Late-Night Sparring, Milking Tang San for All He Was Worth

Evening had arrived.

Xiao Xian's eyes were half-open, half-closed, with a faint trace of regret in them.

"The Mysterious Heaven Skill really is complicated. It's far more advanced than the Meditation Method I'm using now..."

"After working all afternoon, I only managed to memorize thirty or forty percent at most. The distance was still too great."

"My senses were too blurry..."

"If only I could get closer and have more contact..."

"But fortunately, Tang San didn't grow suspicious. My universally praised positive image must have helped quite a bit."

"Even Wang Sheng's Water Skin? Xiao Chenyu was really too easy to manipulate. A slight abnormality in his Soul Power was enough to make him so furious that he went directly to those Work-Study Students to vent his anger."

"Sigh, it couldn't be helped. I had to go to such lengths."

"After all, he was a disciple of the Tang Sect of Shu, skilled in poisons and Hidden Weapons. It was still too obvious for Sunlight Spores to enter his body. Although I could suppress them and keep them from having too strong an effect, I still had to be careful."

"Everything was going smoothly. The first layer of the Mysterious Heaven Skill was close..."

"As long as I get the first layer, it won't matter whether Tang San becomes Master's disciple afterward."

If Tang San successfully became Master's disciple, he would follow Master to the Soul Hunting Forest the next day. By the time he returned, the Mysterious Heaven Skill would have broken through to the second layer.

After that, Xiao Xian feared he would never get another chance to observe the first layer.

Could he directly cultivate the second layer without the first?

Even an idiot knew that, whether it was possible or not, it was best not to take the risk.

As for abandoning his current Soul Power to switch to the Mysterious Heaven Skill?

Xiao Xian sneered inwardly. Did they think he would believe that? He had read Douluo Continent II, III, and IV before.

Nuoding Academy grew lively again in the evening.

For most people, the happiest time of day was mealtime.

"..."

Xiao Xian quickly bought several portions of food and brought them to Master, who was still painstakingly looking through reference materials in his room.

After eating quickly, he left Xiao Jue behind as usual and returned to the dormitory himself.

He sat cross-legged on his bed and waited quietly.

Tang San and the other Work-Study Students had already returned from the cafeteria to the Seventh Dormitory and begun cultivating. The students of the Second Dormitory were doing the same.

The students of Nuoding Academy had no entertainment in the evenings. After dinner, most of them simply sat cross-legged and meditated.

"..."

The sky darkened completely. The night was clear and cloudless, with countless stars hanging silently overhead.

A moment later.

Xiao Xian's eyes stirred slightly.

He sensed that a large cluster of Sunlight Spores had begun moving.

They went directly from the Seventh Dormitory to the training field, then vanished from his perception.

"Xiao Wu still took Tang San out to spar?" Xiao Xian pondered.

"I should take a look."

Xiao Xian immediately made his decision.

Besides the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Tang San also had the Mysterious Jade Hand, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Purple Demon Eye, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, and even Hidden Weapon Technique.

The more he could milk out of him, the better.

The night was hazy.

Xiao Xian left the dormitory and saw, from afar, two small figures rapidly exchanging blows at the far end of the training field.

"Well? Do you admit defeat?"

Very soon, one of the figures swiftly threw down the other and used both small hands to firmly pin the shoulder joints of the figure on the ground.

"I don't! Again!" Tang San, lying on the ground, was clearly feeling quite frustrated. In his previous life, he had been a technical nerd who spent his entire life in the Tang Sect. He did not have much combat experience. In close combat, although Xiao Wu was not as strong as him, she could still easily catch him off guard.

"What are you two doing?!" A female Teacher suddenly appeared in the distance, furious.

The two figures on the ground instantly scrambled up awkwardly.

"..."

Xiao Xian leaned against the shadows and waited silently.

If he remembered correctly.

After Xiao Wu dealt with the female Teacher, Tang San would use Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and the Purple Demon Eye to continue their "sparring."

In the end, he would even use a Hidden Weapon Technique to easily strike Xiao Wu along a bizarre trajectory.

Tang San currently lacked close-combat experience. But once he pulled away and could use Hidden Weapons, he would immediately return to his familiar territory.

Sure enough, not long afterward.

The female Teacher was fiercely thrown through the air by Xiao Wu's Soft Skill and left looking dusty and disheveled.

After avoiding the female Teacher, Xiao Xian slipped farther forward from his hiding place in the corner.

