Suppression

Karni slowly walked below the man in the sky. The Jumper jumped high and hadn't even begun falling yet.

Everyone looked at Karni bewildered. It was because they knew The Jumper. Yes the jump was slow, but the impact and the area it affected once the man would land enveloped almost the whole arena.

If it were to any one of them, they would either attack him while he was open up to attack while midair or run for it. One would have to commit to one or the other. They were sure that this fellow didn't actually know The Jumper. Just where was this guy from?

Meanwhile Karni just continued to stand there waiting. His soul rings appeared. Four purple soul rings. Four Purple! This guy was strong! The first and third soul ring shone brightly.

Karni tapped his bo staff into the ground. A strange sound filled the whole area, but he didn't do anything with it. As the man was falling at Karni like a meteor, the music of the surroundings slowly disappeared. Karni's staff was vibrating.

He was almost directly above Karni. Karni swung his bo staff 180 degrees… and vanished.

The man with the panda martial soul looked in surprise, he landed on the ground. A shockwave spread along the whole platform. He couldn't damage the arena, it was meant to support fights of Titled Douluos as well.

He quickly looked around, then above. What he saw was the face of a bo staff almost in his own face. He put his hands in front of himself to shield the head.

The golden-silver staff hit. The man's eyes closed from the pain. It was like a whole nest of ants suddenly moved into his hands. He jumped back up into Karni, much to Karni's surprise.

This was a panda martial soul - a close sibling to the bear types. Bears usually focused on strength, attack and defence alike. On the other hand, Pandas had a decent amount of strength, but their defensive strength was much higher than those of other bear-type martial souls. They could handle both spiritual and physical defence.

Even if Karni's bo staff landed somewhere in between the two, with it being of the sound element, the panda could still handle it. If it were anyone else, their hands wouldn't be the only parts ineffective, their nerves would be affected as well. Even Tang Wulin was affected by this, he was completely stunned for a few seconds. That being said, his Golden Dragon King bloodline hasn't truly awakened yet. Meanwhile, The Jumper had already started developing his own abilities.

The man's second soul ring shone. He had a total of five rings. Two yellow and three Purple. The man was a Soul King! Karni could see a glow on the Panda's skin. The dark parts changed into bright ones. It looked like a normal white bear now.

Karni could "see" danger and swung his martial soul again, shifting beneath the guy, his fourth soul ring now clearly glowing. The first time it was such a surprise, that most people missed the glow of the ring.

The all-white panda changed to black as the second ring was still glowing; and the man, instead of continuing further up into the sky, immediately turned around, crashing towards Karni.

Karni didn't have the time to lock onto another location with Shift. He could already hear Hopper complaining about his reaction speed the next time they train. He activated his second soul ring instead.

The two looked straight into each other's eyes. Both shined bright purple, but Karni was the clear winner of the exchange. The panda could clearly see hundreds of Karnis jumping around the arena. They were all in gold colour, focused on him.

Karni couldn't completely dodge the attack due to its closeness, but at least he managed to weaken it a little bit, by shaking the opponents focus.

The man hit Karni's shoulder. It wasn't a direct hit, but Karni could feel something fracture within the arm. But something unexpected happened. His second martial soul shook.

The Jumper's first soul ring shone. The colours of his Panda turned grey all around. He grew in size as well.

The man, contrary to his nickname, didn't have a panda connected to jumping. It was in fact called the Twin Colours Panda. The pigment of a usual panda martial soul was its actual attacking focus. When white, he focused only on attacking and strength, forgetting the defence. When black, it would be the opposite. When he switched his two colours like that, his whole being made a "shift" into the opposite state of what it was like when white or black. Hence, the force upwards immediately changed to downwards, while also starting to focus on defence.

Finally this grey colour was the first soul ring. It would mix both colours together to give an overall boost, just not as strong as the individual one.

Neither of the abilities were connected to jumping. That was something the opponent began developing later in life. With his third ring and onwards. That very ring now shined.

Karni could see that while the whole body was grey, his paws and claws were different. The paw took on a black colour, while the claws shone bright white. Becoming longer.

The man hopped a little and dashed. Karni's eyes widened. This felt like the speed of an agility system! In truth, the Jumper wasn't running, he was jumping sideways into Karni!

Karni swung his staff 180 degrees again, disappearing. As soon as he did, the man's third soul ring shone and he slapped his hands together. A shockwave was released that even shook up Karni, but most importantly, the man changed directions completely!

