Taking the Field Personally

Early the next morning, Lu Yuan arrived at the East Training Area on time.

The eight people who had remained yesterday were already all present.

Hu Liena stood at the front. When she saw him approach, she first glanced behind him.

"Didn't the Young Lord come with you?"

Lu Yuan tucked his residence token into his belt.

"Why would she come with me?"

"She specifically kept you behind yesterday. I thought you two were already quite familiar."

"We only exchanged a few words."

The suspicion in Hu Liena's eyes did not lessen in the slightest.

She was about to say more when Yan Tuo walked over from the other end of the training ground.

"Line up."

The eight of them quickly fell silent.

Yan Tuo stopped in front of them.

"Starting today, I'll be responsible for your training for the next three months."

"Anyone who made it here has decent talent. I don't need to reteach you how to meditate or cultivate Soul Power."

He raised a hand and pointed at the training ground.

"What I'm going to teach you is how to actually use the little ability you have."

With that, he walked straight to the center of the field.

"First exercise: touch my back within half an hour."

Zhou Qi could not help asking, "Instructor Yan, what level are you?"

"Level forty-two."

Several of their expressions changed.

Yan Tuo added another sentence.

"No Martial Souls."

"Begin."

The eight immediately rushed after him.

Lu Yuan did not charge to the front.

Yan Tuo was far faster than them, yet he never strayed far from the wooden posts and weapon racks. Whenever someone got close, he only needed to sidestep half a pace to make them miss.

Zhou Qi chased after him three times in a row without even touching the hem of his clothes.

Another boy hurriedly tried to circle around from the side, but Yan Tuo deliberately looped behind a wooden post, and the two nearly crashed into each other.

Yan Tuo did not even turn his head.

"If all you can do is chase my back, don't expect to be done by noon."

Hu Liena retreated to Lu Yuan's side and caught her breath.

"Why aren't you chasing him?"

"Can't catch him."

"Then what do we do?"

Lu Yuan watched Yan Tuo take several steps.

"If one person can't catch him, don't do it alone."

Hu Liena quickly understood.

"Block his path?"

"Let's try it."

Lu Yuan called the others together.

Their first attempt at surrounding him did not last long.

Yan Tuo merely charged toward the weakest boy. The boy instinctively moved aside, and a gap immediately appeared in their encirclement.

For the second attempt, Lu Yuan placed the two slowest people on the outside, where they were only responsible for blocking routes.

Hu Liena used a training stick to hold the right side, while Zhou Qi closed in from the front.

Just as Yan Tuo shifted left, the Yellow Spirit Ring beneath Lu Yuan's feet lit up.

Piercing Edge!

He did not use the spearpoint.

The Dark Iron Spear swept sideways, its shaft brushing across Yan Tuo's back.

Smack.

Yan Tuo stopped.

Zhou Qi was the first to let out a breath.

"That counts as touching you, right?"

"It counts."

Yan Tuo lowered his head and looked at the gray mark on his lower back.

"Lu Yuan is done for the morning. The rest of you continue."

Hu Liena immediately looked up.

"We helped too."

"And?"

Yan Tuo looked at her.

"The rule is that whoever touches me is done."

Hu Liena opened her mouth, but in the end, she could only accept her fate.

Just as Lu Yuan was preparing to leave, Yan Tuo called him back.

"Go to the Outer Courtyard of the Consecration Hall this afternoon."

"The Young Lord sent word early this morning."

Hu Liena abruptly turned her head.

"She really summoned you?"

Lu Yuan headed out.

"Didn't I tell you yesterday?"

"You also said you'd only just met!"

Her voice faded farther and farther behind him.

That afternoon, Lu Yuan arrived at the Outer Courtyard of the Consecration Hall as agreed.

The courtyard was quiet. Wooden racks stood on both sides of the bluestone-paved clearing, holding numerous training wooden sabers, long staffs, and bamboo poles.

Qian Renxue was already waiting.

She had changed into a light-colored fitted outfit today, her long golden hair still tied behind her head. Her cuffs were cinched tight, and there were no unnecessary ornaments at her waist. She seemed less distant than when she had stood beneath the corridor yesterday, and more brisk and capable.

Lu Yuan glanced around.

"Didn't you say yesterday that you'd find someone else?"

