Na’er used her spear to vault into the air in an effort to avoid the phantom dragons. But it was to no avail. The pressure from Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth proved unescapable. A couple times she span in the air, silver hair whipping in the wind, silver light enveloping her body the moment she landed on his head. As Tang Wulin had informed her beforehand, the only safe location when he used Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth was on top of him.

  “Did it hurt?” Na’er asked.

  Tang Wulin shook his head. The instant the spear had struck him, his scales lit up and he felt as if a burst of blood essence energy had been poured into him. Body urging to let out all that energy, he did so with Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth. During the whole event, he hadn’t once felt pain, nor had his scales been damaged.

  “That’s good then. I think I know what your soul skill does too.” Na’er smiled.

  Tang Wulin looked at her curiously. “So what is it?”


  “The first half is invincibility for about two seconds.” She wrinkled her nose. “Well, not quite invincibility. I’m sure you’ve heard of such skills before. Ones where your defense triples for a moment, but it’s practically invincibility during that time. The second half of the skill absorbs the opponent’s attack energy and converts it into your own, empowering your next attack. When I hit you just now, I felt my soul power and blood essence being sucked into you.”


  “Really?” Tang Wulin had already spent a semester at Shrek Academy, but he never heard of a soul skill like this.

  A smile continued to dance on Na’er’s lips. “This isn’t too strange for a soul skill. Besides, this isn’t an ordinary soul skil to begin with. Anything is possible. If you use it well, you’ll be unstoppable on the battlefield.”


  Tang Wulin’s heart raced. He mulled over her words, considering the possibilities. A potent counter-attack skill. If he mastered it, it had the potential to be godly!

  “Na’er, try hitting me again. But harder this time. Let’s see how strong my defense is,” Tang Wulin said.

  Na’er nodded. “Alright. Be careful.”


  Tang Wulin grunted his affirmation, then called forth his blood essence. He could easily use his second blood essence soul skill four or five times.

  Na’er took in a deep breath, a sharp glint in her eyes. Her aura completely transformed.

  Silver light burst from her body, obscuring her figure from Tang Wulin’s view. She became one with her spear, a meter long beam of light shooting out the spear’s tip.

  Tang Wulin braced himself, not daring to underestimate the power within her spear.

  A shout brought forth her full might. She pointed her spear to the sky, her aura flaring. A wave of power crashed into Tang Wulin and all of his scales went erect, his soul power rapidly circulating to protect him.

  “I’m going!” Na’er declared.

  Tang Wulin sucked air into his lungs, his second golden ring lighting up. His scales shone once more, resplendent gold fighting back the wave of silver.

  Silver streaked through the air, no more than a blur to the untrained eye. Tang Wulin couldn’t follow it at all. Before his mind could catch up, a metallic clink rang out and two dragons roared, one roar reverberating and the other melodic. Which came from his body was anyone’s guess.

  Energy flooded into him. In order to vent the excess energy, he released a Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens, the phantom dragon head far larger and tangible than previous. It was nearly indistinguishable from a real dragon. The phantom soared into the sky, tearing through the air. Tang Wulin had to do his best to redirect it from attacking Na’er.

  The Silver Dragon Spear retreated, then softened and coiled around Na’er. Silver light pulsed around it, fighting back against Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens.

  Tang Wulin had never unleashed such a mighty Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens. All of the seeds Zhuo Shi had sowed with his teachings bore fruit, their mysteries coming together into one powerful attack. His internal energies were bubbling, both his soul power and blood essence sublimated.

  The phantom dragon head persisted for three more seconds before fading. With it followed Tang Wulin’s scales and dominating blood essence aura. He couldn’t sustain such power for very long with his current blood essence levels. Exhaustion finally caught up to him, weakness washing over him in a giant wave. But he didn’t care about that. He was still overcome with joy. All the lesser techniques of Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens had culminated into a single attack.

  “Big Brother, I don’t think I can penetrate your defenses when you use that skill even if I attack with my full power. How do you feel now?” Na’er withdrew her spear and walked over to his side.

  Tang Wulin nodded, a grin on his face. “Tired but great. I’ve got it now. The stronger the attack is, the more energy I absorb and the more powerful my counter-attack. But it’s a double-edged sword: the stronger the attack I take, the more of my blood essence is consumed. So in order to penetrate my defenses, your attack needs to overwhelm what my blood essence can handle. And if that happens, I’ll be gravely wounded. But for the most part, it’s exactly like you said. I’m practically invincible when I use it. An attack probably needs to be two or three times more powerful than my defense to overwhelm me.”


  Na’er wholeheartedly agreed. “It’s a godly skill.”


  Tang Wulin’s grin grew even bigger. “I have to thank you. If it weren’t for you, I would never have been able to figure out what this skill does. Once my blood essence has recovered tomorrow, let’s do some more testing. I need to experiment with it more if I want to master it.”


  “I don’t think I’ll be able to break through your defense. If you had directed that attack earlier at me for real, I wouldn’t have been able to come out unscathed. That attack contained both your power and mine. Big Brother, what are you going to name this skill?”


  Tang Wulin looked at her, eyes misting in thought, before shrugging.

  Na’er giggled. “How about I name it then?”


  “Sure! What do you wanna call it?” Tang Wulin beamed.

  Na’er thought about it for a moment. “Let’s call it Golden Dragon Tyrant Body. Isn’t that cool?”


  Tang Wulin chuckled. “Yes, yes. We’ll go with that.”


  It was quite fitting. Tang Wulin’s first Golden Dragon King blood essence soul skill was Golden Dragon Body. Now the second was Golden Dragon Tyrant Body!

  Although Tang Wulin didn’t gain a ranged attack skill like he hoped, he was excited for the possibilities of Golden Dragon Tyrant Body after these initial tests. it was a skill that could reverse the tide of battle! The effect would be especially great when faced with an opponent far stronger than him.

  This skill was of great help to him in cultivating the Nine Arts of the Scarlet Dragon. Unleashing Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens and Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth while empowered by this skill beat using the two arts normally.

  By the time the new semester started, Tang Wulin had mastered the tricks of Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens and nearly grasped the basics of Golden Dragon Shakes the Earth. In Zhuo Shi’s eyes, he was nothing short of a genius.

  “Wulin, you need to focus on cultivating your soul power now. These arts I taught you are powerful and can help you out in battle, but soul power is still the basis of a soul master’s strength. Quite a few of your classmates have already obtained their fourth ring. Don’t fall behind. And once you gain another ring, many more doors will open up for you,” Zhuo Shii said as he saw Tang Wulin off.

  A chill ran through Tang Wulin’s heart. All of my teachers keep telling me to focus on cultivating my soul power. Looks like I really need to put more time into that once the new semester starts. If I can’t reach rank 40 by the end of the second semester, then I’ve gotta do it by the end of the third.

  Each semester was a year long, and once the fourth semester came along, they would be in the second grade.

  Before leaving Sea God’s Island, Tang Wulin sought out Na’er.

  Harboring a lush forest, the island was eternally saturated with a refreshing scent. If Tang Wulin had a choice, he would never leave. He would be able to cultivate faster on this island, but in the end, he had no choice in the matter. He wasn’t an inner court student yet. Even if he were, not just anyone had the qualifications to step onto Sea God’s Island. He had to spare no effort to grow and earn the right to be here.

  “Na’er, I’m going back to the outer court now. Work hard in the inner court.” Tang Wulin placed his hand on top of her head, ruffling the silver locks.

  Her eyes were red, brimming with tears. “But Big Brother, I don’t want you to go.”