Battle Testing

"The combat test will begin in a moment. You'll battle in pairs; Tang Wulin with Xu Xiaoyan, Xie Xie with Gu Yue. As for Gloxinia.. you'll fight me alone!" Wu Zhangkong instructed.

Xie Xie went silent. Gu Yue frowned and said, "Teacher Wu, that's not fair. We have two rings, while Tang Wulin and Xu Xiaoyan only have one ring. We should pair a one ring with a two ring. How about I go with Wulin, and the agile Xie Xie pairs with Xu Xiaoyan's Starwheel Ice Staff? Xie Xie's soul power is the highest after all."

As she spoke, she had actually subconsciously thought that having Gloxinia fight by himself against Wu Zhangkong was fair, as he has shown too many shocking things ever since he entered their lives.

Her words nearly caused Xie Xie to be in tears. 'Just how much do you loathe me! Notwithstanding the fact that my soul power is the highest, if you pair up with Tang Wulin, how am is my group supposed to fight?' In his eyes, Xu Xiaoyan was like a child brought from a previous marriage, void of any hope.

"Do as I said. Who said that a battle must be fair?" Wu Zhangkong said indifferently.

Xu Xiaoyan stood next to Tang Wulin while Xie Xie and Gu Yue stood opposite of them. A mysterious calming aura exuded from Tang Wulin, giving her with a sense of security.

"Do you have the same aptitude as your brother?" Tang Wulin asked Xu Xiaoyan.

Xu Xiaoyan nodded. "I'm a long-ranged elemental attacker like him. My first soul skill is the same as my brother, Ice Wheel, although my control is a bit better than his. Actually, I'm a lot more powerful at night."

Tang Wulin smiled. "It's a pity that it's still daytime. Well, whatever. Try to stay behind me; I'll protect you. Let's do our best together." His impression of Xu Xiaoyu wasn't anything good especially after the incident with Ouyang Zixin, but he harbored no malice toward Xu Xiaoyan. In fact, he sympathized with her when Wu Zhangkong had said that she only had one month to prove herself.

"En, en." Xu Xiaoyan repeatedly nodded.

"Let's start then. Do your best." Wu Zhangkong said from a distance.

=-=[You can skip this if you don't want to know how their fight went.]=-=

"Then Wulin, I won't be polite. Wahaha!" A strange laugh left Xie Xie's mouth and a moment later, he sped towards Tang Wulin like the wind. It was obvious that he had spent his one month vacation improving, not playing around as he had said.

Gu Yue raised her hand and shot fireballs at Tang Wulin while enveloping Xie Xie in the wind element. She slowly advanced upon her opponents.

She's firing from so far away? Would it reach us?

They were still separated by fifty meters. From Tang Wulin's knowledge, there was no way the fireball could fly that far.

However, Gu Yue soon displayed the might of having 278 points of spiritual power.

After flying ten meters, the fireball suddenly split into five small collinear fireballs. Each consecutive one sped up and rammed into the one in front from behind until they compressed together into a far more powerful and swift fireball.

It was smaller compared to the original fireball, and an orange hue surrounded it now. It shot towards Tang Wulin's stomach like like an artillery shell.

An ear-piercing blast tore through the air as heat mirages tailed the tangerine ball of flame.

Xie Xie nearly jumped in fright when the little flame whizzed past him.

The fireball finally arrived in front of Tang Wulin. He had never looked down upon Gu Yue's strength. Though he had never dueled her, he knew that she could easily restrain him.

His eyes flashed violet as his fist transformed into a dragon-like claw, letting out a mighty roar before sending out a punch.

His fist smashed into the fireball. A blazing explosion erupted, illuminating his sparkling golden scales. Under the tyrannical might of his fist, not a single spark landed on his body and the remaining vestiges were promptly obstructed by his Bluesilver Grass.

Xie Xie sucked in a deep breath while he charged at Tang Wulin.

When a brilliant purple soul ring arose from beneath Tang Wulin's feet, his expression froze in shock.

'Purple? That's a thousand-year soul ring!'

Not only were the combatants flabbergasted, Long Hengxu, who had dropped by to observe, was beyond stupefied.

Wu Zhangkong had told Long Hengxu to come watch this morning's battle in response to his doubts over Tang Wulin.

The moment Long Hengxu arrived, he was greeted with a magnificent violet.

It was in this split second that Long Hengxu realized that the academy's investment into class zero was worth it! Despite Tang Wulin only having one ring right now, it was a purple ring! This was an even better surprise than him possessing three rings! It was guaranteed that Tang Wulin would have soul rings at the thousand-year level and above. He couldn't be considered a genius anymore; he was a monster! 'No wonder Wu Zhangkong said class zero only accepts monsters and not ordinary people. That motto came from Shrek Academy and is their source of confidence and strength!'

=-=[Ok, their battle is over.]=-=

A few minutes later, the fighting finally finished with Tang Wulin and Xu Xiaoyan triumphing over them with a bit of luck.

The main reason for their win was actually because Gu Yue and Xie Xie could not work well together, causing Xie Xie to repeatedly get hit by Gu Yue's "stray" attacks.

As for Xu Xiaoyan, she managed to intervene at just the right moments, causing the tide to turn in their favor and getting them their win.

'This girl's perception and control are pretty good. She supported Tang Wulin excellently. Even compared to her peers, she is excellent!'

Upon arriving at this conclusion, Wu Zhangkong met eyes with Long Hengxu and the two exchanged nods of tacit understanding.

Long Hengxu approved of Tang Wulin, while Wu Zhangkong was beginning to approve of Xu Xiaoyan.

"Alright, Gloxinia it's time for you to fight me!" With that said, Wu Zhangkong walked to the arena and summoned his martial soul, causing a chill to spread and goosebumps to appear.

"Hehe, finally!"

With a smirk, Gloxinia jumped onto the arena and followed Wu Zhangkong's example, summoning his martial souls.

As for why he sounded so confidently, it was simple. Being near the Sacred Tree during his vacation immensely boosted his bloodline powers, causing his Nature Connection skill to strengthen.

Not only that, he also obtained a bloodline ring, which gave him an ability different from the original Gloxinia, an ability more suited to this world!

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Words: 1204

Author's Note: I summarized the battle between Gu Yue / Xie Xie vs Tang Wulin / Xu Xiaoyan a LOT. Like, it was originally a whole lot more than what's written down, about 2k words...

Also, what do you think is the bloodline ring ability? I'll give you a hint, Link.

Thank you for so many collections and powerstones!