The Thrill of Battle

This was a skill Su Qiu had comprehended through the Wind Element control granted by the Holy Spear, along with just a tiny bit of help from the Holy Sword.

Really, the Holy Sword's help had only accounted for a tiny bit.

The Wind King Barrier did not make the Holy Sword itself transparent. Instead, it wrapped several layers of wind around it, altering light's refractive index to conceal the blade.

Transforming it into the Invisible Sword.

The two stood facing each other. With their auras entwined, even the airflow stirred up by the Rending Sky Screaming Vulture's beating wings could not pass through them and instead flowed steadily around them.

Wu Changkong frowned. He realized that he had indeed underestimated Su Qiu.

Simply being able to lock auras with him for so long already surpassed everyone else in this academy.

Especially Su Qiu's empty, strangely positioned right hand. It seemed like an opening, yet Wu Changkong could sense that it was where the deadliest killing intent lay.

"What are they doing?" one student asked in confusion.

Su Qiu's Purple Soul Ring filled them with envy. They did not even have a hundred-year Soul Ring, much less a thousand-year one. That was nothing but an unreachable dream.

The Soul Spirit in the sky also kept drawing their gazes upward.

But why were Su Qiu and their teacher just standing there without moving? Weren't they supposed to be fighting?

"Do you know what they're doing?" Tang Wulin asked Xie Xie beside him. He felt that Xie Xie seemed to know quite a lot.

But Xie Xie had no time to answer. He was drenched in sweat.

His Light Dragon Dagger Martial Soul was being suppressed. He had never encountered anything like this before!

"Sorry. I'll take this seriously from here on out." Wu Changkong's expression was complicated. He had never expected to find such a gifted student in this tiny Eastsea Academy—not even Shrek Academy had produced one like him.

Putting away his belt, Wu Changkong summoned a sword into his hand. Its blade was crystal-clear, shrouded in cold air, with faint blue light flickering across it. The moment it appeared, the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

His Martial Soul, the Frost Sword.

Yet Wu Changkong still insisted on suppressing his Soul Power Level to thirty-two.

In an instant, Su Qiu moved, shifting from absolute stillness into absolute motion. His ghostlike figure flickered as he rapidly closed the distance.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track?

No, it was not.

Wu Changkong could tell that this was a movement technique entirely different from Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, merely similar in appearance.

The Instant Meteor Star that Su Qiu practiced consisted of three combat methods.

The movement technique, Instant Light.

The fighting style, Meteor.

And the final method: Sky Strike.

However, Sky Strike was an aerial combat technique. Su Qiu could not fly at all right now, so he had barely practiced it.

The movement technique he was using now was Instant Light.

Soul Power surged through his body into the Holy Sword. After being converted by the Holy Sword into light-attributed Soul Power, every movement Su Qiu made left behind layers of afterimages, making him even harder to grasp.

At terrifying speed, he closed in on Wu Changkong in the blink of an eye and swung the Holy Sword down.

Su Qiu did not hold back with this strike. He went all out. The Invisible Sword's advantage lay in its first strike!

Wu Changkong's expression did not change. The shifting airflow allowed him to sense something approaching, and he raised the Frost Sword to block it.

The blade of the Frost Sword collided with the Holy Sword shrouded in the Wind King Barrier.

The collision did not produce a piercing metallic clang. Instead, it sounded like two chunks of black ice striking each other.

As the blades scraped against each other, they produced a clear, ringing clang.

In the lingering ripples of the trembling air, frost particles shed from the Frost Sword scattered outward.

A sword?

At the moment of impact, Wu Changkong felt it. That invisible thing was a sword. So this was Su Qiu's Martial Soul, the Sword of Promised Victory.

The Invisible Sword's first strike had failed. From now on, Wu Changkong would grow more and more accustomed to fighting this way.

But Su Qiu did not stop. He kept swinging his sword, pressing forward relentlessly.

The Frost Sword and Holy Sword crossed madly in midair, their dense collisions merging into a single continuous sound.

