The fourth soul skill, Armor-Splitting Bone-Crushing Strike, activated. Dragon scales stood erect along his arms like serrated blades as he charged straight at Situ Xuan with a shriek that tore through the air.
The Training Room instantly filled with flying sand and debris.
Situ Xuan fought as he retreated, alternating between the Black Heart Evil Palm and Fist of the North Star—sometimes sinister and elusive, sometimes fierce and violent.
Two utterly different martial arts flowed through his hands as naturally as his own limbs, without the slightest hitch.
"Bang!"
Another head-on clash.
Situ Xuan was blasted back more than ten steps, his back slamming heavily into the wall. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, yet the fighting spirit in his eyes only burned hotter.
"Again!"
The youth roared and formed a strange hand seal.
Seven Secret Acupoints across his body lit up at once, and the pattern of the Big Dipper flickered beneath his skin.
But Long Xiuyuan suddenly withdrew his stance and burst into loud laughter. "Hahaha! Enough!"
He casually wiped the blood from his face, and that carefree, unruly grin returned. "You brat, hiding so many tricks from me. Those last few moves nearly made me capsize in a gutter!"
Situ Xuan froze, the boiling Soul Power within him gradually settling. He looked at Long Xiuyuan in confusion. "We're not fighting... Did I break the rules by using my palm technique?"
"Bullshit!"
Long Xiuyuan strode over and slapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking Situ Xuan—who had just gotten to his feet—back to the ground. "Do I look like someone who cares that much about rules?"
He suddenly leaned closer and lowered his voice. "But this palm technique of yours... it's a family martial art too?"
Situ Xuan blinked, putting on an innocent smile. "Of course it's a family martial art. What, do you think I dreamed it up?"
"..."
Long Xiuyuan stared at him for three seconds, then suddenly rubbed his hair hard. "Little liar!"
He turned and headed for the Training Room door, his back carrying an indescribable ease. "All right, we're done for today. Eight tomorrow morning. Don't be late."
Watching his retreating figure, Situ Xuan suddenly called out, "Hey! About the military..."
Without turning around, Long Xiuyuan waved a hand. "Do whatever you want! I'm packing up and leaving tomorrow anyway. Follow me or don't!"
After the Training Room door closed, Situ Xuan finally could no longer hold himself up and slowly slid down the wall to sit on the floor.
He lowered his head and looked at his trembling hands. The chilling aura of the Black Heart Evil Palm still lingered in his palms.
"This guy... he never even used his full strength..."
The youth shook his head with a bitter smile, but he could not hide the excitement in his eyes. He remembered the meaningful look Long Xiuyuan had given him before leaving—as if he were looking at an uncut piece of jade.
The setting sun outside stained the Training Room blood-red.
Situ Xuan struggled to his feet and began gathering the scattered bandages and clothes.
Pain throbbed through his left ribs, a souvenir from Long Xiuyuan's final elbow strike.
As morning light pierced the mist, Long Xiuyuan was already standing outside Eastsea Academy's main gate, checking his watch for the seventh time. Sunlight reflected off its metal face and stung his eyes, but it could not penetrate those unfathomable pupils.
"Brother Long, if we don't leave now, we'll miss the reporting time."
Beside the military jeep, his comrade in casual clothes reminded him with a cigarette hanging from his lips. "Who are you waiting for?"
Long Xiuyuan did not answer. His thumb rubbed the crack on the watch face—the mark left by Situ Xuan's finger wind during yesterday's fight.
As the second hand passed its final mark, he snapped the watch shut and turned toward the jeep.
"Let's go!"
Just as he pulled open the car door, a frivolous whistle sounded from above the wall.
"Lao Long, keep your spirits up when you get to the East Sea Legion. Don't embarrass yourself!"
Situ Xuan sat on the edge of the five-meter-high wall with one knee raised, his school uniform jacket draped casually over his shoulders. His right eye still bore a bruise from yesterday's fight.
The morning breeze lifted the loose hair over his forehead, revealing a pair of smiling eyes.
Long Xiuyuan's grip on the car door abruptly tightened, and the metal handle groaned under the strain. He suddenly kicked the tire, making the entire vehicle shake. "Situ Xuan! You little bastard! I waited forty-seven minutes!"
"I was counting."
Situ Xuan waved the wrist that had no watch on it. "Just letting you have a taste of waiting—after all, someone made me lie in the infirmary until midnight yesterday."
Static suddenly crackled from the car radio, and Long Xiuyuan's comrade wisely slipped into the driver's seat.
The two men stared at each other through the morning mist. Neither mentioned saying goodbye.
Long Xiuyuan suddenly pulled something from his pocket and hurled it forcefully toward the wall.
Situ Xuan caught it with one hand and found that it was a dark golden scale, dried blood still clinging to its edges.
"I'm in the East Sea Fleet 1st Marine Division."
Long Xiuyuan shouted at the top of his lungs, startling sparrows from the treetops. "If there's a fight you can't win, remember to call for help!"
Situ Xuan tucked the scale into the pocket against his chest, then casually dusted the dirt from his pant leg as he rose.
The simple motion tugged at his injured ribs, and he frowned almost imperceptibly.
"Get lost."
The youth waved as though shooing away mosquitoes. "When you become a general, I'll come mooch off you!"
Amid the roar of the engine, the jeep kicked up a cloud of dust.
Half of Long Xiuyuan's body stuck out of the window, his raised middle finger gradually blurring at the end of the road.
Situ Xuan waited until even the exhaust fumes were gone before lightly leaping down from the wall.
When he landed, he stepped on a fallen leaf. Its crisp crack startled a wild cat hidden in the grass.
The cat sprang out with its fur standing on end and crashed right into his hand hanging at his side.
Situ Xuan instinctively reached to grab it, but loosened his fingers the instant he touched its warm flesh.
The wild cat fled into the distance. He spread open his palm and looked at the few strands of cat fur resting there.
When the wind blew, the soft hairs spun away in the direction Long Xiuyuan had left.
"Brother Long, that colleague of yours..."
The driving comrade stole a glance through the rearview mirror. "He's pretty unusual."
Long Xiuyuan was peeling an apple with a dagger. At those words, the tip of the blade dug hard into the flesh. He shot a glance at this guy who had failed to report the matter. "What the hell are you looking at? He's my student!"
His comrade's eyes widened. "That's a student?!"
Long Xiuyuan rolled his eyes and unceremoniously propped both feet on the seat in front of him. "A student! My proudest student!"
Silence returned to the cabin, broken only by the steady hum of the engine.
Long Xiuyuan pulled out his cigarette pack and discovered that the last cigarette had somehow snapped in two. He stared at the broken tobacco for a long time, then suddenly kicked the back of the front seat.
"Fuck! I forgot to beat that brat up one more time!"
His angry curse startled a flock of birds resting by the roadside. Their fluttering wings sounded remarkably like the youth's clothes whipping through the air when he leaped from the wall.
Long Xiuyuan watched the academy's outline shrink farther and farther in the rearview mirror, then tossed the crumpled tobacco out the window.
Listening to Eastsea Academy's wake-up bell, Situ Xuan slowly let out a breath and muttered, "No one to fight anymore~"
"Lao Long, Lao Long, you really picked a bad time to leave."
Situ Xuan had actually guessed long ago that Long Xiuyuan was no ordinary person. He was connected to the military, young, and possessed the cultivation of a Soul King.
One look was enough to tell that he was someone who had come with a mission.
Leaving had been inevitable. Situ Xuan simply had not known that, in order to take him away, Long Xiuyuan had truly ended this simple undercover assignment—which could practically be considered a vacation—ahead of schedule.
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