Will You Come With Me

Situ Xuan had not yet steadied his footing when the air inside the Training Room suddenly grew viscous. A dark red halo bloomed around Long Xiuyuan, and fine scales emerged at his limb joints, making him appear as if he were submerged in a bloody mist.

This was the third soul skill of the Dragon Horn Ant martial soul—Ant Rage Boiling.

The youth's pupils constricted, and his breathing rhythm shifted instantly. The yin-soft internal energy of the Fist of the North Star surged through his meridians, and dark golden secret points flickered like stars beneath his skin.

Long Xiuyuan's figure vanished from where he stood.

Situ Xuan didn't even have time to assume a defensive stance before a piercing, agonizing pain erupted in his abdomen. He only caught a glimpse of a blurred red afterimage before he was sent flying backward, his body curled into a bow.

"Bang!"

As his back slammed into the reinforced alloy wall, Situ Xuan opened his mouth and spat out a spray of blood.

But more terrifying was the shockwave that bypassed his skin to strike his internal organs directly; his entire viscera were trembling violently.

The floor of the Training Room suddenly cracked.

Long Xiuyuan's right foot stomped out a spiderweb of fissures, and the shockwave triggered by his second soul skill, Thousand-Jun Heavy Stomp, caused Situ Xuan's movements to stall.

That delay of less than half a second was enough.

The fist covered in dragon scales magnified rapidly in his vision; Situ Xuan tilted his head just in time, but his right cheekbone was still grazed.

He clearly heard the crisp sound of his facial bone fracturing, and warm blood immediately blurred his right eye.

"Hokuto Cross Slash!"

The moment Long Xiuyuan retracted his fist, the blood-stained youth suddenly erupted into action.

His hands crossed into a cross, his fingertips glowing with a ghostly blue light as they precisely struck the Yangchi and Daling secret points on his opponent's wrists.

Long Xiuyuan was surprised to find the flow of soul power in his right arm becoming sluggish.

However, a slight circulation of his thick, Soul King-level soul power was enough to break through the blockade of his acupoints.

He grinned ferociously and threw a left hook, but changed his move abruptly just before impact—a knee covered in dragon scales slammed hard into Situ Xuan's stomach.

"Ugh—"

Situ Xuan collapsed to his knees, gastric juices mixed with blood spraying out.

His vision went black for a moment, and it was only after he engaged his breathing technique that he managed to catch his breath.

"Give up."

Long Xiuyuan looked down at him from above. "I'm leaving. How about you come with me to the military?"

He watched the student before him quietly—his favorite student, and also the most troublesome one he had ever encountered. "You will receive the best training there, and you will have countless opponents to hone your combat skills against."

"In this society, in this era, apart from the military, a martial art like yours will have absolutely no use."

As the person in the entire Eastsea Academy who understood Situ Xuan best, Long Xiuyuan knew that unless he forced Situ Xuan to admit defeat, there was no way he would leave with him.

Looking at his injured protégé, Long Xiuyuan felt a pang of reluctance.

But he also knew that for Soul Masters like them, who craved battle and yearned for combat, the only possible destination was the military.

In this era saturated with soul guidance technology, what did it matter how strong one was in close-quarters combat?

To kill?

Or to establish a sect like in the ancient days?

It was meaningless!

"Cough, cough!"

Situ Xuan stood up, clutching his stomach in discomfort, and glared at Long Xiuyuan. "Lao Long, you thick-browed, big-eyed bastard, you're actually playing for real?!"

Situ Xuan slowly straightened his back, but a strange smile suddenly tugged at the corner of his mouth. "If you wanted to recruit me, you could have just said so. Did you really have to try and kill me?!"

Situ Xuan could tell that Long Xiuyuan hadn't truly landed a lethal blow; all the injuries were merely painful to the senses and wouldn't result in any severe trauma.

"Oh?"

Long Xiuyuan remained unmoved, looking at Situ Xuan with serious, solemn eyes. "Then I ask you: I am leaving. Are you coming with me to the military or not?"

Eastsea Academy could not nurture Situ Xuan. If he hadn't been undercover at Eastsea Academy for a secret mission, he never would have found such a promising seedling, and if not for such a seedling, he wouldn't have wrapped up his mission so quickly.

Delaying the end of the mission for paid leave was fine, but he didn't want such a good talent to truly waste away at Eastsea Academy.

"Lao Long,"

Situ Xuan grinned. "I don't think I ever told you that besides my fist techniques, I also practice a set of palm techniques!"

Situ Xuan suddenly broke into a grin, the blood at the corner of his mouth appearing particularly jarring under the lights. He extended his tongue to lick his lips, an action that made Long Xiuyuan frown—it was like a beast savoring the scent of its own blood.

"Black Tiger Steals Heart!"

The youth let out a low roar, and his figure suddenly vanished.

Long Xiuyuan's pupils constricted. He clearly saw Situ Xuan's right hand curled into a claw, with a strange, black baleful aura emerging from his palm.

This was definitely not the Fist of the North Star style he had experienced before!

"Bang!"

The black tiger claw slammed solidly into Long Xiuyuan's chest, and the defense of a Soul King was actually dented slightly by this palm strike.

Even more terrifying was the chilling palm force that penetrated his body, causing the heart of Long Xiuyuan to stall for half a second.

"Good lad!"

Long Xiuyuan laughed instead of getting angry, his knotted muscles suddenly tensing to forcibly expel the icy palm energy from his body. "You have this trick up your sleeve too!"

Situ Xuan had already used the momentum to retreat, his hands tracing mysterious trajectories before his chest.

The aura around him changed abruptly, shifting from the sharp, piercing edge of Fist of the North Star to the sinister, venomous nature of Black Heart Evil Palm. These two vastly different martial arts were perfectly fused within him.

"Black Shadow Looming!"

Seven afterimages of Situ Xuan suddenly appeared in the Training Room, each assuming a different attack stance.

Long Xiuyuan narrowed his eyes, his soul power perception fully activated, yet he discovered that every afterimage possessed a genuine fluctuation of aura.

"Snap!"

The third afterimage on the left suddenly lunged, his right hand striking toward Long Xiuyuan's throat like a venomous snake.

The Soul King instinctively parried, only to see that afterimage twist and dissipate eerily; the true killing blow came from behind—Situ Xuan's left palm, wreathed in black mist, aimed directly for his heart!

"Boom!"

A dark golden light suddenly erupted from Long Xiuyuan's body as his fifth soul skill, Dragon Ant Tyrant Body, activated instantly.

Situ Xuan's palm force collided with that layer of scales, emitting the sound of clashing metal.

The two separated as soon as they touched. Situ Xuan's entire left arm trembled slightly, his knuckles turning white from the recoil; Long Xiuyuan touched the tingling scales over his heart, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Long Xiuyuan suddenly laughed three times, his entire body boiling with battle intent. "Now that's more like it!"

He ripped off his tattered training gear, revealing a lean, muscular torso covered in scars.

The cartoon bandage had fallen off at some point, revealing a fresh claw mark underneath—the very one Situ Xuan had just left behind.

Situ Xuan shook his numb arm and suddenly laughed as well: "What? No more trying to convince me to join the army?"

"To hell with convincing!"

Long Xiuyuan bared his white teeth in a grin. "With a Black Heart Palm like that, I'm going to beat you into submission today!"

Before the words had even faded, he transformed into a streak of golden lightning.