A Match Against Na'er

Yun Ming looked at Yun Ze and said,

"Your blacksmithing and mecha design have both reached level three?"

Yun Ze nodded. Yun Ming looked at him with satisfaction and said,

"Honestly, I didn't believe you could make progress in two fields at once. But now it seems that one of Shrek's old miracles might be partially repeated."

Yun Ze knew exactly which miracle Yun Ming meant: a legendary figure from the original story's background, someone who had trained in three professions at once while also cultivating his Martial Soul—and still managed to hold on to the position of vice class monitor.

The kind of guy whose name might not be known throughout the martial world, but whose legend was.

That was probably the sort of person he meant.

Yun Ming turned to Yun Ze and said,

"Ze'er, in that case, why don't you spar with Na'er? You're both my disciples and both use spears, so it'll be a good chance for me to get a feel for Na'er's abilities."

Yun Ze looked at Na'er, who was still standing beside them with a slightly vacant expression. She turned to look at him, a spark of fighting spirit in her eyes.

She clearly took this chance to prove herself seriously. Yun Ze raised a hand and said,

"A son shouldn't defy his father. If you want to watch Na'er and me spar, I have no objections."

"It's just that our Martial Souls and Soul Skills both seem rather out of the ordinary. Where should we spar?"

Yun Ze hoped to get them a virtual arena or something similar. If they really fought with real weapons, he'd be losing out if he got hurt.

And if he hurt Na'er, setting aside whether he'd feel bad about it, she might hold a grudge and catch him alone one day to give him a few cheap shots.

She probably wouldn't go so far as to kill him, but it would still be miserable.

Yun Ming waved a hand and said,

"As my son, you'll have no shortage of chances to fight with real weapons in the future. Sparring with a low-ranked Soul Master like Na'er is a good opportunity for you to get used to it."

Yun Ze glanced at Na'er. He'd just finished talking big, and now going against his father didn't seem like a good idea.

Especially since Ya Li was in seclusion lately, hoping to break through to another realm.

To avoid a situation where his father outlived his son and brought out the leather belt, Yun Ze had no choice but to swallow his objections.

He could always hold back and make sure Na'er didn't lose too badly.

Na'er seemed to have the same thought. She looked Yun Ze over with a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.

Yun Ze could only sigh inwardly. What kind of luck did he have? Two years ago, he'd fought Wang Dong and Wang Qiu'er.

Two years later, just as he was finally starting to stand a chance against them, along came Na'er to fight him too.

He couldn't tell whether he was attracting romantic luck or misfortune.

Yun Ming led Yun Ze and Na'er to the Competition Arena used by the Inner Court.

These arenas were for Inner Court disciples to settle minor disputes while they still had their wits about them.

Whenever a dispute arose, the two parties would fight it out in an arena like this. Both sides had lethal protection, so they could vent their frustration without holding back—and once they were done, they'd cool off.

This lethal protection was a Soul Guidance Technology developed only in the past few thousand years. Simply put, it was a Soul Tool much like Spiritual Detection, monitoring the entire arena.

Using laser scanning, it rapidly assessed the damage each attack dealt to the opponent.

The instant someone was about to suffer a fatal attack, a protective barrier would rise, and they'd be teleported off the stage.

So the fighters could attack with everything they had. Unless someone could attack faster than light, it was almost impossible to truly kill their opponent.

Even maiming them was difficult, since the sensitivity was usually set to teleport a fighter away once they were about to be crippled.

Only if both parties signed a life-and-death contract would the sensitivity of the lethal protection be lowered to its minimum, leaving the opponent with just enough life to cling to.

Usually, anyone fighting to that extent had already lost the sense to make it to an arena in the first place. So although this level of protection existed in name, it had almost never been activated.

Yun Ming naturally wouldn't have his son and Na'er spar with the protection set to that level. In fact, he turned the sensitivity up quite a bit.

As soon as either of them took an undefendable hit to a vital area, they'd be teleported off immediately.

Yun Ming's reasoning was that if someone got teleported off and still wasn't satisfied, they could go back and continue fighting—but neither of them could be allowed to take more than serious injuries.

Yun Ze and Na'er had no objections. Once they stepped onto the dueling arena, they wordlessly moved to opposite edges.

After Yun Ming announced that they could begin, Na'er released her Martial Soul. A purple Soul Ring appeared at her feet.

She had only one Soul Ring, yet her presence was no weaker than Yun Ze's two Hundred-Year Soul Rings.

It wasn't that Yun Ze had received less training. Yun Ming had simply wanted to conceal as much of his strength as possible, so Yun Ze had rarely gone to the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Shrek's own Soul Spirit advancement system also progressed much more slowly.

As Na'er released her Martial Soul, Yun Ze got his first look at the Silver Dragon Spear.

It was a silver spear more than twelve feet long, with an exceptionally slender shaft covered in fine silver scales. The scales were hexagonal, delicate, and evenly arranged.

Beside the exquisite Silver Dragon Spear, the Heaven-Propping Spear and Heaven-Surpassing Spear in Yun Ze's hands looked like bloodthirsty weapons snatched from a battlefield.

Yun Ze himself carried a battle spirit that seemed ready to challenge heaven and earth, meeting Na'er's graceful aura head-on.

Their auras both matched their Martial Souls perfectly. Na'er looked at Yun Ze, then said,

"Senior Brother Yun, please."

Yun Ze looked at Na'er and replied,

"Your Soul Ring is a little higher in rank than mine, but I have two rings while you only have one. You can attack first."

Na'er nodded and didn't bother being polite. She didn't use Soul Power; she simply bent her knees and pushed off hard from the ground.

Her figure shot forward like lightning, thrusting straight at Yun Ze.

Yun Ze swung the Heaven-Propping Spear and used its shaft to knock aside the thrust of Na'er's two-handed spear.

That thrust was much lighter than Wang Qiu'er's Golden Dragon Spear had been during the Simulation.

That was Yun Ze's clearest impression. The Golden Dragon King had inherited the Dragon God's strength. Although Na'er also possessed a portion of the Silver Dragon King's power, the difference between their strength was still enormous.

After deflecting Na'er's thrust, Yun Ze turned the Heaven-Surpassing Spear in his other hand and tapped her abdomen with its shaft.

Na'er's heart jolted. She steadied her spear and aimed it at Yun Ze again, but took several steps back.

Yun Ze now spun both spears in his hands. After a full rotation, he pointed them at Na'er once more.

"Your skills are certainly impressive. You recovered quickly even after I struck your dantian, but your attacks are still rather clumsy..."