"This young girl is only at the second rank of Spirit Transformation, and she's an Ice Spirit Master. I didn't expect the inner city to have such a lass; a new disciple from last year?" As Kan Tian watched Bai Yuqing, who was currently carrying his sword out of the fighting circle, he pinched his round chin and grinned like a fat bun.

"That's right."

Hearing the voice next to him, Nie Kong subconsciously replied, "Only after finishing his sentence did Nie Kong realize he was speaking to Vice City Lord Kan Tian. This wouldn't normally be an issue, but Nie Kong then noticed that Kan Tian was looking at him with an incredibly strange expression, his face a riot of emotion.

"Little fellow... you can actually hear me?" Kan Tian’s fat face was filled with disbelief.

This was worth his astonishment?

Nie Kong almost laughed, half-crying, "Vice City Lord, I'm not deaf. You were speaking so loudly, how could I not hear you?" Yet, as he spoke, Nie Kong suddenly felt something was deeply odd. When Kan Tian had spoken just now, his lips hadn't seemed to move at all. So where did the voice come from?

"Are you feeling something is off?"

After his initial shock, Kan Tian was so delighted his fat jiggled, and he leaned in mysteriously, lowering his voice, "It’s correct that you feel that way. Little fellow, let me tell you the truth: that wasn't me speaking just now, but my soul avatar. Wonderful! You can actually hear it speak."

"Soul avatar?"

Nie Kong gasped in shock. He had only heard that Spirit Masters could use the 'Nether Fire Dark Spring' to condense a second incarnation, an avatar that definitely possessed a physical body. He had never heard of a soul having an avatar! Furthermore, if it was his soul avatar speaking, how could he possibly hear it?

"Yes, it is the soul avatar."

Kan Tian nodded, scrutinizing Nie Kong from head to toe. "Little fellow, in the entire Spirit Guard City, you are the first person who can hear my soul avatar speak. Besides you, even City Lord Feiyang and Ancestor Xuba lack this ability. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Nie Kong."

The strange light in Nie Kong's eyes intensified. This Vice Hall Master didn't seem to be lying. Could he really possess this so-called soul avatar? His 'Yin-Yang Soul Devouring Art' and Spirit Treasure essence—could they absorb soul power, and was that why he could hear the voice of the soul avatar?

"Nie Kong? That name sounds a bit familiar. Didn't Chang Gong mention it sometime?" Kan Tian mused doubtfully.

Nie Kong was speechless. This Kan Tian was probably the most incompetent Vice City Lord in the history of Spirit Guard City. The matter of the Yin Ruins Spirit Vein concerned the rise and fall of Spirit Guard City. If Kan Tian had paid even the slightest attention, he couldn't possibly fail to know that Nie Kong was the Wood Spirit Master who had entered the Yin Ruins back then.

"Yin Ruins," Nie Kong whispered the two words.

"Oh."

Kan Tian immediately understood, his small eyes widening into perfect circles. "I wondered why I recognized the name! So, that Nie Kong is you. Little fellow, when did you return to Spirit Guard City? Has the matter been resolved? And what does that place look like?"

"Vice Hall Master, you should ask Hall Master Gu for a clearer account of that," Nie Kong smiled faintly and turned to leave. He suddenly realized that talking to this old man was a colossal waste of time, and as for that supposed soul avatar, it had absolutely nothing to do with him.

At this moment, the first round of contests had concluded. Bai Yuqing and the other victors had taken their spiritual elixirs and were sitting quietly to restore their spiritual power, while the inner city disciples participating in the second round had already entered the fighting circles.

Suddenly, Nie Kong spotted Lan Shang's figure in the fourth fighting circle, and his spirits lifted. He quickly moved his steps toward that area. Lan Shang was the foremost among the inner city disciples, possessing strength second to none among them. Watching him fight now would give Nie Kong a better understanding of the situation.

"Begin!"

At the command of a Professor, the hourglass was flipped over once more.

Lan Shang stood with his hands behind his back, clad in a sweeping blue robe, looking handsome, refined, and elegant. The gentle smile on his face easily inspired a sense of familiarity in others. When the match started, he made no offensive move, merely observing his opponent with a smile. That inner city disciple also possessed the cultivation of eighth rank Spirit Transformation, but facing Lan Shang, he displayed a hint of awkwardness, and visible beads of sweat broke out on his forehead from the tension.

"Hah!"

Seemingly overwhelmed by an extreme sense of pressure, the inner city disciple could no longer hold back. With a low roar, he shot toward Lan Shang, his right fist seeming to carry the force of a thousand tons, hurtling toward Lan Shang’s head. Purple lightning flickered, and the savage aura caused the space within several meters to tremble.

Clearly, this man had unleashed his full strength from the outset. Nie Kong watched Lan Shang intently, but saw that he remained utterly unmoved in the face of such a ferocious assault.

"Whoosh!"

Just as the inner city disciple's fist was about to strike Lan Shang's head, Lan Shang suddenly extended his index finger, stabbing lightning-fast toward the center of the opponent's fist. A flicker of cyan light flashed between their fingers. Lan Shang's index finger had managed to block the incoming fist, and the violent Thunder Spirit Energy seemed to be forcefully suppressed, instantly retracting.

