Crazy Battles, Demonic Special Training!

The sunlight on the field was still dazzling, but the temperature in the air seemed to have dropped to freezing.

Wu Zhangkong lowered his head and glanced at the timing Soul Tool in his hand. The number on the screen had stopped at "00:58."

Less than a minute.

The three carefully selected "geniuses" had not even lasted a minute against Tang Linyuan, who had not used his Martial Soul.

Wu Zhangkong raised his head, his gaze passing over Xie Xie, who was still playing dead on the ground, then Tang Wulin clutching his forehead, before finally settling on the youth standing with his hands behind his back, his breathing as steady as if he were strolling through a garden.

Even he found it hard to remain calm at that moment.

If last night's shot had been a crushing display of gunmanship, then those fifty-eight seconds just now had been a pure exhibition of combat artistry.

Every dodge had struck at the dead angle of his opponents' exertion, and every move had cut off the rhythm of their attacks.

That level of control over the battle was simply unbelievable.

This can't be taught...

Wu Zhangkong sighed inwardly.

Such battle instincts, carved into one's bones, either came from being tempered in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, or... from being a monster born that way.

He walked over to Xie Xie, who was still unconscious.

The guy was sleeping peacefully, even snoring softly, completely unaware of what he had just gone through.

Wu Zhangkong did not wake him. He merely raised his right hand, and a ball of blue-white frost condensed at his fingertips.

"Wake up."

With that single syllable, the frost pressed directly onto Xie Xie's face.

"Aooo—!!!"

A miserable scream tore through the sky.

Xie Xie sprang off the ground as if electrocuted, his body twitching twice in midair. When he landed, he frantically slapped his face, the sound of his chattering teeth clearly audible.

"C-c-cold... I'm freezing to death... Ah, ptooey, freezing this young master to death!"

Xie Xie hugged his shoulders as he shivered, his nose nearly running from the cold. He looked around in terror.

"What happened? Who am I? Where am I?"

"You got beaten up."

Tang Wulin squatted nearby, rubbing the purplish-red lump on his forehead as he replied irritably.

Only then did Xie Xie come back to his senses. He touched his still-aching neck as his memories returned.

He looked at Tang Linyuan in the distance, and his eyes instantly filled with resentment.

"Boss, that was way too ruthless... I thought I saw my great-grandmother just now..."

Compared to those two clowns, Gu Yue was exceptionally silent.

She stood to the side with her head lowered, quite a bit of dust staining her previously neat uniform.

Although she had no obvious injuries, the girl who always held her chin high, as proud as a little peacock, now looked as though all her feathers had been plucked.

Her elemental control and spatial talent, which she had been so proud of, had proved so utterly insignificant before that youth.

Although she was not yet in her complete form and had not recovered all her strength, her pride still could not accept this defeat.

"Line up."

Wu Zhangkong's voice remained utterly devoid of warmth.

The three immediately lined up by reflex. Even Xie Xie, who was still shivering, did not dare slack off.

"Fifty-eight seconds."

Wu Zhangkong shook the timer in his hand.

"This is the answer sheet you handed in: a crushing defeat."

"Against someone your own age, an opponent who had not even used his Martial Soul, you could not last one minute. Teamwork? You were nothing but a pile of loose sand. Tactics? Just children playing house."

The merciless criticism made the three lower their heads even further.

Xie Xie in particular was blushing like a baboon's backside.

Just moments ago, he had loudly claimed that asking him to last five minutes was looking down on him. Yet he had been the first one struck in the back of the neck.

"Since you lost, accept it."

Wu Zhangkong put away the timer, his icy blue eyes sweeping over the three.

"Starting today, you will train an extra two hours after school every day."

"Extra training?"

Xie Xie's eyes lit up. As long as it was not this kind of one-sided slaughter, he could accept anything, whether it was running laps or doing squats.

"The content is simple."

Wu Zhangkong pointed at Tang Linyuan, who was standing nearby watching the show.

"Keep fighting him."

"Ha?!"

Xie Xie's jaw nearly hit his feet, his face saying, Are you kidding me?

"Teacher Wu, is this extra training? This is murder, isn't it?! We can't even last a minute. Going again would just be delivering ourselves up to get beaten! Isn't this just asking for abuse?"

