Gu Yue sprang to her feet and slapped both palms onto the arena floor.
Earth elements surged from her palms, spreading toward every corner of the arena. The entire field trembled violently, as if a mighty Soul Skill were about to be unleashed.
Sand and stone rose into the air, and the rock strata split apart. A massive stone spike burst from beneath Xiao Mu, carrying the force of thousands of tons of earth as it thrust toward the heavens.
The earth shook and mountains swayed.
A thick layer of earth armor covered the spike, with light elements compressed inside it.
This was Gu Yue's final trump card.
Xiao Mu didn't dodge. He simply raised his right hand and held his palm against the attack.
The instant the stone spike touched his force field, its momentum was greedily drained away. Its speed plummeted, as if it had crashed into an invisible cloud of cotton.
Heat, potential energy, kinetic energy—all forms of energy were converted and flowed into his body through his palm, where they were stored.
The stone spike stopped three inches in front of him, then scattered into a flurry of stone dust.
Xiao Mu took one step back. Just one.
"Is that the full extent of your strength?"
Gu Yue fell to her knees, her Soul Power exhausted. She didn't even have the strength to raise a hand, and sweat dripped from her hair.
Shock filled her eyes. She had used every method available to her as a two-ring Soul Master. Even if there was some gap in their Soul Power, surely she should have been able to leave so much as a scratch?
Across the arena, Tang Wulin saw what had happened.
Without hesitation, Blue Silver Grass burst from his palm and wrapped around Xie Xie's waist. He yanked him over, swung him up, and hurled him toward Xiao Mu.
"Xie Xie! You're up!"
Still in midair, Xie Xie drew the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger at the same time. The crossed blades became a spinning edge.
"Twin Dragon Storm!"
The twin blades ripped through the air, aimed straight at Xiao Mu's back.
After absorbing the attack's momentum, Xiao Mu simply grabbed Xie Xie in midair with his force field, then flung him away.
"Huh? That move's way too underhanded!"
Xie Xie had no control over his body in midair. He crashed hard onto the ground outside the arena.
"That's underhanded? You haven't seen underhanded," Xiao Mu said, glancing at Gu Yue. That girl had space powers. How could she call him underhanded?
Her not knowing how to use them was one thing. Whether space powers were underhanded was another.
So, my abilities are perfectly aboveboard.
The instant Xie Xie was flung away, Tang Wulin charged straight at Xiao Mu.
Golden light blazed from his right hand. He leaped high, his clawed fingers tearing through the air as he brought them down on Xiao Mu, carrying the ferocity of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline.
Xiao Mu found the sight rather interesting.
He raised one hand to meet the attack. The Golden Dragon Claw collided with his palm, producing a dull boom.
Tang Wulin's eyes widened in surprise. His fist felt as though it had sunk into a swamp. Layer by layer, its power was stripped away, absorbed, and dispersed.
The shattering effect failed in Xiao Mu's hand under the influence of that strange power. The Golden Dragon King Bloodline's ferocity was dismantled into nothingness by an invisible force.
Xiao Mu furrowed his brow slightly. This power was weaker than he'd expected. It felt limp and feeble.
Was it because only the first seal had been lifted?
Tang Wulin was forced back, and the light on his Golden Dragon Claw dimmed.
"Is that your strength?" Xiao Mu withdrew his hand. He felt he'd stored up enough power. Maybe he could try releasing it all at once.
Tang Wulin landed, his right arm numb and his Golden Dragon Claw trembling. He had expended a shocking amount of stamina in that brief exchange and knew he wouldn't last much longer.
Xiao Mu had already decided to end the fight. He raised his right hand toward empty space and threw a punch.
There was nothing fancy about it. He didn't even aim at anyone. Yet wherever his fist passed, the air compressed to its limit, then exploded with a bang.
All the energy he'd absorbed earlier—the light blades, the potential energy of the stone spike, and the kinetic energy of Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Claw—poured out in that single punch.
