The Royal Star Luo Academy students stole glances at Tang Wulin and the others as they whispered among themselves.
“I’ve heard that the Empire has already invited them to participate in this year’s Continental Young High-Ranking Soul Masters Elite Competition. I think our next meeting will be on the competition stage.”
“What competition would that be? They may be from Shrek Academy, but they’re still younger than us. I think they’ll be in the junior competition. At least that way, they might have a shot at the championship.”
“No, I think they’re participating in the youth group. The empire is being a little unfair with this!”
“Well, you can’t actually say that. After all, we’re the host.”
“In any case, we’ll have to hit them hard from the start. I’ve heard that the Monster Academy is also going to take part.”
“Is this a battle between the true and false Shrek?” A female student covered her mouth and laughed.
“Be careful with your words! The Empire holds the Monster Academy in high regard.”
As he shoved dim sum into his mouth, Tang Wulin seemed to be lost in thought. Monster Academy? What was that?
The second evolution of his martial soul had brought about many other changes. The Golden Dragon King’s bloodline power and the Bluesilver Emperor martial soul had fused together completely, bringing a comprehensive enhancement to his abilities. For example, his hearing had become much more to sensitive.
“Captain, do you feel nervous riding a soul train?” Xie Xie laughed softly.
Tang Wulin glared at him angrily. “This isn’t the Federation. I don’t think we’ll be running into the evil soul master.”
That said, his previous experiences riding soul trains did not exactly leave him with fond memories. Almost every time, he was faced with something unpleasant. He even narrowly escaped death on one occasion. The Academy had sent him to the Star Luo Continent partly to have him hide from the threat of the evil soul master.
However, Tang Wulin was still in a good mood. Although what he had endured over the past two months could be seen as a deplorable ordeal, he still broke through rank-40 in the end and obtained the ten-thousand-year soul ring which induced the second awakening of his martial soul. He had undergone a complete transformation, and he finally caught up with the pace of his companions, both in terms of his cultivation base and his martial soul.
He could break through the fifth level of the Golden Dragon King seal at any time, and he would not be faced with any threats for now. His forging had officially reached rank-6. Due to his ample preparation, he had already completed the Spirit Forging and fuse forging of three types of metals. He had easily reached the standard of a rank-6 blacksmith, indeed, for that rank, he could already be considered an old hand. Of course, he still had a long way to go if he wanted to reach the rank of Divine Craftsman. Not only would he need to further boost his cultivation base, but also his multi-metal fuse forging and Spirit Forging skills.
What excited Tang Wulin the most was his cultivation speed. After the second awakening of his martial soul, he could get twice the results with half the effort using the Mysterious Heaven Method. Currently, a single day’s worth of developing his soul power would have taken three days before. When the others reached rank-40, their cultivation speed dropped. On the other hand, his had greatly increased. With a rate of improvement like this, by the time he was twenty, he was confident that he would reach rank-60. If he could complete his two-word battle armor by that time, then he would truly be able to join the ranks of the experts. This speed of his was at least five years quicker than Teacher Wu back then.
He joined his hands behind his head and casually leaned back in his chair. There was a hint of a smile on his face. He took in the scenery beyond the windows. This was a rare opportunity for him to enjoy the moment.
“Eh? What’s that? Is that a mecha?” Tang Wulin suddenly noticed that beyond the window, there was a patch of black dots moving swiftly through the air in the distant skies.
He focused his gaze slightly and utilized his Purple Demon Eyes. What he saw was a fleet of mechas. The models of these mechas were distinctly different from those in the Douluo Continent.
The soul mechas of the Douluo Continent were basically humanoid whereas the mechas he was looking at now had numerous different shapes. They were in the forms of various beasts and were unlike anything he had ever seen.
So these were the mechas of Star Luo Empire! Eh, what were those spots of light?
Tang Wulin suddenly saw that something began to light up on the mechas.
At the same time, Elder Cai, who had been sitting with her eyes closed in rest, abruptly opened them. She turned and looked toward the scenery outside the window.
“Enemy attack!” Tang Wulin screamed and immediately jumped out of his seat.
He was not the only one who had reacted. A gush of frosty aura suddenly burst forth from the seat in front. Shortly after, a beam of cold light swirled in a circle on the ceiling of the coach.
