Meanwhile, his older brother Feng Xiaotian was on the intermediate academy's challenge platform.
It was Feng Xiaotian's third day at the academy. The intermediate academy's rules were far more direct than the junior academy's. There were five arenas, with a new round each week. The rules went like this: accumulate three consecutive victories, and you could enter the arena champion rankings, qualifying for that week's basic resources. But that was only the guaranteed minimum. If you continued challenging, each additional consecutive victory raised your resources by one tier. Four straight wins, five, six-with every additional victory, the rewards improved.
Of course, qualification was not permanent. If you challenged someone and lost, your winning streak ended, you dropped off the rankings, and everything reset to zero. And with only two days left in the week, even two consecutive victories afterward would not add up to three, so you would still receive no resources.
So when to step onto the platform, whom to challenge, and whether to accept a challenge all had to be carefully calculated. This was not just a contest of fists, but of brains too.
There was also a special rule for the first week of school: new students who entered the arena champion rankings during their first week and stayed there through the weekend would earn an additional opportunity to go out for practical training, for no more than three days.
Five arenas, five shares of resources. Hundreds of students throughout the intermediate academy competed for those five spots.
So the challenge platforms were never quiet.
Feng Xiaotian had been called up. The one who called him was a second-year student of the Power Attack System whose Martial Soul was a Wind Wolf. He had just earned two consecutive victories yesterday. One more win today, and his name would go up on the rankings. Standing on the platform, he swept his gaze over the crowd before finally settling on Feng Xiaotian.
A new student, level thirty-two, seemingly without much backing. The perfect prey.
"You. Get up here." He pointed straight at Feng Xiaotian.
The people below followed his gaze, and some recognized Feng Xiaotian. The dean's eldest son, level thirty-two at twelve years old, the genius who had advanced from the junior academy. Whispers rustled through the crowd like wind passing through leaves.
Feng Xiaotian said nothing and walked onto the platform.
With Martial Soul Possession by his Wind Wolf, the student was no slouch in speed. He lunged forward right from the start, his claw shadows whistling with wind. Azure light flashed beneath Feng Xiaotian's feet as he activated Gale Flash Step, vanishing from where he stood. The student's claw shadows caught empty air. Before he could pull back, Feng Xiaotian was already behind him.
"Too slow."
The student whipped around and slashed again. Feng Xiaotian sidestepped once more, azure whirlwinds flickering beneath his feet as he moved as though walking on the wind. The student's attacks grew increasingly frantic, but every swipe fell half an inch short, unable even to touch the hem of Feng Xiaotian's clothes.
In fewer than thirty breaths, the student stopped on his own, panting heavily, and waved a hand in surrender. Feng Xiaotian had not attacked once throughout the entire match.
The crowd fell silent for a moment, then someone laughed aloud. The second-year student's face flushed crimson, and he jumped off the platform and left.
Someone in the crowd recognized Feng Xiaotian and scoffed. "He went looking for a soft persimmon to squeeze and picked the dean's genius son. His level might be low, but his strength certainly isn't."
Hearing that, several people nearby looked at Feng Xiaotian with greater seriousness.
Feng Xiaotian stood on the platform, his breathing not even disturbed.
The second challenger was a second-year Defense System student whose Martial Soul was a Wind Rock Shield. As soon as he stepped onto the platform, he raised his shield. An azure-gray rock shield stood before him, almost blocking Feng Xiaotian entirely from view.
"So what if you're fast? If you can't break my shield, you can't win." Standing behind his shield, the student sounded certain.
Feng Xiaotian did not reply. His first Soul Ring lit up, and an azure wind blade struck the shield. The shield did not budge, left with only a shallow white mark. A second blade, then a third-the result was the same.
People below began to jeer.
"The dean's genius son, and that's all he's got?"
"He can't even break a shield. Genius, my ass."
Feng Xiaotian's hand tightened slightly around his wind blade. He heard the mockery in those voices clearly, and something seemed to clog his chest. But rather than attack again, he stood where he was and studied the shield.
Wind Blade Slash spread Soul Power throughout the entire wind blade. With a large contact area, its force was diluted. If he concentrated all that force on a single point-
A fourth wind blade formed in Feng Xiaotian's palm. This time, he did not rush to attack. Instead, he kept compressing the blade, from three feet to one foot, then to half a foot. Soul Power poured into it furiously, and the blade's edge changed from pale azure to an almost transparent white.
He slashed. There was no howl, only the faintest sound of air being pierced, like a needlepoint puncturing paper.
A small hole appeared in the Wind Rock Shield. Immediately afterward, fine cracks spread outward from it. The student's smile froze. The instant the cracks covered the entire shield, the Wind Rock Shield shattered with a crash. The wind blade's remaining force passed through the shield and skimmed his shoulder, shearing off several strands of his hair.
The entire crowd fell silent.
The Defense System student stood stunned for quite a while before withdrawing his shattered shield and leaving the platform. When he reached the bottom, someone nearby approached, wanting to say something. He waved a hand and said nothing.
Those who had jeered earlier also fell quiet. Breaking a shield in one strike-everyone understood what that meant. In the crowd, a student who had shouted the loudest quietly took two steps back, then turned and left.
