You're the Challenger

Student A: "Seriously? It looked like he just waved his hand!"

Student B: "He easily took the other guy's full-force attack and sent him flying. His martial soul doesn't look like a strength type either. A soul skill?"

Inside the training grounds, the deafening boom from the move that had sent the Azure Edge Saber Soul Master flying still rang in everyone's ears. The shallow marks carved into the ground by the long blade remained clearly visible.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the two who were about to fight.

That last battle had overturned everyone's understanding.

Chen An, whose registration clearly listed him as having rank 12 soul power, had crushed a rank 17 assault-type student in a single move.

Wei Xiaofeng rubbed his arms, and the amused smile on his face faded somewhat as he turned to Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi beside him.

"That's it? It's already over? Did either of you figure out what happened?"

Wang Jinxi frowned deeply, his gaze falling on Chen An's arm covered in crimson scale patterns as he slowly shook his head.

"It ended too quickly. I couldn't gauge his full strength. If that was purely physical strength, then he's already on par with me.

If he also has soul skill enhancements, then close-combat Soul Masters of the same rank will have a very hard time against him. I just don't know how fast he is."

Zhang Yangzi nodded slightly, his sharp gaze locked tightly onto Chen An in the arena. He said nothing.

The next match directly called Xie Xie's name.

A rank 18 agility-attack Soul Master, the same type as Wei Xiaofeng.

Xie Xie stepped into the arena. Having witnessed Chen An's move firsthand, he knew full well that he absolutely could not foolishly clash head-on like the previous opponent.

In Eastsea City, no one this impressive had ever appeared before.

Xie Xie pulled his hands from his pockets. "You seem pretty good, huh?"

Chen An stood opposite him, looking relaxed. Yet the next moment, one brow lifted slightly, and his expression darkened.

Xie Xie caught the change in his expression and could not help overthinking it. He assumed Chen An was wary of his speed, and a teasing smirk curled across his lips.

"What? Scared? Are you going to ask the teacher to declare you the loser?"

Chen An did not hear his taunt at all. His mind had already sunk deep into his consciousness.

The Roulette section had refreshed.

--Obtain the corresponding growth path?

Yes: 50%

No: 50%

An unfamiliar prompt had appeared for the first time.

Xie Xie's twin daggers, the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger, also had origins closely tied to dragons. In the future, they could even evolve into the Time-Space Dragon.

Unfortunately, he would need to wait until at least rank 25 before he had a chance to draw it.

The thought flashed through his mind in an instant, and Chen An came back to himself.

"No. I was just worried you weren't ready. Use your full strength."

To everyone else, those words sounded like nothing more than a declaration between two boys about to duel.

Only Chen An knew what he was really thinking.

He had rapidly increased his rank by absorbing dragon aura, rather than cultivating and tempering himself step by step.

He wanted to see just how great the difference was between himself, built up through Dragonkind Bloodline, and geniuses who had cultivated normally step by step.

In his fight against the Azure Edge Saber youth just now, he had only used soul power equivalent to rank 12.

This time, he would suppress his soul power output to the same rank 18 as Xie Xie.

"I'm not ready? That's quite the big talk. Sorry, but I think you've misunderstood something."

Xie Xie confidently raised the corner of his mouth and held out one finger. "You're the challenger."

"Begin!"

Ye Yingluo's voice suddenly rang out.

A yellow hundred-year Soul Ring rose beneath Xie Xie's feet, flashing with light.

[First Soul Skill: Light-Shadow Instant Kill]

The Light Dragon Dagger burst with dazzling golden light, and Xie Xie's body became an afterimage.

Like a true flickering shadow, he vanished from where he stood in an instant. Phantom afterimages crisscrossed and flashed around the training grounds, moving so fast that the naked eye could barely track them.

Many students outside the arena could only see shadows swaying everywhere. They could not tell which one was his real body.

Chen An stood still, seemingly unable to keep up with Xie Xie's movement speed, remaining quietly in place.

Seeing this, Wei Xiaofeng immediately laughed again. "See? Just as I thought. Against this kind of high-speed opponent, he has no way to deal with him."

Just then, a real figure silently circled into Chen An's blind spot. The Light Dragon Dagger, wrapped in soul power, stabbed straight toward his back.

Just as the dagger was about to strike, Chen An simply shifted his body to the side, perfectly evading the sneak attack.

Xie Xie was startled. His dagger missed, and at the same time, Chen An's raised left hand firmly clamped down on his wrist.

Every muscle in his body tensed abruptly. He desperately tried to break free, but that hand was like an iron vise, utterly unmoving.

What kind of monstrous strength is this?!

At the critical moment, Xie Xie reacted quickly. The invisible Shadow Dragon Dagger in his other hand stabbed toward Chen An's chest.

To avoid being cut by the blade, Chen An decisively released his wrist.

Xie Xie seized the opening and rapidly retreated. He once again turned into shifting afterimages, circling the training grounds without daring to approach recklessly again.

Others could only see a dizzying blur of figures, but to Chen An's senses, the dragon-like martial soul aura leaking from Xie Xie's body was incomparably clear.

No matter how Xie Xie changed his trajectory or created false afterimages, that aura had nowhere to hide. It was as obvious to Chen An as if he were standing naked before him.

Five seconds passed in the blink of an eye.

Xie Xie continued circling in search of an opportunity to attack, but he did not launch another direct assault.

Chen An abandoned the idea of waiting. A faint flash came from the storage soul device on his wrist, and the Thousandfold-Forged Sunken Silver Hammer fell into his hand.

Soul power and [Ripple] flowed into the hammer together.

He slammed the Sunken Silver Hammer heavily into the ground!

Bzzz—!!

A ring of pale golden energy ripples spread outward from where the hammer landed, sweeping in every direction and engulfing an area dozens of meters wide.

Everyone in the training grounds, including Ye Yingluo, who was watching the fight, was swept over by the ripple.

A strange numbness instantly invaded their meridians. The flow of everyone's soul power suddenly stagnated, and they temporarily lost the ability to mobilize it.

Xie Xie, who was moving at high speed, also failed to evade the impact. His soul power stalled, and his body lost balance.

Momentum sent him stumbling across the ground before he crashed face-first onto it.

His arms were scraped but not badly injured. He gasped for breath and struggled to get up. The instant he looked up, the attack of the Thousandfold Forging Hammers had already arrived.

Xie Xie instinctively raised his arm to block.

The hammer's gust had arrived. Chen An looked down at the fallen youth but did not follow up with another strike.

The victor had been decided. The battle was over.

Chen An extended a hand to Xie Xie and lightly mocked what he had said earlier.

"Who's the challenger?"

Xie Xie stared at the outstretched hand, his heart full of unwillingness. Yet the sensation from the moment his wrist had been grabbed during that attack remained vividly etched in his mind.

At that moment, the twin dragon martial souls inside his body had actually trembled slightly out of control, instinctively giving rise to fear.

It was as if they had been suppressed at the very level of their martial souls.

He bit his lower lip. After hesitating for a moment, he finally raised his hand and grasped Chen An's palm.

After getting up, Xie Xie asked with a trace of anger and lingering fear, "Are you a twin martial soul wielder too?"

"Me?" Chen An played dumb. "Ah... you misunderstood. I learned forging. This is my forging hammer."

Xie Xie glanced at the Thousandfold Forging Hammers, curled his lips, and walked toward the other teachers.