Contrary to Xue Ru's conduct and his own reservations about sparring with someone who did not specialize in training, captain Tian Xue turned out to be one of, if not the, best sparring partner Wu Guang could have wished for.

After a few greeting words as soon as he entered the arena, Tian Xue did not speak anymore. Wu Guang did not so either, still, their coordination and sparring bouts worked out without a hitch.

Almost as if he could read Wu Guang's mind, the captain first centered his aura on him, forcing him to unleash his aura and rebuke the attack. Afterward, he continued skillfully retracting or advancing with it until Wu Guang stabilized his aura on an equivalent level. Giving birth to a situation when neither of the fighters would be affected by their respective opponent.

Such training was the most important for Wu Guang, as he still could not really control the amount of Soul power behind his aura. Even though he had suppressed the overall power under the peak of the Soul realm, it did not change the fact that his aura actual form was only the one from a 2nd level cultivator. But thanks to the techniques he had earned from his cultivation set and this back and forth, Wu Guang managed to stabilize the overall strength at an equivalent to a 4th level of the Soul realm.

Granted, he could strengthen it more but the fine-control was far more important. Plus, he had no need to overwhelm his opponent, after all, this was sparring meant to help him get familiarized and used to his 'new' abilities.

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After Wu Guang's aura was stabilized enough, Tian Xue rushed to meet him in melee combat.

A quick successive exchange of kicks, punches, palms and even claws followed. Surprisingly Tian Xue was someone with very good unarmed combat skills, as Wu Guang even when relying on his senses was slightly on the back foot. Still, that was because he had not yet gotten used to the changes his new realm brought to his body.

Namely, the changes were that his entire body was constantly nurtured by both his own and the qi around himself, granting him strength double to the one he had before. So after an hour or so, Wu Guang got used to his new limits and began to first equal and then even gain an advantage over Tian Xue.

Normally Wu Guang should be a few notches weaker because of the two-level difference, but his body was younger and in better condition so this difference was mostly covered. A thing of note was that the elixir he had taken before was stimulated by the fighting and was fully absorbed, even though it was supposed to take a full day. This could be also the reason why Wu Guang's strength had slightly improved during combat, something he noticed a few minutes later.

And when he got both used and felt the final changes, the first real hit landed. Unsurprisingly, it was Wu Guang who managed to overcome his opponent's block and land a punch to Tian Xue's chest.

But, the one that was forced to step back after this exchange was Wu Guang!

He did not miss a counterattack or anything, it was simply Tian Xue becoming serious and infusing qi into his body. Thus, pushing Wu Guang back by the sheer force of the after-impact.

Wu Guang did the same in response, and so the martial sparring restarted, now with them using their qi to add bursts of strength, speed, or for defense at the relevant moments.

Wu Guang's consciousness allowed him to gain a severe advantage over most cultivators below the Earth realm in qi control, so this time, the one who was slightly behind during most of the time was Tian Xue. Still, Wu Guang did not manage to land any decisive blow and so the bout continued for almost an entire hour.

"Stop!" Tian Xue exclaimed before quickly backing out.

As soon as Wu Guang stopped moving, but before he could ask the reason for this sudden pause, Tian Xue added

"Weapons, no qi"

"Understood" nodding in response, Wu Guang could only be amazed at Tian Xue's timing, after all, he was thinking of switching to weapons a few moments ago.

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*Clink* *Clank* *Swoosh* *Screee* *Clink*

Sounds of steel meeting steel were the only thing that could be heard in the arena for the next two hours.

Tian Xue's weapon of choice was a short, not more than two feet long saber. As for his manner of fighting, Wu Guang managed to identify it as a mix of 'Sandstorm' and some kind of boarding combat school.

Both being logical, after all, the former was a school used by most of the officers of in the Empire, while being a captain meant more or less having to fight on a ship deck.

As for Wu Guang, he at last found the opportunity to use the 'Sun Disks'. Albeit chakrams normally would be considered a projectile weapon, the ones Wu Guang obtained included a very decent close-quarter combat capacity. In fact, even a book depicting several dozens of techniques stands, and movements were included along with them. Until now, he had simply not been able to test them in real combat.

A thing that countered Tian Xue's experience with weapons was Wu Guang's overall advantage in senses and reaction. Albeit Wu Guang knew, that in fact, he was holding out so well mainly because of the 'Sandstorm' fighting style. After all, he had trained and used it himself, giving him a decent level of understanding on how to counter its movements.

Tian Xue was a shrewd and experienced fighter, and so quickly noticed that Wu Guang reacted easily to the movements of the 'Sandstorm' school, and even though he did not know why he simply began lessening his use of it.

*Rip*

Chakrams were basically a bladed circle, so leaving aside their disadvantages, their main advantage was the ability to slash from any position. Exactly this was the point that decided the bout.

