206 Wait and See

As Tang Wulin watched the matches progress, he formulated a plan.

Half an hour later, they were called for their match.

Tang Wulin led the way, followed by Xie Xie… and Xu Xiaoyan.

Indeed, Gu Yue wasn’t participating.

After scrutinizing the previous battles, Tang Wulin was confident and saw noneed to reveal Gu Yue. Not to mention, their opposition hailed from a smalltown’s intermediate academy. In Wu Zhangkong’s own words, their sole objectivewas to become the champions. Tang Wulin understood his teacher’s philosophy andas such, regardless of their opponents’ strengths, their main objective wouldnot change.

A devious strategy was required for such a goal. Since Gu Yue was without adoubt class zero’s strongest student, it was best to conserve her strength forfuture matches.

Although Xu Xiaoyan wasn’t powerful in the daytime, her awareness and teamcoordination were excellent. When a crucial moment arrived, she would be theone to capitalize on it.

Xie Xie described her as a radiant and pretty young lady, but in reality shewas a two-faced little schemer.

Xu Xiaoyan’s eyes sparkled at the unexpected chance to appear in the firstmatch. When she had heard of the others’ victories in the individualcompetition, she was wrought with envy. However, she understood that herabilities were not suited for a one versus one scenario; it would have beenfoolish to follow the trend.  

Even though the team competition’s first round was scheduled today, how couldXu Xiaoyan  have imagined that she would be participating? Contrary to herbeliefs, Tang Wulin swapped her in.

Once Tang Wulin’s group arrived on the stage, their opponents soonappeared—three teenagers about fourteen to fifteen years old.  

When these teenagers from Seafare Academy saw the youthful faces of theiropposition, joy washed over them like summer rain.

It was as Tang Wulin had guessed: Seafare Academy was mediocre and focused alltheir resources on their representative team.

When they had thought of themselves as mice in a world of men, theyencountered a team of brats. How could they not feel as if Lady Luck wassmiling down on them?

Aren’t these kids only about eleven or twelve? That’s a huge gap in age! Theircultivation should be weak then.In an instant, their faces lit up.

The referee climbed onto the stage. “You have thirty seconds to prepare. Thecountdown will begin at five seconds. The rules state that you cannotdeliberately disable your opponent and you must immediately cease battle if Iorder so.” His tone was monotonous after repeating the same thing for countlessbattles.

“My name is Mo Ka and these are my teammates, Yu Shi and Duanmu Lianlian. Youkids are from Eastsea Academy?” They had also checked the matchups.

Kids? Tang Wulin smiled humbly. “Yeah! Seniors, we’re first graders fromEastsea Academy. Please advise us.”

Xie Xie’s initial reaction was to explode in anger, but stopped himself whenhe saw the hand signals Tang Wulin flashed behind his back. Xie Xie understoodhis teammate’s intentions and  lowered his head quickly to hide his face.

Xu Xiaoyan wore an odd expression. This guy! Isn’t he usually an upright andvirtuous captain?

“Five, four, three, two, one, begin!

With that declaration, class zero’s first official team battle began.

Tang Wulin took the initiative to charge forward. Like in his individualmatch, he did not bother to release his martial soul yet. Doing so would cost aprecious second at his cultivation level. Every second mattered and all of hisactions were done for the sake of efficiency.

Though he couldn’t compare with Xie Xie in speed, he was not inferior when itcame to explosive power. With a simple stomp of his foot, a boom resounded. XieXie jumped into action after Tang Wulin, all according to their plan. The twoadvanced in tandem, Tang Wulin in front and Xie Xie hidden behind like a shadow.

Following her teammates’ actions, Xu Xiaoyan grasped the light coalescing intoher ice staff, a soul ring appearing beneath her.

Their opponents were taken aback by the sight of the two charging toward them,without releasing their martial souls or soul rings. Furthermore, Xu Xiaoyanbrandished a single ring.What are these two kids doing not even summoning theirsoul rings?

The three teenagers released their martial souls.

All three had a pair of yellow rings. This was to be expected from therepresentatives of an academy.

In that moment, a shining purple soul ring entered their view, blue vinetentacles swarming around them.

The Seafare Academy’s representatives couldn’t react in time. Before they wereable to activate their soul skills, the blue vines already struck at theirfaces. They were all tied up, their resistance bearing no fruit.

“Stop resisting!” Xie Xie pummeled their heads with his Light Dragon Dagger.

Xu Xiaoyan stood in the rear with her ice staff ready, but had yet to use asoul skill.

“Stop!” While trying to contain his surprise, the referee shouted.

A single two-ringed and two one-ringed soul masters were able to overcomethree two-ringed soul masters.Moreover, it was over in a blitz. It was simplyinconceivable!

The battle finished too quickly. It was too much for the eye to take in.

How can this be? Mo Ka, Yu Shi, and Duanmu Lianlian harbored the same thought.They hadn’t even had a chance use their soul skills!

It’s combat experience! These words flashed through Tang Wulin’s mind.Compared to him, his opponents were simply too lacking in that regard.

He had felt this deficiency among the contenders of the individualcompetition. Even now in the team competition, he felt the same.Do they nothave any combat training?

In truth, his accusation was wrong. All soul master academies had combattraining. However, their level of combat training could not compare with classzero’s. Class zero’s standard was inching on the border of masochism and itsstudents were geniuses selected carefully by the academy. Wu Zhangkong’spersonal guidance was also an important contribution.

As he had hailed from Shrek Academy, Wu Zhangkong’s teaching methods came fromthe same place.

Because class zero’s students had been either cultivating or battling in thespirit ascension platform, they were shocked to find how lacking their peerswere.

“Captain, I never knew you were so two-faced!” Now off-stage, Xu Xiaoyan wasgiggling at Tang Wulin.

Wasn’t it true, though? Before the battle started, Tang Wulin was alreadymisleading their opponents with an innocent and naive persona. He had been theembodiment of the ideal cute kid. Once the match started, however, he discardedhis facade and stormed his opponent, giving them no time to react. With such adevious strategy, Tang Wulin cinched victory easily.

If he hadn’t done this, then they wouldn’t have been able to obtain such asweeping win. Throughout the entire battle, Tang Wulin used his soul skillonce. It was his thousand-year soul skill!

Tang Wulin chuckled. “If I can save us some effort and conceal our strength abit longer, then why not? Our goal is to be the champions after all.”

“Aren’t you afraid of eavesdroppers?” An icy voice cut in.

The trio turned to see a pair of familiar faces—Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi.