Another Battle with Xiao Wu!

The gap.

For the first time, Tang San felt that gap with such clarity.

It was not as if he had no trump cards.

If he brought out the Clear Sky Hammer, a single strike might be enough to shatter this layer of defense.

But his father's warning before leaving and his teacher's recent instruction surfaced in his mind at the same time. Unless absolutely necessary, he could never expose the Clear Sky Hammer.

His sleeve arrows?

The arrows were poisoned. Though not lethal poison that killed at the sight of blood, this was clearly only a spar. Rashly using hidden weapons to injure someone would violate the rules of the Tang Sect.

As thoughts raced through his mind, Tang San gritted his teeth.

"I lost."

He withdrew his attack, took two steps back, lowered his head, and spoke in a deep voice.

The seventh dorm fell silent for a moment.

Then Wang Sheng and the others burst into cheers.

"Boss Yun is invincible!"

"Not even someone with innate full soul power can beat Boss!"

Yun Tian looked at the boy standing before him with his head lowered and fists clenched, then suddenly said, "You're strong—stronger than anyone your age I've seen, at least. Those movement techniques and hand techniques just now... if I'm not mistaken, they should be family techniques, right?"

Tang San's body stiffened slightly.

"Don't worry. I'm not interested in prying into other people's secrets." Yun Tian patted him on the shoulder. "Since you've come to the seventh dorm, you're one of us from now on. Your movement technique is impressive. If there's anything you don't understand in the future, you can ask me."

Tang San raised his head and looked at the youth before him, whose gentle smile contrasted with his terrifying strength. After a long while, he slowly nodded.

"Thank you."

He turned and walked toward his bed. Though his back looked somewhat forlorn, his spine remained perfectly straight.

Yun Tian watched his departing figure, the interest in his eyes growing stronger.

Tang San truly was Tang San. If those techniques from earlier had been used against an ordinary one-ring Soul Master, they would have been knocked down long ago.

Unfortunately, he had run into Yun Tian.

Still... during their exchange, an extremely dangerous aura had surged from Tang San's body for an instant. Though it had vanished as quickly as it appeared, Yun Tian had sensed it clearly.

It was the aura of the Clear Sky Hammer.

Just as Tang San sat back down on his bed, the door to the seventh dorm was pushed open from outside once more.

Bang!

A little girl rushed in energetically. Her long scorpion braid swayed behind her, her delicate face looked as though it had been carved from pink jade, and her large, bright eyes swept around the room before finally landing on Yun Tian, who stood in the center.

"Hey, this is the seventh dorm, right? My name is Xiao Wu—Wu as in dancing! I'm a new work-study student!"

Her voice was crisp and loud, full of spirit and a fearless air.

Everyone in the seventh dorm turned to look at Yun Tian.

Wang Sheng's mouth twitched as he murmured, "Boss, there's another one..."

Yun Tian understood at once.

Tang San had arrived first, and Xiao Wu had come afterward. The timeline matched the original story.

Only this time, the one standing in the middle of the seventh dorm waiting to accept a challenge had been replaced by him.

"I already explained the rules to Tang San."

Yun Tian turned around and calmly sized Xiao Wu up.

"A new work-study student has to fight the dorm leader. If you win, you become the boss. If you lose, you become the underling. My name is Yun Tian. My martial soul is the Earth Shadow Stone, and I have innate full soul power."

"Innate full soul power?!"

Xiao Wu's eager expression brightened slightly when she heard those last four words.

She tilted her head and examined Yun Tian more carefully. This human child doesn't look much older than me. He has innate full soul power too?

But her eyes only lit up for a moment.

She had lived for a hundred thousand years and seen countless powerful soul beasts and humans. Though after taking human form, less than one-tenth of her strength remained, leaving her only at the level of someone who had just awakened a martial soul, her vast combat experience and instinctive beastly senses were still there.

No matter how formidable this brat called Yun Tian was, he was only a beginner student who had just enrolled. How could she possibly lose?

"Innate full soul power? Perfect, so do I!" Xiao Wu planted her hands on her hips, lifted her chin slightly, and wore a proud smile. "But my martial soul isn't some rock. Mine is the Soft-Boned Rabbit. Watch out—don't let me kick you until you cry!"

