Li Man vs. Tang San
"Both sides, release your Martial Souls."
Blue Silver Grass rapidly grew from Tang San's palm.
A Yellow Soul Ring rose around him.
He did not deliberately release the pressure of his level-fourteen Soul Power.
Yet it was clearly denser than Li Man's level-twelve Soul Power.
Li Man touched her Green Jade Bamboo to the ground.
A Yellow Soul Ring rose around her as well.
She was not nervous because of the difference in their levels.
There was more at stake in this fight than victory or defeat.
She wanted to know exactly what her control system lacked when facing Tang San.
"Begin!"
Blue Silver Grass burst from the ground.
The first attack was a wide-area entanglement.
Li Man did not deploy her full bamboo formation.
She summoned only one bamboo shadow.
Green Bamboo Rebound.
Her body moved to the side.
The Blue Silver Grass brushed past her ankle and missed.
A second wave of vines rose behind her.
Li Man swept her Green Jade Bamboo across.
The bamboo struck the point where the vines crossed.
Although she did not have Kung Fu Deconstruction, she had watched Dong Jian break Blue Silver Entanglement many times.
The vines loosened for an instant.
The bamboo shadow rebounded again.
Li Man broke free.
"She's conserving her Soul Power."
Yu Xiaogang stood at the edge of the field.
"If she uses four bamboo shadows to wear down the Blue Silver Grass from the start, she'll quickly lose the ability to keep fighting."
Tang San saw it too.
He stopped releasing Blue Silver Grass over a wide area.
He activated Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
He closed in rapidly.
Li Man thrust the bamboo tip at the spot where he would land.
Tang San changed his footwork.
He appeared on the other side.
His Mysterious Jade Hand seized the Green Jade Bamboo.
At the same time, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon pulled at Li Man's wrist.
The two-level gap in Soul Power showed in their direct contest of strength.
Li Man's body tipped forward.
Tang San's left hand was already striking toward her shoulder.
A second bamboo shadow suddenly bent beneath her feet.
Li Man pulled back.
The Green Jade Bamboo slipped from Tang San's hand.
The two of them opened the distance again.
"Your reactions are faster than last time."
Tang San spoke.
"Because you've used the same method before."
Li Man answered.
Tang San was not annoyed.
Any move, observed repeatedly, could have its pattern discovered.
Truly skillful fighting did not mean hoping an opponent would never see through it.
It meant that even if the opponent saw through it, they still could not stop it.
The Blue Silver Grass suddenly changed targets.
It no longer entangled Li Man.
Instead, it coiled around the two bamboo shadows.
Vines continued growing along the bamboo.
Li Man immediately dismissed the first one.
But the second was locked down by the Blue Silver Grass.
Tang San clenched his hand.
The bamboo shadow was forcibly pulled toward the ground.
The Soul Skill was suppressed.
Li Man's face turned slightly pale.
Tang San used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to close in again.
He gave Li Man no time to set up her formation again.
His Mysterious Jade Hand struck the Green Jade Bamboo repeatedly.
Every collision sent a numbing shock through Li Man's arm.
The control-type Soul Master was forced into direct close combat.
It seemed she had fallen into Tang San's rhythm.
Yet Li Man did not retreat.
She chose to abandon Green Bamboo Binding Formation.
She fought using only her Martial Soul itself and Green Bamboo Rebound.
The bamboo tip jabbed at his wrist.
Its other end swept toward the side of his knee.
After the Mysterious Jade Hand caught the bamboo, it immediately bent and sprang back.
Three consecutive attacks from Tang San failed to land cleanly.
The students outside the field gradually fell silent.
No one treated Li Man as an ordinary control-type Soul Master who stood in the rear and released vines anymore.
Her Green Jade Bamboo was a weapon in its own right.
"But the difference in Soul Power consumption still remains."
Yu Xiaogang spoke.
Every time Li Man used her Martial Soul to rebound, she had to expend Soul Power to maintain its resilience.
Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill, however, could continuously replenish his Soul Power.
If the fight continued, the outcome would not change.
Tang San suddenly retreated.
Li Man instinctively prepared to pursue him.
But Blue Silver Grass rose beneath her feet at that moment.
Tiny Blue Silver Grass seeds had long since been left where the dismissed bamboo shadow had stood.
Vines wrapped around her ankles.
The first one.
The second one.
Li Man swung her Green Jade Bamboo and broke one.
