Beneath the gaze and cheers of the crowd, Su Yan stood opposite Tang San. Across from him, Tang San's face was set in a mask of calm. The easygoing civility he had shown during that morning's shopping trip had all but vanished.
"Both sides, ready?"
Neither of them looked away.
The officiating teacher raised his hand.
"Begin!"
The two stared at each other, waiting as the crowd continued to cheer.
Su Yan frowned slightly.
"Why did you want this match so badly, Tang San?"
Tang San lowered his stance.
"To prove something."
"To whom?"
"To everyone watching." Tang San's voice was calm. "Teacher Lin has taught you in her way. Teacher has taught me in his. Since you accepted the challenge, this match is the clearest comparison."
Su Yan's frown deepened.
"That sounds like something Xiaogang would say."
Tang San's eyes narrowed.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I asked why you wanted this match." Su Yan looked at him for a moment longer. "Not why he wanted it."
The cheers around them seemed to fade a little.
"I thought we had at least learned to be civil, even if we never liked each other."
The crowd finally quieted.
Then an idea popped into Su Yan's mind.
"No…" he said, disbelief slipping through before he could stop it. "Are you really still hung up on what I said back then?"
Tang San moved. Without another word, he stepped forward, fist cutting straight toward Su Yan's face.
Su Yan stepped back. The fist passed so close he felt the wind whip across his face.
His eyes were still wide.
So he really had been right.
He did not have time to dwell on it.
Tang San pressed forward the instant his first strike missed. There was no shout of anger, no visible loss of control. That almost made it worse. His face remained calm, but every movement was sharper than before, each step forcing Su Yan to answer before he could properly settle.
Su Yan gave ground, slipping back from one strike, then another. Tang San's hands came fast and clean, aimed not to show off, but to touch, to catch, to force one mistake.
Su Yan's heel scraped across the packed earth.
Too close.
He kicked off the ground and leapt back, forcing several paces of distance between them.
Tang San did not chase.
"First Soul Skill: Bind!"
Blue Silver Grass shot from his palm, fast enough that the air seemed to snap around it.
"First Soul Skill: Bastion!"
A gold-coloured barrier flashed into existence between them.
The vine slammed into it head-on.
It struck with a dull, heavy sound, then folded against the barrier in a tight blue-silver bundle, its own momentum forcing the length behind it to bunch and coil against the gold surface.
But it did not break through.
The crowd burst into cheers once more.
Su Yan took a steadying breath, blood rushing in his ears. The exchange had lasted only a few breaths, but his body already understood the danger.
Tang San had not chased when Su Yan leapt back.
He had changed methods immediately.
Su Yan watched the Blue Silver Grass slowly withdraw from the gold-coloured barrier.
Neither of them moved, each reassessing the other.
This time, Su Yan broke the standoff first.
He raised one hand and pushed the barrier straight toward Tang San.
Tang San's expression changed for the first time.
He shifted right.
Su Yan raised his other hand.
"Bastion."
Another gold-coloured barrier manifested directly in the path of Tang San's dodge.
Tang San struck it shoulder-first.
The impact forced him back toward the first barrier, which was still closing in.
For a moment, Su Yan thought he had him.
Then Tang San twisted at the last instant, his footwork blurring as he slipped through the narrowing gap.
The first barrier clipped his side instead of catching him cleanly, sending him stumbling rather than throwing him toward the boundary.
Su Yan did not let him settle.
The two gold-coloured barriers shifted again, one sliding in from the side while the other cut across Tang San's retreat. Again and again, Su Yan tried to close off his path, forcing him to dodge, turn, and give ground.
At first, it almost worked.
Tang San was forced back more than once, his steps quick and sharp as the barriers pressed him from awkward angles.
But he was adapting.
Each dodge grew cleaner. Each escape grew narrower. The same trick that had nearly caught him once failed to catch him a second time.
When Su Yan tried to box him in again, Tang San's Blue Silver Grass shot into the packed earth beyond the barrier. The vine snapped taut, dragging him sideways out of the closing gap.
Dirt tore loose beneath it.
Broken strands of Blue Silver Grass scattered across the arena floor.
Su Yan's attention stayed on Tang San.
On his footwork.
On the next angle.
On the next barrier.
By the time Su Yan noticed what the vines had left behind, much of the arena floor was already marked with Blue Silver Grass fragments.
That instant of distraction was enough.
Tang San darted straight toward him.
Su Yan dismissed the two barriers and manifested them again in front of himself, trying to force Tang San back with a sudden double press.
But Tang San had already adapted to his rhythm.
When there was space, he slipped through it with Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. When there was not, Blue Silver Grass shot into the packed earth and snapped taut, dragging him out of danger before the barriers could close.
Su Yan backed away, breath tightening.
Then he saw it.
Tang San was not simply chasing him.
Each step, each dodge, each pull of Blue Silver Grass was forcing Su Yan toward the part of the arena where the fragments lay thickest.
By the time Su Yan understood, Tang San was almost on him.
Su Yan dismissed both barriers at once and stepped back.
A gold-coloured barrier manifested behind his foot.
He kicked off it.
The lower barrier vanished as another appeared higher.
Then again.
Step by step, Su Yan climbed out of Tang San's reach.
Kneeling on a gold-coloured barrier in midair, Su Yan looked down at the arena. Tang San stood below him, while the crowd stared up in stunned silence.
Then the silence broke.
