Mid-charge, Bi Ran suddenly crouched ten meters away from Tang Wulin, his first soul ring lit up and he rushed forward with renewed vigor, his shield held in front of him.

  The three simultaneously attacked Tang Wulin. It seemed they planned on dealing with him first.

  Unease gripped Bi Ran’s heart in a tight fist. Although Tang Wulin only had one soul ring, it was at the thousand-year level. He revised his impression of Tang Wulin as the most dangerous opponent.

  Tang Wulin stood steadfast in the face of the oncoming assault. With his speed, it was impossible to dodge all three attacks.

  Strands of grass shot at Wu Yuhan in an effort to bind his transformed body while scales rippled into existence on Tang Wulin’s right arm as he defiantly reached out to grab the lightning ball.

  A silver hammer materialized in his left hand and he smashed it down upon the shield.

  He actually planned to hold back all three with just himself!

  Even the referee was shocked. A one-ringed soul master wanted to battle with three soul masters that had higher cultivation bases than him!

  The first to clash was Wu Yuhan. Facing the variant Bluesilver Grass, he dared not be careless; combat classes at Skysea Academy had taught them to spare no effort regardless of their opponent.

  Tang Wulin’s purple soul ring had alarmed them. Although it was only his first soul ring, they dared not underestimate the power of a thousand-year soul skill.

  With this in mind, Wu Yuhan did not hesitate to activate his second soul skill. Electricity exploded from his body to form a spherical aura of lightning around him and repelled the Bluesilver Grass. Without the grass in his way, Wu Yuhan lunged at Tang Wulin.

  At that moment, however, one vine among the many brightened as gold color seeped into its veins. It swerved around the electric barrier, circling the perimeter and quickly tightened, breaking through the lightning to bind Wu Yuhan.

  And at that moment, Lei Jun’s lightning ball reached Tang Wulin.

  Tang Wulin’s scaled hand suddenly transformed into the golden dragon claw and crushed the ball within his fist. A few sparks of electricity escaped from between his grip, dispersing instantly.

  Bang!

  The heavy silver hammer struck the charging shield.

  Iron Wave Shield—this was Bi Ran’s martial soul.

  As the named implied, the Iron Wave Shield possessed layers of waves that bolstered its strength. His first soul skill was Iron Wave Strike, a skill that combined both attack and defense.

  Coincidently, his Iron Wave Strike was a three-layered attack.

  However, he was up against the thousand-refined heavy silver hammer which had a thrice stacked effect!

  Both Tang Wulin and Bi Ran trembled as they collided. Similar to Tang Wulin, Bi Ran possessed innate heavenly strength; when combined with his Iron Wave Shield and soul skill, he held absolute confidence in his strength.

  Unfortunately, his opponent was the monster Tang Wulin. The chasm between heavenly and divine strength was unbridgeable. Even though there was a large gap between their soul power levels, Tang Wulin’s pure strength more than made up for it.

  After their clash, Tang Wulin swayed while Bi Ran was forced back a step.

  Every single spectator watching the match sucked in a deep breath subconsciously. It was one versus three, yet not only was Tang Wulin standing, he had dominated them! It was simply unfathomable.

  The assault of the Skysea Academy’s secondary team had suddenly encountered an iron gate, forcing them to a screeching halt.

  Tang Wulin swung his claw at the Iron Wave Shield. Close-quarters combat was his favorite.

  A figure also appeared behind Wu Yuhan—it was Xie Xie, attacking with his Light Dragon Storm!

  To one side, a giant ball of water suddenly dropped on top of Lei Jun. When he was just about to launch his second soul skill, the water soaking him conducted his electricity and completely dispersed it, draining him of soul power.

  Bang!

  Another dull thud later, Bi Ran was sent flying while Bluesilver Grass converged on him.

  Although Tang Wulin’s golden dragon claw hadn’t crushed Bi Ran’s Iron Wave Shield, it left a deep claw print. Bi Ran felt as though he had been run over by a ferocious soul beast! Just trying to keep his shield intact had required all his soul power. Feeling overwhelmed, he had no choice but to activate his third soul skill. The Iron Wave Shield tripled in size and doubled in thickness, standing as a steady wall in front of him; but in the time it took him to activate it, vines of Bluesilver Grass had already slithered around his body, trapping him.

