Xiao Mu had barely finished speaking when two people emerged from the woods.
They were both wearing Eastsea Academy uniforms. The one in front was a young man of seventeen or eighteen, with pale blue hair and a snow-white staff in his hand. A blue crystal was embedded in its top.
Two yellow Soul Rings and one purple Soul Ring floated at his feet. The aura of spiritual power around him was so dense it seemed almost solid.
It was Xu Xiaoyu, a three-ring Soul Elder.
A small head peeked out from behind him. The girl had two pale blue braids and held an Ice Staff of her own, though it was a smaller one.
Two rings of light circled her feet. She looked a little timid, as if she had just escaped from something terrifying.
It was Xu Xiaoyan. Under Xiao Mu's influence, she had already broken through to the second ring.
Xu Xiaoyu's gaze swept over Xiao Mu and the others. When he saw that the aura of spiritual power around them was just as dense, his eyes flickered.
Then he strode over.
"Xiao Mu, long time no see! Since we've run into each other in the Spirit Ascension Platform, you'd better prepare to take a beating."
Hearing this, Xie Xie teased Xiao Mu, "Xiao Mu, you sure have terrible people skills. Why does everyone want to beat you up?"
"Whatever. Who knows why he's letting his imagination run wild?" Xiao Mu said, exasperated. He couldn't understand why Xu Xiaoyu thought he'd be interested in a girl who was still three years away from adulthood.
Xu Xiaoyu's face darkened. "Xiao Mu, what's that look for? You think my sister isn't good enough for you?"
"No, I'm just wondering how your brain works." Xiao Mu shrugged. "How old is your sister?"
At that, Xu Xiaoyan puffed up in indignation. Was she really that bad?
"Don't worry about that," Xu Xiaoyu said, his voice rising sharply. He pointed his Ice Staff forward, and the blue crystal at its top flashed. "Since we've run into each other, I'm going to show you what I can do. I'll make sure you know your place."
"Brother, don't fight..."
Xu Xiaoyan spoke softly and tugged at Xu Xiaoyu's sleeve.
"What else do you want to say? Hurry up and give me your last words," Xu Xiaoyu said outright.
"Let me think. What have I done wrong in my life?" Xiao Mu said after a moment. "Gu Yue, when you drank water, I didn't tell you it contained decarbonized formaldehyde and dihydrogen monoxide. Tang Wulin, when you ate, I didn't remind you that your food had an excessive amount of sodium chloride added."
"Huh?" The two stared at him blankly. What was that stuff? What had they eaten?
"It just means there was water in Gu Yue's water, and Tang Wulin, there was salt in your food—and too much of it."
Xiao Mu saw the vivid expressions on their faces and couldn't help explaining.
"You!" Gu Yue felt like she'd been tricked. He'd nearly scared her half to death. She'd known there was no way poison could fool her.
Tang Wulin breathed a sigh of relief. So it was just salt. He'd thought it was something else.
"Xiao Mu, you really don't take me seriously at all, do you?"
The Soul Rings at Xu Xiaoyu's feet lit up. He raised his Ice Staff, and an Ice Wheel condensed above it, spinning with a sharp whistle.
The Ice Wheel shot from his hand.
Cold spread along the ground, and frost instantly coated the grass. Its edge was thin as a blade as it traced an arc through the air, slicing straight toward Xiao Mu's face.
Xiao Mu didn't move.
The third Soul Ring at his feet still glowed faintly. His golden eyes reflected the future—the Ice Wheel's trajectory, angle, and speed, all perfectly clear.
He turned his head. The Ice Wheel skimmed past his ear and smashed into the tree behind him, bursting into shards of ice.
"Is that all you've got? You think you can measure up to me?" Xiao Mu said calmly.
"This isn't over!"
Xu Xiaoyu roared and swung his Ice Staff repeatedly. Three ice spikes appeared out of nowhere, forming a triangle that blocked Xiao Mu's escape routes.
Xiao Mu took a step forward.
A field of force spread beneath his feet like a transparent membrane, silently advancing toward Xu Xiaoyu.
Gravity doubled.
Caught off guard, Xu Xiaoyu's knees buckled, and he was forced to the ground. His Ice Staff slipped from his hand and stuck in the dirt.
The three ice spikes lost control. They tilted in midair, plunged into the ground, and shattered into icy shards.
"I can definitely withstand this Gravity Suppression." Xu Xiaoyu gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. He braced both hands against the ground and tried to stand, only to find it had become difficult even to lift a finger.
