The time came to the afternoon.
After lunch and settling everyone into their accommodations, the entire Empire Team reassembled according to the requirements of Yun Ming.
Inside the Tenth Training Ground.
Yun Ming announced the afternoon's task to everyone.
"Today, we are conducting a practical combat assessment."
"The level of one's soul power cultivation cannot fully represent combat effectiveness; practical combat is the only standard for testing battle strength."
"I need to understand your combat capabilities before I can arrange a training plan."
"Group up in pairs for one-on-one soul duels. Ning Rongrong and Oscar will not participate. Who wants to go first?"
Hearing that they were going to fight, Niu Bi stood out immediately and spoke up.
"I'll go first."
Seeing Niu Bi volunteer, Yun Ming had no objections and arranged an opponent for him.
"Then the first soul duel will be between Niu Bi and Ye Qingyin."
Hearing that she had to go up for the first battle, Ye Qingyin quickly responded.
"Yes."
The others stepped back, leaving the main stage to Niu Bi and Ye Qingyin.
Because of their martial souls, the two started at a distance of twenty meters. Seeing them standing in position, Yun Ming announced that the match had officially begun.
Niu Bi glanced at the petite Ye Qingyin across from him, then looked at his own sandbag-sized fists and muttered in a low voice.
"She looks so cute; if I punch her, she'll probably cry for a long time."
Everyone: "???"
Ye Qingyin: "||o(°▽°)o|Ю"
Although the distance was somewhat far, Ye Qingyin, as a Soul Master with an instrument-type martial soul, still heard Niu Bi's inappropriate remarks. At this moment, Ye Qingyin was extremely vigilant against the thick-browed, big-eyed simpleton opposite her; this person was too dangerous.
Yun Ming's face also darkened, and he spoke up to remind them.
"Niu Bi, start quickly. Less nonsense."
Hearing Yun Ming's urging, Niu Bi stopped making bizarre comments and replied casually.
"Fine."
Niu Bi let out a low roar and activated his martial soul.
"Giant Rhinoceros Avatar!"
After Niu Bi's martial soul possessed him, his already sturdy body expanded rapidly. His skin instantly turned black, and an extremely thick layer of keratin suddenly emerged to cover his body. Beneath his feet, two yellow and one purple soul ring appeared.
Seeing Niu Bi summon his martial soul, Ye Qingyin also hurriedly summoned her Clear Sound Flute martial soul.
The Clear Sound Flute was exquisite and unique in appearance. Its body was slender and smooth, resembling a delicate silver rod. The keys and sound holes were arranged in an orderly fashion, like rows of miniature windows. She also possessed the optimal soul ring configuration of two yellow and one purple.
With the martial soul in hand, Ye Qingyin immediately began her performance.
To avoid being greeted by Niu Bi's fists, she went all out from the start, and the three soul rings beneath her feet all lit up.
Ye Qingyin's flute-playing technique was excellent; the sound was melodious, like a clear spring flowing through the mountains—clear, profound, and intoxicating.
Niu Bi turned a deaf ear to the flute music; he, Niu, did not understand such elegant things.
Seeing the opponent's soul rings all light up, Niu Bi swung his sandbag-sized fists and charged fiercely toward Ye Qingyin. Seeing Niu Bi charging, Ye Qingyin slowly retreated while continuing to play.
But after running only a few steps, Niu Bi felt something was wrong. He suddenly felt his body becoming heavier and heavier, and his speed began to slow down.
Oscar, watching from the sidelines, heard the flute music, yawned, and spoke lazily.
"This flute music seems very sleep-inducing."
This yawn was contagious, affecting Ning Rongrong beside Oscar. She covered her mouth with her delicate hand, yawned as well, and said casually.
"She plays the flute well, but is her soul skill meant to make people fall asleep?"
Gong Ming, who had come with Ye Qingyin, explained.
"This is Ye Qingyin's third soul skill, Relax. The effect of the soul skill is to make people relax—to relax to the point where they lose their drive and want to sleep."
Gong Ming had encountered Ye Qingyin's third soul skill during the selection for the Empire Glory Plan and had suffered for it. With his focus scattered and no strength in his hands, he had been countered. After Ye Qingyin was selected, he had asked her about it.
Hearing Gong Ming's explanation, everyone understood.
Watching the battle on the field, Yun Ming recalled the information about her abilities in his mind.
