Soul Skill Application, One Against Many

On the training grounds.

Bai Yi stood in the center of the field, the Golden Cudgel held horizontally before him.

The seven people opposite him had already reformed their formation.

Feng Xiaotian stood at the front, while Huo Wu stood slightly behind him at his side.

Though the previous exchange had been brief, it had been enough for Feng Xiaotian to see a few things clearly.

His gaze fell on the three Soul Rings: purple, purple, black.

Feng Xiaotian narrowed his eyes slightly.

A child who looked barely over ten, with three Soul Rings—two thousand-year rings and one ten-thousand-year ring—was simply impossible anywhere in the world of soul masters.

If his body could truly withstand the impact of a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, then it meant his physical strength had at least reached the level of a Soul King.

Feng Xiaotian knew exactly what that meant.

It meant this child's frontal defense might far exceed his rank.

He spoke quietly to Huo Wu beside him.

"Be careful of his third soul skill. It's ten-thousand-year; we don't know what type it is."

Huo Wu nodded.

Her gaze also settled on that black Soul Ring.

She had seen plenty of geniuses, but no one had ever stood before her at this age with a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring.

Doubt and wariness churned in her heart, along with a trace of unwillingness.

Her talent had always placed her among the very best of her peers, yet the child standing before her surpassed her in Soul Ring configuration alone.

She clenched her fist, then slowly released it.

Feng Xiaotian turned to one of the team members behind him.

"Circle around from the left wing. Don't take his attacks head-on."

That team member nodded and began moving to the side.

Feng Xiaotian addressed another team member.

"Support from the right wing. Strike whichever direction he commits to."

"His first soul skill smashes the ground and creates a wide shockwave. His second is a sweeping flame attack. Both have area damage, but they share one weakness: they're close-range attacks. As long as we keep our distance and wear him down, even if he has a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, he won't be able to use it."

After saying that, he adjusted his breathing.

"First wave. I'll go first."

His figure suddenly moved.

As the Gale Two-Headed Wolf possessed him, a wolf phantom emerged behind Feng Xiaotian, and cyan wind patterns covered his limbs.

He lowered his body slightly, then shot forward like an arrow.

He was so fast that he dragged a long streak through the dust on the ground.

Seeing his trajectory, Bai Yi tilted the Golden Cudgel slightly.

Feng Xiaotian's right hand had already transformed into a cyan wolf claw, which tore toward Bai Yi's chest.

Clang!

The Golden Cudgel rose vertically and blocked it.

Feng Xiaotian did not stop. His second claw followed immediately, slashing toward Bai Yi's shoulder.

Bai Yi took half a step back and lifted the Golden Cudgel. The end of the staff struck Feng Xiaotian's wrist, knocking his attack off course.

But Feng Xiaotian's third and fourth claws had already arrived.

His attack speed was much faster than before. Once Gale Demon Wolf Consecutive Slash began, every strike became faster than the last.

Bai Yi blocked five strikes, shifted to the side, and let the sixth graze past his left shoulder, leaving a tear in his clothes.

A surge of delight rose in Feng Xiaotian's heart.

His consecutive slash could still become faster. As long as he forced his opponent into a defensive rhythm, his speed would snowball faster and faster.

Yet Bai Yi's expression did not change.

Even while blocking, he observed Feng Xiaotian's attack rhythm, memorizing his habits when switching hands and the signs before each move.

Feng Xiaotian's attacks became faster and faster. His tenth slash came down from directly in front of Bai Yi.

Bai Yi stepped aside, his whole body slipping away from his original position like a fish gliding through water.

Feng Xiaotian's eleventh slash missed.

Bai Yi said calmly, "Your speed is decent. But you slow down a little when you change direction."

Feng Xiaotian said nothing, but his breathing had become more uneven than before.

He knew this perfectly well.

His opponent's reaction speed and predictive ability far exceeded his expectations.

This child definitely had extensive combat experience.

Just as Bai Yi and Feng Xiaotian were locked in combat, Huo Wu moved from behind them.

She raised both hands, palms upward, and scarlet flames condensed into a sphere of light before her.

The three Soul Rings around her were all glowing as Soul Power collapsed inward and fused into one mass.

Ring Fusion.

The sphere of flame grew brighter and brighter, and even the air around it began to distort.

Seizing the opportunity, several Godwind Academy team members simultaneously swung their arms and unleashed wind-element soul skills. Cyan winds blew toward the flaming sphere from three directions.

The wind enveloped the flames, and the fire borrowed the wind's momentum. In an instant, the sphere expanded into a massive tornado of flame that roared toward Bai Yi.

The spectators around the field all felt the heatwave. The students in the front row were blasted two steps backward, and some raised their arms to shield their faces.

