"Boy, I'll put a little more strength into it."
Before his words had faded, the Seventh Elder flicked his wrist. His black spear rolled like an ink-black dragon, its momentum abruptly growing sharper. The spearhead tore through the air with an explosive roar like wind and thunder that made your eardrums ache.
You dared not be careless. The Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear pointed diagonally at the ground, its tip trembling like a spirit snake flicking its tongue. You reined in all your aura and waited in concentration.
The Seventh Elder stepped forward, shattering the bluestone beneath his foot. Before the gravel could scatter, Shatter Army had already come hurtling through the wind, the spear thrusting like a rainbow straight at your centerline.
You lowered your shoulders and elbows, bringing your spear across to block it head-on.
The instant the two spears collided-
Clang!
The explosive ringing of metal set your ears buzzing. A heavy, ferocious force slammed along the shaft into your chest, instantly churning your blood.
You retreated five steps in succession, your boot soles plowing two shallow furrows in the bluestone. The webbing of your hand split, and a thread of blood wound its way down the shaft.
You clenched your teeth and ground your foot down, forcibly steadying yourself.
"Good strength!" A sharp gleam flashed in the Seventh Elder's eyes, and his spear's momentum abruptly changed again.
The black spear suddenly swept out, its shadows pouring down like a torrential rain. Every thrust precisely targeted your spear-wielding wrist, sealing off every retreat, plainly intent on forcing you to let go of your weapon.
You maneuvered with the Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear, no longer meeting him head-on, instead following his incoming thrusts to deflect and dissipate their force.
The shaft bent like a fully drawn bow, dispersing that fierce force layer by layer before springing back with its resilience, the tip stabbing at a tricky angle beneath his ribs.
The Seventh Elder swept his spear across, knocking your spearhead aside. His arm trembled slightly as he neutralized the rebounding force.
"Excellent resilience, too!"
You pressed your advantage, turning back with a thrust.
You had blended the ferocity of the Soul Breaking Spear Technique with the unending vitality of Blue Silver Grass. As you unleashed Returning Horse Spear, the weapon bent strangely partway through its thrust, slipping around the Seventh Elder's guard to strike at his shoulder.
"Oh?" The Seventh Elder turned sideways to evade it, surprise showing on his face. "Overcoming strength with softness? Blue Silver Grass can actually achieve this?"
His spear shifted. Rather than overpowering you with strength, he matched spear against spear, exchanging techniques with you.
You understood his intent and unleashed, one by one, the moves of the Soul Breaking Spear Technique you had observed and comprehended over the past several days.
At first, your spearwork remained bound by outward form, every move bearing traces of imitation.
But the Seventh Elder's pressure followed you like a shadow, allowing you not the slightest hesitation.
You could only test, break down, and reassemble the moves repeatedly as you fought.
Dozens of exchanges later, the spear techniques you had learned through observation seemed to have been carved into your very bones and blood. Your thrusts grew increasingly fluid and natural as you found your stride.
Each advance the Seventh Elder made instead became a whetstone for sharpening your spear.
Your moves flowed into one another, growing smoother as you fought. Your spearwork gradually became seamless, faintly taking on the bearing of a style all its own.
Watching this, the Seventh Elder's expression grew increasingly grave, and he unconsciously added more strength to his attacks.
He flicked his wrist and swept his spear across. A force that could topple mountains and overturn seas rushed at you, intent on forcing you straight to your limits.
With nowhere to dodge, you could only raise your spear vertically to block.
The two spears collided with a metallic clang.
Your arms felt as though lightning had struck them. You retreated several steps, digging your heels hard into the bluestone before barely managing to steady yourself.
Soul Power stirred faintly around you, and vitality quietly rippled out from your Martial Soul Origin.
Self-Created Soul Skill-All Things Revive.
Warm life force surged through your meridians into both arms. The split in the webbing of your hand healed at a visible speed, and your aching, numb arms regained some strength.
"A self-created healing Soul Skill?" A flicker of surprise crossed the Seventh Elder's eyes, but he did not interrupt.
You drew a deep breath, tightened your grip on the Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear, and said in a low voice, "Again!"
This time, you no longer defended passively. Your spear shifted, and you took the offensive.
The Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear became a streak of blue-gold light shooting straight toward the Seventh Elder's chest. The thrust was swift and fierce, its tip tearing a faint ripple through the air in its wake.
A sharp gleam flashed in the Seventh Elder's eyes, and he spun his spear across to block.
Clang-
With a crisp ring, the two spears slammed together.
The Seventh Elder's arm trembled, and he involuntarily retreated half a step.
His brow rose, surprise flickering in his eyes-he had not expected your offensive thrust to be so much more powerful than before.
"Such courage!" the Seventh Elder barked.
The next instant, his spear attacks abruptly grew several times sharper. His spearwork no longer adhered to set forms. Every thrust seemed casually delivered, yet each went straight for a vital point, the attacks flowing unbroken like a mountain flood pouring down, like a gale sweeping the earth.
You did not clash with him head-on, instead overcoming strength with softness and turning his force against him. In your hands, the Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear lifted and deflected, dispersing all the Seventh Elder's fierce power before its shaft sprang back, each thrust faster and stronger than the last.
With every thrust, your spearhead moved without a sound, all its force locked into a single point without the slightest leakage. Only at the instant it touched the Seventh Elder's shaft did the accumulated power erupt like a mountain flood, exploding on contact.
