Chapter 12: Combat Training

Zhou Huan stood in the Martial Arts Arena practicing; in the shadows, a pair of eyes was watching the diligently practicing Zhou Heng.

A look of satisfaction flashed through those eyes.

Subsequently, the owner of those eyes flashed their figure and arrived behind Zhou Heng.

Zhou Heng was currently practicing the manipulation of metal elements when suddenly, within his range of metal element control, an existence carrying other elemental powers appeared.

Zhou Heng turned his head to look, and seeing it was the Qingluan Douluo, Zhou Heng retracted his Element Spirit Tree martial soul, turned around, and respectfully bowed to the Qingluan Douluo.

"Third Master, when did you arrive?"

The Qingluan Douluo smiled and said, "Little Heng, the seven of us discussed it yesterday; once you cultivate to a two-ring Great Soul Master, we will have you attend the Spirit Hall Academy."

"Therefore, so that you won't be bullied at the academy, I have come to train your combat awareness."

As soon as Zhou Heng heard he was to attend the Spirit Hall Academy, his brows furrowed: "Master, can I not go to the Spirit Hall Academy? How could it be as comfortable there as in the Offering Hall? I don't want to go to school."

The Qingluan Douluo shook his head and said, "Don't even think about it. This is the Grand Pontiff's decision; I cannot change the Grand Pontiff's decision."

Zhou Heng's expression was extremely ugly; the Spirit Hall Academy was no good place, as it was managed by the Pope, and he himself was from the Offering Hall.

Once he entered the Spirit Hall Academy, the current Pope, Bibi Dong, would never let him have time to grow, and besides, the teaching at the Spirit Hall Academy might not necessarily be suitable for him.

The Qingluan Douluo looked at Zhou Heng's ugly expression and said with a chuckle, "Little Heng, don't think about other things; follow your master and train hard."

Zhou Huan thought and thought but could not find a reason to persuade Qian Daoliu to keep him from attending the Spirit Hall Academy, so he could only accept the Qingluan Douluo's combat training with a long face.

On the Martial Arts Arena, one large and one small figure stood facing each other; behind the larger figure, a cyan simurgh circled and danced by their side, continuously emitting a cyan radiance.

Zhou Heng looked vigilantly at the Qingluan Douluo opposite him; the two had fought several times before, but Zhou Heng had never lasted more than a dozen rounds against the Qingluan Douluo, which made Zhou Heng feel stifled.

"Begin!"

The Qingluan Douluo spoke suddenly, giving Zhou Heng a start.

Zhou Heng subconsciously released his Battle Instrument martial soul, his First Soul Ring lit up, and the Profound Thunder Purple Bamboo appeared out of thin air, taking root behind Zhou Heng.

Subsequently, the Element Spirit Tree appeared in his left hand, and his First Soul Skill—Metal Element Manipulation was released; the metal elements within a five-meter radius were controlled by Zhou Heng, turning into a golden curtain of light covering his body.

After the Qingluan Douluo spoke, the blue bird circling them turned into a streak of cyan light, charging directly at Zhou Heng, who was standing in place.

Zhou Heng felt a light and nimble elemental power enter his range of elemental control, attempting to disintegrate his power of metal element manipulation.

The moment Zhou Heng felt these powers, he reacted; this was the power belonging to the wind element. He immediately manipulated the power of the metal elements to launch a strike against those invading wind elements, wanting to rely on his strong affinity for metal elements to push these wind elements out of his range of control.

The battles between Zhou Heng and the Qingluan Douluo had used elemental powers from the very beginning, with the goal of exercising Zhou Heng's ability to control elemental powers.

After all, controlling the power of elements was a special talent naturally possessed by Zhou Heng's Element Spirit Tree martial soul; possessing a Soul Ring only greatly increased Zhou Heng's control over a certain element.

Now, these wind elements were controlled by the Qingluan Douluo; even if Zhou Heng wanted to use these wind elements, he could not compete with the Qingluan Douluo's control and could only choose to repel and squeeze these wind elements.

Zhou Heng continuously injected the soul power within his body into his Soul Ring to maintain his control over the metal elements.

The consequence of this was that while Zhou Heng's control over the metal elements was maintained at a certain level, the soul power within Zhou Heng's body was also being consumed at a rapid speed.