"What kind of soul skill is that? What terrifying power..."

"It doesn't look like one person's attack. They joined forces. Wind and fire fusion."

"This power... can a Soul Elder really unleash something like this?"

Meng Shenji stood in the stands, frowning slightly.

Zhi Lin beside him said quietly, "The power of this strike is already close to the level of a ten-thousand-year soul skill."

Meng Shenji said nothing, but he agreed with that assessment.

The attribute enhancement created by wind and fire working together was indeed difficult to deal with in real combat. An attack of this level was something ordinary Soul Elder defensive skills simply could not withstand.

"How will Bai Yi block it?"

Zhi Lin asked with a solemn expression.

The flaming tornado had already advanced before Bai Yi.

The scorching airflow whipped Bai Yi's clothes violently.

He glanced at the fire tornado, then at Huo Wu standing behind it.

She was panting. Ring Fusion had consumed a great deal of her Soul Power, yet she still gritted her teeth and maintained the flames.

The power of this attack was indeed not bad, but for him... it was not enough.

He did not retreat.

He held the Golden Cudgel horizontally before him and poured a stream of Soul Power into it.

His third Soul Ring lit up, but this time was different.

He did not spread his Thunder Wings. Instead, he condensed all the lightning's power onto the Golden Cudgel.

Golden arcs of electricity flickered across the staff, growing denser and denser.

He gripped the Golden Cudgel and swept it sideways, sending out a small golden blade of energy.

The energy blade was not large. It looked far smaller than the one he had used to defeat Luo Li.

But it was extremely fast and incredibly precise.

The golden energy blade cut into the base of the flaming tornado from the side, severing the source of the wind as though cutting a rope.

The lower half of the fire tornado immediately began to collapse. Its flames twisted to one side and no longer advanced toward Bai Yi.

At the same time, Bai Yi swung out a second and third golden energy blade.

The two blades flew toward the Godwind Academy team members on either side.

They were maintaining the wind supply and had no time to defend. The team members grazed by the blades were forced to interrupt their soul skills and staggered back two steps.

The flaming tornado completely scattered.

Once the wind's power was cut off, the flames lost their shape in midair and turned into scattered sparks drifting down to the ground.

The Godwind Academy team members were blasted back several steps, and their entire formation fell into disarray.

Huo Wu stared as her all-out strike was neutralized so easily, her expression freezing.

Her Ring Fusion had nearly consumed half her Soul Power. With the wind-element enhancement, she knew very well how powerful this attack was. She had thought that even if it could not win outright, it would at least force out her opponent's third soul skill.

Yet he had not even spread his Thunder Wings. He had dismantled her attack with just a few small energy blades.

She stared at the Golden Cudgel in Bai Yi's hand, still crackling with electric arcs, and bit down on her lower lip.

She refused to accept it.

Feng Xiaotian stopped as well.

He retreated to Huo Wu's side, breathing more heavily than before.

When Bai Yi had swung out those energy blades, Feng Xiaotian had been nearby. The wind pressure raised by the blade as it passed before him had made his scalp go numb.

If that energy blade had been aimed at him, he was not sure whether he could have dodged it completely.

But he had no intention of backing down. He glanced at Huo Wu and said quietly, "There's still a chance."

Huo Wu looked up at him, then nodded through gritted teeth.

Feng Xiaotian took a deep breath and focused his Soul Power into his martial soul. The phantom of the Gale Two-Headed Wolf swelled dramatically, and cyan wind condensed behind him into a pair of translucent wings.

His feet lifted slightly from the ground, and his body rose half a foot higher.

Huo Wu moved as well.

She raised her right hand, palm upward, and condensed a ball of blazing white flame.

This time, she did not attack from afar. Instead, she pushed the flames toward Feng Xiaotian.

When the flames met the wind surrounding Feng Xiaotian, they did not disperse. Instead, they attached themselves to those wind wings. The cyan wings became coated in golden-red firelight.

Bai Yi watched this scene and made a quiet assessment.

They were going to settle this in the air.

And the wind-fire combination really was clever.

Feng Xiaotian was responsible for speed, while Huo Wu was responsible for adding firepower. Each of them played to their strengths.

Too bad I won't get to see Huo Wu's self-created soul skill from the original work, Huo Wu Yao Yang.

She probably hasn't developed it yet.

Immediately afterward, Bai Yi did not hesitate either.

His third Soul Ring lit up again. This time, he did not restrain the power of lightning.

Golden arcs exploded behind him, condensing into a pair of translucent Thunder Wings. Golden electricity at the wingtips left several bright trails through the air.

Bai Yi's feet also left the ground.

The Thunder Wings flapped lightly, lifting him to the same height as Feng Xiaotian.

