Xiling vs. Gu Yue

Xiling stood where he was, his expression calm. He still had no intention of making a move; he was giving Gu Yue a chance to show what she could do.

Gu Yue seemed to understand this as well. Her left hand pressed downward through the air, and earth element erupted once more. Broken stones surged alongside clouds of dust as countless stone spikes shot toward Xiling from all directions, sealing off his retreat.

Immediately afterward, flames ignited the raging wind, and scorching waves of fire spread wildly with the gale. Unlike the earlier fire tornado, this was a wide-area blaze that left no blind spots.

Yet faster than the stone spikes and fire waves was a dazzling white orb of light. In an instant, it rushed to within a few meters of Xiling and exploded with a bang!

Xiling narrowed his eyes, seeing nothing but white all around him, but the interference lasted only an instant.

Wind fueled the flames, earth blocked his escape, and brilliant light blinded him. The three attacks connected flawlessly.

The students outside the field were already dumbstruck. Everyone had stopped running and stared at the scene in shock.

Wu Zhangkong's eyes shone with astonishment as well. Gu Yue and Xiling had already displayed five abilities in their battle: wind, fire, water, earth, and light.

Wu Zhangkong could not understand where these soul skills had come from, but for Gu Yue to achieve five-element attacks and coordination of this level with just one soul ring undoubtedly meant she possessed a super martial soul!

Even in the face of this airtight barrage, Xiling's expression did not change. But this time, he moved.

In an instant, countless spatial rifts appeared around him.

The stone spikes filling the sky and the surging flames vanished into them without resistance.

As Gu Yue stared in astonishment, identical spatial rifts appeared around her without warning. The stone spikes and flames that had just been swallowed suddenly burst from the rifts behind her, their momentum completely undiminished!

Gu Yue's pupils contracted sharply, the shock in her heart reaching its peak. With no time to think, she moved her feet, flashing dozens of meters away in an instant and barely evading the attack.

The stone spikes and flames crashed into the open ground and exploded, sending dust flying and leaving the earth riddled with pits.

But before she could fully steady herself, an icy presence had already locked onto the center of her brow.

At some point, the Subspace Spear behind Xiling had already torn through the air. Its tip gleamed with chilling light, only a few centimeters from her forehead.

One inch farther, and it would have pierced straight through her skull.

Gu Yue's body suddenly froze. Every hair on her body stood on end as she stared fixedly at the Subspace Spear inches before her. The shock in her heart had reached its limit.

The outcome had already been decided.

"All right, we'll stop here." Wu Zhangkong's voice rang out at that moment.

As his words fell, the Subspace Spear floating before Gu Yue instantly withdrew all its sharpness and vanished into the void.

Gu Yue came back to her senses and shot Xiling a complicated look. He really showed no mercy at all.

Then she turned to Wu Zhangkong. "Teacher, I lost. Can I still enroll?"

Wu Zhangkong nodded. "You can. But first, you need to tell me your background and exactly what your martial soul is."

Gu Yue took out a letter from her pocket. "This is my recommendation letter from my primary academy. As for my martial soul, it is the Elementalist."

"Elementalist?" Wu Zhangkong raised a brow. This was the first time he had heard of such a martial soul. Having even one element among martial souls was already considered top-tier; someone like Gu Yue, who possessed six elements at once, was simply unimaginable.

Gu Yue noticed the surprise in his eyes and did not hide anything. "My martial soul can control six elements, but my soul rings cannot be attached to any one of them."

"Therefore, I can control elemental transformations, but it is difficult for me to make them stronger."

Only then did Wu Zhangkong understand. "All right, I understand. From now on, you are a member of our class, Class Five of Year One."

"Thank you, Teacher."

After questioning Gu Yue, Wu Zhangkong looked at Xiling. "Xiling, what about you? What was going on with that spear? Is it your martial soul, the Void Core?"

Xiling walked over to the two of them and rolled his eyes at Wu Zhangkong. "Teacher Wu, that thing I used was a spear! How did it look anything like a core?"

"But wasn't there something like a crystal embedded in that spear?" Gu Yue added.

"Uh..." Xiling scratched his head. "That is a weapon granted to me by my martial soul, not my martial soul itself."

"This is my martial soul." As he spoke, a dark golden gem appeared in his right hand, radiating faint spatial fluctuations.

Compared with Wu Zhangkong's curiosity, Gu Yue's pupils suddenly shrank the instant the Void Core appeared.

Unlike Wu Zhangkong, she was the Silver Dragon King, a half-step God King. Her horizons were far broader, allowing her to understand more clearly that the spatial power contained within this gem was of an exceptionally high level!

What alarmed her even more was that after the Void Core revealed itself, her affinity and control over the space element had directly increased by a full fifty percent!

This enhancement applied solely to the space element. It was a completely opposite feeling from when she had fought Xiling earlier.

Although Wu Zhangkong could not see anything in particular, that did not stop him from recognizing the martial soul's power.

"Your martial soul has probably reached the legendary level of a god-tier martial soul," Wu Zhangkong said slowly, with a trace of barely perceptible amazement in his voice.

Xiling chuckled. With a thought, he withdrew the Void Core into his body, and the enhancement on Gu Yue disappeared along with it.

This earned him a resentful look from Gu Yue, who was not yet satisfied.

"It's just a little unusual. No big deal." Xiling shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned.

The words made the corner of Wu Zhangkong's eye twitch.

Across the entire Douluo Continent, there probably was not a second martial soul this heaven-defying, yet to this brat, it was merely a little unusual?

If other soul masters heard that, they would probably be so angry they coughed up blood on the spot.

However, Wu Zhangkong said nothing more. Instead, he looked at Gu Yue, his expression turning cold. "Since we've finished learning about each other, go run with them. This is mandatory physical training."

The speed at which he changed expressions made Xiling raise a thumbs-up.

Gu Yue did not think much of it. She smiled faintly and did not refuse, running directly to the edge of the field and joining the other Class Five students.

Xiling, meanwhile, returned to his little reclining chair and picked up a drink.

Watching them, Wu Zhangkong's icy face revealed a rare hint of a smile before he turned and headed toward the main teaching building.

By the time Wu Zhangkong returned, Class Five had completed all the tasks he had assigned.

"That's all for this morning. Dismissed. Gu Yue, stay behind."

Hearing this, all the students felt as though a burden had been lifted and rushed toward the dormitories.

"My name is Wu Zhangkong, and I am your homeroom teacher. Here are your dormitory key, school uniform, and textbooks. Keep them safe."

Gu Yue accepted the items Wu Zhangkong handed her and nodded. "Thank you, Teacher Wu."

"Mm. Go rest. Classes begin this afternoon."

After Wu Zhangkong left, Gu Yue looked around. When she saw Xiling still lying in the rocking chair, she sighed in relief and hurried over to him.

All morning, she had not gotten a chance to speak with him.