An Easy Victory

"Let's begin." Xu Yuan's voice broke the silence on the field.

Tang San gritted his teeth and struck first. "First Soul Skill, Entanglement!"

Several strands of Blue Silver Grass shot out like spirit snakes, whipping through the air as they coiled toward Xu Yuan's limbs. They were much faster than they had been a year ago.

Xu Yuan shifted his feet. His body slid half a foot to the side like a falling leaf, just evading the Blue Silver Grass.

"First Soul Skill: Life Entanglement."

Sky-blue Blue Silver Emperor burst from the earth. A warm jade sheen spread across its vines, and tiny white flowers quietly bloomed at their tips, swaying gently as the vines moved.

With a flick of his wrist, Xu Yuan sent two strands of Blue Silver Emperor darting like nimble jade snakes. They slipped past Tang San's attacking Blue Silver Grass and wrapped precisely around his arms.

Tang San felt his arms tighten, and then a strange sensation washed over him.

The vines coiled around his skin carried a faint warmth. The tiny white flowers gave off the faintest fragrance, instantly soothing his agitated mind, unsettled by the tension.

Even more alarming, he could clearly feel the Soul Power within him being drawn away by some force, slowly flowing out along his arms at twice the speed as before.

"It's stronger than before..." Tang San's pupils contracted. He instinctively tried to break free.

But Xu Yuan's Blue Silver Emperor was far more resilient than he had expected. The harder he struggled, the tighter it coiled.

Tang San clenched his teeth as fine beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He tried to activate his second Soul Skill, Parasite, but the moment his Soul Power reached his palm, the pull from the Blue Silver Emperor threw it off course, drawing it along the vines toward Xu Yuan.

The tiny white flowers seemed almost alive as they quivered softly against his arms. Their fragrance kept soothing his agitated mind, even dulling his urge to fight back.

The students around them stared in stunned disbelief, their hands frozen on the wooden railing.

"Is Tang San completely countered?"

"Xu Yuan's Soul Skill is so strange. It doesn't just bind you—it makes you calm down, too?"

"The gap between them... it's just too big."

In the distance, Yu Xiaogang's face turned livid. His knuckles went white around his cane.

The counterattack techniques he had painstakingly taught Tang San had not even gotten the chance to be used.

Xu Yuan's seemingly gentle entanglement had found every one of Tang San's weaknesses, each inch precisely placed, as if he had already seen through all of Tang San's moves.

"Impossible... This can't be!" Yu Xiaogang roared inwardly, venomous hatred almost tangible in his eyes.

He absolutely refused to believe that some kid who wouldn't take him as his master could understand Blue Silver Grass this well!

On the field, Tang San's Soul Power drained faster and faster, and his face gradually paled.

He knew that if this continued, he would only lose even more miserably.

Suddenly, a vicious glint flashed in Tang San's eyes. He ignored the cost to his Soul Power and forced all the strength in his body into a desperate attempt to tear apart the Blue Silver Emperor by brute force.

Seeing Tang San's bloodshot eyes and taut muscles, Xu Yuan knew he was nearly at his limit.

"Why bother?" Xu Yuan said softly, but before he could finish—

Tang San unleashed the last of his Soul Power and wrenched his arms outward. The Blue Silver Emperor stretched taut, and the tiny white flowers fluttered to the ground.

Just as Tang San thought he was about to break free, Xu Yuan suddenly released the vines.

With nothing resisting him, Tang San lost his balance and stumbled forward.

Xu Yuan saw his opening and punched toward Tang San.

Xu Yuan's fist carried little Soul Power, yet it landed on Tang San's shoulder with the precision of a perfectly balanced weight.

The blow was not heavy, but it carried a deft force that neatly checked Tang San's forward momentum.

"Thud—"

Tang San's knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. His palms scraped against the dirt, leaving red abrasions.

Panting hard, he looked up. Xu Yuan had drawn back his fist, and the Blue Silver Emperor had vanished beneath the earth, leaving only a few white petals drifting onto the back of Tang San's hand.

Looking at Tang San on the ground, Xu Yuan said, "Tang San, you've lost."

Kneeling on the ground, Tang San's chest heaved violently. Sweat ran down his cheeks and dripped onto the dusty earth, spreading into a small, dark patch.

He looked at his scraped palms, then raised his eyes to Xu Yuan. Resentment and humiliation churned in his gaze, along with a bewilderment he could not put into words.

"I..." Tang San parted his lips. It felt as if sand were lodged in his throat, leaving it so dry he could not form a complete sound.

The bitter training of recent days, Yu Xiaogang's expectations, his own pride—all shattered in that moment like dust beneath his feet.

The voices around him seemed to reach him through a layer of water, blurred yet sharp, stabbing at his eardrums.

Those gazes—sympathetic, mocking, astonished—were like countless needles pricking his back.

Xu Yuan stood quietly before him, sky-blue hair falling over his shoulders. His tone remained calm. "Your problem isn't your Soul Power. It's your mindset."

"My mindset?" Tang San looked up sharply, his voice carrying a hoarse challenge. "Are you saying that when you're weaker than someone else, you should just smile and admit defeat?"

"Admitting defeat doesn't mean giving up." Xu Yuan crouched down to meet his eyes. "Only when you see the gap clearly can you know which way to go. You're too eager to prove yourself, and you've ended up narrowing your own path."

Tang San could only smile bitterly as he handed Xu Yuan the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.

He was the sort of person who honored a bet. There was no way he would refuse to hand it over just because he had lost.

Besides, plenty of people were watching. How could he shamelessly go back on his word?

Xu Yuan glanced at Yu Xiaogang, then began explaining to Tang San which path Blue Silver Grass should take.

In the distance, Yu Xiaogang trembled with rage as he heard them.

The veins on the hand gripping his cane bulged. His knuckles whitened, and the cane's tip scraped a faint mark into the ground with a creak.

He glared at Xu Yuan as he spoke at length on the field, Xu Yuan's analysis of Blue Silver Grass ringing in his ears.

Those theories were exactly what he had taught Tang San long ago!

Yet when Xu Yuan said them, that boy Tang San listened with shining eyes, as if he were hearing them for the first time.

"Outrageous!" Yu Xiaogang snarled under his breath, his voice full of offended fury.

He had taught Tang San for years, painstakingly compiling the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul In-depth Development Manual and telling Tang San to study it carefully.

And now Xu Yuan had dismissed all his hard work as worthless in just a few sentences?

"No! I'm not wrong!" Yu Xiaogang suddenly shook his head.

He was a master of theory, Tang San's mentor and the one who had introduced him to the world of cultivation. Xu Yuan was nothing but a brat who had gotten lucky in a spar. What gave him the right to question his teaching?

Xu Yuan stood up and said, "All right. You're welcome to challenge me again next time."

With that, he put on the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges and left with Xiao Wu.

As soon as they stepped out of the training ground, Xiao Wu grabbed Xu Yuan by the arm, her eyes sparkling. "Xu Yuan, you were amazing just now! You took Tang San down in no time!"

Xiao Wu bounced along beside him, pride written all over her voice. "Especially when you explained what path Blue Silver Grass should take. You sounded way more reliable than that old fossil Yu Xiaogang!"