The Arrogant Opponent

"Fine." Zhou Qiubai nodded. "When?"

"Half an hour from now." Zhao Yan hesitated, seeming to want to say something, but he ultimately spoke up. "Brother Zhou, Tang San's Soul Power may not be exceptional, but the calmness he showed during registration... he's no ordinary person. You should be careful."

"Thanks."

Zhou Qiubai entered the contestants' resting area, found a corner to sit in, closed his eyes, and quietly recuperated, adjusting his breathing.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

"Xiao San, are you really going to fight that Soul Battle?" Xiao Wu's face was filled with worry.

"Yeah." Tang San opened his eyes, and a flash of purple light passed through them. "I just broke through to rank thirty-one, so I need real combat to test myself. Besides..."

He paused as the white-clad youth Dai Mubai had mentioned surfaced in his mind.

Zhou Qiubai.

Without even making a move, he had defeated Dai Mubai through swordsmanship alone.

Tang San had never believed himself weaker than Dai Mubai.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill, Purple Demon Eye, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Hundred Hidden Weapon Explanations...

Those Tang Sect secret arts were his true trump cards.

In actual combat, he was confident that he could defeat any Soul Master of the same rank.

He was only a Soul Grandmaster.

"I also want to see just how fast the sword that made Boss Dai suffer is."

Amid the audience's murmurs, Zhou Qiubai emerged from the eastern passage.

He wore white, with the Ink Scabbard at his side.

A few breaths later, Tang San emerged from the western passage.

He wore a fitted blue outfit. His short black hair and ordinary face nevertheless gave him a steadiness far beyond his years.

The instant he stepped onto the stage, his gaze locked onto Zhou Qiubai.

The referee was a Soul Ancestor in his forties. Seeing both sides present, he announced loudly, "Deliberately killing or crippling your opponent is forbidden. The match ends when one side admits defeat or loses the ability to fight. Prepare yourselves."

Tang San drew a deep breath. Three Soul Rings—two yellow and one purple—rose beneath his feet, and the aura of a rank thirty-one Soul Elder spread through the air. His Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul appeared in his palm, its blades swaying gently with a faint blue sheen.

Zhou Qiubai, meanwhile, still had his eyes closed. His sword remained sheathed, and no Soul Rings appeared.

"Begin!"

The instant the referee lowered his hand, Tang San moved.

His first Soul Ring immediately lit up.

Dozens of Blue Silver Grass stalks burst from the ground, their leaves covered in fine spikes. If they entangled someone, the spikes would inject a numbing toxin, while the grass itself was extraordinarily tough, difficult for ordinary blades to sever.

This was Tang San's favorite opening control technique.

Yet when the Blue Silver Grass came within three feet of Zhou Qiubai, he finally moved.

He opened his eyes, shifted sideways, and lightly stepped onto a gap between the stone slabs of the Soul Battle stage.

With that single small step, every stalk of Blue Silver Grass swept past the edge of his clothes and missed.

Tang San's pupils contracted slightly.

What exquisite footwork.

It was not that he was fast, but that his predictions were precise. He had calculated every trajectory of Tang San's attacks.

Tang San held nothing back any longer. His second Soul Ring lit up.

Parasite!

Back when Zhou Qiubai had stepped onto the stage, Tang San had quietly scattered Blue Silver Grass seeds onto him.

He had cheated, but so what?

On a battlefield, there had never been any rules.

Now the seeds activated and grew at once, seeking to bind their opponent from within.

Yet Zhou Qiubai merely gave his sleeve a light shake.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

The newly sprouted Blue Silver Grass seeds were shredded by invisible sword qi, reduced to nothingness.

Zhou Qiubai glanced at Tang San.

It had to be said, was he really worthy of being Tang Buddha?

He truly did not consider cheating a problem.

"Protective sword qi?" Tang San's heart tightened.

The other man had not even drawn his sword, yet the sword qi leaking from him could destroy Parasite?

