"Ryan, show 'em," Blake said, tossing the crystal ball. The metal gauntlet clinked against the glass surface as it flew through the air.
The sphere blazed to life in the brown - haired boy's palm. Twenty - nine star patterns spiraled upward, and the onlookers were as stunned as if they'd been punched in the gut. "No way...", the bespectacled examinee gasped, clutching his companion's sleeve. "He's only fifteen!"
Xiao Wu snatched the crystal ball, the movement setting off a tinkling of silver bells. "Cheating!" When the same number appeared, the shredded registration papers of the girl in the back row fluttered down like snowflakes.
From the shadow of the eaves came the plop of dripping grease. Leo, munching on a half - eaten sausage, watched as the tip of his fire - fox's tail curled around the last bits of meat. "Just a sideshow," he muttered under his breath.
Ava's ice crystals formed in her palm. "What did you say?"
"He said the show's over," Elia said, pressing down on the blonde girl's wrist. Her eyes flicked to the burn mark on Leo's collarbone. "Right?"
"Third exam area, Martial Soul Practical Test!"
The examiner frowned at the file. "Level twenty?" The quill pen drew a bright red question mark over "Fire Fox (C - rank)".
A streak of red flashed past the examiner's nose. The fire fox sat primly on the edge of the inkstone, its tail flame precisely lighting the incense stick three meters away. Nine grains of incense ash fell in a perfect line.
"Disrupting the exam!" The red - robed examiner slammed his hand on the table and stood up, but his pupils dilated when he saw the pattern of the incense ash. "This... This is a star - track diagram?"
"Let's go," Leo said, grabbing the little beast by the scruff of its neck. The bronze bells at his waist jingled. The fire fox winked at the examiner, and the flame at the tip of its tail suddenly split into nine.
The bronze doors of the fourth exam area rumbled open. Gordon rolled his neck, the sound like popping beans. Seven claw marks on the ground were still smoking.
"The rules are simple," the Soul Saint said, his tiger claws scraping against the stone pillar. The granite instantly turned to powder. "Last three minutes."
Xiao Wu's scorpion - tail braid flared out like a fan. "Level seventy - six against level twenty - something? What kind of test is this!"
"Maybe we should wait..." Elia's words were cut short when Blake suddenly smashed the hourglass. "Start now!"
The barrier made of Blue Silver Grass was torn apart in an instant. The blast of air sent Ava flying towards the spectator area. As her lavender hair whipped past Leo's nose, he instinctively opened his arms.
"Keep your filthy hands off her!" Blake's sword blade slashed between them. Elia's hidden - weapon box on her lower back grazed Leo's palm, and the sound of the spring mechanism was sharper than the sword's cry.
"Five seconds," Leo said, flicking away the sword tip. The fire fox's pupils shrank to thin lines. "Teacher Zhao's left knee is shaking."
Gordon stomped his right foot, shattering the floor tiles. A blood - red soul ring shot up into the sky. "First Soul Skill: Tiger's Roar!" The sound waves condensed into solid fangs, instantly piercing through three layers of Blue Silver Grass shields.
Ryan rolled and crashed into the stone pillar. The black - iron ring on his hand glowed red. The blue - silver grass suddenly grew wildly into a net - like structure, just barely catching the second wave of sound blades chasing after him.
"Northwest corner!" Elia threw three steel nails. The hidden weapons precisely embedded themselves in the joints of the tiger claws, and Gordon's movement stalled for half a second.
"Nice one!" Xiao Wu's scorpion - tail braid wrapped around the Soul Saint's ankle. "Soft Bone Lock!"
"Child's play!" Gordon's muscles bulged, and the chain snapped. The blast of air sent Xiao Wu flying into the air, and Ava's ice shield promptly appeared in her falling path.
The Soul Saint clapped his hands together, compressing the air into a transparent cannonball. "Third Soul Skill: Air Pressure Bomb!"
"Three o'clock direction!" Ryan roared, flinging out the blue - silver grass. The vines wrapped around Ava's waist and yanked her out of the projectile's path. The ice shield exploded into crystal powder in the original position.
Blake's sword tip suddenly lit up with dragon patterns. "Fourth Soul Skill: Azure Dragon's Break!" The shock wave from the collision of the sword energy and the air - pressure bomb tore a crack in the exam hall's dome.
Gordon's left knee trembled almost imperceptibly, and this detail was caught by Elia. Seven bone - penetrating nails shot out in a Big Dipper formation, aiming straight for the Soul Saint's old leg injury.
