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"Raaah—!"
A roar tore through the air as crimson flames erupted.
A dragon claw, armored in red scales, ripped through the inferno and seized the azure Seven Kill Sword—ignoring the blade's razor edge as it sliced through scales, blood dripping freely from the wound.
"You reckless girl," Chen Junting muttered.
His left hand shot out, slamming palm-to-claw against the fiery assault. Two opposing soul powers—dragonfire's fury and sword-steel's sharpness—collided, exploding into a storm of sparks.
At the same time, his right wrist dropped sharply.
The Seven Kill Sword—still gripped by the dragon claw—shook violently. Its terrifying force, combined with its lethal sharpness, shattered the claw's scales layer by layer. The wound widened, and a sliver of killing intent pierced into Wu Feng's body!
Thud!
Chen Junting thrust the sword upward. Wu Feng's grip failed. Before she could react, a pale palm blurred through the air—its sonic boom deafening.
Desperate, she raised her intact left dragon claw to block. But the impact sent her flying backward. Even after stabilizing, her left arm trembled uncontrollably—numb, yet unfeeling.
Woosh—!
When she looked up, the sword's tip hovered at her nose.
"Good. That's enough," Mujin announced. Petals of white light drifted onto Wu Feng, instantly healing her bloodied wounds.
"Lost again," Wu Feng grumbled, watching Chen Junting retract his martial soul. "You only used your first soul skill."
"What else did you expect?" Chen Junting didn't indulge her pout. He stepped off the platform first—Wu Feng had been the last Class Nine student to fight.
…
With combat trials over, five of the six metrics were finalized. Only endurance remained.
The best test? Long-distance running.
That afternoon, Mujin gathered the class at the plaza.
But the moment they entered, everyone felt it—
Their bodies suddenly grew heavier.
"Another soul power suppression field?" Wu Feng scanned the area, adapting to the weight. Yet she spotted no soul-guided devices or visible soul skills.
"No soul-guided tech?"
"Then it must be a soul skill."
Chen Junting's eyes locked onto the burly middle-aged man beside Mujin. From the first moment he'd sensed the pressure, he'd known it wasn't standard soul power suppression. That felt like an energy-based assault—but this? Just pure, crushing weight.
Sure enough, a black soul ring glowed faintly beneath the man's feet—easily overlooked.
"A gravity-control soul skill?" Ning Tian guessed, well-read as ever.
"Not quite," Chen Junting corrected. "Gravity manipulation on this scale would be a Domain-type ability. Even a ten-thousand-year soul ring couldn't achieve this. His skill likely just amplifies gravity."
Just then, Mujin spoke up—
Clarifying that the afternoon's task was weighted running under amplified gravity. No martial souls, soul bones, or soul-guided devices allowed. Pure baseline endurance only.
At her command, Class Nine began running.
Initially, the added weight was negligible. Most students chatted and joked as they jogged.
Only a few ran in silence—
All from major sects or noble houses.
As time passed, students began collapsing. Mujin escorted each out, handing them a packet of medicinal herbs and a sheet of paper before sending them off.
In the end, only Chen Junting remained.
The burly instructor's eyes lit up. He turned to Mujin with a congratulatory tone: "Teacher Mujin—congratulations! Your Class Nine has quite the prodigy this year."
"Teacher Zhao, we have more than just one," Mujin replied smoothly, deflecting the praise. She pivoted quickly: "But you mentioned other talents—any names?"
As homeroom teachers rarely shared intel on rival classes, Mujin knew little beyond rumors—except for Chen Junting, whose prowess was common knowledge.
"Hah! Curious, are we?" Teacher Zhao didn't mind. Not being a homeroom teacher, he stayed clear of their performance rivalries. "Fine—Class Two's Xie Huanyue, and Class Five's Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu."
Xie Huanyue—a defensive Soul Grandmaster—didn't concern her.
But Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu…
The surnames alone screamed White Tiger Duke Manor and Star Luo Zhu Clan—and their legendary inherited Martial Soul Fusion Skill: Netherworld White Tiger.
"Do they really have that fusion skill…?" Mujin wondered aloud.
But watching Chen Junting still running tirelessly, her worry faded.
'So what if they have a fusion skill? If they can't use it, it's worthless.'
The moment Chen Junting finally stopped, the endurance test ended.
He didn't leave immediately. After gravity normalized, he paced slow laps around the plaza to cool down. Mujin approached, handing him his results sheet and herbs.
Chen Junting examined the paper—
His six-dimensional ratings were all maximum scores. At the bottom, Mujin had added a personalized training regimen—with one final note:
"This plan is for reference only."
"Hey! We didn't get that line!" Wu Feng, fastest of the group, had already crowded around. She and Wang Dong gasped at Chen Junting's perfect scores—then shrugged, as if it were expected.
But that last line intrigued them.
When Wu Feng read it aloud, Chen Junting tried sneaking a peek at her sheet—but she caught him, hiding all but fragments:
"Focus on technique and reaction speed—stop charging in recklessly…"
That alone made him chuckle.
Brutally accurate. Couldn't be more precise.
"Laugh it up!" Wu Feng lunged at him. Chen Junting blocked her flailing arms while diverting attention: "Wait—you all didn't get that note?"
A chorus of head-shakes answered him.
"No idea why," Chen Junting said, dropping the matter. "Let's head back to the dorms and shower." He swapped everyone's herb packets for his own—
Not that Mujin's were poor, but his were premium-grade, far surpassing what the academy issued to the whole class.
"Here—yours too," he tossed packets to Dugu Xin and Wang Dong.
"Hmph—rare herbs," Dugu Xin sniffed, instantly recognizing their quality. "These are leagues better than the academy's."
"Back at the sect, these aren't even rare," Chen Junting said casually.
He almost forgot that his roommate was from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School. Rare goods? To them, these were just ordinary goods.
…
In the days that followed, Mujin implemented the tailored training plans from the tests. Though grueling, no one quit—each saw tangible gains in strength.
Meanwhile, Chen Junting transcribed Electrolux's spiritual meditation technique from his spiritual sea and gave it to Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Huo Yuhao.
Ning Tian asked no questions.
Everyone had secrets—and her Brother Junting would never harm her or the sect.
After practicing, Ning Tian and Wu Feng showed no obvious improvement. But Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection range shot to fifty meters!
Ning Tian was delighted. Because the more outstanding Huo Yuhao was, the higher the return on her investment.
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