The Powerless Tang Ya

Tang Ya stared at the three Soul Rings pulsing beneath Gu Mingyuan's feet—two yellow and one purple. The arrogance on her face slowly faded, replaced by a troubled look.

When she had first met Gu Mingyuan, he had only just obtained his second Soul Ring. She, meanwhile, had already absorbed the Mandala Snake's Soul Ring and become a three-ring Soul Elder. She was even the nominal leader of the Tang Sect.

But only a year had passed.

Gu Mingyuan had already reached three rings, while her Soul Power had hit a bottleneck, barely climbing from level thirty to level thirty-two.

The crushing limitations of her Blue Silver Grass martial soul, the weight of reviving the Tang Sect, and the ever-widening gap between her strength and Bei Bei's—these were weaknesses she usually refused to face. The moment those three Soul Rings lit up, she could no longer look away.

Tang Ya clenched her teeth. She said nothing, but she had made up her mind.

Bei Bei stepped forward and placed himself in front of Tang Ya.

Buzz—

Four Soul Rings rose one after another beneath his feet: two yellow and two purple. Blue-violet lightning climbed his right arm. Fine dragon scales covered his hand in an instant, and his fingers lengthened into a blue-violet dragon claw.

"Junior Gu, I didn't get to see everything you could do in our last spar." Bei Bei looked at Gu Mingyuan. His voice remained controlled, but his usual gentle manner was gone.

"This time, I won't hold back."

Gu Mingyuan glanced at Tang Ya, half shielded behind Bei Bei, and gave a faint smile.

"Good, Senior Bei. Neither will I."

The moment he finished speaking, Cao Jinxuan, Lin Yan, and Jiang Wenzhou stepped forward. Cao Jinxuan moved to Gu Mingyuan's side with a frown. "What, are you planning to gang up on him?"

Gu Mingyuan raised a hand to stop the three of them.

"Old Cao, take them back," Gu Mingyuan said calmly. Then he added, "And remember to put the courtyard wall and the house on their bill."

Bei Bei wasted no more words.

His third Soul Ring flared, activating Thunderous Fury.

The lightning surging through his right arm more than doubled. His first and second Soul Rings flashed in quick succession, unleashing Thunderclap Dragon Claw and Thunderous Might together.

He did not test the waters. Gu Mingyuan's second Soul Skill could absorb the force of attacks against him and store it as power.

More importantly, Wang Dong had just told him that Gu Mingyuan had killed a three-thousand-year Ironclad Bear with one punch during the freshman assessment. The longer the fight dragged on, the more blows Gu Mingyuan would take—and the more dangerous he would become.

So Bei Bei opened with everything he had. His dragon claw, wrapped in a dense web of lightning, smashed down at Gu Mingyuan from above.

Behind him, golden light flickered in Huo Yuhao's eyes as he quietly activated Spiritual Detection Sharing.

Bei Bei's field of awareness expanded at once. The slightest pull of Gu Mingyuan's shoulder, the flow of his Soul Power, even the shift in his center of gravity—nothing escaped him. He spotted a predicted gap in Gu Mingyuan's defense and brought the Thunderclap Dragon Claw down toward his head.

Gu Mingyuan stood his ground. His first and second Soul Rings lit up together.

He brought Golden Jade Barrier to full strength. At the same time, he raised his right hand and clamped his fingers around the descending dragon claw like an iron vise.

Boom!

Lightning exploded the instant they made contact.

Dust flew up around Gu Mingyuan's feet, and several scorch marks tore across his right sleeve. Yet the lightning, enough to paralyze an ordinary Soul Elder in an instant, had almost no effect on his Golden Jade Body.

Gu Mingyuan's arm sank half an inch beneath the crushing force, but he did not take even half a step back.

Instead, the golden patterns across his body grew brighter under the relentless wash of lightning. He was feeding that tremendous impact, bit by bit, into the power stored by his second Soul Skill.

Gu Mingyuan raised his eyes to Bei Bei, who stood inches away.

"Senior Bei, are you really trying?"

Bei Bei's heart sank. Realizing something was wrong, he instantly pulled away.

He finally understood. Even at full strength, he could not break through Gu Mingyuan's monstrous defense quickly. He would only become a source of power for his opponent.

The instant Bei Bei opened up the distance, his fourth Soul Ring lit up.

Blue-violet lightning gathered wildly overhead. A roaring dragon's head made of lightning, more than a meter across, burst forth. Like a meteor, it swallowed Gu Mingyuan head-on.

Boom—

The violent explosion sent a shock wave sweeping outward. A section of the courtyard wall collapsed amid the lightning, filling the air with rubble and dust.

Tang Ya instinctively took half a step forward. "Did it work?"

Bei Bei did not answer. His expression only grew grimmer.

Through Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing, he could see the human silhouette still standing steady at the center of the dust cloud. Its aura had not even weakened noticeably.

The smoke gradually cleared.

Gu Mingyuan slowly walked out of the rubble. His upper clothes were in tatters, with a fresh black scorch mark across one shoulder. But his jade-like body, covered in golden patterns, remained completely unharmed.

He looked at the collapsed wall and said:

"Senior Bei, don't forget to pay for that."

For the first time, Bei Bei's expression turned ugly.

He closed in again, trying to pin Gu Mingyuan down with the Thunderclap Dragon Claw while using the Tang Sect's Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to find whatever opening might exist.

But this time, Gu Mingyuan gave him no chance to retreat.

The instant Bei Bei swung his claw, Gu Mingyuan seized his wrist again.

Bei Bei was startled. He drove all his Soul Power through his right arm to break free, only to find he could not pull it away.

"Let him go!"

Tang Ya finally panicked. Dozens of thick Blue Silver Grass vines surged in from every direction, trying to wrench the two apart, but they accomplished nothing.

"Yuhao!" Seeing her Blue Silver Grass fail, Tang Ya immediately called for Huo Yuhao's help. She remembered that he had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill!

Huo Yuhao's expression changed sharply. Tang Ya's attempt to restrain Gu Mingyuan had been ignored, and Bei Bei was trapped at close range. He had no choice but to act.

But Brother Bei was still caught there. Using Golden Road would inevitably hit him too!

With no other option, Huo Yuhao called upon the Torso Bone he had only just obtained.

Ice Emperor's Fury!

A burst of pure emerald ice light erupted from behind them. This was the strongest attack Huo Yuhao could currently unleash.

The instant the chill of Ultimate Ice entered Gu Mingyuan's body, his innate resistance to elemental attacks stripped away most of it. But the physical impact carried by the remnant of the attack was real enough.

Bang!

Gu Mingyuan's body shuddered. The clothes across his back burst apart, and the tremendous force drove two cracks into the ground beneath his feet.

He had to admit, that attack packed far more punch than Bei Bei's had.

Gu Mingyuan released Bei Bei's wrist and turned aside, avoiding the thickest wave of Blue Silver Grass. Then he drove his left fist straight into Bei Bei's chest.