Gu Yue

"Tang Wulin, want to have another match after class? I feel like I've improved a lot lately."

On the track, Xie Xie squeezed in beside Tang Wulin, hoping to arrange another match with him.

Both of them were wearing iron vests. Wu Zhangkong had recently had Tang Wulin forge them specifically for this purpose. They didn't look very thick, but Tang Wulin had refined the iron through Hundred Refinement, and each vest weighed fifty kilograms.

"Maybe not! I'm hungry. I'm going to eat after class!" Tang Wulin said, shaking his head.

"If you fight me, I'll treat you to a Class A meal!" Xie Xie gritted his teeth. He knew how much Tang Wulin could eat, so this really was costing him a fortune.

"Really?"

At the words "Class A meal," Tang Wulin's eyes lit up.

"Really!"

"Great! We'll eat first, then fight!"

"...No problem!"

"Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, do you two have nothing better to do? Run ten extra laps after class!" Wu Zhangkong barked at them from the middle of the track.

"Ah...!"

Just then, a girl strolled over from somewhere not far from the track.

She wore white clothes and had her hair tied in a ponytail. She was quite pretty, and looked about the same age as Tang Wulin and the others.

Wu Zhangkong spotted her at once and turned his gaze in her direction.

He had never seen this girl at the academy before. More importantly, she wasn't wearing a uniform, so she probably wasn't a student there.

At that moment, the girl seemed to sense Wu Zhangkong's gaze. She turned her head slightly, and her eyes met his.

"Which class are you in? I don't think I've seen you before," Wu Zhangkong asked as he walked over.

The girl smiled politely. "Hello, teacher. I'm here to enroll, but I heard the registration period is already over."

As she spoke, she took out a letter of recommendation and handed it to Wu Zhangkong.

Wu Zhangkong frowned and accepted the letter.

There was nothing wrong with it. It had indeed been signed by a junior Soul Master Academy in Eastsea City.

"Gu Yue, Martial Soul: Elementalist, Soul Power: level fifteen."

Wu Zhangkong looked at the Martial Soul listed in the letter. Even he had never heard of it, and he couldn't help feeling puzzled.

"Elementalist? What kind of Martial Soul is that?"

"Teacher, may I still enroll?" Gu Yue asked with a tilted head and a smile.

For an ordinary teacher, there was no chance they would admit a student who was a month late.

But was Wu Zhangkong an ordinary teacher?

Obviously not.

"Xie Xie, come here!" Wu Zhangkong called to Xie Xie, who was still crowding beside Tang Wulin on the track.

"Me?" Xie Xie stopped, looking surprised.

Wu Zhangkong nodded and gestured for him to come over.

"Oh, okay! Coming!"

"Fight her. If you win, I'll let you enroll," Wu Zhangkong said gravely to Gu Yue.

"Of course," Gu Yue said with a smile.

Before long, Xie Xie ran up to Wu Zhangkong, panting. "Teacher Wu... I'm here!"

Wu Zhangkong stepped aside, revealing Gu Yue. "Fight her. If you win, I'll let you have a match with Tang Wulin, too!"

Xie Xie looked Gu Yue over carefully, then smiled. "No problem."

"Good. Rest for ten minutes. We'll start after that," Wu Zhangkong said.

Xie Xie didn't waste time. He sat down right where he was and began to recover his strength. After all, if he beat this girl and got to fight Tang Wulin, he wouldn't have to treat him to a Class A meal.

Tang Wulin, still on the track, also glanced over a couple of times. He didn't know who this girl who'd suddenly appeared was, or why Teacher Wu had called Xie Xie over.

Ten minutes later.

Xie Xie opened his eyes. "Teacher Wu, I'm ready!"

Wu Zhangkong nodded. "Back up twenty meters each, then you can begin."

Xie Xie slowly retreated, keeping his eyes on Gu Yue the whole time. He sensed a threat from her.

Gu Yue, by contrast, seemed completely unconcerned. She skipped and hopped back thirty meters.

"Begin!"

Before Wu Zhangkong's words had even finished, Xie Xie had already released his Martial Soul. Gripping the Light Dragon Dagger, he charged at Gu Yue.

The recent special training hadn't been wasted. Xie Xie was now at least twenty percent faster than when he'd first enrolled.

All the students on the track stopped to watch. Wu Zhangkong didn't stop them; he had intended for them to watch the match.

A Yellow Soul Ring rose leisurely from beneath Gu Yue's feet. Her First Soul Ring was also a hundred-year ring.

But Xie Xie was already right in front of her. How could she counter a close-range attack from an agility-type Soul Master? Surely she wasn't a defense-type Soul Master?

Wu Zhangkong was interested in that, too, but even more interested in her Martial Soul, Elementalist.

Just as the Light Dragon Dagger was about to hit Gu Yue, her Soul Ring flashed. A gust of wind, which only Xie Xie seemed able to feel, buffeted his arm and sent his attack wide. Then a fireball came hurtling toward his face.

Xie Xie's eyes narrowed. The advantage of an agility-type Soul Master became clear: with a twist that looked nearly impossible to everyone watching, he dodged the fireball. Still, it singed a few strands of his hair.

Xie Xie cared a lot about his appearance, so taking that hit made him a little angry.

In that moment of hesitation, a patch of mud appeared beneath his feet and swallowed both of them.

Xie Xie's heart sank. He tried to break free of the mud's grip.

But he hadn't expected it to freeze at such incredible speed, trapping his feet in place.

"Damn it, what kind of Martial Soul does she have? It's so damn underhanded," Xie Xie grumbled to himself.

It wasn't just Xie Xie. Wu Zhangkong's eyes lit up, too. So far, Gu Yue had shown that she could control the elements of wind, fire, earth, and ice.

Any one of those abilities would make a decent Martial Soul on its own. Wu Zhangkong remembered that a student in Class One had an ice-element Martial Soul.

Seeing that she had trapped Xie Xie, Gu Yue flashed with green light and used wind control to speed toward him. A fireball had already formed in her hand.

But Xie Xie was a level-nineteen Soul Power wielder with Twin Martial Souls. As his aura shifted, a dark dagger appeared in his left hand.

That was Xie Xie's other Martial Soul—the Shadow Dragon Dagger.

The moment the Shadow Dragon Dagger appeared, Xie Xie's speed and strength rose considerably. He broke free of the ice and slipped aside, dodging Gu Yue's attack.

When both Soul Masters had only one Soul Ring, someone like Xie Xie, with Twin Martial Souls, had an enormous advantage.

From then on, Xie Xie held the upper hand. He kept circling Gu Yue, and she could no longer catch him off guard like before.

Gu Yue could only keep firing fireballs at Xie Xie, but he easily deflected attacks of that level.

Finally, after several minutes of this, Xie Xie thought he'd found an opening. The Light Dragon Dagger in his right hand blazed with dazzling light, and he unleashed his Soul Skill.

The Light Dragon Dagger stabbed toward Gu Yue with an unstoppable force.