Chapter 17: Sparring
"First soul skill: Lightning Fury!"
Lin Tian's voice rang across the worn training grounds, accompanied by a low hum of energy that resonated in the air. His gaze locked onto his opponent, hands gripping the shaft of his martial soul, the Storm Tyrant Spear.
"Hah!", with a sharp exhale, he dashed forward, thrusting the spear in a blur. His opponent sidestepped swiftly to the left. Anticipating this, Lin Tian rotated his body, shifting the spear's momentum into a sweeping arc aimed at the opponent's neck. The older boy ducked under the strike and closed the distance.
Lin Tian reacted instinctively, pulling the spear back and gripping it firmly with both hands to fend off the flurry of strikes. Though on the defensive, his sharp eyes tracked every movement, calculating.
'The spear is not a weapon for defense. It is an extension of your intent—direct, relentless, and meant only to attack!' His mother's voice echoed in his mind.
The opponent raised his weapon for an overhead swing, leaving his wrists exposed. Lin Tian stepped forward, his spear carving a sharp arc towards the vulnerable target. The clash of weapons resounded as his opponent blocked hastily, forced onto the defensive. Lin Tian pressed his advantage without hesitation. Thrust, sweep, flick, reverse swing—each movement flowed seamlessly into the next, like a deadly dance.
Using the momentum of a parry, Lin Tian redirected the spear's steel shaft toward his opponent's face in a decisive strike.
"Stop! The winner is Lin Tian," the referee announced, stepping in to intercept the blow before it landed.
Lin Tian lowered his weapon, cupping his hands respectfully. "Thank you for the spar."
His opponent, two years his senior, mirrored the gesture with a conflicted expression. Although Lin Tian had a resounding reputation as a genius, losing to someone younger was hard to stomach, especially for a proud soul master.
Lin Tian sighed softly as he stepped off the platform. He wasn't trying to be condescending, however, these spars offered little challenge anymore. While he preferred training with his parents or teachers—true veterans tempered by life-and-death battles—today's task had been different. He was here to temper the arrogance of students newly empowered by their first soul rings. It was a common issue, especially among the young and immature. A humbling defeat often worked wonders to prevent future bullying.
Under the shade, his friends, Ye Jian and Wang Jia, waited. Ye Jian and Wang Jia had attained their soul rings not long ago and were in the midst of familiarizing themselves with the skills. Both had an innate soul power level of seven and had elders in the family who could teach them personally. In this world, it was already rare for people to have soul power. Even amongst those who have soul power, the majority are on the lower side, being from soul power level one to four. Anything higher is usually the result of martial souls mutating or the martial souls of some family-oriented factions.
To be frank, Yu Xiaogang's statement of 'There are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters' is grossly misleading. His own martial soul, a mutated pig-dog looking abomination is the best example of this. With his status as the young master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, he had access to the best resources, far outstripping common soul masters. Due to his innate soul power, he could not pass the hurdle of level 29. In the eyes of the world, he is a waste.
Similarly, Lin Tian had read that there are cases of martial souls such as scythes and other farming tools having soul power. However, their innate soul power doesn't exceed two. At least scythes, axes and other bladed farming tools have a way of attacking, but what about martial souls such as hoes and plows? What soul beasts would they hunt? What soul skills would benefit them? However, the sheer imagery of someone running at their opponent with a plow amused him. It could work pretty well as a confusion tactic.
With his soul power level, he could outlast them, for those with the same level, his martial soul can suppress. Therefore, Yu Xiaogang's statement was perhaps a mockery of himself or an encouragement to give hope to the hopeless. To the outside world, he was now level 15. After stabilizing his cultivation and managing to break through due to his 'life threatening' return. However, his true cultivation level was at the peak of level 18. It had already been three months since he got his soul ring and he was becoming more adept at utilizing his soul skill. 'Lightning Fury' not only increases his soul power by 50% but also allows him finer control over lightning. In addition, it provides a sharpening effect to his spear. This skill bears heavy resemblance to the Yu Tianheng of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family, albeit with an additional effect of sharpness.
