This was a technique Arthur had grasped through his control of the wind element, granted by the Holy Lance, with only the slightest assistance from the Holy Sword.
Truly. The Holy Sword's contribution was barely worth mentioning.
The Wind King's Barrier did not turn the Holy Sword invisible. Instead, it layered currents of wind around the blade, bending the light that passed through it and hiding the sword's physical form.
It became an unseen blade.
The two of them stood facing each other, their auras locked together so tightly that even the violent gusts stirred up by the Skyshatter Eagle's wings could not break through. The airflow curved smoothly around them instead.
Wu Changkong's brow tightened. He had genuinely underestimated Arthur.
The fact that Arthur could maintain this clash of auras for so long already placed him above every other student in the academy.
What drew Wu Changkong's attention most was Arthur's right hand. It hung empty at an odd angle, looking like an opening. And yet, his instincts screamed that the deadliest threat was hiding right there.
"What are they doing?" a student whispered, baffled.
Arthur's purple soul ring drew plenty of jealous looks. Most of the students did not even have a hundred-year ring yet, much less a thousand-year one. That kind of thing felt impossibly far away.
The soul beast circling overhead kept pulling their gazes upward as well.
But why were Arthur and their teacher just standing there? Weren't they supposed to be fighting?
"Do you know what they're doing?" Tang Wulin asked Xie Xie beside him. Xie Xie usually had answers.
But Xie Xie was in no shape to respond. Sweat soaked his clothes.
His Light Dragon Dagger martial soul was being suppressed, something he had never experienced before.
"I apologize. I'll take this seriously now," Wu Changkong said, his expression turning complicated. He had not expected to encounter talent like this in a place such as East Sea Academy. Even at Shrek Academy, he had rarely seen someone like Arthur.
He removed his belt, and a sword appeared in his hand.
The blade was crystal clear, wrapped in a thin veil of cold mist. Faint blue light flickered along its edge, and the moment it formed, the surrounding air seemed to solidify with frost.
His martial soul, the Skyfrost Sword.
Even so, Wu Changkong kept his soul power suppressed at level thirty-two.
Arthur moved without warning.
One moment he was perfectly still. The next, he blurred into motion, a phantom streak tearing across the ground as he closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track?
Not exactly.
Wu Changkong could tell it was a different footwork technique entirely, though it bore a superficial resemblance.
Instant-Light Meteor was divided into three combat modes.
The movement technique was Instant-Light.
The offensive technique was Meteor.
And the third was Celestial Strike, an aerial combat form Arthur had not truly trained yet, since he could not fly.
What he was using now was Instant-Light.
Soul power surged through his body and flowed into the Holy Sword, transforming into light-attribute soul power. Each of Arthur's movements left behind cascading afterimages of light, making his path impossible to predict.
In less than a heartbeat, he was upon Wu Changkong, bringing the Holy Sword down in a fierce overhead slash.
He did not hold back. This strike carried everything he had. An unseen blade was most lethal on the first swing.
Wu Changkong's expression did not shift. A subtle disturbance in the air warned him of the incoming attack, and he raised the Skyfrost Sword to block.
The edge of the Skyfrost Sword met the concealed Holy Sword within the Wind King's Barrier.
The collision did not produce the screech of metal.
It sounded like two massive slabs of black ice slamming together.
As the blades pressed and slid against each other, a clear, resonant clang rang out, sharp and lingering.
Air rippled outward in waves. The aftershock scattered frost from the Skyfrost Sword into the air.
A sword.
The instant their blades met, Wu Changkong understood. The invisible weapon was a blade. This was Arthur's martial soul, Excalibur.
The opening strike had failed. From this point on, Wu Changkong would adapt.
But Arthur did not pause.
He pressed forward relentlessly.
The Skyfrost Sword and the Holy Sword flashed through the air in rapid succession, their clashes blending into a continuous roar.
At times it sounded like a storm of hail hammering ice.
At others, like frozen steel being struck and ringing out sharply.
Each impact sent tremors through the surrounding air.
The longer the exchange continued, the more pressure Wu Changkong felt, even after adjusting to the unseen blade.
Because every single one of Arthur's strikes landed precisely on the weakest points in his internal soul power circulation.
Wu Changkong had trained with the sword since childhood. He could see it clearly.
Arthur's swordsmanship was basic. Nothing more than solid fundamentals.
Yet in Arthur's hands, it surpassed its limits, becoming deadlier than any elaborate style.
It felt like fighting a flawless machine, each movement calculated to perfection.
And in truth, that was not far from reality.
Instant-Light Meteor was built on a simple principle: exploit the enemy's weaknesses with your strengths.
The Meteor technique had two steps. First, identify the points where your opponent was weaker. Second, magnify those weaknesses and break through them.
With his intuition guiding him, Arthur skipped the first step entirely. Every strike he made already targeted Wu Changkong's most vulnerable point.
Impressive.
Even Wu Changkong, proud as he was, had to admit that at the same soul power level, even with his additional years of cultivation, he would lose to Arthur.
He suddenly released his soul power in a full-body shockwave, trying to blast Arthur away and create distance.
Arthur refused to give ground. A purple soul ring flared.
First Soul Skill, Soul Power Release.
Every one of his attributes doubled. He took the shockwave head-on, forcing his way through the surging energy to stay on Wu Changkong.
Left with no choice, Wu Changkong unleashed soul power far beyond level thirty-two and sent Arthur flying.
"Come on. Show me your limit," Wu Changkong said, his gaze sharp and alive. It was the first time Arthur had seen any emotion in those eyes beyond cold indifference.
Wu Changkong no longer restricted himself to Spirit Elder level. His soul power surged freely now, flooding every pathway in his body.
Every node in his circulation was filled to capacity.
In other words, he had no weak points left.
At least, none Arthur could detect.
Arthur frowned slightly. Without weaknesses to exploit, Instant-Light Meteor was useless.
Fine.
Then he would not use it.
He stepped back, raised the Holy Sword horizontally beside his ear, and released the Wind King's Barrier wrapped around the blade. Then he swung with everything he had.
A violent gale erupted along the arc of his strike. Compressed wind detonated in a single explosive burst, crashing forward like a massive iron hammer.
Wind King's Hammer.
A huge white shockwave rolled toward Wu Changkong.
Wu Changkong answered with a swing of the Skyfrost Sword. An ice-blue blade of sword energy tore forward, colliding head-on with the shockwave. Frost and violent air currents exploded outward in all directions.
Only because Arthur remained at level thirty-two did everything stay under Wu Changkong's control.
If Arthur had been any stronger, not a single student watching from the field would have survived the aftermath.
Arthur planted his feet firmly, maintaining Soul Power Release at full output. He unleashed sword energy in rapid succession, sealing off every direction around Wu Changkong.
Wu Changkong did not bother dodging. He countered each strike directly, ice-blue sword energy intercepting and neutralizing every attack.
At last, Arthur stopped.
"Have you reached your limit?" Wu Changkong asked, noticing the pause, though he was well aware Arthur had yet to use his second and third soul skills.
"More or less."
A second purple soul ring flared.
Every location where Wu Changkong had dispersed Arthur's sword energy suddenly shifted.
Streams of sword energy reformed out of thin air, suspended in midair and radiating an aura far fiercer than before.
Second Soul Skill, Sword Domain.