What kind of bizarre swordsmanship was this?

He stopped probing and let his third Soul Ring blaze with purple light.

Spider Web Restraint!

An enormous web woven from Blue Silver Grass descended from above, its strands carrying even stronger numbing poison and toughness.

This was a thousand-year Soul Ring skill. Its control far surpassed his first two soul skills; once caught within it, even an ordinary Soul Ancestor would struggle to break free.

Zhou Qiubai finally drew his sword.

A flash of sword light.

The flexible sword traced a beautiful arc through the air, its tip lightly touching the center of the web.

The next instant, the entire web seemed to have had its skeleton removed. It went limp, collapsed, and broke apart into countless blue motes of light.

One sword strike broke a soul skill.

The audience instantly erupted.

Tang San's expression finally changed.

He had seen it clearly. The sword had struck precisely at the core node through which the web's Soul Power circulated.

This was not a crushing advantage in strength, but absolute suppression in skill and perception.

"Who exactly are you?" Tang San asked in a low voice.

Zhou Qiubai stood with his sword in hand, its tip angled toward the ground, looking entirely at ease. "If you want to fight, then fight. Why ask so many questions?"

His tone was calm, yet it carried an utterly natural arrogance.

Tang San could not help laughing.

It was an angry laugh.

From childhood until now, when had anyone ever looked down on him like this?

He had lived two lives, possessed Twin Martial Souls, mastered the Tang Sect's secret arts, and had just acquired an External Soul Bone...

Which of those was not shocking enough to shake the world?

The person before him was merely a Soul Grandmaster who did not even dare reveal his Soul Rings. What gave him the right?

"Fine." Tang San nodded, a chill flashing in his eyes. "Then I won't hold back."

Blue Silver Grass whistled through the air, launched with hidden weapon techniques.

Zhou Qiubai finally got serious.

His figure turned into a string of afterimages across the Soul Battle stage, every step landing in the gaps between the hidden weapons.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

The White Clothes Sword became a ball of silver light, its tip precisely knocking aside every stalk of Blue Silver Grass.

The flexible sword's pliancy was fully displayed at this moment. Its blade twisted like a nimble serpent, flicking away the hidden weapons one by one.

The longer Tang San fought, the more alarmed he became.

His hidden weapon techniques were true Tang Sect teachings. Combined with his methods, ordinary people truly could not block them.

Yet that flexible sword of his opponent's seemed to have eyes, always intercepting with perfect precision and the smallest possible movements.

Even more frightening was that footwork.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track was known for its unpredictability, but his opponent's steps...

They looked like an unhurried stroll, yet concealed the deepest principles of heaven and earth.

"What footwork is that?" Tang San could not help asking.

If he could obtain this technique, his combat ability would rise by at least thirty percent.

But Zhou Qiubai did not tell him.

At this point in the fight, both sides understood that ordinary methods could do nothing to the other.

Tang San drew a deep breath. The clothes on his back suddenly tore apart.

Eight purple-black spider legs burst from his body, fierce and terrifying.

The External Soul Bone, the Eight Spider Lances, unfolded. Each lance stretched two meters long, its tip gleaming with an eerie blue poison-light.

"An External Soul Bone!" knowledgeable spectators cried out.

Tang San's aura surged. The Eight Spider Lances granted him all-around offensive and defensive capabilities.

"To force me to use my External Soul Bone, you have every reason to be proud," Tang San said coldly. "Now, let me see your Soul Rings."

Zhou Qiubai looked at those eight vicious spider lances, and his expression finally grew somewhat more serious.

"An External Soul Bone... it really is quite good."

Still, it was merely quite good.

He slowly raised the White Clothes Sword. The blade trembled softly, letting out a hum.

"You still won't reveal your Soul Rings?" Tang San frowned, silently wondering.

"They will appear when they need to." Zhou Qiubai spoke calmly. "For now, it isn't time yet."