Chapter 393 - United

“Thank you. It’s because of you that we won!” Gu Yue whispered into Ye Xinglan’s ear as she embraced her.

Ye Xinglan froze, then relaxed. A hint of a smile played on her face as her cold indifferent attitude slowly thawed. Without saying a word, she hugged Gu Yue back.

They had endured hardships together, sacrificed for each other, all for the sake of their team’s glory! In this battle, they unleashed their entire pent-up frustration upon the rankers and attained victory, restoring their pride! That wasn’t everything though. It was in this battle that their tentative bonds became unbreakable!

Gu Yue grabbed Ye Xinglan’s hand and pulled her up onto the stage with her. Tang Wulin and the other three watched her approach, warmth in their gazes. Now that the whole team was together, they jumped up and cheered. Young as they were, they couldn’t contain their excitement.

As they celebrated, the defeated rankers slowly trudged off the stage with dark expressions. No one spoke a word. Despite having all the odds in their favor, they lost. This match was a nightmare for them.

The Holy Spirit Douluo walked over to Shen Yi and Wu Zhangkong, a gentle smile gracing her lips. “These kids are very promising. They’re strong, brave, determined, and clever. You’ve taught them well.”

Wu Zhangkong looked at her respectfully. “No. This is all their own ability.”

Shen Yi smiled. He may have projected calmness, but his eyes had betrayed the pride he felt when Gu Yue attained victory for her team!

Wu Zhangkong approached his disciples.“Now then.” His words reminded Tang Wulin and his friends that they were still on stage, and they turned to face him.

“You are the victors of the selection tournament and will represent the first grade in our match against the second grade. If you wish, you can select up to two more people from the class to join your team for a total of seven.”

The rankers’ ears instantly perked up at his words, especially Wu Siduo and Luo Guixing. Tang Wulin’s right gauntlet was proof that at their current level, it was possible to use spirit alloys to make their one-word battle armor. They both now regretted their decision to part with Tang Wulin. They hoped that Tang Wulin would invite them back into the team. They believed that with the addition of them in Tang Wulin’s team, they would become the strongest team and have a good chance of beating the second grade.

Tang Wulin turned to his comrades. “Do any of you want to?”

Xu Xiaoyan shrugged. “Want to what?”

Xie Xie feigned ignorance. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Xu Lizhi gave a toothy smile. “I’ll go with whatever you guys decide.”

Gu Yue and Ye Xinglan exchanged a glance, then said in unison, “We’re good!”

Tang Wulin turned back to Wu Zhangkong and smiled wryly. “Well, it looks like we don’t want anyone else.”

The audience exploded into an uproar the moment the words left Tang Wulin’s lips. This was a true slap to the rankers’ faces! He was paying them back with interest!

Wu Zhangkong was asking him if he wanted any of the rankers to join him, but the answer was a resounding no! Tang Wulin’s team would be fine without them! He didn’t care if they were rankers. That meant nothing to him!

Wu Siduo turned to leave. Thunderclouds seemed gather around Luo Guixing as he made a gloomy expression. Xu Yucheng snorted then turned to leave as well. Zheng Yiran glared at Tang Wulin, huffing as she left. Only Yang Nianxia stayed where he was, his brows drawn together pensively.

The battle for supremacy finished with a surprising outcome. Tang Wulin proved his strength and would remain as the class president.

Wu Zhangkong declared that class was dismissed, so the students quietly shuffled out of the hall. They were all still stunned.

So the class president is actually this strong!

Wu Siduo isn’t the strongest one in our class! The class president is strong enough to be her rival!

I can’t believe Xie Xie could take Xu Yucheng down with him!

Wow! Xu Xiaoyan isn’t just a pretty face!

I never thought a food-type soul master could fight in close combat!

So we were all wrong!

This battle had overturned many assumptions. Tang Wulin’s position in his class was unshakeable now! Time after time, he revealed new depths to his strength.