Ye Qingyin's first soul skill, Clear Sound, is an amplification-type soul skill that enhances the timbre of the flute. Although it does not directly increase the power of her soul skills, for an instrument-type martial soul, it is considered a bonus.
Ye Qingyin's second soul skill, Slow Technique, covers the target in layers of invisible sound waves, causing physical deceleration.
Combined with Ye Qingyin's third soul skill, it resulted in Niu Bi gradually finding it difficult to move.
Yun Ming chose Ye Qingyin because her soul skills were indeed combined in an interesting way, linking internal and external effects to control the opponent.
However, looking at the sleepy Oscar and Ning Rongrong, Yun Ming also understood Ye Qingyin's shortcomings. She was still not quite able to control her soul skills perfectly.
Returning to the battlefield between Niu Bi and Ye Qingyin.
Niu Bi shook his head, realizing the reality that he was becoming increasingly exhausted. Watching Ye Qingyin slowly distance herself from him step by step, Niu Bi decided to give it one last shot.
He watched as all three of his Spirit Rings lit up beneath his feet.
Niu Bi's already massive frame became even more robust, and the black light flowing across the keratin layer on his skin turned into something resembling solid iron armor.
The effects of Niu Bi's three Spirit Rings were simple; they were all defensive buffs that consumed little Soul Power, activated quickly, and could instantly boost his defensive capabilities.
The surge of Soul Power from activating his Spirit Skills, combined with the physical strength granted by the three Spirit Rings, allowed Niu Bi to briefly shake off some of the effects of Ye Qingyin's Spirit Skills.
Taking advantage of this window of strength that would likely end soon, Niu Bi sprinted toward Ye Qingyin.
In the end, before the exhaustion could fully overwhelm him again, Niu Bi caught up to Ye Qingyin, whose movement speed was hampered by the need to keep playing her flute. Niu Bi then threw a punch directly at her.
Unable to dodge in time, Ye Qingyin hurriedly stopped playing to evade the fist.
With the restraint of the flute music gone, Niu Bi's spirits improved, and his punches grew faster and faster. After dodging a few, Ye Qingyin realized she couldn't avoid the next one. Yun Ming flashed into the space between them, grabbed Niu Bi's fist, and announced the result.
"The first duel is over. Niu Bi wins!"
Seeing how easily Yun Ming caught his punch, Niu Bi decided to test Yun Ming's strength.
Niu Bi struggled with all his might, but Yun Ming's hand was like an iron clamp, leaving him unable to move. He had no choice but to concede.
Yun Ming released Niu Bi, offered a word of encouragement to both, and began arranging the next duel.
"Both of you did quite well."
"Next match: Dugu Yan versus Gong Ming."
"Everyone else, move back another ten meters."
Upon hearing that he was scheduled to fight Dugu Yan, Gong Ming looked distressed and pleaded with her.
"Yan-jie, please go easy on me."
Dugu Yan curled the corners of her lips and agreed with a smile.
"Don't worry, I definitely won't bully you."
And then, Dugu Yan proceeded to thoroughly thrash Gong Ming.
At the start of the battle, Gong Ming was able to rely on the initial distance to fire a few arrows at Dugu Yan.
Gong Ming's Heaven Quaking Bow Martial Soul lived up to its name; the sound of the bowstring was deafening, and the arrows he fired were heavy and powerful. However, Dugu Yan dodged every one of these obvious shots, then countered by hitting Gong Ming with her Third Soul Skill, Hell Dragon Breath, which scared him into dodging away in a panic.
While Gong Ming was unable to fire arrows to hinder her, Dugu Yan unleashed her Fourth Soul Skill, Hell Dragon Claw, forcing Gong Ming to dodge once more.
Dugu Yan used this time to close the distance rapidly and then took Gong Ming down in close-quarters combat.
Even though Dugu Yan didn't use her other two Spirit Skills, Gong Ming still managed to trade over thirty blows with her. While this was partly because Dugu Yan's close-combat ability wasn't her strongest suit, it was clear that Gong Ming did indeed know a thing or two about melee fighting.
After watching this battle, Yun Ming had a better understanding of their situations and formulated ideas on how to train them moving forward.
With Dugu Yan and Gong Ming finished, only Feng Xiaotian and Yang Yi remained.
But before Yun Ming could speak, both of them stepped forward and said in unison.
"Yun Ming, I want to challenge you!" x2
ps: Seeking subscriptions, monthly tickets, and recommendations.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader