Chapter Thirty-One: The First Battle

  It's the last day before the monthly trial, and no one has the heart to cultivate. Everyone is discussing the topic of the monthly trial. Even the well-informed students have already found out who might be in the top ten this time. Unfortunately, it seems that there aren't any particularly strong students among this year's freshmen. The strongest one doesn't seem to have broken through to Soul Master level 6 yet. Yang Jun from their class is also a candidate for the top ten.

  The last day, it's impossible not to be nervous. From the morning on, Zong Yin had already lost his spirit and soul power cultivation. By the time half of the morning was over, he had only cultivated two strands of soul power. In the end, he couldn't even be bothered to continue cultivating and instead picked up the short sword beside him to practice "Sword Techniques".

  He had never eaten pork, but at least he had seen pigs run, so Zong Yin quickly summarized a set of sword practice methods for himself. Anyway, there were plenty of fist-sized flying targets around him, and Zong Yin treated them as targets, constantly chopping and slashing away. Zong Yin also knew that for someone like him with no foundation in swordsmanship, it was better to practice two moves than to use a lot of moves, so straight chopping became his main "sword technique".

  After an afternoon of practice, Zong Yin's direct cleaving technique had improved greatly. The numerous corpses on the ground were sufficient to explain everything. Although more than half of them had been wrongly killed, this did not affect his good mood at all. After all, out of ten, he was still able to accurately chop one.

  Just as Zong Yin was having the time of his life, a pungent smell flooded into the classroom, driving away all the killer bees and Black Forest, who had been missing for an entire week, finally appeared.

  "Hey, tomorrow is the monthly test. Today we're getting out of class early, so everyone go back and get ready, and come in with your best spirit to face tomorrow's test. Oh, I forgot to say that the monthly test is not mandatory, students who feel they are not prepared enough can choose not to participate. Who doesn't plan on participating, tell me now, I still have time to report it."

  Hei Sen's face wore a familiar faint smile as he seemed concerned and said to the crowd.

  Earned a round of white eyes from everyone, if he really hoped those weaker students would participate, he should have asked if anyone wouldn't be participating long ago, and wouldn't come to hypocritically mutter a couple of sentences on the day the monthly test is about to start.

  "Haha! The students I brought out are indeed good ones. To encourage everyone, I've decided that if anyone can get the championship in any monthly test, I'll teach them my Blue Star Soul Technique, which I've been keeping under wraps. And all the materials needed, I've already prepared. This was originally for my apprentice, but if it wasn't for that bet with that dead guy, I wouldn't have brought it out..."

  Hei Sen directly ignored everyone's expressions, continuing on his own, flaunting his Blue Star Soul Technique with flying colors. The last sentence, however, was spoken softer and softer until it was almost inaudible, but enough to let everyone guess why Hei Sen would take out the soul technique he had prepared for his disciple as a surprise. This thing called "face" can be fatal at any time!

  After Hesse finished speaking in a symbolic and passionate tone, he announced the end of class. Yang Jun brushed past Zong Yin's side, his faint voice entering Zong Yin's ears. "On the field, let's have another round, this time I won't lose."

  Zong Yan's eyes widened in surprise, never expecting that he had inadvertently created a formidable opponent for himself. Although Yang Jun's character was not bad, his nickname "Mad Dog" had already spread throughout the new student body. Yang Jun had relied on his strength and soul techniques to defeat several students who were stronger than him, each battle a desperate struggle, fighting with all his might even if it meant suffering heavy injuries to defeat his opponent.

  Zong Yin has made great progress recently, but he doesn't think he can match up to Yang Junli. After all, his current strength is still at the fourth level of Soul Apprentice.

  When the sky was bright, Zong Yin rubbed his eyes helplessly. Although he went to bed early last night, participating in the Soul Master's war for the first time still made him excited all night and couldn't sleep. Before the competition news came over, he had already gotten up. He sighed, and with two panda eyes, Zong Yin walked towards the square of Ding Sheng Soul School.

  When De Zhong Yin arrived, he finally revealed a hint of a smile. It wasn't just him who was sleepless with emotions; the Moon Trial was something that hadn't been successfully held in decades at Ding Sheng Hun School. Such school-wide events were rare, and it was only natural that people with high expectations would be plentiful. The nature of Ding Sheng Hun School was different from other soul schools - to say that nine out of ten students had psychological issues wasn't an exaggeration. Since there was a stage for those who were repressed in their hearts to release their discontent, it was inevitable that the number of people with high expectations would be frighteningly large.

  The originally empty square now has forty-nine platforms, each fifteen meters long and wide, neatly arranged at intervals of twenty meters, filling the entire square. These platforms are obviously specially treated, with a dark material that is slightly visible in texture, presumably to prevent the Soul Masters' attacks from being too strong and causing the martial arts platform to collapse.

  The symbol of the Soul Academy, Tongtian Ding, still stands upright in the center of the square. Li Bu Xiang stood at the edge of Tongtian Ding like a stone statue, gazing into the distance, and it was unknown what he was thinking about.

