Chapter 129

"……"

Lin Xuyao frowned, forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart, and looked toward the corner at Yu Longheng and Ye Xinglan, who were hanging their heads, not saying a word.

They now understood the course of events very clearly.

The former wanted to retaliate because of a conflict with several people from Donghai Academy during the previous final exam. The latter was merely a conflict sparked by some verbal disputes……

What kind of matters are these!

Ye Xinglan sensed Lin Xuyao's gaze, her eye rims slightly red, and lowered her head, not daring to look at the crowd.

As for Yu Longheng…… he had already completely withdrawn into himself.

That one punch from Huo Yuhao was like a demon seed buried deep in his soul. Whenever his thoughts touched that figure, the desire to submit grew wildly like vines, tearing his sanity into shreds.

He could only blank his mind, forcing himself not to think, not to remember…… otherwise, he feared he would go mad.

Reason struggled, yet his subconscious kept whispering surrender; the two forces tore at his spirit until the brink of collapse, or…… complete submission.

Amid the silent atmosphere, Shen Yi walked into the room.

Ye Xinglan instantly stood up, eyes glistening with tears, and said: "Teacher, this matter arose because of me. I will bear the responsibility and am willing to accept any punishment."

This competition caused the academy's reputation to plummet; someone must be held accountable, and she duty-bound could not shirk it.

"Xinglan, enough."

Shen Yi frowned slightly and said sternly: "Your matter will be discussed when we return. The Pavilion Elder is already on the way; she will handle this. For the recent period, you all just don't go causing more trouble!"

The consequences of this competition exceeded her expectations; it seemed quite a few forces were fanning the flames behind the scenes, giving rise to much unfavorable gossip about the academy.

Rumors flew everywhere: Shrek stealing military soul guidance aircraft, students injuring people in the street, angering the Soul Spirit Ancestor. Even the matter from ten thousand years ago of Shrek stealing Sun Moon Empire secrets through exchange students was dragged out…… who knows who leaked it.

Coupled with Shrek Academy now effectively losing to a single person, public opinion was very unfavorable to Shrek, and the academy's reputation suffered greatly — beyond her ability to handle.

Even she, as the leading teacher, would have to accept punishment; what could one student, Ye Xinglan, change by accepting punishment?

She only hoped these little brats wouldn't keep stirring up trouble.

Ye Xinglan's delicate frame trembled slightly; she lowered her head, face pale: "Yes!"

……

"Do not act rashly; the academy is not in the right on this matter. Do not clash with the Spirit Pagoda. The Spirit Pagoda did not participate in the public opinion attacks; you should have a better attitude as well."

Hearing the admonition from the soul guide communication device, Cai Yue'er, Sea God Pavilion Elder and Shrek Academy Outer Court Dean, who was rushing to the Heavenly Sea Alliance, frowned and said: "Your Excellency Duo Qing, they insulted the academy's honor, and to pave the way for their juniors they even stepped on our Shrek Academy's head — you want me to chat with them calmly?"

"The conflict was provoked by our students first! And what honor? The academy's honor vanished ten thousand years ago……"

Speaking here, she seemed to realize this statement was not quite appropriate; Duo Qing Douluo paused, then continued: "Sigh, forget it. In your eyes I'm just an outsider who joined halfway anyway; I don't understand your honor. I won't say more. When Yun Ming returns, let him talk to you."

Cai Yue'er looked at the now-disconnected soul guide communication device, frowned slightly, put it away, took out a soul guidance light screen, and began checking the information of the Shrek Academy students who participated in the competition.

"Ye Xinglan, Yu Longheng……"

Seeing the two instigators of the conflict, Cai Yue'er directly sent the former to the Outer Court, and marked the latter as not allowed to enter the Inner Court.

Whether there would be further punishments would wait until after this round of talks with the Spirit Pagoda.

Next, Cai Yue'er turned to Ning Yue's information; seeing the Nine Treasures Liuli Sect background, she turned the page expressionlessly.

The Nine Treasures Liuli Sect is still striving for the immortal herb…… she didn't know what to say.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda can be said to be a martial soul abandoned by this era.

Speaking from battle armor, the battle armor's amplification cannot stack onto the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul — very awkward.

Second, from the soul spirit perspective. Apart from tool martial souls like Blue Silver Grass, which are very difficult to strengthen from soul spirits — after all they have no bloodline to speak of, only able to start from the attribute aspect — the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda is a treasure-type martial soul, same as ordinary sword or saber martial souls, with no attribute.

This is also one reason the Seven Treasures Liuli Sect leans toward Shrek Academy; finding suitable soul spirits to cultivate is too difficult for them, so naturally they look for already successful cases first.

However, seeking out Shrek Academy actually has no meaning for now, because they don't even have the ability to absorb immortal herb soul spirits……

You must know, Spirit Abyss Realm is a spiritual realm usually only Title Douluo can touch; the Spirit Sea Realm below it can generally only accommodate three soul spirits. If you want a ten-thousand-year soul spirit, you can only accommodate one yellow, one purple, one black — three soul spirits.

The current Seven Treasures Liuli Sect Master's cultivation has reached Rank 79, and spiritual power is stuck at the Spirit Sea Realm peak.

