Watching Xiao Wu look so eager, it was obvious that her craving to show off and throw her weight around had already overcome everything else, including the possibility that training might be grueling.
Huang Tian couldn't help fantasizing. The Rabbit Martial Soul's abilities and Soul Ring Skills were, in terms of mechanics, still very powerful.
Of course. Wouldn't the Soul Ring and Soul Bone Skills the author had deliberately given the protagonist be ridiculously overpowered?
Teleport was a rare spatial skill; Charm forcibly controlled opponents; Invincible Golden Body provided absolute defense; Void let her ignore physical attacks and weakened energy attacks by fifty percent.
And then there was the Seventh Soul Skill. Aside from the Martial Soul Avatar, it could conjure seven additional energy clones, each with seventy percent of her original strength.
Yet she had always remained some distance from the very strongest, like Qian Renxue, Bibi Dong, and Bo Saixi.
The biggest reason was that the Soft Bone Charm Rabbit was innately deficient; its stats just weren't high enough.
In a word, all flash and no substance.
If he could use cultivation techniques, Immortal Herbs, scientific training, and other methods to boost her stats, wouldn't that give him another top-tier fighter at his side?
This seemed very promising.
According to the script he'd set in his dreams, in the future he would either conquer the existing Divine Realm and overhaul its rules, or establish an entirely new Divine Realm.
His subordinates couldn't be dead weight.
"For now, we'll work on the basics for a few days. Come on, copy my movements. Once you've adjusted to the intensity, I'll take you somewhere."
Huang Tian immediately moved the coffee table against the wall, clearing a large space in the middle of the room.
Then he planted his feet shoulder-width apart, lowered his hips, and held his arms out straight.
This was a training method from his previous life. Until he had a body-tempering technique, he would have to make do with this.
With a mature, scientific system to draw on, he could use different specialized movements to work each skeletal muscle in depth. That was at least much better than just knowing to run around with a rock on his back.
While one flower had two blossoms, each branch told its own tale.
Here, Huang Tian had Xiao Wu do horse stances, prisoner workouts, boxing, and yoga.
Meanwhile, in a teacher's dormitory, Tang San supported Yu Xiaogang as they slowly made their way over. With painstaking care, he helped him lie facedown on the sofa.
Even so, despite doing his utmost to avoid his injuries, Yu Xiaogang still bared his teeth in pain, tears spraying from his eyes.
He wasn't being melodramatic. The pain had genuinely turned his face pale and brought cold sweat to his forehead. He couldn't even cry out, only groan under his breath.
Tang San was also enduring stabbing pain, no less severe than Gangzi's.
But his willpower was stronger, and his killer's instincts wouldn't let anyone see his weakness. So he didn't show it, merely furrowing his brows a little.
The auxiliary Soul Master had only twenty-eight levels of Soul Power, and his First Soul Ring was a white Ten-Year Soul Ring.
It was already impressive that he'd managed to heal some of Gangzi's worst injuries: two fractures in his chest, an injury to the back of his head, and several broken ribs.
The rest—bruises and swelling on his legs, arms, buttocks, and back—would have to wait until the next morning, when the auxiliary Soul Master's Soul Power had fully recovered, for another round of treatment.
Tang San was in the same boat. Only his dislocated arm had been treated; everywhere else had merely been covered with ointment for the time being.
After a long struggle, they finally found a position that wasn't quite so painful.
Tang San hurriedly asked the question that had been nagging at him.
"Teacher, what happened after I passed out?"
Gangzi had been prepared for this. As soon as the question came, he began wailing, tears streaming down his face. Even when snot ran into his mouth, he forced himself to endure the disgust.
Anyone who saw him would think he'd been wronged beyond all measure.
He wept and sniveled for ages, then pretended to have barely managed to compose himself before speaking in a deeply aggrieved voice:
"Weren't you beaten up? My heart ached for you. It ached terribly, and I got a little worked up, so my tone was just a bit harsh.
"I never imagined that Huang Tian, whether out of jealousy that you had such a good teacher or because he'd listened to someone else's slander, would seize on that tiny slip in my words and refuse to let it go. He insisted on Soul Fighting with me, saying he had to teach me a lesson. No matter how everyone tried to talk him out of it, he wouldn't back down.
"He didn't show the principal the slightest respect, either. The principal kindly urged him to reconsider, but he threatened the principal and told him to stay out of it.
"Your teacher was hounded until he had no choice. And with so many people watching—you know how many people at this academy are jealous of me, and after I took you as my disciple, some of them got even more jealous—I could only accept the challenge."
"What? Huang Tian did this to you? But he's only a One-Ring Soul Master!"
Tang San's first reaction wasn't even anger. He was utterly stunned.
A mere outer-sect disciple who'd just joined a day ago—still on probation, more or less—had beaten a sect elder half to death. What was this?
Sanzi's question immediately set Gangzi wailing again, tears and snot streaming down his face and soaking the sofa.
Only after Tang San hurriedly apologized and swore undying hatred toward Huang Tian did Gangzi continue:
"One day, you'll understand how enormous the difference is between having one extra Soul Ring and the difference between a Ten-Year Soul Ring and a Hundred-Year Soul Ring. It's like comparing an adult to a child.
"I thought, as a teacher, I should at least set an example. The kid was being unruly; why not humor him a little and let him have his fun? Why would I, a grown man, take a student seriously? I never intended to have a proper Soul Fighting match. I thought I'd just give him a few pointers.
"I didn't even prepare seriously. I stood there without moving.
"Everyone on the field was watching. If you don't believe me, ask any student or teacher whether I released even a single Soul Skill.
"Once the Soul Fighting began, Huang Tian immediately flung three flying spears at me, then charged up and threw a left front kick, a right roundhouse, and a left jab. His movements were all flashy showmanship.
"But I blocked every one of them, easily. After I blocked him, I put my right fist against his nose without hitting him.
"I smiled and was about to pull my fist back. Under the Soul Fighting rules, the match was already over once you'd made contact.
"If I'd put any force behind that punch, I could've broken his nose with a single blow.
"But the young man had no honor. He tricked and ambushed me, an old man in his fifties.
"Huang Tian seized the chance to attack, slamming a heavy punch into my jaw. I was careless! I didn't dodge, and I was stunned in an instant.
"Then, while I was unconscious and couldn't fight back, he kept attacking me like crazy. He didn't have enough strength, so he even jumped up and used his body weight and the momentum of his fall to strike my chest, leaving me with serious fractures.
"Your teacher truly regrets it. If I'd known he was so vicious, I would've shown him what it meant for the sky to be high and the earth to be vast."
After Yu Xiaogang finished, he put on another show of sobbing and watched Tang San's reaction from the corner of his eye.
No matter what anyone else said, as long as he could fool this disciple, his future would still be bright. Everything else was beside the point.
What he didn't know was that while he was doing everything he could to fool his disciple, win his trust and loyalty, and preserve the dignity of a teacher so he wouldn't look too pathetic, Tang San was also fretting over how to find a good opportunity and a clever way to show his teacher his devotion.
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