Supporting each other, Tang Wulin’s team of six left the hall. Their hearts were at ease now. Everyone wore huge grins, even Ye Xinglan.

“Lizhi, I can’t believe you’d keep us in the dark like that! Why didn’t you tell me you’re a fellow Tang Sect disciple?” Tang Wulin said as he wrapped an arm around Xu Lizhi’s shoulder.

During the match, Xu Lizhi had used Mysterious Jade Hands, Controlling Crane, Capturing Dragon, and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Step! Although he didn’t possess the strength to directly confront Yang Nianxia, by utilizing these secret arts in the decisive moment to shield Gu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan, he had bought them enough time to win victory!

It was wrong to assume a food-type soul master didn’t have combat power. With the Mysterious Heaven Method reinforcing Xu Lizhi’s soul power and the other Tang Sect secret arts, he was more than capable of defending himself!

“Hehe. Well, you never asked! Are the others members too?” Xu Lizhi asked.

“Apart from Gu Yue, who joined the Spirit Pagoda, we’re all disciples of the Tang Sect. It’s actually been a while since we last visited a branch and checked our class. Do you mind taking us to visit the branch later?”

Xu Lizhi smiled. “Sure! By the way, Xinglan is a Tang Sect disciple too. It looks like we’re all fellow disciples.”

Tang Wulin looked at Ye Xinglan and spoke from the bottom of his heart. “Thank you.”

Ye Xinglan glanced at him. “No need. It was the least I could do after taking your divine foundation metal. We’ll be fighting together against the second grade later. Don’t drag me down.”

Tang Wulin chuckled. “We’ll see.”

Ye Xinglan cracked a smile.

Tang Wulin expression turned stern. “The second grade’s class is really powerful. It won’t be easy to defeat them.”

Xie Xie coughed. “Yeah! That’s right!”

Xu Xiaoyan rolled her eyes at him. “A certain someone who’s always getting his ass beaten by the enemy better not leak any info!”

Xie Xie turned beet red, not a word of retort.

They knew Yuanen Yehui was in the second grade. Her strength made her a far tougher opponent than Wu Siduo. The Hell White Tiger soul fusion skill may have elevated Wu Siduo into a top-class soul master, but Yuanen Yehui’s Titan Giant Ape and Fallen Angel martial souls both stood at the peak! This wasn’t even mentioning Yue Zhengyu, who was almost as strong as her. Then there was the other students of the second grade that they knew nothing about. It was impossible for those two to be the only powerful people in their class.

☀

In contrast to the excitement of Tang Wulin’s group, gloom weighed down the gathered rankers.

“How did we lose?” Zheng Yiran still couldn’t accept the result. She just couldn’t fathom how it happened.

They had all believed it would be a crushing victory. They even thought that just sending out Wu Siduo and two others would be enough to win. But they lost. They were thoroughly defeated, right in front of all of their peers, in a simple contest of strength without any trickery.

Even now, they couldn’t comprehend how Tang Wulin’s team could be so strong. Tang Wulin’s team may have better teamwork than them, but that shouldn’t have been enough to overcome the gap in strength! Still, there was no use in arguing over that now.

Yang Nianxia looked the calmest of them all. He simply shrugged. “The important thing is that they surpassed our expectations. Who would have thought Xie Xie would stake it all to take down Xu Yucheng? We never expected Tang Wulin to be able to hold his ground against Wu Siduo either. It wasn’t just because of his battle armor. The dragon’s roar and the aura around him towards the end was terrifying. I didn’t even dare approach him. He might only have obtained his third soul ring recently, but he’s improving everyday. His speed of growth is frightening.”

Everyone but Luo Guixing nodded in agreement with Yang Nianxia’s analysis. Wu Siduo narrowed her eyes. “Yeah. We underestimated him. I didn’t believe he would succeed in making the gauntlet with a spirit alloy. Its amplification effects are far better than an ordinary one-word battle armor piece. There’s no way he could have unleashed so much power otherwise.”