The sonic boom split eardrums like a peal of thunder. A visible white shock wave surged outward in every direction, with Xiao Mu at its center.
A gale swept across the arena.
Gu Yue managed to raise a wall of rock, but the force swallowed it in an instant.
She was flung off her feet and crashed hard outside the arena.
Tang Wulin tried to withstand the gale with sheer physical strength, but his legs could barely keep him upright.
The shock wave slammed into him like a heavy hammer, lifting him into the air and hurling him away. He spun around, trying to grab hold of something, but the Blue Silver Grass that burst from his hand was torn apart by the gale.
He crashed beside Gu Yue. The Golden Dragon Claw had vanished, leaving his arm back to normal.
He was clearly unconscious.
Xiao Mu lowered his fist and looked at his palm. He'd released all the power he had stored.
"Sure enough, storing up power is a little more effective than blocking and countering directly."
Thinking about counterattacks brought something else to mind. Every action had an equal and opposite reaction. Could he hit someone while triggering a counter, or store up power at the same time?
Na'er approached from the other side, the Silver Dragon Spear hanging at her side. Her gaze swept over the two fallen students without lingering.
Long Hengxu's whistle sounded especially shrill in the gale.
"Class Five's Tang Wulin and Gu Yue are out!"
Cheers erupted outside the arena. Ye Yingluo looked at Wu Zhangkong with a smug expression.
"My students are still stronger."
Seeing that the match was over, Long Hengxu continued, "The competition is over. You're dismissed. The dean has an announcement to make in a few days."
He looked at Wu Zhangkong. "Teacher Wu, come with me. The dean wants to see you."
Xiao Mu and Na'er didn't stick around either. They left with Wei Xiaofeng and Wang Jinxi, who had been eliminated first, as well as Zhang Yangzi.
Along the way, Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi started teasing Wei Xiaofeng for being the first one out.
Meanwhile, in the dean's office.
Yu Zhen shared his ambition with Wu Zhangkong: he wanted the academy to shine at the next Sky Sea Alliance Grand Competition.
It was all for the academy's enrollment numbers.
After hearing this astonishing plan, Wu Zhangkong made one request: Tang Wulin had to be included.
Yu Zhen hesitated for a while, but after hearing that Tang Wulin had a Golden Dragon Claw resembling a Body Martial Soul, he finally agreed.
If Tang Wulin had Twin Martial Souls, then he'd be a first-rate genius.
The next morning, Xiao Mu arrived right on time and squatted on the field with Na'er to wait for someone. No, to watch the show.
Xiao Mu really wanted to see what Tang Wulin's senior girl looked like.
Soon, the girl appeared in his field of vision.
She was a tall, slender girl of about fourteen or fifteen. Her red-and-white sports jacket made her look even more upright. A white T-shirt and dark gray shorts gave her a neat look, while black knee-high socks hugged her long, slender legs, making her skin appear all the more fair.
Her light brown hair was loosely tied in a ponytail, with a few wisps falling across her forehead and the morning sun casting a warm glow over them.
Her features were exquisite, and her blue eyes were like a lake filled with sunlight. She ran with such a light step that she seemed to weigh nothing. Even the falling cherry blossoms seemed to follow her, swirling around her as she ran. Tang Wulin, behind her, watched in a daze for a moment.
Na'er looked at the mature-looking girl, then couldn't help glancing down at herself. Could Xiao Mu really like girls like that?
She looked at Xiao Mu again and found that he had already turned away. "Let's go to the classroom. I heard the dean is announcing the first-year championship rewards today."
"Huh?" Na'er was puzzled. They were just leaving like that?
Xiao Mu didn't feel the slightest thing for Ouyang Zixin. Instead, she brought back some unpleasant memories.
A memory surfaced in his mind. Every boy had a senior girl he remembered vividly.
The three holy lands of romance were...
He shook his head, banishing the memories. What a terrible memory.
They had just reached the classroom when they heard the academy announcement: all first-year classes were to gather on the field for a year-level meeting.