A full moon hung high in the night sky, its radiance illuminating the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. Three figures skimmed across the ground like arrows, racing toward the nearest testing area.
Ji Juechen held a longsword, his aura bristling with sharpness. His usually cold black eyes danced with the excitement of meeting a worthy opponent. Purple mist followed beside him like a shadow. Jing Ziyan's martial soul was exactly what her name suggested: smoke!
Boom!
Compared with the two elite disciples of Mingde Hall, Lin Qing's presence was far more imposing. Machine element gathered in the sky into a silver-white ocean, raising an Elemental Tide like towering, thunderous waves.
The Three-Headed Blood Wyrm had greatly replenished his blood and vitality. Lin Qing was a hot-blooded young man in the prime of youth, and the consequences of that scorching agitation went without saying. The arrow was already on the string and had to be loosed. He desperately needed an outlet!
In the still of the night, the testing area stood empty, save for three oddballs burning the midnight oil.
"One person isn't enough to satisfy me. Come at me together," Lin Qing said hoarsely.
"Come on!"
Ji Juechen shouted, while Jing Ziyan excitedly stretched her limbs to warm up.
They challenged experts throughout Mingde Hall, leaving teachers and students scrambling to avoid them. Lin Qing was the first student to welcome them with open arms. He was even willing to shoulder the burden of fighting two at once!
Lin Qing gazed up at the boundless starry sky. The blood energy rampaging through him ignited an unprecedented hunger for battle. Four soul rings-yellow, purple, purple, and black-rose fiercely around him. Carrying its master's will, machine element soared upward, and a blazing silver sun burst into existence!
Sun and moon hung together in the sky, silver radiance illuminating heaven and earth. Ji Juechen's and Jing Ziyan's gazes sharpened. They saw machine element pour in from every direction, cling to Lin Qing's body, and condense into solid, tangible objects.
The handsome youth held a silver-white longsword and wore armor of the same color. His long silver-gray hair fluttered in the wind, his figure imposing against the ocean of elements. With every movement he made, machine element shifted endlessly.
His divine blade could pierce anything; his machine armor was indestructible.
Sharpness and solidity, the two renowned properties of metal, were displayed to their fullest.
If race was disregarded, the metal-attribute powerhouse standing atop Douluo's pyramid was undoubtedly the king of the dark gold terrorclaw bears, Xiong Jun, ranked sixth among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts. With an attribute approaching ultimate metal, Xiong Jun's destructive power far surpassed that of the Myriad Demon King, who ranked one place above him. His Dark Gold Dreadclaw could tear dragons apart alive, while his steel sinews and iron bones easily withstood a Super Douluo's all-out attack.
As a mutated ultimate martial soul, machine element not only kept pace with the times by complementing soul tools, but also retained ultimate metal's original strength, uniting offense and defense.
"Elemental Heart..."
Jing Ziyan murmured, Lin Qing's sword-bearing, armored figure reflected in her eyes.
At that, Ji Juechen turned to her with a questioning look. The Sword Enthusiast's little brain held nothing but a single sword. He never paid attention to the outside world's bewildering array of cultivation paths.
They had known each other for years. Picking up on the question mark floating above her friend's head, Jing Ziyan explained, "There are countless martial souls on the continent, and the paths of cultivation branch endlessly, but all great roads ultimately lead to the same destination.
"If a Soul Master wants to become a true pinnacle powerhouse, they have to understand their own martial soul deeply. That's the road you and I are both striving to follow.
"You've gone farther than I have, comprehending your own unique sword intent. Lin Qing has done the same. His martial soul is elemental, and the road ahead of him is called the Elemental Heart. Its most basic manifestation is what you're seeing: changing its form however he wishes, freely turning it into sabers, spears, swords, or halberds."
Jing Ziyan sniffed and sighed. "One of the Sun Moon Team's main members is called Li Yan. His martial soul is an impure fire element.
