Suppressing Gu Yue, The Lonely One (5k)

"Teacher Wu, can I change opponents?"

Lin Xun raised his hand.

"Reason."

"She's too weak. It's boring."

He said it with perfect confidence, without so much as a blush or a racing heartbeat. In truth, he just didn't want to fight Gu Yue.

Xie Xie, standing nearby, nearly had his jaw hit the floor. Bro, that was control over six elements.

And you called that weak?

Only Gu Yue tilted her head slightly, her black eyes fixed on Lin Xun for two seconds as the aura around her grew markedly heavier.

"Since he thinks I'm weak." Gu Yue rolled her wrist, her voice calm and faint. "Then I'll let my strength do the talking. Teacher Wu, I request permission to hold nothing back and fight at full strength. I only ask that if anyone gets hurt, Teacher Wu intervenes in time."

"Approved."

Wu Changkong stepped back several paces, clearing the field for them.

Lin Xun's heart skipped a beat.

This was bad.

He'd talked himself up too much this time.

Looks like this silver dragon fish was really getting serious.

But he'd already said it, so backing out was definitely not an option. With a flick of his right hand, the Ex-Girlfriend Sword condensed once more, its gaudy pink blade as eye-catching as ever.

Two purple soul rings rose beneath his feet.

Gu Yue said nothing. The first soul ring beneath her feet lit up, and her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly.

The two faced each other from a short distance away, and the temperature in the air dropped sharply.

"Begin."

The instant Wu Changkong spoke, Gu Yue's first attack arrived.

Ice Spikes!

A sky-filling barrage of ice spikes shot out from behind her. Each one was as thick as an arm, their tips razor-sharp, nearly sealing off every route Lin Xun could take.

Lin Xun remained calm. His first soul ring shattered at once, and he gripped Zhu Zhuqing's capsule in his hand before inserting it into the evolver on the sword hilt. Dark purple light instantly covered the blade, and his entire body became a blur.

Ten ice spikes slammed into the spot where he had just stood, frosting the ground white. Meanwhile, he had already appeared several steps away, completely evading the all-encompassing attack.

But before he could charge forward again, his footing suddenly gave way.

The solid training field had somehow turned into a swamp. Thick mud instantly swallowed his ankles, and a powerful suction force dragged him downward.

Earth element.

That damn silver dragon fish was playing dirty.

Worse still, more ice spikes were falling from overhead. They came from three separate angles, sealing every possible route of escape.

His feet were trapped in the swamp, while ice spikes hung above him. He was caught between a rock and a hard place.

An angry Gu Yue was even harder to deal with than he had imagined.

Lin Xun's mouth twitched, but his hands did not slow in the slightest. He drove his sword into the swamp, poured soul power through the blade and into the earth, then used the force to launch himself into the air.

With one slash, pink sword light shattered every ice spike!

But Gu Yue's attacks came one after another. Three cyan wind blades flew toward him in a triangular formation, moving so fast their trajectories were almost impossible to follow.

Unable to gain leverage in midair, Lin Xun was about to be hit. But then, his first soul ring lit up and shattered again, turning into a brand-new capsule that fell into his palm.

One soul ring had two capsules. This was the second one.

This time, an alluring woman was engraved on the capsule. Long purple hair, a fox tail faintly visible, and seductive charm in every line of her brows and eyes. On the back of the capsule was a nine-tailed demon fox.

Hu Liena.

The capsule slid into the sword hilt, and the evolver gave a soft hum. The pink blade, once wrapped in dark purple light, now took on a layer of eerie violet-red. Faint fox patterns appeared along the blade, and even a small, fluffy phantom emerged from the end of the hilt.

Xie Xie's eyes went wide at the edge of the field. "How many forms does Brother Xun's martial soul even have? Is he some kind of shapeshifting loli?"

Wu Changkong frowned slightly, lost in thought.

Lin Xun's figure suddenly became elusive in midair. The wind blades passed through the afterimages, striking nothing.

The next second, he landed steadily on the ground.

"What soul skill is that?" Gu Yue spoke of her own accord for the first time, a slight crease appearing between her brows.

"Fox Demon Step." Lin Xun rose to his feet and patted the dirt from his knees. "What, you want to learn it?"

Gu Yue did not respond. She merely raised her hand again in silence. Richer elemental power continued gathering around her.

Three streams of light intertwined above her head. Ice spikes spun faster as they were caught in the wind, while earth-element power transformed into fine grains of sand and mixed into them.

From afar, it looked like a miniature elemental tornado, rapidly expanding outward with her at its center.

