195 Setting Off for the Tournamen

“Let’s do our best, guys!”

Tang Wulin was the first to reach out a hand. Gu Yue placed her hand on top ofhis, before quickly grabbing Xu Xiaoyan’s hand so that it rested on hers.

Although he was an agility-type soul master, Xie Xie’s reaction lagged behindthe rest and he was the last to join in. He glared daggers at Gu Yue. “Just howmuch do you loathe me!”

Gu Yue thought it over for a moment, then flashed a smile. “About as much asone would loathe a housefly.”

“You!”

☀

Night crept by without a peep. Once the rays of the sun pierced through thehorizon, Wu Zhangkong and the four students departed from the academy. Theirdestination: Eastsea Square located at the city’s center.

Tang Wulin and the others wore Eastsea Academy’s uniform. This time, DirectorLong Hengxu joined the children and Wu Zhangkong.

There was another team representing the academy apart from Tang Wulin’s group,though they were from the advanced division.

The latter team would be participating in the fifteen to twenty youthsdivision. Tang Wulin spotted a couple of familiar faces among the crowd. Thefirst was Xu Xiaoyan’s older brother, Xu Xiaoyu. To his surprise, the other onewas the beautiful senior sister he met during his first days at EastseaAcademy, Liu Yuxin.

It was clear that Liu Yuxin hadn’t spared him a thought. Instead, her gaze wasglued on the face of a man with fluttering white robes, never letting him outof her sight. Her eyes were practically in the shape of hearts.

“Xiaoyan, let me know if they try to bully you.” Walking past the fourstudents of class zero, Xu Xiaoyu showcased a display of force.

Xu Xiaoyan rolled her eyes at him. “Just worry about yourself. At least makeit through the preliminaries this time.”

At such a statement, Xu Xiaoyu’s expression stiffened. “Of course. Everyone onour team has at least three rings this time. We’ll definitely achieve a goodresult.” They were participating in the team competitions as well. This was notjust any team event. It was the most illustrious one—the seven-man teamcompetition.

The corner of Xu Xiaoyan’s mouth twitched.

From the conversation between the two siblings, Tang Wulin could infer atleast that Eastsea Academy held some hope of glory at the tournament. In fact,their chances of attaining victory were pretty high.

As Eastsea City was ranked number two among all the cities in the east coast,achieving glory and maintaining their status was a crucial goal and a touchysubject.

In truth, Tang Wulin’s guess hit the nail right on the head. While EastseaAcademy was Eastsea City’s only intermediate soul master academy, its studentswere not particularly outstanding.

The Skysea Alliance Tournament was so large that it required not just the fivefirst-class cities on the east coast to host it but had even summoned the aidof some second and third-class cities. Eastsea City had produced dismal resultsfor a first-class city in the previous tournaments. Both the academy and thecity’s government lost much face.

It was no wonder that Long Hengxu’s proposal to create a ‘class zero’ fortheir newly found geniuses was approved so quickly.

If things continued on like this, then Eastsea City’s prestige woulddefinitely suffer. The city’s bustling economy might also be adverselyaffected, plummeting the markets. The academy was placing their bets on a groupof ten-year-old children this time, hoping that they would showcase the city’spotential at the Skysea Alliance Tournament while also gaining the support ofthe city’s government.

After all, they were only ten years old. Their future was limitless.

Crowds of people and luxurious soul busses assembled at Eastsea Square to setoff together.

“Hey, why are you so late?” Mu Xi jogged over to Tang Wulin and grabbed him bythe ear.

“What are you doing?” Before Tang Wulin could speak up, Gu Yue swatted away MuXi’s hand and stood protectively in front of him.

Stunned, Mu Xi stared at Gu Yue in a daze before bursting out in laughter.“Not bad! Tang Wulin, you’ve already become a deviant at such a young age. Whois your little girlfriend?”

“No, no! Senior disciple sister, don’t say such nonsense.” Mu Xi’s voice hadbeen particularly loud, attracting the attention of those around them like beesto honey. With the proverbial spotlight shining on him, Tang Wulin flushed asred as a tomato in embarrassment.

His handsome looks, coupled with his rosy-red, abashed face tempted Mu Xi topinch his cheeks.

“Wow. You’re bringing so many people with you?” Ignoring Gu Yue, Mu Xi askedTang Wulin.

Tang Wulin said, “We’re participating in the junior division’s soul master’steam competition.”

