After taking some time to recover, Tang San also returned to the team. Judging from his appearance, his injuries weren't serious.
Although Tang San had lost this time, he was clearly very unwilling. This was just an ordinary soul battle, and before the match, Yu Xiaogang had already restricted him from using hidden weapons. Otherwise, Yang Xiong wouldn't have stood a chance.
Not to mention, Tang San now possessed an external spirit bone and even a second martial spirit. In comparison, Yang Xiong's main martial spirit seemed to lack any long-range attack capabilities and could easily be restrained by Tang San's Blue Silver Grass. For instance, at the beginning of the battle, Tang San could've used the controlling power of the Blue Silver Grass to restrict Yang Xiong. Unfortunately, his current spirit power level was still too low.
Compared to Tang San, everyone glanced at Yu Xiaogang with a slightly strange expression.
Just earlier, Yu Xiaogang had gone on and on about how powerful control-type spirit masters were, but Tang San was immediately defeated by Yang Xiong. From the entire process, Yang Xiong didn't even seem injured, indirectly proving that control-type spirit masters weren't absolutely dominant.
As for Yu Xiaogang's claim that control-type spirit masters were the strongest unless they were countered by specific martial spirits, it didn't seem like Yang Xiong's martial spirit countered Tang San's Blue Silver Grass. On the contrary, it was Tang San's Blue Silver Grass that was easily shattered by Yang Xiong.
Dai Mubai had observed the entire battle. Although he was originally a bit frustrated about losing to Tang San, after watching Yang Xiong's fighting style, he realized he could also learn from it. Especially since Dai Mubai's second spirit skill, White Tiger Fierce Light Wave, was relatively effective against Blue Silver Grass.
Yu Xiaogang saw that everyone seemed deep in thought and couldn't help but cough a few times.
"Ahem, both Yang Xiong and Tang San performed excellently in their fight just now. At the spirit elder level, both of them would be hard to match. Their combat strength truly surprised me. I hope all of you can learn from both of them."
"Did you all notice how strong their physical bodies are? Their techniques in using their bodies and martial spirits are very well-honed, clearly showing their strong physiques."
"I want to emphasize something, for spirit masters, the body is the foundation. We must focus on physical training. Only with strong bodies can we use stronger spirit abilities and endure more intense battles."
After his speech, Yu Xiaogang turned to Yang Xiong. "Yang Xiong, your performance just now was very impressive. But I'm curious, why didn't you use any spirit abilities from start to finish? From what I know, whether it was during the entrance test or at the Spirit Arena, you've never used a spirit ability."
Yang Xiong replied, "I'm sorry, Master. My martial spirit is rather special, so I prefer not to use spirit abilities. Another reason is for personal safety. Unless it's a life-or-death situation, I won't use them."
Yu Xiaogang said, "A spirit master should rely on spirit power and spirit abilities. I don't know what abilities you currently have, but if you need help obtaining spirit rings in the future, I might be able to offer you guidance."
Looking at Yu Xiaogang's confident expression, Yang Xiong couldn't help but speak up. "Sorry, Master. My spirit rings and spirit abilities are all planned by my teacher. He will assist me in acquiring them."
Yu Xiaogang asked, a bit puzzled, "Who is your teacher? I've done a lot of research on martial spirits and spirit abilities, theoretically, I'm second to none."
Yang Xiong looked a bit helpless and finally said, "My teacher's name is Gu Rong, title: Bone Douluo."
Everyone's eyes widened upon hearing this. No one expected Yang Xiong's teacher to be a Titled Douluo. Titled Douluo hold supreme status in the spirit world.
Little witch Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes at Yang Xiong. How could her dearest Grandpa Bone take this bear-like guy as a disciple? She hadn't heard a single word about it, so obviously Yang Xiong must be making things up.
However, seeing Yang Xiong's serious expression, she didn't expose him.
In truth, Yang Xiong was also quite helpless. He didn't want to get involved with Yu Xiaogang. In terms of personality and other aspects, they were fundamentally incompatible. Yang Xiong had too many secrets, especially the uniqueness of his martial spirit, he couldn't afford to let his spirit abilities be exposed.
Yu Xiaogang, on the other hand, was extremely high-profile, always eager to announce any new discoveries to enhance his reputation as a researcher of spirit masters and martial spirits. This was the complete opposite of Yang Xiong's low-profile development strategy. Rather than risk future entanglements, he might as well bring up Bone Douluo now. After all, Ning Fengzhi had already expressed interest in having Bone Douluo take him as a disciple.
After Yang Xiong mentioned Bone Douluo, Yu Xiaogang had no choice but to drop the matter and continue the lesson.
Next, Dai Mubai went on to battle three combinations: Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing with Ning Rongrong, and Ma Hongjun with Oscar.
It seemed Dai Mubai had been inspired by the duel between Yang Xiong and Tang San. His performance was extremely strong, even with only a short rest, he managed to defeat all three opponents in succession.
But those opponents were clearly not weak. Especially Ma Hongjun and Oscar, Oscar's sausages combined with Ma Hongjun's attacks made a great team. After consuming the sausages, both could fly, which posed a significant challenge for a ground-based spirit master like Dai Mubai.