Feng Xiaotian lowered his head to look at his hand. That last strike had not been Wind Blade Slash. Wind Blade Slash was an area attack that sought coverage. This strike sought penetration, compressing power to its utmost and concentrating it on a single point. It had no name yet, but it was already a new Self-Created Soul Skill.
The third challenger was a fourth-year Agility Attack System student whose Martial Soul was a Wind Swallow. He currently held four consecutive victories, and his name was already on the arena champion rankings. His basic resources were secured, and the reward for four consecutive victories was a tier above that for three. But he wanted something better, so he continued challenging.
"You're pretty good, new student." He looked at Feng Xiaotian. "But I don't want my four-win streak ending here."
Feng Xiaotian said nothing. He fully released his Gale Twin-Headed Wolf Martial Soul, and two wolf-head phantoms formed above his shoulders. His third Soul Ring lit up, and the wolf-head phantoms suddenly grew solid, moving simultaneously with his real body. His real body met the opponent head-on while the two phantoms flanked him from either side.
One person, two shadows, an attack on three fronts.
However fast the student with the Wind Swallow Martial Soul was, he could not evade a combined attack from three directions. The two phantoms forced him to retreat repeatedly. Feng Xiaotian's real body cut in from the front, his right fist stopping an inch from the student's face.
"You lost."
The student froze for a moment, then laughed and jumped off the platform. After reaching the bottom, he glanced back at Feng Xiaotian.
"Next week, I'll be back."
Feng Xiaotian nodded.
Three matches, three victories. Feng Xiaotian's name went up on the arena champion rankings.
As he walked down from the platform, a student squeezed out of the crowd and approached him. The student wore a gray cloth shirt, the threads at its cuffs tugged into uneven lengths, with frayed edges curling outward. He was rather thin and half a head shorter than Feng Xiaotian, with a long face and a pointed chin. His single-lidded eyes stared directly at people, as though he were sizing them up, or thinking.
"That footwork in your first match, and the move you used to break the shield in the second-did you create both yourself?" the student asked.
Feng Xiaotian glanced at him. He had not asked, "How did you do that?" Nor had he praised Feng Xiaotian's strength. Instead, he had directly asked whether they were self-created, having judged from watching those two matches that Feng Xiaotian might have used Self-Created Soul Skills.
"Yes," Feng Xiaotian said.
The student fell silent for two seconds, as though digesting the answer. Then he asked, "Those clones-how did you attack from three directions at once?" His tone was flat, as though asking what was for lunch.
Feng Xiaotian did not keep it to himself, briefly explaining how he distributed Soul Power for Wolf Shadow Clone. After listening, the student fell silent for another few seconds, then said something Feng Xiaotian had not expected.
"If someone from the Control System used a similar method, could they control multiple targets at once?"
Feng Xiaotian paused. He had never considered that question. He belonged to the Power Attack System, and his clones were for attacking. But if someone from the Control System could distribute Soul Power among multiple targets, their control range and flexibility would improve greatly.
"In theory, yes," Feng Xiaotian said. "But it would require extremely fine control over Soul Power."
The student nodded, asked nothing further, and turned to leave.
"What's your name?" Feng Xiaotian asked.
The student stopped and turned his head. "Cheng Luo."
"What's your Martial Soul?"
"Wind-Binding Vine. Control System."
Feng Xiaotian nodded. Cheng Luo waited a moment, then continued on when Feng Xiaotian said nothing else.
Watching Cheng Luo's retreating figure, Feng Xiaotian suddenly felt something he could not quite describe. Cheng Luo did not offer praise or try to get friendly. He came straight up and asked technical questions. He had not asked, "How did you do that?" but rather, "Could the Control System use a similar method?" Cheng Luo was drawing inferences from one example, thinking about his own path.
And the frayed edges of Cheng Luo's cuffs clearly had not been tugged into that state in just a day or two. Obviously, when he encountered a problem, he liked to puzzle over it, and if he could not figure it out, he would keep at it.
Control System, Wind-Binding Vine, and ideas of his own.
Feng Xiaotian made a mental note.
Instructor Qin's assistant approached and handed Feng Xiaotian a wooden token. His name was engraved on the front, and the character for "arena" on the back. Proof that he was one of this week's arena champions.
Feng Xiaotian tucked the wooden token into his robes. This was the first share of resources he had obtained in his first week at the academy, and the first time he had put his name on the arena champion rankings. Under the rules, he could also apply for an outing for practical training, lasting no more than three days.
Three consecutive wins, the minimum secured. But Feng Xiaotian had no intention of continuing to challenge.
It was not that he could not win; it was not worth it. If he kept fighting, winning would certainly raise his resource tier, but what if he lost? Everything would reset to zero. There were only two days left this week. Even if he won every match afterward, he could not get three victories, and would not even receive the minimum. The risk was too great. It was not worth it.
Feng Xiaotian headed toward the dormitory. He had heard of someone who had won five consecutive matches, then challenged again on a whim, only to lose and have his record reset to zero. The resources already in his grasp had flown away, infuriating him so much that he punched a wall.
The arena tested not only fists, but brains too. When to step up, whom to challenge, and whether to accept a challenge all had to be carefully calculated. Anyone who failed to understand that would suffer for it sooner or later.
I wonder how my little brother is doing, Feng Xiaotian thought. He's probably met some interesting people at the junior academy too.