“The soul master’s team competition? You guys?” She did not try to hide herdisdain at all.

“What about us?” Xie Xie said indignantly.

Mu Xi sneered. “It’s nothing much. Just that we’re also entering the juniordivision of the soul master’s team competition. Do you guys still think youhave a chance?” As she spoke, three soul rings appeared from beneath her feet.

Yellow, yellow, purple! She was a three-ringed Soul Elder!

Mu Xi was currently a fifth year in her second semester, so she was four yearsolder than Tang Wulin. At fourteen years old, she just barely qualified forthat division’s age limit.

Mu Xi said, “We’ll also be entering as a three-man team. Our goal is the topeight. There are currently thirty-six east coast cities competing in thistournament with over one hundred participants, and the first two rounds areknockout competitions. Can you guys even pass the first round?”

At their age, every single year signified a great gap in strength.

Tang Wulin went silent.

Even though they had beat Xu Xiaoyu once before, they had to admit it was dueto Xu Xiaoyu’s carelessness and their strength in numbers.

Yet in this coming tournament, they would be facing the most powerful of theirpeers. There would even be those that were older than them. Against suchformidable opponents, just what kind of hopes did they have?

“Alright, don’t be discouraged. I’ll treat you guys to a meal after the firstround.” Mu Xi rubbed Wulin’s head then whispered into his ear, “You might nothave a chance at the soul master’s tournament, but you can definitely rank highin the blacksmith one. I’ll be cheering for you when the time comes! Go becomethe champion!”

Since the time Tang Wulin had agreed to give up first place for her, thethorns in their relationship had blunted.

Tang Wulin nodded helplessly. She really knew how to surprise people.

The square was in chaos as the representatives of every associationparticipating in the tournament organized themselves.

There were even representatives from other academies.

The Skysea Alliance Tournament had numerous events, including mecha and battlearmor competitions.

Like how Eastsea City held an embarrassing position in the alliance, theSkysea Alliance were ashamed of their rank in comparison to the rest of thecontinent. Although their economic status was unrivaled, whether it were battlearmor masters, mecha pilots, mecha technology, or the quantity and quality ofsoul masters, they ranked near the bottom in all of these elements.

The cities that dominated these categories were the Sun Moon City and HeavenDou City. As for Shrek City, it could neither be evaluated by the Federationproperly nor be put on the same scale as the others. Basically, Shrek Cityexceeded their comprehension.

“The teachers and students of Eastsea Academy, board your bus now.” Hearingthis, the teachers began leading the students onto the sixth bus.

Without a single break in her stride, Gu Yue sauntered forward and kicked XieXie out of the way, plopping down on the seat beside Tang Wulin. Xie Xie couldonly settle for the next best thing and sat next to Xu Xiaoyan. Unfortunatelyfor him, however, Xu Xiaoyu picked him up and stole the seat beside his sister.

“You…” Xie Xie was annoyed, but he could do nothing against the much strongerXu Xiaoyu. He resigned himself to sit beside Wu Zhangkong. After descendinginto his seat, he felt countless eyes stabbing his body as the surroundingwomen glared as though they wanted to rip him to shreds.

I don’t want to sit here either!

Xie Xie immediately stood up to find another seat.

“Don’t stand up if you know what’s good for you.” Wu Zhangkong’s cold voicesounded.

Xie Xie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Is this counted as provokingwhoever I meet?

The Xu siblings sat right behind Tang Wulin and Gu Yue. As he stared at GuYue, a scowl materialized on Xu Xiaoyu’s face.

After facing defeat at the hands of Gu Yue, indignation and depression hadfilled his heart. As time progressed though, Gu Yue appearing in his dreamsmore and more frequently. Every once in awhile, Gu Yue’s face would pop up inhis conscious mind.

She is so young, yet possesses such power and an amazing martial soul. Justhow formidable will she be once she matures?

This girl piqued his curiosity, as well as some of his other sentiments.

Xu Xiaoyu was easily considered an outstanding elite in the advanced division,but that was just within the walls of the weak Eastsea Academy. He would beentering an advanced academy in a year, walking on his chosen path in life.Despite aspiring to be a battle armor master, he struggled with the fact thatthis was an exceedingly difficult occupation. In particular, the process ofmaking battle armor required more than just money. Not only would he have topour his all into cultivation, he would also need to divert his time and energyinto battle armor research. He was already seventeen years old; though hispotential was not lacking, it was unknown whether he had it in him to realizesuch a goal.