Tang San originally hadn't intended to reveal the existence of his hidden weapons to Su Ming, knowing that the more people who knew, the higher the risk. However, seeing Xiao Wu's attitude, if Su Ming wasn't present, he wouldn't have a chance to speak to her alone.
After some thought, Tang San figured it wouldn't hurt for Su Ming to know. He trusted Su Ming's character. After all, Su Ming knew about his twin martial souls but had promised not to tell anyone, and he kept his word. So even if Su Ming found out about his hidden weapons, he wasn't too worried. Besides, Su Ming only knew about the sleeve arrow, which wasn't too much of a secret yet.
But if Su Ming ever betrayed him, Tang San would make sure to teach him a lesson! If Su Ming knew what Tang San was thinking, he would just chuckle. The twin martial souls secret? He didn't bother mentioning it because it wasn't worth his time. And as for hidden weapons? They were nothing compared to his Susanoo and Buddha techniques!
Tang San hadn't initially planned to challenge Su Ming, but after returning to Holy Soul Village and realizing his father was no longer there, combined with the close relationship between Xiao Wu and Su Ming, he couldn't shake the growing feeling that Xiao Wu should have been his sister. Especially from the first moment he saw Xiao Wu, there was something inexplicably compelling about her.
He knew his actions would likely upset Su Ming, but he couldn't resist giving it a shot—after all, what if he succeeded? He had a lot of confidence in his hidden weapons.
Tang San warned Su Ming, "Be careful when we fight. Don't blame me if you get hurt! You'll see what I'm talking about during the battle. I haven't tested its full power yet, but I'm sure it'll be effective."
Su Ming grinned to himself. If your sleeve arrow can break my defense, I'll take your name. You'd need something like the Zhuge Crossbow to stand a chance!
Standing opposite each other, Su Ming said calmly, "Alright, let's see your real strength. But let me be clear, I'm not holding back either. Don't complain later if you lose miserably—you're really pushing my limits."
Tang San sensed Su Ming's seriousness but still believed the outcome wasn't set in stone.
Tang San launched his first move. "Blue Silver Bind!"
Su Ming dodged effortlessly with his Ling Bo Microstep technique, taunting, "That bind won't work on me. Show me your real strength, or you won't get another chance!"
Realizing Su Ming was right, Tang San pulled out some small weapons—steel needles and knives—from his spirit tool and began firing them at Su Ming.
Su Ming smirked, "This is your real strength? Looks like you've been busy forging these. You've got plenty of stock."
Tang San replied, "These are just small things. My real trump card hasn't come out yet. I hope your strange footwork can dodge them all."
Su Ming laughed. "Who said I'm going to dodge? You haven't even seen my first spirit skill yet!"
Tang San, confident, said, "So what? We're both control-type spirit masters. Do you think you can avoid all my attacks?"
"We'll see," Su Ming replied with a grin.
He stomped his foot on the ground, and a yellow spirit ring rose from his body. Su Ming clasped his hands together and called out, "First Spirit Skill: Wood Shield Wall!"
A semicircular wooden wall instantly appeared in front of Su Ming, blocking all of Tang San's projectiles. The weapons embedded themselves into the wood but couldn't penetrate it.
As Su Ming cast his skill, he winked at Xiao Wu. She understood right away—this wasn't Su Ming's real first spirit skill at all! Wood Shield Wall was just something he came up with, and his actual first spirit skill was Wood Toughness, which increased the toughness of wood by nearly 70%. Tang San's ordinary hidden weapons stood no chance of breaking through it!
And the yellow ring? Su Ming had disguised his purple thousand-year ring with his Camouflage ability.
Tang San was shocked to see his hidden weapons stopped so easily. "Su Ming, aren't you a control-type spirit master? How is your first spirit skill a defense technique?"
Unbothered, Su Ming replied, "My self-created control skills are stronger than my defensive abilities, so I can still call myself a control-type spirit master. And if my defense becomes stronger than my control, I can say I'm a defense-type spirit master. I'm full of ideas, and I'll create many more spirit skills in the future!"
Tang San winced. He hadn't expected Su Ming's first spirit skill to be a defense one, and a strong one at that. The hidden weapons he had fired only embedded themselves in the wood—they couldn't pierce through!
After a year of studying under Grandmaster, Tang San had learned a lot about spirit master development and spirit ring configurations. But Su Ming was an anomaly. Wasn't he worried about "misdeveloping" his martial soul?
Su Ming: I'm a versatile genius. If anyone's misdeveloped, it's your Blue Silver Grass!
Su Ming chuckled, "So, are you going to continue? If that's your best, it's too weak. You can't even break my defense!"
Tang San's face darkened. What now? His sleeve arrow might not be enough to penetrate Su Ming's defense. If he had the Zhuge Crossbow, maybe… but he hadn't forged it yet.
Left with no choice, Tang San pulled out his sleeve arrow, aiming it at Su Ming. "Watch this, Su Ming! This is my sleeve arrow—it packs a punch and should pierce your defense!"
But when the sleeve arrow shot forward, it only managed to penetrate halfway into Su Ming's wood shield.
Su Ming grinned, "Not bad, your sleeve arrow managed to get halfway through. That's impressive—sort of!"
His elongated tone made it clear he was mocking the "power" of the sleeve arrow. Tang San, realizing he had miscalculated, felt humiliated. Su Ming could easily be considered a defense-type spirit master, and a strong one at that!