The Legend of the Dragon King

Tang Wulin’s eyes now shone a brilliant gold as his blood essence continued to surge toward the heavens. It rapidly progressed along the Dragon Shocks the Heaven’s pathway, going past the fifty percent mark and reaching sixty percent, then seventy percent! Once his blood essence travelled eighty percent of the pathway, a bottleneck appeared. Tang Wulin felt as if his entire being were working to stop his blood essence from advancing any further. The whirlpool of energy that raged inside of his body rapidly expanded, but try as it might, it could not break through the barrier within him.

As his stomach ballooned, Tang Wulin’s entire body turned gold. He suddenly found it difficult to breathe, almost as if the air had grown thinner. Pain tormented him, but he couldn’t stop now. He could only let his blood essence continue to gather and compress in his stomach. All of the blood essence in his body move with his soul power to gather at that one spot. Despite how tough his body and his meridians were, he felt as if he were about to explode.

Not good! My energies are deviating! Tang Wulin knew he had acted too impulsively. His blood essence was currently too wild for him to practice Dragon Shocks the Heavens. His actions were a far cry from progressing step by step. He was advancing by leaps and bounds! As positive as this was, it had also lead to his current crisis.

A few days ago, he visited Zhuo Shi seeking guidance. Zhuo Shi had told Tang Wulin that he would help him advance to the next level once he could fill sixty percent of the circulation pathway.

Yet he had rushed straight through eighty percent of the pathway! He had yet to learn what to do from here and now faced a fatal problem.

If his energies completely deviated, he truly would explode!

“Fool.” A voice suddenly resounded in his mind. “Reversing the flow of your blood essence is indeed a way to refine both your viscera and meridians, but you were too hasty. You are nowhere near ready to breakthrough. Divert some of the energy to your spirit soul.”

It was the voice of Old Tang. Once again, he appeared at a critical time to save Tang Wulin.

Spirit soul? That’s right! I have Goldlight! At his bidding, Goldlight slithered out of Tang Wulin’s body and coiled around his torso.

Goldlight gently absorbed a portion of Tang Wulin’s blood essence, thin threads of gold leaving him and entering the snake. Tang Wulin’s body quickly returned to normal, and he was no longer in danger of cultivation deviation. If his raging blood essence had broken past his meridians and moved on to attack his viscera, his life would have been in danger. Now, however, his blood essence gradually calmed to the point that he could once again control its flow and direct it throughout his body. Warmth washed over him, soothing his pain as everything returned to normal.

“Don’t be so impatient next time,” Old Tang said sternly. “Take your time and slowly improve your body. It is a marvelous treasure, one you must care for by progressing one step at a time. Only by advancing at a steady pace will you be able to endure.”

With the danger averted, Tang Wulin drifted into a deep meditative state.

The sun was rising from the horizon when he awoke, and his body was damp dew.

He noticed that his senses were sharper than before. The life force of the grove’s surrounding flora seemed to linger around him, and he could hear the voices of the plants more clearly than before. Immediately after that, he sensed the presence of someone nearby. He could even discern their steady breathing. He turned to that person.

A short distance away from Tang Wulin, still wearing her school uniform, Gu Yue sat at the base of a tree. Her legs were oriented to her side, her eyes were closed, and her long eyelashes were wet with dew. Soft morning light washed over her, bathing her in breathtaking radiance.

Although he had never considered her particularly beautiful in the past, at this moment, the sight of Gu Yue seized Tang Wulin’s heart. He stared at her in a daze, burning this scene into his mind.

Then Gu Yue’s voice snapped him out of his reverie. “You’re awake, I see,” she said. She slowly opened her eyes, meeting his gaze with a warm smile as she stretched her body.

“Why were you sleeping here?” Tang Wulin asked.

“You didn’t come back to the dorm no matter how late it got, so I came here looking for you. When I saw that you were deep in meditation, I didn’t want to disturb you, so I went to sleep.” She spoke as if this was just the natural thing to do.

Tang Wulin walked over to her and ruffled her hair. “Let’s go then. It’s time for breakfast.” He wanted to thank her, but for some reason he couldn’t comprehend, he didn’t want to say the words.

