The renowned skill of Blazing Academy's Dean, Huo Tianyang, needs no introduction. Although not as groundbreaking as Xiao Zhan's self-created Fire Demon Style technique, it is a technique born from Huo Tianyang's integration of numerous Spirit Skills.
It can be said that Huo Tianyang's prowess is built upon the foundation of the Spirit Skills provided by his many Spirit Rings. Calling it a self-created Spirit Skill isn't an exaggeration, but the prerequisite conditions are quite demanding, requiring mastery of at least four corresponding Spirit Skills as a basis.
The highest version of Huo Tianyang's technique is said to incorporate six major Spirit Skills. According to what Su Wen heard from Xiao Zhan, he suspects that Huo Tianyang's skill might already be considered a distinct domain in itself.
While others may find it challenging to inherit this unique skill of Huo Tianyang, needing to experiment with Spirit Rings from start to finish, Su Wen is different.
His self-created Spirit Skills, which involve mastering the control of both the wind and earth elements, are keeping pace with his own training. Even though many of his ideas are borrowed, this alone demonstrates his extremely strong learning ability.
"Isn't it just needing a few Spirit Skills as a foundation? I'll just create my own. By replicating it several times and experiencing it firsthand, the difficulty of creating corresponding effective Spirit Skills will decrease dramatically."
Su Wen isn't worried about not being able to learn this intense skill of Huo Tianyang. Huo Tianyang naturally doesn't know about Su Wen's many learning techniques, but just from Su Wen developing so many self-created Spirit Skills, Huo Tianyang decides to let Su Wen give it a try.
Su Wen waited for less than ten minutes before Teacher Wang led sixteen students to the Fighting Arena. Accompanying them were two other teachers and Dean Huo Tianyang.
Among the sixteen students, there were seven members of the Blazing Team, one being the captain of the Inferno Team, Huo Xin, and the remaining eight were clearly of different age groups.
After a brief consideration, Su Wen understood that these were likely the contestants from the current, next, and subsequent years of Blazing Academy. Of course, perhaps due to age reasons, the next two cohorts didn't have their full quota of members recruited. Instead, they chose a few with the strongest talents who could be absolutely guaranteed to enter and began nurturing them ahead of time.
Su Wen hadn't expected them to start nurturing two cohorts in advance. He had thought that preparing one cohort in advance would be sufficient for participating in the Spirit Master Competition, after all, preparing one cohort in advance already meant having six to ten years of time.
Preparing two cohorts in advance meant that, with the Academy's investment, they had devoted themselves to efficient training for at least eleven years.
"The notion that the Five Elements are the closest to an independent force isn't just a whimsical idea," Su Wen thought to himself.
"Su Wen, this is our Blazing Academy's Dean, Huo Tianyang."
"Haha, you must be Su Wen, right? Xiao Zhan must have mentioned me to you, hasn't he?" Huo Tianyang had no airs about him; instead, he approached and directly patted Su Wen on the shoulder.
Su Wen winced as his shoulder was struck by that large hand.
Huo Tianyang, however, was inwardly surprised. This physical resilience was truly extraordinary; no wonder he had trained in the Fire Demon Style.
In the past, whenever he and Xiao Zhan exchanged blows without using Martial Spirit or Soul Power, he always came off worse. Today, seeing Su Wen, he naturally wanted to reclaim some advantage.
He delivered three consecutive strikes, gradually increasing the force, testing Su Wen's physical limits.
"I'll let it go this time for the sake of Dean Huo Tianyang's face, but I'll remember this grudge," Su Wen muttered under his breath.
Xiao Zhan had often mentioned Huo Tianyang to Su Wen, and he knew their relationship was good. According to him, Huo Tianyang's idea of creating his own unique skill arose from the stimulation he felt when Xiao Zhan developed the Fire Demon Style.
Therefore, this grudge would be settled in the future.
