White Tiger? I'd Slam You All the Same

"You can take more of a beating than Tang San, so I won't hold back."

The moment Ling Yun said it, Dai Mubai's gaze sharpened.

He had watched Tang San lose from start to finish. If he fought Ling Yun the same way Tang San had, he would only lose faster.

So Dai Mubai had no intention of playing tricks with him.

With his White Tiger Vajra Transformation active and the formidable physique of his White Tiger Martial Soul behind it, his only chance was to force Ling Yun into a head-on clash.

"Second Soul Skill: White Tiger Fierce Light Wave!"

A blazing white orb gathered in his mouth, then became a thick beam of light that swept across the training ground.

Three water shadows scattered from beneath Ling Yun's feet. Two charged straight at Dai Mubai, while the last skimmed along the ground toward his flank.

"Don't care which one's real. I'll hit them all!" His tiger paw slammed down.

The first water shadow burst on the spot, splashing Dai Mubai's face. The second was already throwing a punch at his temple.

Dai Mubai raised an arm to block. The punch landed with hardly any force.

Fake!

The thought had barely surfaced when he heard a soft splash behind him.

Dai Mubai did not even turn. His First Soul Ring lit up.

"White Tiger Protection Barrier." White Soul Power swiftly covered his body.

Bang! A whip kick struck him square in the lower back. Dai Mubai staggered forward two steps but weathered it with his White Tiger Protection Barrier. Then he twisted at the waist and swept a tiger claw behind him with a rush of wind.

This time, he finally hit something solid. Ling Yun crossed his arms before his chest and slid back more than two meters under the force of the claw.

Dai Mubai's eyes lit up.

"Got you!"

He gave Ling Yun no chance to open the distance again. His right foot struck the ground, and his massive body drove forward. His tiger paws closed in from both sides. He had abandoned every complicated variation, using sheer strength to cut off Ling Yun's escape.

Ling Yun smiled instead. Now that was more like a Power Attack System fighter. Whoever had the harder fists got to talk.

Dai Mubai hammered down with a fist. Ling Yun did not take it head-on. His foot slid across the water, and he slipped past the edge of the punch before driving an elbow beneath Dai Mubai's ribs.

A dull thud sounded. The White Tiger Protection Barrier merely wavered.

Dai Mubai grinned. "You're fast, but if you can't break my defense, what good is speed?"

"Let's find out." Ling Yun stepped back and glanced at his elbow.

His Second Soul Ring lit up. A Water Shuriken rapidly took shape in his palm.

Dai Mubai's grin faded. Ling Yun gave him no time to think, flicking his wrist to send the Water Shuriken straight for his chest.

Dai Mubai turned aside. Almost at the same instant, he fired his White Tiger Fierce Light Wave, hoping to force Ling Yun back.

But Ling Yun did not retreat. He rushed diagonally past the edge of the White Tiger Fierce Light Wave.

By the time Dai Mubai looked again, no one stood before him.

No. He snapped his head up. Ling Yun had stepped onto the shoulder of a newly risen water shadow and used it to leap into the air. A second Water Shuriken had already formed in his hand.

Dai Mubai's expression changed. At this range, Ling Yun only had to press his wrist down. The blue water blade dropped straight toward his chest.

"First Soul Skill: White Tiger Protection Barrier!" Dai Mubai concentrated all his Soul Power in front of him.

The Water Shuriken struck the barrier. Its rapidly spinning edge cut relentlessly into the Soul Power, making a shriek of friction that set teeth on edge around the training ground.

The white barrier grew thinner and thinner.

Dai Mubai held firm. "Break!"

With a roar, he unleashed a burst of Soul Power and blew the Water Shuriken apart.

Spray scattered everywhere. Dai Mubai was about to counterattack when he realized Ling Yun had vanished.

"Mubai, behind you!" Flender could not help calling out.

But it was too late. When Dai Mubai turned, all he saw was a tongue scarf whipping toward him.

Smack! The tongue scarf wrapped around his right wrist. Ling Yun landed without pause and yanked hard, putting the force of his descent behind it.

Dai Mubai had been maintaining his White Tiger Protection Barrier. The sudden pull threw off his balance and sent him stumbling forward. Then his feet went light, and his body left the ground.

Bang! The whole training ground shook.

The students of Blue Tyrant Academy erupted with excitement.

