Chapter 20

After Tang Wulin's outburst, the tournament quickly came to a close.

The crowd had been surprised when they heard that Huang Yu wasn't participating in the finals, but Huang Yu himself didn't give a rat's ȧss.

Gu Yue and Xie Xie had come out in a narrow victory against Zhou Yangzi and Wang Jingxi. They had nearly lost when the students of class one used their spirit fusion technique but Gu Yue's splendid control over the elements edged out a win.

This battle had proved something to everyone watching though. It became painfully obvious that despite not being at the level of a certain red-haired, there were still many prodigies in this years grade one.

That night after the Class Promotion Tournament, Huang Yu, along with Xie Xie and Gu Yue were in the infirmary looking at a person on a bed.

This person was Tang Wulin.

"How long will it take for him to awaken Huang Yu?" Gu Yue asked inquisitively. Huang Yu had told the both of them that he had sent Tang Wulin into suspended animation to stop his rampage. This state would only last for a few hours, then, he would naturally wake up.

When they had found out what Huang Yu did, shock marred their faces. The two of them had thought Tang Wulin had just burnt his own body out after releasing such devastating power.

They didn't expect that it was actually Huang Yu who had knocked him out. All he did was poke his ċhėst for God's sake.

However, the both of them quickly calmed down from their shock. Their red-haired teammate had always done things like these. Hence, their recovery speed from their shock became quicker and quicker each time.

"He should be waking up around 8 o'clock, give or take a few minutes." Huang Yu answered.

Xie Xie merely frowned as he looked at Tang Wulin.

Minutes passed by relatively quickly as everyone stayed silent in the room.

Before the long hand of the clock could reach twelve to signify the arrival of the next hour, Tang Wulin let out a miserable groan from the bed.

Huang Yu, Gu Yue and Xie Xie stiffened up as they heard this. Huang Yu readied to battle as he saw Tang Wulin wake up. Usually, in Xianxias, the person with the corrupting power needed to be knocked unconscious to return them to their senses. However, he didn't know if it was the same here.

As Tang Wulin finally fully opened his eyes, Huang Yu tensed his arm in preparation to send Tang Wulin back into suspended animation.

Luckily, he didn't need to.

"Guys?" Tang Wulin's voice called out gently.

A soft sigh left Huang Yu's mouth as he relaxed his arm.

Xie Xie burst towards Tang Wulin before grabbing him on the shoulders. "Wulin! Are you ok?! What happened back there?!" A barrage of questions left Xie Xie's mouth as he showed an expression of worry.

"Xie Xie, please Wulin some space. He just woke up"

Xie Xie immediately stopped his actions. He glanced towards Gu Yue before letting go of Tang Wulin, "Sorry."

Tang Wulin grimaced when he saw Xie Xie's actions. "No, you don't need to apologise. I should be the one apologising here."

With a grunt, he got out of the bed.

"Xie Xie, I'm sorry for what I did just now." Tang Wulin apologised genuinely.

"No worries dude. I'm not mad about it. Just a bit surprised." Xie Xie smiled before continuing, "Can you answer my questions now? What happened to you?"

Tang Wulin gave a wry smile. "Gimme a sec"

Huang Yu stood there as Tang Wulin approached him. Looking into his eyes, Huang Yu could no longer see any of the previous madness so he didn't put his guard up.

When Tang Wulin stood directly in front of him, he looked Huang Yu directly in the eyes. The insecurities of yesterday were still there, but Huang Yu could tell that he was a lot more confident than before

'Although he got wrecked by me just now, I guess that the secret powerup he got really boosted his confidence.' Huang Yu thought.

Tang Wulin let out a long breath. "Huang Yu, I'm sorry for attacking you just now. The reason I attacked is related to why I went missing the past week."

Huang Yu accepted the apology and raised an eyebrow since he had more or less guessed what was going on.

Xie Xie, however, seemed intrigued when he heard this

As for Gu Yue, who knew what was going on inside her head at the moment.

"I have awakened some sort of bloodline. However, it seemed to have rampaged when I saw you Huang Yu."

When Huang Yu heard this, his eyes narrowed instantly. Was it related to the eye on his forehead?

Gu Yue spoke up at this moment. "You should ask Teacher Wu about this tomorrow. Maybe he would know what's going on."

A wry smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "I hope so."

After a short checkup from a nurse at the infirmary, Tang Wulin was deemed free to leave.

As everyone made their way back to the dorms, Huang Yu couldn't help but think,

'Gu Yue���s acting kinda strange. I have a strange feeling this is related to her. I don't want to pry into her secrets since she's keeping mine but this matter is related to me.'

— — — —

At the academy field, Huang Yu was standing underneath the hot sun along with the rest of his classmates, listening to Long Hengxu's speech.