More vines were already tightening around her from behind.
Blue Silver Entanglement!
She was completely immobilized.
Tang San did not immediately declare victory.
Li Man still had her First Soul Skill.
"Green Bamboo Binding Formation!"
Four bamboo shadows rose around the Blue Silver Grass.
The bamboo vines contracted inward.
They were not attacking Tang San.
They were pulling at her own body.
The Blue Silver Grass and bamboo vines pulled taut at the same time.
Li Man wanted to use Green Bamboo Rebound to force her way free.
Tang San increased the Soul Power he supplied.
The vines' poison began to take effect.
Her arm grew slightly numb.
The first bamboo shadow broke.
The second was completely wrapped up by the Blue Silver Grass.
Li Man still did not admit defeat.
She made the last two bamboo shadows bend in opposite directions.
Her body was pulled taut between the two forces.
The bamboo vines suddenly released.
All the force of their rebound concentrated in one direction.
Bang!
Two strands of Blue Silver Grass snapped where they crossed.
Li Man freed one hand.
Her Green Jade Bamboo stabbed into the ground.
She was only one step away from escaping.
Tang San had already appeared in front of her.
His Mysterious Jade Hand stopped at her shoulder.
More Blue Silver Grass tightened around her waist.
"It's over."
Li Man glanced at the remaining bamboo shadows.
She no longer had enough Soul Power to rebound again.
"I admit defeat."
The referee declared Tang San the winner.
Yet there was little laughter from outside the field.
With level-twelve Soul Power, Li Man had forced the level-fourteen Tang San to use Blue Silver Entanglement, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Mysterious Jade Hand, and Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon in succession.
She had even snapped some of the Blue Silver Grass by force.
Tang San withdrew his Soul Skill.
"If our Soul Power Levels were the same,"
"I might not have been able to restrain you so quickly."
"A loss is a loss."
Li Man flexed her numb wrist.
"Next time, I'll deal with the seeds the Blue Silver Grass leaves behind first."
She had found another problem.
Green Bamboo Binding Formation relied too heavily on fixed formation nodes.
Once Tang San used those nodes to plant Blue Silver Grass in advance, Li Man would instead be restricted by her own anchor points.
Defeat was not the end.
It was a direction for her next improvement.
At another training ground.
The fight between Dong Jian and Xiao Wu had also begun.
Xiao Wu had speed, Soft Skills, and Waist Bow.
Dong Jian had Bear Astral Energy Body Protection, Center of Gravity Perception, and Light-Heavy Conversion.
When Waist Bow first wrapped around his shoulders and neck.
Dong Jian increased the weight of his entire body.
Xiao Wu could not throw him directly.
She immediately changed her approach.
She stopped trying to throw him from the front.
Instead, she attacked his knees and ankles in succession.
Dong Jian kept shifting his weight between his legs.
But his speed still could not quite keep up.
Xiao Wu suddenly leaped into the air.
There were no vibrations from the ground.
Listening to the Wind to Discern Position could only pick up the currents of air around her clothes.
Dong Jian was a fraction too slow to judge.
Her legs locked around his shoulders again.
Waist Bow erupted.
He was hurled out of the arena.
Dong Jian adjusted his center of gravity in midair.
Bear Astral Energy Body Protection absorbed the impact of his landing.
His palm touched the ground first.
He rolled back into the arena.
But Xiao Wu had already touched his shoulder with the tip of her foot.
The two crossed the boundary together.
The referee checked the marks.
Dong Jian's left hand had landed outside the arena first.
"Xiao Wu wins."
After landing, Xiao Wu finally showed a satisfied smile.
"This time it wasn't a draw."
Dong Jian stood up.
"Only by one hand."
"Even one finger's difference is still a loss."
"I didn't say it wasn't."
In the two individual matches,
Dong Jian and Li Man had both lost.
But neither had suffered an overwhelming defeat.
More importantly, they had each seen Tang San's and Xiao Wu's weaknesses clearly.
The semifinal lineup was rearranged.
Because another student had withdrawn due to injury,
Dong Jian was granted a chance at an additional challenge.
His opponent-
Was none other than Tang San, who had just defeated Li Man.
Li Man walked back to the training ground from the treatment area.
She rested the Green Jade Bamboo against her shoulder.
"Will you win back the match I lost for me?"
Dong Jian shook his head.
"I'm not doing it for you."
"I want to beat him myself."