Above the training grounds, the two figures floated face-to-face, separated by more than ten steps.

Looking at the golden Thunder Wings opposite him, Feng Xiaotian clearly realized one thing.

His opponent had a speed advantage in the air as well.

His wind wings relied on the wind attribute of his martial soul itself, while Bai Yi's Thunder Wings clearly came from a Soul Ring and were part of a soul skill.

He did not know how long those wings could last, but he was certain that he had to decide the battle before they disappeared.

Feng Xiaotian moved.

His entire body became a streak of cyan-red light, moving even faster than he had on the ground.

The phantom of the Two-Headed Wolf dragged a long afterimage behind him, while the wind wings let out a piercing shriek as they sliced through the air.

Bai Yi did not meet him head-on. Instead, he shifted his direction slightly.

His Thunder Wings tilted, and his body slid sideways a short distance, opening up an angle between them.

Feng Xiaotian's first strike missed.

But he did not slow down. His wind wings turned, tracing an arc through the air as he closed in on Bai Yi again.

On his second charge, he added a change of direction, swaying left and right before accelerating in an attempt to confuse Bai Yi's predictions.

This time, Bai Yi did not dodge.

He gripped the Golden Cudgel and met him head-on.

The staff collided with the wolf claw, producing a dull metallic crash.

A ring of cyan-gold shockwave burst through the air, blowing the dust across the ground outward.

Using the recoil from the collision, Feng Xiaotian pulled away. He spun once in the air to regain his balance, preparing to charge again.

Bai Yi did not give him a third chance.

The instant Feng Xiaotian pulled away, Bai Yi turned his wrist and thrust the Golden Cudgel forward three times in rapid succession.

Three sharp golden bolts of lightning blasted from the tip of the staff, stabbing toward Feng Xiaotian like three thunder spears.

This was Thunder Feather Thousand Strikes.

Feng Xiaotian barely twisted aside to evade the first bolt. The second grazed the edge of his wind wing, leaving a scorched black gap in it.

He could not fully evade the third. It struck his left shoulder and sent him tumbling backward twice.

Feng Xiaotian's wind wings tilted in the air. By the time he stabilized himself, he had landed at the edge of the field atop a pile of broken stones.

A hole had been burned through the clothing on his left shoulder, exposing a patch of charred skin beneath, but there was no blood.

The intense heat of the lightning had already sealed the wound.

Feng Xiaotian looked at the wound on his shoulder, then raised his head to look at Bai Yi, still hovering in the air. After a moment of silence, he lowered his hands.

"I lost."

He said it very calmly.

Huo Wu stood at the edge of the arena, her face pale.

She watched the direction Feng Xiaotian had landed, her lips moving without making a sound. She knew he did not surrender easily.

Since he had said so, he truly could not keep fighting.

Bai Yi descended from the air and landed on the ground. The Thunder Wings slowly dissipated, and the Golden Cudgel was put away as well.

Feng Xiaotian got to his feet, dusted himself off, and walked two steps toward Bai Yi before stopping several paces away to look at him.

"You're very strong. I admit that even if Huo Wu and I joined forces, it would be difficult for us to defeat you."

Bai Yi looked at him without replying.

"I'll come again when I have the chance."

Feng Xiaotian said,

"Once I've grown stronger, I'll challenge you again."

Huo Wu also walked over from behind him.

She looked at Bai Yi with a complicated expression.

After hesitating for a moment, she said, "I lost today. But this isn't my peak. I'll become stronger, and once I am, I'll come find you again."

Bai Yi glanced at her. "Alright. You're welcome anytime."

Huo Wu said nothing more, but her clenched fists slowly relaxed.

The edge of the arena remained quiet for quite a while before the Heaven Dou Royal Academy students began to cheer.

Meng Shenji watched Bai Yi's retreating figure from the stands and remained silent for a long time. Only after a while did he slowly lean back against his chair, a barely noticeable curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Zhi Lin stood beside him and said quietly,

"Those bolts of lightning... they didn't seem like ordinary soul skills. They were more like a combination of air blades and piercing attacks."

Meng Shenji nodded. He had been thinking the same thing.

Bai Yi's use of his third soul skill was far more flexible than they had imagined.

That child possessed not only talent, but also the ability to use it flexibly.

When Bai Yi walked off the arena, Ye Lingling was already waiting at the side.

She held a waterskin in her hand. As she passed it to him, her gaze paused on Bai Yi before falling on the tear in his left shoulder.

"It's torn, but it didn't break the skin."

"I know."

Bai Yi took the waterskin and drank a mouthful.

Ye Lingling said nothing further, but she remained at Bai Yi's side, quietly standing there until everyone else had dispersed.