Thank you to our new Patrons: SilverWolf, Melon, Sam Olsen, Thomas Gill and P Tydd! Your support means the world to me <3 We are up to Chapter 180: Starting To Forge on Patreon!
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Roar!"
A tiger's roar echoed through the arena.
Wu Siduo entered the state of her self-fusion martial soul technique, and the enormous form of the Hell White Tiger partially emerged from the range of Xu Yuan's blood essence aura.
The purple tiger claws descended, their terrifying force knocking Xu Yuan back several meters.
"Not bad. You've improved a lot in just three months," Xu Yuan remarked, surprised by Wu Siduo's progress.
In just three months, not only had her Hell White Tiger form improved, but even her strength and physical resilience while in her Hell Spirit Cat form were significantly higher than they had been three months ago.
As Xu Yuan retreated, Tang Wulin finally charged forward.
His right hand formed the Golden Dragon Claw, his right arm now covered in golden dragon scales. A golden bloodline soul ring gleamed as the power of the Golden Dragon Body erupted.
Most importantly, on his right forearm, a gauntlet-like armor piece appeared.
It materialized out of thin air.
Only Tang Wulin's right forearm glowed as a burst of light shot out and solidified into this forearm armor!
Battle Armor
A spirit-forged One-Word Battle Armor forearm piece.
Teacher Ji, a medical teacher from Shrek Academy's Outer Court, was no stranger to such things. With just one glance, he discerned the true nature of Tang Wulin's battle armor component.
He couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.
Is this the caliber of this year's freshmen?
They're willing to use spirit-forged alloys for One-Word Battle Armor.
Tang Wulin's blood essence surged, exuding immense pressure as the dragon's might spread throughout the battlefield.
Compared to before, his dragon presence was less ostentatious but far more condensed.
After cultivating the Golden Dragon Nine Forms, his control over blood essence and utilization of his bloodline powers had reached new heights. Naturally, his current strength was incomparable to what it once was.
It wasn't just the battle armor component that gave him confidence—it was primarily the Golden Dragon Nine Forms.
Xu Yuan stomped his right foot hard on the ground, halting his retreat. Spinning in place, he executed a swift counter-thrust with his spear, piercing the heavens.
Blood essence converged, five-element forces gathered, spear momentum focused, and spear intent exploded.
The entire sequence flowed seamlessly.
This peak-level counter-thrust collided with Tang Wulin, who was immediately forced back. Meanwhile, Xu Yuan's body, which had just stabilized, retreated another step—but only one step before regaining balance.
Above them, another elemental vortex crashed down.
Xu Yuan let out a cold snort. His forehead flashed, and a faint, star-speckled glow flickered behind him, coalescing into a shape.
It was none other than Huan Xing, the Phantom Beast.
Using Xu Yuan's soul power and mental energy, it sketched out a barrier.
BOOM!
With Xu Yuan's formidable soul power and mental energy as the foundation, combined with Huan Xing's skillful manipulation, although the barrier shattered, it completely absorbed the damage from the elemental vortex.
"That's a soul spirit?"
Gu Yue's eyes narrowed as she looked at Huan Xing. Recognizing the origin of this soul spirit, she realized it was an exceptionally intelligent one capable of aiding Xu Yuan in battle.
Wu Siduo's expression also shifted slightly.
So there was still something hidden.
Three months ago, Xu Yuan hadn't revealed this soul spirit.
She should have expected it—his fourth soul ring came from a ten-thousand-year soul spirit, so naturally, this soul spirit would possess enough intelligence to assist him in combat outside his body.
"It's still not enough. It's far from my envisioned Five Elements Divine Light Barrier. After the fight, I'll need to train more." Through their spiritual link, Xu Yuan's voice echoed in Huan Xing's mind.
Even Huan Xing, who had long since grown indifferent to everything and possessed a quiet, subdued personality, couldn't help but look bitter.
Now he'd have to go practice again in that space.
The real issue was that his specialty lay in starlight and mental attributes, not the control of the five elements.
Even with Xu Yuan's assistance, Huan Xing still lacked much in his mastery of the five elements.
This barrier, combining the five elements and mental energy, was already the limit of his current abilities.
At Xu Yuan's mention of additional training, Huan Xing could already imagine how dull and monotonous the next few months—or rather, years within the dream realm—would be.
Huan Xing glared at Gu Yue.
It was all because of her.
Using Xu Yuan's mental energy, he instantly unleashed a mental shockwave.
Gu Yue's expression shifted slightly, though the mental attack had minimal effect on her. Still, she feigned being impacted.
Huan Xing, utilizing Xu Yuan's soul power to manipulate ambient spiritual energy, quickly solidified his form and charged toward the Hell White Tiger.
The battle lasted ten minutes.
Xu Yuan tested the limits of the three opponents before decisively ending the fight. On the other side, Ye Xinglan was finally unable to find an opening in Fang Yuan's defenses and was eliminated under his control.
Fortunately, Xu Yuan stepped in and eliminated Fang Yuan.
Teacher Ji shook his head.
He could tell that Xu Yuan had been holding back the entire time, dragging the fight out for ten minutes just to push the trio to their limits and understand their techniques.
It was completely uneven.
Although each of them—Wu Siduo, Tang Wulin, and Gu Yue—were exceptional talents of their generation, they were utterly overwhelmed in front of Xu Yuan.
"This Xu Yuan is said to have methods to suppress others' soul power, mental energy, and blood essence. He didn't even use them just now—only pure spear techniques—and he still suppressed them."
"Was that your ten-thousand-year soul spirit just now? Incredible," Wu Siduo recalled her earlier clash with Huan Xing and exclaimed in awe.
Ten-thousand-year soul spirits were indeed powerful.
When supported by sufficient soul power and mental energy from their host, soul spirits could unleash nearly their peak abilities from when they were alive.
A ten-thousand-year soul beast was not something an ordinary Soul King could handle.
And Huan Xing was close to twenty thousand years old, with rare attributes like starlight and mental energy, placing him among the top tier of soul beasts.
Xu Yuan, responding to Wu Siduo's astonishment, admitted that he couldn't sustain Huan Xing's presence for too long.
Huan Xing's size wasn't small, comparable to Wu Siduo's Hell White Tiger form. Maintaining Huan Xing's existence placed a significant burden on Xu Yuan.
If it weren't for Xu Lizhi's constant supply of recovery buns, Xu Yuan wouldn't have been able to last this long using this method.
"All right, I now have a rough understanding of your strengths. For the next training sessions, follow my previous instructions: you three will continue practicing in teams. In five days, all six of you will fight against me."
This time, no one objected.
Tang Wulin had already shown their progress—a single forearm armor piece.
But Xu Yuan hadn't even revealed his mech yet!
"By the way, you have about ten more days. You four should try to craft a few more pieces of battle armor. Gu Yue's helmet can be made first to enhance mental energy, followed by Xinglan's gauntlets, then Wulin's gauntlets and upper-arm armor."
Ten days—whether they could rush the production of these four components was uncertain.
It would be difficult.
"No need to rush too much. If you can't finish them before the match against the second-years, completing them before the third-year match is fine."
From then on, everything proceeded according to Xu Yuan's plan.
In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.
The adaptation match had finally arrived.
------------------------------------------------------
Support my writing journey: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
40+ Chapters Ahead Guaranteed.