Chapter 593 - Riches

The equipment Tang Wulin won from his victory was practically worth its weight in gold! For a money-grubber like him, he couldn’t be happier.

In a flash of light, his yellow-grade mecha appeared beside him. While inside this mecha, he widened the gash in the black-grade mecha’s cockpit, extracting the corpse of Feng Linwan. With a flick of the mecha’s wrist, he tossed the corpse to the side. Then he stored the black-grade mecha and its hammers in his storage rings. He didn’t neglect the numerous yellow-grade mechas strewn around the battlefield either and asked Wu Zhangkong to help him store them.

Wu Zhangkong worked swiftly to collect all the mechas into his storage ring. By the time he had finished, the reinforcements just arrived.

Meanwhile, Tang Wulin’s friends were staring at him in shock. Yue Zhengyu took a few seconds before closing his gaping mouth. He said, “Captain, where’d you get such a huge storage ring? And what are you going to do with those yellow-grade mechas?”

“They’re mine! All mine!” Tang Wulin snickered.

“What about our share?” Yue Zhengyu said, looking Tang Wulin straight in the eye.

Tang Wulin smirked. “Don’t worry. Teacher Wu also took down some black-grade mechas. We can all have a slice of that pie.”

Among their group, only Tang Wulin and Xu Lizhi were truly interested in the mechas. The rest were more intent on battle armor. However, there was no denying that high-grade mechas were extremely precious. Just the amount of top-tier alloy they were composed of would fetch for a sky-high market price. Unfortunately, high-grade mechas were hard for most people to use since they needed it to be compatible with their martial soul. But it was still easier to refit a high-grade mecha to a new pilot than to build a new one from scratch.

Feng Linwan’s mecha was a mecha provided by the Green Skull Renegades. It was humanoid in design, similar to those of Douluo. Refitting it would be a piece of cake.

The Star Luo Empire’s response had been swift, gathering up hundreds of mechas to secure the perimeter of the train. Medic mechas were scouring the area from the sky, swooping in to treat the injured.

Wu Zhangkong descended from the sky to the side of his students. Seeing that all of his students were fine, he slightly nodded without speaking a word.

As he swept his gaze through them, his eyes stayed on Tang Wulin a few moments longer than the rest. Many others had witnessed Tang Wulin smash the black-grade mecha even from a far distance. Naturally, Wu Zhangkong’s vigilant eyes did not miss that scene either. During Tang Wulin’s battle with the mecha, he had been preparing to swoop in to save his student. Yet to his astonishment, Tang Wulin managed to overpower his opponent. Such a feat wasn’t possible with simply strength. Not only has this kid grown even stronger, it looks like his martial soul evolved too.

As a teacher and alumnus of Shrek Academy, Wu Zhangkong was no stranger to seeing talented students. However, none could compare with Tang Wulin. When he first met Tang Wulin, the boy’s martial soul was merely the weak bluesilver grass. Yet as time passed, Tang Wulin revealed uncompromising willpower, and through his tireless efforts, he rapidly grew stronger. He even attained the strength necessary to lead his team of elites.

Tang Wulin sat cross-legged on the floor, circulating his soul power according to the Mysterious Heaven Method. He had received some powerful blows, but thanks to his Bluesilver Emperor vines, much of the force had been mitigated.

The soul train and its tracks suffered severe damage, making them unusable for the foreseeable future. In order to move the stranded train passengers, the Star Luo Empire dispatched a fleet of soul busses to take them the rest of their trip. Furthermore, the Empire had over a few hundred mechas remain as their escort.

Although the sudden train attack had very few casualties, this attack involved the delegation from Douluo. This was a grave diplomatic incident.

But none of this mattered to Tang Wulin. This headache belonged to the big shots. This situation, however, told him that Star Luo wasn’t as safe as he thought it would be. He couldn’t let his guard down here.

A representative of the Star Luo Empire gathered members of the Douluo delegation and said, “I have a summary report on the attack. Our assailants are a heavily-armed terrorist organization called the Green Skull Renegades. They currently occupy two strategic provinces on Star Luo. Our government has been launching focused strikes against them for many years now, but we haven’t been able to completely wipe them out due to the powerful experts in their ranks. Instead, our strategy has been to deny them space and slowly back them into a corner. Their attack this time was clearly aimed at causing discord between the Federation and our Empire, thus giving them some breathing space.”

