One-Punch Man!

"This is a good friend I've known since my time in Dongyang City. She originally wanted to take the academy entrance examination."

"Unfortunately, the academy's entrance examination has already ended."

Xu Tianming had already thought up an identity for Yuanen Yehui.

His father was, after all, the lord of Dongyang City. Pulling a few strings with the household registry was hardly difficult.

"So she came to me, hoping I could help her think of a solution."

Xu Tianming put on a somewhat helpless expression.

"So, I was just about to ask your grandfather for a favor."

The moment he said that, Meng Hongchen had yet to react, but Xiao Hongchen beside her could not help stepping forward.

"Old Xu, our academy isn't some place where any stray cat or dog can just stroll in."

As he spoke, Xiao Hongchen glanced at Yuanen Yehui.

"I'm telling you, you should stop doing these crooked little tricks."

"Besides, my grandfather isn't someone who's easy to persuade."

Yuanen Yehui's pretty face immediately turned cold as she gritted her teeth and said:

"Who are you calling a stray cat or dog?"

"If you can even forget the time for the entrance examination, then with that kind of attitude, you don't deserve to enter the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy."

Xiao Hongchen looked haughty, practically looking down at people through his nostrils.

"You...!"

Yuanen Yehui's face flushed red. She pointed at Xiao Hongchen, but for a moment, she was so choked with anger that she could not speak.

"Xiao Hongchen, don't underestimate Yehui."

Xu Tianming found it amusing inside, but he spoke with a deliberately mysterious air.

"Old Xu, what do you mean by that?"

Xiao Hongchen snorted.

"Could this girl possibly be stronger than you?"

"I wouldn't dare say I'm stronger than His Highness Tianming, but I'm definitely much stronger than a greasy-faced pretty boy like you."

Before Xu Tianming could say anything, Yuanen Yehui cut in first.

"You?"

Xiao Hongchen sized up Yuanen Yehui's somewhat slender frame and curled his lips disdainfully.

"How about this? Let's make a bet."

Xu Tianming smoothly took over the conversation with a smile.

"What bet?"

A trace of wariness flashed across Xiao Hongchen's face.

The last time he had made a bet with Xu Tianming, he had lost a piece of Soul Forging Secret Silver and gotten a thorough scolding from his grandfather.

"You and Yehui will have a match."

Xu Tianming explained:

"If you win, I'll return the Soul Forging Secret Silver you lost last time."

"If Yehui wins, you'll go ask your grandfather to make arrangements for her admission."

"How about it?"

Xiao Hongchen did not agree immediately, and he was clearly hesitant.

"Xiao, you're the number one genius Spirit Master of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy. Why are you so lacking in confidence?"

Seeing that Xiao Hongchen was not taking the bait, Xu Tianming immediately started egging him on.

"If Xiao Hongchen had never been born, the Sun Moon Empire would have been shrouded in eternal night!"

"That's the spirit. Keep your chin up, don't lose face!"

Yuanen Yehui merely sneered and said to Xiao Hongchen:

"Coward!"

"Coward?"

Xiao Hongchen immediately bristled.

"You called me a coward?"

"Fine, let's fight. Don't say I bullied a girl!"

Xiao Hongchen took a step back, and two yellow and two purple Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet.

"Xiao, I'll take that as you agreeing to the bet, then?"

Stopping Yuanen Yehui, who was about to use Martial Soul Possession, Xu Tianming reminded Xiao Hongchen:

"Meng and I will both be witnesses."

"Pah!"

Xiao Hongchen spat at Xu Tianming.

"Who in the entire Sun Moon Empire doesn't know that when I, Xiao Hongchen, give my word, it's as good as a nail driven into wood?"

"If she can really defeat me, I'll go speak to my grandfather myself!"

"Good, now that's a real man!"

Xu Tianming gave Xiao Hongchen a thumbs-up, then pulled the silent Meng Hongchen back several steps.

"What bad idea are you up to this time?"

Meng Hongchen shot Xu Tianming a mildly reproachful look.

"You're the son of Dongyang City's lord and a close relative of the imperial family."

"You could obviously settle this by going to Grandfather yourself. Why do you insist on setting my brother up?"

Meng Hongchen might be a hopeless looks fanatic, but she could see through certain things far more clearly than Xiao Hongchen.

"What, you don't believe your brother can defeat Yehui?"

Rather than answer Meng Hongchen's question directly, Xu Tianming asked one of his own.

"Cut it out."

Meng Hongchen snorted irritably.

"I don't know why, but I just feel like your friend is really strong..."

A woman's sixth sense, huh!

Xu Tianming shook his head and turned his gaze toward the two facing off.

Yuanen Yehui exhaled a breath of stale air. Four black Soul Rings slowly lit up beneath her feet in succession.

Her outer clothes rapidly tore apart, revealing the highly elastic bodysuit underneath.

Yuanen Yehui's previously slender body instantly became incredibly burly. As she spread her arms, her entire body brimmed with explosive power.

"No wonder Yehui likes dressing as a man... The Titan Giant Ape Martial Soul is just far too incongruous on a woman."

Watching Yuanen Yehui practically transform into a muscular powerhouse, Xu Tianming's mouth twitched slightly.

"Four Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings?"

Xiao Hongchen's eyes widened like bells as an incredulous cry burst from his mouth.

Even Meng Hongchen beside him could not help letting out a startled gasp.

Xu Tianming's two Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings were already outrageous, but this woman's first Soul Ring was Ten Thousand Years old!

Ignoring Xiao Hongchen's loss of composure, all four Soul Rings beneath Yuanen Yehui lit up at once.

Her figure suddenly grew taller, while the already exaggerated muscles on her body seemed ready to burst apart.

She stomped fiercely on the ground with both legs, and Yuanen Yehui shot toward Xiao Hongchen like a cannonball.

Even Xu Tianming felt the ground shake violently at that moment.

Using a soul skill took time. Faced with Yuanen Yehui rushing toward him at high speed, Xiao Hongchen had no time at all to unleash one.

Caught off guard, golden light enveloped his entire body.

Bang!

With a muffled boom, the golden barrier surrounding Xiao Hongchen trembled violently.

The tremendous force sent him, barrier and all, flying. He skidded across the ground for dozens of meters before barely coming to a stop.

"This strength... should count as ultimate strength, right?"

Unlike Xu Tianming, who had only obtained his formidable power through cultivating body-tempering techniques and the Body Sect Secret Technique,

Yuanen Yehui's strength came entirely from the enhancements of her Martial Soul and Soul Rings.

Even if she could not compare to Xu Tianming, there were still very few people of their age in this era who could match her.

"Lady, stop fighting! I concede!"

Once the Invincible Barrier's effect ended, Xiao Hongchen hurriedly scrambled to his feet, his face full of terror.

If the Invincible Barrier had not activated automatically just now, he truly felt as though he might have died.

"Damn it, birds of a feather flock together!"

Xiao Hongchen muttered curses under his breath:

"A freak's friends are fucking freaks too!"