Spirit Hall Academy.
Nearly five minutes had passed, yet the battle on the arena platform had still not begun.
This made most of the students who had originally had confidence in Lin Qian begin to feel their hearts drum with unease.
"Is this guy going to fight or not?"
"Exactly! Don't tell me he's chickened out!"
Murmurs rose one after another, making Yan even more pleased with himself. Victory seemed within reach, and he would soon win his goddess's heart.
"Come on!"
Lin Qian finally moved, but not to attack.
Yan looked utterly baffled. "Where are your Martial Soul and Soul Rings?"
Lin Qian shook his head with a smile.
"What's that supposed to mean? You won't even summon your Martial Soul? Are you toying with me?"
"It means... you're not worthy of making me summon my Martial Soul."
One stone stirred a thousand waves, and the chatter below the platform grew louder.
As a member of the Golden Generation, when had Yan ever suffered such humiliation?
Throwing caution to the wind, he swung his fist at Lin Qian. Since his opponent had not summoned his Martial Soul, winning with a Soul Skill would hardly be honorable and would embarrass him in front of Nana.
Just as the fist was about to reach his face, Lin Qian finally moved.
He slipped lightly out of its path at an uncanny angle, silently appeared behind Yan, and kicked!
Crash!
Carried by his momentum, Yan failed to stop himself and tumbled head over heels, nearly rolling off the platform.
The sight of his sorry state instantly filled the air below the platform with merriment.
Yan finally understood. Lin Qian had never intended to take him seriously and was merely making a fool of him. He was simple-minded to begin with, and this provocation only stoked the flames of his rage.
His yellow first Soul Ring lit up. "First Soul Skill: Hell Lava Charge!"
The flame lord was an ancient beast Martial Soul with both fire and earth attributes. Blazing flames roared, instantly setting the entire ground alight. An ordinary person would inevitably have been scorched.
Let's see you refuse to use your Martial Soul now!
With a wicked grin, Yan charged straight ahead.
Lin Qian shifted once-truly, just once-and easily dodged Yan's charge, giving him another kick at the other end for good measure.
The same mistake all over again.
"Second Soul Skill: Granite Rock!"
Humiliation turned to fury as Yan climbed off the ground. His second yellow Soul Ring shone, and his body immediately swelled to over three meters, his muscles as hard as granite.
His mountainlike body was solid and heavy, bearing down on Lin Qian with the crushing might of Mount Tai. He had learned his lesson this time. Armed to the teeth, he would see how his opponent could break through his defenses!
Cultivators also needed strong bodies. Lin Qian never neglected his daily exercise and knew the secrets of fitness circles well. He understood that these musclemen might look imposing, but they were strong on the outside and hollow within-nothing but paper tigers that would tear at a poke.
This time, he did not dodge. He too raised his fist and struck head-on.
Bang!
Their fists collided, and the fist that should have been weaker miraculously held firm. Yan's three-meter body staggered backward, nearly falling off the platform again.
"That's impossible!"
He could not hide the shock on his face.
"I already blocked it. What's impossible about that?"
Lin Qian flexed his wrist, his expression as calm as ever.
After fighting for so long, to borrow the language of martial arts novels, Yan had already exhausted his moves, yet he had not even forced his opponent to summon his Martial Soul, much less touched the hem of his clothes.
How humiliating!
"I still have one Soul Skill left. If you're a man, show your strength and face it!"
Having been chosen for the Golden Generation, Yan was not a complete fool, after all. He knew his defeat was certain. Even so, before admitting defeat and leaving the platform, he still wanted to force out his opponent's Martial Soul. Even if it appeared for only a second, he would not look quite so pathetic.
"Go ahead."
Lin Qian remained unruffled, neither summoning his Martial Soul nor emitting any fluctuations of Soul Power.
Boy, this is my thousand-year Soul Skill. Keep playing the mysterious act, and you might die on this platform. You'll have no one to blame but yourself!
A dark look flashed through Yan's eyes, and his purple third Soul Ring lit up.
"Third Soul Skill: Hell Lie Yan!"
Compared with the first two, this thousand-year Soul Skill was indeed astonishingly powerful. During the previous arena matches, quite a few people had fallen to this move.
Purple light blazed, and scorching flames swept outward, engulfing Lin Qian in an instant.
"Ah!"
Many of Lin Qian's fans who admired his looks cried out in alarm, worried for his safety.
Hu Liena was no different. Even knowing that he could take down Soul Saints with a single punch each, some inexplicable feeling still left her terribly anxious.
"Please be all right... this Yan really has no sense of restraint!"
Concern threw her thoughts into disarray, and she blamed her teammate again.
Xie Yue gave her an odd look, then glanced at Lin Qian on the platform, as though he had spotted something telling.
On the platform.
The flames continued burning. They were fellow students, after all, and Yan was afraid something might happen, so he cut off his Soul Power himself.
Something extraordinary happened.
Everyone saw that wherever the flames had burned, the ground was scorched black. Yet at the center, where the burning was most pronounced-or, more precisely, the person standing there-not a hair had been harmed.
Lin Qian's stance had not changed, and not a speck of dust marred him, as though the attack had never happened.
"You just said that if I was a man, I should face you with my true strength? Fine... I'll grant your wish!"
As his words fell, electric currents surged out of thin air, instantly filling his entire right arm.
"What terrifying power!"
As captain of the Golden Generation, Xie Yue was the first to recognize what was happening and felt deeply worried about the fate awaiting his teammate.
Facing it himself, Yan knew better than anyone how much energy that punch contained. He took his stance and braced himself.
But a gap was a gap. Even though he took it seriously enough, he remained powerless.
Lin Qian's figure vanished eerily, and when he reappeared, he was already in front of Yan.
Driving power through his waist, he raised his right arm and slammed his lightning-wreathed fist into Yan's stomach, knocking him off the platform.
With that punch, Lin Qian had held back an ocean's worth.
Even so, Yan's defenses shattered instantly. His three-meter body gradually shrank back to normal. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and passed out facedown on the ground.
Only after watching the physician drag Yan away like a dead dog did Lin Qian turn to face the crowd, his Soul Rings lighting up.
"I am Lin Qian, His Holiness the Pope's second personal disciple and the Saint Son of Spirit Hall. I sincerely apologize for taking up everyone's time. I hope we can support one another in the days ahead and bring new glory to the academy. Long live Spirit Hall!"
The battle just now had already filled everyone with awe, and the appearance of three pitch-black Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings sent the entire crowd into an even greater frenzy.
"His first three Soul Rings are all ten-thousand-year rings!"
"Am I seeing things?"
"He's incredible!"
Voices buzzed below the platform. No matter how the teachers tried to maintain order, their efforts proved futile. At the very end, someone shouted, and everyone joined in-
"Long live Spirit Hall!"
The cries shook heaven and earth, gradually spreading outward from the arena. Students elsewhere heard them and joined in as well.
One told ten, and ten told a hundred. Soon, it alerted the high-ranking figures far away in Spirit City, including those in the Papal Palace and even the Worship Hall at the very pinnacle.
To learn what had happened here, numerous powerful divine senses converged, sweeping and searching over the grounds.
And from this day onward, with the arena matches concluded, Lin Qian shone brilliantly, and his name spread far and wide.
From Heaven Dou in the north to the Star Luo Empire in the south, across the entire continent, there was no one who did not know him, no one who had not heard his name.