To the surprise of many Douluo delegation members, the Empire easily parted with its intel about the Green Skull Renegades.

After fighting alongside each other, the Imperial Star Luo Academy students viewed the Shrek Academy students in a much more favorable light. During the attack, frequently had Tang Wulin swooped in just in time to save them. Furthermore, the strength Tang Wulin’s team displayed dispelled any thoughts of fighting them on the Star Luo Academy’s part.

The image of Tang Wulin tearing through the black-grade mecha was seared into their memory. Such a domineering show of power put them at awe! Especially when he wielded the mecha’s gigantic five-meter-long hammer, striking it against the dusksilver bear spirit soul. The adoring gazes of the girls were now keenly aimed at him.

“Tang Wulin, how are you that strong?” asked one of the girls from the Imperial Star Luo Academy. “Just how much does that hammer even weigh?”

“Huh? It’s not that heavy. Not at all. I think it’s actually hollow inside,” Tang Wulin answered thoughtlessly.

“Who the hell would believe that? Apart for space for the circuit core, there’s no way a super mecha’s weapons would be hollow!”

“If you guys know that already, then why are you asking me?” Tang Wulin shot back.

“Tang Wulin, just how oblivious are you?”

“Ugh. My stomach hurts from my injuries. I’m going to go sleep,” Tang Wulin said, cutting short the conversation.

Social etiquette was definitely not Tang Wulin’s strong suit, especially so since he had no plans of making friends with these foreign students.

After boarding the bus, Xie Xie sat at the back row, an arrangement that the team came to a consensus to. They had to minimize the impact of his noisy mouth as much as possible. Xie Xie felt indignant about this, but he shrunk back under the glares of his friends.

Under the protection of the mechas, the rest of the journey went smoothly and they reached Star Luo City two days later.

Star Luo City was the beating heart of the Empire, a vast city surrounded by towering walls. Such walls were a rare sight in Douluo and granted Star Luo City the aura of an ancient fortress. Numerous types of soul weapons were mounted on the walls to form a defensive net, further reinforcing the fact that even in Star Luo, there was no such thing as absolute peace.

However, when they entered the city, the familiar scene of streets bustling with people greeted them. Although the architecture of the city and clothing style of the people were different from that of Douluo, the differences weren’t too major.

After their long voyage and tiresome train ride, they had finally reached their destination. A wave of relief crashed upon them.

They immediately went to check-in to the hotel the Empire had arranged for them. Perhaps as a gesture of apology, they were given luxurious suites in a high-class hotel. Throughout the hotel, dazzling decorations of gold and platinum were strewn about.

When Tang Wulin entered his suite, he immediately collapsed onto the bed. He wasn’t actually tired. It would take a far tougher ordeal than what he had faced to tire him out. However, his mind was a different matter. He was mentally spent. Unlike his companions, he had spent the two months at sea undergoing torturous training, and while this had helped increase his spiritual power, it wore him down. All he wanted now was a good night’s sleep. The moment he closed his eyes, the soft bed and fresh sheets began pulling his weary mind to the land of dreams.

But someone rang the doorbell..

“Who is it?” Tang Wulin shouted grouchily.

“It’s me!” A voice he knew all too well.

Tang Wulin sluggishly dragged his body out of bed and went to open the door. Standing right outside was Gu Yue.

“Are you tired?” Gu Yue said, looking at his drooping eyelids.

“Yeah. I wanna pass out.” With that, he turned around to walk back to his bed, leaving the door open for her.

Gu Yue remained at the doorway and watched as he crawled into bed, her expression tense.

As Tang Wulin’s mind faded once more, Gu Yue approached his bedside. Looking down at his sleepy face, a silver light flashed in her eyes. Her expression faltered, something seemingly conflicting within her. “Wulin, did your martial soul evolve?” she asked softly.

“Mnn. Yeah.” Tang Wulin answered, burying his face into his pillow.

Gu Yue touched his shoulder. Unseen to him, silver scales appeared on her hand. “Your bloodline probably strengthened as well, right? When we encountered the Tyrant Dragon that time, did it become your spirit soul?” she asked in nearly a whisper.

“Mnn. Mn.” Wrapped in his sleepy haze, Tang Wulin subconsciously answered without any of his usual caution.