Seven Levels Higher

"Qin Yue? He was level 28."

As soon as the voice from the sidelines fell, the tall youth stepped out from behind the crowd.

Gu Yan had only just been defeated, but Qin Yue did not immediately enter the field. Instead, he first glanced at the Piercing Spear in Lu Yuan's hand before speaking. "That ended too quickly just now. I didn't get a clear look at your Second Soul Skill. Interested in another match?"

His tone was ordinary. He did not deliberately provoke Lu Yuan just because his Soul Power was seven levels higher.

Lu Yuan had originally been ready to return to the sidelines, but at those words, he turned back around. "Sure."

Only then did Qin Yue step into the training ground and take his position on the other side.

"Qin Yue, level 28, Martial Soul: Iron-Backed Battle Ape."

As his Martial Soul was released, his shoulders and back, already broader than those of his peers, expanded further. The muscles in his arms swelled rapidly, gray-black patterns spread upward along his skin, and two Yellow Spirit Rings rose around him.

Lu Yuan tightened his grip on the Piercing Spear.

Qin Yue's Iron-Backed Battle Ape clearly specialized in frontal assaults. After Martial Soul Possession, his arms were thick and powerful. For Lu Yuan, who wielded a spear, this sort of opponent who excelled at close-range suppression was not easy to handle.

Seeing that both sides were ready, the Academy Teacher overseeing the sparring quickly raised a hand to signal the start.

Qin Yue wasted no time testing him. The moment his First Spirit Ring lit up, he charged straight in, his right fist carrying a heavy rush of wind as it smashed toward the spear shaft.

Lu Yuan held the spear horizontally to block the blow. Fist and shaft collided head-on, and a crushing force surged through the Piercing Spear, forcing him to retreat three steps in a row before he could dissipate it.

Qin Yue, however, only took half a step back. Once he steadied himself, he pressed forward again.

That first collision was enough for Lu Yuan to judge that in a direct contest of strength, he clearly held no advantage.

He did not continue to meet Qin Yue head-on. As he moved, the spearhead swept to the side, avoiding the incoming punch before stabbing toward Qin Yue's shoulder. Qin Yue twisted aside to evade, while at the same time slamming his forearm into the shaft, intending to forcefully alter the spear's trajectory with brute strength.

Lu Yuan turned his wrist with the motion. The Piercing Spear did not remain locked against him; its butt end had already swept back from the other side.

Qin Yue raised his arm to block again.

One advanced while the other retreated, and in the blink of an eye, they had exchanged several moves. Relying on the Iron-Backed Battle Ape's strength, Qin Yue kept pressing forward, while Lu Yuan used the spear's reach to control the distance and prevent him from easily entering close range.

After several rounds of exchanges, Lu Yuan was still forced back quite a distance.

Qin Yue had clearly noticed it as well.

After knocking aside the spearhead once more, his Second Spirit Ring suddenly lit up. The power in his right arm surged noticeably, and he smashed a heavy punch into the middle of the Piercing Spear.

This time, Lu Yuan did not dodge.

His Second Spirit Ring lit up almost simultaneously.

Shock Edge!

A brief, heavy shockwave erupted violently at the point where they made contact.

Qin Yue's right arm immediately went numb. The punch that should have completely knocked aside the Piercing Spear lost more than half its force as a result. Borrowing the momentum, Lu Yuan spun the spear, and its butt end swept from below toward Qin Yue's ribs. Qin Yue was forced to hurriedly raise his left arm to block, and the strike drove him back a step.

Several surprised exclamations quickly rose from the sidelines.

Gu Yan had lost his rhythm after touching the spear shaft earlier. Now Qin Yue had suffered the same setback, so everyone around them naturally grasped the general effect of Shock Edge.

But Qin Yue did not rashly press his attack again.

He flexed his still-numb right hand. When he closed in again, he had already changed his approach. Faced with Lu Yuan's thrusting spearhead, he no longer used both arms to force it down for extended periods. Instead, he relied more on sidestepping and footwork to evade. When he truly could not avoid it, he only used a Soul Power-covered forearm for a brief collision, borrowing the force to redirect the spearhead before immediately pulling back.

Shock Edge could still be activated, but Qin Yue was prepared now, and their contact was reduced to an extremely brief instant. Its effect was clearly far weaker than before.

Lu Yuan quickly noticed the change.

