The Battle at Eastsea Park

Eastsea Park was not far from the Academy.

After leaving Eastsea Academy through the side gate and walking along the street for about ten minutes, they could see the park's main entrance. Admission was free to the public, and plenty of people came to exercise in the morning. Once inside, they saw people jogging, practicing martial arts, and strolling everywhere.

This was clearly not Xie Xie's first visit.

He headed deeper into the park with familiar steps, never hesitating. Tang Wulin followed without speaking, simply taking the bag off his back. It held his clothes and the Soul Guidance Camera Liu Yuxin had insisted he take. If they were really going to fight, he could hardly do it with all that on his back.

The farther they went, the fewer people there were.

The trees grew taller, and the paths narrower. By the time Xie Xie stopped in front of a clearing among the trees, their surroundings were quiet. All they could hear was the wind rustling the leaves.

"Here will do."

Xie Xie turned to look at Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin set his bag beneath a nearby tree and raised his eyes to meet his gaze.

During his meditation last night, he had gone over their dormitory fight from beginning to end many times. He knew perfectly well why he had won yesterday: first, the room was too small for Xie Xie to make full use of his speed; second, his opponent had underestimated him; third, that hammer blow of his had landed solidly.

But this place was different.

It was open and spacious, with enough room for Xie Xie to run and fully exploit the advantages of an Agility Attack System fighter.

The real gap between them would probably only start to show now.

Xie Xie raised a hand and pointed behind himself.

"I'll move back fifty meters," he said coldly. "So you can't say I'm picking on you."

With that, he really did turn and walk back, only stopping when he reached the other end of the clearing.

Tang Wulin did not answer that remark. He merely let out a slow breath.

He did not think this was contempt.

It was Xie Xie's pride.

And pride was something that could be irritating at times, yet at others left you unable to deny it—this person had absolute confidence in himself.

"Are you ready?" Xie Xie called from a distance.

"Ready," Tang Wulin answered.

Xie Xie's gaze immediately grew a little colder.

"Then let's begin."

The instant the words left his mouth, he shot forward.

He was not walking quickly or running, but truly charging. His body stayed low, his center of gravity pitched forward, each step short yet incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he had eaten up a large stretch of the distance between them.

At the same time, a yellow Soul Ring rose from beneath his feet.

A crystalline yellow Dagger appeared in his right hand. A thin, sharp thread of golden light glimmered along its cutting edge, and as he accelerated, a faint slicing sound trailed through the air.

Tang Wulin released his martial soul at once.

Silver light flashed, and the Star-Sinking Hammer landed in his palm.

A white Soul Ring rose at the same time.

Unlike Xie Xie's martial soul, which looked sharp at first glance, the Star-Sinking Hammer did not appear particularly bright. It even seemed rather dull. Yet the moment it settled into Tang Wulin's palm, his entire presence steadied.

He did not charge.

Nor did he rush to swing his hammer first.

Because he knew he could not catch up.

If he could not catch up, he would wait.

Xie Xie drew closer and closer.

Ten meters, eight meters, six meters—

Tang Wulin still did not move. He simply watched him with intense concentration.

But he soon discovered that watching was useless.

Once Xie Xie picked up speed, he seemed to be constantly changing direction. He was not darting about at random. Every step landed in the most awkward place possible. Just when you thought he was on the left, he cut to the right in the next instant; just when you raised your hammer to block his path, he had already slipped past the edge.

For the first time, Tang Wulin truly felt what an Agility Attack System fighter's pressure meant.

It was not the weight of a head-on assault.

It was knowing perfectly well that he was coming, yet being unable to pin him down.

His gaze sharpened. Suddenly, he stopped staring fixedly at Xie Xie's upper body and looked at the ground instead, watching those tiny shifts beneath his feet and the directions in which the grass and pebbles were pushed aside.

This was a method he had thought of while meditating last night.

Watching the person was too fast.

Watching where his feet landed might let him keep up by half a beat.

At the very instant Xie Xie changed direction again, Tang Wulin finally swung his hammer.

It was not a horizontal sweep.

It was a downward smash.

Bang!

The Star-Sinking Hammer slammed into the ground, spraying grass and mud into the air. Even the earth trembled slightly.

His white Soul Ring lit up, and the hammer's weight abruptly bore downward. Even the air across a stretch in front of him seemed to sink for an instant.

For the first time, Xie Xie's steps were forcibly slowed by half a beat.

His expression changed slightly. Clearly, he had not expected Tang Wulin's hammer to target the ground rather than him.

That half beat was already enough.

Tang Wulin twisted both hands, using the recoil from the impact to sweep the Star-Sinking Hammer sideways. Its head skimmed the ground, heading straight for Xie Xie's legs.

If that blow landed squarely, Xie Xie could forget about keeping his feet for the rest of today's fight.

But Xie Xie was still Xie Xie.

He reacted almost the instant his footing grew heavy. Bending backward, he seemed to be yanked up by a sudden pull on a string, forcing himself into the air with the strength of his waist and back. The wind from the hammer swept beneath his feet, making his trouser cuffs flutter.

He dodged it.

But only just.

Tang Wulin did not stop.