"Today's first grade ȧssembly is to announce two things. First, due to the special circumstances of this year's first grade, the victorious class will no longer be continuing with the Class Promotion Tournament, but the classes of the first grade will still be rearranged according to the results. Namely, what was originally class five is now class one. And all of the other classes have been rearranged accordingly."

An uproar appeared among the students of Huang Yu's class that had been promoted to the new class one. They had wanted to ride off of the coattails of Huang Yu and the others to get the rewards for challenging the upper grades.

A bit of disappointment flashed in Huang Yu's eyes. He had wanted to test out the limits of his strength fighting with people in the upper grades. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

Long Hengxu continued, "In light of the new class one's outstanding achievements in this tournament, the entire class will be rewarded with one meal a day from the first window for one term."

'Hoh? That is pretty generous of the school.' Huang Yu thought. One should know that the meals from the first window were so expensive that most families couldn't even afford it. It would cost an astronomical sum of money to feed so many mouths food from that window.

The previous discontent murmuring turned into cheering. They seemed to share the same thoughts as Huang Yu.

Long Hengxu frowned when he heard this. "Quiet down!"

It was only then did the cheering gradually subside.

Long Hengxu resumed. "Due to the excellence of this year's first grade, the board of directors has decided to conduct a study. We are establishing an experimental class in the first grade that will be comprised of the best students in the grade. It will temporarily be called class zero, and Wu Zhangkong will be the teacher in charge. The students for class zero have already been selected. From class one, we have Huang Yu, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue. From class two, we have Zhang Yangzi, Wang Jinxi, and Wei Xiaofeng. In the future, any other student who shows exceptional ability will also be put into class zero."

Class Zero? From the explanations, it seemed something like a classroom of the elite.

'How did Tang Wulin get in though? Was it because of his brief performance yesterday?' Huang Yu asked in his head.

When Huang Yu turned to look at Wu Zhangkong, he could tell from his teacher's expression that he had already known about it.

"President, do you have any words to say?" Long Hengxu asked, looking at Yu Zhen to his side.

Yu Zhen nodded and began speaking with a clear voice. "Students, I am sure you are all very curious as to why we established class zero. This is because the students we have picked out have already far surpassed the level of their peers. If they were to continue advancing with the other students, their talent would be buried. In summary, if you wish to shine in the future, then you must put in even more effort! I hope that I will see more students joining class zero later on, going on to become the greatest geniuses of Eastsea Academy!

Alright then, the ȧssembly is over. You may all leave now. Teachers, lead your classes back. Long Hengxu will act as class one's substitute teacher until a new teacher can be found. Wu Zhangkong and the students of class zero will remain here."

Filled with shock, admiration, envy, and regret, the students of the five classes returned to their classrooms, leaving only the president as well as those of the newly established class zero.

"Children, come over here." Yu Zhen beckoned everyone over.

Although some of them were reluctant, everyone still went over.

"For starters, I'll sweep what happened yesterday under the rug Tang Wulin. Teacher Wu has already informed me about your situation."

Tang Wulin let out a breath of relief before nodding.

"Next, we'll talk more about Class Zero. The school is going to invest a lot of resources into you, so we need you to sign this contract." With a flip of his hand, a pile of papers appeared, and he quickly distributed them to all the students.

It read: Person XXX voluntarily enters a contract with Eastsea Academy. Before XXX graduates from the intermediate division and the advanced division, they will not change schools.

He didn't hesitate to sign it. Why wouldn't he? Even in this world, a minor can't be sued for not honouring a contract. He was exactly that: a minor.

He would only get benefits from signing this contract. The contract wouldn't hold power over him at all. He could leave unobstructed if he ever found greener fields.

Xie Xie meekly asked, "President, shouldn't we discuss with our families before signing this?"

Yu Zhen blinked a few times. "Of course you can! You can go back and discuss it, but you won't be able to join class zero anymore. I am a very busy person, and I don't have the time to wait for you."

Huang Yu sighed in his head. This was the oldest trick in the book. He was trying to put a sense of urgency inside the heads of the students to force them to panic-sign. And it was even more effective since everyone here were children. (he technically wasn't though)

Tang Wulin didn't care about all that. He signed immediately.

When Gu Yue saw that both Tang Wulin and Huang Yu had signed, so did she.

Seeing everyone else, signing it, Xie Xie did the same.

Zhou Yangzi and Wang Jinxi, who were from the new class two, signed the contract as well. However, Wei Xiaofeng, who was from the same class as them, chose not to.

After Wei Xiaofeng left, Yu Zhen let out a gentle smile.

"Alright then. You have all signed the contract so from now on, you are the elites of the academy. We will respect Wei Xiaofeng's decision but in the future, I definitely believe that he will regret his choice this day. Although our Eastsea Academy isn't ranked too highly on this continent, we are still the sole intermediate Soul Master academy in this major city. With all of our resources poured into you, I dare say that not even the legendary Shrek Academy could match us."

Huang Yu hearing this couldn't help but think that Yu Zhen was a disgusting person.