Gao Shang actually had quite a favorable impression of Spirit Hall.
Leaving everything else aside, the fact that they awakened Martial Souls for commoner Soul Masters free of charge was enough to earn his approval.
Still, a favorable impression was one thing. Joining Spirit Hall was another matter entirely.
The current Pope, Bibi Dong, was far too unhinged. Gao Shang had no desire to live under the nose of a madwoman with unpredictable moods.
After following Su Yuntao for a short while, the two arrived at an open space.
This was where Spirit Hall's Soul Masters usually trained their Soul Skills.
This year's Martial Soul Awakening had only recently ended, and most of the deacons were resting. The training ground was deserted, without a single soul in sight.
Su Yuntao walked to the center of the ground and turned to face Gao Shang.
"Come on. Attack me with everything you've got. I'll go easy on you."
Though he said he would go easy, there was something a little ill-intentioned in the way he stared at Gao Shang.
He certainly wouldn't hit him hard.
Still, leaving a black eye on that handsome little face seemed like it might be rather amusing.
Naturally, Gao Shang knew nothing of Su Yuntao's scheming.
Once Su Yuntao stood ready, Gao Shang put away his smile, his clear eyes turning into the One-Tomoe Sharingan once more.
A purple Soul Ring rose from beneath his feet and slowly revolved around his body.
There was nothing he could do about that.
With his current control over Soul Power, he couldn't release only his Martial Soul without releasing his Soul Ring.
"Haha, little Gao, you won't fool me this time."
Su Yuntao instinctively took that purple Soul Ring for Gao Shang's first Soul Skill, "Simulation," and wasn't frightened again.
Immediately afterward, he released his own Martial Soul as well.
"Lone Wolf, possess!"
With a low shout, Su Yuntao's body visibly swelled.
His muscles bulged, his black hair turned gray and lengthened, gray-black wolf fur covered his arms, and sharp claws glinting with cold light extended from his fingertips.
A pair of eerie green wolf eyes fixed on Gao Shang as the wild presence of a wolf-type Martial Soul spread outward.
Two Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet, one white and one yellow, bobbing up and down.
Su Yuntao rolled his shoulders and grinned.
"Ready for a beating?"
Gao Shang had seen him like this more than once already. Naturally, he wasn't frightened and was even in the mood to tease him.
"Brother Tao, I suggest you talk to Grandpa Ma Xiunuo and ask him to give you another post."
"Going around awakening little kids' Martial Souls looking like that, you're far too likely to scare them."
Su Yuntao's expression darkened.
He had actually brought this up with Ma Xiunuo.
At every village, the moment he used Martial Soul Possession, he had to soothe the children he had frightened into tears. It drove him up the wall too.
Unfortunately, Spirit Hall in Nuoding City only had so many people.
With his seniority and Soul Power Level, he was perfectly suited to handling Martial Soul Awakening. Changing posts was hardly that easy.
"Hmph, laugh it up, you brat."
Su Yuntao lowered his body, and his presence changed with it.
"Take this!"
As the words fell, he stopped waiting for Gao Shang to make the first move. Retracting his claws, he raised a fist and smashed it toward Gao Shang's shoulder.
Gao Shang's smile vanished as he drove his Sharingan to its fullest.
The black tomoe spun rapidly, and Su Yuntao's oncoming figure visibly slowed in his sight.
His opponent's movements, center of gravity, and the spot where his fist would land all became clearly visible.
The instant the fist neared his shoulder, Gao Shang advanced instead of retreating.
He stepped forward, turned sideways to evade the punch, then lowered his shoulder and drove it diagonally into Su Yuntao's chest.
Thud!
Su Yuntao grunted and staggered back several steps.
He glanced down at his chest, then looked back up at Gao Shang with a little more surprise in his eyes.
"Not bad, kid. You've got some strength."
Gao Shang shook out his shoulder.
"Brother Tao, looks like you'll have to go all out."
"Hmph!"
Su Yuntao didn't answer. He merely snorted and charged again.
Naturally, the stronger Gao Shang was, the happier he felt.
But losing their very first spar to a junior who had only just become a Soul Master would be far too embarrassing.
This time, he still used neither Soul Skills nor wolf claws, but he no longer held back the force of his punches and kicks.
Gao Shang didn't dodge either.
Clenching his right fist, he punched straight at Su Yuntao.
He wanted to test just how far his current strength fell short of a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster's.
Seeing that he wasn't dodging, Su Yuntao pulled back his fist in time and held his arm across his body to block.
Thud!
The fist slammed into his arm. Su Yuntao swayed and took one step back.
Gao Shang, however, retreated three steps before finding his footing, his entire right arm numb from the impact.
The gap between them was plain to see.
Su Yuntao lowered his arm, his expression already showing signs of questioning his life.
He could blame being knocked back earlier on carelessness.
But this time, he had clearly blocked the punch head-on, yet a Soul Master who had only just broken through had still punched him back a step.
Could getting a girlfriend really make you weaker?
Before he could figure it out, Gao Shang clenched his fist again and charged straight at him once more.
Su Yuntao had no time to think further and could only meet him.
For a while, the two traded blows across the training ground, the sounds of clashing fists and feet ringing out continuously.
Relying on his physical capabilities after Martial Soul Possession and his combat experience, Su Yuntao kept narrowing the space Gao Shang had to dodge.
Gao Shang's combat skills were indeed lousy, but thanks to the Sharingan's motion tracking, he could always read Su Yuntao's movements in advance. Often, he had already dodged before the fist even came down.
Landing a hit on him was no easy task for Su Yuntao.
And though Gao Shang was slightly weaker, he could seize opportunities to counterattack again and again.
For a time, the fight actually reached a stalemate.
Seven or eight minutes later, they clashed once more and each retreated.
Gao Shang plopped down on the ground, panting heavily as sweat streamed down his forehead.
"Whew... Brother Tao, what do you think of my strength now?"
Su Yuntao wasn't much better off.
His clothes were soaked with sweat, and his body was covered in bruises.
Gao Shang's reactions were simply too fast.
After all that fighting, he had barely landed a few clean hits on Gao Shang, while taking more than a dozen punches himself.
If Martial Soul Possession hadn't made him tough enough to take a beating, he probably would have been knocked flat before Gao Shang ran out of strength.
Su Yuntao rubbed his chest and sucked in a cold breath at the pain.
"Hiss..."
He looked at Gao Shang, his tone growing a little more serious.
"Very good. With your current strength, there probably aren't many One-Ring Soul Masters who can match you."
Gao Shang nodded.
After this fight, he finally had a rough assessment of himself.
In terms of physical capabilities alone, he couldn't match Su Yuntao after Martial Soul Possession, and his combat skills were a cut below as well.
But with the Sharingan, he could still hold his own and even seize openings to counterattack.
And this was still far from his full strength.
For one thing, he hadn't used his first Soul Skill, which could boost his physical capabilities by two hundred percent.
Earlier, when Su Yuntao was completely unprepared, he had easily used Genjutsu to affect his vision and disguise his Soul Ring's true color.
Being able to do that meant his Genjutsu could also work on a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster.
If he struck suddenly during a fight to the death, that visual discrepancy would be enough to change the outcome in an instant.
However, the Sharingan consumed a considerable amount of both mental power and Soul Power.
That simple Genjutsu earlier had consumed a fifth of his Soul Power and mental power.
His main goal in this spar was to learn Su Yuntao's combat skills, so he hadn't used Genjutsu at all.
If he really used both his first Soul Skill and Genjutsu, he reckoned that even if Su Yuntao used his Soul Skills too, he would most likely still be no match for him.