Li Man vs. Xiao Wu

The day after the annual assessment ended.

Li Man sought out Xiao Wu.

"Let's fight again."

Xiao Wu was combing her scorpion-tail braid.

Hearing this, she immediately turned around.

"Hadn't you fought enough yesterday?"

"I lost to Tang San yesterday."

"You beat Dong Jian."

Li Man held her Green Jade Bamboo horizontally before her.

"The winner between us still hasn't truly been decided."

Xiao Wu smiled.

"All right."

The two came to the bamboo grove.

There was no referee.

Dong Jian and Tang San stood at a distance, watching the fight.

"This time, whoever falls first or admits defeat loses."

Xiao Wu spoke.

"We can't call it a draw if we both go out of bounds."

"Agreed."

The fight began.

Xiao Wu didn't test the waters.

She leaped into the air.

Her right leg swept sideways.

Li Man blocked with her Green Jade Bamboo.

Xiao Wu's other leg immediately curled toward Li Man's waist.

She was already familiar with Li Man's Green Bamboo Rebound.

Before activating Waist Bow, she kicked a bamboo shadow on the ground with her toe.

As long as she destroyed the anchor point,

Li Man wouldn't be able to use it to break free.

The first bamboo shadow shook violently from the kick.

Li Man deactivated her Soul Skill herself.

Xiao Wu's attack missed.

But she immediately turned around.

She planted both hands on the ground.

Her legs swept in from the opposite direction.

Li Man leaped backward.

Her Green Jade Bamboo struck a real bamboo stalk.

She used the rebound to land behind Xiao Wu.

The butt of the bamboo swept sideways.

Xiao Wu ducked beneath it.

She flowed forward and closed the distance.

Her hand seized Li Man's wrist.

"Got you."

Waist Bow!

Her legs locked around Li Man's waist.

Power erupted from Xiao Wu's waist and abdomen.

Li Man's body left the ground.

Green Bamboo Rebound couldn't directly create bamboo shadows on the ground while she was airborne.

This had always been her weakness.

But Li Man didn't struggle.

The Green Jade Bamboo suddenly extended outward.

Its tip struck a real bamboo stalk in the distance.

The Martial Soul itself bent.

It formed an anchor point just the same.

The instant Xiao Wu threw her,

The Green Jade Bamboo rebounded.

Li Man's body didn't fly toward the ground.

Instead, she spun around the bamboo tip.

The green bamboo swept past Xiao Wu's waist.

Smack!

Xiao Wu was forced to release her legs.

The two separated in midair.

Li Man landed on a bamboo branch.

Xiao Wu landed lightly on the ground.

"You can even use an anchor point in midair now?"

"As long as the Green Jade Bamboo can touch something,"

"I have an anchor point."

Li Man leaped down from the branch.

Her First Soul Ring lit up.

Green Bamboo Binding Formation didn't spread out beneath Xiao Wu's feet.

Instead, it rose around the four corners of the entire bamboo grove.

Its range was greater than before.

Bamboo vines hid among the real bamboo leaves.

Xiao Wu moved left.

The first bamboo vine descended from above.

She leaped to dodge it.

The second bamboo vine didn't wrap around her body.

Instead, it lashed at the spot where she was about to land.

Xiao Wu could only change direction again in midair.

A third appeared from the side.

A fourth blocked her from behind.

Li Man was using Green Bamboo Binding Formation to control every spot where Xiao Wu could land.

It was the same way she had restricted Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

"You can't trap me with bamboo vines alone!"

Xiao Wu's First Soul Ring lit up.

She no longer used Waist Bow solely against people.

She wrapped her legs around a bamboo vine.

She exerted force with her waist.

The entire bamboo shadow was forcibly bent.

The bamboo vine went out of control.

Xiao Wu used the opposing force to charge toward Li Man instead.

She was so fast that dodging was almost impossible.

Li Man didn't retreat.

She deliberately stood in front of the last bamboo shadow.

Xiao Wu's legs locked around her shoulders again.

Waist Bow activated.

"The same move!"

"This time you don't have a real bamboo stalk to use as an anchor!"

But Li Man released the Green Jade Bamboo.

She grabbed Xiao Wu's arms with both hands.

Her body didn't resist the throw.

Instead, she deliberately spun in the direction of Waist Bow.

The last bamboo shadow behind her suddenly deactivated.

The rebound force released before the bamboo shadow vanished didn't act on Li Man.

Instead, it went through the bamboo vine wrapped around Xiao Wu's ankle.

The force of Xiao Wu's Waist Bow threw Li Man out.

The bamboo vine's rebound pulled Xiao Wu in the opposite direction.

The two forces erupted at the same time.

For the first time, Xiao Wu completely lost control of her own center of gravity.

Li Man spun in midair and landed.

She stepped on the Green Jade Bamboo.

The bamboo shaft bent.

It rebounded again.

She didn't stop.

In an instant, she charged toward Xiao Wu, who was still adjusting her body.

The bamboo tip stopped in front of her shoulder.

Xiao Wu forced herself to turn.

Her toe likewise kicked toward Li Man's waist.

Li Man didn't withdraw the bamboo tip.

Her other hand seized the butt of the bamboo.

She bent the shaft downward.

Xiao Wu's toe struck the bent bamboo shaft.

The force was absorbed.

The next moment, it rebounded.

Her leg was bounced upward.

Li Man's bamboo tip finally struck her shoulder.

Xiao Wu lost her balance.

She dropped to one knee as she landed.

Li Man didn't continue attacking.

The Green Jade Bamboo lay across the side of her neck.

The bamboo grove fell silent.

Xiao Wu glanced at the bamboo tip against her shoulder.

"I lost?"

"According to the rules we just set,"

"Yes."

Xiao Wu stood up.

There was no anger on her face.

She was just visibly unconvinced.

"Next time, I'll snatch your Martial Soul away first."

"Next time, I'll change my approach too."

Li Man put away her Green Jade Bamboo.

She hadn't won this fight because Xiao Wu was weak.

She had trained countless times to counter Waist Bow and solve the problem of having no anchor point in the air.

In a real fight,

Targeted preparation was itself part of one's strength.

Dong Jian walked over.

"Congratulations."

Li Man looked at him.

"Now we've each won once."

Dong Jian had defeated Tang San.

Li Man defeated Xiao Wu.

Neither of them depended on the other for her results.

Tang San walked over to Xiao Wu.

"On your last Waist Bow, you concentrated your force too much."

"So the bamboo vines pulled you back in the opposite direction."

Xiao Wu glared at him.

"Are you helping me review the fight, or do you think I didn't lose clearly enough?"

Tang San shut his mouth.

Dong Jian couldn't help laughing aloud.

Xiao Wu immediately turned to him.

"Do you want another fight too?"

"Not today,"

Dong Jian said.

"We need to prepare for the city's two-Soul-Master competition."

The First Soul Ring beneath Li Man's feet pulsed gently.

She had already reached the peak of level twelve.

The intense battle with Xiao Wu had brought her Soul Power just one step away from level thirteen.

Three months.

Both she and Dong Jian had to keep improving.

Because the competitors in the city tournament-

Could be as high as level fifteen.