Li Man Reaches Level Ten
A wind blade swept through the medicinal garden.
A wooden rack snapped in the middle.
The three students hiding in the corner screamed.
Li Man held the Green Jade Bamboo crosswise.
Crack!
The bamboo shaft blocked the first wind blade head-on.
A tremendous force traveled up the bamboo pole and into her arms.
The skin between her thumb and forefinger split open at once.
A shallow mark also appeared on the surface of the Green Jade Bamboo.
This was no level-nine Soul Scholar from the academy.
It was a Soul Beast that had truly lived for a hundred years.
Even though the Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel did not excel at head-on strength, its Soul Skill was still far more powerful than an ordinary attack.
"Go along the wall!"
Li Man did not look back.
"Get out one at a time. Don't all run at once!"
The three students did not dare move.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel was staring at them.
Whoever ran first might draw it after them.
Li Man planted the Green Jade Bamboo against the ground.
The bamboo shaft bent.
She used its rebound to leap onto a medicinal rack.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel immediately turned its gaze toward the faster-moving target.
"Just as I thought."
When hunting, this kind of Soul Beast was more likely to attack fast-moving creatures.
Li Man made herself the bait.
She ran across two rows of medicinal racks in succession.
The bamboo weasel pursued her along the ground.
Its gray-green body almost blended in with the medicinal herbs.
When Dong Jian reached the entrance to the medicinal garden, he did not rush straight in.
Li Man had already succeeded in drawing the Soul Beast's attention.
If he entered rashly, he might instead disrupt the rhythm.
"Get them out."
Li Man shouted.
"I'll hold it off."
Dong Jian glanced at the trapped students.
"Okay."
He did not say, "You can't handle it alone."
Nor did he insist on taking Li Man's place.
True trust did not mean fighting in someone else's place every time.
It meant believing she knew what she was doing.
Dong Jian's body grew lighter.
He circled around to the three students from the other side.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel sensed the movement and suddenly turned its head.
Li Man immediately leaped down from the medicinal rack.
The Green Jade Bamboo swept sideways.
The end of the bamboo struck the bamboo weasel's hind leg.
It let out a shriek.
Its body twisted in midair.
Three wind blades shot toward Li Man at once.
They were too close.
She could not dodge them all.
Li Man drove the Green Jade Bamboo into the ground.
She pressed down on the shaft with both hands.
The first wind blade struck the bamboo pole.
The second grazed her shoulder.
Blood immediately dyed her clothes red.
The third wind blade headed straight for her chest.
The first attack had bent the bamboo shaft to its limit.
Li Man suddenly let go.
Rebound!
Like a bow drawn to its full length, the Green Jade Bamboo lashed out and struck the third wind blade head-on.
The two forces collided.
The wind blade was forced off course and slashed into the soil beside her.
Li Man took the opportunity to retreat.
"They're all out!"
Dong Jian had already brought the three students to the entrance.
"Do you need my help now?"
"Guard the exit."
Li Man watched the bamboo weasel hide itself among the medicinal herbs again.
"Don't let it escape into the academy."
Dong Jian retreated to the entrance of the medicinal garden.
He did not interfere any further.
Li Man closed her eyes.
The Green Jade Bamboo was planted in the ground.
The wind blew through the medicinal herbs.
The bamboo weasel's body was very light.
It made almost no discernible footsteps as it moved.
But the medicinal racks, blades of grass, and soil all produced tiny vibrations.
Those vibrations traveled along the Green Jade Bamboo into her palm.
To the left.
Just the wind.
Beneath the medicinal rack on the right.
Something was moving quickly.
Li Man's eyes snapped open.
The tip of the bamboo stabbed to the right.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel sprang out from beneath the medicinal rack at that very moment.
Pfft!
The bamboo tip pierced its front leg.
The bamboo weasel's body veered off course.
The sharp claws that had been aimed at her throat grazed the side of Li Man's face.
Li Man did not retreat.
She gripped the Green Jade Bamboo with both hands.
The bamboo pole slid backward along the Soul Beast's body.
The end of the bamboo caught against its hind leg joint.
She flicked it upward.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel was flipped over for the first time.
But a Hundred-Year Soul Beast would not lose its ability to fight so easily.
It lashed out with its tail as soon as it landed.
Li Man was struck squarely in the abdomen.
She was sent flying several meters.
Her back slammed into a medicinal rack.
A mouthful of blood surged into her throat.
"Li Man!"
