The First Two-Person Combat Assessment
After registration for the two-person assessment closed, there were twelve teams in total.
Dong Jian and Li Man were assigned to the third group.
Their opponents in the first match were a pair of ninth-level Soul Scholars.
Zhao Hong, with the Iron-Arm Ape Martial Soul.
Ye Qing, with the Wind-Tail Swallow Martial Soul.
One relied on strength, the other on speed.
Both ranked near the top among the academy's junior students.
"They'll definitely attack me first."
Li Man spoke before they entered the training field.
"How do you know?"
Dong Jian asked.
"Strength-type Soul Masters usually don't want to clash with you head-on."
"And my Martial Soul looks easier to break through."
Li Man held the Green Jade Bamboo horizontally at her side.
"They'll have the Iron-Arm Ape hold you up while the Wind-Tail Swallow circles around behind me."
"Then how are you going to deal with them?"
"Make them think their plan worked."
The fight began.
Zhao Hong released his Iron-Arm Ape Martial Soul.
Both arms rapidly thickened.
A pair of illusory gray swallow wings appeared behind Ye Qing, and his speed visibly increased.
"Split up!"
Zhao Hong charged straight at Dong Jian.
Ye Qing circled around from the side.
Everything went exactly as Li Man had predicted.
Dong Jian did not dodge Zhao Hong's fist.
His left arm grew heavier.
Bang!
Their arms collided head-on.
Dong Jian slid half a step backward.
A glint of delight appeared in Zhao Hong's eyes.
Thinking he held the advantage in strength, he immediately pressed forward.
But Dong Jian deliberately failed to steady himself.
He retreated toward Li Man.
"He's being suppressed!"
Ye Qing sped up.
As long as Zhao Hong held Dong Jian up, he could take Li Man out first.
But when he was only three steps away from Li Man, the Green Jade Bamboo suddenly swept across the ground.
Ye Qing had been prepared.
He leaped lightly into the air.
"I knew you'd attack my feet!"
He cleared the bamboo.
His body continued forward through the air.
But Li Man had no intention of pulling the Green Jade Bamboo back.
The tip of the bamboo jabbed at Dong Jian's back.
The bamboo bent.
Its springing force erupted.
Dong Jian, who had been forced backward by Zhao Hong, changed direction in an instant.
He did not continue facing the Iron-Arm Ape.
Instead, propelled by the Green Jade Bamboo's rebound, he slammed into Ye Qing from the side while Ye Qing was still in midair.
Ye Qing had not landed.
He had nowhere to brace himself.
He could only raise both arms to block.
Dong Jian concentrated his weight in his shoulder.
Mountain-Leaning Collision!
Bang!
Ye Qing was struck head-on and sent flying out of the training field.
The first contestant was eliminated.
Zhao Hong's expression changed drastically.
He tried to turn and help, but Li Man had already pulled back the Green Jade Bamboo.
The bamboo tip jabbed repeatedly at his right knee.
Zhao Hong had no choice but to block with his fists.
Dong Jian approached from behind.
"Do you concede?"
"What kind of skill is it to fight two against one?!"
Zhao Hong roared and turned around.
The Iron-Arm Ape smashed both fists toward Dong Jian at once.
Dong Jian did not take the attack head-on.
He moved to the side.
Li Man's Green Jade Bamboo suddenly slipped between them, its shaft pressing against Zhao Hong's arms.
Zhao Hong's fists bent the bamboo.
The next moment, its rebound pushed both his arms upward.
His chest was completely exposed.
Dong Jian did not actually follow through with the collision.
His shoulder stopped in front of Zhao Hong's chest.
"The fight was two against two to begin with."
Zhao Hong glanced at Ye Qing, who had already been eliminated and stood outside the field.
In the end, he lowered his fists.
"I concede."
The first match ended.
From beginning to end, it had taken less than thirty breaths.
The teacher outside the field looked over the record again.
"Did you plan that in advance?"
"We trained in similar coordination,"
Li Man said.
"It wasn't specifically for them."
True coordination was not about giving orders on the spot.
It was when one person made a move and the other immediately understood the intention.
Their opponents in the second match were two Soul Scholars with Tool Martial Souls.
One used a chain.
The other used a round shield.
They did not split up.
The round-shield Soul Scholar stayed in front at all times.