He knew he would not get another easy chance to pin Xie Xie down. So as soon as that sweep missed, he turned with its momentum and immediately swung a second blow. It was just as fast and just as heavy, but this time it traveled diagonally, cutting off Xie Xie's right side.

The instant Xie Xie landed, he watched the Star-Sinking Hammer swinging toward him, and for the first time, a trace of genuine seriousness entered his eyes.

He had come off worse in yesterday's dormitory fight, and he had refused to accept it.

But now he understood—although Tang Wulin's technique and experience were poor, he was not completely incapable of fighting. He was learning, and learning fast.

This blow was more polished than yesterday's.

Xie Xie did not block it head-on.

This was what Agility Attack System fighters did best.

Rather than contesting your strength directly, they sought only that tiny opening when your force was spent and you shifted into another move.

Tang Wulin's reaction was not slow. His left hand tightened, and he abruptly pulled the Star-Sinking Hammer back. But he had never trained specifically for combat, and his withdrawal was still a fraction too slow.

Shhk—

The dagger's edge brushed his sleeve, instantly slicing a rent in the fabric.

Tang Wulin's arm tensed, and he stepped back with the motion.

It had not cut his flesh.

But he knew that in that exchange, he had already lost half a move.

When his strike failed to land, Xie Xie did not linger. He swiftly retreated, opening the distance again. His movements were clean, without the slightest drag or hesitation.

Tang Wulin's chest rose and fell slightly.

For the first time, he truly felt that the gap between himself and Xie Xie was not just in soul power, but also in their understanding of a fight's rhythm.

Every swing of his hammer was heavy.

But heavy did not mean it would necessarily hit.

Xie Xie had already steadied himself again, his cold gaze resting on Tang Wulin.

"You're a little better than yesterday," he said. "But only a little."

Tang Wulin did not argue.

He simply tightened his grip on the Star-Sinking Hammer again, his gaze growing steadily more composed.

Xie Xie was right.

He understood how to fight better than he had yesterday, but that was still nowhere near enough.

At that thought, Tang Wulin actually became less impatient.

He stopped pressing forward and stood firmly in place, holding the hammer across his body with his center of gravity low. He began to rein things in—not his strength, but his movements. Since he could not keep up, he would cut out needless motions and save each hammer strike for a moment when he was truly confident.

Watching the change in him, Xie Xie frowned slightly.

Because he suddenly realized that Tang Wulin was no longer flustered.

At least, he was not as flustered as he had been at the start.

That speed of adjustment made him inexplicably more uncomfortable.

So he moved again.

His yellow Soul Ring lit up, and the golden radiance on the Light Dragon Dagger grew noticeably brighter. Xie Xie gave Tang Wulin no more time to test things out. He practically became a straight line, lunging in a frontal assault.

This time, he was faster.

Tang Wulin's pupils contracted slightly.

He still could not make out Xie Xie's movements in full. He could only just track that point of golden light as it drew steadily closer.

He did not retreat.

Nor did he swing his hammer to chase it.

Instead, he poured all his soul power into the Star-Sinking Hammer in his hands. When that point of golden light came within three meters, he abruptly raised the hammer and smashed it straight forward!

There was nothing fancy about this blow.

It was simply direct.

Simply heavy.

The hammerhead compressed the air in the clearing until it felt stifling.

Clearly, Xie Xie had not expected Tang Wulin to make such a straightforward decision at this moment. He forced his charging body aside at the very last instant. Yet although he avoided the hammerhead, his movements were still checked for a moment.

And in that instant, Tang Wulin pushed off with his feet and stepped forward.

The step was short, but fierce.

He ignored Xie Xie's Dagger and drove his shoulder and back straight into him, as though he intended to smash his entire body into the attack.

This was the fighting style Xie Xie least wanted to face.

Because it cared nothing for elegance or technique. It was pure brute force.

And that brute force was precisely what Tang Wulin had in abundance.

Xie Xie's Dagger changed direction almost simultaneously.

The blade that had been thrusting toward his ribs turned over, bringing its spine and hilt down directly toward the hollow of Tang Wulin's shoulder.

He had no intention of killing him.

But he certainly would not give Tang Wulin a second chance to crash into him at close range.

Bang!

A dull impact rang out.

Tang Wulin's shoulder jolted violently. The blow knocked his body askew and forcibly cut off his forward momentum. Yet before he lost his balance, he still forced the hammerhead outward, sweeping it past Xie Xie's waist.

It did not land squarely.

But it still forced Xie Xie to twist outward half a step.

Both of them retreated at the same time.

The clearing fell quiet again.

Tang Wulin raised a hand to press his shoulder. It was already tingling with numbness, and his entire arm felt somewhat heavy. Xie Xie's strike had been precise—so precise that he could scarcely find fault with it.

Xie Xie stood opposite him, his breathing a little heavier than before as well.

He lowered his head to glance at the spot where the hammer had grazed his waist. The impact had slightly creased his clothes, and his skin ached a little too.

Although it had not truly landed, that blow was enough to make the point.

The troublesome thing about Tang Wulin was not his technique.

It was that once he closed in, he was genuinely dangerous.

Xie Xie raised his head, his expression colder still.

And Tang Wulin was watching him too, his gaze steadier than before.

Only now had this battle truly begun.