A Sparring Match! Different Gains for the Two?

Hearing this, Gu Ling looked at Tang San, then slowly raised an arm and pointed at the pale white bone armor covering his skin as he said calmly:

"The reason is actually very simple."

"After my Bone Dragon Martial Soul possessed me, most of my body was covered in bone armor, especially places like my shoulders and chest. Its defense far surpassed that of ordinary soul masters."

"Although the spikes growing from your Blue Silver Grass carried the Mandra Snake's paralytic venom, for the venom to take effect, they first had to pierce my body. Those spikes could not even penetrate my bone armor, so how could they inject venom into my body?"

After hearing Gu Ling's explanation, Tang San froze for a moment.

Then, as if he had suddenly understood something, he instinctively looked toward Gu Ling's waist.

Sure enough, although the pale bone plates bore marks from where the Blue Silver Grass had wrapped around them, there was not a single puncture.

"So that was it. It wasn't that the Mandra Snake's paralytic venom had failed to work—it was that the poisoned spikes on my Blue Silver Grass had never entered his body at all!"

With that thought, the doubt in Tang San's heart was finally resolved.

A moment later.

He withdrew his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and turned to walk off the field.

Xiao Wu was just about to go over and say something when Tang San headed straight toward Yu Xiaogang. He bowed slightly, his face carrying a trace of apology.

"Teacher, I'm sorry."

"I lost this match. I've disappointed you."

Hearing those words, the expression on Yu Xiaogang's face immediately became somewhat awkward.

After all, before the match had begun, he had confidently told Director Su that Gu Ling was overestimating himself by daring to challenge Tang San. Yet what had happened? Tang San had lost!

However, Yu Xiaogang naturally could not admit that his earlier judgment had been wrong in front of Tang San. He merely snorted coldly, clasped his hands behind his back, and said with feigned composure:

"Little San, don't be upset. The outcome of a sparring match proves nothing."

"Gu Ling only won this time because he had an advantage in Martial Soul and soul skills."

Tang San was slightly stunned by those words, confusion appearing on his face.

"Your Blue Silver Grass is merely an ordinary plant-type Martial Soul, while his Bone Dragon is one of the continent's top beast Martial Souls. In terms of Martial Soul quality alone, there is already quite a gap between you."

"Furthermore, once the Bone Dragon Martial Soul possesses its user, it directly strengthens the body and grants powerful defense as well as sharp bone claws."

"Your first soul skill happens to focus on Entangling and venom. Against a Martial Soul covered head to toe in bone armor, it is naturally heavily restrained."

As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang gradually regained his confidence.

"As for that soul skill of his that lets bone spikes traverse space... it is indeed somewhat special, but he was merely lucky enough to obtain a relatively rare soul skill."

"A soul master's cultivation is a long process."

"A powerful first soul skill does not mean every future soul skill will be just as powerful."

"You have only just become a soul master, and your control over Blue Silver Grass is still not proficient enough. The advantages of your Martial Soul have not been fully brought out either. Once you truly become familiar with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and gain more practical combat experience, the result may not necessarily be like today's."

Hearing this, Tang San's dejection over his defeat finally eased somewhat.

Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang continued to comfort him.

"Moreover, you are a control-system soul master. The true value of a control-system soul master was never to defeat assault-system soul masters head-on, but to restrain enemies in battle and create opportunities for teammates."

"You are comparing your weakness to your enemy's strength. That is unfair to begin with, so there is no need for you to take today's battle to heart."

With that, Yu Xiaogang raised a hand and patted Tang San on the shoulder.

"Little San, your talent is no worse than his. Trust your teacher. As long as you cultivate according to the path I have planned for you, it is still too early to say who will be stronger in the future."

After hearing Yu Xiaogang's words, Tang San fell silent for a moment before finally nodding lightly. Thinking it over carefully, he felt that Yu Xiaogang's words were not without reason.

Although he had lost today's battle, that did not mean he was necessarily inferior to Gu Ling. At the very least, he still had many methods that he had not truly used.

