Chapter 587 - Jinx
The students of the Imperial Star Luo Academy whispered amongst themselves, stealing glances at Tang Wulin and Xu Lizhi while they wolfed down more and more food.
“I heard the Empire invited them to compete in the Continental Young Elites Tournament. We’ll see just how strong they really are soon enough.”
“You think we’ll even get a chance to fight them? I know they’re from Shrek Academy, but they’re way younger than us. Don’t you think they might compete in the junior league? They’ll have a shot at the championship if they do that.”
“No way. They’re definitely in the youth league. The Empire wouldn’t show them such kindness!”
“Yeah! This is our home turf!”
“Anyway, we’ll show them how great we are. Oh, I heard Monster Academy is participating this time too.”
“Is it gonna be a battle between those posers and the real thing?”
A few students snickered.
“Shh! You can’t say that!” another whispered. “You know how much the Empire values Monster Academy.”
Tang Wulin threw a pastry into his mouth as he listened in on the conversation. After experiencing his second awakening, his Golden Dragon King bloodline and Bluesilver Emperor martial soul boosted every aspect of his physical capabilities, including his hearing.
He furrowed his brow thoughtfully. Monster Academy? What the hell is that?
Beside him, Xie Xie smirked. “Captain, how do you feel about riding a train?”
Tang Wulin glared at him. “This isn’t the Federation. The chances of running into a malum soul master are way lower here.”
Tang Wulin had quite a few unpleasant memories associated with trains now. There was always some incident whenever he rode one. He even faced death a few times. In fact, he had been sent on this exchange trip precisely to put him out of the malum soul masters’ sights.
Despite his previous crises on trains, Tang Wulin was optimistic this time. In the two months he spent on the ship he broke through to rank 40, gained a ten-thousand-year soul ring, and evolved his martial soul. He was a completely different from the person he had been before this trip. He was finally gaining on the heels of his friends both in cultivation level and martial soul strength. His body was now ready to break the fifth seal of the Golden Dragon King with a large margin of safety.
Tang Wulin had also become a true sixth-rank blacksmith, and thanks to his solid foundation, he had already succeeded at spirit refining a three-metal alloy. Although he just reached the sixth rank, he already stood at its peak. Now he only had to prepare for the long road to becoming a Saint Blacksmith. To do that, he needed to grow his soul power, and forge and spirit refine many more alloys.
Above all, Tang Wulin was the most satisfied by the increased cultivation speed that his martial soul’s second awakening gave him. Practicing the Mysterious Heaven Method came to him far more easily than before. A day of cultivation was equivalent to three days when his martial soul had yet to re-awaken. The cultivation speed of ordinary soul master usually slowed down once they reached rank 40. He, on the other hand, found that his had only grown faster! At this pace, he was confident he would breach rank 60 by the time he turned twenty. Should he accomplish this, he would reach rank 60 over five years earlier than Wu Zhangkong did! If he also managed to complete his two-word battle armor by then, he would be able to call himself a true expert.
In light of all his progress, Tang Wulin couldn’t afford to waste such a rare moment of reprieve. He clasped his hands behind his head, relaxed into his seat, and smiled as he looked out the window.
“Huh? What’s that?” Tang Wulin muttered. He could see tiny dots flying through the sky. “Are those mechas?”
He focused his mind and used his Purple Demon Eyes to peer into the distance. Just as he thought, they were mechas. They looked different from those of Douluo. While Douluo mechas were usually humanoid in appearance, the ones in the sky seemed to be bestial in design.
This was the difference in design philosophies between the two continents!
It was then that Tang Wulin noticed numerous lights burst from one of the mecha’s bodies. Huh? What are those lights?
Elder Cai, who had been resting in her private carriage up to that moment, suddenly opened her eyes. She immediately turned to stare out the window at the approaching mecha.
Tang Wulin was seeing the same thing she was, and the realization dawned on him as he leaped to his feet and shouted, “Enemy attack!”
Nearby, Wu Zhangkong was already moving. He unleashed a chilling aura that tore open the roof of the carriage. In a blur of movement, he grabbed Tang Wulin. Tang Wulin responded immediately, as if this were practiced. He summoned forth vines of bluesilver grass that shot outward and wrapped around the waists of his companions. The other students of Shrek Academy also kept calm in the face of this attack. Gu Yue summoned a ring of green light that enveloped the carriage, boosting the agility of everyone in its radius. Tang Wulin sent more vines out to wrap around the waists of the Star Luo students.
Seeing that the preparations were complete, Wu Zhangkong leaped through the roof of the carriage in a streak of frosty blue, pulling Tang Wulin and all of the other students connected to him.
Without his martial soul’s second awakening, Tang Wulin’s bluesilver grass wouldn’t have been tough enough to endure the burden of such sudden force and the weight of so many people. He also wouldn’t have been able to carry such a load. Now, however, he pulled off the feat with astonishing strength.
Wu Zhangkong burst from the carriage with all the students in tow. Just as they cleared it, a soul cannon shell smashed into the carriage in a terrifying, booming explosion that reduced it to smithereens. The force of the explosion threw the train off its tracks, sending it hurtling to the side. A chain of explosions and flames then erupted along the train, filling the air with scattering debris.
As quickly as the destruction occurred, waves of light spread from the center of the train, extinguishing the flames. The light traveled the length of the train, cushioned its impact.
Over half the delegation from Douluo had boarded this train after arriving on Star Luo. That very same train had just been attacked! Fortunately, the train was well armored and the core structure was still intact.
Tang Wulin ignored the spectacle below and instead looked skyward at the incoming mechas. He soon realized that there weren’t just a few. There were over a hundred of them, and painted on the stomach of every single one was a human skull, the sockets of which blazed with green flames. The mecha at the fore of them all, clearly the leader, was a striking red mecha. Unlike Mu Ye’s red-grade mecha, this one was modeled after a hawk. With a pair of gigantic wings, it had been flying toward them at lightning speed. In the second that it took for the train to be blown aside, the red mecha was already nearly upon them.
A barrage of silver beams suddenly shot upward to meet the red mecha. The mecha reacted with impossible speed, flickering across the sky hundreds of meters at a time and evading every single beam.
Elder Cai emerged from the wreckage, flying up into the air and summoning her silver moon. Its light shone upon the enemy mechas and restrained their divine-grade mecha. She was also responsible for the light protecting what remained of the train. Thanks to that timely intervention, it had avoided catastrophe, but many people had been harmed in the attack and the crisis was not yet over.
Elder Cai was almost like a herald as the roof of every intact carriage split open one after the other. Passengers rushed out into the air, and in an instantaneous flash of a myriad of colorful lights, numerous mechas of every grade appeared. Most were at least purple-grade and four were even black-grade. Their pilots promptly hopped in and took off to intercept the attackers. Rushing head of the sudden counterattack was the mecha squad responsible for guarding the diplomatic delegation. A total of thirty mechas soared into the air, all bringing to bear their heavy soul cannons to return fire.
Tang Wulin gnashed his teeth and glared at Xie Xie. “You jinxed it!”
“Boss, I didn’t jinx it!” Xie Xie protested. “You’re just unlucky!”
Wu Zhangkong shot the two of them a cold look. “Enough quibbling. Focus on your own safety, then see if there are any civilians in the train that needs help still.”
There was no way this train only had soul masters aboard. Many of the staff members and other passengers were merely ordinary people. They were sure to have sustained serious injuries due to the train being hurled from the tracks.