Before him lay a small Soul Fighting Arena, about thirty zhang across. Its floor was paved with neatly laid blocks of extremely hard iron essence.
A metal stake stood in the center of the arena. Its surface was marked with numerous sword slashes, knife cuts, club dents, and traces left by some kind of beast.
They had clearly been left by Tool Soul Masters and Beast Soul Masters.
"I won't use this stake. I don't want anyone using it to gauge my strength or figure out my trump cards."
After pulling out the stake, Feng Piaoling took a specially made iron stake he had brought from the Crown Prince's Mansion out of his Storage Soul Tool and placed it in the socket where the original stake had stood.
Even a Soul Saint would have trouble breaking this stake in one blow. It was the perfect target.
He released the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Right Palm Bone, drew a slow breath, and struck with one claw.
Whish!
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw became a blade of light, slicing through the air and carving five deep gouges into the practice stake.
Since he still didn't know how powerful the other External Soul Bone from the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was, he released the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Left Palm Bone as well and struck out with a blade of light, leaving another five marks on the iron stake—these were much shallower.
One noteworthy detail was that the blade of light from his left-hand Dark Gold Terrorclaw struck the stake before the one from his right.
"Hmm. The right palm bone is about thirty percent stronger than the left. In terms of power, it even surpasses the final form of the Nine Gale Swords, Wind Flower Snow Moon, by several times. But when it comes to attack speed, the left palm bone is thirty percent faster than the right. As expected of an External Soul Bone from the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. Even at only five thousand years, it can't be compared to an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill."
Feng Piaoling was quite satisfied with the power of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw in his left and right palm bones.
However, compared to these rigid, purely destructive moves, he still preferred the flexible and varied techniques of the sword.
"I've already gained a rough understanding of the Soul Power circulation when the Dark Gold Terrorclaw in these palm bones is activated. If I observe it for a while longer, I should be able to use that knowledge to create an even more powerful sword technique."
"But before that, I should fully fuse these two External Soul Bones with my body. The fusion process will be a perfect opportunity to observe the circulation of Soul Power when I release the Dark Gold Terrorclaw."
The Mimicry Training Ground wasn't very large. Apart from the small Soul Fighting Arena, there was only a platform built with a Soul Tool.
Sitting cross-legged on the platform could speed up the flow of Soul Power through the body, indirectly improving cultivation speed to some degree.
Feng Piaoling was already used to these large Soul Tools that accelerated cultivation. The Crown Prince's Mansion had an even better one.
But the actual boost they provided wasn't all that significant. Otherwise, Shrek wouldn't have set the rental fee at just one Gold Soul Coin per day.
Feng Piaoling's method for fusing the two External Soul Bones from the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was also quite simple.
He would do three things at once: channel the Heaven-Reaching Demon Eye into his eyes, use Clone Shadow beneath his feet, and repeatedly unleash the Dark Gold Terrorclaw, attacking the iron stake from every tricky angle.
This allowed him to improve both the Heaven-Reaching Demon Eye and Clone Shadow while observing how Soul Power circulated when he used the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's ability and testing different ways of exerting force.
It would lay the groundwork for creating a new sword technique.
What's more, under the influence of Heaven Rewards Diligence, the two External Soul Bones from the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear were gradually fusing completely with Feng Piaoling's body.
During the fusion, he could clearly feel the strength and grip of both hands increasing at an astonishing rate.
It felt as though he could crush a hard pebble with one hand without using Soul Power at all.
Just like that, the minutes ticked by.
Whenever Feng Piaoling grew tired, he sat cross-legged on the platform constructed by the Soul Tool and circulated the Green Lotus Sword Art to restore his Soul Power.
When he got hungry, he ate some dry rations.
Then he went right back to training.
The cycle repeated again and again.
By the time he finished training for the day, Feng Piaoling had already destroyed three or four specially made iron stakes.
Only then did he move Shrek's original stake back into place.
He sat cross-legged on the Soul Tool platform to recover his Soul Power.
By the time his Soul Power had fully recovered, evening had fallen and the sky had grown dark.
Feng Piaoling walked out of Mimicry Training Ground No. 36.
Jiang Nannan had been waiting outside for a long time, sitting cross-legged and meditating. When she heard the door open, she immediately got to her feet and went over to greet him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Feng Piaoling smiled faintly.
Jiang Nannan shook her head. Looking at Feng Piaoling's uniform, already soaked through with sweat, his slightly tousled black hair, and his handsome face, which remained striking despite the beads of sweat covering it, she said with some feeling:
"No wonder you're so young and already so powerful, benefactor. No one can match you when it comes to hard work."
"I only became this way because reality forced me to." Feng Piaoling said something that left Jiang Nannan baffled.
"Reality forced you... Could it be that you're facing difficulties too, benefactor?" Jiang Nannan didn't understand. In her eyes, her benefactor had money, talent, good looks, a kind heart, potential, and strength.
By all rights, someone like him should have had a perfect life, one that everyone envied. Why would he say something like that?
"Everyone has their difficulties. They just differ in how severe they are and what form they take."
Feng Piaoling sighed and didn't explain further. Turning toward the Soul Fighting Arena, he said, "Come on. We've already wasted quite a bit of time. It's time to meet that Young Master Xu from the Mysterious Underworld Sect."
Jiang Nannan fell silent. Feng Piaoling's words struck her as perfectly reasonable, yet she still couldn't quite make sense of them.
Unable to figure it out, she hurried after him. She was secretly delighted that Feng Piaoling was willing to fight Xu Sanshi for her, but she still asked with concern:
"Benefactor, you've been training all day. Aren't you tired? Why not rest for a few hours before going? We didn't agree on a specific time anyway. We only need to get there before midnight, before the Soul Fighting Arena closes. Let that annoying Xu Sanshi wait around for us."
Feng Piaoling shook his head. "It's fine. I've already rested."
"Oh, I see..."
The two walked along at their leisure, chatting as their voices gradually faded into the afterglow of the setting sun.
The Soul Fighting Arena was especially lively tonight. Nearly every Outer Courtyard student who could make it had turned up.
Quite a few Outer Courtyard teachers had come to watch as well. In the hundreds of years since Shrek Academy's Outer Courtyard was founded, few non-tournament Soul Fighting matches had attracted so many spectators.
Front row of the audience stands.
"Teacher Zhou, I heard that last night Dai Huabin from your Class One lost to Feng Piaoling from our Class Nine. So, did you come all this way today because you've taken an interest in my student?"
A female teacher who looked to be around thirty approached an old woman and asked with a quiet laugh.
The old woman wore half-rimmed glasses. Her skin was wrinkled, and her white hair was coiled on top of her head, held in place by a straight metal hairpin. She looked fierce.
It was none other than Zhou Yi, the Shrek teacher Feng Piaoling hated most—without exception. As far as how loathsome she was, even Gangzi from ten thousand years ago couldn't hold a candle to her.
Before you continue