The sun rose from the east to overhead, then slid from overhead behind the western eaves. The shadows of the four stretched and shrank across the bluestone ground, shrinking and stretching again.
Sweat stained their collars and backs in dark patches, only to be dried by the afternoon sun and soaked through again by evening.
Xie Mu alternated between his Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger. His figure left afterimages of uncertain substance and illusion across the training ground, while two beams of light, one bright and one dark, crisscrossed through the air in fine arcs.
Xu Youyou's Starwheel Staff spun steadily above her palm. Whenever the Starwheel Chain shot from its tip, it carried a tricky precision. No matter how fast Xie Mu moved or how abruptly he changed direction, the chain always fell half a beat before his turn.
Gu Yuena stood at the central axis. Seven elements appeared and vanished in turn between her palms. Water and fire, wind and earth, light and darkness flowed smoothly at her fingertips, as though she were weaving an invisible, multilayered web.
She did not need many movements. With only a slight turn of her fingers, the floor tiles beneath Xie Mu's feet would rise a little where he was about to land, then flatten again the instant his center of gravity shifted. Every tiny disruption landed perfectly on the breaks in his rhythm.
Tang Wulin remained at the perimeter.
Most of the time, he did not attack on his own. Only that azure light of life alternated across the three of them, erasing the minor hidden injuries and Soul Power depletion accumulated during each trial within a few breaths.
Occasionally, he raised a hand, and a gentle green light would settle steadily at the waist of someone about to