"Sparring?"
Thinking for a moment, Su Cheng didn't immediately refuse, but instead asked, "Why should I spar with you? What's in it for me?"
This question caught Tang San off guard.
In his view, children of this age were usually eager to compete, and few would refuse a challenge, let alone ask for benefits.
But Su Cheng seemed different from his peers.
Tang San couldn't help but furrow his brow.
If the other party insisted on avoiding the fight, he didn't have a good way to handle it, especially in public.
Su Cheng now lived in a single dormitory in the academy, separate from the work-study students like them, making it difficult to encounter him privately.
"Are you afraid?"
"Not afraid, just don't want to waste time," Su Cheng said nonchalantly, raising an eyebrow.
Tang San wasn't good at provoking others, and seeing that his words were ineffective, he felt a bit tongue-tied.
Glancing at Xiao Wu, who had been hanging her head beside him, he spoke frankly, "What do you want as a benefit?"
"Well..."
Su Cheng scratched his chin with his finger, sizing up Tang San from head to toe.
His gaze paused and then settled on Tang San's waist.
There, he noticed a very elegant belt, which didn't quite match his attire.
The belt was entirely black, with barely discernible dark stripes on it.
Twenty-four milky-white circular jade stones were evenly embedded on the outer side of the belt, each about the size of Su Cheng's thumb. The stones had a warm luster, clearly rare and precious.
"Cough," Su Cheng felt a bit embarrassed, "Your belt looks nice."
Upon hearing this, Tang San was taken aback, then anger surged within him.
How dare he, this guy actually set his sights on the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges Night that his teacher had given him!
Not to mention the value of the storage-type soul tool itself, just the fact that it was a gift from his teacher should have made it off-limits as a bet.
Moreover, this belt was quite significant to him in terms of practical use.
The Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges Night was embedded with twenty-four milky-white jade stones, each containing a cubic meter of storage space. For Tang San, this meant he could store twenty-four types of hidden weapons!
With this belt, he no longer worried about the storage problem for his hidden weapons.
"Brother, let it go."
Seeing Tang San silent, Xiao Wu quickly tugged at his sleeve and whispered.
Xiao Wu naturally felt close to Tang San, and his actions in standing up for her at the beginning of the semester had touched her deeply, even accelerating the progress of their relationship.
When they confirmed their relationship in the Soul Village, Tang San had confided the secret of his hidden weapons to her, so she naturally understood the belt's importance to him.
She didn't want him to take any risks because of this matter.
At this moment, Xiao Wu looked at Tang San with eyes full of tenderness, almost melting his heart.
"Hurry up, don't waste time."
An untimely voice suddenly interrupted their eye contact.
However, just being encouraged by Xiao Wu's words, Tang San was no longer hesitant.
Looking coldly at Su Cheng, he said, "Fine, if I lose, the belt is yours. But if you lose, you have to apologize to Xiao Wu!"
"Heh, I haven't done anything to her, yet you want me to apologize," Su Cheng said somewhat helplessly. "But since you're so sincere, I'll agree. If I lose, I'll apologize."
"Let's go, to the back mountain."
"Go? What if you don't follow the deal if you lose?"
"If I say something, I won't go back on my word."
"Whether you stick to your word or not, I'm not sure, let me think..." Su Cheng pondered for a moment, then turned to Xiao Wu, "How about this, let this girl by your side swear to it? If she breaks the oath, you will lose her forever."
Tang San's eyes flashed with anger and killing intent. He couldn't believe that Su Cheng dared to curse Xiao Wu like that; it was truly seeking death.
"I won't make Xiao Wu swear!" Tang San said coldly.
"In that case, there's nothing to discuss," Su Cheng said, pretending to leave.
"Wait!" Xiao Wu suddenly spoke up, stopping him.
First, she glanced at Tang San, then said softly, "Brother, I will never leave you."
Then, she suppressed her fear and looked straight at Suo Cheng, "I promise for my brother!"
Su Cheng looked at Tang San with a smirk, "What do you say?"
By this point, Tang San had calmed down.
He had already made up his mind that he would use hidden weapons if necessary in this battle. Even if he didn't kill Su Cheng, he would permanently cripple him, letting him know that some things couldn't be said casually.
"Let's go."
...
On the rocky slope of the back mountain, after Tang San handed over some items stored in the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges Night to Xiao Wu, he stood facing Su Cheng.
