Nine years old, level twenty-eight. Wu Changkong silently wondered, What level was I at nine?
Level twenty-three.
There had been others in his class with higher cultivation, but through sheer hard work, he had fought his way through the pack and gained admission to Shrek Academy.
The thought of Shrek Academy brought Wu Changkong's mood down considerably. He glanced at Tang Wulin, who sat beside Jiang Mingyuan.
He, too, had once had companions he could trust.
The students finished introducing themselves. Wu Changkong tapped the desk, drawing everyone's attention.
"My teaching methods are different from those of other teachers. If any of you are afraid of hardship or exhaustion, leave sooner rather than later. Don't waste your time here with me."
"Follow me to the field. We won't start formal lessons today. We'll have a little assessment instead."
On the field, Wu Changkong swept a cold gaze over the students before him.
"I need to understand each of your abilities. You'll fight in pairs, and you may use your full strength. With me here, none of you will get hurt." He pointed at two students in the crowd.
Jiang Mingyuan and a petite, cute-looking girl stepped forward together.
"Jiang Mingyuan, Li Chushui. You two will go first."
They took their positions. Looking a little shy, Li Chushui raised her hand and quietly greeted Jiang Mingyuan. He smiled back at her.
Wu Changkong said coldly from the sidelines, "I'll count down from three. Then release your martial souls and fight."
"Three, two, one, begin!"
A pair of cat ears sprouted from Li Chushui's head, and a white soul ring rose from beneath her feet. A cute little white cat also appeared on her shoulder. Sharp claws sprang from her fingertips. Crouching low like a feline on the hunt, she swiftly pounced at Jiang Mingyuan.
Jiang Mingyuan's Martial Soul Possession was far more spectacular. Golden-red flames enveloped his body, magnificent wings unfurled, and two yellow soul rings floated rhythmically around him. The Emerald Swan lay quietly on his shoulder as well.
Li Chushui was clearly a little frightened, but she had already reached him and could no longer retreat. Her claws shot out, aimed straight at Jiang Mingyuan's chest.
To her surprise, Jiang Mingyuan merely extended his left index finger and effortlessly blocked her attack.
Seeing her first strike fail, Li Chushui thrust out her other claw, but the golden flames around Jiang Mingyuan suddenly erupted, forcing her back. A closer look would have revealed a trace of blood-red mixed into those flames.
Li Chushui stuck out her tongue and gently licked the burned back of her hand. Those flames filled her with apprehension.
Naturally, Jiang Mingyuan would not foolishly wait for his opponent to attack. He raised his right hand, shaping it like a pistol.
"Pew!"
A tiny fireball condensed at his fingertip and flew toward Li Chushui. She narrowly dodged it, but the next fireball was already upon her.
Li Chushui picked up speed, running circles around Jiang Mingyuan.
Yet the fireballs seemed alive. Even when Jiang Mingyuan was not looking at Li Chushui, they still chased after her.
Seizing the right moment, Jiang Mingyuan raised his other hand. A wall of fire suddenly appeared in front of Li Chushui, and she nearly ran straight into it.
She was just about to go around it when Jiang Mingyuan's fingers danced nimbly through the air. The flames were like extensions of his body, moving however he wished.
The golden-red flames wove into a vast net that descended from above, trapping Li Chushui inside. No matter how her cat claws tore at it, she could not break the fiery net.
Left with no other choice, Li Chushui raised both hands.
"I surrender."
Jiang Mingyuan glanced at Wu Changkong, who gave a slight nod. At that, Jiang Mingyuan waved his hand and dispersed the fiery net.
Wu Changkong noticed that Jiang Mingyuan's soul rings had not lit up once throughout the entire match. In other words, he had fought purely through his own control of the fire element.
"Next pair, Tang Wulin and Li Yan."
Jiang Mingyuan quietly stepped back, giving Tang Wulin an encouraging look.
Li Yan's martial soul was the Azure Flame Snake, which could wield a special azure flame in combat. He was a poor matchup for plant-type soul masters, but Tang Wulin had no need to worry about that.
The moment the match began, a strand of Blue Silver Grass with golden markings emerged from Tang Wulin's palm, and he charged toward Li Yan. His first soul ring lit up, and poisonous fruit rapidly grew along the vine.
Li Yan showed no fear either. Azure scales grew over his body under Martial Soul Possession, and he charged straight at Tang Wulin.
What a joke. I'm a beast martial soul master. Could I possibly lose to a Blue Silver Grass soul master in a contest of physical strength?
Tang Wulin had not expected his opponent to be so arrogant. In his previous sparring matches with classmates, getting close had already meant more than half the battle was won. He had originally planned to use the poison in the fruit to numb his opponent's nerves and make escape difficult, then seize the opportunity to close in. Now, it seemed he would not even need his soul skill.
The gold-patterned Blue Silver Grass wound around his hand, forming a boxing glove, and Tang Wulin threw a punch. Li Yan was instantly sent flying backward.
Fortunately, there was an empty stretch of ground behind him with no one else in it. Otherwise, Tang Wulin would have hurt someone else by accident.
Wu Changkong was secretly astonished by the sight. Of these two boys, one had superb control over fire, while the other possessed formidable physical strength.
Both are promising seedlings.
Something stirred in Wu Changkong's heart. In Jiang Mingyuan and Tang Wulin, he saw futures without limits.
Li Yan climbed to his feet, his head swimming. Juice from the burst fruit covered his face. Its peculiar fragrance slowly seeped into his nose.
The Azure Flame Snake was a soul beast that did not rely on poison to hunt at all. As a result, its resistance to poison was far lower than that of other venomous snake soul beasts.
Li Yan staggered forward a few steps, but ultimately could not withstand the poison and collapsed unconscious.
The others, however, did not know that Tang Wulin's first soul skill involved poison. All they saw was Tang Wulin sending Li Yan flying with a single punch.
Watching from within the crowd, Yun Xiao could not help marveling, My roommate is a big shot.
Most of these Class Five students had soul power around level eleven or twelve, and their first soul spirits were all ten-year ones. Apart from the crushing victories of Jiang Mingyuan, Tang Wulin, and Xie Xie, the other matches were mostly weaklings pecking at one another like scrawny chickens.
There were even two support-type tool soul masters whose martial souls had no combat power whatsoever. They simply raised their fists and launched into wild, flailing punches, making the corner of Wu Changkong's mouth twitch.
After Tang Wulin finished Xie Xie off with two punches, the final showdown of the assessment arrived at last.
Jiang Mingyuan versus Tang Wulin.
Once the two stood ten meters apart, Wu Changkong raised his arm high.
"Three, two, one, begin!" His arm swept sharply downward.
Jiang Mingyuan shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
My strength is no match for Tang Wulin's, but his agility is nowhere near mine.
His flame-wreathed fist was already less than half a meter from Tang Wulin's body.
Tang Wulin swung his blade to intercept him. Jiang Mingyuan's wings gave a powerful beat, and, defying inertia, he abruptly shot off the ground and rose smoothly into the sky.
Fireballs appeared behind Jiang Mingyuan, forming a circle. With a point of his finger, they lined up and hurtled toward Tang Wulin's position. Whenever one fireball departed, a new one took its place.
When an opponent could not reach you, and your total soul power exceeded theirs, Prince Tactics was the best means of attack.