Chapter 22: with translation of chapter title

Qin Ming finished his rant and began today's training.

Practical training had no frills; it was the real deal from the start.

「First match, Shi Mo versus A Si Luo. 」 Qin Ming said lightly.

The Royal Battle Team's practical training decides opponents by lot; even if they face a foe that completely counters them, it's the same, because in a Soul Master's battle who can guarantee their opponent will always be one they counter? Thus sparring with any opponent has become their norm; although A Si Luo basically never beats Shi Mo, he still won't give up.

At this moment, only Shi Mo and A Si Luo remained on the Dou Hun Tai, while the others watched and summarized their strengths and weaknesses.

On the Dou Hun Tai, Shi Mo and A Si Luo stood facing each other.

「Shi Mo, martial soul: Xuanwu Tortoise, rank thirty-six Battle Soul Lord, please. 」 Shi Mo spoke bluntly and lightly.

As his words fell, three soul rings—two yellow and one purple—rose slowly from his body, and a large emerald-green turtle shell appeared, covering Shi Mo's torso, leaving only his limbs and head.

This is Shi Mo's martial soul, the Xuanwu Tortoise; with the martial soul manifested, he does not look short or vulgar like a turtle, but rather his stature has grown a few inches, making him appear more stalwart and robust, his exposed limbs strong and powerful, as if containing immense force, and the emerald turtle shell greatly enhances his defense.

The Xuanwu Tortoise, true to its name, this martial soul possesses the bloodline of the Xuanwu and is not weak; although the original work does not mention this martial soul's bloodline, it does state that this martial soul is not inferior to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul, which already proves its strength.

Even without using any soul skills, after manifesting his martial soul Shi Mo's defense is greatly increased—at least not something this brat A Si Luo can easily break through.

A Si Luo felt somewhat resigned inside, but his fighting spirit was blazing; Qin Ming's teaching principle is simple: as a Soul Master, never avoid battle at any time, and the most important thing for a Soul Master is to have fighting spirit.

「A Si Luo, martial soul: Ghost Leopard, rank thirty-six Battle Soul Lord, please. 」

Upon martial soul manifestation, A Si Luo's golden hair turned black, black fur grew over his body, his golden pupils became the vertical slit of a feline, his whole body became more supple as he dropped to a crouch, the muscles on his legs slightly bulging, though he could still burst forth with astonishing speed.

Likewise, three soul rings—two yellow and one purple—circled his body; A Si Luo now had no trace of fear, and if he was to fight, he would give it his all.

Both had manifested their martial souls, with the standard configuration of two yellow and one purple soul rings.

However, as a meat shield, Shi Mo frustrated A Si Luo, because he could not crack Shi Mo's turtle-like defense.

「First soul skill: Leopard Shadow Rush! 」

A Si Luo's first soul ring on his body lit up first; under the effect of his first soul skill, his speed increased by fifty percent, and as an agility-attack Soul Master he instantly turned into a black shadow, running around Shi Mo, waiting for an opportunity.

Shi Mo's gaze followed the black shadow's movements slowly turning; though his defense meant he truly did not fear A Si Luo's attacks, catching A Si Luo was not easy.

After all, the two had fought countless times over nearly two years, each knowing the other's tactics and attack patterns inside out.

Shi Mo smirked and charged straight in one direction; A Si Luo's speed was too great, so Shi Mo's charge could not possibly hit him.

When Shi Mo charged in one direction, A Si Luo had already arrived opposite him.

But that was Shi Mo's intention; when A Si Luo came to face him, Shi Mo's first soul ring lit up.

「First soul skill: Shield Formation! 」

As the soul skill was released, Shi Mo's turtle shell detached, forming a huge dark-green turtle-shell shield 1.5 meters tall and 60 centimeters wide.

This is Shi Mo's first soul skill; it can detach his turtle shell to become an attack-capable shield while increasing his strength by thirty percent, but doing so reduces his own defense, which is why Shi Mo wants to stay out of A Si Luo's encirclement.

At this moment A Si Luo was opposite him, not circling him, which greatly reduced his threat.

With the release of the first soul skill, Shi Mo's second soul ring also lit up.

「Second soul skill: Xuanwu Flying Shield! 」

Upon releasing the second soul skill, Shi Mo hurled the shield in his hand toward A Si Luo's front; his second soul skill is to control the flying shield's attack, and also to control the shield to form a long-range blocking effect.

However, the shield has no locking function; everything depends on Shi Mo's own control ability to determine the skill's final effect.

Seeing this skill, Gu Xuan had felt a twinge of envy when he first heard about it, because such a skill is the easiest to unleash astonishing effects.

If controlled properly and with sufficient soul power, this single skill alone would be enough for Shi Mo to stand invincible.

In the Avengers, the one who uses a whistle to control signal arrows relies on object control to wreak havoc in all directions; if Shi Mo could specialize in controlling the flying shield, he wouldn't need to reach that level, at least he wouldn't end up like in the original story where the flying shield injures teammates.

Thinking this, Gu Xuan felt he could also train Shi Mo and the graphite flying shield's attack ability, making them masters of offense and defense combined.

However, Shi Mo currently lacks that effortless control; the flying shield flies toward A Si Luo, and although his gaze stays locked on A Si Luo, A Si Luo won't just stand there letting Shi Mo attack.

「Third soul skill: Leopard Shadow Clone! 」

A Si Luo's third purple soul ring on his body lit up, his body split into three, two leopard-shadow clones identical to his main body appeared and began running in three directions.

His third soul skill, Leopard Shadow Clone, can produce two clones identical to his main body, and the clones possess thirty percent of his main body's attack power, making it an extremely powerful soul skill.

At that time, the most important thing was that A Si Luo could, when releasing the soul skill, switch his position with that of a clone at any time—although he could only switch once during the skill's release—but that was enough to disturb Shi Mo's line of sight.

Of course, if A Si Luo could switch his main body and clone positions, this soul skill would deserve to be called a divine skill, but that's not the case; he can only switch once, and only while releasing the skill, and once the skill ends he loses that ability.

But this also left Shi Mo momentarily unsure which to attack, because he wasn't certain which was A Si Luo's real body; if A Si Luo stood still, Shi Mo could tell, since the main body's qi and blood are far stronger than the clones', but A Si Luo is moving at high speed now, making observation impossible for Shi Mo.

Helpless, Shi Mo could only maneuver the flying shield back to his side for defense, to guard against a sudden attack by A Si Luo.

Because the three A Si Luos had already advanced from three directions to surround Shi Mo.

At this point Gu Xuan looked somewhat helpless, because he noticed that the people of the Douluo Continent seem to use soul skills only as they are, without thinking about developing them.

If at this moment Shi Mo were controlling the flying shield to spin rapidly around his body, would the sharp but low-defense agility-attack close-combat Soul Master A Si Luo dare to attack? A shield spinning at high speed could not only defend against attacks but also generate decent offensive power, yet Shi Mo simply held the shield in his hand and raised it, making himself a living target.

I know your defense is astonishing, but you don't have to keep defending, right?

PS: Typos will be corrected later.

(End of chapter)