In just over twenty breaths of time, the soul power within Zhou Heng's body was almost completely exhausted. After Zhou Heng held on for a few more breaths, the soul power in his body was completely drained, and the Element Spirit Tree martial soul, having lost the support of soul power, disappeared from his hand on its own.

At the same time, the Qingluan Douluo also retracted the blue bird formed by the gathered and dispersed wind elements and arrived at Zhou Heng's side.

The Qingluan Douluo, with hands behind their back, stood beside Zhou Heng with a smile and critiqued Zhou Heng, who was sitting on the ground resting: "Your control over metal elements is very strong now, and you manipulate them very precisely; it is evident that your mental power is not inferior to an average Soul Elder."

"However, your soul power is a fatal flaw; it is truly too little to support the consumption required when you manipulate elements. This requires you to work hard at cultivation to raise your level."

"Your combat awareness can only be considered barely passable. Just now, I manipulated wind elements to invade the metal elements you controlled, yet you only compressed the density of the metal elements to use for defense."

"Why not use the compressed metal elements to counter-invade the wind elements, wrap the wind elements within your metal elements, and bit by bit strangle the wind elements I controlled?"

"This move can not only deal with the wind elements I control, but it can also be used against enemies."

"Your current strength is quite good among your peers; cultivate well. With such talent, your future achievements will only be higher than ours."

After the Qingluan Douluo finished evaluating Zhou Heng's strengths and weaknesses, they comforted and encouraged Zhou Heng a few more times, so as not to let Zhou Huan develop negative emotions of losing confidence in himself.

After a while, Zhou Heng finally fully recovered his soul power; feeling the soul power in his body that had increased by a few points, Zhou Heng was filled with joy.

After he subdued the Profound Thunder Purple Bamboo, his soul power had broken through, reaching over thirteen levels of soul power. After these few confrontations with the Qingluan Douluo, his soul power was not only more solid, but his total amount of soul power had also increased.

Zhou Heng stood up and immediately released the Element Spirit Tree martial soul, "Master, let's continue!"

The Qingluan Douluo looked at Zhou Heng, who was full of excitement with a burgeoning fighting spirit in his eyes, and likewise smiled: "Good, disciple, let's continue the training!"

The Qingluan Douluo did not release their martial soul, relying only on soul power to manipulate the surrounding wind elements, and Zhou Heng began his confrontation with the wind elements again, relying on metal elements.

This time, while Zhou Heng was silently resisting the wind elements, golden light and thunder patterns began to emit a faint glow on the Profound Thunder Purple Bamboo behind him, and the thunder elements in the air were attracted by the Profound Thunder Purple Bamboo.

Finally, it turned into a bolt of thunder, following the metal elements Zhou Heng was manipulating, and struck toward the Qingluan Titled Douluo.

The Qingluan Titled Douluo looked at the thunderbolt striking toward them, a look of surprise flashing in their eyes; their figure twisted, wind elements attached to their body, and they easily dodged the thunderbolt striking toward them.

"Good lad, you even know how to pull a sneak attack on your master!" the Qingluan Titled Douluo laughed.

"Take a move from your master!"

The Qingluan Titled Douluo gave a light shout, and a cyan simurgh appeared out of thin air beside them; it was condensed from wind elements.

The moment the cyan simurgh appeared, it vanished from its spot.

In the air, a cyan streak cut through the air, leaving behind a cyan trail, charging straight toward Zhou Heng.

Zhou Heng poured all his soul power into the First Soul Ring of the Element Spirit Tree martial soul; for a moment, golden light shone brilliantly around Zhou Heng.

This time, Zhou Heng did not manipulate the metal elements to change into a golden light shield, but instead manipulated the metal elements to compress to the limit of his current control, then covered the metal elements closely over his body, forming a thin "film," turning Zhou Heng into a 'little golden man.'

Just as the metal elements covered his body, the cyan simurgh arrived in front of Zhou Heng.

"Boom—"

The cyan simurgh crashed straight into Zhou Heng's chest.

"Crack!"

The next moment, the cyan simurgh shattered, turning into a whirlwind that wrapped Zhou Heng within it; inside the whirlwind, fine yet sharp wind blades sought to strangle Zhou Heng.

The wind blades continuously struck Zhou Heng's body; although the film formed by the metal elements was cut by the wind blades with a crackling sound, this film still stood firm and did not shatter.