Special Training

"Xie Xie. Xie Xie! Wake up! It's time to train!"

I woke up to the loud voice of Tang Wulin. Groggily sitting up, I looked around in confusion, before remembering the weird voice, the migraine, and the jade scales. I quickly pushed it to the back of my mind, leaving it for future me to wonder about.

"Alright, I'm ready. Let's go," I responded, as well both went over to the field, where Teacher Wu was already standing. After Gu Yue arrived, we all followed Wu Zhangkong to an indoor training ground at the back of the academy.

The training ground was circular, with many Soul Barriers in it, which seemed to be training areas for students at higher levels. Teacher Wu brought us into the middle of the building, before speaking.

"From today onwards, you will all have to train with me at night. This is in preparation for the Class Promotion Tournament in three months."

[A/N: I made a mistake in the earlier chapter, saying it would start in a month. However, chapter 68 of LDK shows that it actually starts in three months, so I was wrong.]

After making sure we all understood, he turned his gaze to Wulin, speaking once again. "Tang Wulin, your martial soul is Bluesilver Grass. Previously, you were selected for the Class Promotion Tournament because I had no other choice. Even though Gu Yue is here now, and having already seen her talent and power whatever I said before won't change. But I hope that you will show me you are capable of representing class five in this match with your hard work. However, if after three months you fail to reach my requirements, I will be sending these two to participate in the match without you."

Dejectedly, he nodded, showing that he understood. At this, I put a comforting hand on his shoulder, before trying to cheer him up. "Don't worry, you'll definitely be able to participate in the match. You may have Bluesilver Grass, but you also have those weird golden scales that boost your power. If you can manage to control those or advance your Bluesilver Grass, you'll definitely be allowed in."

He gave me a smile, seemingly more upbeat, before Gu Yue suddenly spoke up. "Teacher Wu. I'm not participating in this match."

He looked at her questioningly, causing her to continue on. "I'm a new transfer student, and I don't want to cause any implications to others. So, please take back your decision for me to participate in the match."

All of us looked at her, shocked, before Wulin finally spoke up, breaking the silence. He gave her a smile, saying, "Thanks, Gu Yue. However, Teacher Wu's right. This will affect the honor of our class. And naturally, the strongest would compete. But don't worry, I'll work hard as well. The number of participants doesn't stop at two. As Xie Xie said, if I'm able to train and strengthen myself sufficiently during these months, I think teacher will allow me to compete."

I didn't think he would give up an easy chance to advance. He surprises me more every day. Finally resolving that issue, I finally inquired about the main issue. "What're we gonna do for training? I don't think physical training will help us very much."

Teacher Wu answered, "Obviously not. Whatever training you are going through, there will be only once objective, and that is to increase your power. Power can be classified into two categories - hard power and soft power. From my point of view, all power originates from actual combat. Thus, that will your training. We will use it to arouse your potential, and use it to give you combat experience. I'll brief all of you on the important pointers, and then you'll start."

He looked at me first, speaking. "Xie Xie, you currently have great speed and a great arsenal of moves, and you are above your classmates in terms of cultivation. However, your combat experience is lacking. This causes you to not know when to deploy your skills to maximum effectiveness. On top of that, your second martial soul should be reserved unless you need to unleash it. It is good at catching people off guard, especially with the invisible shurikens and arrows, but you should only use it when an opportunity presents itself, so you can maximize surprise factor."

He went on to speak to Gu Yue, before informing us that he would get our spiritual power examined tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that I'm currently at the start of the Spirit Connection Realm due to my [Haki] training, but I never really took a test.

After pointing out more of Gu Yue and Tang Wulin's flaws, he addressed all of us. "With all of that being said, we'll begin the special training now. All three of you will battle together against me!" How interesting. Last time I fought him, I didn't even get a taste of his true capabilities. And with Wulin and Gu Yue helping, I feel that we'll be able to get him to reveal more of his power.

How exciting. Teacher Wu summoned a wooden sword, before speaking. "I'm not going to use my soul power or any soul skills, but even so, you three must give me your all. Begin!" Immediately after starting, Teacher Wu rushed at me.