Lin Tian is aware of the arrogant nature of his martial soul. During meditation, even he, the wielder of the martial soul can feel the sharpness that it exudes just by existing. This sharpness demands that obstacles be cleaved before it, split into nothingness. He couldn't help but draw similarities to the so-called 'ultimate' elements. Huo Yuhao's ultimate ice is able to restrain all other ice elements as well as all fire elements apart from the ultimate fire. In this case, Lin Tian theorizes that the 'ultimate' element involves the law or concept of the world to achieve this effect. For example, when people think of ice, they typically think of adjectives associated with it such as 'cold', other elements such as water have destructive sides to them such as 'drowning'. In the original works, Huo Yuhao's ultimate ice is far colder than other ice users and Ma Hongjun's flames are said to be 'sticky'. In this case, his martial soul should be close to being an ultimate martial soul too, with the law or concept of sharpness.
He felt lucky. Although it may just be a case of protagonist luck, being born with such favorable conditions, far outstripping any mediocre start, and with a good background, Lin Tian knew that he had to continue to work hard. Afterall, geniuses who die before realizing their potential are not geniuses. The path to the top is always filled with the blood and bodies of countless others.
Ye Jian grinned. "All too easy for you, huh, Lin Tian?"
Lin Tian chuckled. "It's not that bad. But sparring with teachers is definitely more productive."
"Then tell the instructors to excuse you from brat-beating duty," Ye Jian teased.
"Brat-beating duty? We're younger than these 'brats,' you know."
"So what? They're weaker," Ye Jian shrugged dismissively. "Speaking of sparring, I've got a new move to test on you after class!"
"Hahaha, alright. Let's ask the instructor," Lin Tian agreed.
Ye Jian had approached him numerous times before to 'test' out techniques she had learnt or invented. Her innovative spirit was something Lin Tian admired. While most of her ideas weren't groundbreaking, her determination to experiment was inspiring.
Wang Jia, on the other hand, had developed a cunning combat style. By manipulating the earth with subtle precision, she often unbalanced opponents, making her a formidable ally. Together, the three of them formed a team so cohesive that even senior students dreaded facing them. Due to their familiarity with each other, the trio had achieved near perfect teamwork, being able to fend off instructors above level 30.
As class ended, Ye Jian dashed to the instructor. "Teacher! Can we spar here?"
The instructor nodded. "I'll referee."
Both soul masters stepped onto the field.
"Lin Tian, Level 15 Attack Soul Master," he announced as his yellow soul ring emerged, the scent of ozone filling the air.
"Ye Jian, Level 13 Attack Soul Master," she replied, a mischievous grin lighting her face.
"One on one spar, standard tournament rules, begin!"
"Watch this, Xiao Tian!" Ye Jian flourished her sword dramatically while pointing her index and middle fingers at him. Lin Tian raised a brow, focusing on the faint aura of soul power gathering along its edge. In response, he flooded his body with soul power, drawing on the lightning aspect of his martial soul to surround his body with lightning.
Suddenly, she swung, releasing a compressed arc of energy that streaked toward him.
"What the—?!" Lin Tian narrowly dodged, landing to the side. "What was that?"
Ye Jian smirked smugly. "Impressed? I can compress my soul power and release it as a ranged attack! Mom says it takes years to master, but I did it in half a year. Genius, right?"
"Impressive," Lin Tian admitted, though he added, "It's not very strong yet. It dissipated halfway and was slow."
"Can you let me enjoy my moment?!" Ye Jian huffed. "Mom said that when I comprehend sword intent, I can cut through mountains!"
Sword intent. In any martial arts world, there exists the concept of sword intent, spear intent, and even fist intent. Lin Tian remembers that Tang Wulin, the protagonist of Soul Land 3, comprehended spear intent, showing that it also exists in Soul Land. However, his mother had never mentioned it to him, although that might be because he was still far from that realm.
"Congratulations," Lin Tian said sincerely, retracting his martial soul as Ye Jian beamed.
"Hmph, so I win this time right?" Ye Jian said stubbornly, panting from the exertion.
"Yes, I concede," Lin Tian nodded. He could see that Ye Jian was exhausted after that move. Compressing soul power took a lot of concentration and spiritual power, and the total amount of soul power a level 13 soul master has should be the bare minimum of launching the attack. Anything less would dissipate and result in a waste of soul power.
"Winner, Ye Jian!" the instructor declared. He too was shocked by what he'd seen. Although he knew that the three were advanced, he hadn't known the extent of their prowess. Making up his mind to report to the principal, he bade a hasty farewell and headed to the principal's office.
Wang Jia joined them, laughing. "Let's celebrate Ye Jian's victory!"
The trio headed down the road to the market, basking in the relaxed ambience of their surroundings.