The Legend of the Dragon King

They weren’t naive and released their martial souls as soon as they entered.

☀

Inside the Spirit Pagoda’s monitoring room.

The staff member turned to Wu Zhangkong and said, “These kids are pretty good. Teacher Wu really is very good at teaching.”

Wu Zhangkong gave a humble nod. “Let’s see how they do first.”

Although he had always been the type to suppress his emotions and keep a stony expression, he couldn’t help but feel pleased with his disciples.

As he watched them undergo their trials, a 20,000-year-old motto popped into his mind: Shrek Academy only accepts monsters, not ordinary people.

Regardless of the time period, Shrek Academy had never failed to uphold that motto. This motto was engraved into every single student of Shrek, instilling them with a sense of pride.

I wonder how far these brats will be able to go.

In order to become a monster, other than having first-class talent, one also needed unyielding perseverance. From his observations, all five of his students possessed talent, with Gu Yue being the most talented among them. There were no records of her martial soul or anything similar within Shrek Academy and the Spirit Pagoda’s history. Miraculously, she was able to control five elements, and despite the fact that her soul skill could only increase how effectively she utilizes her soul power to control the elements, she was still able to combine the five elements into a variety of attacks. What need did she have for extra soul skills then?

Her spiritual power had also reached unprecedented heights, especially when compared to her peers. Just the fact that she was able to reach the Spirit Connection realm at her age, combined with her speed of improvement, meant that by the time she graduated in six years, she might actually reach the Spirit Sea realm. If she actually managed such an unprecedented feat, then her future potential would be limitless, rocking the Soul Master world.

Xie Xie was undoubtedly the second most talented individual. His twin martial souls were a rare and amazing gift, regardless of era, and though his twin martial souls were artificial rather than natural, they were still beneficial for him. No one could say for certain, but in the future, Xie Xie might just be able to…

As for Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi’s talent, it could only be considered as decent. Neither the Bone Dragon King nor the Shadow Phantasm Eagle could be considered as peak level martial souls, but the two were compatible. If they could one day perfectly control their fusion skill, their combat strength would then be on the same level as a peak genius.

Although, only time could tell whether or not they perfect their soul fusion skill. After all, their grasp of their fusion skill was still at a rudimentary level.

Lastly, there was Tang Wulin. Wu Zhangkong had appointed him as the team captain because he saw a quality in Tang Wulin’s character that couldn’t be found in his peers. He was tenacious, his so-called trash martial soul having never discouraged him from cultivating hard. He slowly followed behind his classmates, step by step. He also had innate divine strength, making him the strongest one amongst them and could make up for the deficiency of his martial soul at these lower ranks.

What was even more notable, though, was that he had a variant martial soul and possessed the peculiar Golden Dragon Claw. Out of the five individuals, he was possibly the strongest,, but it was still too soon to tell. If his martial soul continued to mutate, then there was a high chance he would become a super genius like Gu Yue.

Tang Wulin’s steady temperament made him the best choice for a leader, and he was also a natural at taking care of everyone at his side. The most important point, however, was that he was brave enough to shoulder this responsibility. Wu Zhangkong’s greatest hope for Tang Wulin was for him to mature and become one of the geniuses of this generation.

The Thousand Refined hammers also made it clear to Wu Zhangkong that Tang Wulin was a first class genius in the art of forging and that he would not stray in his secondary profession.

Although blacksmithing wasn’t as popular as the three great Mecha Master professions, fifth rank blacksmiths and higher were one of the scarcest talents on the continent. Although battle armor designing and crafting were extremely high level skills, blacksmithing was the foundation they built upon. With excellent materials, the designs could be even better and the workmanship of even higher quality, allowing the battle armor to reach the peak.

Wu Zhangkong truly wished for Tang Wulin to travel as far down this path as possible. If he had to choose which of the five students to take the exam to enter his organization, then Tang Wulin would definitely be the most suitable. He couldn’t make heads or tails of Gu Yue, but he could tell that she carried many secrets and would have to keep a close eye on her.

☀

Tang Wulin used his Bluesilver Grass vines to part the grass in front of them and create a path, allowing them to advance slowly and carefully.

As this was their end-of-term final exam, their number one priority now was to survive. As such, hunting soul beasts was a secondary priority placed at the back of their minds.

Finding a safe area to occupy was their most important objective now.

“No signs of souls beasts at the rear or sides,” reported Zhang Yangzi.

As Tang Wulin nodded in acknowledgement, a Heavy Silver hammer appeared in his left hand with a flash of light. His right hand was empty in case he needed to use his Golden Dragon Claw.

Suddenly, a low growl came from ahead of them, announcing the arrival of a large beast as it leapt out.

It was a giant ape as tall as a human. A faintly fishy odor wafted from its ash-black furred body as it glared at them with crimson eyes.

After his first experience in the spirit ascension platform, Tang Wulin earnestly studied the various species of soul beasts. That, combined with his experiences in the spirit ascension platform, increased his understanding of soul beasts to a level incomparable with before.

With a single look, he identified this ape to be a hundred-year Ironarm Ape, a type of human-like soul beast. It was both quick and strong and possessed arms like steel. The most troublesome aspect, however, was its crowd skill, Threaten. If someone with weak spiritual power was hit by its Threaten, then they would receive its full effect and may even lose their desire to do battle immediately. Thus, the best method of dealing with an Ironarm Ape was to strike first and gain the upper hand.

Whoosh!

Tang Wulin instantly threw his hammer, sending it flying in an arc toward the beast. As it flew through the air, Tang Wulin took large strides forward and charged. Golden scales crept up his right arm as he launched his frontal assault. As he did so, a strand of Bluesilver Grass slithered along the ground, twisting around the Ironarm Ape and binding it.

Xie Xie had also acted the moment Tang Wulin made his move. He dashed forward and stuck behind Tang Wulin. Tang Wulin grabbed one of the strands of Bluesilver Grass tied around his waist and swung it upward, launching Xie Xie into the air. Xie Xie somersaulted beautifully over the Ironarm Ape’s head. His Light Dragon Dagger flashing as he stabbed toward the back of the ape’s head.

As a humanoid soul beast, the back of the Ironarm Ape’s head was a weak point.

A pair of small fireballs with faintly discernable green glows pierced through the air like arrows. This might seem unremarkable, but wind accelerated the fireball. Although the fireballs may have been weak, they were blazingly fast. A silver light appeared in front of the Ironarm Ape at that moment, blocking its view of Xie Xie soaring through the air and over it.

Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue’s coordination was amazing. It had reached a point where it could be said that they were a hair’s width away from reaching the peak.

Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi hadn’t launched their own attacks. Instead, they had gathered together quickly and observed their surroundings. Even though their fusion skill hadn’t yet been completed, it would still be a formidable option should they encounter a powerful foe. Their current goal was to guard against any other soul beasts that might appear while the other three took care of the Ironarm Ape.

The hundred-year Ironarm Ape could do nothing in the face of the quick little fireballs; it couldn’t even raise an arm in time to protect itself. All it could do was lower its head and knock them away with its hard forehead, sending sparks flying everywhere. At the same time, it swung its arm and met the Thousand Refined Heavy Silver Hammer head on.

Bang!

The hammer flew backward, but the Ironarm Ape had also been shaken. After all, that hammer had carried over five hundred kilograms of force. It wouldn’t have been easy to receive such an attack, even if the ape had innate divine strength.