The Legend of the Dragon King

Xu Xiaoyan opened the door. Just as she had said, it was Yuanen Yehui in the flesh.

The sight of Yue Zhengyu took Yuanen Yehui by surprise, lips morphing into a frown as she stepped into the room. “What are you doing here?”

Yue Zhengyu glared halfheartedly at her. “Why can’t I be here?” Though he spoke sarcastically, there was no steel to his words.

After helping Yuanen Yehui obtain her fourth soul ring, Yue Zhengyu understood the gap that existed between them. Coupled with the fact that she wasn’t an evil soul master, he had no reason to trouble her anymore.

Yuanen Yehui promptly ignored him and turned to Tang Wulin. “Help me make my battle armor. What do you want in exchange?”

Tang Wulin shrugged. “I need to know what your profession is first.”

“I’m a third rank mecha maker,” said Yue Zhengyu. “But I’m on the edge of the fourth rank. It shouldn’t take me more than a month to break through.”

Yuanen Yehui furrowed her brow. “I’m a mechanic, fourth rank.”

A mechanic? Tang Wulin hadn’t expected her to be a mechanic, and a fourth rank one as well. As a third-rank mechanic, Xu Lizhi fell short from her skill.

A pensive look crossed Tang Wulin’s face. “Okay. Zhengyu, you can make your own and we’ll lend you our secret weapon for a fee. But for you, Yuanen, we’ll need to cover the alloys and provide a maker for you. Do you have a design? How about other options?”

Yuanen Yehui shook her head. “I’ve always been cultivating with a focus on harmonizing my two martial souls. Plus, because I have twin martial souls, it’s harder to craft a battle armor for me. I haven’t been satisfied with anyone’s designs yet.”

Gu Yue’s eyes gleamed, her excitement practically tangible. “Designing battle armor for twin martial souls sounds like a good challenge. I’ll need a lot of time to do it though. Also, if you really want a satisfying design, I think we’ll have to wait until I’m a higher rank.

“Alright. I’ll start saving contribution points then,” Yuanen Yehui said.

She spun on her heel to leave, stopping abruptly at the door. Then she turned back around. “Thank you.”

“Huh?” Xie Xie shot up from his bed.

Yuanen Yehui’s expression froze, body stiffening like plank. Then she made a one-eighty and left.

At the sound of the door shutting, everyone exchanged glances before staring at Xie Xie.

“Pfft.” Xu Xiaoyan was the first to giggle, the rest following after her until they were roaring with laughter.

Xie Xie flushed beet red as he shouted, “What’s so funny about getting up when my name’s called? Hmph!”

Eventually, Yue Zhengyu got up to leave. He needed to save up contribution points. No matter how good his relationship with Tang Wulin was, he couldn’t ask Tang Wulin to do this as a favor. They were all students at Shrek Academy. They all carried a mountain of pressure on their shoulders. Rarely would someone take time out of their own busy schedule to help someone else out of the goodness of their heart, especially if the latter wasn’t even in the same class.

Tang Wulin made for his workshop after taking his time to recover. He shouldered the most responsibility of anyone on his team. He needed to forged alloys both for his teammates and for his clients Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu. Eight people in total. Although they were each working on one piece of battle armor first, making it one piece of alloy per member, it was still hard to produce! He had to forge as much as possible to produce pieces he deemed adequate.

Tang Wulin was no perfectionist, but he refused to compromise when it came to his own battle armor, only using alloys with a ninety percent harmony rate or higher. Yue Zhengyu and Ye Xinglan were just as unyielding as him, so there was no way he’d skimp on the metals for his teammates. However, forging such alloys was easier said than done.

Now that he had his third soul ring, cultivating was no longer his main priority. On the top of his list was improving his blacksmithing skill.

Additionally, Tang Wulin’s routine changed. No longer did he run in the morning, as it did nothing to improve his body the way he was now. His time was better spent cultivating, blacksmithing, or eating. After all, eating was an important method of cultivation, especially when there was an abundance of nutritious food available. These days, Xu Lizhi joined Tang Wulin for every meal. Eating together kindled their appetites

☀

The news of how Tang Wulin lead his team to victory spread like wildfire. He was already famous throughout the first, second, and third grades, his name whispered wherever he went.

It was a complete upset, no doubt about it! The Genius Youths Ranking held a lot of weight in the outer court. The five rankers were still too young and weak to be on the Continental Rankings, but etching their names onto the Genius Youths Ranking was proof of their strength. Yet the team of rankers, led by Wu Siduo in the top ten, was defeated by a bunch of nameless people!

Tang Wulin’s team’s victory went beyond inconceivable. It was a miracle.

The Academy respected the privacy of its students, so there were no recordings of the battle available to the public. As such, Tang Wulin became an enigmatic figure, the subject of many rumors. This also marked the first time he entered the sights of the other grades.

Due to Tang Wulin’s newfound fame, countless eyes were on him during breakfast. Many of those eyes belonged to girls his age attracted by his pretty face. In Shrek Academy, a pleasing appearance wasn’t the most captivating trait. Strength was! However, after strength came looks. Tang Wulin fit the bill for what many girls were looking for in a man. Although he was only thirteen years old, he possessed a mature temperament. Large doe eyes framed by long eyelashes. Neat, symmetrical face. These were all to the girls’ liking. In fact, he was swarmed by girls on the way to the dining hall, from both his class and other classes. They asked for his number, and good natured as he was, he complied without any complaints.

“Wow! Wulin, you’re so popular!” Xu Lizhi was green with envy.

Tang Wulin smiled. “That’s because of yesterday’s victory.”

Xu Lizhi shrugged at his words. “I’m part of the team too, so why aren’t any girls asking for my number? Don’t try to trick me. It’s your good looks that’s getting you all the girls.”

He threw his head back, belly shaking in a laugh. “I got my good looks from my parents. There’s nothing I can do about it! It’s just genetics!” After this healthy bit of banter, Gu Yue, Xie Xie, and Xu Xiaoyan finished their meals and left for class. This left Tang Wulin to stew in his thoughts about his parents. His heart trembled. Several years had passed since he lost word of them.

If his parents returned, or contacted Mang Tian, they would definitely give him a call. Sadly, he waited for that call everyday to no avail.

“Hello, Class President.” Someone’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

Tang Wulin looked up to see a familiar-looking classmate.

“Hello,” he answered with a faint smile on his lips.

Just like this, countless people greeted him before he even stepped foot in the classroom. This reaffirmed something he knew, branding it to his heart. If I want others to respect me, then I can only rely on myself.

Tang Wulin neither let yesterday’s victory get to his head nor bore a grudge for the way his classmates treated him previously. He always answered their greetings with a splendid smile, as if they had never ostracized him.

As he finally reached the classroom, stepping through the doorway, one other person received him respectfully.

“Good morning, Class President.”

“Good morning…” Tang Wulin answered subconsciously, freezing for a second when he recognized the voice.

He whipped his head to the direction of the speaker. It was Luo Guixing!

Their gazes locked. Luo Guixing smiled his trademark smile and stepped to the side, gesturing for Tang Wulin to proceed.

Currently, the classroom was two-thirds full. No one had thought much of Luo Guixing waiting by the door. But at the sight of Luo Guixing respectfully greeting Tang Wulin, the entire class went silent in an instant. What they had witnessed just now signified one thing.

Luo Guixing was admitting defeat!