When Yu Feng saw Lu Ye at the training ground, his first reaction was to reach for his purse.
"Got something new again?"
Osler was more clearheaded. He first glanced at Qin Ming, who stood beside Lu Ye.
"You think the teacher invited him here to set up a stall?"
"It's not impossible..."
Before he finished speaking, Qin Ming's gaze swept over them.
Yu Feng immediately straightened up.
At the front of the group, Yu Tianheng had already gone over to greet them. He had borrowed the phones those two teammates had bought and looked them over himself, but he had never expected that the sparring partner recommended by His Highness the Crown Prince would be the young steward who sold phones.
Qin Ming introduced the two sides, and Lu Ye made no attempt to hide his Soul Power.
Seven Soul Rings rose one after another.
A blue-and-white lightning orb hovered in his palm. Fine threads of electricity crawled across its surface with a soft crackle.
The smile slowly faded from Yu Feng's face.
The phone seller was a Soul Saint?
And that day, he had even held out his hand and asked him to play the video again.
Osler looked at him.
Yu Feng looked back at Osler.
No wonder the man had stood beside Sword Douluo without the slightest trace of nerves!
"Mr. Lu has just obtained his Seventh Soul Ring," Qin Ming said. "Today isn't about winning or losing. Work together as you normally do, and use everything you can."
Yu Tianheng nodded, his expression already serious.
Beside him, Dugu Yan studied the lightning orb and asked, "What are the restrictions?"
"You do as usual. The field extends to the white lines."
Lu Ye raised a hand and pointed to a small flag behind them.
"I won't use high-level Soul Skills or unleash my Soul Power to suppress you. That flag represents the person you're protecting. If I touch it, this round stops."
Shi Mo and Shi Mo exchanged a glance and took half a step back.
Ye Lingling remained toward the rear of the group, silently watching the field.
Yu Tianheng, on the other hand, stepped forward.
If the seven of them couldn't protect a flag from a Soul Saint who wasn't using high-level Soul Skills, that would be too hard to justify.
Qin Ming withdrew to the edge of the field, but Lu Ye didn't immediately take his position. Instead, he walked halfway around the little flag.
Shi Mo and Shi Mo turned slightly to follow him.
Yu Tianheng shifted his feet as well.
Lu Ye noticed but said nothing, merely moving another two steps to the other side. Sure enough, Yu Tianheng turned to face him again. His dragon claw had yet to appear, but he was already standing at the very front of the team.
He looked every bit the captain.
But if his eyes held nothing but the opponent, he might not be serving his purpose as captain.
"Does that side count as part of the field too?" Lu Ye pointed behind the flag.
Yu Feng paused and looked at Qin Ming.
"Everything inside the white lines counts," Qin Ming said.
"All right."
Lu Ye returned to his original position, casually removed his outer robe, and draped it over the wooden railing at the edge of the field. Yu Feng watched the lightning orb that had never left his hand and couldn't help glancing again at the flag behind him.
He only had to touch it once. How hard could that be to defend against?
Qin Ming nodded.
"Begin!"
A dragon's roar suddenly rang out.
Yu Tianheng's right arm swelled, blue lightning coiling around the arm altered by Dragon Transformation. Yu Feng beat his wings and rose into the air, while Osler lowered his body and darted out along the flank.
The lightning orb in Lu Ye's palm turned gently.
An arc of lightning struck the bluestone in front of Yu Tianheng.
A few stone chips burst from the surface with a sharp crack.
Yu Tianheng didn't retreat. Instead, he quickened his pace into the strike. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was powerful to begin with, and since his opponent was using lightning, he was even less willing to give ground on the very first move.
Thunder Dragon Claw tore through the air.
Lu Ye sidestepped and retreated half a step.
Yu Tianheng's eyes lit up.
"Right side!"
Yu Feng swooped lower at the call, and Osler cut in from the other side. Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison sealed Lu Ye's escape route, while the Shi Brothers pressed forward with their shields, leaving their teammates a short passage.
In just a few breaths, the field had sprung to life.
Looking at the lightning rushing toward him, Lu Ye suddenly smiled.
Rather than retreat in the direction everyone expected, he stepped sideways and pressed the lightning orb in his palm toward the ground.
The sound was soft.
