Flying Bat Ke Zhen'e and Iron Corpse Chen Xuanfeng

Shigang Village was located near Notting City. It had once been just an ordinary village.

But in recent years, Shigang Village had become anything but ordinary.

That was because a child with the aptitude to become a Soul Master had emerged from the village, and that child was now on the verge of becoming one.

This would be Shigang Village's greatest pride!

"Mom! I'm heading out!"

Inside an ordinary house, after finishing breakfast, Wang Sheng pushed open the door, waved goodbye to his mother, and jogged off toward the Back Mountain to practice his martial arts.

As a work-study student from a rural village, his life at Notting Academy had not been easy. He had constantly suffered bullying from the Noble Students.

Because of this, Wang Sheng had always trained diligently, hoping to protect himself.

At the same time, as the boss of Notting Academy's Seventh Dormitory, only by possessing sufficient strength could he protect everyone in the Seventh Dormitory.

After making his way to the Back Mountain, Wang Sheng arrived at an open area on a hillside facing a rushing river. With a loud shout, he summoned his Martial Soul.

For a moment, a faint tiger's roar rang out. Amid a burst of light, a fierce tiger like a phantom of light emerged behind Wang Sheng, letting out a roar.

This was Wang Sheng's Martial Soul—the War Tiger!

However, since he was only a Soul Scholar, Wang Sheng could not yet perform Martial Soul Possession.

Thus, he could only summon the War Tiger Martial Soul and let it overlap with, or rather envelop, his body in appearance alone, satisfying his craving for the experience.

But there was no helping it. Since he still could not perform Martial Soul Possession, all he could do was indulge himself a little.

"War Tiger Martial Soul, possess me!"

In the clearing, Wang Sheng summoned the War Tiger Martial Soul and pretended to undergo Martial Soul Possession, forcibly making the War Tiger Martial Soul cover his body. After practicing his punches and kicks for quite some time amid loud shouts, he was soon drenched in sweat.

"Whew! That's about enough!"

Feeling that he could not keep going much longer, Wang Sheng wiped the sweat from his forehead, stopped training, and recalled the War Tiger Martial Soul. He then prepared to enter the forest on the Back Mountain.

As an ordinary rural family, Wang Sheng's household was not well-off. Relying solely on their income, they might not get to eat meat more than a few times a year.

But as a growing teenager, Wang Sheng urgently needed enough meat to supplement his nutrition.

Though there was nothing he could do about their income, as a village child, Wang Sheng naturally had his own ways of getting meat.

Fishing, raiding bird nests for eggs, setting traps for rabbits...

Wang Sheng was skilled at all of it.

After finishing his martial arts practice, Wang Sheng turned and slipped into the woods on the Back Mountain, intending to check whether the rabbit traps he had set yesterday had caught anything.

But as he ventured deeper into the forest, before he even reached the place where he had set the traps, a disturbance suddenly came from afar.

"What's going on?"

Hearing the commotion, Wang Sheng was puzzled and could not help walking toward its source.

Very soon, Wang Sheng arrived in a wooded area.

In a clearing among the trees some distance away.

A middle-aged man in a grayish-brown robe, with a black cloak draped over his back, long hair hanging loose, and a strip of black cloth covering his eyes, was wielding a long staff as he fiercely battled a man dressed all in black, his long hair tied behind his back. As they fought, the two continuously darted up and down among the trees.

"This...!"

Seeing the scene before him, Wang Sheng hid behind a large tree and immediately widened his eyes.

So... powerful!

Could these be two powerful Lord Soul Masters fighting?

Though he was not yet a Soul Master, Wang Sheng's eyesight was excellent. He could clearly see that neither of the two "Soul Masters" had summoned their Martial Souls or used any Soul Skills.

Yet even so, with every gesture, one could easily pierce through a large tree with the wooden staff in his hand, while the other could leave several deep claw marks on a tree with a casual swipe.

In Wang Sheng's eyes, this was unbelievably powerful. They had to be experts whose cultivation exceeded that of Soul Masters!

And even more incredible, the Lord Soul Master whose eyes were covered by black cloth should not have been able to see anything, yet he could still fight the other man without falling behind.

It was simply unbelievable!

"Chen Xuanfeng, hand over the Nine Yin Manual! Otherwise, no matter where you go, I'll pursue you to the end!"

After exchanging a flurry of blows, the two men each leaped backward and landed atop different trees. The man with black cloth over his eyes immediately pointed a smooth wooden staff at the other man, Chen Xuanfeng, and shouted sternly.

"Ke Zhen'e, how have I offended you? The Nine Yin Manual isn't yours. What right do you have to demand that I hand it over?"

