First Soul Skill: Stride to Deliverance, Action Shall Arrive. Simulation Training!

Within the Illusion Space, Han Tianyi sat cross-legged atop a raised stone platform.

Below, Bai Yuan and Gu Yuena were engaged in a simulated battle.

"You're so slow, Gu Yue."

Bai Yuan thrust his sword, its tip grazing past Gu Yuena's ear and carrying away several strands of silver hair.

As he withdrew his sword, he did not forget to add another remark.

Gu Yuena gritted her teeth. Wind elements surged beneath her feet as she weaved through the sword light like a butterfly.

She was already quite fast, absolutely among the best of her peers.

Yet Bai Yuan's sword always appeared where she least expected it, as if he had anticipated her anticipation.

"How are you even stronger than before?"

Gu Yuena dodged a strike, her violet eyes filled with disbelief.

Before entering the Spirit Ascension Platform, she had at least been able to exchange a few moves with him. Now, she could not even see his sword patterns clearly.

Bai Yuan did not answer. He merely smiled and slashed with his sword.

The strike was not fast, nor was its angle particularly tricky, yet it carried an inescapable inevitability.

It was like knowing exactly where it would come from, but finding that your body simply could not keep up.

Gu Yuena twisted aside. The blade skimmed past her shoulder, and the fierce wind it raised chilled her ear.

She had barely sighed in relief when the second strike was already at the back of her neck.

Damn it!

Wind elements erupted beneath Gu Yuena's feet, launching her several meters forward as though she had been fired from a cannon.

Before she could turn around, the third strike had already sealed off every route of escape.

"Ah—!"

Gu Yuena let out a short cry. It was not fear, but frustration.

She dodged with all her strength, but Bai Yuan's sword seemed glued to her, impossible to shake off no matter what she did.

Her long silver hair danced amid the sword light, while her violet eyes burned with fury and unwillingness.

Han Tianyi slightly opened his eyes on the high platform, glanced at the chase below, twitched at the corner of his mouth, then closed his eyes again.

Young people these days really knew how to play.

Gu Yuena was chased all over the field by Bai Yuan, her silver ponytail whipping back and forth behind her.

She ran fast, but Bai Yuan pursued even faster. Dawnmaker carved arc after arc of silvery-white light behind her, every strike landing precisely where she had just been standing.

"Junior Sister, why are you running?"

Bai Yuan's amused voice came from behind her.

"It's only a spar. I'm not really going to chop you up."

Gu Yuena said nothing, but her ears had turned red enough to bleed.

She roared madly in her heart.

I really want to transform! Into the Silver Dragon King!

Pin him beneath me!

Let him know who's really in charge!

But she knew she could not.

So she could only run, only dodge, only repeat Bai Yuan's name a hundred times in her heart.

After chasing her for a while, Bai Yuan suddenly sheathed his sword and stood where he was, smiling as he watched Gu Yuena stop in the distance, panting heavily.

She bent over with her hands braced on her knees. Her long silver hair fell down, concealing her little face, flushed red and pale by turns.

"Junior Sister, let's call it here for today's training."

Bai Yuan returned Dawnmaker to his waist.

"You've improved a lot. Keep working hard."

Gu Yuena raised her head, her violet eyes fixed fiercely on him, her lips trembling slightly.

She took a deep breath, then another, and squeezed out a single word through clenched teeth.

"...Hmph."

Bai Yuan smiled, then turned and walked toward the high platform.

Gu Yuena stood where she was, staring at his back as she clenched her fists, her nails nearly digging into her palms.

One day, she would settle today's score with him, debt by debt.

Han Tianyi opened his eyes on the high platform, looked at Bai Yuan, then at Gu Yuena, and shook his head.

Being young was wonderful.

Helmets descended from above and steadily covered both their heads.

Bai Yuan's vision went dark. Then countless points of light rushed in from every direction, gathering into a pure white space.

Beneath their feet was a smooth white floor, while overhead stretched an endless white sky. There were no boundaries, no end.

"Quite a lot of high technology."

Bai Yuan looked around and could not help remarking.

"So this is the Spirit Pagoda?"

Gu Yuena stood at his side, her silver hair especially striking within the pure white space.

Her violet eyes swept across their surroundings, but she said nothing.

Han Tianyi's voice came from the void. "The True Illusion Realm is purely a place for combat training.

There are no benefits for killing the creatures within, but the danger is far lower than in the Spirit Ascension Platform.