"You think I'm afraid to compete in speed with you?" Xiao Wu's childish voice rang out.

On the training field, the two rapidly began chasing each other.

"Here it comes!" Xiao Xian silently sensed his Sunlight Spores flowing along Tang San's Soul Power and into his eyes.

That seemed to be an extremely profound circulation route.

At the same time, the Soul Power in Tang San's legs also became complex and active, rapidly adjusting along with his footsteps.

"So this is the Purple Demon Eye and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track?" Xiao Xian marveled inwardly.

The circulation of Soul Power within Tang San's body was exceptionally structured and rhythmic, as well as incomparably complicated.

Before long, the two had run across half the training field.

They were getting closer and closer to the dormitories.

Seeing this, Xiao Xian returned to the Second Dormitory without hesitation, sat cross-legged, and focused all his attention on sensing the movements of the Sunlight Spores within Tang San's body.

Tang San had already reentered the fifty-meter range, so there was no need to risk staying outside.

Half an hour passed.

Their sparring ended. Slightly tired, the two returned to the dormitory while chatting and laughing.

Xiao Xian remained cross-legged on his bed. A faint fluctuation of Soul Power emerged from his body, as though he were cultivating with the stillness of an ancient well.

But...

Only Xiao Xian himself knew how much effort it took to forcibly suppress the wild joy in his heart!

"So that's how it works!"

"Soul Power can actually be circulated and used like this!"

Was it the Purple Demon Eye and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track that Xiao Xian had his eye on?

No.

What Xiao Xian wanted was Tang San's methods of using Soul Power!

For that half hour.

Xiao Xian had focused with all his strength on sensing Tang San's control and mobilization of Soul Power!

How to control Soul Power and direct it into the eyes, gaining something close to dynamic vision without damaging the delicate meridians within them.

How to use Soul Power to stimulate muscles, gaining faster footwork and covering greater distances without causing surging blood and qi that would lead to injury.

How to mobilize Soul Power and flick out pebbles, allowing them to alter their trajectories in midair while ensuring the wrist remained intact and was not injured by the impact of Soul Power.

The soul masters of Douluo Continent had extremely crude control over Soul Power.

They basically relied entirely on the skills granted by their Soul Rings.

After all, it was simply too convenient and powerful.

Rather than spend enormous amounts of time studying how to use Soul Power, it was better to meditate.

If one broke through early and obtained a good Soul Skill.

One could easily double one's defense or strength.

If traditional martial artists from other worlds who cultivated the Golden Bell Shield or Iron Shirt wanted to achieve the same result, they might have to spend years, perhaps even more than a decade, in arduous training.

For ordinary soul masters of this world, it was merely a matter of a single Soul Ring.

What was more.

For soul masters, achieving the same effect did not mean cultivating the Golden Bell Shield or Iron Shirt, but creating them!

The difficulty instantly increased by more than tenfold!

With that time, wasn't meditation better?

If one could take a shortcut, why take the long way around?

You spend twenty years creating the Golden Bell Shield, then another ten years mastering it. Could you compare to one of my Hundred-Year Soul Rings?

You spend another fifty years cultivating it until it shook the ages. Could you compare to one of my Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Rings?

This single Soul Ring contained ten thousand years of cultivation. Could you withstand it? What would you use to block it?

This was also why Self-Created Soul Skills were exceptionally scarce in Douluo Continent and had no established system at all.

If he could.

Xiao Xian also wanted to meditate easily, obtain Soul Rings, and grow stronger.

But...

His talent was too poor.

His first Soul Ring had no combat ability whatsoever.

What about his second Soul Ring?

According to his current plan, it still would not grant him any combat power.

He could only rack his brains and make use of all the knowledge he possessed.

For example, the suction force emitted from his palm.

It made use of the most basic scientific principle: pressure differences caused flow.

It had originally been somewhat difficult, but the increased Soul Power activity brought by his First Soul Skill, Sunlight Spore, allowed him to easily create differences in Soul Power pressure, even powerful ones.

And the greater the pressure difference, the faster the flow.

Thus, his first Self-Created Soul Skill, Suction Palm, was born.

It sounded simple.

But in actual use, his strengthened and high-speed Soul Power would always injure his palm and meridians.

Having started halfway through, he could only continue advancing through trial and error.

At this time, Tang San descended powerfully upon this world, carrying the legacy of another world with him.

To Xiao Xian, it was truly a magnificent gift!