Pole Vault

"Who else!"

After Ji Xueyi was defeated, Gu Xingyue stood on the arena platform and shouted.

His voice was not loud, yet like a stone cast into a tranquil lake, it rippled clearly into the ears of everyone around him.

With his back to the crowd, he struck an expert's hands-behind-the-back pose, pulling off a massive flex without seeming to try.

Watching Gu Xingyue stand on the platform with his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering gently in the breeze and a touch of the sharp spirit unique to youth about him, not a single person below stepped forward.

Jin Hongchen glanced at the students behind him, then sank into thought.

The students they had brought this time really were here for an exchange, not to put Shrek Academy in its place.

Naturally, there were no particularly combative students who excelled at head-on combat.

Of course, Ji Xueyi was an exception. After all, not everyone was a peerless martial fanatic like her, with emotional intelligence comparable to a full-grown banana.

There was no telling when she might suddenly jump out halfway along the road and say, "I want to cross swords with you and settle who's better!"

Because of this flaw, few people at the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineering Academy liked her, even though she ranked highly in looks.

After all, who knew whether marrying her would mean suffering domestic violence? Probably only a masochist would fall for her.

In short, they were scientists. Plenty of them excelled at researching soul tools, but they were no good at fighting.

After all, you couldn't expect a scientist to take on a tank head-on, could you?

They were not that great emperor who roamed the multiverse and shattered a droplet with a single hammer blow.

So fighting and all that could stay far away from them!

Just as Jin Hongchen was about to say, "Let's leave it here"-

"Hmph, let me go up there and take him down a peg!"

A student from the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineering Academy stood up, then ran toward the platform.

He was burly and steady on his feet, each step landing so heavily that he seemed intent on stomping a hole in the platform.

He looked straight at Gu Xingyue, then said, "I'm not like that control-type Ji Xueyi from earlier, who didn't even use soul tools!"

Then his tone shifted, and a trace of cunning flashed through his eyes. "Times have changed. How can you become a grandmaster if you have a gun and don't use it?"

"Remember my name. I'm Tang Gang. Martial soul: Lone Bamboo King! Rank forty-seven Soul Ancestor! Please show me what you've got!"

"Take this!"

Watching the student come up and start fighting without the slightest hesitation, Gu Xingyue felt an inexplicable urge to laugh.

The corners of his lips rose slightly, but he forced them back down.

"What are you laughing at!"

"Don't underestimate me! Take my soul skill!"

"First soul skill-Pole Vault!"

Hearing that name, Gu Xingyue had absolutely no desire to laugh. He could keep a straight face for another twenty thousand years!

Only the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

Under Gu Xingyue's gaze, Tang Gang took out a bamboo pole, then vaulted more than ten meters into the air!

The bamboo pole seemed to come alive in his hands, bending into an astonishing arc before snapping straight and flinging his body skyward.

Then he took out soul tools and fired countless soul rays, including paralysis rays and rays that dealt direct damage. Lasers filled the sky, raining down like a torrential storm.

A scorched smell filled the air, and the beams interwove into an impenetrable net.

Looking at this sight, Gu Xingyue could not help marveling that Pole Vault really was far too overpowered a soul skill!

Then he directly formed a fist from the Power of Thunder and struck straight at him with an elbow!

Time to bring you crashing down, kid!

Gu Xingyue unleashed eighteen consecutive elbow strikes in one second. His speed was simply too fast!

Each elbow strike brought a piercing whistle through the air, and the Power of Thunder exploded in midair, forming a string of afterimages.

Seeing this, Tang Gang used his martial soul again. "Second Soul Skill—Pole Vault—Triple Jump!"

After activating his soul skill, Tang Gang leaped into the air once more, stepping on the air to execute a perfect pole vault!

His figure traced a bizarre arc through the air, seemingly ignoring gravity's restraints.

"Unless you can fly, don't even..." Before Tang Gang could finish!

He saw Gu Xingyue standing before him, hoisted aloft by countless bolts of lightning.

Lightning gathered into stairs beneath his feet, and he climbed them step by step, like a thunder god descending into the world.

Then Tang Gang suddenly revealed a smile, as though saying, Seriously?

And Gu Xingyue said, "Drop."

With that, the enormous fist formed from the Power of Thunder automatically struck straight at him with an elbow.

Tang Gang actually had an automatically triggered defensive soul tool on him. A pale blue barrier lit up instantly, allowing him to hold out against Gu Xingyue for a few more seconds.

Ripples spread across the barrier as it buzzed under the unbearable strain, but in the end, he still regrettably crashed! Boom-!

Tang Gang's body fell straight down from more than ten meters up like a kite with its string cut, slamming heavily into the platform.

Spiderweb cracks spread outward through the hard stone slabs around him, kicking up a cloud of dust.

When the dust cleared, Tang Gang lay sprawled at the bottom of the crater, the bamboo pole in his hand seemingly on the verge of breaking into several pieces.

The light of the defensive soul tool on his body had dimmed, and it was clearly completely ruined.

He stared blankly at the sky, a trace of fresh blood still clinging to the corner of his mouth, as though his soul had been sucked out.

"...You've got to be kidding. Aren't soul tools invincible? How did I get trampled to death like Bluesilver Grass by the roadside?" he muttered, his voice so faint it was almost inaudible.

Gu Xingyue slowly landed, the Power of Thunder beneath his feet dissipating. His robes remained as immaculate as new, as though that fierce battle had been nothing more than an insignificant warm-up.

He looked down at Tang Gang at the bottom of the crater, the corners of his lips rising slightly. "Do you want to keep fighting? You're weak, but your soul skills are interesting. I suppose I can just about remember you for ten seconds."

Tang Gang raised his hand with difficulty and waved it. "N-no... Grandmaster... You're the true grandmaster... aah! I concede defeat!"

Dead silence filled the area below the platform.

The students of the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineering Academy exchanged glances, their eyes full of disbelief.

A rank forty-seven Soul Ancestor, equipped with soul tools and that bizarre Pole Vault soul skill, had failed to even touch the hem of Gu Xingyue's robes?

Just what kind of monster was this student from Shrek Academy?

The students behind Jin Hongchen had already begun whispering.

"Heh, as expected of a Shrek student. A mere Soul Ancestor brat like Tang Gang actually dared challenge a mighty Soul Elder. He really must have had too much to drink..."

"You're absolutely right!"

"But is that guy really a Soul Elder? Could he be a Titled Douluo in disguise?"

"There's a limit even to spouting nonsense. Have you ever been a soul master? You're just standing here talking rubbish..."

"I think... I probably have been a soul master?"

Jin Hongchen took a deep breath, preparing to speak again and bring this exchange to an end.

"Your academy's students have truly opened my eyes, Dean Yan."