The night sky was like a vast piece of deep blue velvet, slowly blanketing Donghai City. The bustle of the Donghai Academy teaching area had completely died down. The teaching buildings and roads faded into the darkness, leaving only scattered streetlights emitting lonely halos of light. However, inside the high-level soul tool training ground dedicated to Class Zero, it was currently brightly lit, as if it were day. All five students of Class Zero, along with their class teacher Wu Changkong, were gathered here.
The practical combat duel during the day had ended in Huo Yuhao's overwhelming victory. But as a newcomer, Xu Xiaoyan was clearly not convinced and insisted on a rematch at night. Wu Changkong had agreed to this extra match. Huo Yuhao stood on one side of the training ground, his gaze calm as he looked toward the three people opposite him who had already set up their formation. What surprised him slightly was that this time, he actually saw a surge of burning battle intent in the eyes of the three opponents!
Even Tang Wulin and Xie Xie, who had suffered plenty of setbacks at his hands, were the same. What had given them such confidence? The thought flickered in Huo Yuhao's mind, and the answer was obvious: Xu Xiaoyan. Since this new transfer student had proposed a rematch at night, perhaps she truly possessed some kind of special ability capable of changing the course of the battle.
"Begin."
Wu Changkong's cold voice echoed in the empty training ground, interrupting Huo Yuhao's thoughts. He focused his mind, suppressing that hint of curiosity. No matter what the other side had prepared, he had absolute confidence in his own strength. Mental Detection quietly unfolded, covering the entire field, while the pitch-black soul tool longsword in his hand pointed diagonally toward the ground. The battle was on the verge of breaking out.
As an agility-attack system spirit master, Xie Xie was the first to move! His figure turned into a blurred stream of light; compared to the previous semester, his speed had clearly made significant progress. Only a string of faint afterimages remained in the air as the cold light of his sharp dagger pointed directly at Huo Yuhao's vitals.
Tang Wulin did not rush forward in a hurry. Although only one spirit ring rose beneath his feet, it had already upgraded from hundred-year to thousand-year. The Blue Silver Grass, strengthened by the saturation of dragon-type bloodline Qi, had now become tougher and thicker, shimmering with a faint metallic luster. Like spirit snakes waiting for an opportunity, they coiled and lashed out at Huo Yuhao from tricky angles, restricting his movement space. Even with Huo Yuhao's soul tool longsword, cutting through these vines would require more spirit power than before.
Meanwhile, the newly joined Xu Xiaoyan stood quietly at the very back of the combat circle. A bright yellow spirit ring emerged beneath her feet, and she held an Ice Staff spirit that was translucent throughout and emitted a faint, chilly aura. She did not immediately participate in the attack, but merely stared at the battlefield with a focused gaze, seemingly waiting and brewing something.
Huo Yuhao's footwork was light and graceful, his body moving like a willow catkin in the wind. He wove and dodged through the web of Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass and Xie Xie's torrential dagger attacks; it looked perilous, but he was actually doing it with ease. The longsword in his hand would occasionally strike like a spirit snake's tongue, precisely hitting the weak points of Xie Xie's offensive.
At other times, it was like a rainbow piercing the sun, his sharp swordplay forcibly sweeping aside and severing the tough Blue Silver Grass. After a semester of Wu Changkong's meticulous guidance and his own hard practice, Huo Yuhao's swordplay was no longer what it used to be. He had shed his initial clumsiness, and the transitions between his moves were smooth, with his power controlled effortlessly.
More importantly, with the assistance of the god-like skill Mental Detection, Huo Yuhao's swordplay displayed a unique style. He did not follow fixed sword routines but could foresee the opponent's attack trajectory and subsequent changes in advance. Therefore, every time he struck with his sword or moved, it was as if he could predict several steps ahead.
Even a seemingly casual movement could turn the mundane into the miraculous in the next moment, appearing in a critical position the opponent had not expected. It was precisely by relying on such unique swordsmanship that, even without using powerful mental attack spirit abilities, Huo Yuhao had made Tang Wulin and Xie Xie suffer in the past, repeatedly suppressing them in close-quarters combat until they had strength but nowhere to use it.
As soon as this duel began, Xie Xie and Tang Wulin displayed an unprecedentedly fierce offensive. Faced with the full efforts of the two, even someone as strong as Huo Yuhao had to focus intensely, seriously dismantling and responding to their moves. However, in Huo Yuhao's visual blind spots and the gaps in the combat rhythm transitions, sharp ice wheels would always fly out silently.
Their angles were extremely tricky and the timing was perfectly grasped, like venomous snakes lurking in the shadows, ready to bite him when he least expected it. The cute and nimble-looking Xu Xiaoyan was actually pure on the outside, dark on the inside. Her choice of timing and positioning for her strikes could be described as both underhanded and accurate.