First, it can connect to the Sea of Consciousness of Spirit Pagoda experts in the Spirit Domain Realm, allowing everything to be controlled at their discretion.

Second, it has an added Internal Protection System. The instant before a Soul Master dies, they are automatically removed from the battlefield."

The old man paused, and a hint of amusement entered his tone.

"So fight without holding back.

It doesn't matter if you die."

Bai Yuan's mouth twitched.

It doesn't matter if you die—why did that sound so ominous?

"First wave, teleporting in."

As Han Tianyi's voice fell, a fissure suddenly tore open before them in the pure white space. Countless motes of light poured out from it, condensing into Soul Beasts of every shape and form.

Ten-year, hundred-year, thousand-year.

They were densely packed, flooding toward the two of them like a tide.

Bai Yuan gripped Dawnmaker tightly and glanced sideways at Gu Yuena.

"Junior Sister, want to see who kills more?"

Gu Yuena did not answer, but her eyes lit up.

No, those were all your subjects!

Why were you getting so excited about this?

Six elements surged around her—fire, ice, wind, earth, light, and darkness—transforming into six enormous dragons of different colors that roared as they lunged toward the Soul Beast horde.

Bai Yuan smiled. With a movement of his feet, he slipped into the beast horde like a phantom.

His sword light flowed like a ribbon, and a Soul Beast fell with every swing.

The silvery-white blade carved arc after arc through the pure white space.

From above, Han Tianyi watched the battle below. Bai Yuan's sword grew faster and faster, while Gu Yuena's elements became increasingly violent.

The old man's lips curled slightly as he nodded gently.

These two children were far stronger than he had imagined.

The moment Bai Yuan finished speaking, six heavy sets of footsteps sounded from deep within the white mist.

Every step was like a ten-thousand-ton hammer striking the ground. The floor of the pure white space hummed and trembled beneath that force, while even the air seemed saturated with a suffocating sensation of being violently compressed.

Bai Yuan narrowed his eyes, several strands of black hair by his temples fluttering slightly under the impact of the air currents.

Six gigantic beasts emerged from the mist.

Bai Yuan's pupils contracted slightly.

Iron-Back Dragons.

Adult Iron-Back Dragons.

Those things were far larger than ordinary Soul Beasts had any right to be.

They stood over three meters tall at the shoulder and stretched more than five meters long, their entire bodies covered in gray-black plated scales. Each scale was the size of a palm, its edges sharp as blades.

Most terrifying were their forelimbs. Rather than the typical dragon claws, they had two absurdly thick arm bones, like natural meteor hammers.

Those arms were even thicker than their hind legs, their muscles bulging and veins protruding.

Simply hanging there, they gave off the oppressive feeling that getting hit meant death.

Thousand-year Iron-Back Dragons were pure strength-type Soul Beasts. They had no ranged attacks, could not unleash soul skills, and possessed almost no elemental affinity.

But they did not need any of that.

They had only one way of fighting.

Charge over and smash you to pieces.

It was said that the force in their arms could smash defensive Soul Masters of the same rank, armor and all, into meat patties.

Their scale armor was so tough that it could even withstand soul-guided cannon shells head-on.

Within the Spirit Ascension Platform, these things were the ceiling of the beginner area.

A thousand-year Iron-Back Dragon was worth as much as an ordinary ten-thousand-year Soul Beast.

Not because its cultivation was especially high, but because its brute force was simply unreasonable.

The corners of Bai Yuan's lips lifted slightly.

Interesting.

"Two each?"

Bai Yuan tilted his head slightly and looked toward Gu Yuena.

Gu Yuena did not look at him. Her violet eyes were locked on the six approaching behemoths, her lips pressed into a line. Her silver hair drifted slightly despite the absence of wind.

She nodded, her voice cool and brief.

"Fine."

Bai Yuan withdrew his gaze. The Worldbearing Coreflame in his left hand lit up.

Golden and black flames danced deep within his palm, and a warm current spread through his meridians and across his body.

His reactions became sharper, and even his vision became clearer.

First soul skill: Stride to Deliverance, Action Shall Arrive.

Enhancement activated.

A dazzling purple Thousand Year Soul Ring rose beneath his feet, slowly revolving around his body.

Dawnmaker let out a clear hum in his hand. The pale golden patterns on its blade abruptly lit up, as though new life had been poured into it.

Bai Yuan gripped the hilt tightly, his gaze locking onto the two Iron-Back Dragons at the front.

"Then I'll go first."

With a movement of his feet, he shot forward like a streak of silver light.