Actually, the terrain here wasn't favorable for Tang San, and there were no plants around, making his attacks easily predictable.
But finding a jungle within the academy was obviously unrealistic, and Su Cheng wouldn't agree to it anyway.
Moreover, in Tang San's view, with Su Cheng's 0.5-level innate soul power, having two or three levels of cultivation was already considered good. Even if he had some tricks up his sleeve, they wouldn't surpass his own cultivation level and the guidance from Yu Xiao Gang.
He was confident that he could handle the situation anywhere.
The key was how to teach him a lesson.
"Tang San, second-year work-study student, martial soul, Blue Silver Grass. Soul master at Rank 14, one-ring Soul Master."
A faint white light shone from Tang San's body as he raised his right hand, and Blue Silver Grass sprouted from his palm.
Tang San raised his right hand, and a faint white light appeared on the surface of his skin. Immediately after, a faint Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm, floating around his feet.
A bright yellow soul ring rose from under his feet, hovering around his body and undulating up and down.
A faint tea fragrance emanated, but within that intoxicating aroma lurked a paralyzing toxin.
"Su Cheng, second-year student. Martial soul..." Suo Cheng paused, his expression inexplicable, "I don't need to use my martial soul."
As he spoke, he picked up a wooden stick from the ground.
At this point, he didn't want to reveal his martial soul, so a wooden stick was enough to defeat Tang San.
"You're looking for death."
Seeing his demeanor, Tang San's anger surged.
Several Blue Silver Grass leaves swiftly detached from his palm, heading straight for Su Cheng's face.
At the same time, over a dozen thick Blue Silver Grasses suddenly surged from under Su Cheng's feet, coiling up and aiming for his legs.
"Useless martial soul, feeble attack."
Su Cheng effortlessly defended against the attacks while continuing to taunt.
He wasn't trying to win against Tang San; there was no need for that. Moreover, even if he tried to teach him something, it wouldn't work. After all, Blue Silver Grass was a mediocre martial soul unless it awakened into Blue Silver Emperor. Its potential was limited, and he couldn't see it reaching far.
He just wanted to plant a seed in Tang San's mind—that Blue Silver Grass was a trash martial soul.
In the future, if he could prompt Tang San to switch to forging the Clear Sky Hammer ahead of schedule, that would be even better.
Su Cheng didn't feel threatened, but he was thinking about how the Asura God would handle this. A twin martial soul talent wasted like this, how would the Divine Realm God-Kings deal with it?
Although the gods in this world were a bit unruly, the Divine Realm Committee shouldn't have absolute control. With limited interference in the mortal realm, there was still plenty of room for maneuvering.
As for Tang San, he had never been Su Cheng's target.
While Su Cheng was lost in his thoughts, Tang San was already sweating, feeling a bit anxious.
Seeing that Blue Silver Grass's entanglement was ineffective, he shifted his footwork and used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to quickly rush towards Su Cheng. Then, he gathered his strength in his palms and pushed them out slowly in front of his chest.
Tang Sect's ultimate technique, Mysterious Jade Hands!
"Smack!"
Su Cheng's wooden stick struck Tang San's palm ahead of time, cutting off his close-range attack.
This sudden turn of events obviously caught Tang San off guard, and his attack was delayed for a moment.
"Dull reaction, ineffective attack."
Then, Su Cheng flicked his wrist upward, and the wooden stick struck Tang San's inner wrist acupoint, causing his arm to go numb.
Immediately after, he used the stick like a sword, quickly striking at Tang San's throat.
"You lose."
"..."
Tang San's pupils dilated, and he stood frozen in place.
How was this possible? How could this be!
How could his Mysterious Jade Hands attack be easily resolved like this? How could he keep up with the speed of my Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track?
My sleeve arrows, my hidden weapons, I haven't even used them yet!
"I, I..."
Su Cheng didn't move his hand holding the stick, but his left hand reached out and took off Tang San's belt.
Tang San's face turned pale, and he remained motionless, still not reacting.
It seemed that this failure had a much greater impact on him than Su Cheng had imagined.
Success and failure are easy to come by, but gains and losses are easy to bear. It's easy to say, but few can truly achieve it.
Shaking his head, Su Cheng turned and left with the soul tool in his hand.
He had indeed overestimated Tang San.