A thread of lightning skipped across the bluestone, forcing Shi Mo to tilt his shield instinctively. At the same time, Lu Ye slipped past Yu Tianheng's outstretched dragon claw and darted through the narrow gap that had just opened.
Yu Tianheng spun around.
Too late.
Lu Ye's fingers were already resting on the flagpole.
The flag was still fluttering in the wind.
But the field had fallen silent.
As Yu Feng descended, he even had to beat his wings twice more to keep from crashing straight into a teammate's back.
"Stop," Qin Ming said.
Yu Tianheng put away his dragon claw and stared at Lu Ye's hand, his brow deeply furrowed.
Just now, Lu Ye hadn't moved so fast that they couldn't see him at all. Yet the few of them had somehow made way for him themselves.
"Again," Yu Tianheng said.
Lu Ye let go of the flagpole.
"Don't rush. Why did you chase me just now?"
"You retreated."
"If I retreat, does that mean you have to chase me?"
Yu Tianheng paused.
Dugu Yan looked first at the Shi Brothers, then back at the flag. Her expression grew somewhat darker.
Lu Ye pointed to where he had been standing earlier.
"You thought you were just a little short of hitting me. They thought that since their captain had gone forward, they had to follow. Once both shields moved up, there was no one left behind."
"I never said I'd only attack from the front."
Yu Tianheng pressed his lips together and offered no defense.
Yu Feng, however, couldn't help asking, "But what if we really had hit you?"
Lu Ye looked at him.
"Then it would still be the people in the back getting hit first, before you got your hit in."
Yu Feng fell silent.
Ye Lingling stood beside the flag, having never moved from her position. If that hadn't been a flag but her, what had just happened would not have been as simple as Lu Ye reaching out to touch it.
Qin Ming's expression, however, hadn't turned sour.
He had pointed out some of these problems himself. But he had led the team for so long that his students often guessed his intentions before he even attacked, making it harder to truly force that gap open.
Shi Mo lowered his head and looked at his shield.
When he had moved aside just now, he hadn't even felt he was doing anything wrong. The lightning had burst up beside his feet, so naturally he had moved his shield to protect that side. But the moment he moved, a gap had opened in what had been a seamless defense.
"It was my mistake."
"Could your shield have blocked that strike of mine?" Lu Ye asked.
"Yes."
"Then why did you move?"
Shi Mo opened his mouth but couldn't answer.
Lu Ye didn't answer for him. Instead, he looked up at Yu Feng in the air.
"You had the highest position. Did you see the opening in the back?"
Yu Feng hesitated, then nodded.
"I saw it. But Tian Heng had already called me down..."
Yu Tianheng's brow furrowed even more tightly, though not at him.
With a single call of "right side," he had sent everyone that way.
His teammates trusted him, but all he had thought about was whether that dragon claw would hit.
"Next time, if you see something, say it," Yu Tianheng said. "There are places I can't see too."
Dugu Yan glanced at him and swallowed half the words that had already reached her lips.
"Good, as long as you're willing to listen."
"Now discuss it among yourselves," Lu Ye said.
He withdrew to the edge of the field without arranging where each of Yu Tianheng's seven team members should stand.
Dugu Yan spoke first. Yu Tianheng listened for a while, then waved Shi Mo over. Yu Feng was about to say something when Osler tugged him over by the sleeve.
Qin Ming walked over to Lu Ye.
"You could have been faster just now."
"If I had been, all they'd remember was that a Soul Saint could run fast."
Lu Ye shook out his sleeve, and the lingering lightning beside his palm went out.
"I didn't come today to make them remember how formidable I am."
Qin Ming glanced at him, then smiled and nodded.
After a while, Yu Tianheng returned to the field.
"Please."
In the second round, he was still the first to attack.
Lu Ye retreated, but Yu Tianheng followed only half a step before checking his advance. Yu Feng didn't rush to swoop down, instead calling out reminders about the positions in the rear from above. The Shi Brothers stood one in front of the other, narrowing the passage considerably.
Lu Ye tried the same trick again, but this time Shi Mo didn't move his shield aside.
Lightning burst forth, shaking the shield and leaving his shield hand slightly numb, but he gritted his teeth and held his ground.
The other shield moved in beside him at once.
