Bang, bang, bang...
As the sounds of collision rang out one after another, bear paw marks appeared on the back of his hand.
Yan instinctively sensed a bone-piercing chill rising from the soles of his feet, climbing his spine all the way to the back of his head.
His eyes stayed fixed on the marks on the back of Tang Mo's hand. He kept feeling that these bear paw marks concealed quite a secret.
"First Soul Skill: Hell Magma Rush!"
Seeing his offensive dismantled, he roared in anger, and the first yellow Soul Ring on his body flashed.
The Flame Lord floating behind him abruptly raised both hands high and fired fist-sized blobs of magma at Tang Mo.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Before one wave subsided, another rose. Tang Mo was not the slightest bit surprised; he simply darted aside, evading the incoming magma.
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
The instant the magma landed, it burned small magma pits straight into the floor tiles. At the same time, copious white smoke billowed wildly from the pits, accompanied by bursts of piercing, corrosive hissing.
At the sight, Li Songnian's brow twitched slightly. Repairing this would cost quite a bit.
The instant his first Soul Skill ended, Yan unleashed his second Soul Skill, and rock encased his arms once more.
Unable to pinpoint Tang Mo's position, Yan could only stand where he was and wait for Tang Mo to approach.
Though he had little combat experience, he knew that the more dire the situation, the less he could afford to throw his own ranks into disarray. If he panicked and lost his discipline, Tang Mo would finish him in a single blow.
So he took a deep breath and stood still, quietly waiting for Tang Mo to approach. He held his left arm across his body as Soul Power rapidly gathered in his fist, ready to unleash his strongest strike.
"What is this?" Just as he stood fully on guard, an illusory bear paw abruptly appeared before him. Feeling the gale rushing toward his face, he could not help murmuring to himself.
Boom!
Despair spread through his heart, but he did not sit waiting for death. Instead, he raised his left fist and unleashed his charged strike.
Even though he had a premonition that his all-out strike would not amount to a fart before the bear paw, he still swung his fist, overestimating his strength.
Crack, crack... whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... bang, bang, bang!
The instant the illusory bear paw collided with Yan's arm, the rock encasing it cracked inch by inch, shattering into countless fragments that sprayed in every direction.
The fragments shot outward, piercing a large stretch of floor tiles around Yan.
As the rock shattered, Yan's arm began to twist under the immense force. Feeling that his arm was about to be wrenched apart, panic surfaced on his face, and he stopped trying to resist that force head-on.
Soon, his body swayed, and he flew backward uncontrollably, slamming heavily into the ground.
The illusory bear paw smashed into the ground nearby without losing momentum. After punching through the floor tiles, it left a paw print a full inch deep in the compacted earth beneath.
The method of laying floor tiles on the Douluo Continent was no different from that used in ancient times: the earth was first rammed flat and firm, then the tiles were laid.
However, the process of compacting earth on the Douluo Continent undoubtedly involved Soul Power, or rather, the power of Martial Souls. As a result, the rammed-earth layer was sturdier. At the very least, ordinary farming tools such as hoes could forget about leaving a mark on it.
"Pfft! My hand! My hand..."
Clutching his arm, Yan curled up like a large shrimp in agony, his face flushed red. His body rubbed slightly against the ground as he tried to ease the pain in his arm.
His gaze inadvertently swept over the paw print beneath the floor tiles. His heart jolted, and an indescribable terror spread through it.
He certainly did not think his body was sturdier than the rammed-earth layer. It was easy to imagine that if the bear paw had landed directly on him, he probably would not have had even the tiniest chance of surviving.
"I surrender!" After howling those words in agony, Yan turned to Li Songnian. "Teacher Li, save me!"
Under the twin torments of excruciating physical pain and inner anguish, he no longer had the slightest desire to challenge Tang Mo. All he wanted now was to get Li Songnian to save his arm.
Seeing this, Tang Mo walked over to Yan and reached out to examine him. Afterward, a speechless expression could not help appearing on his face.
Anyone standing there, merely looking at Yan's agonized expression and unnaturally twisted arm, would have gotten the impression that the bones in his arm had shattered into countless fragments and would require some monumental assembly job to treat.
But with just a hands-on examination, Tang Mo could confirm that Yan merely had a fracture. Once the bone was set and he rested for a few days, he would be fine.
"It hasn't split or shattered. It's just a simple fracture. Stop howling." As Tang Mo spoke, he reached out and held Yan's arm down.
Crack, crack, crack...
Under Yan's utterly terrified gaze, Tang Mo exerted a little force with his palm. Accompanied by a series of grinding sounds from the bones, he set Yan's bones back into place.
"Huh?"
Yan, who had still been wailing, suddenly stopped howling and even forgot to berate Tang Mo for acting without his permission.
Severe pain still gripped his arm, but it was no longer as unbearable as before.
"Huh? It doesn't hurt as much?" Yan tentatively moved his arm, his voice full of confusion.
Under Tang Mo's method of following a club with a sweet date, Yan was thoroughly won over. Though he had a terrible temper and was very stubborn, once someone like him was brought to heel, barring anything unexpected, he would remain convinced.
"Boss! From now on, you're my boss!" Yan immediately declared his loyalty to Tang Mo.
A trace of awkwardness flickered across Li Songnian's face. At some point, he had appeared beside Yan.
After all, he had used only violence to subdue a troublemaker like Yan. It had never occurred to him that he could bestow a favor through healing and thereby win the other person's wholehearted submission.
He had never expected that Tang Mo, on his very first day of class, would not only beat him in their psychological contest but now also win Yan over through a combination of kindness and intimidation.
With Hu Liena, who seemed to have long since been won over by Tang Mo, added to the tally, Xie Yue was suddenly the only one of his three students Tang Mo had yet to win over.
However, Hu Liena and Xie Yue's relationship was plain to see, and Hu Liena was the one who called the shots between the siblings. It could be said that the students he had put considerable thought into winning over had been successfully won over by Tang Mo after meeting him just once. This made him look very incompetent.
"Sixth Soul Skill: Sinew and Bone Revival."
Li Songnian suppressed his displeasure. The Healing Jewel appeared in his hand, and seven Soul Rings-two yellow, two purple, and three black-blossomed beneath his feet.
As the sixth Soul Ring flashed, a beam of black light burst from the Healing Jewel and enveloped Yan.
After the black light had covered Yan for a while, color returned to his face at a speed visible to the naked eye. Clearly, Li Songnian had completely healed the injury to his arm.
Although Li Songnian's healing ability appeared powerful, what he had used was his sixth Soul Skill, an ability granted by a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.
Yet his sixth Soul Skill's healing effect on Yan was extremely limited. Its slow recovery speed aside, judging by its name, his Soul Skill should only be able to heal injuries to sinews and bones, rather than provide comprehensive treatment for Yan.
These were the limitations of Martial Souls. Martial Souls and their attached Soul Skills always had all sorts of restrictions; it was merely that the higher the quality of the Martial Soul and the older the Soul Ring, the fewer restrictions they had.
Before you continue