  A green light flashed and a cool breeze enveloped Tang Wulin’s feet. Meanwhile, a portion of his Bluesilver Grass encroached upon the wet Lei Jun.

  Water conducted electricity, thus rapidly sapping Lei Jun’s soul power. What was most tragic, however, was that the water soon froze into ice, leaving him incapable of defending against Tang Wulin’s Bind.

  Tang Wulin brazenly charged at the three-ringed defense-type soul master, Bi Ran.

  Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

  The golden dragon claw struck five times in a row.

  Bi Ran had nearly coughed up blood after the first assault. He simply couldn’t fathom how a person could possess so much strength.

  Despite using his third soul skill, the might of the golden dragon claw forced him to pour all his soul power into the shield lest it shatters. It was a three-ringed battling a one-ringed soul master, yet Tang Wulin’s innate divine strength elevated him to the same level.

  One claw strike forced Bi Ran back one step, five strikes had him backing up five steps.

  Anxiety was a hard knot in the pit of his stomach. After the successive attacks from Tang Wulin, the claw print on his shield had deepened and it was on the verge of shattering.

  “Stop!”


  The referee’s voice was Bi Ran’s saving grace. His legs softened and he nearly collapsed onto the ground; it was only by leaning on his shield that he was able to remain standing.

  The referee had protected Wu Yuhan from the unnoticed Light Dragon Storm. As for Lei Jun, row upon row of icicles floated in the air surrounding him, ready to impale him at a moment’s notice. Frozen and restricted by Bluesilver Grass, he was practically a lump of meat on the chopping block.

  “The match is finished. It’s the victory of Eastsea Academy’s class zero.”


  After recalling his Bluesilver Grass and letting his hand return to normal, Tang Wulin extended a hand to pull up the nearly collapsed Bi Ran.

  “Senior, thanks for letting me win.”


  At the sight of Tang Wulin’s dazzling smile, Bi Ran found his lips twitching too. He couldn’t accept losing this fast to someone with a weaker cultivation than him, but so what? A loss was a loss.

  Gu Yue and Xie Xie regrouped at Tang Wulin’s side. Although they had crucial roles in this battle, the star was undoubtedly Tang Wulin. Not only had he withstood the combined assault of three people stronger than him, he had also controlled the battlefield to setup an easy win for them.

  Bi Ran struggled to stand up, his right arm still quivering from the strength of Tang Wulin’s strikes. He faintly heard Xie Xie mumble to himself, “Three rings isn’t that great after all.” He nearly coughed up blood at those words.

  Tang Wulin shared a similar sentiment with Xie Xie. Despite having three rings, the amount of pressure Bi Ran exerted on him couldn’t compare with Ye Xinglan.

  Naturally, this was also part of the reason he could single-handedly restrain three opponents today.

  Their strongest opponent today was a defense-type soul master. Even if defense-type soul masters excelled in close-quarters combat, so too did Tang Wulin as it was only in this type of combat could Tang Wulin display the tyrannical might of his golden dragon claw. Bi Ran had been unable to take the advantage with his soul skills, and from there, it was all downhill for him. Tang Wulin’s claw possessed as much strength as a three-ringed power-type soul master, not to mention the claw’s crushing effect. Bi Ran hadn’t stood a chance.

  In truth, Bi Ran was quite lucky. Not all six of Tang Wulin’s claw attacks had been imbued with the crushing effect; if it had, he would have been defeated even faster.

  It hadn’t activated because the effect was more likely to appear when used on living beings.

  Round-robin tournament’s first round: victory.

  ☀

  In box seven.

  “They’re pretty good.” It was Shen Yi’s first time watching class zero battle. She had specially enlarged their match on the screen.

  Tang Wulin’s display of strength left a deep impression on her.

  “Is his right arm the bloodline mutation you spoke of?” Shen Yi asked Wu Zhangkong.

  Wu Zhangkong nodded.

  A slight smile appeared on Shen Yi’s lips. “He’s really not simple at all. In my opinion, he doesn’t just have a bloodline mutation, his talent is good too. He’s suited for leading.”