And the Yearning Heartbroken Red (Qiluo Yujinxiang) of the Ice Fire Yin Yang Well is a fierce beast!

The Seven Treasures Liuli Sect Master doesn't even have the capacity to accommodate a fierce beast soul spirit!

As for directly eating like Ning Rongrong's ancestor twenty thousand years ago…… you look at whether that two-hundred-thousand-year immortal herb fierce beast would agree.

So seeing Nine Treasures Liuli Sect disciples, Cai Yue'er didn't know how to evaluate them.

This is no longer just a question of whether the academy is willing to let them enter the Ice Fire Yin Yang Well; even if they enter it's useless — they can't get what they want……

Having handled Ning Yue and the other students' issues, Cai Yue'er turned to Huo Yuhao and the others' information, gradually furrowing her brows.

The best choice now is to have Huo Yuhao enter the academy as an exchange student; much of the unfavorable gossip would naturally disappear.

But the Spirit Pagoda even gave the "Spirit Transmitting" title to Huo Yuhao; the possibility of him entering the academy is too small, unless they are willing to pay a very large price.

And besides Huo Yuhao……

"Gu Yue Na, Xu Xiaoyan, Xie Xie, Wang Jinxi, Zhang Yangzi, Tang Wulin."

Cai Yue'er's gaze wandered among the several people.

If Huo Yuhao's teammates were Shrek Academy students, public opinion could also be guided; add the teacher-student relationship between Wu Zhangkong and them, and completely suppressing this matter is not impossible.

Pity, Wu Zhangkong is a stubborn mule; from Shen Yi's account he absolutely won't express a stance, so we can only start from these little brats.

"Directly join Shrek, receive Inner Court disciple resource-tilted cultivation — that counts as a bargain for you lot."

These Donghai Academy students, apart from Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue Na, the others may not have received that much attention from the Spirit Pagoda; directly entering the Inner Court to obtain top-tier resources is also these children's opportunity and fortune.

……

The next day, in the audience stands, Huo Yuhao and the others watched the forging competition below, cheering for Tang Wulin in the finals.

After watching a while, Xie Xie complained: "So boring. Although you can see Wulin's forging technique is extraordinary, just watching a hammer strike back and forth makes your eyes blur."

"Don't let your sharp tongue land on Wulin. And this kind of professional competition is only followed by the forging world; if you find it boring, you can watch other people's reactions."

Xu Xiaoyan pointed at Mu Chen not far away, smiling: "That's the East Sea Forging Association President; look at his expression."

Xie Xie and Zhang Yangzi looked over at those words, and instantly cracked up.

Only to see Mu Chen staring fixedly at Tang Wulin's forging movements, his gaze reddened, looking like he wanted to go down right then and there and accept Tang Wulin as a disciple, but seemingly also having some reservations, so he could only sit in the audience stands...

"This reminds me of a saying — the person you can't have."

Zhang Yangzi laughed: "You made your move too late."

The forging competition, Wu Lin was representing the Spirit Pagoda to compete, the meaning was very clear.

"Clang—"

Tang Wulin struck the final hammer blow, a spirit light emitted outward, the thousand-refined silver essence bloomed with dazzling light, the patterns even.

Spirit light emission, thousand refinements first grade!

Ten years old, fourth rank forging master!

"A forging genius rarely seen in a thousand years, how come he belongs to someone else's family?" Mu Chen murmured to himself.

A crowd of Heavenly Sea Forging Master Association forging masters nodded in agreement at the side, also secretly sighing.

If he were Mu Chen's disciple, they would all dare to be a bit more shameless, first detain this youngster, lure him into the Heavenly Sea Forging Association then talk, but the Spirit Pagoda... forget it.

The Heavenly Sea Forging Association president walked forward, personally presenting the championship reward to Tang Wulin.

Thousand refinements first grade, this is an undisputed championship!

Tang Wulin solemnly accepted the reward, excitement flashing in his eyes, revealing a satisfied smile. He turned around and waved vigorously at his companions on the competition stage, receiving applause in response from Huo Yuhao and the others.

Carrying the joy of victory, Tang Wulin stepped toward the competitor passage, intending to return to the audience seats and reunite with his partners. However, just as he had just stepped into the shadows of the passage, a tall and sturdy figure suddenly blocked his way.

It was a man with a robust build like an iron tower, muscles knotted, his whole body emitting a fierce aura. He crossed his arms, looking down at Tang Wulin from above.

This person's appearance, Tang Wulin had seen before when studying at the Spirit Pagoda forging department.

He is the Tian Dou Branch Tower Master, one of the Spirit Pagoda's limit combat powers, and also an eighth-rank saint craftsman... Xiong Jun!

Teacher Luo said a big shot was paying attention to this competition, could it be him?

Xiong Jun sensed the blood qi power on Tang Wulin's body, not knowing what he thought of, the corner of his mouth curved up slightly.

"Forging talent not bad, want to be my disciple, and learn from me?"

Tang Wulin froze instantly, his mind a blank, looking dazedly at Xiong Jun.

A limit powerhouse, a peak existence of the continent suddenly standing before him, wanting to accept him as a disciple?

Happiness came too suddenly, he needs to take it slow...

(End of Chapter)