Hu Liena recalled her previous spar with Tuoba Yan. Her hand instinctively reached toward her chest, revenge gleaming in her eyes as she pointed at Tuoba Yan and shouted, "Brother, beat him up!"
Xie Yue immediately understood. "So you're Tuoba Yan, the one who bullied my sister!"
Tuoba Yan knocked Xie Yue back but did not pursue. He quietly watched Xie Yue from ten meters away. From their recent exchange of fists and kicks, he knew he had not gained much of an advantage.
When he had just sent his opponent tumbling through several backflips with a punch, his own chest had also taken a hit.
Thanks to the defensive properties of his Dragon Martial Spirit, along with the defensive attribute added when he obtained his second soul ring, he did not feel much pain.
Xie Yue wore silver-white clothing. He stood over 1.7 meters tall, with a slender frame, pale skin, and extraordinarily handsome features.
He had a pair of crimson eyes and short silver hair, with a strand of red gradient at the tips. Crimson butterfly patterns sat at the corners of his eyes, and he bore some resemblance to Hu Liena.
With no one else around, Xie Yue spoke in a flippant tone, though inwardly he was immensely shocked.
He struggled to suppress the churning blood and qi within him. He looked fine on the surface, but inside, he was in searing pain.
Xie Yue had to admit that he had underestimated his opponent. This boy, who looked several years younger than him, was far stronger than he had imagined.
"You really do have some skill. You forced me to use my martial spirit, so I lost this match. But you bullied my sister, and I don't care whether you're the Platinum Bishop's grandson. You bullied my sister, and today, I must beat you flat!"
"Moon Blades, come out!"
Xie Yue slightly spread his hands. Red light flashed in his palms, and each hand grasped a blood-red curved blade shaped like a crescent moon.
Three soul rings descended from above Xie Yue's head, colored yellow, yellow, and purple.
With one Moon Blade resting on his shoulder and the other pointed directly at Tuoba Yan, Xie Yue said, "Of course, if you give up resisting, surrender, and kneel before my sister to apologize, I can choose not to attack you!"
Some time ago, Xie Yue had gone to Tihun Mountain to carry out a soul beast hunting mission.
When he returned, Hu Liena tearfully told him that she had been bullied.
Xie Yue and Hu Liena depended on each other for survival. They had inherited their father's and mother's surnames respectively.
Now that the person who had bullied his sister stood before him, Xie Yue would not give Tuoba Yan a third option.
Tuoba Yan's hand-to-hand skills had been impressive just now, but Xie Yue was confident that once he used his martial spirit, he could easily subdue Tuoba Yan.
Tuoba Yan asked, "You want to challenge me?"
"Looks like you've made your choice and refuse to give up resisting." Xie Yue took up a stance and declared loudly, "Xie Yue, martial spirit Moon Blades. Level 37 Battle Soul Venerable. Please enlighten me."
Because of Hu Liena, Xie Yue had repeated a year. He looked to be around thirteen years old, yet his Soul Power Level had already reached level thirty-seven.
By announcing his martial spirit and level, he was formally challenging Tuoba Yan.
Faced with an opponent whose Soul Power exceeded his own, Tuoba Yan began to change. The hidden violent impulse in his heart gradually surfaced. A faint golden sheen veiled his eyes as he likewise announced his martial spirit and level.
"Tuoba Yan, martial spirit Saint. Level 25 Battle Soul Master."
Hu Liena cried out, "What? Level twenty-five?"
Remembering their spar from more than ten days ago, Hu Liena shook her head.
"Impossible! You only just obtained your second soul ring, yet your Soul Power Level rose five levels in a row!"
One yellow and one purple soul ring descended from above Tuoba Yan's head.
The two soul rings represented that Tuoba Yan's level had already surpassed level twenty.
In other words, he was a Soul Grandmaster, and a Battle Soul Master with powerful defensive abilities at that.
Hu Liena's gaze finally noticed the purple soul ring beneath Tuoba Yan's feet.
"A purple soul ring... five thousand years!"
She had originally thought Tuoba Yan had merely obtained a thousand-year soul ring. Looking more closely, she discovered that it was not a thousand-year soul ring, but a five-thousand-year one.
Hu Liena considered herself heaven's favored daughter. Yet someone stood before her who was even more outstanding than she was. His second soul ring far surpassed hers.
Beside her, Xie Yue's state of mind also began to shift quietly. Jealousy, envy, hatred.
Xie Yue had Innate Soul Power of level nine. As a genius, he would not allow anyone else to possess greater talent than him.
Like Hu Liena, his second soul ring was a yellow hundred-year ring. Yet Tuoba Yan's second soul ring was a purple five-thousand-year ring, with a lifespan even greater than Xie Yue's third soul ring.
A sinister gleam flashed from the corner of Xie Yue's eye. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "With a five-thousand-year soul ring, even if I use my third soul skill, no one can call me a bully. Come, let me see what is so special about your martial spirit!"
Xie Yue moved. After Martial Soul Possession, he seemed to have become a completely different person.
As the red gradient strand at the tip of his hair rose into the air, the first soul ring beneath his feet lit up with yellow light.
"First Soul Skill: Moonlight Slash!"
Holding the Moon Blades, Xie Yue crossed his arms and swung, forming a scarlet X-shaped crescent light blade over two meters tall.
Wherever the light blade passed, it left two trails of sharply cleaved ground.
This soul skill carried a tearing effect, capable of dealing multiple strikes of damage to an enemy. Its final blow also had a knockback effect.
However, the moment Xie Yue's first soul ring lit up, Tuoba Yan had already pushed off with his toes and leaped into the air. He skillfully evaded Xie Yue's first soul skill.
Tuoba Yan had anticipated Xie Yue's anticipation.
Xie Yue looked up at Tuoba Yan, who was completely defying gravity in the sky, and frowned slightly. "Is his second soul skill flight?"
Hu Liena froze for a moment before saying disdainfully, "When he sparred with me last time, he only had one soul ring. A flight ability? Hmph, it's a useless skill!"
Xie Yue tightened his grip on the Moon Blades, a sense of helplessness rising in his heart.
To Soul Masters in the later stages, flight was little more than a Chicken Charm, with rather limited usefulness.
But in the early stages, it was an incredibly powerful soul skill that left Xie Yue unable to do anything to Tuoba Yan.
Unable to attack Tuoba Yan, who hovered more than thirty meters in the air, Xie Yue provoked him. "What kind of ability is it to fly into the sky and stay there without moving? If you have the guts, come down."
Tuoba Yan's lips curled slightly. "You come up!"
"You come down!"
"You come up."
"You had the guts to bully my sister, but not the guts to fight me head-on. Tuoba Yan, if you're a man at all, then have a man's fight with me. Get down here!"
"Fine, I'll come down."
With a thought from Tuoba Yan, he descended at a constant speed from the sky and landed on the ground.
That completely threw Xie Yue off.
Xie Yue had told Tuoba Yan to come down, and Tuoba Yan really had come down.
He really is a child. I told you to come down, and you actually did. You fell for it!
Thinking this, Xie Yue worried that Tuoba Yan would use Suspended Flight again. He poured all his strength into his body and charged at Tuoba Yan with his Moon Blades in hand.
However, Tuoba Yan waved his hand, and golden light enveloped Xie Yue.
As Xie Yue rushed toward Tuoba Yan, he suddenly rose into the air.
Startled, Xie Yue abruptly withdrew all his strength. Before he could react, the golden light surrounding him vanished, and he crashed from more than ten meters in the air onto the ground with a bang.
Before you continue