"Oh man, oh man..." Rong Taotao muttered under his breath, leaning back and even covering his eyes with one hand. He just couldn’t bear to watch!

On the Martial Arts Arena, Li Ziyi was getting beaten to a pulp.

Even Rong Taotao was finding it hard to watch, and Sun Xingyu, who was standing beside him, was even more heartbroken.

In fact, at that moment, Sun Xingyu had already fallen into despair...

Li Ziyi demonstrated incredible tenacity. Though repeatedly defeated, he fought back again and again.

But in truth... the biggest blow to Li Ziyi came from the soldiers watching in the distance. After observing for a short while, they returned to their own training, no longer interested in being spectators.

The difference in skill was immediately obvious.

When Rong Taotao had sparred with Xia Fangran, the soldiers had watched with keen interest.

But when it was Li Ziyi’s turn... they just stopped watching?

Li Ziyi, who had been so resilient and tenacious until now, completely broke down mentally.

Once his composure shattered, his performance did too. The Sun Family Spear technique lost its earlier agility, and Xia Fangran smacked him to the ground with his halberd.

Xia Fangran frowned slightly. With his ability to perceive everything around him, his awareness of his surroundings was exceptionally sharp.

He could clearly sense that Li Ziyi had displayed two completely different levels of skill during their spar.

The turning point, when things took a nosedive, was the exact moment the soldiers lost interest and returned to their own sparring.

Xia Fangran pulled back the long halberd from Li Ziyi’s forehead. Stroking his chin with one hand, he pondered for a moment, feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

Li Ziyi’s performance had been contradictory.

The kid was clearly a resilient type. He’d been knocked down countless times but had never once given up. He was always fighting back, always striving. He shouldn’t have been completely broken by such a minor setback.

The only possible explanation was...

Xia Fangran turned to look at Rong Taotao. ’Is it because of the contrast between the two of them?’

’Does Li Ziyi really care that much about what Rong Taotao thinks?’

Looking at Li Ziyi standing rigidly at attention, Xia Fangran asked, "What’s your opinion of Rong Taotao?"

Li Ziyi froze for a second, his expression turning sour. "He’s very good."

Xia Fangran smiled and ventured a guess, "You’re a genius who has always believed your skills were top-notch. But after coming to Pine Soul Soul Martial, you discovered there’s always someone better, and now you’re feeling resentful. Is that it?"

Li Ziyi shook his head. "We were classmates in middle school. We sparred together for three years."

Now it was Xia Fangran’s turn to be stunned. He raised an eyebrow slightly. "Lost more than you won?"

Li Ziyi clutched his long spear, his head bowed. "I’ve never won," he said in a low voice.

Hearing this, Xia Fangran laughed in spite of himself. "Heh, to dare to admit that... You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that."

Li Ziyi’s voice was firm and resonant as he replied, word by word, "I don’t want to be that kind of man."

"Alright, I see. In that case, for the next month and a half, your goal is no longer to take down the top student, but to crush Rong Taotao!" Xia Fangran strode forward and clapped Li Ziyi heavily on the shoulder.

As Xia Fangran spoke, a wistful expression crossed his face, as if the scene had stirred up many of his own memories.

It seemed that Xia Fangran had also had such a rival in his younger days.

But Li Ziyi’s eyes betrayed his thoughts. He inadvertently glanced at the Heaven-piercing Halberd in Xia Fangran’s hand.

Clearly, the school had assigned Xia Fangran to lead this team specifically as a mentor for Rong Taotao.

Xia Fangran’s powers of observation were formidable; he easily deduced the student’s inner thoughts.

Xia Fangran’s expression turned stern. "I’ve been teaching for 20 years, 15 of which were spent training graduating seniors. Don’t you dare question my instructional abilities."

"If I’m not mistaken, the three students led by Si Huan Nian specialize in the spear and saber. As for the other team leader..."

Li Ziyi supplied, "Li Lie."

Xia Fangran nodded thoughtfully. "The three students led by Li Lie should specialize in the axe and sword."

And he was right.

Fan Lihua used a spear, and the Shi Family Sisters used great sabers.

Meanwhile, Lu Mang, Xu Taiping, and Jiao Tengda all used long swords.

Xia Fangran continued, "And the reason I am here to lead you is because I wield the spear and the halberd."

Li Ziyi nodded. "I understand."

"Good. You’re dismissed." Xia Fangran nodded in satisfaction and beckoned to Sun Xingyu on the sidelines. "You’re up. Let me see what you’ve got."

"She’s better than me," Li Ziyi said suddenly as he turned to leave.

Xia Fangran was a bit dumbfounded. ’Something’s off about this Li Ziyi!’

’Just a moment ago, he showed he couldn’t stand being inferior to anyone, and now he’s willingly admitting a girl is better than him?’

’And from the sound of his voice, he even seemed a little proud of it?’

’Good heavens, what’s the relationship between these three kids? Is it that complicated?’

...

As it turned out, Li Ziyi hadn’t been lying. The young couple had both been taught by their fathers.

Well, one was his biological father, and the other was her father, who was also his adoptive father... or perhaps future father-in-law.

Both had learned the Sun Family Spear. Li Ziyi’s superior physique allowed him to display greater power, but in terms of the refinement of their techniques, Sun Xingyu was clearly a cut above.

However, Li Ziyi would soon no longer enjoy the natural physical advantages of being male.

Once they became Soul Martial Artists backed by Soul Power, the gap in physical constitution between men and women would be erased. Li Ziyi would truly have to work twice as hard to protect his pride.

After a brief assessment of the three students’ fundamentals, Xia Fangran was very satisfied.

He knew these students had been accepted into the Junior Class, which meant they were bound to have extraordinary talent for cultivation as Soul Martial Artists.