"I sparred with Li Yan just last week. He's struggling to find his way toward the Elemental Heart and can't even touch its threshold. Comprehending the Elemental Heart is no easier than comprehending sword intent..."
"So you're saying we're evenly matched, and I can fight to my heart's content tonight?"
Elemental Heart versus sword intent-the sword-obsessed fellow seized on the key point in a single second.
"Uh... that's right."
After a brief hesitation, Jing Ziyan nodded slightly. With elements transformed into a sword and armor, Lin Qing clearly didn't intend to fire soul cannon shells and lead fools around by the nose. Instead, he had switched to ultimate metal's close-combat mode for a blood-pumping battle!
Receiving her confirmation, Ji Juechen's black eyes shone brightly. Five soul rings-yellow, yellow, purple, purple, and black-appeared, and a fanatical fighting spirit erupted around him. In an instant, the Soul Master and the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword became one.
He entrusted his feelings to the sword and devoted them utterly to it.
The Sword Enthusiast cultivated the sword with an almost demonic focus. Ji Juechen's awakened martial soul had been an utterly ordinary sword. As his understanding of sword intent deepened, his martial soul ceased to be confined to its original form and merged into the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword, the two becoming indistinguishable.
He poured all his soul power into the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword. Sensing its master's fiery heart beating faster within his chest, the blade began to hum softly, then shook violently.
Unstoppable sword intent spread outward, and Ji Juechen's aura surged at an astonishing speed. The Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword might remain still, but once it struck, it would shatter stone and startle the heavens!
The Elemental Heart and the Sword Enthusiast's sword intent clashed head-on in the air, carrying everything the two prodigies understood about their respective cultivation paths. This was both a battle with neither yielding an inch and a meeting of minds through which each could gain insight from the other. Actual combat was the sole standard for testing truth!
Pointing his silver-white elemental longsword forward, Lin Qing used his Elemental Heart to commune with heaven and earth, suppressing the biting sword intent rushing toward him.
Ji Juechen was a sword prodigy of this era, a perfect embodiment of a certain Grandmaster's famous saying: there were no useless martial souls, only useless Soul Masters.
No one had held much hope for a child with level-three innate soul power. He had spent two years cultivating to level ten, then entered a soul beast forest alone at eight years old, successfully killed a hundred-year soul beast, and returned bathed in blood.
It should have been the perfect script for a good-for-nothing's rise to greatness. Yet fate played tricks on him, and Ji Juechen obtained the same kind of soul skill as a traditional Soul Engineer: soul power amplification.
Ji Juechen's circumstances were also part of why Lin Qing had agreed to let Ye Guyi enter the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy disguised as a Bright Swan. With that precedent sitting right there, the angelic young lady could conceal herself safely.
By now, the various factions on the Douluo Continent had begun using their brains, deciding that combining Soul Masters and Soul Engineers was the prevailing trend. The opposition between the two schools subsequently paused, and the next generation of Soul Masters turned toward cultivating both.
The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy had realized this especially early, establishing a practical-use Soul Tool Department and throwing its doors wide open. The Sword Enthusiast Ji Juechen and Ghost Nana were outstanding examples. They were not good at making soul tools and only studied their use.
Meng Hongchen also counted as half a student of the practical-use Soul Tool Department, which was why she had asked Lin Qing to help make her a complete set of soul tool armor.
Gales whipped through the testing area. Jing Ziyan couldn't help raising a hand to shield her face. The night wind carried machine element's heaven-shaking sharpness, scraping over her like knives and making her intensely uncomfortable.
A clash of wills was not a fight with real blades, but its danger could not be underestimated.
Jing Ziyan widened her eyes and exerted herself to help Ji Juechen suppress Lin Qing. Yet the spiritual technique she had comprehended was like a single droplet in a vast ocean-not even a splash could be heard when she threw it in!
