a large hole through it.
Scorching waves of heat swept toward her. Ruo Lin retreated several steps, and deep-blue Dou Qi surged out of her body, forming a huge water mirror that shielded her and the students behind her.
Instructor Ruo Lin's face was pale.
That last move had used up all the Dou Qi remaining in her body. She no longer had the strength to fight!
The other students' faces were filled with shock, and even fear.
They had not expected the attacker to be so strong that even Instructor Ruo Lin could not defeat him.