Shui Bing'er, Train Together

Yu Tianlin stood on the tree trunk and, under the girl's astonished gaze, walked upward step by step until he was hanging upside down from a branch.

After finishing his demonstration for the girl, Yu Tianlin jumped down from the tree and said with a smile, "Well? Pretty impressive, right?"

"Interesting. I'll try too."

The girl, brimming with enthusiasm, wanted to give it a try and directly placed her foot against the tree trunk.

"Ahem." Yu Tianlin gave a dry cough and hurriedly stopped her, saying, "Tree climbing and water treading aren't the same. Water treading requires repulsive force, while tree climbing uses adhesive force."

"If you're interested in this as well, I suggest starting with water treading. As for tree climbing... you're wearing a skirt right now, so it's probably not very convenient."

Climbing a tree in a skirt, then hanging upside down... just imagining that scene was exciting.

Once Yu Tianlin said that, the girl also realized the problem. Her pretty face reddened slightly, and she stopped paying attention to the tree in front of her, turning instead toward the lake.

Yu Tianlin had come here to practice water treading in the first place, so he followed the girl to the lakeside and said, "Actually, your ice attribute is very suitable for Water Treading Training. When you haven't controlled your Soul Power output properly and step into empty air, you can instantly freeze the water's surface and keep yourself from falling in. That'll greatly improve your efficiency."

The girl nodded slightly in agreement and once again extended her slender foot toward the lake's surface. Although she stepped into empty air, she quickly condensed a thin layer of ice, allowing herself to steady her body.

Yu Tianlin also attempted water treading again and, just as expected, stepped into empty air as well. But just as he was about to fall into the lake, the girl timely froze the surface beneath his feet, allowing him to stand on the ice.

Yu Tianlin nodded at the girl and thanked her. "Thanks."

The girl gave a bright smile. "You're welcome. Since you taught me this training method that improves Soul Power control, it's only right that I help with what I can."

Just like that, the morning passed. With the girl's help, Yu Tianlin improved by leaps and bounds.

Unlike during Tree Climbing Training, when he could only use his afternoon free time, it was now the period of the Five Elements Academy Joint Training Event, which would last a full seven days. For these seven days, there were no morning classes either, so Yu Tianlin could practice water treading from morning to night. Under normal circumstances, he would only need three and a half days to complete it. And now that he had the girl's help, that time would be cut in half again.

Yu Tianlin sensed the progress he had made over the past half day. As long as everything went smoothly, he would completely master water treading by tomorrow night.

The girl was also exceptionally talented. She herself was a Control System Soul Master, and in addition, her ice-attribute Soul Power was easier to control than Yu Tianlin's lightning Soul Power, so she had only used half a day to rein in most of the ice power within her Soul Power. What remained was fine-tuning and precise control. Give her another two days, and she would be able to fully restrain it. After that, she would probably be able to complete water treading within two days as well.

The rapid progress put Yu Tianlin in a great mood. He wished he could even skip lunch and keep training here without stopping, hoping to finish water treading quickly. But there was a girl with him after all; he couldn't very well make her starve along with him. Besides, sharpening the axe wouldn't delay the work of chopping wood—eating his fill would also give him more motivation to train. So Yu Tianlin brought the girl to Thunderbolt Academy's cafeteria.

It was mealtime now, and there were many students on the way to the cafeteria. Most of them were gathered in groups from several academies, so Yu Tianlin, a student of Thunderbolt Academy, walking together with a girl from Skywater Academy did not seem out of place.

Following behind Yu Tianlin, the girl looked around, then suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Right, I still don't know your name."

"My name is Yu Tianlin," Yu Tianlin said without looking back. "And you?"

"Yu Tianlin. Nice to meet you." The girl revealed a faint smile. "My name is Shui Bing'er."

"Shui Bing'er?"

Only then did Yu Tianlin turn back with a hint of surprise. Although he had already had some guesses, when it was truly confirmed, he still inevitably felt a little astonished.

He remembered that in the original work, Shui Bing'er seemed to be the calm and intelligent type of girl. He hadn't expected her to still be rather lively right now.

Then again, according to the information Lei Bao had given him when he enrolled, Shui Bing'er was only ten years old right now, still a little girl.

Shui Bing'er asked curiously, "From your tone, did you already know me before?"

Yu Tianlin smiled. "Shui Bing'er, the famous genius girl of Skywater Academy. Of course I've heard of you."

"Then you're from Thunderbolt Academy, and your surname is Yu..." Shui Bing'er's eyes shifted, and she also guessed Yu Tianlin's identity. "You should be someone from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Sect, right?"

"That's right."

Yu Tianlin nodded with a smile.

Thunderbolt Academy's cafeteria covered an extremely large area. The first time Yu Tianlin came here, he had been a little puzzled as to why they had left so many empty seats, but now it seemed that it was probably so they could accommodate enough students when hosting the Five Elements Academy Joint Training Event.

At this moment, more than half the seats in the first-floor hall were already occupied. The students' conversations were loud, and the place was filled with noisy voices. Yu Tianlin did not want to stay on the first floor either, so he simply brought Shui Bing'er up to the second floor, wanting to open a private room.

Opening a private room on the second floor required a certain fee, but anyone who could enroll in an advanced Soul Master Academy wouldn't be short of that bit of money. Yu Tianlin had come late, and the private rooms had long since been fully occupied.

No private rooms? No problem. Yu Tianlin had connections.

Yu Tianlin's Uncle Lei Bao, as the vice dean of Thunderbolt Academy, had an exclusive private room on the cafeteria's second floor. However, he was busy with work, and every time he ate, he settled it directly in the Dean's Office. He basically never came to the cafeteria. His private room was empty anyway, so he simply gave the key to Yu Tianlin.

After ordering a few dishes, Yu Tianlin brought Shui Bing'er into the private room that belonged to the vice dean.

After casually eating a little and filling his stomach, Yu Tianlin looked at the girl in front of him and asked, "Shui Bing'er, how do you plan to arrange your afternoon?"

Shui Bing'er smiled faintly and said, "What else? Practice water treading with you."

"You don't need to meet up with the people from your academy?" Yu Tianlin continued. "Or go watch the sparring exchanges between the top students of the Five Elements Academy?"

"We can meet up at night." Shui Bing'er shook her head. "As for watching sparring, there's not much meaning to it. Rather than spend time on that, I'd be better off using it to improve myself."

It seemed Shui Bing'er was still very hardworking when it came to cultivation, which was why she had been able to reach rank twenty-five at the age of ten. Although that had a lot to do with her talent, she wouldn't have been able to do it without effort either.

Yu Tianlin smiled and said, "Then let's do it together. You're a Control System Soul Master, so if your control over your own Soul Power can also improve by a large margin, it'll be a great boost to your strength."