Tian Xue had indeed stopped relying on 'Sandstorm', but his other way of fighting was basically meant to be used while on a ship. This meant far fewer body movements, and constantly maintaining a center of weight for balance. Because of this, he did not manage to defend against a sudden backhanded slash from Wu Guang's left chakram. One that avoided Tian Xue's saber and left a thin cut on the latter's left sleeve.

"Stop!"

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Both fighters were decently tired by this moment and even though cultivators of the Soul realm could maintain their peak state for a long time, fighting while constantly controlling oneself to don't wound an opponent was far more tiring than death combat.

"Thank you for the spar" Wu Guang thanked while saluting.

"No thanks needed, it was something requested by people I owe a lot to" Tian Xue's phrase turned out somewhat strange as if he was referring to the Xue family, why not simply say so? Wu Guang had full knowledge of that already anyway.

"Anyway, my thanks are sincere"

"Haa, it's fine. I needed a change of pace as well. Still, I did not expect to only be able to match a youngster like you"

"Captain Tian Xue surely jests, if not for holding back, how could I be able to equal an experienced fighter as you? Plus, Soul realm fights are rarely comprised of melee combat"

"Indeed, speaking of which, are you ready for round two?"

"Techniques? Is that allowed here?" Wu Guang's question was logical if one considered the amount of damage a single technique could do... Well, in the best case only the courtyard would be destroyed.

"Don't forget where are you standing right now..." As Tian Xue spoke, he stomped with all his force.

Seemingly he used some kind of qi-infused signal as well because a few moments later a formation activated and covered the ground and walls around them. Noting Wu Guang's lack of surprise, Tian Xue only could berate

"If you knew about formations, then why did you not think about it?"

"Mmm, I am ashamed to say that it did not cross my mind" This was the truth. Wu Guang understood from the previous explanations that formations worked in the Black Empire, but considering the need for a stabilizing orb... he supposed that they were restricted to a few important areas, like the cultivation 'room' he was allowed to use.

As for his senses, he had been keeping them, at least openly, on a level akin to his current cultivation. This was for safety reasons, after all, the Empire had Earth realm cultivators and formations were active around, who knew if he would reveal his cards to someone he should not? So it was not strange for him to have missed the fact that there was a formation present here.

"The formation is set to absorb nine-tenths of a technique power. As for skills, it will drop their actual strength to a single twentieth part"

"Understood"

"Good, let's start then"

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Their first exchange in techniques was a standoff, with Wu Guang's 'Flaming Punch' countering perfectly the 'Heavy Wave Palm' palm Tian Xue used. Speaking of the latter, the technique was supposed to be a very basic one, simply reinforcing one's actual strength, but Tian Xue had reached such mastery with it that when Wu Guang confronted it, he could almost see an enormous wave in place of the palm.

But different from Wu Guang's techniques, the 'Heavy Wave' set used by Tian Xue was comprised of several techniques with a few stances each that could be either used separately or one after another.

Countering each of these Palms, Punches, and Stomps was hard enough, but with the extreme speed they were used in, Wu Guang quickly fell at disadvantage because of his single use, no connection, 'Flaming Set'. In the end, he was forced to use the 'Flaming Body'. Having no need to even think about using a technique because the 'Body' was formed of the actual techniques themselves, Wu Guang managed to counter everything perfectly and even send a few of his own attacks, forcing Tian Xue to utilize a defensive technique.

"Hmm, complete 'Flaming Set'? No, it seems that you fused it into one, good!" Dispersing the force behind Wu Guang's last kick, he took a few steps back while talking.

"Thank you for the praise"

"Mmm, you deserve it. But, don't get conceited. Even though you should be able to win against practically any normal cultivator below my level, you are still at a disadvantage in the Soul realm for now" Without further explanation, Tian Xue suddenly spread his arms to the sides and expanded his aura.

"Martial Skill!"

"It is indeed... 'Great Wave', crush!" Using his aura to agitate the surrounding qi and take it under control, Tian Xue water element qi surged out of his body, forming an enormous, not less than 20 feet tall and double in width wave. And with the 'Crush' command, this enormous mass of water created by qi roaring moved towards Wu Guang, intending to break over him and crush him underneath.

Defending being out of the question, and his 'Flaming' set being at a severe disadvantage against water, Wu Guang resorted to the only more or less acceptable way... running.

He had not yet used 'Counting steps to Heaven and Hell' after his breakthrough, but he did suppose that it should have been improved.

And... it was indeed.

*CRASH*

Unable to control the real increase in speed and distance, Wu Guang disappeared from the spot only to crash against the far rear formation reinforced wall. Thankfully his body was strong enough as to shrug off such impact, but still, how shameful a display of movement that was!

*SPLASH*

In any case, he had successfully escaped the martial skill used by Tian Xue. So, it was not so bad, was it?