How Could I Bear to Stop!

But Wu Changkong did not strike back.

He only blocked, only dodged, only retreated. His steps were as light as if he were treading on clouds, his body as graceful as willow fluff in the wind. In his hand, the Heavenly Frost Sword became a white barrier, keeping all of Bai Yushan's attacks outside.

He was still testing him.

He wanted to see where this child's limits lay. His strength, speed, reflexes, endurance, his combat instincts, his desire to attack, the extent of his madness. He wanted to see just how much this child, who dared point at him and say, "Come test me," had in him.

Bai Yushan's punches grew faster, his kicks fiercer, his electric current more violent. Every strand of his hair stood on end, his eyes shone like two blue-white stars, and his mouth stretched into the widest possible grin, revealing a full set of white teeth. His breathing grew heavier, his heartbeat faster, and blood surged through his veins like magma churning inside a volcano.

Fifty thousand volts of electric current push, unleashed at full power. Under the stimulation of the electric current, his body reached a state bordering on frenzy. Every cell burned, every muscle fiber trembled, and every heartbeat gathered strength for the next attack.

But Wu Changkong was still dodging.

His body wove through Bai Yushan's flurry of fists like a white fish swimming through raging rapids. He seemed on the verge of faltering, yet always escaped by a hair's breadth. When Bai Yushan's fist came crashing toward him, he twisted aside, the wind of the punch brushing past his chest. When Bai Yushan's leg swept toward him, he leaned back, the tip of the foot sweeping just above his chin. When Bai Yushan drove his knee at him, he turned, and the knee struck empty air.

One punch, another punch, yet another punch.

One kick, another kick, yet another kick.

Every one missed.

A trace of irritation flashed through Bai Yushan's eyes. Electric current surged inside him, strength swelled within him, and fighting spirit burned within him, but he could not land a hit.

Wu Changkong was like a bank of mist, a gust of wind, a visible but intangible phantom. He was right before his eyes, yet he simply could not hit him.

Wu Changkong was observing him as well.

This child's physical capabilities were explosively good. His strength, speed, explosive power, and reaction speed all far exceeded what his soul power level should have allowed. Wu Changkong had seen countless geniuses in Mingdu, seen those so-called prodigies raised from childhood by great families, built up with heavenly treasures, but not one had reached Bai Yushan's level at nine years old.

In Wu Changkong's view, even those Beast Martial Soul Soul Masters renowned for their physical capabilities, even experts who had reached the Soul Ancestor rank, might not measure up to the child before him in terms of physical capabilities alone.

Even more frightening was his electric current. It was electric current that grew out of his own body, electric current fused with his flesh, bones, and meridians. In all his years, Wu Changkong had never seen such a Martial Soul, never seen such power.

This child's body was itself a weapon.

Wu Changkong's eyes grew brighter and brighter. He turned the Heavenly Frost Sword in his hand, no longer dodging and defending, and switched to offense.

The Heavenly Frost Sword traced a white arc through the air, its tip thrusting toward Bai Yushan's shoulder. This thrust was not fast, but its angle was treacherous. The chill along the blade remained concentrated, like a white snake hidden in the snow, silently biting at its prey.

Bai Yushan dodged sideways, and the sword tip brushed past his shoulder. The chill swept across it, raising a scattering of fine ice crystals and leaving a layer of white frost on his clothes. His body faltered slightly, his movements slowing half a beat.

Wu Changkong's sword came again. The second thrust targeted his waist, the third swept toward his legs, and the fourth slashed at his neck. Four strikes in succession, each faster and fiercer than the last, each linked to the next without a gap, like a white net descending from the sky to envelop Bai Yushan.

Bai Yushan wove through the sword light, dodging left and right, leaping up and down. His speed was astonishing. With a tap of his toes against the ground, his body sprang far away, like a startled rabbit fleeing for its life through a hunter's rain of arrows.

But Wu Changkong's sword was too fast, its chill too intense. Every strike left a streak of white frost on his clothes, every strike slowed his movements a little more.

After three strikes, a thick layer of frost had already formed over Bai Yushan's body. His clothes were as stiff as sheet iron, his hair hung with ice crystals, and his eyebrows and eyelashes had turned white. The chill seeped through his skin into his muscles, through his muscles into his bones. His body began to shake, not from fear, but from cold.

Wu Changkong withdrew his sword and took a step back. Looking at Bai Yushan, who was covered in frost, he asked evenly, "Do you still want to continue?"

Bai Yushan did not answer.

He lowered his head, looking at the thick layer of white frost on his body, at his whitened fingers, at the white breath coming from his mouth.

Then he laughed.

The laughter squeezed out of his throat, hoarse and low, like the growl of a wild beast trapped in a cage. His body began to tremble, not from cold, but from excitement. Electric current surged inside him like enraged pythons, writhing wildly through his meridians, forcing the chill out of his body inch by inch.

The white frost melted, the ice crystals shattered, and a plume of white vapor rose from his body-the mist formed as the electric current evaporated the chill. His hair stood on end again, and the ice crystals on his eyebrows and eyelashes turned into droplets that slid down his cheeks, but his eyes shone like two suns.

"Continue? Hahahaha!"

Bai Yushan threw his head back and laughed, his laughter echoing through the empty training ground, making even the lighting Soul Tools on the ceiling tremble.

"Of course we're continuing! I finally found someone who can fight. How could I bear to stop!"

He stepped forward, stamping a deep footprint into the soul guidance alloy plate beneath his feet. Electric current erupted over his body, the blue-white arcs denser, brighter, and more violent than before, their crackling resounding throughout the training ground.

Fifty-five thousand volts.

Wu Changkong looked at the boy with electric current leaping all over his body, at those eyes burning with the flames of madness, and nodded lightly.

"Good."

Frost blossoms flowed over the Heavenly Frost Sword once more. Its chill was no longer restrained, but released in full. The temperature plummeted below freezing, and a thick layer of white frost appeared on the ground, spreading outward with Wu Changkong at its center. He leaned slightly forward, his toes touching the ground, his knees slightly bent, his entire body like a fully drawn bow.

His first Soul Ring lit up.

The yellow Soul Ring revolved slowly around his body. The frost blossoms on the Heavenly Frost Sword stopped flowing, and all its chill gathered at the tip. An ice blade condensed there, as small as a grain of rice, as white as a snowflake, giving off a bone-piercing chill.

Frost Mark.

Wu Changkong thrust his sword. The ice blade detached from its tip, becoming a streak of white light in midair and shooting straight toward Bai Yushan's chest.

That ice blade was too fast. As fast as a ray of light, as fast as a bolt of lightning, so fast there was no time to react at all. It shot from the tip of Wu Changkong's sword, trailing a white tail through the air with a piercing shriek, and reached Bai Yushan in the blink of an eye.