  When the entire square was packed with people, Li slowly withdrew his gaze, waved his hand and loudly declared: "The monthly trial has begun!"

  As his voice fell, 100 instructors took their positions, with two instructors responsible for each of the arenas. The blood-red numbers one to fifty also floated above the arenas, allowing all students to find the order of the arenas at a glance.

  All the old students instinctively took a step back, they knew very well that the newcomers were the first to take the monthly exam.

  Zong Yin's name tag shook, and the relevant information about Yue Shi appeared, his number was 546, and he was scheduled to appear on the 28th martial arts stage, in the sixth batch. Among the 3,000 new students, being in the sixth batch already meant a relatively early appearance order. If the strength gap between the previous batches of students was large, it wouldn't take long for his turn to come, so Zong Yin didn't stay and headed towards the 28th martial arts stage.

  Because the dueling platforms were arranged in a 7x7 pattern, platform 28 was at the very edge of the square. When Xie Xing Chong arrived, he just happened to see a female student kick a male student off the platform with one foot. The instructor acting as judge brushed his hand across the two students' Na rings and completed recording their win/loss status, and the next pair of students went up for their match.

  The rules of the monthly trial are simple, falling off the martial stage, admitting defeat, fainting, or dying all count as failures. For every win, you can get some points, and losses do not score any points. In other words, the more wins one has, the higher their score will be, which means they will have an advantage in the final annual exam.

  More than 3,000 people are eliminated by half each time, and a total of nine rounds of elimination matches are required to determine the final top ten. As long as they become one of the top ten, they will get nine points.

  Zong Yin stood quietly under the martial arts stage, secretly estimating how much difference there would be if he went on stage with those Soul Masters. However, after watching four consecutive matches, Zong Yin felt that he wouldn't lose, just that he wouldn't lose. Their attacking power was still not enough to break through Zong Yin's soul force barrier, but wanting to win against them wasn't easy either.

  After another student was beaten and spat blood to admit defeat, it was finally Zong Yin's turn. Zong Yin didn't know if he was lucky or unlucky, but his opponent turned out to be a girl, the most unfortunate thing was that he knew that girl, she was the one who had passed the water surface walking test with her chest attack in their class at the beginning.

  "Ah, unexpectedly it's one of our own kind. I know you, your name is Zong Yin, right? You can call me Fengzi. I'm just a weak woman, but you're someone who can defeat Yang Jun, so please spare me~"

  She twisted her waist and threw a flirtatious glance at Zong Yin, walking slowly towards him with a charming smile.

  Zong Yin had a faint smile on his face as he stared at her in silence.

  Fengzi saw Zongyin's appearance and felt a bit complacent, muttering to herself that all men in the world were indeed the same. Her expression unchanged, she stretched out her hand and placed it on Zongyin's shoulder.

  "The ancients did not deceive me; the more beautiful a woman is, the more she has a heart like a snake and scorpion."

  Zong Yin, who had not moved until now, rolled his eyes and grabbed Fengzi's hand, twisting it over with force. A silver needle, about an inch long, was stuck between his fingers, and a faint white glow flowed around the needle.

  The crowd below, who had been unclear about the situation, suddenly let out a collective gasp of surprise. Apparently, beneath her beautiful and elegant appearance, she had a dark heart. The white light on the silver needle that flowed like mercury was a special effect unique to only one type of soul technique - one of the most toxic White Star soul techniques! It was called "Beautiful Scorpion's Tail"!

  This soul skill has the same effect as the "Blood Poison Bee" that ambushed Zonghui, and it also needs to rely on sharp instruments to take effect. However, it is more toxic than the "Blood Poison Bee". Those who are poisoned will not only experience a short-term disruption of their spiritual power, but also suffer from permanent damage to their sexual function!

  "Hmph! Being able to defeat Yang Jun, you indeed have some skills! Ow! Let go!"

  Her elegant demeanor vanished as her sneak attack was exposed, and her face sank. She let out a cold hum towards Zong Yin, and with her other hand grasping a short dagger that shone with the same "Beautiful Scorpion Tail" white light, she stabbed at Zong Yin's wrist.

  Zong Yin dared not let Fengzi's soul technique hit him, knowing that it was a matter of his lifelong happiness. If he wasn't careful, he would have nowhere to cry. As Fengzi moved her left hand, he also stretched out his own hand and heavily slapped the back of hers.

  This blow directly sent the dagger in Fengzi's hand flying out, a red mark like a whip appeared on her arm, and she was so painful that she almost shed tears. All along, Zong Yin has been the smallest and thinnest one in the whole class, Fengzi did not expect that his weak body could burst out such strong power, suddenly Zong Yin became mysterious in her heart.

  This one blow had already shattered her confidence, her strength was only at the level of a Soul Apprentice, her most skilled stealth attack had failed, and she thought that facing the deeply hidden Zonghui, she didn't have any chance of winning.

  Although she knew she had no chance of winning, Fengzi was already prepared to admit defeat in her heart. However, she was not willing to lose like this. Even if it meant failure, she wanted to leave some impression on the mysterious man in front of her.