Before his words had even faded.
Su Chen's body had already vanished from where he stood.
Bang.
The bluestone slab beneath his feet erupted with a dull crack.
Spiderweb-like fractures crazily spread in every direction.
He had released no Martial Soul.
Not even a Soul Ring had lit up.
Su Chen relied entirely on the terrifying burst of physical power his body had gained after being reforged by the Marrow Cleansing Pill.
He forcibly smashed through the resistance of the air.
Then he transformed into a black blur and charged straight at Tang San.
A fierce gust hit him head-on.
The black figure instantly filled Tang San's vision.
A deadly sense of danger stabbed into his nerves like a steel needle.
Retreat.
He had to retreat.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill inner energy in Tang San's body surged wildly.
The Purple Demon Eye activated in an instant.
A faint purple glow veiled his eyes.
He tried to catch Su Chen's movements.
At the same time, his feet crossed in a complex pattern.
The Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track fully engaged.
His body slid backward like a ghost.
A string of shifting, indistinct afterimages trailed behind him.
He tried to put distance between himself and Su Chen.
"Not bad footwork."
Su Chen's voice suddenly exploded right beside Tang San's ear.
Tang San's pupils shrank sharply.
The Purple Demon Eye saw it clearly.
Su Chen hadn't been fooled by the afterimages at all.
He was simply too fast.
So fast that he'd charged straight ahead with the most direct, brutal approach.
He had crossed all the illusory space created by the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
Su Chen raised his right hand.
His five fingers spread.
He reached straight for Tang San's shoulder.
There was no dodging it.
Tang San clenched his teeth.
He abruptly turned both hands upward.
He poured all of his Mysterious Heaven Skill inner energy into his palms.
His ten fingers instantly turned a translucent jade white.
Mysterious Jade Hand.
One of the Tang Sect Secret Arts' most domineering defensive techniques.
It was said to be impervious to blades and spears, and immune to all poisons.
Tang San crossed his hands.
He used Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon's redirection technique.
His left and right hands caught Su Chen's right wrist.
He tried to use skill to deflect the force of the violent impact to one side.
Su Chen let Tang San grab his wrist.
He looked at those jade-white hands.
A trace of mockery flashed through his eyes.
"Flashy, useless tricks."
Su Chen's right arm shook violently.
Two thousand jin of pure physical force erupted in an instant like a slumbering volcano.
He needed no technique.
Overwhelming strength trumped every skill.
The violent force crushed the feeble redirection power of Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon.
It slammed into the defense formed by Mysterious Jade Hand.
Crack.
A piercing sound of breaking bones rang out in front of the academy gates.
Tang San's vaunted Mysterious Jade Hand defense collapsed in an instant.
The jade-white color quickly faded.
His ten fingers bent backward at grotesque angles.
A wave of agony overwhelmed his mind.
"Urgh!"
Tang San let out a pained groan.
The enormous recoil surged up both arms and into his chest.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill inner energy he had painstakingly cultivated across two lifetimes was scattered by that single blow.
His body completely lost its balance.
As if struck by a carriage at full speed.
His feet left the ground.
He flew backward and crashed heavily into the academy's iron gates.
The iron bars shuddered violently.
Tang San slid down the railing to the ground.
His throat sweetened.
Blood sprayed across the front of his clothes.
Yu Xiaogang slumped on the steps.
He watched the genius disciple he'd just taken a liking to suffer a grievous injury in a single blow.
His lips trembled.
He couldn't manage a single word.
His theories.
His reputation.
At that moment, they were all trampled into the mud.
Su Chen withdrew his hand.
He slowly walked over to the pile of iron filings.
His soles ground against the ground.
They made a sandy scraping sound.
"A few crude iron plates and a spring mechanism."
Su Chen looked down at Tang San.
His voice was filled with utter disdain.
"Dipped in a little cheap anesthetic poison."
"And this toy, something even an apprentice in a blacksmith's shop could hammer out,"
"you call a Hidden Weapon?"
Tang San clutched his broken fingers.
When he heard those words,
his eyes suddenly filled with blood.
Hidden Weapons were the foundation of the Tang Sect.
They were also the untouchable pride buried deep in his heart.
To have Su Chen dismiss them as blacksmith's toys
filled him with more humiliation and rage than broken bones ever could.
"What do you know?"
Tang San forced the words through clenched teeth.
"How could someone like you understand the wonders of Hidden Weapons?"
Su Chen sneered.
"What's so wondrous about dead things that need springs and mechanisms to launch them?"
"Without Soul Power to support them, without laws to empower them,"
"in the face of absolute strength and reaction speed, things like these can't even break through a defense."
Su Chen took a step forward.
He walked right up to Tang San.
He looked down at him from above.
"I didn't even release my Martial Soul for that last attack."
"Your inner energy is scattered, your hand bones are broken, and that hopping footwork of yours was a joke."
"Is that what gave you the nerve to provoke Spirit Hall?"
Tang San's chest heaved violently.
He glared at Su Chen.
His left hand stealthily moved toward his waist.
There lay the Bone Piercing Nail he'd saved as his last means of survival.
If he could get close enough,
if he could find an opening,
Su Chen noticed the tiny movement.
The warmth in his eyes dropped to absolute zero.
"You refuse to learn."
Su Chen gave Tang San no chance at all.
He suddenly raised his right leg.
Then he kicked Tang San in the abdomen.
Bang.
Tang San curled up like a cooked shrimp.
His body slid several meters along the ground.
He hit the edge of the steps again.
Then he passed out completely.
The instant Tang San lost consciousness,
the system's mechanical prompt rang out in Su Chen's mind right on time.
"Ding. The second stage of the mission is complete."