Karni cursed under his breath. Just how many ways of changing directions did this guy have? He caught him off guard, otherwise, Karni would've activated the third soul ring and used the bits of the shockwave that would be beneficial to him.

But it's not like he didn't have his own ways!

He used the Drunken Ghost Dance. His body bent while the legs moved on their own. It was an illusionary dance. The Twin Colours Panda crashed into air, before also appearing illusionary and chasing after Karni. Both of them were Tang Sect disciples.

The Jumper could see that Karni was a real deal. Slippery as all hell. At least that was what his expression was saying. 

Karni hadn't been able to use his most powerful offence again, due to the guy's constant pursuit.

After the first attack, The Jumber refused to give Karni another chance at it. As Karni was about to activate his third soul ring again, The Jumper's fifth ring shone in reaction.

The grey colour changed. Parts of it brightened, others darkened. The usual Panda pattern of black and white was back, but it was disturbed. There was no rhyme or reason to the colouring. It was constantly moving on the body like a surging river of two colours. Sometimes mixing, sometimes clashing.

Karni could feel a ferocious aura assault him. The Twin Colours Panda was absolutely frightening. His heart beat aloud, much like the times he had gained understanding, but this time it was involuntarily confusing him. He was losing control over his own body through pure pressure.

It suddenly lessened.

His own second martial soul, the one that he had yet to start developing, had a reaction. It wasn't just it. His whole being, his blood and body had a reaction too.

The ferocious aura slowly disappeared, replaced by calm. The mixing colours on the panda were still there, but they had no true effect. Both Karni and the Jumper stopped in confusion for a split second. Hu Jie also raised his eyebrows in astonishment, as well as excitement.

Karni was the first to react. He disappeared and reappeared, the music of his martial soul, of space and time, could be heard again. The panda reacted soon after.

He put his hands up again against the upcoming bo staff. Karni could notice the slightest tremble in his arms. He smiled. The effect was stronger than at the beginning.

Meanwhile, The Jumper wore a frustrated expression. Karni couldn't feel a tinge of the pressure from the fifth soul ring. Karni waved his hand and another piece of music came from the side. One of his hands empty, the bo staff turned into drumsticks.

He aimed for the head, but The Twin Colours Panda had good instincts. He jumped up with all his might. A third soul ring was shining to make the jump stronger.

It succeeded, Karni hit the midpoint of The Jumper's body instead. The man slowed down, a mixture of surprise and regret on his face. Karni knew he just messed up the guy's inner organs.

The man was in the air. He dodged, but he was a sitting duck! Karni had teleportation abilities while the Twin Colours Panda wasn't behaving as it should! Karni didn't let the man think. He appeared above him immediately.

As much as The Humper struggled, he couldn't move. Karni hit him on the head and everything went black. The man started free falling. Karni couldn't catch him. From this height, if he fell, he'd be very injured without his martial soul to protect him.

Hu Jie caught him in midair with ease. Before the two even landed, the guy regained his consciousness. He looked at Hu Jie embarrassed but a bit indignant. Some murmurs started as well when they saw the guy waking up. Wouldn't that mean that the guy could've still saved himself? Could it be that the other guy tricked Hu Jie into saving him?

Hu Jie immediately noticed the doubt in both the Twin Colours Panda young adult as well as the surrounding audience.

"For those in doubt. No need to worry. That boy just there, he held back. If he wished to, he could've killed him." Hu Jie smiled, but everyone else made terrified faces.

Hu Jie looked at Karni. "Would it be okay for me to tell them?"

"As long as my identity stays hidden." Karni understood what Hu Jie wanted to tell them. Even if they knew his face, he could stay hidden since he won't be here for long.

Hu Jie nodded. "This teen here had understood the Element's Heart of his sound. He was constantly controlling it to have a stunning effect, instead of a deadly one." 

The Jumper was still confused about something, but knowing that the abilities of soul master's were supposed to be hidden, only asked Hu Jie. "What about my ability, why didn't it work on him?"

Hu Jie whispered something to him. "I'm only telling you this since you were personally affected by it. If you spread this to anyone, you'll be expelled from the sect, I think you can understand why on your own."

