Chapter 325 - Seeing What Shouldn't Be Seen

With Feng Wuyu’s workshop behind him, Tang Wulin felt his whole body relax, limbs no longer held tightly together by ropes of tension. Just thinking about how an unreasonable madman like Feng Wuyu would respond to rejection sent shivers down his spine. Fortunately, Feng Wuyu showed a modicum of rationality today and let him off the hook. That wasn’t to say Tang Wulin didn’t understand the importance of blacksmithing, but it was not his number one priority right now.

However, Tang Wulin would be lying to say he wasn’t at least curious about Feng Wuyu’s special method. Especially if it could boost his soul power without any side effects. It likely required the consumption of heavenly spirit items. Even so, ten spirit refined products was too large of a price for Tang Wulin to hand over.

He had no choice but to be stingy. In order to refine his blood essence, he had to shell out the money for the spirit items necessary to break his seals. This was impossible to accomplish unless he saved every penny! Once sixteen, he would have to break one seal a year, and judging from the items required to shatter the third seal, he could only imagine the outrageous treasures needed for the later ones. There was no way he had enough cash stashed right now.

☀

Night creeped along, each working student nestled within their dorms not letting out a peep.

Flitting his eyes open, Xie Xie spared a glance at Tang Wulin. He was currently cultivating in his bed, a thick aura of blood essence lingering around him. His body burst with vitality. Whenever he cultivated with Tang Wulin, Xie Xie felt more motivated. And while his soul power rank may be higher than Tang Wulin’s, he had never felt superior to him.

Climbing off his bed with the full grace of a cat, a slight tap from his feet touching the ground and nothing more, Xie Xie crept past Tang Wulin’s bed. Careful to not alarm the two girls, who slept on the other side of the curtain splitting their room in half, he kept this act and snuck out the door.

Xie Xie basked in the refreshing night breeze once outside. He looked to the sky, eyes trembling with one part frustration and two parts resolve.

For the past few days, he had been working hard reshaping and improving himself. His understanding of himself grew twofold after the competition for presidency.

Stepping foot into Shrek Academy had forced Xie Xie to reevaluate his strength relative to his peers. It was a hard thing to swallow. Back in Eastsea City, he had been among the cream of the crop, but now, he was barely above average. He had understood Tang Wulin was strong back then, but he had thought he could still compete with his speed. However, Tang Wulin’s improvement rate went beyond his imagination. He didn’t believe it at first. Tang Wulin’s advancement did not slip one bit.The combination of his destructive golden dragon claw and Tang Sect secret arts placed him higher than Xie Xie now.

But perhaps most important was their difference in combat ability. Xie Xie had never been his match in this regard.

Elder Cai’s criticism had served as a wakeup call for him. Since then, he redoubled his efforts into mastering the mysterious Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track

He could produce clones with both his martial souls, not to mention invisible ones using his Shadow Dragon Dagger. Heeding Elder Cai’s advice, he worked on polishing his advantages and minimizing his weaknesses.

He realized he lacked control, since he had never invested much effort to improve it. This realization spurred Xie Xie to practice Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track with one clone. Because of this, he managed to achieve favorable results in the class competition. He had accomplished the amazing feat of winning a one-against-two match at Shrek Academy, not to mention that his opponents were both control-types.

But after the class competition, Shen Yi had asked him and Xu Xiaoyan if they wanted to throw their hats into the ring for the vice-president positions. Although he had given up in the end, he wasn’t completely convinced.

Despite that, he understood why Shen Yi posed the question to him. He wasn’t strong enough! Not even he could deny this fact. Furthermore, he lacked the confidence to fill a vice-president’s shoes.

As Xie Xie recalled that scene, he couldn’t help but clench his fist. Aside from that, one other thing left a deep impression on him: Wu Siduo’s self-soul fusion skill.

Just like her, he had twin martial souls, though they weren’t considered true ones since he had to get each of them soul rings at the same time. However, because Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger were extremely similar, there was a possibility he could pull off a self-soul fusion skill as well. This idea had been gnawing at Xie Xie lately.

With his current cultivation and the characteristics of his twin martial souls, Xie Xie was confident he could ascend to the Genius Youths Ranking with a self-soul fusion skill under his belt.

