I Got Shown Up?!

"Draw Malevolent Qi into the body, refine vicious evil into true force."

Situ Xuan's eyelids trembled slightly. Though his eyes were closed, he could clearly sense the path of that icy aura within his body—it did not travel through the Ren and Du Meridians, nor did it follow the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Instead, it deliberately coursed through the narrowest, tiniest branch meridians.

Places that Soul Power normally avoided were now forcibly opened by the Black Heart Evil Palm's Malevolent Qi. It felt like blades scraping against his bones, the pain piercing to the marrow.

Suddenly, the blue veins on his right hand bulged violently, as if some invisible force were forcibly stretching them open—that was the Black Heart Evil Palm's "Malevolent Qi Guidance." The agony rivaled death by a thousand cuts, yet Situ Xuan did not even furrow his brow. He merely took a deep breath and clenched his fingers tight once more!

"Ahhh—!"

He finally could not hold back a low roar. Blood seeped from between his teeth, only to be swiftly swallowed by black mist.

"Not enough..."

His left arm began to twitch as well. Under the saturation of Malevolent Qi, his muscle fibers gradually hardened like iron, while an eerie grayish-white layer of keratin covered the surface, like forcibly mutated scales.

"One step further!"

He gritted his teeth fiercely. His pupils abruptly contracted to pinpoints, and strange black patterns spread through their depths like living things!

"Click!"

A mysterious sound came from within his body.

Level Thirteen → Level Fourteen!

For Situ Xuan, whose Martial Soul was his own body, the rise in Soul Power felt especially clear.

That warm, flowing power circled through his body once, twice, three times...

The muscles all over Situ Xuan's body trembled faintly as his newly broken-through Soul Power circulated within him, healing the injuries from training. He slowly opened his eyes and suddenly sensed a powerful presence at the entrance to the training grounds.

At the doorway stood a blue-haired man dressed in white.

Sunlight cast a faint shadow across the ground through his tall, slender frame. A trace of surprise showed in his icy blue eyes as he carefully examined the scene.

"You are... a new teacher?"

The man's voice was as cold as ice. "What happened here? Do you need help?"

Situ Xuan rolled his wrist, his joints cracking sharply. His expression froze for a moment as he seemed to realize that this teacher had been drawn over by his earlier roar. "No, I was just training..."

"I'm not a teacher either. Situ Xuan, Class Three, first year."

This is a first-year student?

The man's brows furrowed slightly. His gaze lingered on Situ Xuan's burly body, clearly far beyond that of someone his age. Then he thought of Tang Wulin, who had the strongest physique among the students in his class, and his face twitched faintly. "Wu Zhangkong. Homeroom teacher of Class One-Five, first year."

Situ Xuan's pupils narrowed slightly. He could sense the unfathomable power within the other man.

The Soul Power fluctuations were far purer and more powerful than Long Xiuyuan's, instantly igniting the fighting spirit within him. The surging strength pent up in his chest after his breakthrough nearly burst forth.

"Interested in sparring?" Situ Xuan grinned, and blood seeped from the wound at the corner of his mouth again.

A flash of surprise passed through Wu Zhangkong's eyes, followed by a slight upward curve of his lips. Clearly, a student like this had stirred his interest. He slowly removed the long white sash from his waist, its silk gleaming with a cold sheen in the sunlight. "Please."

Situ Xuan narrowed his eyes, and every muscle in his body instantly tightened. He noticed the way Wu Zhangkong held the sash—that was clearly a swordsman's opening stance. In his hands, that soft sash seemed to become an indestructible longsword.

"Hah!"

With a thunderous shout, the Blue Steel Stone beneath Situ Xuan's feet shattered. His right fist pierced the air, shooting for Wu Zhangkong's throat with a shrill whistle—

"North Star Dragon Strikes Tiger!"

Wu Zhangkong did not move an inch. He merely turned his wrist lightly.

The white sash traced a graceful arc through the air like a living creature, precisely intercepting Situ Xuan's fist.

The moment they collided, a bone-chilling cold spread upward from his fist, and a thin layer of frost instantly formed over Situ Xuan's right arm.

"You're really going all out..."

Situ Xuan gave a savage grin. His left leg swept out like a whip. "North Star Muscle-Manipulating Free-Form Kick!"

