Three in the afternoon, the back hill of Nuoding Academy.
Sunlight filtered through the lush broadleaf forest, casting dappled shadows across the dry ground. A few clear birdcalls occasionally rang through the woods, but they were quickly swallowed by the air of deadly tension. This was the old place where the academy's official students and work-study students settled their grudges, and today the atmosphere was heavier than ever.
It was called the academy's back hill, but it wasn't actually within the academy grounds. It was a small hillock to the north of the academy. Once they left the school grounds, the teachers turned a blind eye to the students' behavior. As long as no one died, it was a small matter.
In the middle of the clearing, two groups faced off, each clearly separated from the other.
On the left stood the official students, led by Xiao Chenyu. There were more than twenty of them. They wore finely made uniforms, and most looked haughty. Their leader, Xiao Chenyu, kept rubbing his knuckles, making them crack again and again. His pale green eyes were filled with contempt for the poor work-study students.
On the right stood the work-study students, led by Wang Sheng. They were fewer in number, and most wore tattered clothes and bore old wounds, but at that moment, a flame burned in every one of their eyes. They knew that the young man standing behind them today was enough to make the official students tremble.
Gu Tian stood at the very front with his hands in his pockets, looking completely at ease. Gu Yue and Na'er stood behind him, one on each side. Even standing quietly, the two stunning girls radiated an aloof, otherworldly purity that made the official students opposite them feel uneasy. Xiao Wu stood a little farther away, her ruby-red eyes full of anxiety and conflict.
"The rules are simple." Xiao Chenyu sneered, breaking the silence. "Each side sends three people, and they take turns fighting. The winner keeps going. The losing side has to admit defeat, and from now on, whenever they see the other side at the academy, they have to kneel and call them Grandpa! Understand, you bunch of work-study mongrels?"
"You talk too much." Tang San picked at his ear without even looking at him. "Let's begin."
The first match was between Wang Sheng of the work-study students and Xiao Chenyu of the official students.
Wang Sheng didn't back down. He strode into the clearing, his heavy footsteps echoing through the woods. Then he suddenly tore open his coarse shirt, revealing a solid, muscular physique.
"Roar!"
With a furious bellow, Wang Sheng's body suddenly swelled. The phantom of a fierce tiger flickered behind him and vanished. Though he hadn't obtained a Soul Ring yet, six years of scrapping his way through the academy had given him a physique far stronger than anyone his age.
He drove his legs into the ground and shot toward Xiao Chenyu like a black bolt of lightning, bringing a gust of wind with him. His charge was unstoppable. His hands curled into claws as he struck straight for his opponent's face.
Xiao Chenyu snorted and shifted aside, easily dodging the wild attack.
"War Wolf Martial Soul Possession!"
A flash of cyan Soul Power burst from Xiao Chenyu. His eyes turned completely pale green, and three-inch-long claws sprang from his fingers. A faint layer of cyan fur covered his skin.
A white Ten-Year Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet.
"First Soul Skill, Wolf Rush!"
Xiao Chenyu's speed instantly soared to its limit. His body left an afterimage where he stood. Wang Sheng's vision blurred, and a searing pain erupted in his chest.
"Bang!"
Xiao Chenyu's figure made an incredibly nimble turn in midair, precisely evading Wang Sheng's counterattack. Then, like a maggot in the bone, he stuck to Wang Sheng's back. He slashed with a backhanded swipe, his sharp claws tearing three deep gashes across Wang Sheng's back, nearly to the bone. Blood splattered across the dead leaves on the ground.
Wang Sheng cried out in pain, but he fought without fear of death, wheeling around to throw a heavy punch. Xiao Chenyu, however, was as cunning as a wolf. He refused to meet Wang Sheng head-on, using the speed boost from his Soul Ring to inflict wound after wound.
"It's over, idiot."
Xiao Chenyu seized his chance and sprang into the air just as Wang Sheng's strength gave out. He spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees, then drove his right knee into Wang Sheng's stomach with the force of his falling body.
The tremendous impact made Wang Sheng spit out a large mouthful of blood. He flew backward like a kite with its string cut, smashed through two saplings, and crashed heavily to the ground, completely unconscious.
"Trash will always be trash." Xiao Chenyu brushed the dust off his hands contemptuously.
Though Wang Sheng's Martial Soul was the War Tiger, hailed as the king of beasts, he had lost because he lacked the boost of a Soul Ring. The difference in their strength attributes was only a few dozen points, but as a percentage, that was a ten percent gap!
"Who's next?" Xiao Chenyu's gaze swept toward Tang San. "You, the one surnamed Tang. Are you going to avenge your roommate, or are you going to kneel right now?"
Tang San walked into the clearing, his expression dark. Every movement was extremely slow, as though he were building up some emotion that was about to erupt.
"Tang San, first-year work-study student, Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, level ten, one-ring Tool Soul Master."
After giving his name, Tang San slowly raised his right hand.
A deathly pale Soul Ring rose from beneath his feet. Set against the Blue Silver Grass, which looked somewhat shriveled after absorbing Lone Bamboo, the Ten-Year Soul Ring appeared incredibly cheap—so shabby it was almost laughable.
"Hahahaha!"
The official students behind Xiao Chenyu burst out laughing.
"Did I hear that right? His Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, and he actually absorbed some white piece of trash?"
"So this is Grandmaster's direct disciple? This is the so-called once-in-a-century genius? I'm dying! That white ring goes perfectly with his ragged clothes!"
Xiao Chenyu laughed so hard his eyes nearly watered. "Tang San, if you kneel and kowtow to me three times, I'll pretend I never saw that embarrassing Soul Ring of yours. How about it?"
Tang San gritted his teeth, his nails digging deep into his palms. He turned to look at Xiao Wu, only to find her watching Gu Tian with a worried expression. She hadn't even spared him a glance. The pain of being ignored by the person he loved while everyone trampled on his dignity made his gaze grow increasingly vicious.
"Cut the nonsense. Are we fighting or not?"
Tang San struck first, stepping with an uncanny footwork as his figure turned elusive. This was one of the Tang Sect Secret Arts—Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
Xiao Chenyu's eyes narrowed. He hadn't expected the boy's footwork to be so strange. He roared and activated his first Soul Skill again, Wolf Rush, trying to suppress Tang San with his speed.
But Tang San gave him no chance to close in. Tang San's hands had somehow turned smooth and lustrous as jade. This was the Mysterious Jade Hand.
The two exchanged blows furiously among the trees. Every time Xiao Chenyu's wolf claws struck Tang San's hands, they rang with a dull metallic clang, unable to hurt him in the slightest.
"First Soul Skill, Bind!"
Tang San seized the moment Xiao Chenyu landed unsteadily and activated that cheap white Soul Ring. More than a dozen Blue Silver Grass vines, each lined with barbs, suddenly shot up beneath Xiao Chenyu's feet.
Though they were only ten years old, Tang San controlled them with such precision using his Mysterious Heaven Skill that they locked around Xiao Chenyu's joints. Xiao Chenyu roared and strained to break free. The Blue Silver Grass kept snapping, but Tang San used that brief pause to close in, then slammed a heavy palm into Xiao Chenyu's chest.
"Turning an opponent's strength against him, using softness to overcome hardness—that's how Blue Silver Grass should be used." Tang San grinned.
"Bang!"
Xiao Chenyu spat out a mouthful of stale air and staggered back more than a dozen steps before steadying himself.
"That's enough, Xiao Chenyu."
Gu Tian, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly spoke. "Step down. You're no match for him. I'll put an end to this farce."