Chapter 18: Combat Test

The next morning, Tang Wulin got up early and left the dormitory.

After finishing breakfast, Tang Wulin wandered around the academy for a while before heading to the classroom.

He didn't want to be surrounded again by girls with ulterior motives.

As he passed Haishen Hu, he instinctively sniffed.

"Huh? Why do I smell something burnt?"

He turned his head toward the source of the smell and instinctively drew in a breath of cool air.

"Which senior from the inner court fought here?!"

A large clearing appeared beside Haishen Hu, constantly emitting hot air; it was clearly scorched by extremely high-temperature flames, the surrounding grass turning yellowish and about to wither.

In stark contrast to the clearing was the surface of Haishen Hu.

Unexpectedly, a thick layer of ice had formed on it, spreading nearly ten meters from the shore toward the inner court.

This scene of ice and fire clashing made him think that two soul masters had just fought here, and their level was certainly not low.

Then the preparatory bell rang, interrupting Tang Wulin's thoughts.

"Ah, oh no, time's almost up—I need to hurry to class."

He had no choice but to toss his recent guess aside and rush toward the classroom again.

Fortunately, the preparatory bell allowed enough time; Tang Wulin reached the classroom with two minutes left before class, avoiding being late.

Entering the classroom, he immediately spotted Huo Yutong sitting in the front row, took the empty seat beside her, and said:

"Yutong, did you notice anything unusual at Haishen Hu when you came?"

Huo Yutong's gaze flickered for a moment, then she lightly shook her head.

"I didn't see anything. What happened there?"

"There are clear traces of an ice‑fire attribute battle there." Tang Wulin said excitedly, "Do you think it could have been the inner‑court seniors fighting here?"

Huo Yutong shook her head again.

"I don't think so; the inner court should have its own sparring grounds, and seniors wouldn't come to the outer court's Haishen Hu to practice."

"That makes sense." Tang Wulin agreed, "Then what do you think is going on?"

Huo Yutong fell silent for a moment, then suddenly gave an inscrutable smile and said, "I'm not sure either—maybe an inner‑court senior sister went crazy in the outer court and was taken care of by an enthusiastic outer‑court disciple."

"?"

A question mark appeared above Tang Wulin's head.

He remembered that to enter the inner court one needed at least Soul King rank—could any outer‑court student handle such an opponent?

And if it really was an inner‑court senior sister, her cultivation level is uncertain; if she were a Soul Emperor, her fighting prowess might not be much worse than his former teacher, Wu Changkong.

He didn't think any outer‑court student could match an opponent of that level.

Then the class bell rang; Teacher Wang Yan on the stage clapped his hands, drawing all the students' attention.

"Students, follow me to the field—today we won't lecture on new material; we'll have a combat lesson."

Upon hearing the words 'combat lesson,' the classroom atmosphere instantly became lively.

Zhou Sichen raised his hand high.

"Teacher, how will the combat lesson work?"

"Good question." Wang Yan said while leading the students toward the field, carefully explaining, "I'll later arrange you into pairs to spar, so you can get to know each other's abilities, prepare for the freshman assessment in three months, and also hone your combat skills."

Tang Wulin asked curiously:

"Why form pairs for the combat lesson?" He was familiar with combat lessons; his first class at Donghai Academy had been a combat lesson.

But that lesson had been one‑on‑one duels, which is clearly different from this.

"Because one‑on‑one would be unfair to some students." Wang Yan said patiently, "Our class has many students in the support and food departments; sending those soul masters into direct combat would be too much for them, so I will also group those students together with some control‑system students who temporarily lack frontline combat ability, letting them team up with the assault and agility departments—this is the proper approach."

"I see."

Tang Wulin suddenly understood.

What Wang Yan said made perfect sense; take Huo Yutong beside him as an example—her auxiliary field control is superb, even many great soul masters fall short, but when it comes to direct combat ability, she can only be described as tragic.

To put it bluntly, Tang Wulin could defeat her in less than five seconds.

Thus, chatting as they went, the teacher and students arrived at the field.

It was already the second day of the freshmen's enrollment; many classes had already scheduled physical training, so there were quite a few classes on the field.

Tang Wulin even spotted Wang Dong's figure—his bright blue‑pink hair was extremely eye‑catching.

After a brief observation, it seemed Wang Dong was running laps.

Tang Wulin furrowed his brows.

He hadn't run yesterday—why was he running laps again today? Too bad he obviously had no chance to ask Wang Dong about it, as Teacher Wang Yan had already started forming groups.

"Tang Wulin."

"Present!"

Hearing his name called, Tang Wulin instinctively replied and stepped forward.

Wang Yan glanced at him and pointed to the left.

"Assault department, go over there."

Tang Wulin hesitated a moment, then said:

"But teacher, my martial soul is Blue Silver Grass; I should be in the control department."

Upon hearing that, the eyes of the surrounding students shifted.

"His martial soul is Blue Silver Grass? Where does he get such terrifying power?"

Wang Yan pushed up his glasses and said:

"The classification of soul masters isn't based on martial soul but on fighting style; given your situation, no matter what your martial soul is, you belong to the assault department—go over there."

Understood.

Tang Wulin no longer objected, and stood to his left according to Wang Yan's instructions.

He felt Wang Yan made sense; his current main use of Blue Silver Grass is to whip people like a lash, which in no way looks like what a Control System should be.

With the boost of the Gold Dragon King Bloodline, even if his first martial soul is a mere leaf, he can still use it as a Strong Attack System.

After assigning this oddball Tang Wulin to the Strong Attack System, Wang Yan continued roll call.

However, this time when he classified, he mainly looked at the students' own wishes.

And Huo Yutong, as expected, was placed among the Control System members who temporarily lack combat ability, and was assigned to the right side.

Soon, Wang Yan finished the classification, closed the attendance register, and said: "Next, please find your partners. Note that each person's partner must be from the opposite side; the Strong Attack System is not allowed to team up with the Agile Attack System, the Defense System, or combat-capable Control System members. You have five minutes—begin."

As an aside, starting the next day, Qian Duoduo will arrange for someone to deliver each meal to the cafeteria, and Tang Wulin can collect his by showing his freshman badge.

By the way, I think Tang Wulin counts as Strong Attack; insisting he's Control feels rather forced. If that were considered Control, then Wang Dong's old saying about using Strong Attack to Control would actually make some sense (laugh).

(End of Chapter)