But their Martial Arts had been forged through genuine, hard practice. It seemed the three youngsters hadn’t wasted their formative years.

"Alright, let’s go. To the North Gate of Hundred Corps Pass," Xia Fangran said, leading the three youngsters out of the Martial Arts Arena.

Yang Chunxi took the opportunity to remind the trio to attend their evening class before bidding farewell to Xia Fangran and departing.

Carrying their weapons and dressed in matching snow camouflage, the trio followed Xia to the North Gate.

The soldiers guarding the gate said nothing, merely opening it a crack to let them through.

Rong Taotao jumped in surprise. ’What are we doing?’

The moment he stepped outside, Rong Taotao couldn’t help but shudder from the cold.

Within the pass, high walls offered protection. The snow was heavy, but the wind was light. Outside the walls, however, a furious blizzard raged!

The conditions were even more severe than during their previous assessment on the snowfield!

Rong Taotao and the others weren’t wearing goggles, and the fierce wind made it impossible to even open their eyes, to say nothing of their range of visibility.

Xia Fangran grabbed the three youngsters one by one and tossed them against the base of the fortress wall, giving them something solid to brace themselves against.

Xia Fangran’s voice cut through the layers of wind and snow, reaching their ears with perfect clarity. "Cold, isn’t it?"

The three of them said nothing.

"If you’re cold, then focus on absorbing Soul Power. You have Lifebound Soul Beasts now, so your absorption speed is much faster," Xia Fangran said, plunging his Heaven-piercing Halberd deep into the snow.

The next moment, he leaned back against his Heaven-piercing Halberd, crossed his arms, and nonchalantly watched the three youngsters shivering uncontrollably in the cold.

Xia Fangran continued, "Once you have Soul Power, you can use it to protect your bodies from freezing. You were escorted here by a Snow Night Shock, I’m sure. Think back carefully. How did the Snow Night Shock release its Soul Power to shield you from the wind and snow?"

Rong Taotao, shivering violently, really wanted to give Xia Fangran a big thumbs-up.

’As expected of a veteran teacher!’

’His teaching methods are so brilliant! No explanations, just letting us figure it out on our own!’

’A master is truly a master!’

Apparently, Rong Taotao had underestimated his own talent for sarcasm. He had thought it would take a week to grasp the essence of Xia Fangran’s passive-aggressive style.

But how much time had passed since then?

He had already achieved enlightenment...

Xia Fangran suddenly spoke up. "Of course, at your current level, it’s nearly impossible to fight against a blizzard of this intensity. So... before you collapse, I’ll teach you a simple Soul Skill. Consider it your first lesson of the semester."

Tilting his head to look at them, Xia Fangran said, "Try to channel your scarce Soul Power to your waist, then guide it down along your thighs.

"Whether you’ve opened the Soul Slots in your knees or not, remember that your knees act as a relay station for Soul Power.

"Regardless of how much Soul Power flows down from your waist, you must regulate the amount at your knees to maintain a stable, continuous flow down to your ankles.

"Channeling the Soul Power from your ankles to the soles of your feet is an even more delicate task."

Looking at the three youngsters’ ankles, which were buried in the snow, Xia Fangran continued, "Remember to evenly coat the soles of your feet with Soul Power. Try to use your ice and snow attribute Soul Power to merge with the snow beneath you.

"This is the foundational Soul Skill for a Snow Realm Soul Martial Artist: Snow Step.

"It allows you to walk on top of deep snow instead of sinking into it.

"Mastering Snow Step will allow you to move freely in snow-covered environments, completely unrestricted by the terrain."

With that, Xia Fangran tilted his head back to look at the raging blizzard. "When you reach my level, in a blizzard like this, you can even..."

As he spoke, Xia Fangran suddenly lifted a foot and stepped into midair!

No, to be precise, he stepped on the rapidly swirling snowflakes.

One step, then another...

As if climbing a set of stairs, Xia Fangran took several steps on thin air, coming to a halt and standing suspended diagonally above the trio’s heads.

It was an incredible feat!

Xia Fangran looked down at the three youngsters, who were covering their mouths and noses as they strained to look up at him. He smiled and said, "Welcome to the Snow Realm.

"Since you have chosen to come here to cultivate the Heart of Ice and Snow, you must remember this.

"Blizzards and gales are the enemies of other Soul Martial Artists.

"But for us, every single snowflake is a friend."

Finally, Rong Taotao couldn’t hold it in any longer. He gave Xia a thumbs-up. "Teacher, that was so well said!"

"Heh, you little brat." Xia Fangran sneered, paying him no mind. Instead, his body tilted back, and he lay down right in the middle of the swirling blizzard.

Down at the base of the wall, the wind and snow whipped about in turbulent gusts, its direction impossible to predict.

But Xia Fangran was perfectly comfortable, as if lying in an invisible cradle. He pillowed his head on his folded arms and rocked gently from side to side.

He closed his eyes and said, "If the cold becomes truly unbearable, wake me. But there’s a rule: the first person to call out to me has to stay out here for an extra 10 minutes."

The Cloud Dog that had been on Rong Taotao’s head had long since returned to his body.

The Cloud Dog had clearly sensed its master’s predicament. As Rong Taotao struggled to absorb Soul Power, the Cloud Dog also went full throttle, using its own Soul Beast constitution to madly draw vast amounts of Soul Power into his body.

’It’s... so fast!’

’The absorption speed is incredible!’

Rong Taotao rejoiced internally, feeling the fundamental difference between a 10 KB/s download speed and a 10 MB/s one.

’For a good cloud drive, use a Cloud Dog!’

’No subscription required! No subscription required!!!’