The man nodded and looked at Karni with different eyes. Both incredulity and jealousy coloured his eyes. Meanwhile Karni himself was confused as all hell. He didn't understand what happened back then either, only that his second martial soul reacted. His own panda reacted to this one. It… resisted.

Hu Jie noticed this as well.. His interest increased. The boy didn't even know.

"Now then. We have seen something special. I hope you all learned something from this fight. The loser will owe a debt of 6000 contribution points to the sect, while the winner will have 3000 contribution points delivered to their account. Now then I must go."

Everyone was so focused on Hu Jie as he disappeared that they didn't even notice that Karni also disappeared from the arena. The only people that noticed were Siduo, who frowned, and the princess, who appeared amused and brimming with interest.

… … …

"Your excellency, why did you kidnap me?" Karni made an awkward face. He knew this was someone just on the brink of becoming a Limit Douluo, but still. He could've at least asked him!

Hu Jie chuckled cheerfully. "No worries, I just have a few questions. Nothin too scary. I'm simply interested in you. If you confirm my hopes I'll even support you."

This made Karni quite happy. Who wouldn't want help from the strongest person in the Tang Sect of the Star Luo Continent?

"How may I confirm your hopes?" Karni smiled. Readily giving in.

Hu Jie laughed again at the cheeky behaviour. He didn't mind it.

"For starters. How did you fuse the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track with that other movement of yours. With how much emphasis there is on footwork in the technique, it is hard to combine it with a different movement technique without ruining the circulation."

Karni thought for a bit. He didn't actually have an answer to this. He just kept trying and it eventually worked.

"I hope you realise. The way you moved today? It wasn't something that would normally be possible to do, even for masters. One's body or martial soul would have to lean heavily in the direction of flexibility."

Karni was silent. He never even realised something like this. For him, it all came naturally after many gruelling hours of practice.

"Your martial soul also doesn't seem to have much of an effect on your body, so let me ask you this." Seeing that Karni himself didn't really know what was going on with him, Hu Jie was surprisingly smiling even harder.

"Do you have twin martial souls?"

Karni was surprised, but not too much. This was someone at the peak of the world after all. He nodded.

"It's a Panda, but it's a mutation."

"Oh?" Hu Jie raised his eyebrows. He honestly didn't expect that.

Karni summoned it. His body became fluffy with black and white form, but he still maintained a human-like appearance. He didn't have any soul rings on the panda.

Hu Jie went into a little hum.

After a while, he finally spoke. "Do you know if your martial soul is connected to a bloodline?"

Karni shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I'm not too sure where my martial souls come from anyway."

"Then let me tell you this. Even if it's a mutation, it belongs to a high level bloodline, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to resist your opponent like this today."

"Oh?" Karni was surprised. He thought it was simply sort of unique. Definitely not a high level bloodline though.

"Would you allow me to test it out?"

Karni nodded. He didn't mind, if anything, he welcomed it. He wanted to find out more as well. Unlike a certain protagonist of this period, he didn't have anyone to explain to him where his powers came from.

Hu Jie put his palms on Karni. Karni could feel that his insides were being messed with. It was different from circulating soul power. It felt a bit more personal when his own bloodline was being analysed.

No. This wasn't just analysing. It felt like circulating his soul power, except it was his own blood that was moving in uncanny ways. Soon a magical effect could be sensed by Karni all around him.

It was like his own body was familiar with this surrounding, like it has always lived here. Even though it was an artificially created surrounding, made by many advanced technologies, Karni felt familiar with them in a friendly sort of manner.

Hu Jie opened his eyes with intensity. He was looking at Karni with bewilderment. He actually had to consciously fight the tiny urge to address Karni like his equal. It was like his own body was nudging him that this boy in front of him was a long-known friend of his.

"Tell me! Did you eat any treasures to solidify your bloodline?"

"Eh? No! I haven't eaten any treasures even for my soul power!" What were these accusations? But more than that, why did this almost Limit Douluo feel so familiar to him? Like he understood him to a degree.

It was like his own senses changed with what was close to him. He could instinctually feel the extent of this man's power right now. The absolute strength he had within him. It should be terrifying, but instead, it felt like this strength would protect him as long as he wished it to.

Hu Jie was shaking with excitement right now. He could feel these effects too. Of course, to him, it was because he let himself be affected. If he fought back, it would be as easy as a pie, but still, the fact it could affect him at all spoke volumes at the thickness and specialty of this boy's bloodline!

"You! Become my disciple!"