At times, it sounded like torrential rain pattering against ice.

At times, it sounded like the brief ring of metal meeting again after being frozen by bitter cold.

Every clash made the surrounding air tremble faintly.

The longer they fought, the more difficult Wu Changkong found it, even though he had clearly grown accustomed to that invisible Holy Sword.

Because every one of Su Qiu's strikes landed at a node in his internal Soul Power circulation!

As someone who had practiced swordsmanship since childhood, Wu Changkong could see that Su Qiu's swordsmanship was ordinary, barely more than basic sword techniques.

Yet in Su Qiu's hands, it seemed to turn the mundane into the miraculous, far deadlier than even refined swordsmanship.

It was like... like a machine that never made mistakes. Every step was the best possible move he could make.

And that was indeed the case.

The Instant Meteor Star Su Qiu used emphasized attacking an enemy's weaknesses with one's own strengths.

Its Meteor fighting style was, simply put, divided into two steps: first, probe for points where the enemy was weaker than oneself; second, magnify those weaknesses and shatter them.

But with the help of Intuition, Su Qiu skipped the first step entirely. Every strike targeted Wu Changkong's weakest point.

"Impressive..."

Even Wu Changkong, who was immensely proud deep down, had to admit that even though he was a Soul Emperor, even though he had cultivated for so many more years, he would not be Su Qiu's match at the same Soul Power Level.

Soul Power surged through Wu Changkong's entire body as he tried to blast Su Qiu away and widen the distance between them.

Faced with the chaotic Soul Power rushing toward him, Su Qiu refused to relent. A Purple Soul Ring flashed.

First Soul Skill, Soul Power Release!

Every attribute of his body doubled. Su Qiu forcefully endured the impact, broke through the obstruction of Soul Power, and continued sticking to Wu Changkong.

Left with no choice, Wu Changkong erupted with Soul Power far beyond level thirty-two and sent Su Qiu flying.

"Come. Let me see your limit." Wu Changkong's eyes shone brightly. It was the first time Su Qiu had seen any emotion in his eyes other than Ice Cold.

Wu Changkong no longer suppressed his Soul Power at the Soul Elder level. Soul Power now surged vigorously within him.

Every Soul Power node flowing throughout his body was incomparably full.

In other words, Wu Changkong no longer had any weak points.

At least, Su Qiu could no longer find any.

Su Qiu frowned deeply. He knew very well that without a weakness to exploit, Instant Meteor Star was useless.

In that case, he would not use it.

Su Qiu took a step back, held the Holy Sword horizontally beside his ear, released the Wind King Barrier wrapped around its blade, and smashed it fiercely toward Wu Changkong.

A powerful gale surged forth with the sword swing. The compressed wind was released in an instant, generating an impact force like an iron hammer.

Wind King Hammer!

A massive white shockwave swept toward Wu Changkong.

Wu Changkong swung the Frost Sword, unleashing a fierce ice-blue Sword Qi that collided explosively with the shockwave. Ice mist and airflow burst apart, their aftermath scattering in every direction.

It was only because Su Qiu was merely level thirty-two that everything remained under Wu Changkong's control.

Otherwise, not one of the students watching from the training field would have survived the aftermath.

Su Qiu's footing was as steady as a rock. He continuously used Soul Power Release, frantically slashing out Sword Qi to seal off Wu Changkong's surroundings.

Wu Changkong had no intention of dodging either. In response, the Frost Sword released ice-blue Sword Qi after ice-blue Sword Qi, intercepting them one by one and canceling them out.

In the end, Su Qiu stopped.

"Have you reached your limit?" Wu Changkong asked. He knew Su Qiu had yet to use his second and third Soul Skills.

"More or less."

The second Purple Soul Ring flashed.

An abrupt change occurred where the Sword Qi Wu Changkong had previously canceled out had been.

Several streaks of Sword Qi returned out of thin air and stood suspended in the air, radiating an aura far more violent than before.

Second Soul Skill, Sword Domain!