Chapter 529 - Jinx

Tang Wulin let out a long sigh. In truth, he really wanted to become Mu Ye’s disciple. No way he wouldn’t be enticed by body tempering methods and delicious food. Especially the food. If he could eat Mu Ye’s cooking on a daily basis, he’d be a happy young man, not to mention see his cultivation progress skyrocket. But betraying the Tang Sect for the sake of his belly was just something he couldn’t do. Ugh… If only the Tang Sect had a chef as amazing as Uncle Ye.

He raised his hand, wiping away his drool with a sleeve as he left the dining hall. When he returned to Zhen Hua’s office, Zhanggong Yan and Lin Yuhan were nowhere to be seen. Only Zhen Hua and Gu Yue were present.

“Uncle-master.” Tang Wulin gave a slight bow.

Zhen Hua cracked a smile. “How’d it go? What did you two talk about?”

Tang Wulin scratched his chin as his eyes darted back and forth the room. “Unfortunately I couldn’t meet Uncle Ye’s expectations. Then he left. I think he might be angry.”

Zhen Hua roared with laughter. “Don’t worry about him. That’s just the kind of guy he is. He’s still got the temper of a child at his age.” He rubbed off a single tear threatening to drip from his eye. “No need to worry, Wulin. I’ll go talk to him later. Anyway, I really have to thank you two kids today! Especially Gu Yue.” He turned to her. “You saved my life.”

Gu Yue quickly shook her head. “Please, Your Eminence, I did nothing worthy of praise. I just acted subconsciously.”

“Well, if it wasn’t for you subconsciously saving me, I’d either be dead of fatally injured. I still can’t believe you managed to react in time to that sudden attack.”

Gu Yue lowered her gaze, fidgeting with her fingers as her ears glowed red.

Chuckling, Zhen Hua angled his body to once more face Tang Wulin. “Your performance today was excellent. I didn’t think you would progress so much in just a few short months. You can already nurture life and subdue vicious spirits in your spirit refining. You’ve done well. Keep up the good work in building a solid foundation. Make sure you gain experience spirit refining all sorts of metal too. You’ll need all of that when you attempt soul refining in the future.”

“Yes, Uncle-master.” Tang Wulin nodded in earnest. He was currently at a blacksmithing bottleneck. Until he gained his fourth soul ring, he couldn’t truly be considered a sixth-rank blacksmith, despite his skills surpassing the overwhelming majority of those at the sixth rank. The final task he needed to advance was spirit refine an alloy, which was impossible until his cultivation advanced first. Furthermore, the soul power requirements were even higher if he wanted to soul refine.

“Alright then.” Zhen Hua clapped once. “I still have some matters to attend to, so you can spend your leisure time freely. Oh, right. Lin Yuhan had a message for you. She says she’ll definitely surpass you. Wulin, you better not slack off.”

“Understood!” And with that, Tang Wulin went on his way, a clear goal in mind: selling his metals. To his surprise, the two metals he spirit refined today went for a jaw-dropping price. But he shouldn’t have been so shocked. Spirit refined metals with nurtured life or vicious spirits were extremely rare. So rare that two newly promoted fifth-rank blacksmiths approached him to purchase the metals before he even got to the sales counter. Bent on studying the metals to further their own spirit refining skills, they offered a price he couldn’t refuse.

While Tang Wulin had made quite a name for himself the last time he visited the Heaven Dou Blacksmith’s Association, it couldn’t compare with the legend he established through the match with Lin Yuhan. He was now famous for being the most talented rising blacksmith in a century.

“Where do you want to go tonight?” Tang Wulin asked Gu Yue after the two left the Blacksmith’s Association. To avoid skipping any classes, they decided to return early the next morning. Tonight was the only time they could play around in Heaven Dou City.

“Hmm. I don’t know much about this place,” said Gu Yue, pinching her nose. “You take the reins.”

“Okay. I’ve got just the place in mind then. Heaven Dou City is great! I’m sure you’ll love it.” Tang Wulin beamed.

As one of the first cities to be built on Douluo, the cityscape of Heaven Dou City was short and sparse. Tang Wulin led Gu Yue through the winding alleys until they arrived at a street filled with restaurants, thick with the scents of an era long gone.