After they returned to the dorm, Tang Wulin broke from his daily routine and didn’t practice his Purple Demon Eyes. Instead, he quickly washed up, ate breakfast, went to class, then had lunch when classes finished. After lunch, Gu Yue left for the Spirit Pagoda while the others practiced their professions. It was a normal, busy day for them.

By the time evening fell, Gu Yue returned, and she brought good news with her. The Spirit Pagoda had granted them a second quota.

“Wow! The Spirit Pagoda is so generous!” Xie Xie was beaming as he gave a thumbs up. His bruised face had almost completely healed.

With Yuanen Yehui’s condition fulfilled, they could now count her as a comrade in the tower attack and were all the more confident because of it.

“I’ll let her know then,” Tang Wulin said. “Tomorrow’s our day off, so what time do you guys want to go?”

Gu Yue thought for a moment before answering. “Going too early would be bad, so how about after breakfast?”

“Sounds good to me,” Tang Wulin replied.

Xu Xiaoyan quietly clenched her fists, her eyes shining with determination. Her friends rarely spoke words of encouragement to he. They encouraged her with their actions instead. She understood that she was the weakest member of their team, the one most likely to be expelled. While Xie Xie might not be as strong as Gu Yue or Tang Wulin, he still had twin martial souls and could hold his own in battle. Xu Xiaoyan and her Starwheel Ice Staff, however, were only useful at night.

I have to do this no matter what! I can’t drag my friends down!

☀

Clouds filled the sky the next morning, their shadows painting the city in bleak colors. In spite of this, the working student dormitory was as lively as ever.

Everyone gathered together after eating breakfast. The plump Xu Lizhi instantly grabbed Yue Zhengyu and Yuanen Yehui’s attention. Twice as wide as an ordinary person, he was simply too large to overlook. Yuanen Yehui stood off to the side, away from the rest of the group, and especially Yue Zhengyu. On the other hand, Yue Zhengyu stood beside Tang Wulin, whispering into his ear. Xu Xiaoan was nervous as she stood there waiting for everyone else. Gu Yue, however, was the very definition of serenity. Xie Xie looked almost as anxious as Xu Xiaoyan, but for a completely different reason. He occasionally snuck glances at Yuanen Yehui, but never drummed up the courage to walk over to her. He was afraid of being beaten to a pulp.

Tang Wulin clapped his hands twice, attracting everyone’s attention. “Alright! Since everyone is here now, let’s get ready to go. First thing we need to do is plan our approach to the tower attack today. Does anyone have any suggestions?”

Tang Wulin looked at Yuanen Yehui. She was the strongest of them all and wasn’t a member of Tang Wulin’s usual team.

Yuanen Yehui shook her head. “I don’t have any. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. You guys just need to help me continue climbing the tower after Xu Xiaoyan gets her spirit soul.”

“No problem.” Tang Wulin turned to Yue Zhengyu. “How about you?”

Considering how strong they were, both Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu had the qualifications to take over as leader. Before Yue Zhengyu could say a single word, Yuanen Yehui cut in. “I’ll take orders from anyone but him.”

Yue Zhengyu glared at her. Just as he was about to retort, however, Tang Wulin pulled him to the side and whispered into his ear.

Yuanen Yenhui’s cheeks reddened a bit at the sight, then she averted her gaze.

Yue Zhengyu suppressed his pride and snorted. “Fine. Wulin, you take command. Aren’t you the captain of your team anyway? This matter concerns your team, so I’ll just do as I’m told.”

Tang Wulin smiled and nodded. He only had to whisper ‘jade silver’ into Yue Zhengyu’s ear to get him to submit. Tang Wulin had been lucky in the past few days and managed to forge a piece of jade silver with a harmony rate over ninety percent. He had immediately given it to Yue Zhengyu, but had yet to ask for compensation. This was why he trusted Yue Zhengyu so much right now, why he dared to be so confident.

Before Tang Wulin could turn and ask him, Xu Lizhi waved his hand dismissively. “I just came to have some fun with you guys and help out!”