Practical Combat Class

The next day, at the Soul Fighting Arena.

"Now then, who wants to be the first to go?"

Mu Jin stood at the edge of the Soul Fighting Arena, scanning her students. Another female teacher stood beside her.

However, when Mu Jin asked the question, the students of Class Nine all shifted their attention away in perfect unison. Not one of them gave her a direct response.

Because the person standing on the stage was none other than Boss Chen.

At that moment, Boss Chen's eyes held a trace of helplessness. He swept his gaze over the students below the Soul Fighting Stage, but not one of them met his eyes, as though they were afraid he would pick them and beat them up.

It turned out that even before this Practical Combat Class began, Mu Jin had already found him and explained the actual situation.

The purpose of this Practical Combat Class was to assess three sets of data: skill, reaction speed, and combat experience.

Since his strength was far too excessive for the class as a whole, no student could have their exact abilities assessed in a single Soul Fighting match against him. Yet having a teacher take the field would look a little improper. Thus, Mu Jin decided to change the rules, making him the defender and the other students challengers. They would fight multiple matches to measure his three sets of data as thoroughly as possible, while also forcing the other students to give their all and provide more accurate results.

But now, clearly, no one wanted to be the first to go.

After all, many people had witnessed Boss Chen's battle against a sixth-year Senior Brother. Since even that Senior Brother had lost...

Wouldn't going up there just mean volunteering to be beaten?

Still, just because no one volunteered,

Mu Jin had no intention of letting them off.

She swept her gaze over the crowd. "Wang Dong, you go."

As the student who hated Soul Tools the most—a notorious troublemaker—Wang Dong was the first one chosen. Of course, Mu Jin insisted this was not "personal retaliation."

Wang Dong's face stiffened when she picked her.

The scene of being enveloped in killing intent resurfaced in her mind.

But once she had been called out, she had no room to refuse.

Thus, she braced herself and walked onto the Soul Fighting Stage.

Boss Chen wore an expressionless look. Light flashed in his hand, and the Seven Kills Sword appeared. "Don't worry. I won't use a Soul Skill at the start, so you don't need to be so nervous. Begin!"

"Who said I was nervous?"

At those words, Wang Dong immediately puffed herself up!

Her initial worry vanished, replaced by a burning ambition! She, Wang Dong, was going to win back her dignity!

But in the next second,

Boss Chen's Seven Kills Sword was already stabbing toward Wang Dong.

Wang Dong, who had been brimming with ambition just moments ago, immediately stumbled and barely dodged the attack. Before she could accuse Boss Chen of having no martial virtue, she swiftly completed her Martial Soul Possession.

She had just wanted to spread her wings and fly away from Boss Chen's attack range, but the Seven Kills Sword was like a parasite clinging to her bones, predicting the direction in which Wang Dong intended to retreat. Its Sword Edge sealed off her path into the air, while the tip of the sword drew closer and closer.

Below the stage, Mu Jin watched Wang Dong's performance and expressionlessly wrote a sentence in the combat-experience column:

Wastes time talking when battle begins, then falls into the opponent's attack rhythm.

On the stage, Wang Dong realized that she was becoming increasingly disheveled.

"I can't keep going like this!"

"Ha!"

With a low shout, golden patterns spread across the pair of wings behind her, and her First Soul Ring began to glow. In an instant, Wang Dong's arms overlapped with her front wings, and the dazzling Wing Blade Guillotine blocked the Seven Kills Sword's Sword Edge. The tremendous force sent Wang Dong flying backward as she borrowed the impact, but the radiance on her wings was also shattered by the Seven Kills Sword.

"Hahaha! Now it's my turn!"

The wings of the Light Goddess Butterfly beat, and Soul Power sprayed backward from the golden spheres of light on Wang Dong's wings, instantly pushing her to high speed. At that moment, Wang Dong had already gained the high ground.

Her emotions also grew more excited!

"Second Soul Skill, Light of the Butterfly God!"

The purple Soul Ring blazed, and the light of her deep-blue wings flared brilliantly! Golden patterns seemed like tiny suns being ignited, bursting with dazzling radiance. Then spheres of light shot out one after another, covering Boss Chen below!

Facing the attacks that came like a violent storm, Boss Chen's expression remained calm as ever. However, he also used his First Soul Skill.

As the light flashed, he flicked his wrist. The Seven Kills Sword lightly tapped each incoming sphere of light, shattering them with ease. In the end, a surge of Soul Power flowed along the sword. Using the Kill Character Art, he wrapped the remaining spheres in Sword Qi and slashed them away, sending them straight back at Wang Dong!

"What!?"

Wang Dong was greatly startled and slashed out with both wings in succession!

She barely broke them apart, but her face had also turned slightly pale.

Even her figure in the air had become somewhat unsteady.

Yet just then—

"Whoosh!"

A streak of Sword Qi shot through the sky!

Just as it was about to strike Wang Dong...

"Stop!"

Mu Jin's figure appeared, dispersing the Sword Qi.

At the same time, accompanied by a faint fragrance, a white, petal-shaped radiance descended from the sky. It drifted down slowly and lightly merged into Wang Dong's slightly pale body.

An incomparably comfortable freshness instantly spread throughout Wang Dong's body. Her exhausted physical strength gradually recovered bit by bit. Although her Soul Power remained somewhat depleted, she felt much better overall.

But at that moment, she stared eagerly at the pink begonia flower held in the female teacher's hands and could not help drawing in a sharp breath. "The Nine Heart Begonia! Teacher, you're really going all out!"

"Of course I'm going all out."

Hearing Wang Dong mutter, Mu Jin scolded her with a laugh. Then she looked toward the female teacher. "Ye Ye, thank you."

"No problem. Let the students continue."

"All right."

After sending Wang Dong off the stage to reflect on her Soul Fighting match, Mu Jin's gaze shifted until it quickly settled on a student who looked rather thin and frail. The moment that student was targeted, her face collapsed. At the same time, Mu Jin said, "Gao Ming, it's your turn."

The student named Gao Ming raised his hand and said, clearly lacking confidence, "Teacher, I'm only an Auxiliary Soul Master. Do I really have to go up and fight Boss Chen in actual combat?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Mu Jin shot Gao Ming a glance. With a turn of her wrist, several Soul Tools appeared before everyone. Clearly, she had prepared them long ago. "Everyone has to be tested, which means everyone has to participate in actual combat. Besides, in a real battle, the enemy won't spare you just because you're an Auxiliary Soul Master. They'll take you out first."

"What's more, the situation for Auxiliary Soul Masters like you is far better than it was six thousand years ago."

She picked up a Soul Guidance Ray Gun and tossed it to Gao Ming. "At least you have Soul Tools as a means of attack. Now get up there and use the Soul Tool as your weapon. You can't use it during the Freshman Assessment, but through this process, I can still evaluate your reaction speed, combat experience, and escape techniques."

Hearing this, Gao Ming could only walk onto the Soul Fighting Stage with a bitter expression.

Looking at Boss Chen across from him, he said in a low voice,

"Boss Chen, please go easy on me."

"Hehe, don't worry."

The instant his words fell, Boss Chen shot forward!

The only thing that entered Gao Ming's eyes was a flash of cold light...