The chain Soul Scholar hid behind him and restricted Dong Jian's movements.
The chain wrapped around Dong Jian's ankle.
The round shield immediately came crashing toward him.
Dong Jian made his right leg heavier to anchor himself.
But the chain Soul Scholar suddenly pulled the chain taut.
Dong Jian's balance was still affected.
"We can't take out the one in front directly."
Li Man spotted the problem.
The Green Jade Bamboo slid out beneath the chain.
Its tip lifted the iron links.
She did not try to sever them.
Instead, she laid the chain across the bent bamboo.
"Release your right leg!"
Dong Jian immediately made his leg lighter.
Li Man released the end of the bamboo.
Rebound!
The Green Jade Bamboo sent the iron chain springing in the opposite direction.
The chain Soul Scholar was unprepared.
His own Martial Soul pulled him into a forward stumble.
Dong Jian grabbed the chain.
His weight increased in an instant.
The chain became a rope connecting the two of them.
He pulled backward.
The Soul Scholar hiding behind the round shield was pulled straight out in front.
Li Man pressed the bamboo tip against his shoulder.
The chain Soul Scholar was eliminated.
The remaining round-shield Soul Scholar was quickly defeated when the two attacked him from both sides.
The third match.
Their opponents had sound-disruption and mist Martial Souls.
The training field was soon shrouded in white mist.
Their eyes became useless.
Dong Jian closed his eyes.
Listening to the Wind to Discern Position.
Li Man, meanwhile, planted the Green Jade Bamboo in the ground.
She used the vibrations traveling through the bamboo to judge the enemies' footsteps.
"Seven steps to the front left,"
Li Man said.
Dong Jian did not doubt her.
He made himself lighter and charged out.
Before the Soul Scholar in the mist could move away, he was forced across the boundary by Mountain-Leaning Collision.
The remaining opponent tried to launch a sneak attack on Li Man.
But the Green Jade Bamboo was already held horizontally at her side.
Smack!
The end of the bamboo struck his wrist.
Victory in the third match.
With three wins in three matches, Dong Jian and Li Man took first place in their group.
In the final, they faced a pair of ninth-level Soul Scholars who had already worked together for two years.
Their tactics were more refined.
They first used a sand-and-soil Martial Soul to prevent the bamboo from being planted in the ground, then used a flying-knife Tool Martial Soul to wear their opponents down from a distance.
For the first time, Li Man was unable to use the bamboo's rebound.
Dong Jian could not close in on the flying-knife Soul Scholar quickly, either.
The fight lasted more than a quarter of an hour.
A flying knife cut a bloody line across Li Man's arm.
Dong Jian's Panda Martial Soul had yet to acquire a Soul Ring, and his defense was not enough to completely disregard the attacks.
"If this drags on, we'll lose,"
Dong Jian said.
"Then we won't set the fulcrum on the ground."
Li Man suddenly handed him the Green Jade Bamboo.
"Throw me up there."
Dong Jian understood immediately.
His arms grew heavier.
Grabbing the end of the bamboo, he hurled Li Man and the Green Jade Bamboo into the air together.
The flying-dagger Soul Scholar attacked Li Man on instinct.
Li Man spun the bamboo in midair, blocking two flying daggers in succession.
The Green Jade Bamboo bent to its limit.
She planted its tip against the training ground's perimeter wall.
The wall became a new pivot point.
Rebound!
Li Man changed direction in midair.
She landed directly behind the flying-dagger Soul Scholar.
The bamboo tip stopped at the back of her opponent's neck.
At the same time, the sand-and-soil Soul Master lost his teammate's support.
Dong Jian's feet grew lighter, and he forced his way across the soft ground.
His shoulder grew heavier.
His final strike stopped in front of the Soul Master's chest.
"The match is over!"
Dong Jian and Li Man took first place.
Two bottles of Soul-Concentrating Medicinal Liquid were handed to them.
The teacher in charge of the assessment looked at the two of them.
"You don't have Soul Rings."
"Yet your teamwork has already surpassed that of most lower-year Soul Masters."
"Once you reach level ten, the academy can arrange for a teacher to take you Soul Hunting."
Dong Jian gripped his medicine bottle.
Li Man, meanwhile, looked at the qualification token for the gravity training room.
The two of them were only one final step away from level ten.
And the path to the First Soul Ring that would truly belong to them-
Had finally opened.