Another clamour of excitement erupted from below.
Only then did Su Yan let out the breath he had not realised he was holding.
Breathing hard, he tried to calm his racing heart.
Below him, the crowd's faces were bright with excitement.
Even Xiao Wu looked more excited than worried now.
Xiaogang, however, wore a dark expression. He had likely expected Tang San to win easily.
Teacher Lin was still openly worried.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Su Yan caught a flash of red at the back of the crowd.
He looked closer.
Nihilister stood there with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Her expression was unreadable, and her eyes were fixed directly on him.
Su Yan looked back to the arena.
Tang San had not been idle.
Blue Silver Grass continued to lash across the ground, scattering more fragments through the packed earth.
Su Yan tried something.
A gold-coloured barrier manifested low against the arena floor and swept across the ground.
As he expected, some of the loose fragments were scraped away.
But others had already taken root.
They clung to the earth, thin blue-silver threads half-buried beneath the dust.
Su Yan's expression tightened.
Parasite.
Tang San's second Soul Skill.
If Su Yan had not known what it did, he might have mistaken the fragments for simple debris.
But he did know.
They were a trap waiting for him to come back down.
Then an idea took shape.
If Tang San was going to turn the arena into a trap, then Su Yan would wreck the arena first.
Raising his hand, Su Yan sent the barrier higher, then slammed it down into the packed earth below.
Boom!
The barrier struck hard enough to crack the ground and blast soil and loose stones outward. Dust flew up across the arena as a section of Tang San's setup was torn apart.
It was only a small part of the field, but it was enough to clear away some of the Blue Silver Grass fragments.
So Su Yan did it again.
The barrier rose, then slammed down.
Another section of packed earth cracked apart, scattering soil, stones, and half-buried blue-silver threads.
Again.
And again.
Each impact cleared only a small patch, but it also denied Tang San the clean field he had been trying to build.
For a while, the match became a contest over the arena itself.
Tang San continued spreading Blue Silver Grass fragments across the packed earth, and Su Yan continued smashing them apart wherever they gathered too thickly.
But it was a losing exchange.
Su Yan could feel it.
Each heavy drop of the barrier pulled more Spirit Power from him. His breathing grew ragged, and the strain began to build.
Tang San looked dishevelled, dust clinging to his clothes and hair, but his breathing was still steady.
If this pattern continued, Su Yan would lose. He was sure of it.
So he stopped playing the same game.
He slammed the free barrier into the arena one more time.
Packed earth burst apart, and a thick cloud of dust rolled across the field, swallowing Tang San's last position from sight.
At the same instant, Su Yan jumped.
The barrier beneath his feet was no longer a foothold.
It became the attack.
He and the barrier fell together through the dust, aimed at the place Tang San had been standing a heartbeat before.
The barrier punched through the dust cloud and slammed into the ground.
For an instant, the impact tore the haze open.
Through the gap, Su Yan saw Tang San's surprised face.
Then the ground burst apart again, and a fresh wave of dust swallowed Tang San from view.
But Su Yan knew where he was.
His feet hit the ground hard. Pain shot up his legs, but he ignored it and pushed off.
He dashed toward the place he had seen Tang San last, fist swinging forward.
To his surprise, the punch landed.
The flash of satisfaction lasted less than a breath.
A foot slammed into his stomach and drove him back.
Wheezing as the air rushed from his lungs, he heard a shout.
"Second Soul Skill: Parasite."
Su Yan looked down and saw Blue Silver Grass fragments clinging to his legs.
They were already starting to grow.
In a desperate last move, Su Yan manifested both barriers just behind him, angled them past his body, and hurled them forward with all the force he could muster.
He heard a cry of pain just as the rapidly growing Blue Silver Grass vines fully encased him and swallowed his vision.
His legs gave out beneath him.
Bound too tightly to catch himself, Su Yan fell backwards and struck the ground hard.
He tried to move, but his limbs felt heavy and slow, as if they no longer quite belonged to him.
The paralytic poison.
He let out a strained breath.
He had already given it everything he had.
Then a voice cut through the noise.
"Student Su Yan! Are you still able to move?"
Su Yan wanted, very badly, to retort.
He was completely wrapped in vines. Even if he wanted to move, he could not.
"If you cannot move by the count of ten, the match will be declared a draw!"
A draw?
Then his last attack had worked.
"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!"
Su Yan tried to struggle, but between the poison and the layers of Blue Silver Grass binding him, it was useless.
"Six! Five! Four!"
Nothing.
"Three! Two! One!"
The officiating teacher's voice rang across the arena.
"I hereby declare the final outcome of this match: a draw!"
A heartbeat of silence followed.
Then the teacher raised his voice again.
"Let us give both competitors a hand for an excellent match!"
The crowd answered in an uproar, louder than any cheer that had come before.
When the sound finally levelled back down, Su Yan heard the officiating teacher ask Tang San to release him.
He expected to see light again.
Instead, the vines tightened.
His breath grew shallower. The pressure built around his ribs, his arms, his legs, and even through the paralytic poison, pain began to break through.
"Tang San, could you please release Student Su Yan?"
The pressure suddenly vanished.
The Blue Silver Grass loosened, and Su Yan saw the blue sky above him.
Forcing his heavy limbs to move, he sat up and stared at Tang San's back as he limped away.
Only one thought resounded in Su Yan's mind.
He really had been willing to kill me.