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"Teacher Shen, given Elder Chi Long's personality, he wouldn't deny Wu Lin and the others their chance at the assessment."
"I know that much," Shen Yi said with a bitter smile. "But having Senior Brother kneel like this isn't a solution either."
How could she not understand her teacher's temperament?
It was just that Wu Changkong hadn't returned to the academy for years. Now that he had finally come back, seeing him kneeling outside the inner court for so long made her uncomfortable.
Xu Yuan shook his head helplessly.
Kneeling wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Wu Changkong felt guilty in his heart; if he didn't kneel, he might carry that guilt for the rest of his life.
After kneeling for some time, his guilt would find a way to resolve itself. Then, as he returned to the academy to make amends, he could gradually ease the burden on his conscience. This was likely Zhu Shi's intention as well.
"Teacher Shen, I'll head back to the dormitory first."
Without offering any help, Xu Yuan quickly returned to the inner court and went back to his dorm.
---
A modest hotel room.
Tang Wulin awoke from deep slumber.
The blood essence surrounding his body was incredibly dense, almost taking on a tangible form. The pressure of his blood essence felt like that of a primordial beast, putting immense strain on those without blood essence cultivation, like Xie Xie and the others.
At this moment, Tang Wulin's room was packed with members of Zero Class.
Tang Wulin himself sat cross-legged inside a wooden tub, shirtless.
Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan stood in the hallway, staring at Tang Wulin with wide eyes, visibly awestruck by the overwhelming pressure of his blood essence.
Meanwhile, Gu Yue leaned against the doorframe, her brows deeply furrowed as she gazed at Tang Wulin.
Over the past three years, she had clearly felt how the fusion technique passed down by Xu Yuan had intensified the power of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline within Tang Wulin. Now, with the assessment approaching, Tang Wulin had somehow caused his bloodline power to surge dramatically for no apparent reason.
"The sudden surge in his bloodline power can't be without cause. It must mean that the essence of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline is sealed within him," Gu Yue thought, her eyes reflecting deep contemplation.
Combining her previous suspicions, she became even more certain of Tang Wulin's identity and roughly deduced the state of his body.
"It must have been Tang San—he killed the Golden Dragon King, extracted all its bloodline essence, and sealed it within Tang Wulin."
Knowing this filled her with anger, yet she was powerless to do anything about it.
However, beneath her anger lay a glimmer of hope. If her suspicions were correct, it meant that the Golden Dragon King's bloodline hadn't vanished along with the disappearance of the divine realm. Instead, it remained on Douluo Continent, giving her the opportunity to re-fuse her own bloodline and achieve the Dragon God bloodline.
What troubled her, though, was the fact that whoever could seal the entirety of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline essence must have left behind a sufficiently powerful fragment of divine consciousness.
No matter how much it was consumed, as long as Tang Wulin remained alive, it meant that Tang San's divine consciousness still maintained the seal within him.
If she were to attack Tang Wulin and deal him a fatal blow, the divine consciousness maintaining the seal would converge, leading to mutual destruction.
Gu Yue fell silent, her heart heavy with the weight of these realizations.
Such conjectures left her feeling helpless.
The more she knew, the more she hesitated, unable to take action.
---
"Everyone, why are you all in my room?" Tang Wulin suppressed the urge to stretch and yawn, crossing his arms over his chest as he eyed them warily.
The medicinal properties in the tub of water should have been fully absorbed by now, leaving only clear water. However, due to his skin splitting open during the fusion of the second layer of the Golden Dragon King's seal, a large amount of blood had mixed into the water, turning it red and obscuring visibility.
Out of instinct, Tang Wulin raised his hand to shield himself.
After speaking, he paused, then suddenly realized what might have happened.
"How long was I in seclusion this time?"
"Captain, the assessment is already over," Xie Xie said, glaring at Tang Wulin with resentment.
In his seclusion, Tang Wulin had missed the assessment entirely.
The purpose of his seclusion was to better prepare for the upcoming assessment. But in accidentally prolonging it, he had completely missed the opportunity to participate.
Captain, you really know how to prepare.
"Captain, none of us were able to take the assessment," Xu Xiaoyan added pitifully.
She truly lived up to her reputation as the "final blow" specialist—her words made Tang Wulin feel even guiltier.
Seeing Tang Wulin's expression, Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan secretly reveled in their small victory.
You made us worry during your seclusion, so it's only fair that we tease you a bit now.
Tang Wulin quickly noticed something unusual and turned to Xie Xie.
"Where's Teacher Wu?"
"He obviously went to plead on our behalf," Xie Xie replied irritably.
"This time, it was my carelessness—I lost sight of the bigger picture while obsessing over minor details and ended up dragging everyone down with me," Tang Wulin said self-reproachfully.
He was reflective by nature and silently vowed never to repeat the same mistake again.
---
The assessment for Zero Class proceeded as usual.
Wu Changkong managed to secure a makeup exam for the four members of Zero Class, but their inner court assessment was changed to an outer court assessment. Even if they passed, they would only be allowed to study in the outer court.
What differed was that Gu Yue didn't clash with Cai Yue'er because of Tang Wulin. She politely declined Cai Yue'er's offer to become her disciple, citing that her teacher was the Phoenix Douluo as her reason.
Though Cai Yue'er felt regretful, she couldn't press the matter further. After all, Gu Yue already had a teacher, and insisting on this point would reflect poorly on her character—it would seem petty rather than purely strict.
While Zero Class underwent their assessments, Xu Yuan continued his cultivation.
"Little Yuan, come to the Sea God Island."
The voice of Yun Ming echoed in Xu Yuan's mind. He slowly calmed his soul power circulation, stabilized himself, and headed toward the Sea God Island.
"Teacher, you called for me?"
"Yes, you, Xu Lizhi, and Ye Xinglan will go to the outer court for training."
"Huh?"
Xu Yuan remembered that it should take several months or even half a year before the inner court would send them out to the outer court for learning. Why the sudden change?
Yun Ming sighed helplessly.
This batch of geniuses was simply too numerous. While it perfectly aligned with his criteria for selecting the new generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters, yesterday's reports on Tang Wulin's performance during the grand competition had reached him. Combined with the information gathered on Tang Wulin, he judged that Tang Wulin was a natural leader.
To ensure that Xu Yuan could smoothly become the leader of this generation's Shrek's Seven Monsters, he had to send Xu Yuan out immediately to suppress dissent and establish authority.
"Xu Yuan, Xu Lizhi, Ye Xinglan, Tang Wulin, Wu Siduo, and Yuanen Yehui from the second year can also join. We're still short one member."
It wasn't that there weren't other talented individuals with the potential to join the Seven Monsters—it was simply that there were too many geniuses. For this generation's selection, the overall requirements would be even higher, choosing only the sharpest among the sharp.
Xu Yuan didn't ask further questions.
If everything unfolded exactly as the original storyline dictated, it would be boring.
The small ripples in the present timeline were somewhat disappointing.
"The wings of this butterfly haven't flapped hard enough yet," Xu Yuan thought to himself.
"There are quite a few talented students among this year's freshmen. Although your soul power level is undoubtedly the highest in this cohort, you still need to remain cautious and avoid complacency."
Wu Siduo, the youngest among the five prodigies ranked on the Youth Genius Rankings this year, was also the highest-ranked among them. Her soul power seemed to have reached Level 40.
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