Chapter 500: The World Ten Thousand Years Later (5k)

Ugh—

After an unknown time, Tang Wulin finally endured the severe pain and woke up.

As soon as he woke, he felt his head resting on something extremely soft; opening his eyes, he discovered he was using Huo Yutong's lap as a pillow.

Huo Yutong gazed at him with gentle eyes.

"Awake, Wulin? Do you need something to eat?"

"No thanks."

Tang Wulin felt no hunger; rather, he sensed his internal energy was about to overflow.

He hastily rose from Huo Yutong's lap, only to be startled by his own body's lightness.

Instinctively scanning his interior, he gasped in shock to see his heart had vanished, replaced by something else.

It was a strange nine-colored crystal, pulsing strongly with each of his breaths.

With each pulse, Tang Wulin felt a surge of extremely pure heavenly-earth elemental energy erupt from it.

This is…

Tang Wulin's gaze instantly turned strange.

Having seen much, he had at least witnessed the soul cores of Limit Douluo, so he instantly recognized that his nine-colored crystal was a soul core.

But first, why nine-colored? Second, why is it located where his heart should be?

Although humans can condense a soul core in the chest, replacing the heart with a soul core is absolutely unprecedented.

Moreover, Tang Wulin discovered his life soul core had also "disappeared".

After carefully examining it with his mental power, he found the life soul core hadn't truly vanished; it had been absorbed into this nine-colored soul core, essentially being encompassed within it.

A soul core within a soul core? What is this? Neither is it phase resonance nor yin-yang complementarity; it's like a Russian nesting doll, and Tang Wulin felt an urge to complain suddenly surge.

What exactly is this soul core created by the Dragon God? Both its location and the operational pattern of the two soul cores differ greatly from traditional soul cores.

"Wulin?"

"Ah!"

At that moment, Tang Wulin suddenly heard Huo Yutong's doubtful call, and only then did he react, hastily withdrawing his attention.

He saw Huo Yutong looking at him with deep concern.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Since arriving in this world, she had found Tang Wulin collapsed, his face contorted in pain.

No matter how she called, she couldn't wake him, so she stayed by his side, hoping to ease his suffering a little.

Fortunately, not long after, the pain on his face faded, and soon afterward he woke up.

Tang Wulin smiled and shook his head at her.

"No, nothing's wrong; I'm just dazed by what suddenly happened."

Next, he told Huo Yutong what had happened after he fainted.

Hearing this, Huo Yutong was also greatly surprised, and she exclaimed delightedly:

"Congratulations, Wulin! How much do you feel your power has increased? What level are you at now?"

Tang Wulin sensed a bit and replied, "If it's soul power level, probably around ninety-first; it seems the Dragon God didn't give me an upgrade service. As for the power increase…"

He suddenly threw a punch into the air; a muffled boom sounded, and instantly a black spatial rift appeared in midair.

"Looks pretty big, huh."

Tang Wulin couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

He had only ever felt such a magnitude of power increase once before.

That was after Mu En's death, when he successively absorbed the fifth and sixth seals, as well as the dragon pill and the 100,000-year dragon blood lingzhi.

Back then he rarely lost control of his power, and this time feels the same.

Moreover.

Tang Wulin extended his hand, and a tiny nine-colored vortex appeared on it.

"I feel my mental power and elemental affinity have also increased."

As he said, if originally he controlled elements using the Dragon King's bones as a medium, relying on their power, now elemental control has become part of his own strength.

With a thought, his blood essence soul rings rose from around him.

Instantly, both Tang Wulin's and Huo Yutong's gazes focused on the topmost blood essence soul ring.

Tang Wulin's seventh blood essence soul ring was actually nine-colored.

"This…"

When Tang Wulin focused his energy on it, the name of the soul skill transmitted back was a simple four characters.

"Dragon God True Form."

Tang Wulin involuntarily swallowed.

"Is this soul skill too overpowered? Shouldn't it have been the Golden Dragon True Form instead?"

He patted his chest, and at that moment his gaze unintentionally swept over the calendar hanging on the wall.

"Ah—"

Tang Wulin suddenly remembered something.

He hastily grabbed Huo Yutong's hand.

"Yutong, we need to hurry!"

"How, how…?"

Huo Yutong was startled by his sudden reaction.

"I just remembered that before coming to your era, I was preparing to fight our school's first-year class one."

And now, there is less than half an hour left until the exam starts.

…………

On the playground, Xie Xie and Gu Yue stood in the waiting area below the competition stage, their faces solemn and somewhat nervous.

The typhoon that had just ended lasted a week, delaying many things.

But for them, this was a great opportunity to overtake on a bend, and over that week they all benefited greatly.

But before they could be happy for long, they received a heavy piece of news:

Tang Wulin lost contact.

Although for them the difference between two-on-two and three-on-three wasn't big, and Tang Wulin was originally the weakest link among them, they had grown accustomed to fighting as a trio, so suddenly being one person short still felt off in every way.

Time ticked by, and just as they had decided to fight together as two, a voice suddenly came over the broadcast.

