211 She’s the Opponent?

Mu Xi was stupefied. “That’s right! You still only have one ring… How could Iforget? You’re not that great after all! You’re still so much weaker than me!”

Tang Wulin felt as if three black lines were sliding down his forehead. Justwhat is she thinking?

An unexpected smile spread across Mu Xi’s face. “My heart calmed down as soonas I remembered that. Yeah! No one could be that unbelievably powerful andyou’re no exception. Alright, hurry up and go then. I’m not participating inthe individual competition, but I am in the team competition. I won’t go easyon you when we face off. Well… assuming you make it that far.”

Tang Wulin waved goodbye to Mu Xi as he ran off. It was nearly time for theindividual competition.

Watched his departing figure, Mu Xi’s smiling expression gradually vanished.She muttered, “Dad was right… I really should form a good relationship withhim. That brat… hmph! I really want to pinch him to death.”

A smile spread across her lips as she spoke the last few words. It was farmore brilliant than the one that had previously graced it.



Once he arrived at the competition ground, Tang Wulin rushed to check theprogression of the matches. Fortunately, there was still some time before hismatch. Since the individual competition had advanced to its second round, eachmatch was far longer than before.

After making sure that he was on time, Tang Wulin spotted his teammates nearby.

Xie Xie and Gu Yue stood next to each other, observing the battles of theircompetition. Tang Wulin quickly walked over.

“Your blacksmithing competition is done? How’d you do?” Gu Yue asked.

“I did great,” Tang Wulin answered. “The champion will be decided tomorrow.”

Since the blacksmith’s competition wasn’t very popular, it only took threedays to finish.

“Have you guys fought yet?” Tang Wulin asked.

Gu Yue shook her head. “Not yet. I’m still waiting.”

“So what’s the situation?” Tang Wulin asked. “Has anyone powerful appeared yet?

Gu Yue answered, “A few. We just saw a three-ringed soul master. Athree-ringed opponent will be kind of tough.”

With an upper age limit of fifteen, it was certainly to be expected that somethree-ringed soul masters would be found in the junior division. Compared toXie Xie and Gu Yue, both of which had two rings and powerful martial souls,Tang Wulin merely had a single soul ring and the trash-tier Bluesilver Grass.Although he brought his martial soul up to the thousand-year level, he wasstill an infant against those three-ringed giants.

Yet, in spite of that, Tang Wulin’s confidence did not waver. He neverexpected to do particularly well in the individual competition; he only enteredin order to further temper himself. It wouldn’t be much of a loss if he weredefeated by an opponent that was more powerful than him.

At that moment, Tang Wulin’s eyes went wide.

Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi approached him like enemies meeting on a narrow road.The former led the way while the latter followed like a servant.

There’s no way she signed up for the individual competition, right?

Tang Wulin was speechless, but anticipation flickered within his heart. Thetwo were from Shrek Academy, so he couldn’t help but wonder just how strongthey were.

“Are you waiting for your match?” Ye Xinglan approached Tang Wulin with asinister grin.

Tang Wulin pretended to be disinterested. “Did you sign up for the individualcompetition too? If I remember correctly, the competition was already underwaywhen you decided to sign up.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Ye Xinglan asked. “I just needed tospeak with the organizers and tell them that I wanted to spar with you guys. Ofcourse they made an exception for me. Since I guaranteed I won’t fight for thetop eight, they happily agreed to my participation.”

Tang Wulin’s heart stirred, anxiety seeping into his heart.

“Oh, right, I wanted to tell you the good news. The opponent you drew fortoday is unable to make it, so another opponent has been arranged for you—me.”

Faced with the smirking Ye Xinglan, Tang Wulin felt as if he had encountered alittle devil. He knew her what she was aiming for without even needing to thinkabout it.  

Xie Xie’s and Gu Yue’s faces darkened. This was especially the case for GuYue, whose narrowed eyes held a cold sheen.

Tang Wulin, on the other hand, continued to meet Ye Xinglan’s gaze withoutfaltering. Their gazes locked, and he flashed a radiant smile at her.“Fantastic!”

Fantastic? He isn’t scared at all? Ye Xinglan was stunned. This guy isn’tscared of having a match with me? But I’m from Shrek Academy!

She couldn’t sense the slightest bit of anxiety from Tang Wulin’s confidentexpression. In fact, his smile was simply to dazzling for her.  

