Real Combat, Noob Fight

After Yu Tianheng.

The duels that came next varied in strength.

The stronger ones were Soul Elders in their thirties, while the weaker ones were Soul Masters in their teens.

What was worth mentioning was that even the battles between those Soul Masters in their teens were greatly enlightening for Li Chang'an, who had never experienced combat before.

After all, real Soul Master battles would not be like in novels or anime, where people loudly called out the names of their soul skills. Or rather, even if that happened, it was extremely rare. And the purpose was not to introduce them to the audience, but to overwhelm the opponent in momentum through roaring and shouting, or to deliberately call the wrong soul skill order to confuse and disrupt the opponent.

Real Soul Master battles did not have that much flashy nonsense. Most of the time, the Soul Rings simply flashed, and then soul skills came one after another. People found the enemy's openings and struck; they would not do something baffling like shouting out a soul skill and warning the enemy in advance.

In the real world, even battles between rookie Soul Masters in their teens were not that boring.

At the very least, Li Chang'an watched with great interest. Although these people were not high level, their combat experience was quite rich. Perhaps in the eyes of experts, it was a Noob Fight, but in the eyes of ordinary people, they definitely counted as masters.

He really could not understand why the people of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy had been described as so useless in the Original Work. Maybe it was simply to set off how awesome Tang San and the others were?

Just like that, three days passed.

He came every day to observe battles between Soul Masters, while also running through them in his mind. If he encountered a situation like that, how should he respond?

On the fourth day.

Li Chang'an finally signed up for the Soul Fighting Competition.

The academy randomly assigned him a level 28 Soul Grandmaster, only two levels of Soul Power above his level 26 Soul Power.

Of the five arenas, only three currently had fights underway, while the other two were empty.

Li Chang'an was on one of those arenas.

Standing opposite him was a young man who looked to be in his twenties. His looks were ordinary, and his build was sturdy. He looked like an honest man, and he spoke first: "Zhang Tieniu, Martial Soul Ironclad Rhinoceros, level 28 Soul Grandmaster!"

Before a friendly spar, one had to briefly state one's own situation. This was a rule of the Soul Master World; otherwise, it would be viewed as a provocation.

So Li Chang'an also said, "Li Chang'an, Martial Soul Azure Scale Sword, level 26 Soul Grandmaster!"

"Both sides, prepare..."

The teacher acting as the referee paused first, then announced, "Match begins!"

As he said begin, both sides in the fight summoned their Martial Souls.

A broad, powerful phantom flashed across Zhang Tieniu's body. After Martial Soul Possession, his entire body instantly shot taller and grew much thicker. In particular, a curved rhinoceros horn grew from the bridge of his nose. Two faint yellow Soul Rings appeared, circling around him...

In Li Chang'an's hand, meanwhile, there was now a sword like blue jade. Its exquisitely ornate appearance made it look more like a work of art than a murder weapon. In particular, the relief pattern of the Jade Scale Serpent coiled around the hilt seemed as if it might come alive at any moment.

At the same time, two yellow Soul Rings, much deeper in color compared to Zhang Tieniu's, likewise circled his body. Just from this, one could see the difference in the quality of their Soul Rings.

Zhang Tieniu's two Soul Rings were probably at most one or two hundred years, or three or four hundred years. Li Chang'an's two Soul Rings, however, were four or five hundred years and eight or nine hundred years. The gap was not small.

After both sides revealed their Martial Souls, neither immediately made a move. Instead, they sized each other up, searching for the opponent's openings.

Such strong pressure!

His Soul Power is clearly two levels lower than mine, and on top of that, it's a Weapon Soul, so why is he giving me so much pressure? A trace of sweat could not help sliding down Zhang Tieniu's forehead. Seeing the pressure from the sword-bearing youth opposite him grow stronger and stronger, he knew he could not keep sitting around waiting for death like this.

He could only make the first move.

"Roar!!!"

Accompanied by the first Soul Ring lighting up.

A deep roar came from Zhang Tieniu's mouth. Then his already powerful body actually grew another size thicker out of nowhere. After that, his two bronze-pillar-like legs stepped forward, and along with thudding tremors, he charged toward his opponent like a savage bull.

This was his First Soul Skill. Its effect was very simple: it increased his own strength and physical defense, and even gave a slight boost to speed. Although the increase was not very large, there was no doubt it was a very practical soul skill.

Facing Zhang Tieniu, who was bearing down on him like a savage bull, Li Chang'an's expression was calm. The Soul Power in his body rapidly circulated through his meridians, and then his first Soul Ring lit up!

First Soul Skill: Sword Qi!

He raised his sword and swung. A pale streak of Sword Qi tore through the air, aimed straight at Zhang Tieniu, who was barreling toward him.

In the days since Li Chang'an obtained this soul skill, he had actually been researching it all along, trying to understand exactly how this soul skill converted Soul Power into Sword Qi. Unfortunately, he had never found the method and simply had not figured out how Sword Qi was transformed.

All he could say was that the principles involved were still far too profound for the current him.

"Hiss!"

The lightning-fast Sword Qi sliced across his cheek, instantly leaving behind a neat wound.

This startled Zhang Tieniu. He had not expected the Sword Qi fired by his opponent to be this sharp. One had to know that as the owner of the Ironclad Rhinoceros Martial Soul, after possession, with his physical quality, ordinary bows and arrows could not even break his skin. If he were charging on a battlefield, he could completely ignore a rain of arrows shot by the enemy army.

Especially while he was using his First Soul Skill, his defense was naturally even stronger. Yet in the end, a single line of Sword Qi from his opponent had easily cut through his skin.

I can't hold back. I have to end this quickly!

Zhang Tieniu's mind settled. The second Soul Ring around him lit up, and the surface of his entire skin instantly became rough, turning into a gray material that looked as if he had gained an extra layer of rhinoceros iron hide.

In this state, he could absolutely be called impervious to blades and spears. The only drawback was that his speed did not increase much, making him seem a little clumsy.

Zhang Tieniu's Martial Soul characteristics were actually not suited to arena matches. They should have been used on the battlefield instead. With his blade-and-spear-proof, immensely powerful body, he could take the lead and smash brutally into the enemy army's ranks, disrupting the opponent's formation.

On the arena, because of the limits of the venue, he could not display his abilities at all. Against a fast opponent, he could even only become a living target standing in place and taking hits.

Li Chang'an, who deliberately wanted to test how sharp his sword was, faced the onrushing Zhang Tieniu and chose to meet force with force!

If this were a real battle, he naturally would not choose to take his sword and fight the opponent up close. Instead, he would choose to dodge with quick shifts, keep far away, and release Sword Qi from a distance, not letting his opponent get near him. But since this was sparring, as well as a chance to accumulate some experience in Soul Master duels, blindly dodging was naturally no good.