"Alright." Yun Mu nodded with a curl of his lips, then casually sat down on the bluestone steps beside him, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of his sleeve.
He did not disturb Xu Xiaoyan. He simply sat with her in silence, his gaze occasionally drifting toward the wooden targets in the distant training grounds before quickly returning to Gu Yue's curious expression.
Beside them, Xie Xie was still murmuring to Gu Yue, "If Xiaoyan masters this Astral Martial Soul, she'll definitely be the king of battlefield control in future team battles."
Before he could finish, Xu Xiaoyan slowly opened her eyes, faint glimmers of Soul Power gathered during cultivation still clinging to her eyelashes.
She rose with light movements and waved her wrist at the three of them. Her pale-purple Hexagram Martial Soul immediately lit up in her palm. As her fingertip lowered, the starlight drifted steadily to Yun Mu's feet, wrapping around his ankles like a thin veil.
Yet Yun Mu froze. Why couldn't he feel anything?
He tried lifting his foot, then secretly circulated his Soul Power. The warm current in his dantian still flowed smoothly. Forget the "Soul Power becoming as sluggish as if filled with lead" Xie Xie had described—there was not even the slightest stiffness.
He even deliberately stomped his foot. The step let out a dull thud, but his movements remained as nimble as ever.
"This..." Xu Xiaoyan's eyes widened at once, and her fingers instinctively clenched the hem of her clothes.
Since childhood, she had heard the elders of her family say that the Astral Martial Soul's "Absolute Control" was ingrained into the very essence of its Soul Skills. Even at her current low rank, she should at least have been able to immobilize her opponent for one second. Why did it