"What?! Another person with innate full soul power?"

"A Soft-Boned Rabbit? A beast martial soul can have innate full soul power too? What day is it today?"

"One Blue Silver Grass with innate full soul power was absurd enough, and now another rabbit has appeared... Since when did innate full soul power become so common?"

Wang Sheng and the others were completely bewildered.

For work-study students like them, seeing even one Soul Master with innate full soul power in their entire lives would have been eye-opening.

Yet today, first there was a Blue Silver Grass, then a Soft-Boned Rabbit, and with their own boss's Earth Shadow Stone, all three possessed innate full soul power. Was the seventh dorm about to defy the heavens?

"Come on!"

Xiao Wu ignored the shocked gazes around her and assumed a fighting stance. Her feet spread slightly apart, toes touching the ground, and her entire body resembled a rabbit ready to pounce—nimble and agile.

Yun Tian gave a quiet acknowledgment and stepped forward.

Xiao Wu moved first.

Her figure flashed as she shot forward with incredible speed. Compared to Tang San's elusive Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track from earlier, Xiao Wu's movements were more direct and explosive. In the blink of an eye, she had darted to Yun Tian's side.

Her right leg snapped up and carved a fierce arc through the air, sweeping straight at Yun Tian's waist.

The kick was fast and vicious, carrying the instinctive force techniques retained after a hundred-thousand-year soul beast took human form. An ordinary student would likely be sent flying by a single blow.

Yun Tian raised his arm to block.

Bang!

A dull collision rang out as Xiao Wu's leg struck Yun Tian's forearm solidly.

She had expected that kick to force him back at least several steps, but the feedback from her toes made her expression change slightly.

Hard—far too hard. It was like kicking a massive boulder buried deep underground, utterly unmoving.

"Huh?"

Xiao Wu exclaimed in surprise, but her combat experience was immense. The moment her first strike failed, she changed moves. Using the momentum to spin, she swept out with her other leg, the angle even trickier as it shot toward Yun Tian's face.

Yun Tian still did not use his soul ring, nor did he summon the Earth Tiger Armor.

He merely spread the basic earth-element control granted by the Earth Shadow Stone across his body. A layer of faint yellow radiance, nearly invisible to the naked eye, enveloped him, making him seem fused with the earth beneath his feet.

Bang!

The second kick landed, with exactly the same result as the first.

Xiao Wu's expression finally grew serious.

She switched through seven or eight attack methods in succession—Rabbit Kicks Eagle, chained side kicks, airborne downward chops—all aimed at Yun Tian's vital points. Yet every time an attack landed, the sensation that rebounded left her increasingly alarmed.

The earth-element power covering Yun Tian's body seemed alive. Every time she attacked, that power drew replenishment from the ground, endless and inexhaustible, forever maintaining the most stable defensive state.

"You... why are you harder than a rock?"

Xiao Wu took two steps back and caught her breath, her little face slightly flushed.

That series of full-force attacks had consumed a considerable amount of soul power, yet Yun Tian had not even moved his feet. He simply stood there openly and calmly, which was infuriating.

Yun Tian looked at her and smiled faintly. "Finished? Then it's my turn."

The instant those words fell, Yun Tian moved.

It was the exact same move he had used against Tang San earlier.

A simple palm thrust, plain and unadorned, yet carrying the heavy, irresistible force of a mountain.

Xiao Wu's pupils contracted sharply. Instinctively, she wanted to dodge, but she discovered that she had already been locked onto by that invisible pressure. No matter which direction she evaded, the palm strike would catch her.

There was nowhere to run.

Xiao Wu gritted her teeth and crossed her arms in front of her chest to block.

Bang!

The palm struck her arms solidly.

Xiao Wu felt an overwhelming force surge toward her like mountains collapsing and seas overturning. Her body flew backward uncontrollably, her feet dragging two long marks across the ground until her back slammed into the dormitory wall, where she barely managed to stop.

Her arms went numb, her legs weakened slightly, and at last, a trace of genuine shock appeared in her gaze as she looked at Yun Tian.

This brat...

He was ridiculously strong!