The First Two-on-Two Battle
When Dong Jian and Li Man returned to Dorm Seven, Wang Sheng was airing out bedding at the door.
When he saw the Yellow Soul Rings rising beneath their feet, the wooden basin in his hands fell straight to the ground.
"You succeeded?"
His shout brought everyone in Dorm Seven rushing out.
Dong Jian released his Panda Martial Soul.
A dark-yellow Soul Ring circled his body.
A Yellow Soul Ring also appeared beside Li Man's Green Jade Bamboo.
"Little San, Xiao Wu!"
Wang Sheng turned and shouted:
"Dorm Seven has four Soul Masters now!"
Tang San came out of the dormitory.
His gaze first fell on the color of Dong Jian's Soul Ring.
"Close to four hundred years old?"
"Between four hundred and ten and four hundred and twenty years."
Dong Jian answered.
Tang San's gaze sharpened slightly.
His Mandala Snake had also been close to the First Soul Ring limit given by Grandmaster.
He hadn't expected Dong Jian to have chosen a Soul Beast of such an advanced age either.
Xiao Wu, meanwhile, walked over to Li Man.
"What's your First Soul Skill?"
"A control-type skill."
"Can you trap me?"
"We won't know until we try."
Li Man didn't demonstrate it immediately.
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up at once.
"Then let's have a fight."
Tang San also looked at Dong Jian.
"Last time, you didn't have a Soul Ring, and you couldn't break through Blue Silver Entanglement."
"This time, we should be able to test it again."
Dong Jian rolled his shoulders.
"I was thinking the same thing."
The students of Dorm Seven soon gathered around the training ground.
After hearing the news, Yu Xiaogang also came to the edge of the field.
He didn't stop them.
After acquiring a new Soul Skill, a Soul Master had to understand its consumption, range, and limitations through actual combat.
"One-on-one or a team battle?"
Tang San asked.
"Two-on-two."
Li Man answered first.
"Dong Jian and I will be a team."
"You and Xiao Wu will be a team."
Xiao Wu had no objection.
Tang San considered it for a moment.
"All right."
The two sides stood at opposite ends of the training ground.
Blue Silver Grass grew from Tang San's palm.
Xiao Wu used Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul Possession.
A phantom panda appeared behind Dong Jian.
Li Man planted her Green Jade Bamboo on the ground.
Four Yellow Soul Rings rose at the same time.
All the lower-year students watching from outside fell silent.
At an ordinary junior Soul Master Academy.
Four work-study students with hundred-year First Soul Rings appearing in the same year was almost unheard of.
"Begin!"
The moment Yu Xiaogang's words fell.
Tang San's First Soul Ring lit up at once.
"Blue Silver Entanglement!"
More than a dozen strands of Blue Silver Grass burst out of the ground.
Their target wasn't Dong Jian.
It was Li Man.
Tang San had already judged that Li Man's Soul Skill might be the key to the pair's coordination.
As long as he restrained her first, Dong Jian would still have to chase Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track on his own.
Li Man didn't retreat.
Her Yellow Soul Ring lit up at the same time.
"Green Bamboo Binding Formation!"
Four bamboo shadows rose from the four corners of the training ground.
Bamboo vines spread outward.
Blue Silver Grass and green bamboo vines collided head-on.
The two plant-type control Soul Skills tangled with each other.
Tang San had greater Soul Power.
His Blue Silver Grass also carried Mandala Snake venom.
A faint purple soon appeared on the surface of the green bamboo vines.
Li Man, however, chose to stop struggling against all the Blue Silver Grass.
The first bamboo shadow suddenly bent.
A bamboo vine wrapped around Dong Jian's waist.
"Go!"
The rebounding force burst forth.
Dong Jian was sent straight past the Blue Silver Grass blockade.
Tang San used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
He moved to the side.
Dong Jian closed his eyes.
Listening to the Wind to Discern Position.
Footsteps came from the left.
Yet the air stirred by a fluttering hem came from the right.
The real position was on the right.
Dong Jian's legs grew light.
He quickly turned.
Xiao Wu suddenly appeared from the side.
She didn't let Dong Jian approach Tang San unhindered.
Her legs curled toward his shoulders in midair.
"First Soul Skill, Waist Bow!"
After her Soul Ring lit up, the strength in Xiao Wu's waist and abdomen far surpassed what it had been before.
Dong Jian immediately activated Bear Astral Energy Body Protection.
Black-and-white astral Qi covered his body.
His weight increased at the same time.
Xiao Wu's legs successfully locked around his shoulders and neck.
She exerted force with her waist.
Dong Jian's feet left the ground.
Yet he wasn't thrown straight away like an ordinary Soul Master.
Bear Astral Energy Body Protection had increased his stability and weight.
He adjusted his center of gravity in midair.
Both hands grabbed Xiao Wu's arms.
Circular Force Redirection.
The two spun and landed together.
Dong Jian's back struck the ground.
His astral Qi rippled, absorbing most of the impact.
Xiao Wu used his shoulder to flip back to her feet.
Neither had gained an advantage in the first exchange.
On the other side.
Tang San had already circled around Green Bamboo Binding Formation.
His Mysterious Jade Hand reached for Li Man's wrist.
In a battle between control types, closing in was often an easier way to interrupt a Soul Skill.
Li Man held her Green Jade Bamboo horizontally in front of her.
Tang San's hand gripped the bamboo stalk.
Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon activated.
An invisible pulling force tugged the Green Jade Bamboo outward.