Tang Wulin also wore a miserable expression as he touched the bump on his forehead. "Teacher, my brother... he really hits hard."

Gu Yue said nothing, but her brows knitted tightly as well.

Was a battle where they had no ability to fight back really meaningful beyond crushing their confidence?

"Precisely because you can't beat him, you need to fight."

Wu Zhangkong did not give them any chance to argue.

"Right now, every one of you is full of openings in front of him. When you can last five minutes, this special training will be over."

"This is to teach you how to survive under absolute pressure, how to squeeze out your own limits."

After saying that, he turned to look at the other Class Five students, who had long since been dumbfounded.

"The rest of you, dismissed. You four, come with me to Martial Arts Arena No. 2."

The Class Five students felt as though they had been granted amnesty. One after another, they ran off at top speed, terrified that the Cold-Faced Demon King would call them over to enjoy this kind of "demonic special training" too.

Wu Zhangkong started walking, ready to lead them away.

However, someone did not move.

Tang Linyuan remained where he was, his feet seemingly rooted to the ground, his hands tucked into his pockets and his expression lazy.

Wu Zhangkong stopped and looked back. "What?"

"Teacher Wu."

Tang Linyuan met that cold gaze, a faint smile curling across his lips.

"Isn't there something you've gotten wrong?"

"What?"

"I'm a student, not your teaching assistant, much less a sparring machine specially meant to feed Wulin and the others moves."

Tang Linyuan raised a finger and gently shook it.

"Did you ask for my opinion before putting me on the extra training list? I don't like being used as a tool."

Wu Zhangkong looked at the unruly youth, his brow faintly furrowing.

If any other student had dared talk back like that, he would have frozen them into an ice sculpture long ago.

But facing Tang Linyuan...

He fell silent for two seconds.

"Your terms." Wu Zhangkong spoke two words.

Between smart people, there was no need for nonsense.

"Straightforward."

Tang Linyuan snapped his fingers, and the laziness in his eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a blazing fighting spirit that even made Wu Zhangkong feel alarmed.

"My terms are simple."

Tang Linyuan stepped forward and looked directly into Wu Zhangkong's eyes.

"Wulin and the others are too weak. Fighting them is nothing more than loosening up for me. It offers no improvement at all."

"So, in exchange—"

"For every three matches I train with them, you fight me once."

"Fine." Wu Zhangkong agreed without hesitation.

He also wanted to probe this brat further, to see what else he had hidden besides the Black Hole from that night.

"Don't rush. I'm not finished."

Tang Linyuan grinned, revealing a row of white teeth. There was a trace of arrogance in that smile.

"When you fight me, don't suppress your Soul Power. I want to fight a six-ring Soul Emperor at full strength."

"Of course, you can't use Battle Armor. After all, I'm not looking to die just yet."

Full strength!

No Battle Armor!

That meant Wu Zhangkong could use the Soul Power of a level-sixty Soul Emperor, as well as all of his Soul Skills!

This was practically an unequal, suicidal challenge!

Gu Yue abruptly raised her head, and the look in her eyes as she watched Tang Linyuan changed.

Madman! This guy was absolutely a madman who would stop at nothing to become stronger!

Wu Zhangkong gave him a long, deep look.

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure." Tang Linyuan shrugged. "Only by repeatedly dancing along the edge of life and death can you see your own limits clearly, right?"

"Fine."

Wu Zhangkong nodded in agreement.

Then, as if recalling something, his expression became extremely grave, even carrying a hint of warning.

"But there is one condition."

"That final move you used against Guang Biao that night... that black vortex, is forbidden."

At the mention of that move, Tang Wulin shuddered instinctively.

Although he had seen only a little of it at the time, he still had not forgotten the sensation of his soul nearly being sucked away.

"Of course."

Tang Linyuan agreed just as readily.

"That shot drains nearly eighty percent of my Soul Power. I don't have time to waste recovering it. I still need to save my strength to fight you a few more times, Teacher Wu."

"Deal."

Wu Zhangkong said no more. He turned and headed toward the school building. "Keep up."

This time, Tang Linyuan did not linger. He followed with light steps.

The sunlight stretched the shadows of the five of them long.