After each strike, force piled upon force. Before the previous wave was spent, the next had arrived, surging like waves and racing like tides, endlessly renewing itself.
The longer the Seventh Elder fought, the more astonished he became.
He had clearly suppressed your spear's momentum, yet you always managed to produce fresh strength from what seemed a hopeless position, turning defense into offense.
That unbroken reserve of power was like an invisible net, entangling his spear's momentum layer by layer and drawing ever tighter.
Yet the Seventh Elder was, after all, a Soul Saint.
Decades of experience and instinct steeped in the spear allowed him to seal off your paths with precision on every thrust, even without using Soul Power.
Your "ten thousand forces united as one, with endless power to follow" was certainly ingenious, but it could never break through his seemingly simple yet watertight curtain of spear strikes.
Your spears flashed back and forth as you fought across the training ground.
The Seventh Elder's spear remained as heavy as a mountain, every blow churning your blood and leaving your arms aching and numb.
But you were no longer as helpless as you had been at the start.
You were like a blade of grass repeatedly bent beneath a gale, always straightening again once the wind had passed.
Your spearwork grew increasingly sublime, its momentum increasingly seamless. Every thrust came more freely, as though the spear were slowly merging into your flesh and blood.
At one moment, you pushed off the bluestone with your toes and shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow.
The Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear trailed an azure arc beside you. Its trembling tip split into three afterimages halfway through the thrust, striking respectively at the Seventh Elder's throat, heart, and lower abdomen.
At the sight, the Seventh Elder's pupils contracted slightly.
This was Three Stars Chasing the Moon, a spear technique he had created ten years earlier. Its movements were intricate and exquisite, and he had taught it to only a handful of people in the clan. To this day, not one had mastered it.
In the hundred-odd exchanges he had just fought with you, he had used it only three times. He had never expected you to successfully steal his technique on the spot...
With no time to think further, he held his black spear across his body and shook his wrist, turning the shaft into a black iron wall.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The three crisp rings came almost as one.
He deflected all three of your spear shadows, but the instant the third thrust struck his shaft, you twisted your wrist. Borrowing the recoil, the Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear abruptly bent, its tip rearing like a venomous snake to curve around the black spear's defense and strike straight at the Seventh Elder's spear-wielding wrist.
The Seventh Elder flicked his shaft, knocking the tip aside.
You continued with the momentum, sweeping your spear across toward his chest.
The Seventh Elder leaned back and abruptly withdrew to dissipate the force. His spear turned half a circle in his palm, and he smashed its butt hard against your shaft with a reverse strike.
The two spears collided-
Clang!
The ringing of metal exploded once more.
You retreated five steps in succession.
The Seventh Elder was also driven back three steps, his spear-wielding hand slightly numb. When he looked down, a slit had been cut into his robe beneath his ribs, exposing the flesh underneath.
At the edge of the training ground, not even a crow or sparrow could be heard.
The clan disciples standing there exchanged looks, their faces filled with disbelief.
They had never expected you to wield the Soul Breaking Spear Technique with such proficiency, much less steal the Seventh Elder's Self-Created Soul Skill in the midst of battle and even force him back.
The Seventh Elder lowered his head to examine the slit beneath his ribs. When he looked up again, the way he regarded you had utterly changed-
A monstrous talent like this... must not be allowed to live!
Vast Soul Power erupted from his body. Seven Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet-two yellow, two purple, and three black.
The pressure of a Soul Saint descended like toppling mountains, forcing the disciples at the edge of the training ground to retreat repeatedly.
He stepped forward. Purple light blazed from his black spear, and his fourth Soul Ring lit up.
Fourth Soul Skill-Shatter.
Before the spearhead reached you, an incomparably sharp killing intent had already locked onto the point between your brows. The air seemed to have been pierced through, and the surrounding temperature abruptly dropped.
You had anticipated this. Driving the Zhou Tian Star Dou Art at full power, you sent Soul Power rushing through your meridians. Beneath your feet, six Soul Rings rose-yellow, purple, purple, black, black, and black.
The six lights shone upon one another, circulating endlessly around you.
Daring not be careless, you lowered your wrists and gripped the Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear tightly, holding it across your body as your fifth Soul Ring suddenly lit up.
Fifth Soul Skill-Blue Silver Overlord Spear.
The life energy of the surrounding Blue Silver Grass flowed like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, drawn toward you and layered upon the spear.
A golden-red sheen spread across the blue-gold shaft, a dragon's shadow flickering into view as its hardness and resilience instantly climbed to their limits.
The two spears collided once more-
Boom!
This time, it was not the clear ringing of metal, but a deep, muffled explosion.
A visible ring of impact erupted from where the two spears met. The training ground's bluestone paving cracked inch by inch, and several chunks of stone were hurled into the air.
You felt a force that could topple mountains and overturn seas surge toward you. The Blue Silver Dragon-Devouring Spear nearly flew from your grasp as you were sent flying backward, retreating more than ten steps.
Your spearhead plowed through the ground, carving a long, deep furrow.
The Seventh Elder also retreated five steps, cracks spreading through the bluestone beneath his feet.
His spear-wielding hand trembled slightly, his face pale. The composure in his eyes as he looked at you had long since vanished.
"A Six-Ring Soul Emperor... a ten-thousand-year fourth ring?!"