(Corrected: Class Zero originally had five members: Gu Yue, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Wang Jinxi, and Zhang Yangzi.)
Jiang Xia really was poor at actual combat. His development path focused on the late game, and without a means of turning the illusory into reality, he could not even bring out 20% of his strength.
As for Gu Yue saying she could only fight two people, Jiang Xia took that as so much hot air.
Gu Yue could only fight two?
On the one hand, she was hiding her abilities; on the other, she simply did not want to put in the effort.
Looking back over the original story, Gu Yue had absolutely been slacking off and pretending throughout the early stages.
Perhaps taking human form and cultivating anew really had left her short of her peak strength, but much of the time, she certainly was not as helpless as she appeared.
So Jiang Xia planned to give Gu Yue a little cheat, allowing her to bring out more of her strength.
"My Broken Dream Martial Soul can connect to your mental will."
"Your ability is Elemental Control, right? With my Broken Dream Martial Soul connected to you, you can control the elements more easily."
"I can improve your ability to control the elements through your sensory field, and I can also reduce your burden in terms of the load on your spiritual power."
"In short, with my support, your strength should at least double."
Gu Yue looked at Jiang Xia suspiciously, half believing and half doubting him.
Jiang Xia wore an expression that said that was simply how it worked, with no intention of explaining in detail.
To put it bluntly, he would hypnotize Gu Yue into thinking it was easy, and then she would be able to do it.
After all, Gu Yue was already very powerful.
Of course, Jiang Xia did contribute. His Spirit Detection was no empty boast; it could cover half the field and provide some assistance in Gu Yue's battles.
At the same time, the reduction in Gu Yue's mental burden was also real.
It was just that Gu Yue could pin her ability to control the elements on Jiang Xia.
"Also, my Imitation ability can pass the fake off as real. Though it doesn't actually deal damage, it can complement your attacks and scare the other side."
As she listened to Jiang Xia lay out their tactics, Gu Yue gradually relaxed.
It sounded pretty good.
Their time to discuss tactics quickly passed, and Wu Changkong signaled for both sides to take their positions twenty meters apart.
The two sides faced each other. Jiang Xia and Gu Yue stood one behind the other, with Jiang Xia in the rear.
This was the standard support positioning.
On the other side, Tang Wulin and Wang Jinxi stood side by side at the very front.
Xie Xie and Zhang Yangzi stood behind them and to the sides, though they were not actually very far back. Both had adopted the stance of agility-type soul masters.
Tang Wulin's Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, but he possessed the Golden Dragon King's bloodline and could fight head-on.
Wang Jinxi's Martial Soul was the Bone Dragon King, with the darkness attribute and both attack and defense maxed out.
Zhang Yangzi's Martial Soul was called the Dark Demon Eagle. It combined agility and power attacks, possessing both speed and explosive power, though his Soul Power level was slightly lower.
He and Wang Jinxi possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, but it was not yet perfected. During his instruction over the past few days, Wu Zhangkong had temporarily forbidden them from using it.
Naturally, that included this match.
Xie Xie had twin Martial Souls, the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger. Though they were not truly twin Martial Souls, whenever a Soul Ring was added to one, the other would receive an identical Soul Ring at the same time.
Still, the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger offered quite a few impressive tricks when used together.
At Wu Zhangkong's command, the battle officially began.
Tang Wulin and Wang Jinxi both shouted and strode forward.
Tang Wulin was bathed in golden blood Qi, while black mist wreathed Wang Jinxi.
Their right hands transformed into dragon claws at the same time, one gold and the other black. Dragon scales covered their entire right arms, the pitch-black scales contrasting sharply with the golden ones.
They let out deafening dragon roars in unison.
Traces of draconic might mingled in those roars, but Jiang Xia, hiding behind Gu Yue, felt no discomfort whatsoever.
Gu Yue's expression did not change either.
As the two opponents strode forward, she waved both hands before her.
Jiang Xia also successfully connected his Broken Dream Martial Soul to her mental will.
Of course, Gu Yue had only given him access to the shallowest layer of her mental will. She could not possibly give him a chance to glimpse her true thoughts.