Space appeared to condense, and the scene before the spectators seemed frozen at this instant, yet Lan Shang’s movement did not pause in the slightest. The moment his opponent's spirit power was forced back, his left palm struck the man’s chest. There was no sound of impact; the inner city disciple flew backward out of the circle as if riding a cloud.

Only when his body landed did the inner city disciple recover his senses. His expression was a mixture of dejection and admiration, though he sustained no physical injuries.

"Lan Shang wins!"

The Professor’s voice rang out instantly, yet there was no sound outside this particular circle; the crowd seemed unable to shake off the spell of the bout.

The match between Lan Shang and the inner city disciple had lasted an embarrassingly short time, ending almost in the blink of an eye. The entire process involved no fierce clash of spirit power, nor any explosive entanglement. Lan Shang had dispatched his opponent cleanly, effortlessly, and with ease in a single move.

Everyone already knew Lan Shang, as the foremost among the inner city disciples, possessed high cultivation, but they hadn't expected him, as a Spirit Transformation Master, to be this formidable. A Spirit Master at the eighth rank of Spirit Transformation had absolutely no room to retaliate after Lan Shang made his move. It was likely that the position of Inner City Chief would fall to him once more this year!

"Truly powerful!"

Seeing this incredibly straightforward match, Nie Kong’s heart skipped a beat. However, during last year's contest for the Chief position, Lan Shang was already at the ninth rank of Spirit Transformation. Had it not been for this year's 'Nether Fire Dark Spring,' he would have already broken through to Spirit Control. Thus, having this level of strength was normal.

On the Heavenly Spirit Continent, the cultivation ranks of Spirit Masters were not completely equivalent to their actual strength.

The rank was merely a reference, an important factor determining the strength gap, but not the sole factor. If one's skill was strong enough, a lower-ranked Spirit Master within the same realm could defeat a higher-ranked one, just as Bai Yuqing had done against Wei Zhao. Likewise, among Spirit Masters of the same rank and realm, there were still gaps in their power. Moreover, while the difference between major realms was vast, it was not absolute. Instances where a ninth-rank Spirit Transformation Master could defeat a second or third-rank Spirit Control Master were not unheard of, although such occurrences were rare exceptions.

"I think highly of this Lan Shang. He is strong and possesses good character. If he chooses to remain in Spirit Guard City after returning from the 'Nether Fire Dark Spring,' he will surely become the City Lord of our Spirit Guard City someday..."

At some point, a round, rolling ball of flesh had ghost-like drifted back beside Nie Kong—it was that extremely lax Vice City Lord, Kan Tian. After praising Lan Shang, he lowered his voice, "Enough about him. Little fellow, do you know how my soul avatar came to be?"

Does it matter to me how his soul avatar originated? Nie Kong grumbled internally. But before he could answer, Kan Tian continued on his own. "A hundred years ago, I also went to the 'Nether Fire Dark Spring,' and I even found the spring eye inside. However, an accident occurred when I was condensing my second avatar, resulting in the physical body of the second avatar being destroyed, leaving only a wisp of soul—coexisting with my main soul in this body."

To think this Vice City Lord had also visited the 'Nether Fire Dark Spring'! Nie Kong finally felt a flicker of interest. "Oh? Then what is the 'Nether Fire Dark Spring' like?"

"We can discuss that later."

Kan Tian grinned again. "Little fellow, let's continue talking about this soul avatar... Originally, I assumed that after the physical body of the second avatar was destroyed, that wisp of soul would automatically dissipate or reintegrate into my main soul. Perhaps because of the 'Nether Fire Dark Spring,' neither of those possibilities occurred. Moreover, as my cultivation continuously improved, that wisp of soul actually grew stronger..."

Seeing Kan Tian begin to ramble endlessly about the "soul avatar" again, Nie Kong felt a headache coming on. The slight interest he had just developed vanished without a trace. He moved subtly toward other fighting circles. Unfortunately, Kan Tian was clinging to Nie Kong like hardened sugar. Wherever Nie Kong went, he followed.

A buzzing sound filled his ears—as if hundreds of bees had gathered! Nie Kong had never imagined this Vice City Lord could be so garrulous, repeating endlessly the process of his soul avatar's creation and its marvelous aspects. Yet, Nie Kong still couldn't grasp the purpose behind Kan Tian telling him all this.

Amidst Kan Tian’s animated explanations, the second round of contests finally concluded, followed by the third, the fourth... In these subsequent rounds, the appearances of the inner city disciples who ranked in the top ten last year—Liu Heming, Cha Lan, Gu Ruofei, and others—stirred up waves of fervor within the Ascension Hall, their cheers and shouts deafening.

Among these people, only Liu Heming was someone Nie Kong had interacted with before. As for Gu Ruofei, although Nie Kong was seeing him for the first time, he had heard Gu Jian, the little loli, mention him many times; he was the grandson of Gu Chang Gong's second brother, ranking third among the younger generation of the Gu family—the "Third Brother" in the little loli's words.

Up to this point, except for Wei Zhao, who was defeated by Bai Yuqing, all the other top-ten disciples from last year had advanced to the next round. When the final match of the fourth round concluded, Nie Kong let out a sigh of relief. The fifth round was about to begin, and finally, he would be spared from Kan Tian’s verbal bombardment!