«Due to unforeseen circumstances, today's match is temporarily cancelled; please return to your respective classes and follow the teachers' arrangements. »

«Due to unforeseen circumstances, today's match is temporarily cancelled; please, fellow students…»

«…»

Hearing the broadcast repeated several times, Xie Xie and Gu Yue exchanged a glance, their expressions showing some delight.

An extra day meant they had an extra day's buffer, giving them an extra day to search for Tang Wulin.

In contrast, the three from Class One opposite them all wore displeased looks, as if saying, «Let you off the hook. »

But they could not defy the school's arrangements, so in the end they had no choice but to head to their respective classes.

The students rushed from the playground to the teaching building, while at this very moment four people stood in the principal's office.

They were Tang Wulin, Huo Yutong, Wu Changkong, and Principal Yu Yun.

Yu Yun revealed a somewhat appeasing smile and asked:

«Is this alright for the two of you? »

These two youngsters are Honored Douluo-level powerhouses; in a place like Donghai City, a single Honored Douluo-level existence can run roughshod as they please.

What he didn't realize at the moment was that these two before him were more than just Honored Douluo; if they wished, they could destroy this city with ease.

Tang Wulin nodded lightly.

«Mm, thank you for the trouble, Principal. »

Although they woke up a bit late, at their current speed it took them less than five minutes to reach the school.

This was only because Tang Wulin accidentally forgot the way to school and spent some time looking for it; if they had gone straight there from the start, they might not have needed even a minute.

They certainly didn't come to the school to participate in the match; there's no way they'd let the current Tang Wulin fight those little brats—he's ten years older, and his cultivation is so high that a mere exhale could blow his opponent away; even standing still, they couldn't break his defense.

Tang Wulin merely hoped to suspend this match.

Yu Yun rubbed his hands, put on a smile, and asked:

«So, what should we do next? Should we simply announce that Freshman Class Five wins? »

For him as principal, this required only a sentence, and if it could earn him the favor of a powerful Honored Douluo, that would be perfect.

However, Tang Wulin shook his head.

«It's unnecessary; this would be unfair and wouldn't benefit these students' growth. Let's do this instead. »

He felt in his pocket, then pulled out several stalks of medicinal herbs.

«Here, use these as startup funds to build a key class, recruiting those few participating students from Classes One and Five. » «This, this is…?! »

Yu Yun's eyes widened instantly.

As principal of Donghai Academy, he was quite well-informed.

Having never eaten pork but seen pigs run, he could tell at a glance that the medicinal herbs Tang Wulin produced were of extraordinary quality.

Herbs of this caliber—let alone building a key class, even constructing another school would be more than enough!

Tang Wulin smiled faintly.

«Can you do it? »

What he did was actually quite simple.

With his current cultivation, as long as he is given plant seeds, he can instantly use his life force to make them mature.

Thus, for him, things like immortal herbs are practically worthless; he can easily mass-produce them.

Although upon reflection he hasn't spent much time at Donghai Academy, this is after all his alma mater, and if possible he still wants to lend a little support.

Yu Yun nodded repeatedly.

«I can do it! I can do it! Thank you, sir! »

«Then that's settled. »

Tang Wulin took Huo Yutong's hand, turned around, and said:

«I hope your academy prospers ever more; we'll be off now. »

Having said that, he led Huo Yutong out of the principal's office.

Wu Changkong followed behind them, gave him a strange look, and asked:

«Wulin, what exactly happened to you? And who is this young lady? »

Actually, during that conversation Principal Yu Yun never learned Tang Wulin's name; although he felt Tang Wulin resembled the freshman from Grade One Class Five, he only assumed he was some elder of Tang Wulin's family coming to speak up for his junior, and seeing Tang Wulin unwilling to elaborate, he didn't press further.

But Wu Changkong is different; from his perspective, he was just about to go to the field to watch the match when Tang Wulin, who had been missing for two days, suddenly appeared, his appearance aged by ten years and his strength absurdly strong, saying he wanted Wu Changkong to show him the way to see the principal.

And even more astonishing was the girl beside Tang Wulin.

Wu Changkong couldn't help but give Huo Yutong another strange glance.

He was extremely familiar with that face; in fact, anyone who has visited the Spirit Pagoda in a big city would know it well.

Yu Yun probably noticed as well, but due to the difference in status he dared not ask further.

Wu Changkong, however, is not like that; he rarely fears anyone, and faced with such an extraordinary situation, he naturally wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Before Tang Wulin could answer, Huo Yutong hurriedly replied, "Hello, Teacher, I'm Huo Yutong, Tang Wulin's girlfriend. Thank you for taking care of Tang Wulin; please accept this."

Saying this, she reached her hand out in front of Wu Changkong.

She had long heard from Tang Wulin about Wu Changkong's affairs, and from Tang Wulin's tone she could sense his respect for Wu Changkong; therefore she could not be negligent and must leave a good impression.

Wu Changkong instinctively reached out to catch it, but saw only a small piece of ice crystal.