Sensing the Broken Dream Martial Soul's ability to encompass the entire surrounding space, Gu Yue felt a slight stirring in her heart.
Under its influence, she felt a marked improvement in her ability to command the elements.
This had nothing whatsoever to do with her affinity for the elements or anything of the sort.
It was purely because this Broken Dream space also possessed the ability to control the elements. Every time Gu Yue commanded a trace of an element, a corresponding sensation appeared within the Broken Dream space.
That sensation was added to her mind like a lever, letting her use the effort of commanding one trace of an element to move twice as much.
Powerful as Gu Yue was, she naturally understood the truth behind it. She had not actually received a twofold boost; she only felt as though she had.
Of course, though that was the principle behind it, the improvement was real, because Gu Yue could run her operations on auto.
Yes, when she exerted one measure of force, she felt as though she had exerted two, but she had still only exerted one.
The underlying essence had not changed.
Yet in the process, she discovered that her efficiency in commanding the elements had improved.
More than half the thoughts in her mind could be skipped, with the dream deducing everything on its own before feeding it back into her mind.
It was equivalent to having someone run things on auto for her, completing the thoughts needed to command the elements.
She supplied the parameters, while the program formed from the basic code within Jiang Xia's Broken Dream entered the process for her.
She had not exerted two measures of force, but she had saved half her effort.
For a soul master with Elemental Control, this was effectively a buff.
It really did double her capabilities.
After all, the techniques she could unleash at full power now required only half her effort, meaning she could erupt with twice her former power.
A different kind of amplification!
Gu Yue was slightly surprised.
Of course, all this happened in a flash. These were changes in mental will, after all.
Gu Yue's hands danced as she began using the program Jiang Xia provided.
Water, fire, earth, and wind were like obedient sprites in her hands, following her commands.
Watching from outside, Wu Zhangkong's gaze shifted slightly at the sight.
"Gu Yue's control over the elements has improved. Is this Jiang Xia's ability?"
He could clearly see that Gu Yue seemed to have cast off some kind of restraint, actually beginning the battle by commanding four elements at once.
Still, he did not think this Gu Yue could fight four opponents alone.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, Gu Yue and Jiang Xia's side lacked a frontline.
On the field.
A stream of water and a mass of flame attacked the two charging figures from different directions.
The water and flames converged midway along their path.
Water and fire intertwined. Rather than canceling each other out, they coiled together and struck the ground ahead, blasting dust and smoke into the air with a thunderous explosion.
Tang Wulin and Wang Jinxi's vision was obstructed.
Through Jiang Xia's Spirit Detection, however, Gu Yue could clearly grasp the situation across the entire field.
Wind blades sliced through the air, cutting through the billowing dust and smoke.
Rather than meeting the two head-on, they slashed across the weakest points in their defenses.
Though Spirit Detection could not see directly into their meridians, it could sense from outside their bodies the general areas where they were mobilizing Soul Power.
Combined with some simple judgment, that was enough to locate the weak points in their defenses.
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Blood blossomed in sprays. Tang Wulin grimaced as three wounds appeared on his lower legs.
Wang Jinxi's clothes were slashed open, with wind-blade cuts across his waist, thighs, and back.
The piercing pain instinctively checked their charge for a moment.
Meanwhile, the two agility-type soul masters behind them had already overtaken them, swiftly passing through the area shrouded in dust and smoke.
Their vision cleared, only for a towering earthen wall to greet them.
The thick earthen wall blocked their path, leaving Gu Yue and Jiang Xia still out of sight.
Where were the two hiding behind the wall?
In just an instant, Zhang Yangzi made his choice.
He leaped straight up, using the wings on his back to glide through the air.
He looked down beneath the earthen wall.
Yet what he saw made his scalp prickle. Neither of them was there.
"Bad news! Watch out!"
Before Zhang Yangzi could warn him, Xie Xie screamed on the other side.
He turned to look toward Xie Xie, only to feel a sudden palpitation of dread.
Then he lost consciousness, his body following its previous arc straight down to the ground.