Dong Jian stepped forward.
Li Man raised a hand.
"Guard the exit!"
She used the Green Jade Bamboo to push herself to her feet.
If she could not even hold off a frightened Hundred-Year Soul Beast locked up in the academy on her own,
then after entering the Soul Hunting Forest, she could only depend on Dong Jian and the teacher protecting them forever.
That was not the growth she wanted.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel crouched low again.
Its front leg was injured.
Its speed had decreased.
But its next attack was bound to be fiercer.
Li Man advanced of her own accord.
The Green Jade Bamboo tapped the ground repeatedly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each tap landed in a different place.
The bamboo weasel's gaze followed the tip.
It thought Li Man was preparing to attack from the front.
On the fourth tap, the Green Jade Bamboo suddenly bent.
The bamboo shaft did not rebound toward Li Man.
Instead, it skimmed along the ground and lashed out at the medicinal rack to the side.
The medicinal rack fell.
A great number of bamboo baskets and medicinal herbs came crashing down at once.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel was forced to dodge left.
That was the only safe route Li Man had left open in advance.
She was already waiting there.
The Green Jade Bamboo stabbed upward from below.
It struck the Soul Beast squarely under the jaw.
Bang!
The bamboo weasel was lifted into the air.
Li Man planted her foot on the end of the bamboo.
She pressed the shaft down, bending it.
She concentrated all her Soul Power.
Rebound!
Crack!
The Green Jade Bamboo struck the bamboo weasel squarely in the abdomen.
The Soul Beast was knocked straight back through the damaged cage door.
Dong Jian immediately grabbed an iron chain beside him.
His arms grew heavier.
He pulled the cage door shut again.
Click!
The latch closed.
The Wind Blade Bamboo Weasel kept crashing against the cage, but it could no longer escape.
Li Man stood where she was, holding the Green Jade Bamboo.
Pain came from both her shoulder and abdomen.
Yet at that moment, the level-nine Soul Power within her began circulating violently.
Every dodge.
Every time she sensed vibrations through her bamboo body.
Every time she combined her own strength with the force of her rebound.
All of it drove her stalled Soul Power to begin battering against the final barrier.
The Green Jade Bamboo Martial Soul appeared on its own.
Its nine bamboo segments lit up one after another.
At the very top, a new bamboo leaf slowly unfurled.
Boom!
Level ten!
Pale green Soul Power spread in every direction.
All the bamboo plants in the medicine garden swayed gently at once.
Dong Jian let go of the chain.
He walked over to Li Man.
"You won."
"I only held off an injured Soul Beast."
Li Man was still breathing hard.
"Once we enter the Soul Hunting Forest, this won't be enough."
"At least it proved you don't need me standing in front of you all the time."
Dong Jian glanced at the wound on her shoulder.
"Of course."
"But that wound still needs treatment."
Li Man didn't refuse.
Fighting the battle on her own didn't mean she had to refuse all help.
Two days later.
The academy officially assembled the Soul Hunting team.
Han Yue, a level thirty-two Battle Soul Elder, was responsible for protecting them.
His Martial Soul was the Ironback Ape.
He had three Soul Rings: two yellow and one purple.
Yu Xiaogang also accompanied them as a Martial Soul Theory consultant.
When Tang San heard the news, he took the initiative to bring them a record of Soul Beasts commonly found in the Soul Hunting Forest.
"You can't judge a First Soul Ring by its age alone."
"Compatibility with your attributes is even more important."
Dong Jian accepted the documents.
"Thank you."
Although the two were rivals, they hadn't become enemies because of it.
Meanwhile, Xiao Wu pulled Li Man aside.
"What Soul Beast are you looking for?"
"A Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake."
Li Man answered.
"A snake Soul Beast?"
Xiao Wu wrinkled her nose.
"I don't like snakes."
"I'm not absorbing a Soul Ring because I like the beast, either."
Li Man said:
"Green-Jointed Bamboo Snakes are good at coiling around things, hiding, and using bamboo groves to move around."
"They're suited to my Green Jade Bamboo."
Xiao Wu looked at her for a moment.
"You've already made your choice."
"Only for now."
"I'll still have to judge once I see an actual Soul Beast."
The Soul Hunting carriage left Nuoding City.
Dong Jian and Li Man sat on the same side.
Both had reached level ten.
The next time they returned to the academy.
They would no longer be mere Soul Scholars.
They would be true Soul Masters with their own First Soul Skills.