At first glance it seemed an ordinary blue ice crystal, but Wu Changkong quickly noticed something unusual: at the center of the ice crystal seemed to be frozen a small piece of ice marrow.

What Wu Changkong did not know was that this item, even if placed in Shilake Academy, would be precious enough to be stored in the academy's Treasure Pavilion as the most valuable heavenly material and earthly treasure: Eternal Mystic Ice Marrow.

Therefore he paid it no mind; compared to this seemingly ordinary greeting gift, he cared more about the name Huo Yutong.

"You said your name is Huo Yutong?"

That name combined with her appearance makes it hard for him not to think too much.

"Mm, yes."

Huo Yutong didn't understand why Wu Changkong had that expression, and involuntarily nodded affirmatively with some doubt.

Facing Huo Yutong's pure gaze, Wu Changkong was speechless; he could only look at Tang Wulin, gesturing for this kid to quickly explain the situation.

Tang Wulin gave a bitter laugh:

"Regarding this, Teacher, I hope we can go to your office to talk."

His matter of crossing time and space is both fantastical and lengthy; to avoid drawing attention and to better narrate it, it's best not to speak in the hallway.

Wu Changkong gave him a deep look and nodded.

"Alright, follow me."

Under Wu Changkong's guidance, Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong came to his office.

Just as remembered, his office could be described as tiny and pitiful—only ten square meters, with nothing but a desk, a bookshelf, and a chair.

Wu Changkong sat down in the chair, looking at the two standing people, feeling somewhat embarrassed, when he saw Tang Wulin point at the ground; then wooden branches sprouted from the ground, quickly grew, and gradually twisted into two chairs.

"... It seems you really have learned a lot."

"These branches don't resemble Blue Silver Grass; are they Tang Wulin's new spirit?"

"Not bad."

Tang Wulin didn't pay attention to what Wu Changkong was thinking, and earnestly said, "Wu Teacher, what I'm about to say may sound extremely unbelievable; I hope you can believe my words."

"How could it be more unbelievable than you growing ten years older out of thin air in a week? Go ahead."

"... Okay."

During the next two hours, Wu Changkong came to a painful realization:

He had indeed underestimated the legendary extent of Tang Wulin's experiences.

Having traveled back ten thousand years, become brothers with the legends of that era, become Sea God Pavilion Master, successfully thwart the war launched by the Ri Yue Di Guo, and completely exterminate the Evil Soul Master organization Holy Spirit Sect... Could this really happen in just ten short years?

It's simply unimaginable.

What Wu Changkong did not know was that all these things that left him dumbfounded were still abridged by Tang Wulin.

Such as Ilex, Shuangling Bian, and the Dragon God Inheritance—truly weighty matters—he had not told Wu Changkong about them.

Even if many things were merely glossed over by Tang Wulin, the remaining matters were still enough for him to talk about for a long time.

When Tang Wulin finished telling his story, the outside sky had grown much darker; Wu Changkong turned on the light, and his rare complexion looked somewhat complex.

He let out a long sigh and asked, "Then after you return, what do you plan to do next?"

"Hmm..."

Tang Wulin also felt a bit embarrassed for a moment.

It wasn't that he didn't know what to do; his goal was actually quite clear.

First, find his parents; second, complete the Dragon God Divine Examination; everything else can be put aside for now.

But actually, these are not the most urgent.

What truly needs to be resolved first is actually his current identity problem.

His current ID is basically unusable; if he doesn't quickly get a new one, many of his future actions will be restricted.

The problem is that when Tang Wulin left this era, he was only nine years old, knowing little about many things, only slightly better than Huo Yutong from ten thousand years ago, leaving him momentarily unsure where to start.

Seeing his embarrassed expression, Wu Changkong imperceptibly raised a slight degree.

Seeing Tang Wulin's expression, Wu Changkong suddenly realized that no matter how legendary Tang Wulin's experiences were, he was still his student.

That was enough.

Wu Changkong stood up and said, "Forget it, I'll help you solve it."

"Really?"

Tang Wulin's eyes instantly lit up.

This truly is a pleasant surprise.

Wu Changkong nodded.

"Well, if what you say is true and actually happened, I indeed have a way to help you settle your identity issue, but this involves an organization you're quite familiar with."

"——"

Tang Wulin froze for a moment, then quickly reacted.

"Tang Sect?"

"Yes."

Wu Changkong said lightly:

"With your strength, as long as you join this era's Tang Sect, the Tang Sect helping you settle your identity would pose no problem at all, how about it?"

"No problem."

Tang Wulin agreed without hesitation.

Anyway, he was a member of the Tang Sect ten thousand years ago, so this doesn't matter to him.

Okay, I'll contact you tonight; wait a few days, and during those days you can bring your girlfriend to get familiar with this era.

At the end, Wu Changkong gave Huo Yutong a meaningful glance, then said to Tang Wulin: "Right, I suggest you take her to the Soul Tower branch in East Sea City for a look."

Why?

Because you'll probably see something there… uh, that will shock you greatly.

The meaning of Wu Changkong's words, Tang Wulin will soon understand.

(End of chapter)