Under the storm's force, the flagpole at the edge of the field bent like a bow beneath the wind pressure, while the flag snapped loudly!

Xie Xie took two steps back.

"What the fuck kind of Elementalist is this? This is a fucking natural disaster, isn't it?"

Tang Wulin tugged at his sleeve. "Xie Xie, you can't swear."

"Special circumstances, special circumstances."

Lin Xun stood directly before the storm, his golden hair blown straight back. Watching the elemental storm grow larger and larger, he actually smiled.

"Pulling out your ultimate after just a couple of exchanges?"

Now this was how the Silver Dragon King ought to be.

Not some damn silver dragon fish with nothing but love on the brain.

Since that was the case, then they would have a truly satisfying fight!

Lin Xun tightened his grip on the Ex-Girlfriend Sword. Purple-red fox patterns flowed across the blade. The Hu Liena capsule still hummed inside the Ascender, and a current of heat surged through the hilt into his arm, then raced along his meridians straight to his brow.

His spiritual power instantly soared.

The world suddenly slowed down.

Or rather, his perception had been elevated to an extraordinarily keen level. Gu Yue's attack was like a meticulously woven net, yet the path of every single thread was crystal clear.

This was the Hu Liena capsule's second effect. It not only increased speed, but spiritual power as well. The Nine-Tailed Fox Demon's gift for enchantment was, at its core, the ultimate application of spiritual power. Although Lin Xun did not possess a fox demon martial soul, the capsule had perfectly replicated this aspect of its traits.

The sword tip dragged across the ground in an arc. Purple-red flames sprang from the blade and scorched a semicircle across the earth.

Fox Demon Fire.

The flames were not the usual orange-red, but an alluring purple-red, like the last streak of sunset on the horizon at dusk had been pinched, squeezing out a hint of suggestive light.

Even the way the flames danced differed from ordinary fire. They twisted and swayed, eerily strange.

The instant the elemental storm collided with the fox fire, the entire storm paused for a moment and weakened slightly.

But the main body of the storm continued pressing forward.

Lin Xun slashed again and again, every strike carrying fox fire. Each sword slash whittled away at the storm's density.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Not only did he fail to retreat, he actually began advancing, forcing his way forward against the elemental storm.

The fox fire burned out a safe zone before him, and within that zone, he edged forward step by step.

He swung his sword at the storm!

Wu Changkong had not spoken the entire time, merely narrowing his eyes slightly. His gaze fell upon Lin Xun's sword, and that bewitching purple-red flame reminded him of something.

Fox demons excelled at spiritual power and were most skilled in enchantment and illusions.

Yet even though Lin Xun's fox fire was powerful, it still could not completely extinguish the elemental storm as it drew near. The storm's assault remained ferocious.

But at this moment, he did not choose to confront the elemental storm head-on.

Lin Xun raised his head and looked straight at Gu Yue behind the storm. Their eyes met amid the elemental turbulence, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

"Gu Yue."

His voice pierced through the storm's howl and reached her ears with perfect clarity.

"Have you ever experienced..."

He paused. Deep within his pupils, an extremely faint golden gleam lit up.

"Hell!"

The instant the words fell, an invisible force abruptly spread out from Lin Xun at the center.

Spiritual power erupted!

Divine Might Suppresses Hell.

This was a self-created soul skill that he had spent an entire era honing. It relied on none of the traits of any martial soul.

It was pure suppression through will.

Back then, after observing Mu En, master of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, use Sovereign's Descent, he had combined it with his own understanding and painstakingly forged this skill.

Mu En's Sovereign's Descent was the gaze of the Light Dragon from above, the majesty of a sovereign.

His Divine Might Suppresses Hell, however, was a gaze from hell.

It was the wail of ten thousand ghosts.

It was a bloodthirsty battlefield of asuras.

The sole requirement of this self-created soul skill was exceptionally high spiritual power. That was why he had used the Hu Liena capsule—to increase his spiritual power.

The lighting on the training ground did not change at all, but in Gu Yue's perception, the entire world darkened.

The training ground beneath her feet became scorched black earth.

The surrounding students vanished. Wu Changkong vanished. The flagpole and track were all gone.

In their place stood blurry figures, and they all let out cries, wails, and mournful shrieks at once.

Like the howls of vicious ghosts!

Gu Yue had already expended a great deal of spiritual power and soul power to unleash the Elemental Storm. Now, faced with the suddenly activated Divine Might Suppresses Hell, she could not help but let out a muffled groan.

She involuntarily took a step back.

