Full Force!

Zhao Wuji suddenly activated his first soul ring, yellow light flaring at his waist.

"First Soul Skill! Immovable Vajra Body!"

A solid shield of soul power instantly enveloped his body, and a faint bronze sheen emerged across his skin.

The aura of the Mighty Vajra Bear Martial Soul erupted in full at that moment, making the air pressure across the entire training ground seem to sink.

Zhao Wuji was no longer holding back to test them. He was getting serious.

"Come! Let this old man see how much longer you can hold out!"

Zhao Wuji charged Yun Tian again. This time, his speed and strength had doubled.

Yun Tian took a palm strike head-on. The impact left his hand numb, and he staggered back five steps before dissipating the force. The earthy yellow glow on his armor flickered violently, a sign that its defensive power was being pushed beyond its limits.

Tang San's vines coiled around him again, but this time, Zhao Wuji's protective soul power directly blasted away the approaching vines.

Before the vines could tighten, they shattered inch by inch from the shockwave, unable to get close at all.

Xiao Wu's aerial assault was also swatted away by a backhanded palm strike from Zhao Wuji. After landing, Xiao Wu stumbled several steps, her toes carving two deep furrows into the ground.

"Zhu Zhuqing, fall back! His full-body defense is active—you can't cut through it!" Yun Tian shouted low as he took a third palm strike head-on.

Zhu Zhuqing paused in the shadows, giving up on pressing in and instead widening the distance to seek another opportunity.

The five of them fell into a stalemate.

With Zhao Wuji's Immovable Vajra Body fully activated, he was nearly impossible to break through head-on, while every one of his attacks carried enough force to send someone flying.

Although Yun Tian's defenses could still hold, every direct clash consumed a massive amount of soul power. Even with the power of the earth constantly replenishing him, enduring the frontal attacks of a seven-ringed Soul Sage in succession had begun to put him under pressure.

"Brother Yun, how much longer can you hold out?" Xiao Wu asked between breaths.

"A few more rounds won't be a problem." Yun Tian's voice remained steady beneath his mask. "Look for an opening. When his full-body defense is up, the shoulder blade area on his back is a weak point. Tang San, ambush that spot the next time he exerts force."

Tang San nodded, and Blue Silver Grass silently burrowed into the ground once more.

Zhao Wuji gathered his strength and charged again.

Zhao Wuji's charging footsteps were even heavier than before, each step leaving a shallow depression in the ground.

The soul power of the Mighty Vajra Bear surged around him like a tide, while the bronze gleam of the Immovable Vajra Body shone blindingly beneath the morning sun.

He no longer treated this as an assessment meant to "play around with some children." The coordination and resilience of these little ones before him forced him to take them seriously.

"Roar—!"

Zhao Wuji let out a low roar and struck with both palms, sweeping toward Yun Tian with violent soul power.

This blow was heavier than any before it, the air compressed by his palm wind into a shrill howl.

Yun Tian did not take it head-on.

He tapped the ground with the tip of his foot and used the explosive force of the Earth Tiger Armor to slide three feet to the left.

Zhao Wuji's twin palm strikes crashed into empty air, but the residual shockwave still made Yun Tian's body sway slightly.

The combat instincts Yun Tian had developed during six years of traveling told him that when an opponent's defense and strength vastly surpassed his own, meeting force with force was the stupidest way to fight.

But evasion was not his goal.

As Yun Tian slid aside, he slammed his right foot into the ground, and his second soul ring lit up.

"Mountain Collapse and Earth Split!"

The entire training ground cracked and churned in an instant. Spiderweb-like fissures spread rapidly outward from beneath Zhao Wuji's feet.

Shattered rocks and dirt were blasted several feet into the air, like enormous waves erupting from underground.

Zhao Wuji's forward charge was interrupted by the violent tremor beneath his feet, and his center of gravity wavered.

Though his Immovable Vajra Body could withstand direct physical impact, Mountain Collapse and Earth Split fundamentally altered the terrain. With the ground suddenly cracking and collapsing beneath him, no amount of defense could give him something to brace against.

In that instant of imbalance, Tang San moved.

Four reinforced strands of Blue Silver Grass shot out from the ground behind Zhao Wuji, precisely wrapping around the area of his shoulder blades.

The Blue Silver Grass, strengthened by both Diamond Vine and the Life Ancient Tree Spirit, was exceptionally tough. Though it still could not directly constrict and rupture the shield of the Immovable Vajra Body, the outward pulling force made Zhao Wuji's upper body tilt back slightly, further worsening the shift in his balance.

"Good brat!"

Zhao Wuji roared angrily, violently shaking both arms as he tried to use soul power to shatter the vines around his back.

But at the instant his arms spread outward and the muscles of his back tensed, Yun Tian seized the opening.

His third soul ring lit up.

"Thousand-Jun Reconstituted Earth!"

The already shattered ground beneath Zhao Wuji abruptly softened, turning into a thick, viscous swamp.

His legs sank into it, half of his calves swallowed in an instant. Mud churned upward, climbing over his knees.

The explosive power beneath the feet that the Mighty Vajra Bear took such pride in was completely locked down. Every time he tried to pull free and exert strength, the swamp dispersed more than half of it, as if a giant beast were trapped in quicksand.

"You lot—!"

Zhao Wuji's expression finally changed.

He discovered that not only was he sinking, even the circulation of his soul power had begun to grow sluggish.

Dense earth-vein power flowed through the mire beneath his feet. It was as if the entire earth was using this layer of mud to exert crushing pressure on him, interfering with the flow of soul power within his body.

"Tang San, pull him over here!" Yun Tian shouted low.

Tang San immediately understood. The Blue Silver Grass wrapped around Zhao Wuji's back suddenly tightened, and together with the swamp dragging at his legs, forcibly pulled Zhao Wuji's massive body two steps toward Yun Tian.

Yun Tian took a deep breath and slowly brought his fists together before him.

The power of the earth surged and gathered beneath his feet like a tide, converging along the patterns of the Earth Tiger Armor and into his fists.

The earthy yellow radiance grew brighter and denser, eventually forming a heavy, mountain-like sphere of light that throbbed in his palms.

At the same time, his fourth soul ring lit up.

"Immovable Mountain."

The earth rumbled.

The training ground shook violently. Centered on Yun Tian, the earth-vein energy within nearly a hundred meters converged and erupted in an instant.

The ground bulged, the soil churned, and enormous boulders burst from the earth. In the blink of an eye, they formed the phantom of a mountain several dozen feet tall, enclosing Yun Tian within its core.

Zhao Wuji's pupils contracted sharply.

He felt a terrifying crushing force descending from overhead—three times, four times, five times... the gravity continued to rise, reaching at least seven times normal gravity within just a few breaths.

His legs were already trapped in the swamp, and now seven times the gravity pressed down upon every bone in his body. The soul power shield of his Immovable Vajra Body flickered violently, its bronze glow visibly dimming.

"Pfft—"

Zhao Wuji's knees bent inch by inch, and his entire body was forced into a hunch.

Under seven times gravity, even breathing became heavy and difficult.

He gritted his teeth and raised his head, looking toward the center of the mountain phantom before him. Yun Tian stood at the mountain's core, warm earthy yellow light flowing across his armor as the power of the earth beneath his feet continuously poured into his body, restoring the soul power and physical strength he had expended earlier.