Instead of retreating, I decided to face him head-on. He swung his sword at me, causing me to use [Arnament: Hardening] on my knee, allowing me to unleash a powerful knee strike called [Baekdu]. His eyes widened, clearly not expecting the power coming from my [Arnament: Hardening] and [Total Concentration Breathing: Constant] reinforced [Baekdu].

However, this didn't push him back even a little, allowing him to counter-attack. Seeing the move coming with my [Observation Haki], I quickly used the [Feline Style] to jump, arching my back midair, allowing me to avoid the sword swing.

Seeing that Teacher Wu was pre-occupied, Wulin threw a hammer with Bluesilver Grass connected to it, missing. However, this gave Gu Yue ample time to send a fireball straight at him, causing him to block it with his sword.

Not missing the opportunity to strike, I planted my hand on the ground, spinning, as I unleashed a [Low Hwechook] at his foot, attempting to trip him. However, our difference in power was too large, as he was able to avoid it easily, jumping over the kick and countering with a kick of his own to my face, sending me flying.

A cushion of wind from Gu Yue stopped me mid-air, allowing me to land softly on the ground. However, as I was flying, Wu Zhangkong got to Tang Wulin, swinging at him. Wulin managed to avoid, allowing me enough time to send a few invisible shurikens at Teacher Wu, while Gu Yue pushed them forward with wind, allowing them to go even faster.

The shurikens soared at him quickly, forcing him to use his sword to deflect them. However, Wulin used his [Bind] skill, causing him to have to struggle a tiny bit to get out. However, at that point, Wulin was already swinging with his hammers, causing him to hastily swing back with his sword.

However, due to the combination of [Bind] and the shuriken, he wasn't able to gather as much momentum in his sword as he would like. The hammers struck against the sword, breaking them. The immense force in the hammers caused Wulin to let go, causing the hammers to go flying past Teacher Wu's head.

They impacted the ground, causing a loud booming sound. He was really fighting with that kinda shit? Is he Rock Lee or something? Jesus. Teacher Wu seemed to share my thoughts, as he stared blankly at the hammers, before stopping the match.

He stared at Wulin doubtfully, before telling him, "Your hammers are abnormal."

Wulin answered his unspoken question, saying, "These hammers were made with Heavy Silver, and are slightly heavier than normal forging hammers." Curious, I tried picking it up, before discovering that it was way heavier than I thought.

Even with my [Total Concentration Breathing: Constant], I had to strain myself to lift it up. If I were to use something that heavy in a fight, I would definitely be tired out quickly. Wulin was able to break my arm when he was berserk-mode with a punch. Imagine if he used these hammers. My arms would definitely be crushed.

I looked at Wulin questioningly, causing him to respond. "One hammer weighs about 150 kilograms." Holy shit, dude. What the fuck does he eat for breakfast? How the hell is he so strong?

Teacher Wu unveiled something even more shocking asking Wulin, "There were three waves of power. Did you cause that, or was that from something else?"

Wulin explained that it was the special ability of the hammers, causing Teacher Wu to ask him about his talent in forgery. Shockingly, he responded that he was an official blacksmith. That was a great feat, as blacksmithing is known to be one of the hardest professions to learn, much harder than things like Mecha Designing or Mecha Making.

Teacher Wu had Wulin pull on his arm to test his strength before he spoke once again. "In the Class Promotion Tournament, the three of you should complete together. If you could exert your strength to the current amount, then adding in our tactics, it should be interesting."

After that, Wulin and I returned to our dormitory. In the coming days, we would have almost the exact same routine, except for Wulin being excluded from physical training. One day, Teacher Wu brought us to a test for Spiritual Power.

Wulin was at 44, I had exactly 101, and Gu Yue had 119. That meant we were both in Spirit Connection, which was when one's mind and heart could communicate. That is also the rank where someone's ability to control their spiritual power begins.

Teacher Wu looked back and forth between me and Gu Yue before speaking. "I can understand why Gu Yue would be in Spirit Connection realm because she sees to be a Spirit System Soul Master, but why is your spiritual power that high?"

I chuckled awkwardly, before responding. "Well I can't really explain much since it would reveal some of my techniques, but one of the things I train it naturally raises my Spiritual Power to a higher degree than usual." I only told him the bare-bones, as I didn't really want to expose my [Haki] just yet. Anyways, after the Spiritual Power test, our days went on and on as usual.