A savage wolf stood beside her, and a fierce tiger faced her. Jing Ziyan looked utterly miserable, feeling like a harmless little rabbit trapped between them, able only to wring her hands and smile apologetically while watching two sharp-fanged beasts fight!
Creak...
Ji Juechen suddenly slid half a step backward, signaling that he had fallen behind in the contest of auras.
His piercing sword intent, raised to its limit, struck the Elemental Heart like a wave crashing against an ancient, enduring reef. It broke apart and scattered, unable to shake its opponent in the slightest. That was unmistakably a cold, hard heart of steel!
The first drumbeat roused courage; the next let it ebb. With his indomitable sword intent dissolved by the Elemental Heart, Ji Juechen's accumulated sword momentum plummeted. Lin Qing's aura, by contrast, surged. Machine element filled heaven and earth, forcing Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan to resist its pressure with soul power.
"Attack!"
Seeing his opponent's soaring momentum continuing to climb, Ji Juechen knew they couldn't sit and wait for death. They had to strike together to reverse their decline!
The two Soul Kings of Mingde Hall charged fearlessly. Purple smoke curled upward, and Jing Ziyan's first two yellow soul rings blazed.
Her first soul skill, Illusory Smoke, confused vision and blocked perception.
Her second soul skill, Smoke Condensation, strengthened the smoke and impaired the enemy's speed and judgment.
Under cover of those two crowd-control soul skills, they flanked him from either side. Ji Juechen wielded the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword, while Jing Ziyan drew her Explosive Nine-Section Whip.
This Class 5 close-combat soul tool carried two special attack effects: high-frequency vibrations upon impact, accompanied by explosions. It specialized in breaking soul tool shields and defensive soul skills.
Ji Juechen's physique was stronger than Jing Ziyan's. His explosive speed left a string of afterimages. His lower body raced at high speed, while his upper body seemed like a film playing in slow motion. He shifted from holding his sword in one hand to gripping it in both, slowly turned halfway around, and swept the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword across with crushing force!
Sword light blazed brilliantly. No disciple of Mingde Hall could surpass the sheer power of the Sword Enthusiast's close-combat attacks. As his sword light slashed out with a howl, a trench several meters deep split the solid alloy floor, extending forward with Ji Juechen's advance!
The blood energy within Lin Qing surged to its peak, and another cloud of white steam burst from his back. His Elemental Heart had already overwhelmed the sword intent, and his momentum now stood at its height!
The silver-white longsword swallowed the surrounding machine element. Its sword light tore through the air, resolutely meeting the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword. The testing area's metal floor answered the will of metal's sovereign, joining the attack with a deafening rumble!
The swords collided. The air throughout the testing area seemed to have been sucked dry by ultimate metal and the meteoric iron sword energy. Only two colors of sword light remained in sight, and everything became distorted.
Great stretches of cracks spread across the ground, extending thirty meters before gradually subsiding. The metal floor seemed unbearably fragile before the pair, peeling upward into a shocking scene of devastation.
Ji Juechen flew backward. Both sleeves burst apart, and the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers split under the tremendous force.
Forcing himself to a halt, Ji Juechen lowered his head to look at his beloved sword. Blood ran down the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword, its black blade humming and trembling. Heavenly meteoric iron was hardly a top-grade material. The blade had already begun falling behind its master's progress, and its collision with ultimate metal had only piled frost onto snow.
Rip!
Purple smoke quietly spread above Lin Qing's head. The Explosive Nine-Section Whip emerged from it, lashing down like a nimble snake darting from its hole. Seizing the brief opening Ji Juechen had won for her, Jing Ziyan launched the second wave of attacks!
Lin Qing had anticipated it. With a hard gauntlet formed from machine element, he neither dodged nor retreated. He raised his hand and grabbed the Explosive Nine-Section Whip, ignored its vibrations and explosions, and pulled Jing Ziyan toward him from the other end!
"This is bad!"