“Wulin, you need to be more careful. You were nearly killed by an evil soul master last time. Maybe we should just head back early,” Gu Yue abruptly said.

Tang Wulin smiled gently. “It’s fine. There are so few of them, so what are the chances we run into one again today?”

“Really?” A chilling voice sounded right behind them.

Tang Wulin whirled around and pulled Gu Yue behind him. But then reality smacked him hard in the face. Gone was the cosy antiquated street, in its place a world of crimson reeking with the pungent spice of blood. He staggered. The world spun before him, round and round until everything was swallowed by darkness.

Then the crimson world vanished, almost as quick as it had appeared. The street returned. Not a single pedestrian noticed the disappearance of the two teenagers, all continuing with their daily lives without blinking an eye..

☀

Piercing cold. The damp spray of mist. Tang Wulin stirred. His stomach dropped upon opening his eyes to find himself high in the clouds. The rusty smell of blood struck him. Within seconds he noticed Gu Yue across from him, eyes shut tight and complexion pale. They were both held like sacks under someone’s arms.

An evil soul master? It seemed that way to tang Wulin, after recalling what happened before he passed out. Shit. I was too careless. I didn’t expect them to attack me in broad daylight in the middle of a city! Was I their target all along? This evil soul master is probably the same one who tried to assassinate Uncle-master. Shit! We’re screwed. They’re a Hyper Douluo!

“Good! You’re awake!” the evil soul master said.

Just hearing that voice nearly drove Tang Wulin to insanity. He screwed his eyes closed and kept his mouth shut. If there was nothing he could say to save him and Gu Yue, he might as well not waste his breath.

Then his stomach lurched. Free fall. He screamed. His eyes burst open, the clouds parting before him to reveal the rapidly approaching earth. His heart thrashed against his chest, unrelenting in its show of fear. A hundred meters from the ground, he suddenly stopped falling. The inertial shock almost caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood. After the abrupt stop, he and Gu Yue gently landed on the ground.

The two were in an isolated area far from the city. Glancing at the horizon, Tang Wulin determined they were caught in the belly of dusk. He shifted his gaze to their abductor. Wreathed in ashen gray robes, the evil soul master wore a mask with only slits for their eyes. They were clearly visible too, eerie gray irises matched with red pupils.

The evil soul master pushed Tang Wulin and Gu Yue down to their knees. “Were you the one who killed Dark Ghost?” they asked in a sneer.

“Who is Dark Ghost?” Tang Wulin was suddenly aware of how dry his throat was.

“You don’t know? You, a survivor of the train he attacked, don’t know of him? He disappeared after that.”

Tang Wulin’s eyes went wide. “You’re talking about that soul refinement guy? I don’t know what happened to him. You think I can kill him with my cultivation level?”

It was the evil soul master’s turn to be surprised. This kid’s right. He’s only got three rings while Dark Ghost had six. Us evil soul masters are stronger than normal ones at the same cultivation level too. There’s no way this kid killed him.

Tang Wulin pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position. To his surprise, he didn’t feel that much pressure weighing down on him. Their gap in cultivation level was so great that the evil soul master didn’t feel the need to suppress him.

He crawled over to Gu Yue’s side and felt her wrist for a pulse. Thankfully, her heart still thumped. She was merely unconscious. Relieved, he struggled to a stand. There was still some hope since they hadn’t been killed immediately. That meant they still had some value to this sinister man.

“Senior, what did you abduct us two kids for?” Tang Wulin asked, doing his best to draw out the innocent curiosity in his eyes.

The evil soul master sneered. “Kids? You’re Tang Wulin, class president of Shrek Academy’s first grade and granddiscple of Scarlet Dragon Douluo Zhuo Shi. You led your class to defeat the second grade. In the end-of-semester exam, you challenged and defeated the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. Was any of that wrong?”

Tang Wulin suppressed his shock. This person had clearly done his research. “Your Eminence, what have you investigated this insignificant young soul master for?”

“Someone insignificant today may not be tomorrow. Isn’t Shrek Academy the best at raising young talents? Killing you while you’re young would be the most effective way of eliminating a future threat, no?”

Tang Wulin leaked out a strained smile. “Now you’re just bullying the weak.”

“Call Zhen Hua for me,” the evil soul master said, disregarding Tang Wulin.