Chen Xuanfeng spread his arms and stood upon a tree branch like a bird. He gave a cold laugh, clearly unconvinced.

"The Nine Yin Manual may not be mine, but it belongs to our benefactor. Our benefactor showed me kindness. You leaked news of the Nine Yin Manual, nearly getting our benefactor's daughter killed, then took the chance to steal the Nine Yin Manual from her."

"You traitor who betrayed your master and ancestors—I, Ke Zhen'e, never liked the sight of you to begin with. And our benefactor showed me kindness. If his daughter had not begged me not to kill you, I would never have merely demanded the Nine Yin Manual from you!"

Ke Zhen'e snorted coldly, his tone full of disgust.

Hearing Ke Zhen'e's words, Chen Xuanfeng fell silent for a moment.

"I did wrong by Master, and I did wrong by Junior Sister Rong'er, but I do not regret it!"

"The Nine Yin Manual was meant for people to cultivate. Master did not cultivate it himself, so why wouldn't he give it to us? Junior Sister died because of the Nine Yin Manual. I must fully comprehend it and become the strongest master in the martial world!"

"But of course, things are different now. Now, not only will I become the strongest master in the martial world, I will also become one of the supreme powerhouses of the All Heavens Reincarnation Palace."

"Only then can I revive Junior Sister. I still need the Nine Yin Manual now, so I won't give it to you!"

"If you want it, come take it yourself!"

At the end, Chen Xuanfeng suddenly shouted and once again launched himself fiercely toward Ke Zhen'e. His hands curled into claws as a sinister wind rose around him, and he lunged straight for Ke Zhen'e.

But faced with Chen Xuanfeng's attack, even with his eyes covered by black cloth, Ke Zhen'e seemed able to see everything clearly. With a single leap, he dodged Chen Xuanfeng's claw strike.

After twisting and flipping through the air, Ke Zhen'e's black cloak billowed behind him like an enormous bat. Holding his wooden staff, he swung it directly at Chen Xuanfeng's head and shouted, "Dog Beating Staff Technique, Strike Dog Head-On!"

But Chen Xuanfeng was incredibly fast. With only a sideways dodge, he left several afterimages behind and easily moved several meters away, evading the strike.

Ke Zhen'e's Strike Dog Head-On therefore missed, landing only on the arm-thick branch where Chen Xuanfeng had been standing. With a sharp crack!, it snapped the branch in two.

After dodging the staff strike, Chen Xuanfeng did not immediately pull away. Instead, while Ke Zhen'e was descending, he moved in a flash and instantly appeared behind Ke Zhen'e, clawing him across the back.

"Argh!"

Ke Zhen'e immediately cried out in pain.

But Chen Xuanfeng was extremely agile in the face of Ke Zhen'e's counterattacks, constantly shifting and dodging. With his astonishing agility, Ke Zhen'e's attacks could not touch him at all.

Instead, Chen Xuanfeng was always able to seize opportunities and repeatedly injure Ke Zhen'e with his agility and speed.

"Heart Shattering Palm!"

Finally, after seizing an opportunity to deliver a fierce Heart Shattering Palm point-blank to Ke Zhen'e's back, Ke Zhen'e was unable to dodge in time. Taking the blow, he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

But this time, Ke Zhen'e finally reacted in time to Chen Xuanfeng's sneak attack from behind. Enduring his injuries, he reached back and grabbed Chen Xuanfeng by the hem of his clothes, then turned and struck Chen Xuanfeng in the chest with his palm.

"Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms!!"

Golden light bloomed from his palm. Amid a faint dragon's roar, Ke Zhen'e endured his injuries and struck Chen Xuanfeng squarely in the chest with an enraged palm.

Chen Xuanfeng also spat out a mouthful of blood. His face turned deathly pale as his entire body was sent flying backward.

Though Chen Xuanfeng managed to flip through the air and land unsteadily on the ground, regaining his footing.

When he saw Ke Zhen'e bracing himself with his wooden staff, blood still flowing from the corner of his mouth but his body stabilized, Chen Xuanfeng clutched his chest, coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, and quickly turned to flee.

Seeing Chen Xuanfeng trying to escape, Ke Zhen'e immediately used his movement technique to pursue him.

But before long, he was still left behind.

Yet this was exactly what Ke Zhen'e wanted.

After seeing Chen Xuanfeng's figure finally disappear into the distant forest, Ke Zhen'e finally stopped and landed on the ground. But his face was incomparably pale, and his body swayed slightly.

"Pfft!!"

After violently spraying out a large mouthful of blood, Ke Zhen'e immediately lost consciousness and fell backward onto the ground.

Not far away, Wang Sheng made his way through the trees and followed after them. When he saw Ke Zhen'e lying unconscious on the ground, he cautiously approached.