Qin Yue had only suffered once before adjusting his response in the very next round. That kind of in-the-moment judgment was more troublesome than simply having seven more levels of Soul Power.

Their following exchanges became even more intense.

Qin Yue still relied on strength to keep closing in, while Lu Yuan circled with his spear techniques and footwork. The Piercing Spear grazed Qin Yue's shoulder and waist several times, while Qin Yue's fists likewise broke through the spear's defense twice. One of them nearly brushed past Lu Yuan's chest.

They exchanged more than ten moves in succession, yet neither could truly suppress the other.

Then, as they passed each other once again, Qin Yue suddenly changed his rhythm.

The butt of the Piercing Spear swept toward him. Rather than fully blocking it, he took the blow head-on with his left arm and, before Lu Yuan could fully swing the spear back around, forcibly surged a step forward.

The distance between them instantly shrank to within an arm's reach.

At that range, a spear could hardly be fully brought into play, while the Iron-Backed Battle Ape's close-combat advantage could be completely unleashed. Qin Yue gave Lu Yuan no chance to pull away again, his right fist already crashing down toward his chest.

But just as he prepared to further suppress the spear, the Piercing Spear between them suddenly vanished.

Qin Yue's left hand grabbed only empty air, and his body briefly lost balance from pressing forward with all his strength.

This sort of close-range situation was not unfamiliar to Lu Yuan.

Back at North Field against Xu Heng, he had experienced who knew how many similar attempts to pin down his spear and close in. The method of dismissing his Martial Soul and then summoning it again to break the situation had long become second nature to him.

Almost the moment Qin Yue lost balance, a cold glint reappeared in Lu Yuan's hand.

The Piercing Spear condensed once more.

They were still extremely close, but Lu Yuan did not rush to retreat. Instead, he stepped forward half a pace and pressed the spear's butt directly against Qin Yue's chest.

His Second Spirit Ring lit up.

Shock Edge!

A heavy shockwave suddenly erupted. Qin Yue felt as though his chest had been struck head-on by a sledgehammer. His breathing faltered, and his body involuntarily staggered back two steps.

Lu Yuan did not give him a chance to regain his footing. His First Spirit Ring lit up immediately after.

The explosive force brought by Piercing Edge flooded into the Piercing Spear in an instant.

This time, Lu Yuan did not thrust with the spearhead. After catching up to Qin Yue, he swiftly turned the spear sideways, using the shaft to brace against Qin Yue's crossed arms in front of him, then continued driving forward with the burst of force from Piercing Edge.

Having just taken a close-range Shock Edge, Qin Yue had not fully regained his footing. He could only forcefully tense his legs and withstand the incoming force head-on.

His soles scraped two clear tracks across the ground.

Qin Yue retreated several steps in succession. Just as he was gradually steadying himself, Lu Yuan seized the final opportunity to exert force again, violently driving the spear shaft braced against Qin Yue's arms forward.

Qin Yue's right foot finally crossed the boundary line.

Lu Yuan also halted the spear's momentum at the same time and did not continue pursuing him.

The Academy Teacher overseeing the sparring glanced at Qin Yue's feet and directly announced, "Lu Yuan wins."

The training ground fell silent for a moment.

Qin Yue lowered his head to look at his right foot, which had stepped out of bounds, then flexed his still-numb right arm a few times. There was not much unwillingness on his face.

After taking Shock Edge once, he had already changed his approach, and he had indeed suppressed Lu Yuan for quite a while. But in that final close-range exchange, Lu Yuan had not continued pulling away as Qin Yue had expected.

Dismissing the spear, recondensing it, Shock Edge, then finally using Piercing Edge to push him out of bounds—the entire sequence had flowed together with incredible speed.

Qin Yue looked at Lu Yuan again. "Are you really level 21?"

"Yeah."

"Are all the level 21 Spirit Masters in Spirit City as strong as you?"

Lu Yuan put away the Piercing Spear. "I don't know. I only represent myself."

Qin Yue was stunned for a moment after hearing that. Then he smiled and shook his head, no longer dwelling on the outcome of the match.

When the young spirit masters who had been watching from the sidelines looked at Lu Yuan again, their gazes were clearly different from before.

Gu Yan, at level 24, had lost, and that could still be explained by him encountering Shock Edge for the first time without any prior preparation.

But Qin Yue had already seen it once with his own eyes.

He still lost.