"Naive," the tiger claws sliced through the air in a cross shape, and the air blades sent all the hidden weapons flying. One of the steel nails changed direction and shot towards the spectator area, but was melted into molten iron by the fox - tail flame wall.
"The third latch was 0.3 seconds late," Leo's voice cut through the commotion. Elia bit her lower lip, and blood dripped onto the plum - blossom pattern on the hidden - weapon box.
The blood - red soul ring expanded again, and Gordon's eyes took on a beastly pupil. "Seventh Soul Skill: Blood Tiger Avatar!" The huge tiger - claw shadow covered the entire field, and the ground began to crack.
"Southwest pillar base!" Ryan suddenly inserted the blue - silver grass into the crack. The underground vines grew wildly into a cage, temporarily trapping the Soul Saint's right arm. Xiao Wu took the opportunity to leap onto the tiger - claw shadow and strike the elbow joint with three - fold soft - power skills.
Gordon's angry roar shattered the vines, but it exposed a fatal flaw - black fog seeped out from the gap in the black - iron gauntlet. Elia's steel nails shot in along the path of the fog, precisely jamming the gauntlet mechanism.
"Now!" Ava's ice cones rained down. The weakened tiger - claw shadow cracked, and Blake's dragon - pattern sword energy took the opportunity to pierce through the gap.
The incense burner exploded with a bang, and Gordon knelt on one knee. His left leg muscle twitched unnaturally. "Time's up," Leo said, dusting off his clothes. "Thanks for the fight."
Moonlight filtered through the infirmary's screen window, casting a checkerboard pattern on the bandages. Ryan blocked the door. "You knew about his old injury all along."
"He was poisoned by miasma during a bandit - suppression three years ago," Leo said, feeding sausage crumbs to the fire fox. "And by the way, reversing the Xuantian Gong will tear your qi sea apart."
The boy suddenly pressed his left hand on the black - iron ring. The sycamore leaves outside the window rustled, and Elia was hanging upside down from a branch. "How did you see through the flaws in my hidden weapons?"
"You held the box like it was made of glass," Leo said, pushing open the wooden window. A shout came from the training ground: "Who the hell touched my soul - power limiter!"
The fire fox suddenly jumped onto the windowsill, and the flame at the tip of its tail burst out of control. Leo flicked its ear. "How many times have I told you, keep your soul power at the second node."
The little beast whined pitifully, and the nine clusters of flames lit up in turn at the tip of its tail. When the third cluster burned to its brightest, Leo suddenly grabbed its front paw. "Stop!"
"Yip?" The fire fox tilted its head, and the tail flame froze in a strange pattern of three long and two short signals. The birds in the distant forest suddenly took flight, as if some ancient signal had awakened a slumbering thing.
"Remember this fluctuation," Leo said, dipping his finger in the medicine and drawing the soul - power trajectory on the table. "The Nine - Tailed inheritance isn't for you to show off like fireworks. It should be as natural as breathing..."
Suddenly, a blue flame rose from his fingertips, and the fire fox's red flame twined with it into a two - colored spiral. At the moment when the temperature at the center of the flame soared, Leo suddenly clenched his fist, and all the energy collapsed into a grain - sized light spot.
The little beast's pupils reflected this precise control, and its tail flame involuntarily imitated the contraction. When the ninth cluster of flames was compressed to the limit, Leo suddenly slapped the energy ball apart. "Too much is as bad as too little."
The splashing sparks were caught by an invisible force before they touched the curtain, condensing into a miniature flame ring that hovered in the air. The fire fox excitedly pounced on the light ball, but Leo grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. "Two more hours of training tomorrow."
Blake's sword tip was gathering blue light a hundred meters away. The dragon - headed soul power tore through the night sky. The moment the sword energy touched the training - ground stone tablet, an ancient emblem emerged from the crack - exactly the same as the burn mark on Leo's neck.
"Just as I thought..." Blake crushed the communication crystal, and the shards cut his palm. "The heir of Evans must die."
The fire fox suddenly bristled and growled. The still - lingering flame ring sensed the killing intent and automatically protected its master. Nine lines of fire intertwined into a net around Leo, each flame precisely repeating the training frequency from earlier.
"Quiet," Leo said, pressing down on the restless little beast. The burn scar on his body glowed faintly. The floating flame ring suddenly contracted into a ring and slipped onto his little finger. The firelight revealed the ancient incantation faintly visible under the scar.