On the other side, Xie Xie had no idea what was happening.
He did not know what Zhang Yangzi was doing. He had suddenly jumped up, glided over the earthen wall, and then crashed.
"And you said you had no combat ability?" Gu Yue muttered.
"I only lack the ability to fight head-on. My teacher does teach illusions, after all."
"I haven't studied my teacher's illusions, but I happened to memorize a few that my teacher occasionally used."
Jiang Xia's Broken Dream Martial Soul was particularly suited to illusions to begin with. Moreover, he used Broken Dream as a foundation to simulate all things in heaven and earth, making him very familiar with constructing it. At the same time, connecting Broken Dream to others' mental wills was an instinctive talent.
Thus, basic illusions like these really did come to Jiang Xia as easily as plucking something from his fingertips.
He truly had not inherited his teacher's illusion legacy.
But that did not stop him from knowing a tiny bit of illusion.
As for why Zhang Yangzi had neither noticed nor offered any resistance, that was naturally a case of making things fly through sheer power.
Zhang Yangzi's spiritual power had not even reached the spirit connection realm, while Jiang Xia's currently exceeded 400 points, already approaching the spirit sea realm.
They were on entirely different levels.
Like an ant facing an ocean, he could only be crushed.
Technique?
Even Jiang Xia himself would have been embarrassed to claim he was displaying any technique right now.
Technique?
No, no, no!
There was no need for technique. This was nothing more than steamrolling.
Seemingly sensing Jiang Xia's thoughts, Gu Yue's lips curled slightly.
Indeed, steamrolling was all they needed.
She, too, had been holding herself back for months.
After cultivating anew, she could not display abilities beyond her current realm.
On top of that, she had to suppress herself further to avoid appearing overpowered at Eastsea Academy.
It really had left her stifled.
Now that she could finally show her skills and pin everything on Jiang Xia, she naturally wanted to steamroll the rest of Class Zero too.
Still, her exhilaration did not affect her reason.
Steamrolling the rest of Class Zero would not vent all her pent-up anger.
She felt that she would only truly vent it in her upcoming fight against Wu Zhangkong.
During Class Zero's training, Wu Zhangkong had used his realm advantage to suppress them for a long time.
Gu Yue had long resented it.
"Let's take care of Xie Xie first."
Jiang Xia offered a reminder.
Gu Yue did not refuse. A mass of flame intertwined with a powerful cyan current of air, covering the path ahead of Xie Xie.
With Spirit Detection, she could control the entire field even with her eyes closed.
Gu Yue could devote all her attention to commanding the elements.
No one else could put that feeling of ease into words for her.
Xie Xie did not even have time to turn before the fireball engulfed him.
Boom!
A series of violent explosions rang out inside the fireball.
Gu Yue could actually detonate it from a distance.
This was her skill in Elemental Control.
Xie Xie screamed and followed in Zhang Yangzi's footsteps, crashing heavily to the ground.
Zhang Yangzi stared blankly, babbling incoherently for a long while before coming back to his senses.
Xie Xie was in a miserable state, with burns across multiple parts of his body.
Had Gu Yue not held back, he really would have been severely injured, rather than merely being in too much pain to fight without having suffered any fundamental damage.
Seeing that Gu Yue had held back, Wu Zhangkong directly brought both Xie Xie and Zhang Yangzi out.
He observed the situation on the field.
Two against four had instantly become two against two.
Clearly, Gu Yue's side's chances of victory had skyrocketed.
This was beyond Wu Zhangkong's expectations.
But after thinking it over carefully, he felt that it all made sense. After all, Jiang Xia's stats were right there.
Level 34 Soul Power, plus over 400 points of spiritual power.
All this gave Jiang Xia ample capital to look down upon his peers.
By simply dividing the battlefield and briefly creating equal matchups, Jiang Xia could instantly take down Zhang Yangzi, and Gu Yue could likewise instantly defeat Xie Xie.
In the blink of an eye, the unequal matchup had been reversed.
When the dust and smoke cleared, Tang Wulin and Wang Jinxi, bearing wounds in several places, were somewhat dumbfounded by the situation on the field.