Zhao Wuji activated his Vajra Bear Martial Soul and said, "Xiao Mingzi, put a little more strength into it. You're still not even making me itch."
Jiang Siming sent out several more sword auras. Of course, they had no effect on Zhao Wuji.
Would Jiang Siming really waste his time like that? Obviously not. From the first day he fought Zhao Wuji, Jiang Siming had realized that meeting force with force wouldn't work. Back then, his combat skills hadn't yet matured, so he chose to hide his true strength.
Jiang Siming had been using the Rusty Sword's sword aura as cover all along, while secretly gathering sword aura with the Immortal Extinction Sword.
In an instant, a purple Soul Ring appeared and lit up around Jiang Siming.
"One Sword Separates the World!" A massive white sword aura, imbued with the power of slaughter, shot toward Zhao Wuji.
As Zhao Wuji felt the killing intent contained in the sword aura, it was already right before him. His skin prickled with the tearing sensation of being sliced open.
Zhao Wuji hurriedly activated his first, second, and third Soul Skills.
With a single boom, Zhao Wuji was sent flying more than ten meters.
Jiang Siming's sword had been so fast that Zhao Wuji hadn't had time to prepare at all. He'd only managed to release his first, second, and third Soul Skills.
"Jiang Siming, that was way too vicious! My poor back! I'm done. Fighting you is worse than going back to bed," Zhao Wuji said with a laughing scold. The truth was, Jiang Siming was right up his alley. No matter what your level was, he'd charge in and hit you. Even if he couldn't win, he wouldn't back down. He didn't show the slightest respect for Zhao Wuji, a Level 70 Soul Saint.
"Ding! Sign-in task completed. Reward: ten Body Strengthening Pills."
"Ding! Because the host's First Soul Ring is 3,000 years old, the sign-in task's difficulty has doubled, the reward has doubled, and the time limit has doubled. Sign-in task: Obtain a Soul Ring of at least 6,000 years in the Star Dou Great Forest."
Jiang Siming hadn't even had time to get excited before the system issued its next task.
"Just as I expected. But a 6,000-year Soul Beast..." Jiang Siming murmured, looking down.
Jiang Siming had planned to ask Zhao Wuji for help, but after thinking it over, he decided against it.
The path of cultivation was never going to be smooth. Only by relying on himself could he go further.
Jiang Siming smiled wryly and left.
Over the next three months, Jiang Siming still didn't go out to obtain a Soul Ring. Instead, he honed his combat skills at the Soto Grand Arena.
Three months later, Jiang Siming returned from the Star Dou Great Forest. His second Soul Ring came from a 7,500-year-old Dark Night Lion. He'd tracked it for seven days and nights, finally wearing it down until it died. He obtained his second Soul Skill, God of Slaughter Possession. It increased all his attributes by 50%, and the percentage would rise as his level increased. It could be called a divine skill. Usually, attribute boosts became less efficient at higher levels, but Jiang Siming had no such drawback. His boost would actually increase.
Of course, the reward Jiang Siming received for completing the sign-in task left him laughing and crying at the same time.
"Reward: Second Martial Soul innate skill, Aura of Hegemony. Increases your own presence by 100%."
Jiang Siming had a hundred curses racing through his mind. So this was what the system meant by doubling the reward? Wasn't this just a rip-off? It was a skill that reeked of showing off, and the name was so lame, too.
Of course, Jiang Siming had also unlocked his second sword, named the Immortal Slaying Sword.
Jiang Siming discovered that the Immortal Extinction Sword was incredibly sharp and carried Slaughter Aura of its own. Once drawn, it couldn't be held back. His strike against Zhao Wuji that day had been decisive and merciless. The Immortal Slaying Sword, on the other hand, filled him with bloodlust the moment it entered his hand. When its sword aura struck a Soul Beast, the wound was difficult to heal. Killing intent poured from it, and the skin around the wound eventually died.
Jiang Siming's efforts over the past seven months had finally earned him a fitting reward. His combat skills were now on a completely different level from before.
The legend of "None of You Can Fight" had already spread through the Soto Grand Arena. His record stood at 562 wins and 73 losses.
Jiang Siming was no longer the mediocre boy he'd been in Holy Soul Village.
Jiang Siming, a stowaway from another world, was finally about to make his mark here.
Four years later.
Jiang Siming was in the middle of his daily "morning exercise" when the dean called him over.
"Morning exercise" meant Jiang Siming's usual one-on-one sparring sessions with Zhao Wuji.
Over the past four years, Jiang Siming's combat skills had grown ever more polished. He'd completely outgrown the stage of relying only on Soul Skills to fight. His techniques were so unpredictable that even Zhao Wuji found him a headache. Jiang Siming's Immortal Slaying Sword was especially troublesome. After each fight, only Jiang Siming himself could dispel the killing intent carried by its sword aura. Otherwise, the injured flesh on Zhao Wuji's body would inevitably die.
Naturally, Jiang Siming gave Zhao Wuji a Body Strengthening Pill for serving as his sparring partner.
"Siming, I have a task for you today. A new batch of Little Monsters has arrived at the academy, and they're a bit difficult to handle. I was going to send Old Zhao, to knock down their arrogance, but then I thought about it. I'm afraid they wouldn't be convinced if Old Zhao went. So I'll leave it to you. After all, people their own age will put them under much more pressure," Flender said, looking rosy-cheeked.
His books had been selling well these past few years. They were bestsellers in his previous life, one of the finest works in the genre of showing off and humiliating your opponents, and they'd become bestsellers on Douluo Continent, too. The academy's finances had finally begun to recover, instead of falling into the disrepair seen in the original story.
Jiang Siming thought for a moment. "If I'm remembering right, that bunch should have arrived by now."
"All right, Dean," Jiang Siming agreed.
"This is the fourth test: survive for the time it takes an incense stick to burn under your future senior, Jiang Siming." Dai Mubai smirked, waiting to see the group make fools of themselves.
Dai Mubai had eaten Jiang Siming's pills, and Jiang Siming's presence had kept him from becoming as debauched as he had in the original story. He'd now reached the terrifying level of 39, even though he was only fifteen. And after training with Jiang Siming every day, his practical fighting skills were nothing to scoff at.
As for Jiang Siming, he was still at Level 29. His next sign-in task was to defeat Tang San and the team he led: Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Xiao Wu. Jiang Siming didn't dare take the risk. He didn't know whether the sign-in system worked as he suspected, with consecutive sign-ins. If he skipped this sign-in and went straight to the next one, would the system count this task as failed and make him do a make-up sign-in? Whatever the case, in all the games he'd played in his previous life, make-up sign-ins always came at a cost.
During this time, Jiang Siming discovered that Soul Power could be compressed.
Most Soul Masters focused only on increasing their levels. Few paused to do more than consolidate their foundations, and even fewer paid attention to improving the quality of their Soul Power. Even if someone realized that Soul Power could be compressed, how many would be willing to give up the temptation of breaking through? Who would want to waste the years they could spend increasing their Soul Power by taking the time to compress it? And as for the older generation of experts, who would willingly let their cultivation drop to compress their Soul Power when their progress was already slow? In the end, it simply wasn't worth it.
But Jiang Siming was an oddball. It wasn't that he didn't want to improve. He had no choice but to wait. So compressing his Soul Power to make it denser was his only option.
"Senior, you can't be serious, right? The four of us aren't that weak," Ning Rongrong said proudly.
"Brother Siming won't be that easy to deal with," Tang San said seriously.
"What? Tang San, you know Jiang Siming?" Dai Mubai asked curiously.
"We're from the same school. More accurately, we have a teacher in common," Tang San said with a smile.