A Sudden Show of Affection from His Cousins

Liu Baibin smiled faintly at Liu Ruxue. "You! If your sister Ruyan hadn't gone easy on you, you'd have been beaten into a pig's head long ago!"

Liu Ruyan smiled slightly, clearly agreeing with him. But Liu Ruxue, seated in the office chair, was unwilling to accept that. "How is that possible? I'm a level thirty-four Soul Elder, after all. How could my sister possibly beat me into a pig's head?"

Zhao Xiaotian could only watch from the side. Liu Ruyan, sitting across from him, seemed to notice his gaze and looked over. Zhao Xiaotian met her eyes and smiled faintly.

Liu Ruyan turned her head away thoughtfully. Liu Baibin laughed and scolded, "Since you don't believe it, then the two of you can spar again!"

At that, Liu Ruxue excitedly left her seat, ran up to Liu Ruyan, grabbed her, and pulled her out of the office. Liu Baibin laughed. "This girl! Come on, Xiaotian. You should go watch those two girls spar too!"

Zhao Xiaotian nodded, got to his feet, and followed his uncle Liu Baibin out of the office. Before long, news spread that the icy, regal senior and the adorably dazed little girl from sixth grade would be sparring again.

Soon, most of the students from first through sixth grade rushed toward the Soul Fighting Area. Zhao Xiaotian and Liu Baibin watched the match from the best viewing platform.

In the blink of an eye, the spectator stands in the Soul Fighting Area were packed with students, leaving Zhao Xiaotian dumbfounded. Liu Baibin laughed beside him. "Hahaha! Xiaotian, there's no need to be shocked by the crowd. Those two girls are both famous beauties of the academy."

Zhao Xiaotian nodded silently.

Soon, a floating platform appeared at the center of the Soul Fighting Area. Standing atop it was a young woman with a microphone in hand, gold-rimmed glasses on her face, and wings spread from her back.

"I'm delighted to host this spar between two of Spirit Academy's most beautiful young women! I am Xiya, the host of this soul fight!"

As soon as she finished speaking, six soul rings in the optimal configuration appeared around Xiya. There were two reasons for displaying them. First, it was to deter anyone from disrupting order or interfering with the combatants. Second, it assured the fighters that they could battle freely and give it their all. Even if they used lethal attacks, Xiya could still save them. It was a safeguard for the participants.

Soon, two young women emerged from the two entrances of the Soul Fighting Area. One was cool and regal, while the other was adorably airheaded. It was hard to believe that they were twin sisters.

The moment the two appeared, they were greeted by the loudest cheers in the entire arena. The younger students in particular screamed wildly as though they had never seen anything like this before.

"Ahhh! Goddess! My goddess!"

"Ruyan! It's Ruyan! My icy goddess!"

"Wow, wow, wow! It's Ruxue! The love of my life!"

"Go, Goddess Ruyan! And Goddess Ruxue too!"

The two soon arrived at the center of the arena. Xiya jumped down from the floating platform, raised her microphone, and said, "Contestants, salute!"

Liu Ruyan and Liu Ruxue extended their right hands and clasped them together. Liu Ruxue smiled. "Sister! You can't go easy on me! I'm going to prove that I can fight you evenly!"

A faint smile rose at the corner of Liu Ruyan's lips. "All right."

Soon, they released their martial souls and soul rings. Aside from their highly similar martial souls, their soul rings shared the same yellow-purple-purple configuration.

The direct descendants of the White Shadow Sect did not need to hunt soul beasts for soul rings. As a result, their descendants never had to worry about their bodies being unable to endure the absorption process.

They only needed to focus on strengthening their bodies and continually pushing past their limits. That way, the direct descendants of the White Shadow Sect would not die from their bodies exploding after absorbing soul rings.

The appearance of two soul ring configurations that surpassed Soul Master theory stunned everyone present. Only Zhao Xiaotian and Liu Baibin, seated in the best viewing area, remained utterly calm.

One of them was a direct descendant of the White Shadow Sect, while the other was the White Shadow Sect's only nephew and had even entered the Secret Realm to condense soul rings. Thus, Zhao Xiaotian was not particularly surprised by the soul ring configurations of his two cousins.