"I did."

"Where is that person?"

Qian Renxue walked to the center of the bluestone field.

"Me."

Lu Yuan looked at her.

"You?"

She stepped back several paces.

"I won't use my Martial Soul or any Soul Skills."

"Find a way to touch me within fifteen minutes."

Lu Yuan fell silent for a moment.

"Instructor Yan trained us like this this morning too."

"Then you've already tried it once."

Qian Renxue's pale golden eyes rested on him.

"That saves me the trouble of explaining the rules."

Lu Yuan summoned the Dark Iron Spear.

"I can't use yesterday's method?"

"You can."

Qian Renxue said, "But I know you'll dismiss your Martial Soul."

Lu Yuan looked at her for two breaths.

"Start?"

"Start."

As soon as she finished speaking, Qian Renxue retreated.

Lu Yuan did not immediately use Piercing Edge. Instead, he first tested her twice with the spearpoint.

The first thrust targeted the side of her shoulder, but she merely turned aside and avoided it.

The second suddenly shifted downward, trying to force her to change her footing. Yet Qian Renxue seemed to have seen through the spear's path beforehand. With a tap of her toes, she had already retreated beyond the spear shaft's reach.

For the third attempt, Lu Yuan directly activated Piercing Edge.

The Yellow Spirit Ring lit up, and he lunged forward.

Qian Renxue moved aside a step ahead of him.

The spearpoint brushed past her sleeve.

He still had not touched her.

Lu Yuan stopped.

Qian Renxue did not urge him on. She simply stood several paces away and watched him.

"Going again?"

"Of course."

"You have less than seven and a half minutes left."

Lu Yuan looked at the bluestone ground behind her, then swept his gaze over the wooden racks on either side.

Then he suddenly dismissed the Dark Iron Spear.

Qian Renxue's gaze shifted slightly, but she did not approach.

She had clearly been guarding against the same trick from yesterday.

Lu Yuan did not rush toward her either.

He turned and ran to the nearby weapon rack.

For the first time, Qian Renxue showed a trace of confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"You only said I had to touch you."

Lu Yuan pulled a training bamboo pole over ten feet long from the rack.

Qian Renxue looked at the bamboo pole, then at him.

"This counts too?"

"You didn't say it didn't."

She fell silent for a moment.

"Fine."

Lu Yuan gripped the bamboo pole with both hands and swept it out fiercely.

His attack range instantly increased by more than half.

Qian Renxue could no longer retreat only half a step as she had before, and she swiftly moved backward to evade.

The instant she dodged the bamboo pole, Lu Yuan released it.

The bamboo pole continued toppling forward.

The Dark Iron Spear reappeared in his hand.

The Yellow Spirit Ring lit up.

Piercing Edge!

Lu Yuan sharply cut in from the other side.

Qian Renxue had just avoided the bamboo pole when the butt of the spear swept across her sleeve from the side.

A light brush.

Both of them stopped at the same time.

Qian Renxue lowered her head and looked at her left sleeve.

"You changed methods again."

"You already knew yesterday's method."

Lu Yuan dismissed his Martial Soul.

"There was no point in using it again."

Qian Renxue raised her head to look at him. After a moment, she finally asked,

"Did you touch Yan Tuo this morning using the same method?"

"Not the same."

"How was it different?"

"He didn't know what I was going to do."

Lu Yuan glanced at her.

"You know."

Qian Renxue did not speak at once. She merely looked him over again.

"You always like to look first?"

"If I can tell something by looking, of course I look first."

"What if you can't?"

Lu Yuan thought for a moment.

"Then I try first. If I get it wrong, I switch."

Qian Renxue nodded lightly and did not ask any further questions.

But gray words reappeared above her head at that moment.

[Qian Renxue]

[Important fate node: age nine, leaving Spirit City]

[Heading to the Heaven Dou Empire]

[Living under another name]

The gray haze at the bottom, which had originally been blurry, finally dispersed completely.

Three new words appeared.

[Xue Qinghe]

Lu Yuan's gaze stopped on those three words.

Qian Renxue quickly noticed.

"What is it?"

Lu Yuan raised his eyes.

The girl before him was still dressed in that light-colored training outfit, her golden hair tied behind her head, quietly waiting for his answer.

Yet he did not speak immediately.