As if to tell Tang Wulin to surrender right then and there, Xu Lizhi gave hima meaningful look from behind Ye Xinglan. However, Tang Wulin ignored XuLizhi’s warning. Instead, he was completely calm as he continued to hold YeXinglan’s gaze.

Ye Xinglan’s expression quickly turned dark. She nodded at Tang Wulinrepeatedly. “Good. Very good. Let me see just how skilled you are then.”

After spitting out these words, she swiftly turned around and left.

A wry smile appeared on Tang Wulin’s lips as he returned his attention to thematches in progress.

Feeling a tug on his arm, Tang Wulin turned to see Gu Yue grabbing onto himand staring right at him with eyes filled with worry.

The corner of Tang Wulin’s mouth curled in amusement. “It’s fine! We’re hereto challenge the powerful and gain more combat experience after all. Battling astudent from Shrek Academy is a rare opportunity. You wouldn’t believe howhappy I am right now. Why are you guys making that face? Are you thinking it’scertain that I’ll lose?”

“Well said,” an icy voice interjected. “Do your best and battle with all yourstrength. You might just have a chance at winning if you do.”

The trio swiveled their heads in the direction that it came from, slightlysurprised at Wu Zhangkong’s sudden arrival.

Wu Zhangkong nodded at Tang Wulin in satisfaction. His appreciation for thisdisciple of his only continued to grow. Not only did Tang Wulin have a goodhead on his shoulders, his perception was sharp and his heart was large. Theboy was only ten years old, so Wu Zhangkong could only imagine what he would belike when he was twenty. Tang Wulin’s growth was unpredictable.

A lot could change in ten years. Although Tang Wulin’s martial soul was weak,it had mutated and made the path to greatness available to him. If this trendcontinued, Tang Wulin would be destined to reach great heights in the future.

“Teacher Wu,” Tang Wulin hastily said in greeting.

Wu Zhangkong walked to stand in front of the three, gravely saying, “Do yourbest in your battles and don’t feel pressured. Regardless of how it turns out,everything will be fine as long as you give it your all. In my opinion, thebattle isn’t completely hopeless for you.”

“Yes!” Tang Wulin answered respectfully, eyes sparkling. Battling an opponentfrom Shrek Academy was a wonderful chance to test himself.  

Tang Wulin sat down where he was, closed his eyes, and began regulating hisbreathing. He wanted to be in top condition when he faced Ye Xinglan.

Xie Xie was the first to have a match. His opponent wasn’t particularlystrong, and a little less than five minutes later, he stood victorious.

Then it was finally Tang Wulin’s turn. He sprang up from the ground, aconfident smile on his face as he strode toward the arena.

“Big sister Xinglan, Wulin didn’t really do anything wrong. You should go easyon him!” Xu Lizhi implored. He still had a good impression of Tang Wulin,especially since Tang Wulin could eat so much. Such a limitless stomach wassomething he had never seen before, and one could only conquer a glutton byeating more than them after all! It was only because of this that Xu Lizhiapproved of Tang Wulin.

“You still have the face to say that? Would I have had to suffer so much ifnot for you? Stop letting this bother you so much and just watch me put him inhis place. Hmph!” Ye Xinglan freed herself from Xu Lizhi’s nagging and chargedtoward the stage.

During the exhibition match that kicked off the tournament, few had taken noteof her since she had been in the back. Furthermore, she wasn’t clothed in theiconic green Shrek Academy uniform today. Instead, she wore a yellow dress. Sheonly seemed to be a young, pretty girl.

Both Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan ascended to the stage. Upon seeing Tang Wulin’sassured smile, fumes of anger poured from Ye Xinglan’s head. In her eyes, thatsmile was provocation. Grievances filled her heart as she remembered how TangWulin had mooched off of her and even had the gall to pick the dishes.

This bastard! Today we’ll see how I put you in your place!

Today’s referee was the same as yesterday’s. After unceremoniously announcingthe rules for the match, he let the two start preparing.

Tang Wulin’s narrowed eyes were locked onto Ye Xinglan. After his short rest,his mind was sharp as a blade.

He was like a spring—the greater the pressure placed on him, the stronger hewould bounce back. At this moment, he was bursting with fighting spirit. Hewould rather face a powerful opponent like Ye Xinglan instead of aninexperienced one like the one from yesterday. This way, he would gainsomething from the battle.

“Three, two, one, begin!”

Tang Wulin sprang into action immediately after the referee’s declaration. Hestomped down with his left foot, charging straight at Ye Xinglan while a singlepurple ring twinkled beneath his feet.