Liu Ruxue made the first move, summoning a sword made of ice and snow in her hand before thrusting it forward. Liu Ruyan swiftly condensed White Shadow in her hand and caught the blade with one hand.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Liu Ruyan attacked with astonishing speed. Every palm strike she threw was perfectly measured and would not endanger Liu Ruxue's life. Although Liu Ruxue had told her not to hold back and wanted to prove that she could fight Liu Ruyan evenly—

Who could have known that Liu Ruyan merely held back a little less than before, yet still sent her younger sister Liu Ruxue retreating?

Seeing the speed of her sister's attacks, Liu Ruxue was shocked. She said in disbelief, "How are you attacking so quickly?"

Liu Ruyan said nothing. With a single step, she rushed forward. "First Soul Skill! White Shadow Clone!"

A yellow soul ring lit up around Liu Ruyan, then split into two Liu Ruyans who attacked Liu Ruxue together.

Seeing this, Liu Ruxue had no choice but to use her second soul skill, Frost Ward, to block the attack from both sides. Under Liu Ruyan's relentless assault, Liu Ruxue gradually fell into a disadvantage.

Seizing the momentum, Liu Ruyan struck the sword from Liu Ruxue's right hand with a hand chop. With her other hand, she formed sword fingers and pressed them against Liu Ruxue's brow.

The speed with which the attack decided the victor left the audience stunned. They had come expecting a fierce battle.

Yet who would have thought that it would take less than half an hour to determine the winner? Zhao Xiaotian smiled faintly. He wanted to try out his cousin Liu Ruyan's moves as well.

Liu Baibin noticed that his nephew was eager to give it a try and spoke up. "Xiaotian, forget about sparring with them. Your soul ring configuration is too abnormal. You aren't suited to fighting ordinary people."

Zhao Xiaotian could only abandon the idea. On the stage, Liu Ruxue slapped away her sister's jade-like hand and stomped off the soul fighting platform in a huff.

Seeing this, Xiya announced Liu Ruyan as the winner of the match. Liu Ruyan helplessly shook her head after her hands were slapped away.

She had already figured out how to coax the girl. After the match ended, the two of them left the Soul Fighting Area with Zhao Xiaotian and Liu Baibin.

Liu Baibin asked, "Xiaotian, what do you think of the Soul Fighting Area?"

Zhao Xiaotian replied, "It's pretty good. Being able to accommodate more than a thousand students is already impressive."

Liu Baibin laughed. "Hahaha! Indeed. This place was built over a thousand mu of land. It may have been full just now, but the actual inner arena is nowhere near as small as what we saw."

Suddenly, Liu Baibin looked at Liu Ruxue, who was still sulking beside him. "Ruxue, what's wrong? Are you still angry with your sister?"

"Hmph! Sister hit too hard! Every palm strike landed on my stomach!"

"Look! What's this, little Ruxue?"

At that moment, a candied hawthorn skewer appeared before Liu Ruxue and swayed back and forth. Her angry expression instantly changed.

She snatched the candied hawthorn skewer, her eyes shining as she said happily, "Wow, wow, wow! Candied hawthorn!"

Liu Ruyan had already figured out how to cheer up the little girl. After the soul fight ended, she had left the academy and gone to the food street in Spirit City to buy several candied hawthorn skewers.

She had bought more than ten skewers because she had also thought of her cousin Zhao Xiaotian. After giving one to Liu Ruxue, she handed another to Zhao Xiaotian.

Although Zhao Xiaotian did not want to take it, Liu Ruyan still forcibly stuffed it into his hand. He could only eat it helplessly, though he remained curious why his cousin had bought him candied hawthorn.

Back when he was at the Papal Palace, Qian Renxue would often sneak back to bring him some as well. But after so many years, Zhao Xiaotian had long forgotten what that feeling was like.

In his previous life, he had rarely eaten mortal food. He had mostly consumed spiritual pills and miraculous medicines prepared by the Elders of the Tai Chi Sect. Those pills and medicines were no small matter—other sects might not even let you eat your fill of them.