If it were any other spirit elder, they likely would have been thrown into a panic by this multi-dimensional offensive, unable to attend to everything at once. Unfortunately, she had encountered Huo Yuhao, who possessed Mental Detection. Under that all-encompassing, zero-blind-spot perception, Xu Xiaoyan's carefully designed little tricks had nowhere to hide. Before those ice wheels could even get close, they were either lightly dodged or swatted away by a sword strike from Huo Yuhao.
But immediately following that, a sudden change occurred! Huo Yuhao keenly sensed that the aura of Xu Xiaoyan's spirit in the rear had undergone a violent transformation! A mysterious pale-golden light, as if drawn from the depths of the night sky, pierced through the training ground's dome and landed precisely on the Ice Staff in her hand!
The light flowed and condensed, actually forming a hexagram-shaped golden wheel of light emitting starlight at the head of the staff! Xu Xiaoyan's Ice Staff pointed toward Huo Yuhao from a distance! That golden hexagram light wheel instantly detached from the Ice Staff like a thrown halo. Its speed was incredibly fast, as if it ignored distance, appearing directly beneath Huo Yuhao's feet!
The starlight suddenly turned brilliant, and the hexagram pattern beneath his feet shone brightly. Chains of ice, condensed from pure star power and ice elements, rose rapidly from the edges of the star array, crisscrossing and tangling, instantly binding Huo Yuhao firmly! A hint of surprise flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes; he hadn't expected Xu Xiaoyan's spirit to have such a change at night.
He tried to exert force to break free, but found that these ice chains were exceptionally hard. For a moment, he actually found it difficult to break loose! And at the very moment he was restrained by the ice chains, the pincer attack from front and back had already arrived! From behind, Xie Xie's second spirit ability, Twin Dragon Storm, was boldly launched!
The light dragon dagger and shadow dragon dagger wove into a gold-and-black metallic storm, carrying a whistle that tore through the air as it swept toward Huo Yuhao's defenseless back! In front, a golden light flashed in Tang Wulin's eyes as his right arm dragonized. The Golden Dragon Claw, covered in golden scales and carrying the power to shatter mountains and split rocks, slammed down hard toward Huo Yuhao's chest vitals!
With killing moves from both front and back, Huo Yuhao... seemed to have no way to dodge! Although with a spirit emperor level teacher like Wu Changkong standing by to oversee the match, Huo Yuhao was in no mortal danger. But seeing these two classmates seize the opportunity and mercilessly use their full-power ultimate moves, as if they couldn't wait to send him off, Huo Yuhao still felt a bit hurt in his heart.
His body was firmly restrained by those strange starlight ice chains and could not move. However, these chains woven from cold air and star power could not imprison his mental force! In the blink of an eye, his surging Spirit Sea Realm mental force gushed out, instantly condensing into two invisible and intangible mental shocks that entered Xie Xie and Tang Wulin's spiritual seas with absolute precision!
The two, who were in the middle of exerting their spirit abilities, felt as if their brains had been struck by a heavy hammer at the same time. Their vision went dark, their spirit power flow instantly became disordered, and their forward-charging figures and fierce attacks froze for a split second! This split second was already enough for Huo Yuhao.
With several crisp crack sounds, those tough starlight ice chains were forcibly shaken open with several cracks, and then they dissipated into starlight and ice flowers. Breaking free from the restraint, Huo Yuhao flicked his wrist, and his longsword was as fast as lightning, leaving behind two cold gleams that lit up almost simultaneously in the air!
"Chih! Chih!"
Two extremely faint sounds of cloth tearing rang out. Xie Xie and Tang Wulin only felt a slight chill on their chests. When the mental trance passed and they regained consciousness to look closely, they were shocked to find that on their respective chest fabrics, a small hole with neat edges had appeared. The two looked at each other, a hint of helplessness flashing in their eyes at the same time; they had lost again.
Tang Wulin looked down at the new wound on his clothes, a look of genuine heartache on his face as he couldn't help but grumble in a low voice: "Yuhao... why are you doing this again! In this past half-year of fighting you, I've changed at least dozens of sets of clothes!" As a child from a poor family, even though he could now earn some money through forging, the habit of being thrifty and industrious was already etched into his bones.
Moreover, the mysterious Old Tang in his mind had said that he would need many expensive natural treasures to extend his life in the future, so money naturally had to be spent sparingly. Hearing this, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but laugh. He put away his longsword and smiled, saying, "Alright, alright, my fault. I'll pay for the money for your clothes, okay?"
After saying that, he no longer looked at the depressed-looking Xie Xie and Tang Wulin, but turned his gaze toward the very back of the combat circle. Xu Xiaoyan's spirit form had already undergone a change, and she was also pursing her lips, looking at Huo Yuhao with a complex expression. With a gentle smile on his face, Huo Yuhao asked loudly, "Student Xu Xiaoyan, now that... we've fought again, what do you have to say?"
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