Lu Ye had only just turned when a cloud of green poison mist sealed off that side. Yu Tianheng didn't continue forward in pursuit of a spectacular frontal assault. Instead, he fell back, placing his dragon claw between Lu Ye and the flagpole.
"This time, you'll have to get past me."
"Finally willing to move back?"
Lu Ye laughed and stopped. He didn't strike the dragon claw head-on, but the lightning in his palm suddenly brightened.
Shi Mo's shoulders tensed, but he didn't move aside again.
This time, Lu Ye didn't come at him.
The lightning orb dipped low, and a thread of electricity darted along the ground toward the other side. Yu Tianheng's gaze sharpened. He was just about to follow when Yu Feng's voice rang out overhead.
"Don't follow! He didn't go over there!"
Yu Tianheng forcibly stopped himself.
The step Lu Ye actually took was in the opposite direction.
Shi Mo's shield was already across his path. Lu Ye bent a finger and tapped the shield's edge. The Soul Power in the tap was enough to knock it aside, but just as his fingertip was about to land, he withdrew the excess force and used the recoil to retreat.
Shi Mo stepped back half a pace. Even after regaining his footing, he could hardly believe it.
If that strike had really landed harder, he most likely couldn't have blocked it.
Yet the restrictions Lu Ye had promised really did count.
That discovery gave them more courage to act freely than another call of "again." The Shi Brothers no longer kept watching how many Soul Rings he had. Instead, they watched his shoulders, his feet, and the orb in his palm.
Dugu Yan didn't simply keep pushing the poison mist forward, deliberately leaving gaps for her teammates to move through. When Lu Ye went left, Shi Mo met him; when he turned right, Shi Mo was already waiting there. Above them, Yu Feng's warnings came fast and urgent. Even Osler gave up a seemingly excellent sneak attack and turned back to cover the rear.
When Lu Ye tried to circle in through the original opening again, that clear path was finally gone.
He circled twice, but the team never completely broke apart. The last time he closed in, Ye Lingling's Nine Heart Begonia had already bloomed in her palm, its gentle light falling on a teammate grazed by an arc of lightning.
The lightning orb in Lu Ye's palm was still glowing.
He saw a small opening outside Yu Tianheng's right foot. If he drew him out one more time, his opponent's dragon claw might not make it back in time.
But Ye Lingling was treating her teammate in front of the flag, the Shi Brothers' front-and-back formation remained intact, and Yu Feng was still watching the rear.
There would be openings, but they were already learning to fill them.
Lu Ye didn't force that bit of progress into yet another defeat. He drew the orb back into his palm and glanced at Qin Ming.
Qin Ming raised his hand.
"That's enough."
Yu Tianheng let out a breath, sweat already on his forehead.
They hadn't defeated a Soul Saint.
But at least this time, they knew what they needed to protect.
After landing, Yu Feng panted as he pulled out his phone.
"We didn't film that. What a waste."
Lu Ye looked at him, then at Qin Ming.
"Don't post today's teamwork. If you really want to film something, shoot another clip that has nothing to do with tactics."
Qin Ming nodded, giving his approval.
Yu Feng immediately perked up. He was just about to ask what they were going to film when Lu Ye's gaze fell on a ball at the edge of the field.
It was used for basic catching and throwing practice, filled with air and sewn inside sturdy leather. Lu Ye picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and bounced it against the ground. It sprang back into his palm.
That brought to mind the basketball dance from his previous life, one he knew only too well.
There was no hoop, but that didn't stop them from filming a short bit first.
"You know how to do this, right?"
Yu Feng looked at the ball in his hand.
"You just put the seven of us through our paces, and now you're asking if I can catch a ball?"
"It's not as simple as catching it. First, bounce the ball, then follow up with a few moves that are fun to watch."
"How hard can that be?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Yu Feng regretted them.
Lu Ye first had him bend over slightly, bounce the ball with one hand, then catch it with both.
Those two moves were naturally no trouble for him.
But after tossing the ball up and catching it on his fingertips, the next move wasn't to dribble forward. Instead, he had to turn his back, bend one leg, then plant his foot and stand with his feet apart.
Yu Feng followed the steps. The moment his feet were steady, he couldn't resist looking back.
