Lu Chen's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly nodded. "All right, Teacher. I'll remember!"
"All right." Wu Zhangkong clapped his hands and looked over at Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xie Xie, who had been watching with great interest. He called out clearly, "Get ready, all of you. Come at me together."
Watching the three youngsters in the training area rubbing their fists and flexing their palms, Wu Zhangkong nodded inwardly.
The reason he had specifically offered Lu Chen pointers on using a sword was not merely the boy's crisp swordsmanship. More importantly, he had sensed a trace of sword intent in the moves performed with that alchemical sword.
That was something exceedingly rare. Across all of Eastsea Academy, even among Soul Masters whose Martial Souls were swords, those who could condense sword intent were as scarce as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
This boy really was a promising seedling.
"All right, go rest on the side and recover your Soul Power." Wu Zhangkong waved Lu Chen aside, his tone calm, then looked up at Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue. His voice was quiet, yet carried unquestionable authority. "You three are up. Come at me together."
Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue exchanged glances and swiftly launched a coordinated attack with tacit understanding.
Xie Xie's figure flashed, his Light Dragon Dagger gleaming coldly as it thrust straight at Wu Zhangkong's lower body.
Gu Yue controlled the wind element to sweep up gravel and hurl it toward Wu Zhangkong's line of sight, while Tang Wulin seized the chance to send his Blue Silver Grass bursting out of the ground, trying to bind Wu Zhangkong's ankles.
Unfortunately, such an offensive was nowhere near enough in Wu Zhangkong's eyes.
With a wooden sword in hand, he evaded every attack with light shifts of his feet. A gentle flick of his wrist knocked Xie Xie's Light Dragon Dagger aside.
Then he stamped the ground with his toes, scattering the gravel with the shock, and severed the Blue Silver Grass in two with a casual sweep.
If Lu Chen's earlier exchange with Wu Zhangkong had been an evenly matched clash of technique that set the spectators' blood boiling, then these three facing Wu Zhangkong now were suffering an utterly one-sided crushing.
Within just a few breaths, the three were scrambling, unable to mount even a decent counterattack.
After the fight, Wu Zhangkong's gaze suddenly settled on Tang Wulin.
This boy was considerably stronger than his peers, unleashing astonishing brute force with every clash.
A thought struck him, and he beckoned to Tang Wulin. "Come here. See if you can pull me."
Tang Wulin froze for a moment, then clenched his fists and stepped forward. Gripping Wu Zhangkong's arm tightly with both hands, he mustered every ounce of strength and pulled backward.
His face flushed crimson, veins bulged on his forehead, and his feet dug shallow pits into the ground. Yet Wu Zhangkong stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.
Wu Zhangkong raised his eyebrows, turned toward Lu Chen, who was meditating cross-legged nearby, and called, "Lu Chen, you come here too."
Lu Chen rose at his call and hurried over. Standing on opposite sides, he and Tang Wulin each gripped one of Wu Zhangkong's arms.
"Use all your strength," Wu Zhangkong instructed.
Lu Chen first exchanged a glance with Tang Wulin, taking in the face that was still flushed from his earlier exertion.
He immediately stopped holding back, pouring out his Soul Power without reserve as he gripped Wu Zhangkong's arm tightly and pulled backward.
Lu Chen's face also flushed crimson, and his bloodline power faintly surged.
Feeling a powerful force pulling at him, Wu Zhangkong stopped holding back. The Soul Power throughout his body instantly surged to its limit, firmly bracing him.
The stalemate lasted a full dozen seconds or more before, under Lu Chen's full-force pulling, his foot finally shifted a step forward.
"That's enough." Wu Zhangkong released his hands, a trace of satisfaction flashing in his eyes as he watched the two panting boys.
"You two are excused from the physical training coming up. Rather than waste time on that, put more effort into cultivating your Soul Power," Wu Zhangkong said, pointing at Tang Wulin before looking at Lu Chen.
After all, given their foundations, physical training no longer held much meaning for them.
Especially Lu Chen. The quality of his Martial Soul was clearly absurdly high, yet his Soul Power level could not keep up. To Wu Zhangkong, that truly was something of a pity.
The next day, Lu Chen and Tang Wulin indeed did not have to join the others for physical training. The two simply sat beneath the willow beside the field and focused on cultivating.
Before long, Lu Chen keenly noticed two streams of energy flowing toward him without end.
One came from Tang Wulin beside him, while the other came from Gu Yue, who was cultivating a short distance away.
As these two streams of energy entered his body, his bloodline instantly devoured and absorbed them.
He could also clearly feel that the energy he absorbed from Tang Wulin was far greater than what came from Gu Yue.
After all, Tang Wulin's golden dragon king bloodline was far too overbearing, and he could not yet fully control it. The power leaking out naturally became Lu Chen's "nourishment."
Gu Yue, however, was different. She had extremely strong control over her silver dragon king bloodline. Very little energy leaked out, but it made up for that with its incomparable purity.
As the energy continued pouring in, Lu Chen could clearly feel the Soul Power within him growing rapidly.
What surprised and delighted him even more was that his bloodline progress bar was also slowly climbing, shooting straight from 13.4 percent to 14 percent!
Clearly, his bloodline power had broken through!
The moment the bloodline progress bar settled firmly at 14 percent, Lu Chen felt his whole body jolt violently. A scalding current erupted from his heart and instantly swept through every limb and bone.
For the first time, the phantom of Nidhogg, previously hidden deep within his bloodline, appeared so clearly in his sea of consciousness.
Pitch-black dragon scales gleamed with a cold luster, and enormous dragon wings blotted out the sky and sun. The instant those scarlet slit pupils opened, an utterly overbearing draconic might spread uncontrollably outward, making even the branches and leaves of the nearby willow rustle.
What surprised and delighted him even more was that the circulation speed of the Soul Power within his body abruptly almost doubled!
Energy that had once required an hour to refine could now be fully integrated into his meridians in no more than an incense stick's worth of time.
He instinctively activated his bloodline power, and wisps of pitch-black mist immediately curled around his fingertips. The mist carried an extremely powerful devouring force, even faintly drawing in the free-floating Soul Power around him and making it burrow into his body of its own accord.
Moreover, the occasional sluggishness he had previously felt when using Word Spirits had vanished without a trace.
With a thought, he silently activated Word Spirit: Earth Vein Resonance. The earth's rhythms were exceptionally distinct in his mind, clearer than before.
Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes, a trace of barely concealed excitement flashing through them.
Fourteen percent bloodline power had actually brought such an enormous improvement!
At this rate, unlocking Word Spirit: Time Zero and Kshana probably was not far off!
From then on, Lu Chen could distinctly feel his bloodline power improving steadily every day, though he never again experienced that exhilarating sensation of ascending to heaven in a single step as he had on the first day-after all, that explosive increase of 0.6 percent had purely been the pleasant surprise of long accumulation finally bearing fruit.
In a flash, the third day arrived. The high-intensity special training had left more than half the students utterly exhausted.