"The boss is doing what he does best. It's over. That White Tiger's in for it today."

The Shrek group stared. What did they mean, what he does best? A moment later, they understood.

Dai Mubai had barely hit the ground when Ling Yun hauled him up again. The tongue scarf was still wrapped around his wrist, and Ling Yun gave him no chance to catch his breath.

Dai Mubai reacted quickly, slashing a tiger claw toward Ling Yun's chest. Ling Yun turned aside and hooked his foot around Dai Mubai's.

Bang! Dai Mubai hit the ground a second time.

Face-first this time.

Ma Hongjun's mouth twitched. "Boss Dai..."

Dai Mubai braced himself against the ground to rise, but Ling Yun had already circled behind him.

The tongue scarf shifted to Dai Mubai's waist. Ling Yun gripped his shoulders with both hands and fell backward with the motion.

Heaven and earth spun around Dai Mubai.

A third time.

Thump!

Oscar instinctively hunched his shoulders.

Xiao Wu had still been upset by how badly Tang San had lost. But watching Dai Mubai get thrown around the training ground, she forgot her anger for a moment. "Why does this guy like throwing people so much?"

Tang San sat at the edge of the ground, his chest still tight. He had begun to see the method behind it. "Boss Dai is strong and well defended, but no matter how strong his body is, he has nothing to push against once he's in the air. Ling Yun never planned to break through his defense head-on."

Ning Rongrong understood. "So he's using Dai Mubai himself as a weapon?"

Tang San fell silent for a moment.

It was an odd way to put it.

But it seemed to be exactly what was happening.

At the center of the training ground, Dai Mubai was flung away yet again.

This time, he adjusted early, forced himself to turn in midair, and landed firmly on both feet.

He had just started to breathe a sigh of relief when Ling Yun's voice came from beside him. "Not bad. You landed pretty steadily that time."

Dai Mubai's heart skipped. It was as if inertia meant nothing to Ling Yun. One moment he was on the left; the next, he was right against Dai Mubai's side.

Dai Mubai's tiger claw swept through empty air. Ling Yun slipped inside the reach of his arm.

A knee struck his abdomen, followed by a leg sweep. The instant Dai Mubai lost his balance, the tongue scarf wrapped around his ankle again.

Ling Yun seized the other end with both hands and could not help laughing.

"Dai Mubai, time for you to fly—"

"Wait! Not my face—"

Before Dai Mubai could finish, his whole body was airborne. A level-thirty-seven Battle Soul Elder of the Power Attack System had been spun into a windmill before everyone's eyes.

The flesh on Ma Hongjun's face twitched. "That's a bit too..."

Oscar quietly finished for him. "Cruel."

The Blue Tyrant Academy students were howling with laughter. Dai Mubai tried to break free, but suspended in the air, he had no leverage. All he could do was keep pouring Soul Power into his White Tiger Protection Barrier.

On the third turn, Ling Yun suddenly let go. "Off you go."

Dai Mubai flew sideways for more than ten meters.

Bang! He hit the ground and rolled all the way to the edge of the training ground, stopping only when he struck the fence.

He did not move for a long while. The spectators fell silent.

Then the Blue Tyrant students exploded.

"The boss is incredible!"

"Didn't they say they only accepted monsters? Is that all a monster can do?"

That remark was salt in the wound. Flender's face darkened, and Yu Xiaogang looked even worse.

Tang San had lost. Dai Mubai had lost too. In Ling Yun's hands, both had looked as though he had studied them inside out long ago.

Liu Erlong was not surprised in the least. She looked at Dai Mubai, who still had not managed to rise from beside the fence, and even found time to reassure Flender.

"Don't worry. He knows when to stop. If he'd wanted to hurt him badly, it would have taken more than a few throws."

Flender's eye twitched violently. You call that a few? On the training ground, Ling Yun dusted off his hands, and the phantom of his Greninja Martial Soul reappeared behind him.

He glanced first at Tang San, then at Dai Mubai. His gaze passed over the others and settled on Yu Xiaogang.

"Grandmaster... these are the geniuses you trained?"

Yu Xiaogang's face turned livid. Ling Yun acted as though he had not noticed and said evenly, "No real combat experience, shallow battle instincts, panic the moment something unexpected happens. And you call this level of fighter a monster?"