The Elemental Storm had always relied heavily on its caster maintaining a balance between multiple elements. Thus, the instant Gu Yue's mind was shaken, it lost its support and control, collapsing with a roar.

The ice spikes struck the ground and shattered into fragments. The wind blades dispersed into turbulent currents, while sand and stones of the earth element rustled down onto the ground.

The outcome had been decided!

Gu Yue stood there, panting softly, her chest rising and falling slightly, fine beads of sweat covering her forehead.

From the very beginning, Lin Xun had never intended to clash head-on with the Elemental Storm. Everything before had been a feint to deceive her, all for the sake of launching that spiritual attack.

"I lost." Gu Yue said nothing more. She merely gave Lin Xun a deep look, her gaze carrying a somewhat complicated emotion.

Lin Xun had never used that move in front of her before, so he was not worried about being recognized.

Of course, he had not pressed his advantage either. Mainly, he wanted them to get along better in the future.

When it came to Gu Yue, it was enough for Lin Xun to curse that stinking silver dragonfish in his heart. In daily life, they still had to get along properly.

After all, the breakup value was sitting right there.

After watching their battle, Wu Changkong was undoubtedly quite surprised. Both of them were exceptionally experienced in combat.

They did not resemble children of their age at all.

Gu Yue's control over six elements alone was proof enough of her talent. Yet Lin Xun had kept a low profile while proving himself even stronger.

He had already displayed two forms. A tool martial soul with multiple forms, each one outstanding—and he had not even used his second soul skill, much less that unique spiritual attack at the end.

These two were even more worth nurturing than he had imagined.

Xie Xie stroked his chin and whispered to Tang Wulin, "Don't you think the way Gu Yue looked at Brother Xun was a little off?"

Tang Wulin honestly shook his head. "No. It looked normal to me."

"What do you know? This is called a man's intuition." Xie Xie wore a profound expression. "Let me tell you, based on my many years of reading romance storybooks, the look Gu Yue gave him just now definitely wasn't the look she'd give an ordinary classmate."

"Then what kind of look was it?"

"The look of someone who wants to chop him up."

"..."

Wu Changkong's gaze settled on Lin Xun, and he fell silent for several seconds. A rare trace of contemplation appeared in his cold eyes.

"Lin Xun."

"Hm?"

"Have you been to the Spirit Ascension Platform?"

A two-ringed Soul Grandmaster with two purple thousand-year soul rings was abnormal in itself. Under normal circumstances, the age limit for a first soul ring was just over four hundred years, while a second soul ring could be at most seven or eight hundred years. The soul spirits absorbed should also have been hundred-year soul spirits.

Two thousand-year soul rings could only be explained if he had gone to the Spirit Ascension Platform and forcefully raised his soul ring ages through spiritual ascension.

Wu Changkong's question was perfectly reasonable.

But Lin Xun shook his head.

"No. My martial soul is rather special. The soul rings came with it."

Wu Changkong narrowed his eyes slightly.

On Douluo Continent, there was one kind of being that was born with soul rings.

Soul beasts that had taken human form. After a hundred-thousand-year soul beast transformed into a human, it did not need to hunt soul beasts to obtain soul rings. Whenever it reached a bottleneck at a new stage, its soul rings would condense on their own.

But there was an ironclad rule for soul beasts taking human form.

They had to possess beast martial souls.

The essence of a soul beast taking human form was a soul beast converting itself into a human shape, so its martial soul would inevitably be its original body. For example, if a Soft Bone Rabbit took human form, its martial soul would be the Soft Bone Rabbit. If a Blue Silver Emperor took human form, its martial soul would be the Blue Silver Emperor. No soul beast had ever taken human form only for its martial soul to become a sword.

It was like a person reincarnating and ending up as a brick. It simply made no logical sense.

Therefore, the implied meaning behind Lin Xun's words was clear.

I have a tool martial soul, so I can't be a soul beast in human form. Teacher, there's no need to speculate in that direction.

Wu Changkong pondered for a moment, then nodded.

He did not question him further.

There truly were some exceedingly rare special cases on the continent. Certain ancient families possessed unique martial soul mutation bloodlines, and there could be isolated cases of people being born with soul rings. Though the probability was extremely low, it was not impossible. Besides, Wu Changkong had read Lin Xun's records. He had been taken in by an orphanage while still in swaddling clothes.

His background was spotless.

The only thing worth mentioning was that the orphanage which had adopted Lin Xun had later been attacked by evil soul masters.

Wu Changkong asked no further questions and signaled for him to return to the line.

Lin Xun walked back to the line. The moment he stopped, Xie Xie leaned over.

