However, in Tuoba Yan's eyes after activating his Golden Eyes Martial Spirit, every one of her movements seemed to have slowed countless times, becoming easy to track.
Whenever Hu Liena threw a punch or swept out with a kick, Tuoba Yan could use the Golden Eyes' extraordinary perception to swiftly catch the traces of her attacks, then rapidly predict their direction with his mind and make the necessary evasive preparations in time.
"Thousand Year Kill!"
"Ah!"
"Thousand Year Kill!"
"Ah!"
"Thousand Year Kill!"
"Ah!"
The pained cries after each hit rang out one after another across the stairs without pause, composing a tune filled with sour, spicy, and exhilarating flavor.
Hu Liena's Martial Spirit was the Demon Fox, allowing her to attack with foxfire.
Unfortunately, Tuoba Yan's Saint Martial Spirit was the Fire Demon, and his resistance to fire far exceeded that of ordinary people.
With Hu Liena's current cultivation as a two-ring Soul Grandmaster, the foxfire she released was nothing more than scratching an itch through a boot to Tuoba Yan. It could not harm him in the slightest.
And although Hu Liena's second soul skill, Fox Charm, could confuse opponents through sound and eye contact, Tuoba Yan's spiritual power had already reached the peak of the Spirit Yuan Realm. Especially with the enhancement of his Golden Eyes Martial Spirit, he completely ignored the Charm Arts of Hu Liena, who was currently only at the Soul Grandmaster level.
"Wow, who is that?"
"Isn't today the last day of the month? It's not a challenge day!"
"Who cares whether it's challenge day or not? Holy crap, look! Top student Hu Liena is getting completely crushed. Shh, that sound is soul-stirring!"
This fierce and spectacular battle on the stairs soon drew a crowd of students from the Junior Soul Master Academy below. They whispered among themselves and discussed it heatedly.
After fighting for a long time, Hu Liena finally ran out of strength. Her chest rose and fell violently as she panted, while beads of sweat the size of beans continually slid down from her forehead.
She suddenly stopped moving altogether, placing both hands behind her over her injured spot. Her teeth clenched tightly around her lip, and her eyes were filled with unwillingness and fury.
She silently cursed in her heart. Tuoba Yan was simply her nemesis. No matter how hard she tried, she could never gain even the slightest advantage against him.
Tuoba Yan looked at Hu Liena's utterly bedraggled state, his heart full of satisfaction.
He did not want any further entanglement with Hu Liena, so he simply decided to raise her hatred for him to the highest possible level.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, a mocking smile hanging on his face as he spoke in a demonic voice.
"Heh heh heh, I just love that look on your face when you want to defeat me but can't do a thing about it."
Hearing this, the flames of anger in Hu Liena's heart were ignited once more. Her fists clenched until they creaked, and her eyes nearly spat fire.
Seeing this, Tuoba Yan not only failed to restrain himself, but continued provoking Hu Liena, his tone brimming with teasing.
"Early in the morning, I wanted to leave, but you wouldn't let me. You just had to let me beat you up before you could feel satisfied, right?"
Hu Liena trembled all over with rage. She panted heavily, her chest heaving erratically, and freed one hand to point at Tuoba Yan. She wanted to say something, yet her grievance choked the words in her throat.
Tuoba Yan's words were like sharp daggers, stabbing into her heart again and again. They were enormously damaging and even more humiliating.
However, Tuoba Yan had no intention of giving her a chance to retort. He spoke first, "You were hit by my Thousand Year Kill a total of thirty-nine times, and you still wanted more. Hey, are you addicted or something?"
At that moment, some vulgar comments suddenly came from the students below.
"She must be addicted. This is truly something you don't see every day. What a bizarre Self-Created Soul Skill. I think I could imitate it myself! Everyone, take a look, is this the hand gesture?"
Hu Liena turned a deaf ear to the discussions around her.
She turned around without a word and walked farther and farther away like a lone wolf lying in wait.
That silence left Tuoba Yan faintly uneasy, making him unable to help but question himself.
Was I wrong?
After pondering for a moment, Tuoba Yan shook his head.
If he had wanted to form a connection with Hu Liena, then everything he had done and said today was certainly wrong.
He had not forgotten his original intention. His original intention was to avoid forming any connection with Hu Liena.
This sparring match had only happened because Hu Liena stubbornly refused to leave him alone. He had merely used a method that would make her hate him in order to achieve the goal of leaving each other undisturbed.
As he watched Hu Liena's retreating figure climb the stairs, Tuoba Yan discovered that the graceful outline of her body was actually somewhat captivating.
Tuoba Yan's fingers still retained lingering warmth.
Captivating as Hu Liena was, he had not forgotten what kind of person she was. In the future, when Spirit Hall was destroyed by Tang San, Hu Liena would bear one-third of the responsibility.
Among Spirit Hall's four fools, Tuoba Xi understood dedication best, while Hu Liena was someone without any spirit of sacrifice.
Whenever she saw Tang San, Hu Liena would be unable to move on, and she would do things that harmed Spirit Hall's interests.
After the new students began school, Tuoba Yan attended only a few classes before he stopped going altogether, skipping class every day to head to the Simulated Training Grounds.
Because Tuoba Xi had informed them beforehand, and because Tuoba Yan was a student of Zero Dormitory whom Spirit Hall particularly favored, no teacher interfered even when he skipped class.
Ever since her crushing defeat at Tuoba Yan's hands and the thirty-nine devastating hits from Thousand Year Kill, Hu Liena never sought him out for another spar.
Although they lived in the same Zero Dormitory, Tuoba Yan rarely saw her.
According to the attendants, Hu Liena had recently entered secluded cultivation. She lived a routine that only took her between the Simulated Training Grounds and the dormitory, even giving up shopping.
When they occasionally ran into each other in the dormitory, she treated him like a stranger, passing by Tuoba Yan with an indifferent expression.
On the twenty-first day after school began, Tuoba Yan's cultivation finally broke through to level twenty.
This time, he chose the Star Dou Forest as the place to obtain his soul ring.
Inside the carriage, Tuoba Xi asked, "Yan'er, how many years do you want your soul ring to be this time?"
"Six thousand years."
"Does it need to be that high? In Grandfather's mind, four thousand years was the target."
Tuoba Xi's tone carried shock and unease.
Six thousand years was a full two thousand years higher than four thousand.
The limit for an ordinary soul master absorbing a third soul ring was one thousand seven hundred and sixty years. Yet Tuoba Yan's request was for six thousand years.
Tuoba Yan nodded. "Mm."
The inherited Martial Spirit of the Tuoba Clan, the White Armored Earth Dragon, specialized in defense, and the physical strength of clan members was already greater than that of soul masters at the same level.
More importantly, Tuoba Yan had absorbed a seventy-thousand-year soul bone some time ago, and his physique had undergone a tremendous leap in improvement.
Although he had only been consuming Whale Rubber for a short time, after considering both the ancient records and his own condition, Tuoba Yan was certain that his current physical qualities were sufficient to absorb a six-thousand-year soul ring.
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