Green Bamboo Rebound
"Your Green Bamboo Binding Formation has an obvious weakness."
Xiao Wu stood in the middle of the bamboo grove.
"What?"
Li Man gripped the Green Jade Bamboo.
"When all four bamboo shadows are deployed, you really are hard to get close to."
"But once the bamboo shadows are disrupted, your Soul Power consumption rises rapidly."
Xiao Wu flexed her ankles.
"And the complete formation relies too heavily on the ground."
"In the air, or anywhere without a suitable foothold, you have trouble controlling it."
Li Man did not deny it.
When the mutated Soul Beast self-destructed, two bamboo shadows from the Green Bamboo Binding Formation had been destroyed in an instant.
She had suffered a Soul Power backlash on the spot.
If she had to deploy the complete formation in every fight, the cost would be too great.
It would also be easy for her opponents to exploit.
"So today, I'll use just one bamboo shadow."
Li Man's First Soul Ring lit up.
She did not deploy four bamboo shadows.
She summoned just one behind her.
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up.
"Then I won't hold back."
Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul Possession.
She pushed off the ground.
In an instant, she closed the distance.
Her right leg swept across.
Li Man blocked with the Green Jade Bamboo.
Xiao Wu did not withdraw her leg.
Her other leg curled up from below, aiming for Li Man's waist.
The most dangerous part of Waist Bow was not being locked between her legs.
It was losing your footing once both feet left the ground.
Li Man moved backward of her own accord.
The bamboo shadow behind her bent rapidly.
A bamboo vine wrapped around her waist.
Rebound!
She was not thrown behind Xiao Wu by Waist Bow.
Instead, she used the bamboo shadow's force to move sideways.
She slid out from between Xiao Wu's legs.
"You can change direction with just one?"
Xiao Wu immediately turned to pursue her.
Li Man planted a foot on the bamboo shadow.
Her body rebounded once more.
The Green Jade Bamboo thrust at Xiao Wu's shoulder from the side.
Xiao Wu tilted her head to dodge.
Both hands grabbed the bamboo shaft.
Li Man deliberately released one hand.
The bamboo pole bent under Xiao Wu's force.
Its end suddenly sprang upward.
Smack!
It brushed past Xiao Wu's wrist.
Xiao Wu let go.
Li Man gripped the Green Jade Bamboo again.
She tapped the ground three times in succession.
Each rebound changed her direction of movement.
It was as though she were constantly shifting position on an invisible spring.
In the past, the Green Bamboo Binding Formation had primarily controlled her opponents.
Now, this single bamboo shadow had become a foothold solely for Li Man's own movement.
"Green Bamboo Rebound."
She spoke its name for the first time.
Xiao Wu did not back down because of the new technique.
She changed the way she fought.
She stopped chasing Li Man around.
Instead, she attacked the bamboo shadow directly.
Her first kick landed.
The bamboo shadow bent violently.
Her second kick struck a bamboo joint.
Cracks appeared in the Soul Power.
"Break your foothold."
"And you'll have nowhere to draw force from."
Xiao Wu's third kick was about to land.
Li Man suddenly dismissed the bamboo shadow.
Xiao Wu's kick struck empty air.
Her center of gravity shifted forward.
Li Man swept the Green Jade Bamboo upward from below.
Both of Xiao Wu's feet left the ground.
Yet she spun in midair.
Her toes kicked toward Li Man's shoulder.
Li Man had no foothold.
She could only block with the bamboo shaft.
Bang!
Both of them retreated at the same time.
"You canceled your Soul Skill yourself?"
Xiao Wu asked after landing.
"A Soul Skill isn't the only way to create a foothold."
Li Man planted the Green Jade Bamboo in the ground of the real bamboo grove.
The bamboo pole bent as well.
Using her Martial Soul itself, she charged out again.
Xiao Wu finally got serious.
One excelled at destroying footholds.
The other kept creating them.
Two completely different combat systems clashed repeatedly in the bamboo grove.
Li Man was thrown by Waist Bow three times.
The first time, she crashed into a bamboo pole.
The second time, she used a bamboo vine to slow herself down.
The third time, she deliberately made the bamboo shadow rebound before her body left the ground.
The throwing force of Waist Bow and the bamboo shadow's rebound canceled each other out.
For the first time, Xiao Wu failed to complete her throw.
After Li Man landed, the bamboo tip was already resting at Xiao Wu's waist.
Xiao Wu's toes had likewise stopped beside her throat.
Another draw.
"Can't you let me win once?"
Xiao Wu withdrew her leg in dissatisfaction.
"You can figure out a way yourself."
Li Man spoke.
Her breathing was already noticeably unsteady.
Using Green Bamboo Rebound repeatedly placed a tremendous strain on her Soul Power and judgment.
But it was this very high-intensity fight that made her Soul Power, at the peak of level eleven, begin pushing against the barrier.
Xiao Wu noticed the change.
She did not continue attacking.
"Are you about to break through?"
Li Man sat down cross-legged.
The Green Jade Bamboo stood beside her.
Her First Soul Ring pulsed slowly.
Soul Power rose steadily along the bamboo joints.
Unlike Dong Jian, who had relied on gravity and impact to break through.
Li Man's Soul Power was more like the growth of bamboo.
Each accumulation was barely noticeable.
But once it reached its limit, a new joint would naturally grow at a certain moment.
Half an hour later.
Pale cyan Soul Power spread outward.
Level twelve.
Li Man opened her eyes.
The range over which she could maintain the Green Bamboo Binding Formation had expanded slightly.
The bamboo shadows had also become tougher.
Xiao Wu spoke from beside her:
"Our levels are close now."
"Another fight?"
"Not today."
Li Man stood up.
"I need to record Green Bamboo Rebound's consumption again."
Xiao Wu pouted.
"You still like keeping records."
"Keeping records isn't everything to me."
Li Man picked up her record book.
"But that doesn't mean it isn't useful."
Dong Jian walked over from outside the bamboo grove.
He had watched the entire second half of the fight.
"Congratulations on reaching level twelve."
Li Man looked at him.
"When did you get here?"
"When you were thrown for the third time."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"You didn't need me to remind you."
Dong Jian spoke.
This was Li Man's own fight.
He had no right to keep telling her what to do from the sidelines.
Li Man put away the Green Jade Bamboo.
"The roster for the annual assessment has been announced."
On the academy notice board.
Registration for individual and duo battles had officially opened.
Dong Jian, level twelve.
Li Man, level twelve.
Level fourteen: Tang San.
Level thirteen: Xiao Wu.
All four were on the list of competitors.
The draw would take place three days later.
And the top eight in the individual battles-
Would have the chance to represent Nuoding Academy in the Nuoding City Junior Academies Joint Combat Tournament.
Li Man looked at her name.
This time.
She was not just competing to win first place in the pairs competition with Dong Jian.
She would make it into the top eight through her own strength.
And even-
Challenge Tang San and Xiao Wu.