Wu Zhangkong's body swayed slightly. With a light tap of his toes against the ground, he drifted backward like a feather. The sash became a streak of white in his hand, stabbing toward Situ Xuan's left ribs from a tricky angle.

"Bang!"

Situ Xuan crossed his arms to block, and the enormous impact sent him sliding back several meters.

The sharp pain in his arms made him understand that if his body had not been so tough, that "sword" would likely have pierced his defenses already.

"Interesting!"

Situ Xuan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, the fighting spirit in his eyes burning even brighter. He slammed a hand against the ground and charged at Wu Zhangkong again like a cannonball.

This time, he changed his strategy. His punches became elusive and unpredictable.

"North Star Soft Rending Slash!" What appeared to be a fierce punch suddenly transformed midway into a soft palm blade, cutting through a gap in the sash's defense.

A hint of approval flashed through Wu Zhangkong's eyes. He shifted his body slightly to evade the strike. At the same time, the sash curled back like a nimble serpent, tracing a perfect circle in the air and dissolving all of Situ Xuan's attacks.

"Again!"

Situ Xuan roared. The muscles in his arms swelled, veins winding around them like coiling dragons.

"North Star Steel Rending Grip!" His hands formed claws as he actually tried to seize the elusive sash through brute force.

Wu Zhangkong flicked his wrist, and the sash abruptly straightened like a sword, stabbing toward Situ Xuan's chest at astonishing speed. Situ Xuan had no choice but to abandon the grab and cross his arms to take the thrust head-on.

"Boom!"

The tremendous impact forced Situ Xuan back once more, and his arms were already covered in thick frost. Yet rather than being alarmed, he was delighted. He violently shook his arms, shattering the ice crystals. "That was awesome!"

The two moved rapidly across the training grounds. Every punch Situ Xuan threw carried tremendous force, and the ground continuously cracked beneath his feet.

Meanwhile, Wu Zhangkong maintained an elegant posture throughout. The white sash in his hands sometimes stabbed like a longsword and sometimes coiled like a soft whip, neutralizing Situ Xuan's attacks one by one.

"Teacher Wu, watch out!"

Situ Xuan suddenly roared. Every muscle in his body tightened to the limit. He drew his right fist back to his waist, and all the strength in his body surged into that fist like converging rivers. Its edge glowed dark red from high-speed friction—

"North Star Face-Breaking Fist!"

The punch was immensely powerful, and its gale exploded through the air.

Wu Zhangkong was finally moved. He rapidly turned his wrist, and the white sash drew seven afterimages through the air, like seven longswords thrusting out at once.

"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!"

Seven crisp impacts rang out in succession as Situ Xuan's punch was weakened layer by layer.

At last, Wu Zhangkong sidestepped the remaining force. The sash spiraled like a white dragon and lightly touched Situ Xuan's throat.

The training ground fell silent for a moment, filled only by Situ Xuan's heavy breathing. He looked down at the tip of the sash pressed to his throat and grinned. "I lost."

Wu Zhangkong withdrew the sash, a complicated light flickering in his eyes. "To reach this level with pure martial arts alone... interesting." He paused. "What kind of fist technique do you practice?"

"A family-inherited fist technique. Nothing worth mentioning."

Situ Xuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, but the fire in his eyes had yet to fade. "Another round?"

A rare trace of a smile appeared on Wu Zhangkong's face. "Next time... I'll look forward to seeing your performance in the Class Promotion Tournament."

With that, he turned and left. His white figure soon vanished from the entrance to the training grounds.

Situ Xuan watched the direction in which he had left, clenching his still faintly trembling hands.

The joy of fighting a powerful opponent had set the blood in his entire body boiling. He silently swore that next time, he would force this man to reveal his true skills.

But... Wu Zhangkong, Class One-Five...

Situ Xuan seemed to remember something. That distant memory reminded him of the barely noteworthy opponents from his year at Eastsea Academy—Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, Wang Jinxi, and Zhang Yangzi in their Martial Soul Fusion Skill state...

This was getting more and more interesting!

That night, Long Xiuyuan looked at the note Situ Xuan had left behind, his brows tightly furrowed as he muttered in disbelief, "What the hell? He already had special training?"

Ever since school started, Situ Xuan had never missed evening training...

After thinking it over and over, Long Xiuyuan could only reach one conclusion...

"I got shown up?!"