Xu Lin watched intently, then couldn't help clapping in praise, delighted.
"Haha, Sun Moon Royal Academy has truly found treasures this time!"
Xu Lin laughed heartily, giving the two of them extremely high evaluations in his heart.
Gu Yue Na in particular was even younger, yet far more seasoned in battle.
Even he found her use of the Fire Attribute Element rather astonishing.
If such talent were properly nurtured, it would be inevitable for her to stand shoulder to shoulder with Yun Ming in the future.
Gu Yue Na was the first person he had directly compared to Yun Ming.
After calming his excitement, he quickly dialed a number.
"Raise the priority level for Gu Yue Na and Chen An by another rank."
"Also inform the two children that if they can make it into the top four, they will receive additional rewards."
"If they can win the championship, the rewards will be even more generous."
Xu Lin kept it brief. After hanging up, he returned to watching the battle footage.
"I'm rather curious whether you can defeat a Soul Grandmaster across ranks."
"Especially you, Chen An." Xu Lin's gaze settled on Chen An's battle footage.
"If you can defeat a Soul Grandmaster across ranks, then even if there's a risk of you becoming an Evil Soul Master, I'll still focus on cultivating you."
In his eyes, Gu Yue Na's situation was excellent, with no apparent risks.
Chen An, however, had the possibility of being led astray by his Martial Soul.
For Xu Lin to decide that Chen An was worth cultivating despite the risk showed just how highly he regarded him.
Chen An was still young, and his personality had not truly taken shape yet.
As long as he was guided properly, possessing a Martial Soul with the Death Attribute did not necessarily mean he would become an Evil Soul Master.
Chen An and Gu Yue Na each returned to their rooms.
Along the way, Chen An seemed distracted. Once back in his room, he simply sat there blankly.
His mind was still dwelling on the mistakes Gu Yue Na had pointed out.
She had only identified the problems, without telling him how to solve them.
He had to figure out how to resolve them himself, which took quite a bit of thought.
Before he knew it, evening had arrived. He had not even gone to lunch.
"I need to go practice with Di Tian." Chen An left the room with a hint of excitement.
He felt that this reflection had benefited him greatly, and he was eager to test what he had gained.
Before going to spar with Di Tian, he did not forget to eat something and fill his stomach.
Since he had skipped lunch, he ate an especially large dinner.
After eating his fill, he went to find Di Tian, and the two met in the combat arena.
They were both equipped with communicators, so getting in touch only required a phone call.
Seeing Chen An so eager to fight, Di Tian could not help feeling somewhat helpless.
This kind of battle was truly boring to him. He could not muster any interest in it.
Yet Chen An was incredibly enthusiastic, dragging him into battle every day and making him serve as a sparring partner.
Their battle quickly began, with Chen An once again taking the initiative.
After more than ten days of sparring, he had become much more composed when facing Di Tian.
The two engaged in close combat, using both fists and kicks as they countered one another's moves. Neither could gain the upper hand.
Several minutes into the battle, surprise clearly flashed through Di Tian's eyes.
Chen An improved a little after every battle with him.
But this time, the improvement seemed rather significant, equivalent to several days' worth of accumulated progress.
Moreover, Chen An gave him a sense of perfect harmony and unity.
It was as if he had suddenly achieved enlightenment, integrating everything he had learned in the past and truly... understanding it.
Di Tian was inwardly astonished. Chen An's learning ability was really quite impressive.
Of course, that was also inseparable from his hard work.
After fighting Chen An for more than ten days, Di Tian knew better than anyone how hard this person pushed himself.
Di Tian grew more serious, gradually breaking the balance and suppressing Chen An.
Chen An was not anxious. During this time, the thing he had told himself most often was to stay calm.
No matter what he did, he had to remain calm. Tension and panic would only make things worse.
He still could not remain unflustered even with Mount Tai collapsing before him, but he no longer panicked excessively either.
Though Di Tian had him pinned down, Chen An still tried his best to remain calm and composed.
His mind might have been calm, but his blood was boiling within him, his fighting spirit blazing like fire.
He did his utmost to block and deflect Di Tian's attacks while searching for opportunities to counterattack.
"Clang..." Chen An summoned the Scythe of Death, seized an opening, and slashed across Di Tian's chest.
Energy dragon scales appeared over Di Tian's chest in time, blocking the Scythe of Death.
The Scythe of Death failed to leave any mark on the scales.
The strength of these scales was beyond what Di Tian could suppress; they were exceptionally tough.
Even a Titled Douluo with a sword Martial Soul would find it difficult to leave a mark on them, let alone Chen An.
Using these scales was considered going beyond the limit; it was not power that someone in the teens could possess.
"Add three minutes," Di Tian said expressionlessly.
He did not want Chen An to tear his clothes, which would make him look disheveled.
That was why he had instinctively released energy dragon scales to block the attack.
"Alright." Chen An rarely revealed a hint of a smile. He did not blame Di Tian for breaking their agreement.
Instead, he was delighted that Di Tian had used even greater power.
This meant that his progress had already begun to place pressure on Di Tian.
Di Tian's attacks became fiercer, but also much more cautious. He would no longer give Chen An a similar opportunity.
Even with the Scythe of Death, Chen An truly failed to find another good opening.
After holding on for twenty minutes, he was knocked down again, lying flat on the ground and gasping for breath.
Chen An was exhausted, but he also felt exhilarated and delighted by the gains he had made during this time.
Twenty minutes, plus the extra three minutes, made a total of twenty-three minutes.
He had pushed the duration of his battle with Di Tian to a new level.
His next goal was to last for half an hour.
"You're quite good." Di Tian gave the Chen An lying on the ground a brief compliment.
