A Sparring Match at First Meeting—She Was a Golden Dragon Martial Soul

The bells by Sea God Lake still echoed leisurely. Standing between Wang Dong'er and Wang Qiu'er, Huo Yuhao felt each chime strike heavily against his heart.

Dong'er held a faint hostility toward this mysterious girl who looked exactly like her, but out of courtesy, she still turned to Wang Qiu'er. "You 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 court disciples around them fell silent at once. Huo Yuhao was slightly startled. "Now?"

"Now," Wang Qiu'er said. "I want to know exactly how strong you are, and I want to figure out why I react to you." There was not the slightest provocation in her words; she simply wanted to confirm the truth. 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 calmly, "The strong do not need to wait to confirm one another."

Huo Yuhao remained as calm and steady as ever. Besides, he wanted to gauge Qiu'er's strength as well. "We'll stop at the right point," Huo Yuhao said.

Wang Qiu'er dismissed it. "Nonsense."

The next instant, she moved. Golden light exploded beneath her feet—not an outward release of soul power, but pure physical explosive force. Her entire body tore through the air like a golden bolt of lightning. Her speed did not resemble a straightforward charge; it was more like a massive predator leaping through a forest. Her first step was directly ahead of him, her second had already shifted to his flank, and her third placed her directly 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 movement rhythm itself naturally confused spiritual locks. Huo Yuhao stopped futilely tracking her physical body. His spiritual power wove into an invisible net, sensing the tears in the air and the true direction of soul power flow, while Ultimate Ice condensed into a short blade in his palm.

He turned, raising the ice blade horizontally to block.

Wang Qiu'er's five fingers stopped an inch from the ice blade. It was not a fist—it was a claw. Her fingers curled slightly into the shape of dragon claws, their tips covered in a thin sheen of golden scales. Five pale-gold afterimages lingered in the air for half a breath before fading. Had that claw connected, the ice blade would have shattered, and his shoulder would have been pierced through.

The two stood still for a breath.

"You saw through it?" A flicker crossed Wang Qiu'er's eyes—not anger, but surprise. Few people could find the correct position to block amid the sudden changes in her assault. Huo Yuhao shook his head. "Not completely. I only guessed the spot you most wanted to verify." 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 people 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, readying herself to charge 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 was not a solid manifestation, yet it made even the air feel heavier. Several inner court disciples by the training ground unconsciously took a step back—that was pressure rooted deep in their bloodlines, as though something at the top of the food chain had glanced at them.

"Golden Dragon." Tianmeng Ice Silkworm cried out in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea. "Not an ordinary dragon breed—this girl's martial soul is a Golden Dragon of ultimate strength!"

Wang Qiu'er raised her hand, and a golden spear condensed from her palm. Its shaft was long and slender, as though forged from dark gold, while each side of its tip bore the pattern of a folded dragon wing—the Golden Dragon Spear. Its tip was not aimed at Huo Yuhao, merely angled toward the ground, yet the entire training field trembled faintly in that instant.

She did not rush forward. Instead, she advanced slowly, and with every step she took, golden soul power spread outward across the ground in a ring. Rather than retreating, Huo Yuhao advanced. His Spirit Eyes opened fully, deep-blue light sweeping across her body as Spirit Detection simultaneously locked onto her shoulders, waist, hips, knees, and spear tip—no attack could avoid those four points of exertion.

Wang Qiu'er thrust her spear. The tip swept diagonally upward from the ground, golden spear light tearing through the air. The wind pressure it raised rolled the sand and stones on both sides of the training ground into two gray streams. The target of this strike was not his body, but the ice beneath his feet—she intended to destroy his footing first.

Huo Yuhao made his judgment within that half-breath: he could not retreat. If he took even one step back, her chained spear attacks would press down on him like a tide. He tapped the ground with his toes, spreading Ultimate Ice beneath his feet in reverse—not for defense, but to slide. He glided three feet sideways along the ice track he had created. The spear light swept past his waist, and icy energy collided with golden soul power in midair, bursting into a ring of white mist.

He did not stop. As he slid, Spirit Shock struck with precise accuracy—not at her consciousness, but at her right wrist gripping the spear. It slowed her neural transmission by half a beat. Wang Qiu'er's wrist went numb, and her second chained thrust was indeed delayed. Seizing that half-beat opening, Huo Yuhao spread Ultimate Ice from beneath her feet, freezing the soles of her boots. He was not trying to trap her—he was forcing her to divert her attention to shattering the ice before launching 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 someone else, 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 for today. If we keep going, Xuan Lao will probably come scold us."

Qiu'er considered it seriously for a moment, seemingly accepting the reason. The golden radiance around her faded as she said calmly, "You are very strong."

"So are you." Huo Yuhao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

But Wang Qiu'er stared straight at him. "That only makes me want to know even more what relationship there is between us."

An aged cough suddenly sounded from nearby. "The training ground is so lively this early in the morning. Has the inner court turned into a matchmaking venue?" Xuan Lao emerged from the shadows of the trees with a wine gourd in hand, a faintly amused smile on his face.

Xuan Lao 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 Lao chuckled. "You're not weak either. You set your sights on Huo Yuhao the moment you arrived. You've got a sharp eye." He waved a hand. "Wang Qiu'er's enrollment procedures are complete. Her identity is special, so the academy will observe her for now. As for Yuhao, spend one hour every day assisting her with Spirit Detection records."

Dong'er abruptly raised her head. "Xuan Lao!"

Xuan Lao cast Huo Yuhao a meaningful glance. "You come along too, so no one can claim the academy is unfair—and so this brat doesn't get torn apart by the two of you."

Qiu'er nodded. "Fine."

Dong'er turned to Huo Yuhao, a beautiful but dangerous smile curling across her lips. "Yuhao, what do you think?"

Looking at the two identical yet completely different faces before him, Huo Yuhao suddenly realized Tianmeng Ice Silkworm had been wrong earlier.

This was not a tribulation crossing—the tribulation had only just begun.