Two Heaven-Defying Soul Skills, and School Was About to Start

Evening.

Ye Zhiqiu had just returned from Dong Qianqiu's place. After greeting his parents, he went straight up to his room.

He locked the door, drew the curtains, sat on the edge of his bed, and closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness into the Sea of Consciousness.

The Gravity Star Core and First Blade gathered around him as well, but neither disturbed him.

The two newly formed balls of light had grown more solid since that morning. This time, it seemed he would have to touch them to unlock them.

Ye Zhiqiu did not hesitate. With a thought, he reached his consciousness toward the two balls of light.

Almost simultaneously, both balls of light burst open.

Silver light and transparent light poured into his Sea of Consciousness together. The sensation was even clearer than when the previous two Soul Spirits had been born.

A moment later, two new Soul Spirits appeared before him.

One was a silvery-white butterfly, its wings studded with tiny fragments of starlight. Every scale on its wings looked like a small piece of condensed starry sky, and their slow fluttering stirred up specks of silver light.

It flew up from the center of the Sea of Consciousness, circled his consciousness once, then landed lightly on his left shoulder, its wings folding slightly.

At the same time, a shadowy figure took shape before him.

It was a translucent beast with a streamlined body nearly two meters long, covered in almost transparent scales. Its limbs were long and powerful, and its head vaguely resembled both a leopard and a dragon. Its eyes were two deep pools of light without pupils, only a cold, ghostly blue glow, like two tiny stars embedded in its sockets.

It landed to Ye Zhiqiu's right and lay quietly, its slowly swaying tail stirring faint ripples in space.

The silver butterfly and transparent beast floated quietly, and Ye Zhiqiu could sense their consciousnesses.

After leaving the Sea of Consciousness, he slowly opened his eyes, then held out his left hand and summoned Absolute Gravity with a thought.

A silver-gray orb rose from his palm, the galaxy inside still turning slowly.

This time, two Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet together, one yellow and one purple.

He held out his right hand and summoned Absolute Blade. A long white blade floated above his palm, with another pair of Soul Rings, one yellow and one purple, slowly turning behind it.

Two yellow, two purple—four Soul Rings hovered beside him at once.

Ye Zhiqiu looked down at his four Soul Rings, then slowly breathed out.

At the same time, the change in his Soul Power spread clearly throughout his body. He had gone straight from level twenty to level twenty-one, and the fullness in his meridians felt even more substantial than yesterday.

"The third Soul Skill, the fourth Soul Skill..." Ye Zhiqiu closed his eyes, sensing the two brand-new abilities his new Soul Spirits had brought him.

The Gravity Butterfly came from the gravity martial soul's second soul ring and granted him an exceptionally unusual Soul Skill called Gravity Anchor.

Its effect was simple but utterly domineering. He could place an invisible Gravity Anchor on himself, a teammate, or a designated object in advance. For an extremely short period afterward, no matter where the anchor's target moved, they could be dragged back to the anchor's location in an instant.

He could also use it on enemies, planting an anchor in advance so that no matter how far they fled, he could forcibly pull them back.

What made this ability heaven-defying was that it had no distance limit.

As long as the anchor remained, he could ignore spatial distance and forcibly pull the target back.

Using First Blade together with Gravity Anchor would make for an assassin's style that appeared like a spirit and vanished like a ghost. One moment, he would be trading blows head-on; the next, he would already be back behind them. He could even suddenly select and sever one of his opponent's connections.

As for his other Soul Spirit, the Space-Slicing Beast, it granted him an even more domineering Soul Skill: Absolute Slash.

Its effect was simplicity itself: unleash a slash that would always hit, deal tremendous damage, and could be used simultaneously with Concept Severance.

Guaranteed to hit, guaranteed to wound!

Combined with Concept Severance, a single slash would sever the opponent's connection and inflict the slash's damage simultaneously, leaving them no time even to react.

Ye Zhiqiu opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth harder to keep down than an AK's muzzle.