These three battles took over an hour. Meanwhile, Tang San, after consuming some herbs and resting for an hour, had recovered from most of his injuries. It looked like he was no longer hindered by pain.
Yang Xiong was quite surprised. Tang San's Xuan Tian Technique was more mysterious than he had thought, it truly allowed for rapid soul power recovery and healing.
Thinking of this, Yang Xiong felt he needed to perfect his own Yin-Yang Meditation Technique. If he could fully develop it, his cultivation speed might improve drastically.
After watching everyone's battles, Yu Xiaogang maintained a calm expression, but he criticized everyone, except for Yang Xiong.
He analyzed everyone's performance, mostly pointing out flaws, which was actually fairly objective.
For new students, battle experience was lacking. They focused too much on meditation and had little combat training, which made their ability to seize opportunities very poor.
He focused his criticism on Xiao Wu, Oscar, and Tang San. Xiao Wu was too playful and careless, using her abilities without proper thought. She failed to seize crucial moments in the fight with Dai Mubai, with her teleportation ability, she wouldn't have lost so badly if she had used it well. Oscar, as a food-type spirit master, lacked self-preservation skills.
As for Tang San, although Yu Xiaogang had always been proud of him, his performance in the battle followed Yang Xiong's rhythm and failed to showcase his strength in control.
After his critique, Yu Xiaogang became visibly angry. "You call yourselves little monsters? You've really let me down. As punishment, you'll all run ten laps to and from Soto City. If you can't finish, don't expect lunch."
Yang Xiong was speechless. This must be the so-called stone-carrying run training. It sounded okay, but it was overly simple and lacked any technical sophistication.
No one knew that Yang Xiong had been carrying a hundred-pound load during his battle with Tang San. Otherwise, his speed and power would have been at least 20% stronger.
Just like in the original story, everyone carried stones and ran ten laps to and from Soto City. Everyone except Yang Xiong was exhausted by the end. Even though Yang Xiong carried the heaviest load, and even helped others, he had trained like this since childhood, so it wasn't difficult for him.
The key issue was Ning Rongrong, whose physical condition was the weakest. She fainted with three kilometers left.
Yang Xiong didn't hesitate. He took all the stones from her back and placed them into his own massive bamboo basket, then picked her up and began to run.
Ning Rongrong slowly woke up in Yang Xiong's arms and struggled. "Bear boy, what are you doing? Put me down, I can run on my own."
Yang Xiong replied calmly, "Everyone else is nearly done. You're the only one left. Either let me carry you, or I'll leave you here. If you don't finish, the master might give you a harsher punishment."
Ning Rongrong struggled in his arms and nearly fell. Thankfully, Yang Xiong caught her quickly.
Her cheeks blushed. "You pervert! Can't you just carry me on your back?"
Yang Xiong set her down without hesitation and pointed at his overloaded basket. "My basket is already full of stones, not just yours, but also others'. Do you think anyone else can carry this weight?"
"Besides, everyone's exhausted. Apart from me, no one else can carry you to the finish."
The others stayed silent, exchanging glances without a word.
Yang Xiong and Ning Rongrong were both from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and had known each other since childhood, clearly making them closer than the rest. No one else wanted to intervene.
As Yang Xiong had said, his giant basket was stuffed with stones, easily over 100 pounds. Besides his own load, it included all of Ning Rongrong's and even some of Oscar's.
Yu Xiaogang had tried to match the weight to each student's capacity, Yang Xiong's was the heaviest, followed by Tang San, Dai Mubai, and Ma Hongjun. Then came Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and Oscar with lighter loads. Ning Rongrong had the least.
But he had miscalculated. During Yang Xiong's battle with Tang San, Tang San took considerable damage and couldn't carry more. Plus, he had to look after Xiao Wu.
Realistically, only Yang Xiong, Tang San, and Dai Mubai were capable of completing the run. The rest had no chance.
But for Yang Xiong, the weight wasn't a problem. He had helped Oscar and carried all of Ning Rongrong's load.
Zhu Zhuqing, being an agility-type, struggled with endurance and lagged behind Yang Xiong. He considered helping her too, but she was too proud and refused.
He didn't push it. His basket was already overloaded, so he kept going.
Ning Rongrong was completely drained and seemed close to fainting again. Everyone else was too tired to help, and the other girls were near their limits too.
In the end, after some inner struggle, Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth and said, "Bear boy, you carry me to the finish, but I want to sit inside your basket."
Yang Xiong replied helplessly, "My basket is full. Do you think we still have any other options?"
She snapped, "Of course we do. I'll just sit on top of the stones. Just don't shake too much."
After negotiating, Ning Rongrong lay face-down across the basket, holding onto Yang Xiong's shoulders in a strange position.
Yang Xiong had no choice but to support her hands with one arm while Oscar helped carry her original basket. He continued forward, now carrying over 250 pounds in total. Even with his strength, his pace slowed.
The others watched the scene and whispered among themselves, clearly full of gossip.
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