Suddenly, everyone felt a cold wind blow past the tops of their heads, and the top part of the coach was blown away. A strong wind howled as it blew into the coach.
Wu Zhangkong’s body flashed and grabbed Tang Wulin. The tips of his toes tapped on the floor as he leaped into the sky.
At this critical moment, Tang Wulin’s personal qualities manifested themselves. At the instant after he raised the alarm, Bluesilver Grass vines had already rushed out like a swarm of bees and wrapped around his companions. The others kept their cool as well. A circle of green rings was released from Gu Yue’s body and enveloped the entire coach. Everyone in the coach felt their bodies lighten.
In the next instant, Wu Zhangkong was already in the air. Tang Wulin’s body shook when the tendrils of Bluesilver Grass as thick as arms swung upward with great force and took all his companions out of the coach.
It was not only the team from Shrek Academy. His Bluesilver Grass also covered the flustered students of the Royal Star Luo Academy.
The students of Shrek Academy had cooperated with him and sprung upward immediately. The students of Royal Star Luo Academy, on the other hand, were pulled out of the coach by Tang Wulin’s sheer strength alone.
At that moment, a peculiar sight appeared on the soul train. A clean, white and chilly figure rose skyward while pulling on someone. The person in his grasp was releasing numerous dark bluish vines while he carried another group of people under him.
This was the evolution of Tang Wulin’s martial soul. With the tensile strength of the Bluesilver Grass previously, if he wanted to pull this many people out, he would have had to rely purely on the power of his arms. It might have been impossible for him to accomplish this feat.
Right after they had jumped out of the coach, sounds of violent roars came from under them.
Those were clearly soul cannonballs raining down on the soul train. There were as many as a hundred mechas flying from that direction. The leading mecha was a glaring red!
However, it was different from Mu Ye’s red mecha. This red mecha was in the form of a goshawk. It spread its wings and moved at an incredible speed. Almost simultaneously with the explosion, it had appeared on top of the soul train.
The violent explosion had turned all the coaches of the soul train upside down. Flames rose into the air, and with a loud roar, shrapnel scattered and flew everywhere.
This express train was commuting a large number of diplomatic corps members from the Douluo Continent!
After they entered the Star Luo Continent, although they had parted ways at the seaside city, at least half of them were headed toward Star Luo City, and they were all on this soul train.
Just then another strange scene occurred.
Layers of silver light emanated from the rolling soul train. The flames from the explosion were quickly snuffed out. After a series of spins in midair, the soul train crashed into the ground, but it did so while enveloped in the silver light.
The explosion mostly affected the train’s surface. Although the train itself had suffered quite a lot of damage, it was not broken into pieces as their attackers imagined it would be.
Shortly after, a column of brilliant and dazzling silver light suddenly blasted into the sky. It headed straight toward the red mecha as it shot forth explosively.
The red mecha was too fast. Like an illusory image in the sky, it flashed and materialized a few hundred meters away as it dodged the column of silver light.
The roof of the train broke open, and throngs of people scrambled to get out.
Just then, soul rays of various colors shone brightly and a fleet of mechas dashed out swiftly from within the soul train. It was the Star Luo Empire mecha escort which was tasked to protect the diplomatic corps.
They were mostly purple mechas, along with four black mechas, totaling thirty altogether. Soaring into the air, they shot beams of soul rays in unison to stop the enemies.
All of the attacking mechas had the mark of a skull on their chests. The most striking feature of that skull was the pattern of green flames which burned within its sockets, giving them a very eerie appearance.
Elder Cai rose into the air. A silver moon shone, and she locked her aura onto the enemy’s Divine Mecha. It was because of her protection that the soul train had not met with a catastrophic disaster.
Even so, there were many diplomatic corps members injured when the soul train began rolling.
Tang Wulin gritted his teeth and looked at Xie Xie. “You’ve jinxed it.”
Xie Xie said with an innocent expression, “Captain, it’s not me who jinxed it. It’s your own bad luck!”
Wu Zhangkong said coldly, “Stop talking nonsense. Protect yourselves. Go have a look at the coaches and rescue the civilians.” It was impossible that all of the people on the train would be Soul Masters. Whether it was the staff or the general passengers, they were all ordinary humans. After the horrific rolling of the train just now, their fates were still unknown.