"Brother Xun, you came with your own soul ring? Your martial soul is way too unfair. We have to scrimp and save to buy soul spirits, while yours gets handed out automatically when the time comes."

"Jealous?"

"Jealous."

"Being jealous won't help. Unless you start over right now, maybe there's a tiny chance you'll get a martial soul like mine in your next life."

Xie Xie: "..."

In truth, Lin Xun had bought his soul rings with system points, and they were the soul rings best suited to his martial soul. They were even better than those granted by soul spirits in the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Of course, that only applied to ordinary soul spirits. Unyielding soul spirits could still compare.

Later in this special training session, Xie Xie fought Tang Wulin again. Unexpectedly, Xie Xie, the mainstay of the promotion match with twin martial souls of the same origin, lost to Tang Wulin, who was merely an alternate.

He had been too careless. Tang Wulin's absolute strength gave Xie Xie a brutal lesson.

The main purpose of this special training was to understand their specific circumstances and gain a clearer grasp of the four students' abilities. That would make Wu Changkong's subsequent training and development plans more convenient.

By the time the special training ended, Xie Xie was still lying on the grass, unable to get up.

It wasn't that he did not want to get up. He simply could not.

The lingering force from Tang Wulin's punch still reverberated in his chest, like a breath he could not expel, lodged between his ribs and humming.

"Xie Xie, are you okay?" Tang Wulin crouched beside him, blinking his large eyes with sincere guilt written all over his face.

"I'm fine." Xie Xie stared up at the sky, his voice carrying a faint despair. "I'm just pondering a philosophical question."

"What question?"

"Why was a genius with twin martial souls sent flying by Blue Silver Grass?"

Tang Wulin thought seriously for a moment before giving his answer. "Maybe because you're too light?"

Xie Xie closed his eyes.

Forget it. Talking to an honest person would only hurt him more.

Lin Xun did not wait for Xie Xie to recover. He headed alone toward the school gate. Since he had time today, he still needed to make a trip to the Spirit Pagoda.

His soul communicator buzzed.

He lowered his head and looked.

[Hidden Radiance]: What are you doing?

Lin Xun was a little surprised. This account was so aloof that it almost never initiated conversations. This was the first time it had messaged him first.

[Donghai's Deepest Romantic]: Just got out of class. What about you?

[Hidden Radiance]: At home. Why did you change your name?

[Donghai's Deepest Romantic]: It suits my persona better.

[Hidden Radiance]: ...

[Hidden Radiance]: It's raining outside.

Lin Xun looked up at the sky. Not a cloud stretched across Donghai City, and the blazing sunshine was enough to roast someone alive. After half a second, he realized the other person was not in Donghai City at all.

[Donghai's Deepest Romantic]: You're always drifting around out there. Which city is your home in?

The other side fell silent for a while.

[Hidden Radiance]: I can't say yet.

[Donghai's Deepest Romantic]: Fine. Tell me when you can.

[Hidden Radiance]: You're not angry?

[Donghai's Deepest Romantic]: Why would I be angry? Everyone has their own pace. I'm already happy that you're willing to chat with me.

Inside a rented apartment in some city.

It really was raining outside. Raindrops struck the glass with dull thuds.

The lights were off inside. The curtains were only half drawn, and grayish light filtered through the uncovered half, falling across the wooden floor and illuminating a small patch.

Several cardboard boxes were piled in the corner, still unopened. The bed was made neatly, making it clear that its owner was a very meticulous person.

The only sign of life was the cup on the table, beside which lay a soul device repair manual opened halfway through.

A youth sat on the windowsill, leaning against the window frame. One leg was curled up, while the other dangled down, the toes barely touching the floor.

The youth was very thin, dressed in an oversized dark-gray hoodie with the hood pulled low, concealing most of the face. Only a small section of chin showed beneath the brim, its lines sharp and slender, the skin nearly pale in the dim light.

She stared fixedly at that final line on the soul communicator. She did not reply, instead spacing out for a long time.

What Lin Xun did not know was that his simple response had become the only light in her lonely days.

After sitting there for a while, she jumped down from the windowsill, her bare feet landing on the wooden floor. Her toes were very pale, and the floor gave a faint creak beneath them.

She stopped at the bathroom door.

Raising a hand, she grabbed the back of her hoodie's collar and pulled forward, stripping off the entire garment.

Long dark-red hair sprang free from the collar and spilled down her back. The ends were damp, probably from being trapped inside the hoodie. A few strands clung to her shoulder blades, while the rest fell to the hollow of her waist.

Through the hazy steam of the bathroom, one could vaguely make out a slender, exquisitely curved figure...