"As expected, this move never fails. Most people can't withstand it!" Xiao Mu walked up to him. "You don't seem as strong as Mu Xi."
Xu Xiaoyu's eyes widened. I'm not as strong as Mu Xi?!
His face flushed red. He let out a low growl, and the second Soul Ring at his feet abruptly lit up. The Ice Staff sprang from the dirt and flew back into his hand.
The blue crystal atop the staff blazed with dazzling light. Countless ice crystals surged up from the ground, like white chains, twisting toward Xiao Mu.
"Ice Lock!"
The crystalline chains crackled as they spread the cold. A thick layer of frost formed on the ground wherever they passed.
Xiao Mu sighed.
"Why bother?"
He raised a hand. The field of force reversed in his palm.
"Gravity Reversal."
The gravity beneath Xu Xiaoyu abruptly flipped. Down became up. Xu Xiaoyu shot into the air, and the Ice Lock, losing its target, surged beneath him and stabbed into empty space, shattering into a shower of ice.
"Ah—"
Xu Xiaoyu flailed in the air, but couldn't grab hold of anything. His Ice Staff slipped from his hand, spun away, and disappeared into the treetops.
The field of force beneath Xiao Mu erupted, launching him forward. He moved so fast that only an afterimage remained in the air.
The blades of the Dark-Gold Dread-Claw sprang from his fingertips, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
The claws reached Xu Xiaoyu.
"Pfft—"
The blades pierced his shoulder. Dark golden blood gushed out and floated upward in the reversed gravity, like a rain of blood falling toward the sky.
"Brother, don't just let him hit you! Dad's going to scold you again when you get home!"
Xu Xiaoyan cried out, but she only felt a little sorry for Xu Xiaoyu.
Xu Xiaoyu crashed to the ground with a thunderous thud, kicking up dust. His figure began to grow faint, then vanished without a trace.
An aura of spiritual power rose from him, as dense as a cloud, and flowed into Xiao Mu.
Xu Xiaoyan clutched her little head and said, "You've already beaten my brother, so you can't beat me too."
"Xiaoyan, wasn't your brother the one who started it?" Xiao Mu said, exasperated. Did she think he was the sort of person who went around beating people up for no reason?
Sure, back at the junior academy, he'd often given people electrotherapy to motivate them, but that had all been for their own good.
Everyone he'd helped had improved their physical fitness by quite a bit.
Tang Wulin came over and lowered his voice. "Xiao Mu, you know her?"
"We met at the Primary Soul Master Academy," Xiao Mu explained. "Her name's Xu Xiaoyan. She'll be going to an Intermediate Soul Master Academy next year."
"Junior academy?" Xie Xie raised an eyebrow. "You like her?"
"What do you know about liking someone, anyway? Why are you saying I like her?" Xiao Mu said, exasperated.
"Exactly. My brother would never like her." Na'er poked Xie Xie in the butt with the Silver Dragon Spear.
Xu Xiaoyan looked at Na'er. She was so pretty—who wouldn't like her?
"Forget it. Your brother has already left the Spirit Ascension Platform. You're here to upgrade your Soul Ring, so stick with us for now." Xiao Mu looked at Xu Xiaoyan and said outright, "I know you came along to get some courage. Don't worry, I'm more reliable than your brother."
After all, Xu Xiaoyan had never shaken off her tendency to be timid.
"Is that okay?" Xu Xiaoyan asked the others.
Gu Yue said, "I don't mind."
Xie Xie, Tang Wulin, and the others naturally agreed. With a powerful ally to lean on, they could breeze through the assessment.
Their group of eight became a group of nine. Xu Xiaoyan asked, "Where are we going?"
"To find the Spirit Ascension Platform Guardian. I heard it's become a thousand-year one. We'll see if we can beat it. You need to build up your courage anyway."
Xiao Mu explained to the others. Mainly, he wanted to get a Soul Bone for free. If it was an External Soul Bone, he'd keep it; if not, he'd just give it to one lucky person.
Who would absorb a thousand-year Soul Bone, anyway?
Xu Xiaoyan froze. The Spirit Ascension Platform Guardian? A thousand-year level?
Before she could say anything, the group had already left the woods. The trees ahead suddenly broke off, revealing a clear boundary—the dividing line between the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform and the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform.
The next moment,
howls rang out from the forest. Low growls echoed through the woods, making the thin mist tremble. More than a dozen pairs of ghostly green eyes lit up deep within it.
Xu Xiaoyan's face went pale, and she instinctively shrank back half a step.
"There are so many of them. Has the difficulty really increased that much?!"