Easy Victory

"Begin." Xu Yuan's voice shattered the silence in the arena.

Tang San gritted his teeth and launched the first attack: "First Spirit Skill, Entanglement!"

Several strands of Blue Silver Grass shot out like vipers, whistling through the air as they lashed toward Xu Yuan's limbs, their speed significantly faster than a year ago.

Xu Yuan shifted his feet slightly, his figure sliding half a foot to the side like a falling leaf, narrowly avoiding the grasp of the Blue Silver Grass.

"First Spirit Skill: Life Entanglement."

The sky-blue Blue Silver Emperor suddenly burst from the soil. The vines shimmered with a warm, jade-like luster, and tiny white flowers bloomed quietly at their tips, swaying gently with the movement of the vines.

Xu Yuan flicked his wrist, and two strands of Blue Silver Emperor moved like agile jade snakes, bypassing Tang San's incoming Blue Silver Grass to precisely bind his arms.

Tang San felt his arms tighten, followed by a strange sensation.

The vines pressed against his skin carried a faint warmth, and the tiny white flowers emitted a subtle, refreshing fragrance that instantly calmed his spirit, which had been agitated by the tension of the fight.

What alarmed Tang San even more was that he could clearly feel his internal spirit power being drawn out by something, flowing along his arms and draining away at twice the speed it had before.

It's stronger than it was... Tang San's pupils constricted, and he instinctively tried to break free.

He soon discovered that the resilience of Xu Yuan's Blue Silver Emperor far exceeded his expectations; the more he struggled, the tighter it bound him.

Tang San gritted his teeth, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He attempted to trigger his second spirit skill, Parasite, but the moment his spirit power reached his palms, it was diverted by the pulling force from the Blue Silver Emperor and flowed along the vines toward Xu Yuan.

The tiny white flowers seemed to possess a life of their own, trembling gently against his arms. The fragrance they released continuously soothed his restless mind, causing even his urge to counterattack to fade.

The surrounding students watched in stunned silence, forgetting to move their hands from the wooden railings:

"Is Tang San being completely suppressed?"

"Xu Yuan's spirit skill is too bizarre. Not only does it bind people, but it also forces them to calm down?"

"The gap... is just too huge."

In the distance, Yu Xiaogang's face turned ashen, his knuckles white as he gripped his cane.

The counter-tactics he had painstakingly taught Tang San hadn't even had a chance to be deployed.

Every inch of Xu Yuan's seemingly gentle entanglement pressed against Tang San's weaknesses, as if he had seen through every one of his moves long ago.

Impossible... this is impossible! Yu Xiaogang roared frantically in his heart, the malice in his eyes nearly solidifying.

He refused to believe that a brat who refused to take him as a master could reach such an understanding of Blue Silver Grass!

On the field, Tang San's spirit power drained away faster and faster, his face gradually turning pale.

He knew that if this continued, his defeat would only be more humiliating.

Suddenly, a flash of ferocity crossed Tang San's eyes. Ignoring the drain on his spirit power, he forced his entire strength into a desperate attempt to tear the Blue Silver Emperor apart with brute force.

Watching Tang San's reddened eyes and strained muscles, Xu Yuan knew he had reached his limit.

"Why bother?" Xu Yuan said softly, before the words had even faded.

Tang San unleashed his final burst of spirit power, tearing his arms outward with a violent jerk. The Blue Silver Emperor was pulled taut, and the white flowers fell in a flurry.

Just as Tang San thought he had broken free, Xu Yuan suddenly released the vines.

Losing the resistance, Tang San lost his balance and stumbled forward.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan threw a punch toward Tang San.

Xu Yuan's punch carried little spirit power, yet it landed on Tang San's shoulder with the precision of a weight on a scale.

The blow wasn't heavy, but it acted as a clever force that perfectly neutralized his forward momentum.

"Thud—"

Tang San's knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, his palms scraping against the dirt and leaving red marks.

He looked up, gasping for air, only to see Xu Yuan retracting his fist. The Blue Silver Emperor had completely vanished into the ground, leaving only a few white petals drifting onto the back of his hand.

Xu Yuan looked down at Tang San and said, "Tang San, you lost."

Tang San knelt on the ground, his chest heaving violently. Sweat slid down his cheeks and dripped onto the dusty ground, blooming into small, dark spots.

He looked at his scraped palms, then up at Xu Yuan, his eyes swirling with unwillingness, humiliation, and a hint of indescribable confusion.

"I..." Tang San opened his mouth, but his throat felt clogged with sand, dry and unable to produce a coherent sound.

The hard work of the past period, Yu Xiaogang's expectations, and his own pride all shattered like dust on the ground at this moment.

The surrounding chatter seemed to come from behind a layer of water—muffled yet sharp, piercing his eardrums with pain.

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

Xu Yuan stood there quietly, his sky-blue hair hanging over his shoulders, his tone remaining indifferent: "Your problem isn't your spirit power; it's your mindset."

"Mindset?" Tang San looked up abruptly, his voice raspy with challenge. "Are you saying that if one's strength is inferior, one should just smile and admit defeat?"

"Admitting defeat does not mean giving up." Xu Yuan crouched down to look him in the eye. "Only by seeing the gap clearly can you know which way to go. You are too eager to prove yourself, and in doing so, you have narrowed your own path."

Tang San couldn't help but smile bitterly as he handed the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges to Xu Yuan.

He was a man who kept his word; he couldn't refuse to give the item to Xu Yuan just because he had lost.

Besides, with so many people watching, there was no way he could be that shameless.

Xu Yuan glanced at Yu Xiaogang and began to explain to Tang San which path the Blue Silver Grass should take.

In the distance, Yu Xiaogang heard these words and trembled with rage.

The veins on Yu Xiaogang's hand gripping his cane bulged, his knuckles turning white from the force, while the tip of the cane scraped a shallow groove into the ground.

He stared fixedly at the figure in the arena holding court, his ears filled with Xu Yuan's analysis of the Blue Silver Grass.

Those theories were clearly things he had already taught Tang San!

Yet, coming from Xu Yuan's mouth, that brat Tang San listened with eyes shining, as if he were understanding them for the first time.

"Preposterous!" Yu Xiaogang growled lowly, his voice thick with the anger of being offended.

He had taught Tang San for years, pouring his heart and soul into compiling the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul In-depth Development Manual, telling Tang San to study it well.

Now, with just a few words, Xu Yuan had dismissed his life's work as if it were scrap paper?

"No! I am not wrong!" Yu Xiaogang shook his head violently.

He was the Master of Theory, Tang San's mentor and guide; Xu Yuan was merely a greenhorn who had luckily won a spar—by what right did he question his teaching?

Xu Yuan stood up and said, "Alright, you are welcome to challenge me again next time."

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

Just as they stepped out of the training grounds, Xiao Wu grabbed Xu Yuan's arm, her eyes sparkling. "Xu Yuan, you were so amazing just now! You took Tang San down in just a few moves!"

Xiao Wu hopped and skipped along beside him, her tone filled with a sense of reflected pride. "Especially when you were telling him how to develop the Blue Silver Grass—you looked so much more reliable than that old stick-in-the-mud Yu Xiaogang!"