"Nice, very nice. Two more great helpers."

He withdrew his martial souls and Soul Spirits, leaned back in his chair, and gazed at the ceiling, silently working out his plans for the coming school year.

At this rate, he would most likely reach the threshold of level thirty by the end of third grade. Reaching level fifty before turning twelve was not impossible either.

As for Lan Xuanyu, following the original story's timeline, he had only been in his thirties at twelve, and only in his twenties when he took part in Shrek's preliminary selection. Of course, those were two different points in time.

"A new school year, new Soul Skills. Things are getting interesting."

For the rest of summer vacation, Ye Zhiqiu continued his habit of visiting Dong Qianqiu every day or two.

Once, at his mother's request, Ye Zhiqiu brought Dong Qianqiu home for a meal.

Shen Qingwan was incredibly warm toward Dong Qianqiu. She prepared a whole tableful of dishes and kept putting food into her bowl, saying, "Qianqiu, eat some more. Look how thin you are. Haven't you been eating properly at school?"

Dong Qianqiu grew a little embarrassed by her words. Holding her bowl, the tips of her ears reddened, but she still finished all the food in small bites.

Watching from the side, Ye Zhiqiu found it rather funny. This girl usually feared neither heaven nor earth at school and wore an icy expression no matter whom she met, yet Shen Qingwan had brought her completely into line with a single meal.

Sure enough, where there was a will, there was a way. Where there was a will, there was a way.

After dinner, Ye Zhiqiu walked Dong Qianqiu back, the two of them strolling beneath the streetlights.

"Your mom... is a really good cook," Dong Qianqiu said, her head lowered.

During dinner, her heart had been pounding. She had never expected to meet Ye Zhiqiu's parents so soon!

"Of course. My mom's the chef of the family."

"Your parents... are both really nice," Dong Qianqiu added. Then she said nothing more, but her steps slowed a little, as though she wanted to take her time.

Ye Zhiqiu did not say much either. He simply walked slowly beside her.

The days passed like that, one after another, and before they knew it, summer vacation was drawing to a close.

A week before school started, Dong Qianqiu finally broke through level twenty as well.

That afternoon, Ye Zhiqiu had just reached the orphanage entrance when he saw Dong Qianqiu standing beneath the porch, barely able to suppress her smile.

"I'm level twenty-one too!"

Ye Zhiqiu smiled. "That's great. You finally caught up with me."

Dong Qianqiu glared at him and said irritably, "What do you mean, 'finally caught up with you'? Why does that sound so annoying?"

"Because it's the truth."

Dong Qianqiu huffed angrily, but she had no way to argue back, because he really had broken through before her.

Still, her annoyance did not last long. She was finally at the same level as Ye Zhiqiu, after all, and she was quite happy about it.

That happiness, however, lasted only four days.

Four days later, after their usual spar in the orphanage's backyard, Dong Qianqiu put away her Ice Spear and asked between breaths, "How fast have you been cultivating lately? We'll both be level twenty-one when school starts. I'm not going to lose to you anymore."

Ye Zhiqiu looked at her with a slightly awkward expression. "Actually... I gained another level yesterday."

Dong Qianqiu's smile instantly froze on her face.

"...Say that again?"

"I'm level twenty-two."

Dong Qianqiu stood in silence for a full five seconds. Then she took a deep breath and slowly let it out before finally squeezing a sentence through her teeth. "How exactly do you cultivate? Isn't your speed a little too ridiculous?"

"Extraordinary natural talent."

"Can you use a different phrase?"

"One in ten thousand."

Dong Qianqiu turned and walked away, expressionless. She gave up. She had only been at the same level as him for a few days, and he had already pulled ahead again. Her good mood vanished in an instant.

Watching her retreating figure, Ye Zhiqiu followed with a smile. "What's wrong? Are you angry?"

"No."

"Then why are you walking so fast?"

"I'm going back to cultivate."

"Are you still coming tomorrow?"

"Yes! I'm definitely beating you tomorrow!"