"Uncle Zhan did indeed speak highly of you, senior. He has nothing but praise for your skills," Su Wen thought resentfully, but his face remained smiling.
"Uncle Zhan?"
Huo Tianyang felt a bit puzzled.
"Aren't they master and disciple?"
Well, they're both Book Martial Spirits; they might even be relatives.
"I consider Xiao Zhan a friend too, so you can call me Uncle Huo or Yang" he spoke directly.
Su Wen didn't refuse. It wouldn't hurt to call him by a more familiar name since he was about to learn from him.
"Uncle Yang."
"Hmm," Huo Tianyang nodded, clasping his hands behind his back as he walked towards the group of students.
"The one standing before you is Su Wen. If you don't know him, it's fine. Just know that he, along with a Spirit Grandmaster wielding a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Spirit, defeated the Blazing Team together in the Great Spirit Arena."
The members of the Blazing Team hung their heads in shame.
Among the elite students present, apart from their seven and Huo Xin, the remaining eight were all juniors. Having this revealed on the spot felt like a death sentence.
Sure enough, five of the eight "youngsters" were utterly astonished, evidently unaware of last night's events. Only three knew beforehand about the plight of the Blazing Team, but they too were surprised to see Su Wen, the "Ignorant Scholar" standing before them.
"The Academy has invited Xiaowen here to engage in one-on-one exchanges with all of you," Huo Tianyang's statement made all sixteen individuals subconsciously step back.
Seeing this, Huo Tianyang frowned, a look of disappointment passing over his face as if he was disappointed by their lack of resilience.
However, due to Huo Tianyang's authority, all sixteen individuals reluctantly stepped forward to their original positions.
Huo Tianyang nodded, then continued, "However, I've also agreed with Xiaowen that he will only use fire attribute abilities in the upcoming battles, and his Soul Power burst won't exceed the consumption of a thousand years old Spirit Skill."
Su Wen: ???
Uncle Yang, when did we agree on this?
Wasn't it agreed that I would only use Fire Element Control abilities in combat? Why restrict the burst of my Soul Power as well?
Su Wen's Spirit Skills are all self-created. As long as his body can withstand it, he can forcibly unleash a large amount of Soul Power to execute his Fire Demon Style technique. But if the burst of Soul Power is limited, then Su Wen's maximum damage output is restricted.
Winning will depend on tactics and adaptability.
Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Huo Tianyang's restrictions.
The siblings knew where Su Wen's strength lay. Now that Su Wen's bursts were restricted, his abilities would be at most on par with a thousand years old Spirit Skill level, giving them hope.
"When I mentioned a 'thousand years old Spirit Skill,' I meant a genuine one thousand years old Spirit Skill," Huo Tianyang clarified, though few understood this statement.
"The rules of the competition are simple: rotating battles."
"Starting with the seven of you from the Blazing Team, you will each take turns fighting against Xiaowen according to your age."
"If even all seven members of the Blazing Team fail to eliminate Xiaowen, then you seven will spend six months training in Fire Valley. If all sixteen of you fail to eliminate Xiaowen, then each of you sixteen will spend six months training in Fire Valley," Huo Tianyang declared in a solemn tone.
Su Wen felt a pang of sorrow for the sixteen individuals, especially the seven members of the Blazing Team. According to Huo Tianyang's words, they would have to spend a year in Fire Valley.
Although he hadn't experienced the taste of Fire Valley herself, Su Wen had just heard Teacher Wang describe it. Fire Valley was a place suitable for fire attribute Spirit Masters to train, but staying there for a long time...
Clearly, it would be a painful experience, despite its benefits for Soul Power cultivation.
Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu took a deep breath, their gaze fixed on Su Wen, full of determination.
With so many restrictions in place, they couldn't afford to lose this time!
They would exhaust all means to defeat him!
"Su Wen, I'll be the first to challenge you!" Huo Wushuang declared, stepping forward to issue the challenge.
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