The bells by Sea God Lake still echoed softly. Standing between Wang Dong'er and Wang Qiu'er, Huo Yuhao felt each toll strike heavily against his heart.
Dong'er had always harbored a faint hostility toward this mysterious girl who looked exactly like her, but out of courtesy, she still turned to Wang Qiu'er. "You've just arrived at Shrek. Shouldn't you report in first?"
Wang Qiu'er nodded. "I know." She then looked at Huo Yuhao, her tone serious and cool. "But I want to fight him first."
The Inner Academy disciples around them instantly fell silent. Huo Yuhao paused slightly. "Now?"
"Now," Wang Qiu'er said. "I want to know just how strong you are, and I want to figure out why I react to you." There was not the slightest hint of provocation in her voice. She simply wanted to confirm the facts. That bluntness alone made it impossible for others to regard her as an ordinary new student.
Dong'er gave a cold laugh. "What do you take Shrek for?"
Qiu'er replied indifferently, "The strong do not need to wait to confirm one another."
Huo Yuhao remained as calm and steady as ever. Besides, he also wanted to gauge Qiu'er's strength. "We stop at the right point," Huo Yuhao said.
Wang Qiu'er was unimpressed. "Obviously."
The next instant, she moved. Golden light exploded beneath her feet—not an outward release of Soul Power, but pure physical explosive force. She tore through the air like a golden bolt of lightning. Her speed did not resemble a straight-line charge; it was more like a great predator leaping through the forest. Her first step was directly ahead, her second shifted to his flank, and by the third, she had appeared behind Huo Yuhao.
Spirit Detection caught three auras splitting apart at once, impossible to distinguish between real and false. It was not a clone technique—her natural rhythm of movement itself could confuse spiritual locks. Huo Yuhao stopped futilely tracking her physical form. His spiritual power wove an invisible net, sensing the true direction through the tearing air and the flow of Soul Power, while Ultimate Ice condensed into a short blade in his palm.
He spun around, raising the ice blade across his body.
Wang Qiu'er's five fingers stopped an inch before the blade. It was not a fist—it was a claw. Her fingers curled into the shape of dragon claws, their tips covered in an extremely thin glimmer of golden scales. Five pale golden afterimages lingered in the air for half a breath before fading. If that claw had landed solidly, the ice blade would have shattered, and his shoulder would have been pierced through.
The two stood motionless for a breath.
"You saw through it?" A flicker passed through Wang Qiu'er's eyes—not anger, but surprise. Few people could find the right position to block her sudden changes of direction during an ambush. Huo Yuhao shook his head. "Not completely. I only guessed the place you wanted to test most." He pointed to the center of his brow. "You wanted to test my Spirit Eyes."
Wang Qiu'er fell silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled. The smile was brief and sharp, like the first crack splitting the ice in deep winter—dangerous, yet making one want to see what lay beneath it. Huo Yuhao withdrew his ice blade and turned to leave the field, but Qiu'er took half a step back, gathering strength to surge forward.
"Again."
This time, the golden Soul Power around her was no longer in an explosive state. A faint phantom of golden dragon scales extended from her shoulders to her forearms. It had not fully materialized, yet even the air seemed to grow heavier. Several Inner Academy disciples at the edge of the training ground unconsciously took a step back—that was pressure from the depths of their bloodlines, as though something at the top of the food chain had glanced at them.
"Golden Dragon." Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cried out in the Spirit Sea. "Not an ordinary dragon breed—this girl's martial soul is the Golden Dragon of Ultimate Strength!"
Wang Qiu'er raised a hand, and a golden spear condensed in her palm. The shaft was long and slender, as though cast from dark gold, with a pair of folded dragon-wing patterns flanking the spearhead—the Golden Dragon Spear. The spearhead was not aimed at Huo Yuhao, merely angled toward the ground, but in that instant, the entire training ground trembled faintly.
She did not rush to charge. Instead, she slowly pressed forward. With every step she took, golden Soul Power spread out along the ground in a ring. Rather than retreating, Huo Yuhao advanced. His Spirit Eyes opened fully, their deep blue light sweeping across her entire body. At the same time, Spirit Detection locked onto her shoulders, waist, hips, knees, and spearhead—no attack could avoid these four points of exertion.
Wang Qiu'er thrust out her spear. The tip swept diagonally upward from the ground, its golden radiance ripping through the air. The resulting wind pressure rolled the sand and stones on both sides of the training ground into two gray streaks. This strike was not aimed at his body, but at the ice beneath his feet—she wanted to destroy his footing first.
Huo Yuhao made his decision within that half-breath: he could not retreat. If he gave even one step, her continuous spear attacks would crash down like a tide. He tapped the ground with his toes, spreading Ultimate Ice backward beneath his feet—not for defense, but to slide. He glided three feet to the side on the ice track he had created. The spear radiance grazed past his waist as cold air and golden Soul Power collided in midair, exploding into a ring of white mist.
He did not stop. As he slid, Spirit Shock struck with precision—not at her mind, but at her right wrist gripping the spear. It was meant to slow her nerve signals by half a beat. Wang Qiu'er's wrist went numb, and her second consecutive thrust did indeed slow. Huo Yuhao seized that half-beat opening, spreading Ultimate Ice from beneath her feet and freezing the soles of her boots. He was not trying to trap her—he was forcing her to spare attention to shatter the ice before she could launch her third strike.
She glanced down at the ice beneath her feet, then looked back up at him.
At the edge of the field, Dong'er's fingers curled slightly. It was not that she could not accept Huo Yuhao being admired by another, but Wang Qiu'er was different—she possessed the same face, yet carried an undisguised sharpness, like a gleaming blade that forced everyone to acknowledge her presence.
Huo Yuhao withdrew his hand. "Let's stop here today. If we keep going, Xuan Zi will probably come over and scold us."
Qiu'er considered it seriously for a moment, seemingly accepting the reason. The golden glow around her faded as she said calmly, "You are very strong."
"So are you." Huo Yuhao secretly let out a breath of relief.
But Wang Qiu'er stared directly at him. "Then I want to know even more—what exactly is the relationship between you and me?"
An aged cough suddenly came from nearby. "So early in the morning, and the training ground is already this lively. Has the Inner Academy turned into a matchmaking venue?" Xuan Zi emerged from the shade of the trees with a wine gourd in hand, a half-smile on his face.
Xuan Zi narrowed his eyes as he examined Wang Qiu'er. "Little girl, you've got some nerve."
Wang Qiu'er replied bluntly, "You are very strong."
Xuan Zi chuckled. "You're not weak either. You set your sights on Huo Yuhao as soon as you arrived—your eye is sharp." He waved a hand. "Wang Qiu'er's enrollment procedures have been completed. Her identity is special, so the academy will observe her for the time being. As for Yuhao, set aside one hour every day to cooperate with her in recording Spirit Detection data."
Dong'er abruptly raised her head. "Xuan Zi!"
Xuan Zi shot Huo Yuhao a meaningful glance. "You'll join them too, so no one can claim the academy is unfair—and so this boy doesn't get torn apart by the two of you."
Qiu'er nodded. "Fine."
Dong'er turned to Huo Yuhao, a beautiful yet dangerous smile curving across her lips. "Yuhao, what do you think?"
Looking at the two identical yet utterly different faces before him, Huo Yuhao suddenly realized that Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had been wrong.
This was not a tribulation crossing—the tribulation had only just begun.
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