"Overwhelmingly suppress the chosen one, Tang San. Initial success in seizing his core fortune."
"Rewards are being distributed."
"Twin Martial Souls' fusion increased by ten percent. The conflict between the origins of both Martial Souls has been completely eliminated."
"Obtained a high-grade Earth-tier close-combat Soul Skill: Eight Extremities Collapse."
"Knowledge of the Soul Skill has been transmitted to the Sea of Consciousness. It has been automatically mastered to the great perfection stage."
A warm current quickly flowed through Su Chen's body.
He could clearly feel it.
The powers of light and darkness lying dormant in the palms of his left and right hands
had become more harmonious than ever before.
The repulsion he'd previously needed to suppress with the Chaos God-Demon Art had vanished completely.
At the same time,
a domineering technique for generating force was deeply etched into his muscle memory.
Eight Extremities Collapse.
It compressed vital energy and Soul Power into a single point.
Then it detonated them inside the enemy through hidden force.
Its power was enough to smash mountains and split peaks.
This close-combat Soul Skill paired with his reforged, perfect body.
The destructive power would surge by several times over.
Su Chen slowly exhaled a breath of white mist.
He withdrew his gaze.
He didn't spare Yu Xiaogang, sprawled on the ground, a single glance.
"Cardinal."
Su Chen turned around.
His voice echoed coldly before the gate.
"Your subordinate is here."
The Cardinal immediately stepped forward.
He bowed slightly.
"Take those two eyesores and toss them somewhere far away. Don't let them dirty the road here."
"Understood."
The Cardinal waved his hand.
Two tall Temple Knights strode forward.
Like dragging dead dogs, they seized Tang San and Yu Xiaogang by their collars.
Without the slightest courtesy, they dragged the two all the way to the end of the street.
They threw them beside a foul-smelling ditch.
By now, the dean of Nuoding Academy was drenched in cold sweat.
He knelt beside the steps with more than a dozen instructors.
His legs trembled.
He didn't even dare breathe too loudly.
The Martial Soul Hall Holy Son's methods were far too domineering and ruthless.
Even Yu Xiaogang, who came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, had been publicly trampled into a cripple.
Soul Masters from a border town like theirs—
they weren't even worth as much as ants.
Su Chen walked up to the dean.
The hem of his black brocade robe swept across the ground in the breeze.
"Dean."
Su Chen spoke.
The dean shuddered all over.
He scrambled forward a couple of steps.
He pressed his forehead hard against the paving stones.
"H-here. What orders does Your Highness the Holy Son have? Everyone at the academy will gladly give their lives to serve you."
"Show me around. I want to see the academy's Work-Study Student dormitory."
Su Chen's tone was calm.
"Every year, Spirit Hall allocates a huge sum to Fasinuo Province, specifically to subsidize poor Work-Study Students."
"I want to see what kind of place you've housed these commoner students in."
"If I find even the slightest fraud—"
Su Chen's gaze swept over the instructors kneeling on the ground.
"Your Nuoding Academy can be wiped off the map tomorrow."
The dean turned deathly pale with fright.
"Your Highness, please investigate carefully. The academy's treatment of Work-Study Students absolutely meets the standards."
"P-please, Your Highness, come with me."
The dean staggered to his feet.
He led the way, bowing and scraping.
Su Chen stepped over the open iron gate.
He officially entered Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.
The Cardinal followed close behind, accompanied by two Temple Knights.
The academy's landscaping was quite nice.
Tall dawn redwoods lined both sides of the path.
A broad gravel road led straight to the teaching buildings and dormitory area behind them.
It was the start of the school year, and the main road was filled with aristocratic students dressed in luxurious silk.
Large groups of servants followed them around.
They carried bundles of luggage.
When the students saw the dean walking ahead like a servant, with fully armed Spirit Hall knights behind him, they all hurried to the roadside.
Not a sound could be heard.
After passing two teaching buildings, a row of relatively low red-brick buildings came into view.
The surroundings here were clearly much worse than those in the front courtyard.
Moss covered the walls.
The ground had grown bumpy and uneven.
"Your Highness, this is the dormitory area."
The dean stopped in front of the largest building.
He pointed to a wooden plaque hanging above it.
Two characters had been painted on the plaque in black.
Dorm Seven.
"Dorm Seven is where all the Work-Study Students live."
The dean wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"The conditions are a little crude, but it definitely keeps out the wind and rain."
Su Chen ignored the dean's explanation.
He walked up to Dorm Seven's battered wooden door.
It wasn't fully shut.
A narrow gap remained.
From inside came bursts of young voices shouting, along with the sounds of furniture banging.
Clearly,
things inside weren't peaceful.
Su Chen raised his hand.
He pressed his fingertips against the rough wooden door.
With a gentle push,
the door swung inward with a sharp creak from its hinges.
A gust of air hit him, thick with sweat and damp, moldy smells.
Dozens of battered wooden beds stood inside the spacious dormitory.
At that moment,
more than a dozen boys in coarse clothes were gathered in the center of the room.
They were loudly jeering at a small figure.
Su Chen's gaze passed over the crowd.
It settled on the girl standing in the middle.
She wore a pink cloth dress.
Her face was delicate and lovely, as if carved from fine jade.
Her long black hair was tied into a Scorpion Braid that hung down behind her.
Most eye-catching of all were the pair of pink rabbit-ear ornaments on her head.
The girl planted her hands on her hips.
Her large eyes shone with an unyielding stubbornness.
She faced a group of boys a head taller than her.
She showed not the slightest fear.
Xiao Wu.
The Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit, transformed into human form.
Su Chen clasped his hands behind his back.
He stepped straight over the threshold.
He entered the dimly lit Dorm Seven.
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