White represented a Ten-Year Soul Ring, while yellow represented a Hundred-Year Soul Ring. A Soul Ring differing by one whole tier, under conditions where both sides' Soul Power was at the same level, would have a decisive effect.
This — how was this possible? The appearance of a Soul Ring on Tang San had completely overturned these students' understanding of Martial Souls. First year meant only six to seven years old. Reaching the rank of Soul Master in the first year — that had never happened in the entire history of Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy. And on top of that, his Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, commonly written off as a worthless Martial Soul.
"Boss, take him out! It's just Blue Silver Grass — so what if his Soul Ring is a bit impressive?" an older student couldn't help but say.
"Idiot, shut up." Xiao Chenyu barked, cutting his subordinate short.
Just Blue Silver Grass? What Xiao Chenyu was thinking was far more complicated than that. Blue Silver Grass was a worthless Martial Soul, that much was true — but Blue Silver Grass at the rank of Soul Master was something else entirely. And he had a Hundred-Year Soul Ring on top of that. There was no way he'd obtained it on his own. If someone had helped him acquire a Hundred-Year Soul Ring and guided him to the Soul Master rank, then just how powerful was the force standing behind this first-year brat?
Xiao Chenyu's father was the City Lord of Nuoding City — otherwise he wouldn't have been able to carry on so brazenly at the academy, with even the teachers rarely bothering to rein him in. Growing up watching his father navigate the world of politics, he'd picked up a fair bit of that calculating mindset. So the first thing he considered was Tang San's background. His father had warned him time and again: in this world, there were certain great families you absolutely must not offend. They could be even more terrifying than the imperial royal family. The royals still cared about face and reputation, but those great families had no such constraints. Cross them, and the result was nothing short of annihilation.
"Are you really a Work-study Student?" Xiao Chenyu couldn't help but ask.
Tang San gave a faint nod. After activating his Soul Rings, that feeling of power surging through his entire body had his blood running hot. He wanted to find an opponent and test himself properly — to see just what level his strength had reached after the qualitative leap. "Let's do this."
The situation had reached the point where the arrow was on the string and had to be released. Xiao Chenyu kept one thought firmly in mind: even if he defeated this first-year Work-study Student, he absolutely must not hurt him.
If Ling Feng's pounce had been agile, then Xiao Chenyu's was explosive and overbearing. With a Soul Ring of his own, his strength was in an entirely different league from Wang Sheng's. Even with Wang Sheng's Martial Soul being that of a king among beasts, the gap in Soul Ring tier made him vastly inferior to Xiao Chenyu.
Facing Xiao Chenyu's charge, Tang San was not nearly as relaxed as he'd been against Ling Feng. Having one Soul Ring versus having none was an absolute world of difference. The moment Xiao Chenyu's body lunged forward, the Soul Power radiating from him had already blanketed a three-meter radius around Tang San. This was a clash of brute force, pure and simple — no technique involved. It was all about meeting force with force.
Force against force? Then bring it on. Strength was never a Tang Sect disciple's forte, but Tang San wanted to see just how far his Mysterious Heaven Skill had developed. He gathered his energy into both palms and pushed them slowly forward from his chest, meeting Xiao Chenyu's wolf claws head-on.
The expressions on Xiao Chenyu's subordinates' faces had already broken into triumphant grins. A Hundred-Year Soul Ring, so what? This idiot was trying to catch Xiao Boss's wolf claws with his bare hands — he was practically asking to die. They'd personally witnessed Xiao Chenyu, after Martial Soul Possession, shatter solid stone with nothing but his claws.
Xiao Chenyu's hands were much larger than Tang San's. Deep down he was hesitating — should he use the full crushing power of his claws? He was confident that with his claw strength alone he could crush Tang San's palms, and that would be the end of this bout. But if he did that, the person backing Tang San...
The pounce was blindingly fast. Before Xiao Chenyu could finish weighing the consequences, his twin claws collided with Tang San's palms.
A muffled boom. Blue and white light blazed simultaneously. The shockwave from the collision of raw energy sent a gust of wind rippling outward, forcing the spectators on both sides to stagger on their feet.
Tang San stood with his feet set in a grounded stance, not having budged an inch. Xiao Chenyu, on the other hand, lurched backward, his upper body swaying as the impact knocked him back. Almost instinctively, his wolf claws had already slashed toward Tang San's hands. The fury of losing the clash in Soul Power had made him forget his reservations entirely.
But what happened next shocked Xiao Chenyu even more.
The instant his wolf claws latched onto Tang San's hands, he felt it with startling clarity — Tang San's hands were as hard as iron. No matter how much force he applied, he couldn't close his grip by even a fraction. Then, with a sharp wrench, Tang San pulled both hands free from his claws, reversed his grip and seized Xiao Chenyu's wrists, refusing to let him retreat. He yanked him forward, drove his body in, and slammed his right shoulder directly into Xiao Chenyu's lower abdomen.
Xiao Chenyu's massive frame went airborne, sent flying a full three meters before crashing to the ground.
Xiao Chenyu's subordinates had been about to cheer when they saw their boss go flying. This time, the way they looked at Tang San had changed utterly. Was this kid even human?
The lustrous jade-like sheen slowly faded from his hands. Having confirmed that his Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy was superior to the opponent's level-11 Soul Power, Tang San said calmly, "I have things to do and no time to play games with you. Let's end it here. Blue Silver Grass — Bind!"
Xiao Chenyu had just bounced back to his feet. Tang San's shoulder strike hadn't used his full strength, and with his Beast-type Martial Soul Possession giving him solid defenses, he wasn't seriously hurt. It was right then that he heard Tang San's words.
Over a dozen thick strands of Blue Silver Grass erupted without warning from beneath his feet, spiraling upward. Before Xiao Chenyu could even react, they had wound themselves tightly around both his legs.
"What the—?!" Xiao Chenyu's face drained of color. He strained with everything he had, but the evolved Blue Silver Grass was incredibly tough. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free.
(End of Chapter)