Annual Assessment: Both Advance
It was the first day of Nuoding Academy's annual assessment.
Students filled the seats around the training ground.
Thirty-two participants had entered the lower grades' individual battles.
Most had already reached level ten and obtained their First Soul Ring.
Soul Scholars without a Soul Ring found it difficult to reach the second round.
Dong Jian's first opponent was Zhou Yan, a level-fourteen Defense System Battle Soul Master.
His Martial Soul was a Rock-Armored Ox.
His First Soul Ring came from a three-hundred-year-old Stone-Skin Rhinoceros.
"Your Bear Astral Energy Body Protection leans toward defense."
Zhou Yan released his Martial Soul.
Gray rock armor covered his skin.
"Perfect. Let's see who can take more punishment."
His Yellow Soul Ring lit up.
"First Soul Skill, Rock-Skin Enhancement!"
His body's defense rose once more.
There were no complicated tactics.
Zhou Yan charged straight at him.
Dong Jian activated Bear Astral Energy Body Protection.
Black-and-white Astral Qi covered his body.
Their shoulders collided.
Bang!
Dong Jian skidded four steps backward.
Zhou Yan retreated only one step.
Gasps rang out from the sidelines.
The gap in Soul Power and his purely defensive Soul Skill gave Zhou Yan a clear advantage in the first collision.
"Again!"
Zhou Yan did not pause.
He charged a second time.
Dong Jian took the attack head-on again.
Bear Astral Energy Body Protection shook continuously.
Part of the impact was absorbed.
The remaining force still left his shoulder aching.
The third collision came.
Blood appeared at the corner of Dong Jian's mouth.
Yet Zhou Yan only stepped back twice.
"Why does he keep meeting him head-on?"
Wang Sheng did not understand.
Li Man stood at the edge of the field.
"He's testing how long his opponent's Soul Skill lasts."
Rock-Skin Enhancement could not be maintained indefinitely.
Every time Zhou Yan collided with him, the color of his rock armor faded slightly.
On the fourth charge.
Dong Jian did not take it head-on again.
His legs suddenly grew light.
He slid past Zhou Yan's side.
Zhou Yan was fast.
But he was slow to turn.
Dong Jian pressed his right hand against Zhou Yan's shoulder.
Circular Force Redirection.
Zhou Yan's body shifted off course.
The force of the Rock-Armored Ox's charge could not be stopped immediately.
Dong Jian did not try to throw an opponent who weighed far more than he did.
Instead, he moved forward with his momentum.
All the impact Bear Astral Energy Body Protection had accumulated from the first three collisions was concentrated in his right shoulder.
A blue-black light erupted.
Mountain-Leaning Collision!
Bang!
This strike did not oppose Zhou Yan's charge.
Instead, it pushed his body farther from the side.
Zhou Yan completely lost his direction.
He charged across the boundary of the training ground.
And crashed into the sandpit beyond.
"Dong Jian wins!"
Zhou Yan climbed out of the sand.
His rock armor had already vanished.
"You were never trying to beat me head-on."
"The head-on collisions were just to accumulate impact."
Dong Jian said.
"For now, I'm not as strong as you."
"Of course I had to use a different method."
He advanced past the first match.
Li Man's match followed immediately afterward.
Her opponent was a level-thirteen Fire Sparrow Soul Master.
After Martial Soul Possession, flaming wings grew from his arms.
His First Soul Skill could fire a continuous volley of flaming feathers.
Facing a fire attribute, her Plant-type Martial Soul was once again at a clear disadvantage.
"First Soul Skill, Rapid Fire Feather Shot!"
More than a dozen flaming feathers fell from the sky.
Li Man did not deploy a complete Green Bamboo Binding Formation.
She summoned only one bamboo shadow.
Green Bamboo Rebound!
She changed direction repeatedly among the flaming feathers.
The first missed.
The second grazed the hem of her clothes.
The third was deflected by the Green Jade Bamboo.
The Fire Sparrow Soul Master remained in the air.
He kept widening the distance between them.
"You can't touch me."
"And your bamboo formation can't grow in the air."
Li Man did not pursue him.
She was observing.
Every time the Fire Sparrow Soul Master fired his flaming feathers, his left wing dipped slightly first.
That was the shift in his center of gravity caused by concentrating Soul Power.
The fifth volley of flaming feathers fell.
Li Man suddenly moved in the opposite direction.
She did not dodge toward the spot with the fewest attacks.
Instead, she deliberately approached the area where the flames were densest.
The Fire Sparrow Soul Master thought she had misjudged.
He immediately swooped down.
He prepared to launch a close-range attack under the cover of the flaming feathers.
Li Man had been waiting for this moment all along.
The Green Jade Bamboo plunged into the ground.
Its stalk bent.
The force of its rebound propelled her into the air.
The Fire Sparrow Soul Master tried to change direction.
His left wing had just finished releasing Soul Power, making it half a beat slower than his right.
The Green Jade Bamboo swept upward.
Smack!
It struck the joint between his left wing and arm.
The Fire Sparrow Martial Soul lost its balance.
Her opponent fell from the air.
Li Man did not let him injure himself in the fall.
A bamboo vine wrapped around his waist before he landed.
It pulled him to the side.
The tip of the Green Jade Bamboo stopped at his chest.
"Li Man wins."
The applause from the sidelines was louder than it had been for Dong Jian's match.
Fire's advantage over plants was only a relationship between attributes.
It did not mean that having fire guaranteed victory.
The second round.
Dong Jian faced a level-thirteen agility attack system Soul Master.
Li Man faced a level-fourteen spear tool Soul Master.
Both matches lasted a long time.
Dong Jian relied on Listening to the Wind to Discern Position and Kung Fu Deconstruction to gradually discern the pattern of his opponent's high-speed movements.
In the end, he used Bear Astral Energy Body Protection to withstand a blow in exchange for a chance to close in.
Li Man, meanwhile, had her attack range suppressed by the spear.
She switched between three bamboo-shadow footholds in succession.
In the end, she made her opponent thrust his spear between the bent bamboo shadows.
The bamboo shadows rebounded.
The shaft of the spear was knocked off course.
Li Man seized the chance to tap his wrist with her Green Jade Bamboo.
Both advanced once more.
Tang San and Xiao Wu also made it into the top eight.
The teacher overseeing the draw placed eight lots into a wooden box.
Dong Jian drew Xiao Wu.
Li Man drew Tang San.
Upon seeing the results.
Xiao Wu immediately smiled.
"This time we can finally decide the winner."
Tang San looked at Li Man.
"Last time, in the two-on-two, your bamboo formation restricted Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track."
"But one-on-one, there won't be a Dong Jian to draw the Blue Silver Grass away."
"How long can you hold out?"
Li Man answered calmly:
"We won't know until we fight."
Dong Jian walked over to her.
"Want to swap opponents?"
"No need."
Li Man said.
"You want to challenge Tang San."
"So do I."