"Then what?"
"Don't lock your knees. Lean a little to the side and let your shoulders follow. Bring your hands back in, don't strike forward."
Yu Feng bent his knees as instructed and leaned his upper body to the side. His shoulders tilted, and his arms followed, drawing in front of him.
Osler held up the phone and suddenly fell silent.
When Yu Feng saw his expression, his heart tightened.
"What, is it wrong?"
"I don't know if it's right."
Osler tried to hold it in, but ultimately couldn't.
"When you turned around just now, I thought you were going to meet the enemy with your back."
Yu Feng snatched the ball back against his chest.
"Why don't you come over and try it!"
Lu Ye laughed and shook his head.
Of course, he had no intention of turning those moves into some new Soul Skill. It was just a dance with a ball. If someone insisted on judging it as a way to fight an enemy, the more they watched, the more everything would seem wrong.
"Don't think about hitting anyone, and you don't need to summon your Martial Soul. If you fly up while the ball's still on the ground, which one is the camera supposed to follow?"
Yu Feng laughed too when he heard that.
This time, he didn't rush to make every step look like a forward charge. He bounced the ball, caught it, turned around, bent his leg and set it down. Once his feet were apart, his shoulders followed the tilt of his upper body.
Strung together, the few moves, none of them difficult on their own, really did take on a different flavor.
He hadn't seen it himself yet, but Shi Mo had already reached out to poke his elder brother, signaling him to look too.
Yu Feng stopped and immediately went to get Osler's phone.
"Let me see."
When he played it back, the first half was fine, but the camera suddenly began to shake when he turned his back.
"What were you shaking for?"
"I wasn't shaking."
"I was practically shaking out of the frame!"
Osler cleared his throat.
"I couldn't hold it in just now."
Lu Ye took the phone and stepped farther back, keeping the ball, footwork, and shoulders all in frame.
"One more time. I'll film this one."
Once he had filmed it, he picked a piece from the music already available that suited the moves, trimmed off the wait at the beginning while Yu Feng got into position, sent the finished video to him, and returned the phone to Osler.
Yu Feng took out his own phone and opened the video he had just received.
Yu Feng watched it from the beginning.
Then watched it again.
In the video, he clearly neither flew nor summoned his Soul Rings, yet the movement of his shoulders after he turned his back made him want to rewind and watch it again.
The more he watched, the higher the corners of his mouth rose.
"Send me this one."
"Sure. Just don't title it 'Seven People Defeat a Soul Saint.'"
Yu Feng's face grew hot.
"I never said that!"
Osler leaned over from the side.
"How about 'Learned a New Skill Today'?"
"Delete the one you shook while laughing first!"
Qin Ming had been standing at the edge of the field the whole time. Seeing the two start arguing again, he finally spoke.
"Break's over. You still have to do every bit of training you're supposed to."
The two of them straightened up together, though they still clutched their phones tightly.
Smiling, Lu Ye put the ball back where it belonged.
A proper training session and a rather less proper video didn't have to compete for the same space.
Standing nearby, Yu Tianheng suddenly asked, "Could we keep those two rounds from earlier to watch ourselves?"
Lu Ye shook his head.
"I didn't record them. Next time you practice, ask Teacher Qin first and leave a phone at the edge of the field. You can watch it afterward to see where your coordination broke down."
Yu Tianheng looked thoughtful.
He had only thought of phones as a way to watch his seniors fight, but now he realized the camera could also show him things about himself that he hadn't noticed.
"Thank you."
Those words were much more solemn than when they had first met.
Lu Ye put away his phone and took his leave of Qin Ming.
As he walked out of the academy, a message popped up on his screen.
Qingxue: How did it go?
Lu Ye looked down and replied: I didn't hurt anyone, and I didn't wreck the training ground.
A moment later, a reply came back.
Qingxue: I was asking about them.
Smiling, Lu Ye briefly told her what had happened that day.
Back at the training ground, Yu Feng had already posted the Kunkun Dance they had just filmed on his own account.
A few breaths later, a red heart appeared beneath the video.
Lu Ye hadn't been the one to like it.
Yu Feng stood at the edge of the training ground, looking at that red heart. Somehow, having someone touch his flagpole earlier didn't feel quite so bad anymore.