As such, he had been wracking his brain on how to do this. Unfortunately, he found little success.

Unable to focus on meditation tonight, Xie Xie sought fresh air. The cool night breeze cleared his mind of clutter. If I can’t do it by myself, then I’ll just have to ask Teacher Wu for help. Maybe he’ll have an idea on how to get me a self-soul fusion skill.

As he mulled things over, Xie Xie strolled around the dormitory. The walk helped ease his mind.

A few minutes later, he saw a bright glow spreading from one of the rooms.

Huh. Isn’t there supposed to be no one living there? Why’s the light on? Xie Xie’s gaze sharpened.

Gently pushing off the ground, he skulked over to the room’s window. He took a peek.

Although the lights were on inside the room, the curtains were pulled close and obstructed his view. That said, he could hear the faint slosh of running water.

He summoned his Shadow Dragon Dagger. In addition to making himself invisible, it could also hide his presence and silence his actions. He stabbed the dagger into the window sill, making sure not to let out any noise, pried it open, and pushed the curtain out the way.

Then his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.

Inside the room was a fair-skinned girl wiping herself with a wet towel, long red hair draping over her back and curling slightly from the moisture. And she was completely naked.

Xie Xie could only see her profile from his position, but the curves of her body were unmistakable.

I-isn’t this her?

Even with just the side of her face in view, he instantly recognized her immediately. This girl was the red-haired waitress he and his friends had ran into on their first day at Shrek Academy. The Fallen Angel girl who had fought with Yue Zhengyu. Why is she here now? Why did she only appear now if she had been a working student?

As a thirteen-year-old, Xie Xie had just been exposed to the charms of the opposite sex for the first time. His face grew warm, a flush spreading across his cheeks and down the sides of his neck. He gulped.

“Who’s there!” As soon as the shout broke through, a thick black fog swallowed up the room.

Not good! Adrenaline coursed through Xie Xie’s veins as he shot backward, retreating into the shadows.

But it was too late. Soon enough, he found himself in a pitch-black world, the darkness surrounding him whole. He felt a wave of fury and madness propagate through the air toward him, nearly tangible in its intensity.

In the blink of an eye, the window was smashed to smithereens. The girl leaped out of the gaping hole and chased after him with the full force of a lion. Trapped in darkness, Xie Xie could hardly move at full speed. It felt as if he were trudging through a quagmire, feet sloshing along heavy mud. He was practically a sitting duck.

Armed with no other choice, he flipped around and readied his Light Dragon Dagger.

But an explosion sent Xie Xie flying backward through the air.

The red-haired girl landed on the ground with her face flushed and her charming eyes blazing with fury. On her was the Shrek Academy uniform.

Her anger crescendoed when she saw that the peeper was male. “You bastard!” Her second soul ring lit up and a violet-black sword materialized in front of her.

Once the sword’s handle met her hand, her imposing aura seemed to rise a level. Again, an intense darkness seeped out of her, curling around her form and darting at Xie Xie’s direction.

He had to remember to close his mouth. Even with two soul rings, he could sense that her cultivation base was far superior to his. Drowning in the muddy darkness, Xie Xie could do nothing to resist. Not only that, he was undoubtedly in the wrong for peeping on her. No matter which way it was put, he was at a loss.

Since the girl couldn’t read his mind, there was no way she had an inkling of his mental conflict. She appeared before him in a flash and slashed down with her sword.

Three meter-long blades of light left the tip of her sword. Ghostly wails accompanied the strike, and the instant the lights were dispatched, the darkness around him seemed to thicken, slowing his movement, increasing his fear.

She’s trying to kill me! Xie Xie could feel her terrifying killing intent wrapping around his limbs like chains, his neck in a noose. Startled, he summoned his Shadow Dragon Dagger as well and spun with his daggers extended. He used Twin Dragon Storm!

He spun like a top as his two daggers guzzled down his soul power. While he may not have true twin martial souls, having two martial souls still granted him an edge in the soul power department compared to normal soul masters.

Unfortunately, Xie Xie’s soul power advantage was useless here.