Jing Ziyan paled in alarm. There was no time to consider why an elemental Soul Master possessed such keen spiritual perception and physical strength. Her first priority was saving herself!
Immediately abandoning the struggle for the Explosive Nine-Section Whip, Jing Ziyan lit up her fifth soul ring. Dense smoke erupted, and her body broke apart into a cloud that drifted in every direction.
Smoke Transformation was Jing Ziyan's lifesaving soul skill. Its effect was somewhat similar to machine element's third soul skill, Elemental Transformation. Yet smoke was ultimately something visible and tangible. Lin Qing drove a straight punch forward with one hand, and machine element roared as it scattered the smoke!
When the soul skill's duration ended, the purple smoke gathered again. Jing Ziyan's face was deathly pale. She had thought Smoke Transformation would be enough to catch him by surprise, never imagining that an elemental martial soul could wear away her smoke!
"I'm out!"
Jing Ziyan waved a white handkerchief in surrender.
"Again!"
Ji Juechen grew braver with every exchange and volunteered for a second round.
The Sword Enthusiast devoted himself entirely to tempering his sword intent. He refused to use other offensive soul tools and had no ranged attacks.
Almost every Mingde Hall Soul Engineer who defeated him did so by creating distance and kiting him with ranged soul tools until his soul power was exhausted.
Ji Juechen had no objection to losing, but he respected Soul Engineers who could beat him in close combat more. Jing Ziyan had managed it before and had once been the target he chased, until she finally lost to him. After today, the Sword Enthusiast's next target would be Lin Qing!
Lin Qing said nothing and simply kept charging with his sword. The Three-Headed Blood Wyrm's blood energy was still wreaking havoc inside him. Tonight was the Ji Juechen-brand punching bag's most useful episode yet!
Bang! Wham!
Ji Juechen went down. He shook his head, then said with burning eyes, "Again!"
Bang! Wham!
"Come on!"
Bang! Wham! Bang! Wham! Bang! Wham!
"No more, thank you..."
After being sent flying seven or eight times in succession, Ji Juechen raised a hand to call a halt, his school uniform in tatters. By his third cry of "again," he had already begun struggling to endure it. But the Sword Enthusiast couldn't bear to end this utterly exhilarating close-combat spar, so he had gritted his teeth and taken every blow.
The problem was that Lin Qing seemed even more straightforward than he was. Unless told to stop, he genuinely never paused for a second, hammering away with ora after ora like a perpetual-motion machine!
Every villain had another villain to grind him down. The Sword Enthusiast, foremost among Mingde Hall's ten most dreaded troublemakers, followed Jing Ziyan's example and raised the white flag high. He had learned his lesson and begged for mercy!
Disengaging his close-combat mode, Lin Qing likewise felt thoroughly refreshed. Most of his restless blood energy had finally settled. He wouldn't repeat the whale rubber catastrophe and have to hide away the following day to wash his underwear!
"That was a very satisfying fight. Thank you for the lesson." Ji Juechen cupped his hands in thanks.
"Sorry. My blood was running hot tonight, and I was a little heavy-handed. Thank you for the lesson," Lin Qing said apologetically.
"It's fine. A fight brought us together. We can arrange more spars in the future." Jing Ziyan waved a hand.
"Sure. Let's do this again when we're free."
When punching bags delivered themselves to his doorstep, what reason did he have to refuse?
The three said their goodbyes. Watching Lin Qing's back disappear into the distance, Jing Ziyan immediately bared her teeth in a grimace, her features scrunching together like a wrinkled mandarin. She sighed miserably. "That brat's finally gone far enough away. Ow, it hurts like hell!
"I need two weeks to rest. Next time, you can take the beating yourself."
"Mm."
Ji Juechen slung the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword onto his back and shook his swollen, numb hands twice. A flicker of pain crossed his cold, impassive face, and he quietly sucked in a breath. "I'll take some time to recover too. He really does hit hard..."
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