After saying that, he constructed a Space Channel and left in a carefree manner.
"Thanks," Chen An called out before he disappeared, sincerely grateful.
Di Tian deserved much of the credit for his improvement; he had benefited greatly from him.
Having a good sparring partner really did yield twice the results with half the effort.
After lying on the ground for more than ten minutes, Chen An staggered to his feet and dragged his heavy body away.
The next day, Chen An faced his second-round opponent: a level twenty-eight Soul Grandmaster.
This person was even stronger than the opponent Chen An had faced yesterday.
Moreover, he had clearly watched Chen An's battle yesterday and knew his strength.
He did not underestimate an opponent who was an entire major realm below him.
The moment the battle began, he released his Martial Soul, making it clear that he was taking Chen An seriously.
Chen An also knew that pretending to be weak and catching his opponent off guard was something he could only do once.
This time, he had to defeat his opponent through sheer strength.
The battle began, and Chen An took the initiative. In battle, he did not want to be the passive defender.
The power of the Death God Dragon he possessed would not allow him to merely counterattack passively either.
His opponent's Martial Soul was the Black White Dual Blades. He was an Assault Type soul master and fought aggressively as well.
"Clang, clang, clang..." Every time the Black White Dual Blades struck Chen An's dragon scales, they produced a sharp ringing sound.
Relying on the toughness of his dragon scales to withstand the Black White Dual Blades, Chen An fought with great ferocity.
His opponent's weapons left one mark after another across the dragon scales.
Yet they could not completely cut through them; their sharpness and force were still lacking.
Once Chen An realized that his dragon scales could withstand his opponent's weapons, he adopted a style of fighting injury for injury.
You could slash me, but I had to land a punch or claw strike on you as well.
This fierce fighting style quickly allowed him to gain the upper hand.
The Black White Dual Blades soul master was not as resilient as Chen An. Naturally, he became fearful of trading injuries.
He had already lost in courage, while in terms of raw strength, Chen An was no weaker than him.
As the battle continued, the scales of victory naturally tipped toward Chen An.
After expending some effort, Chen An finally defeated this opponent who was seventeen levels above him.
As the dragon scales receded, numerous shallow cuts appeared on his body, stained bright red.
The scales were his skin; damage to the scales was equivalent to damage to his skin.
If the dragon scales were pierced through, it could injure his muscles and bones.
After fighting for so long just now, quite a few scratches had appeared on his dragon scales, resulting in these minor injuries.
There were many more people watching Chen An fight today, and after it ended, most of them looked astonished.
Not many had expected him to win, yet he had once again defeated an opponent above his level.
Chen An ignored the watching gazes and walked over to Gu Yue Na.
"How many points would you give my performance today?" Chen An asked the same question again.
"Four and a half." Gu Yue Na seemed to have anticipated his question and had thought of her answer beforehand.
"Tell me more," Chen An said, still somewhat disappointed.
But he quickly began reflecting on himself. A score of only four and a half meant there were still many problems.
Gu Yue Na did not refuse and pointed out all the issues she had noticed.
As usual, Chen An reflected on himself and corrected his mistakes.
After figuring them out, he sought out Di Tian for another sparring match that night, and he continued doing so for several days in a row.
During the day, he defeated his opponents; at night, he was defeated by Di Tian.
Five days passed. After several days of uninterrupted sparring and competition, only four people remained, and the tournament had entered the semifinals.
Chen An and Gu Yue Na, whose Soul Power levels were only around eleven or twelve, had both made it into the final four.
This could be called a miracle, and it caused a sensation throughout the academy.
Never before had a freshman tournament's final four included students whose Soul Power was below level twenty.
This time, not only had it happened, there were two of them. They had made history.
The Soul Power levels of the two of them were utterly out of place compared to the other two semifinalists.
Those two were both Soul Masters, at level thirty-three and level thirty-five respectively.
Their Soul Power differed by more than twenty levels, a gap of two major realms.
If they could still defeat them, that would be far too outrageous.
The Martial Soul combat tournament's semifinal matches drew immense attention from the academy's higher-ups.
That day, all other matches in the stadium were suspended to make way for the semifinals.
The enormous stadium was cleared out. Aside from the semifinalists, only a few teachers remained.
Other students were not permitted to watch these two matches.
"Good luck." Chen An cheered Gu Yue Na on as she walked toward the arena.
Gu Yue Na's expression was rather calm, and she nodded at Chen An.
The two of them had been lucky. They had not drawn each other in the semifinals and each had to face a Soul Master.
Gu Yue Na's opponent was a level thirty-three Defense Type Soul Master.
His opponent, meanwhile, was a level thirty-five Assault Type Battle Soul Grandmaster.
It could also be said that they were unlucky. If the two had met each other, at least one of them would have been guaranteed a place in the finals.
But now, it was merely possible, not certain.
On the stands opposite them, more than a dozen academy higher-ups waited quietly for the match to begin.
Seeing Gu Yue Na and her opponent step onto the stage, they all sat a little straighter.
Their posture alone made it clear how seriously they regarded this match.
This was today's third chapter. It was an extra chapter for reaching the recommendation vote target. Please vote with monthly tickets, save the novel, and send recommendation votes.
For every day that monthly tickets exceed ten votes—not counting the six monthly tickets automatically given by the update system—there will be an extra chapter. Recommendation votes exceeding fifty will also earn an extra chapter, as will favorites exceeding two hundred. I will keep my word, and I hope everyone will support me. Let us encourage one another.
Yesterday, there were two monthly tickets, more than fifty recommendation votes, and more than eighty favorites, so there will be one extra chapter today.
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