Li Man didn't compete with him in strength.
The third bamboo shadow rose beneath Tang San's feet.
It wasn't attacking.
Instead, it bent rapidly.
Tang San immediately left his position.
As the bamboo shadow sprang back, Li Man stepped onto a bamboo joint.
Her body flew backward.
She opened the distance between herself and Tang San again.
"Your Soul Skill isn't just entanglement."
Tang San had already seen through it.
"It never was."
Li Man turned her wrist.
The remaining bamboo vines changed direction at the same time.
Two wound toward Xiao Wu.
One blocked Tang San's next landing spot.
Dong Jian charged at Tang San again.
Xiao Wu tried to intercept him.
A bamboo vine had already wrapped around her ankle.
She exerted force with her legs, forcibly snapping the first one.
But the second bamboo shadow suddenly sprang back.
The vine no longer pulled her backward.
Instead, it sent Xiao Wu in the opposite direction.
Her speed instead caused her to lose her balance.
"This Soul Skill is such a nuisance!"
Xiao Wu turned in midair.
By the time she landed, she was already several meters from Dong Jian.
Tang San could only face him alone.
Blue Silver Grass rose from the ground.
Dong Jian didn't dodge.
He used Bear Astral Energy Body Protection to take the first layer of bindings head-on.
The Blue Silver Grass wound tighter and tighter.
The black-and-white astral Qi visibly caved in.
"You still can't break through."
Tang San said.
"I really couldn't break through it before."
The weight of Dong Jian's right arm rapidly increased.
Kung Fu Deconstruction picked out the points where the vines crossed.
He concentrated all his strength on a single point.
Crack!
The first strand of Blue Silver Grass snapped.
Tang San's expression shifted slightly.
At the same time, Dong Jian increased the weight of his shoulder.
Bear Astral Energy Body Protection had just withstood Xiao Wu's Waist Bow and Blue Silver Entanglement, accumulating some of their impact.
"Break!"
The force of Mountain-Leaning Collision erupted at point-blank range.
The remaining vines burst apart one after another at their crossing points.
Dong Jian broke free.
Tang San retreated with Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
But Li Man had already raised a fourth bamboo shadow in advance.
It blocked his landing spot on the left.
Tang San could only change direction to the right.
That was precisely where Dong Jian had predicted he would go using Listening to the Wind to Discern Position.
Dong Jian's shoulder closed in.
Tang San crossed his hands to block with Mysterious Jade Hand.
Bang!
The impact stored by Bear Astral Energy Body Protection was released.
Tang San slid five steps backward.
His feet still hadn't crossed the boundary.
Xiao Wu had already broken free of the bamboo vines.
She launched Waist Bow from behind Dong Jian.
Li Man touched her Green Jade Bamboo to the ground.
The last bamboo shadow bent.
A bamboo vine wrapped around Dong Jian's waist.
It snapped back!
Dong Jian was pulled away from where he stood in an instant.
Xiao Wu's attack missed.
The moment her feet touched the ground, the tip of Li Man's Green Jade Bamboo was already poised in front of her shoulder.
At the same time, Tang San sent Blue Silver Grass winding toward Li Man.
Dong Jian charged in from the side.
The Blue Silver Grass was stopped by Bear Astral Energy Body Protection.
His shoulder stopped in front of Tang San's chest.
All four stopped at once.
Those watching from outside the field couldn't immediately tell what the result was.
Yu Xiaogang glanced at their positions.
"Dong Jian and Li Man have a slight advantage."
"But it isn't a complete victory."
If they continued attacking,
Li Man could strike Xiao Wu first.
Dong Jian could also crash into Tang San.
But Tang San's Blue Silver Grass had already touched Li Man's ankle as well.
Xiao Wu's other leg could also sweep into Li Man before she fell.
It was an exchange that would have left both sides nearly destroyed.
Xiao Wu withdrew her Martial Soul.
"That doesn't count."
"Next time, I'll kick all four bamboo stalks apart first."
Li Man withdrew Green Bamboo Binding Formation.
"Next time, the bamboo won't be in the same places either."
Tang San looked at Dong Jian.
"You did break through Blue Silver Entanglement."
"But you relied on a Soul Skill and Li Man's control."
"Of course you rely on your teammates in a team fight,"
Dong Jian said.
"We'll compete one-on-one another time."
Their first two-on-two Soul Master battle produced no clear winner.
But it showed everyone one thing.
Dong Jian and Li Man weren't simply an attacker and a support.
Li Man controlled routes, created points of leverage, and changed how both sides moved.
Dong Jian absorbed impacts, broke through control, and carried out close-range attacks.
The two had already formed a combat system uniquely their own.
Yu Xiaogang looked at the traces left by Green Bamboo Binding Formation.
His original assessment of Li Man's First Soul Skill quietly changed as well.
This wasn't an ordinary Entanglement Soul Skill.
It was a battlefield that a Soul Master could continually reinterpret.
The next day,
The academy issued an assignment outside the academy.
It was to escort a medicinal herb caravan to a medicine estate north of Nuoding City.
The pay wasn't high.
But it counted toward the work-study students' annual practical combat results.
Dong Jian and Li Man both signed up.
Sparring at the academy was no longer enough for them to keep growing quickly.
Real enemies-
It was time for them to appear.
Sorry, guys. I'm new to writing, and the pace has been a little slow at the start, but things will definitely get more and more on track later. Thanks for your support, guys.