With that thought, Tang San instinctively lowered his head and glanced at his left hand.

There, his second Martial Soul was still hidden.

Ever since awakening his Martial Souls, Tang San had always remembered Tang Hao's teachings: before he possessed sufficient strength, he absolutely could not casually reveal his second Martial Soul in front of others.

Therefore, during his spar with Gu Ling, he had used only Blue Silver Grass from beginning to end.

Besides that, in Tang San's view, what he truly excelled at was not merely Martial Souls, but also the Tang Sect hidden weapons he had cultivated for many years in his previous life!

But that had only been an ordinary spar between classmates. He could not possibly use hidden weapons against Gu Ling. Yet if it were a true battle of life and death...

At that thought, Tang San's gaze flickered slightly. If he used hidden weapons to catch his opponent off guard, then combined them with Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and Blue Silver Grass's control, it was still uncertain who would emerge victorious.

Thinking of it that way.

The small sense of frustration Tang San had felt after his defeat gradually faded.

On the other side.

Gu Ling paid no attention at all to what Tang San and Yu Xiaogang were saying. Compared to winning a sparring match, he cared more about the flaws he had exposed during the battle.

Lowering his head to look at the Blue Silver Grass he had torn apart on the ground, he said thoughtfully, "It seems my Bone Dragon Martial Soul still has flaws at present."

When Tang San had first used Entangling, Gu Ling had easily torn apart the Blue Silver Grass attacking from the front with his bone claws. But when Tang San changed tactics and had a large amount of Blue Silver Grass surround him from all directions at once, Gu Ling was clearly unable to deal with it all.

Although the Blue Silver Grass ultimately could not truly hurt him, it had indeed restrained him.

"This time, my opponent was Tang San. His Blue Silver Grass lacked attack power, and its poisoned spikes could not break through my bone armor, so being entangled was not much of a problem."

"But what if I encounter a more powerful control-system soul master in the future?"

"What if the opponent's Martial Soul is tough enough that even my bone claws cannot tear it apart quickly, or they possess a soul skill that can directly restrain the body?"

In Gu Ling's view, if that happened, then once his movements were restricted, the situation would become completely different.

More importantly, although his first soul skill possessed a spatial attribute, what could traverse space at present were his bone spikes, not himself.

Spatial Rift Bone Spikes could indeed make his long-range attacks exceedingly strange, making it difficult for enemies to judge where an attack would appear.

However, Gu Ling's own mobility had not improved much because of it.

In other words.

His attacks could traverse space, but his body could not.

Once he encountered an agility-type soul master with extreme speed, or someone like Tang San who used a large-scale control soul skill to limit his range of movement, he could easily be forced into a passive position.

With that thought, Gu Ling quickly determined what he most needed to make up for at present.

That was mobility.

If he could obtain a soul skill that allowed his body to use Spatial Traversal even while attacking, then even if he truly encountered a life-or-death crisis, he could quickly escape control and change his position.

After this match ended, the relationship between Gu Ling and Tang San gradually grew distant. It was not because there was any deep hatred between them.

It was simply that Gu Ling and Yu Xiaogang had always been at odds, while Tang San was Yu Xiaogang's disciple.

As time passed, the two naturally had little contact. Although they continued living in the same Seventh Dormitory and saw each other frequently, they rarely truly spoke. Apart from the occasional exchange over academy matters, they generally cultivated on their own.

As for Yu Xiaogang, after everything that had happened before, he clearly understood that Gu Ling was not someone easy to provoke. Every time he argued with Gu Ling, he was usually the one who ended up suffering a loss.

Therefore, over the following years, Yu Xiaogang rarely took the initiative to lecture Gu Ling again, nor did he continue forcing him to cultivate according to his so-called defense-system path.

However, not speaking openly did not mean he did not speak behind Gu Ling's back. Especially in front of Tang San, Yu Xiaogang had almost never truly acknowledged Gu Ling.