199 The Students of Shrek

Tang Wulin smiled. “Then I should be about half a year older than you. What’syour name?”

The little fatty said, “My name is Xu Lizhi, but everyone just calls me LittleGlutton. You can call me by that nickname too.”

A bitter laugh escaped from Tang Wulin’s lips. “We still don’t know for surewho’s the real glutton between the two of us, so I’ll just call you by yourname. Are you here to participate in the competition too?”

Xu Lizhi nodded. “Yeah, that’s right! It’s really nice here. This is my firsttime seeing the sea so I’m planning on going for a swim later. Can you tell mewhat sorts of delicious seafood there are?”

He really is a glutton! Activating his storage ring, Tang Wulin retrievedanother piece of dried fish for him.

“There are tons of delicious seafood here like briny sea urchins, tasty seacucumbers, and the bluefin tuna is pretty good too. Oh right, there are alsoeels that taste as sweet as honey. If you want crab try the goldhair crab; itbeats the king crab at taste by a long shot. Even the meat is more tender. Ifyou want lobster though, I still feel that our Eastsea City’s eastsea lobsteris the best. It might be a bit pricy, but the meat is simply delicious. Theskysea lobster has firmer meat, but its nutritional value is quite lacking. Notto mention, it’s a pain in the butt to chew.” Tang Wulin explained effortlesslylike a food connoisseur.

Xu Lizhi’s eyes grew brighter as he listened to Tang Wulin’s summary,swallowing down a gulp of saliva. “Great! This is great! So, after thecompetition is finished, do you mind showing me around? I’m already itching totry them all.”

Tang Wulin said helplessly, “It’ll depend on the time, but here’s mycommunicator number. You can call me about this later.” He doubted the SkyseaAlliance Tournament could have prepared a meal big enough to satisfy him andalready assumed he would need to hit the streets later for some grub.Therefore, having a fellow foodie tag along was not a hassle.

Just as the two finished exchanging soul communicator numbers, an icy butpleasant voice called out. “Little Glutton, how did you run all the way overhere? All you know is how to eat. Hurry up and come back.”

Tang Wulin and the Little Glutton, Xu Lizhi, turned toward the voice. Thespeaker was a girl around Xu Lizhi’s age, dressed in the same green exerciseclothes as him. In comparison to Xu Lizhi’s fat-filled form, her clean-cutsilhouette brought out the best in the clothes. Her golden hair was combed upinto a ponytail, accentuating her large, bright, blue eyes framed by longeyelashes. They were nearly on par with Tang Wulin’s. Her skin glistened underthe light, tender, and white.

Although she was likely Tang Wulin’s age, her face was a mask of stonecompared to his, as if she were a little adult.

Upon the sight of her, Xu Lizhi was like a mouse facing a cat. He stoodstraight and said earnestly, “Big Sister Xinglan, I know I made a mistake butI’m still starving! You know right? If I don’t eat enough, then I won’t haveany strength!”

“Let’s go.” As the girl was waving Xu Lizhi over she noticed Tang Wulinnibbling on dried fish beside him. Disdain colored her words. “Don’t just eatanything you get from a stranger! Don’t you know how many bad people there arenowadays?”

Xu Lizhi’s chubby face twitched for a moment before he turned back to faceTang Wulin, gesturing that he would call him later. He swiftly ran off,obediently following the girl.  

Tang Wulin rubbed his face absentmindedly. Do I look like a bad guy?

“Who was that just now?” Xie Xie asked as he walked over. With just oneglimpse of the blonde girl, his breath had nearly been taken away.

Shrugging his shoulders, Tang Wulin replied. “I don’t know either. I was justchatting with Xu Lizhi about food.”

Suddenly, an announcement was broadcasted.

“Today marks the start of the Skysea Alliance Tournament. We have invited ateam specially from Shrek Academy to exchange pointers with last year’schampions. Accounting for the gap in strength, this match will be held betweendifferent age groups. The contenders are last year’s youth division championsof the seven-man team competition and Shrek Academy’s seven-man team from thejunior division. Now, will both sides please come on stage.”

The youth division against the junior division?

Tang Wulin’s eyes shifted to stare at Xu Xiaoyan. Everything was goingaccording to her predictions. Sure enough, the higher-ups of the SkyseaAlliance had considered the difference in strengths and came to thisconclusion. However, if the youth division lost to the junior division…

What happened next shocked Tang Wulin even further.

The representatives of the Skysea Alliance arrived on the platform. Since theywere the winners of the previous tournament, they were now all over twentyyears old and should be placed in the adult division.

There were five men and two women clad in silver team uniforms, standing withconfidence and valiance imbued in their hearts. Their synchronous movementsillustrated their rigorous training while their eyes shined with excitement.

But that wasn’t what truly caught Tang Wulin by surprise. When the delegationfrom Shrek Academy arrived, he didn’t recognize the frontmost five people. Theyall wore green sportswear and were about fourteen to fifteen years old.Nevertheless, behind them were two people he could identify. In fact, he justmet them not too long ago!Isn’t that the little fatty Xu Lizhi and that Xinglangirl?They were far younger than the rest of the team and immediately caughteveryone’s attention.

“Huh. Hey, it’s those two! Why are they up there on the stage?” Naturally, XieXie recognized them too.

Dumbfounded, Xu Xiaoyan said, “Our ages are the same, yet the gap between usis so great!”

That’s right! We’re all just ten years old yet they’re already fighting in anexhibition match. More importantly, they’re representatives of the legendaryShrek Academy!

Even the usually level-headed Tang Wulin couldn’t help but admire and envythem.No wonder that Xinglan girl was so arrogant. She has the power to back itup! Just how strong are they though?

They’re only ten years old; could they actually possess three soul rings?

The two sides greeted each other courteously. The team of seven from theSkysea Alliance towered over the students from Shrek Academy, a manifestationof their age gap.

After all, there was more than a difference of five years between them! 

A fifteen-year-old boy lead the Shrek Academy’s team. Though his looks weren’tparticularly flattering, his temperament held an indescribable quality. Hestood tall and astute. Simply by taking a few steps forward, he drew theattention of the whole stadium.

Tang Wulin’s eyes were peeled in anticipation of the match. It was sevenversus seven, the most common form of team battles. In the last 10,000 years,this formation proved to be the optimal setup for a team of soul masters.

The two groups on stage were the cream of the crop from two differentgenerations, especially the youngsters from Shrek Academy. It was a mystery toall just how powerful they were. Unwittingly, Tang Wulin already begancomparing himself to them. For those with ambitions, it was important to set ahigh goal.

Both teams gave simple self-introductions, revealing the arrogant littlegirl’s name. It was Ye Xinglan, a good name.

An old man served as the referee. With his profound air, after a single glanceanyone would know his strength was not shallow.

“Now, let the match begin!”

The stage wasn’t particularly large, spanning less area than class zero’sarena.  There hadn’t been enough time to build a grander one and as such it wasonly fifty meters in diameter. Occupied by only fourteen people, the areadidn’t seem too crowded. Even so, there wasn’t much space to maneuver.

Right as the referee announced the start of the match, Shrek Academy brokeinto action.

Surprisingly, the first to make his move was Xu Lizhi.

With a wave of his arm, two yellow soul rings appeared under him. Mysteriousobjects flew out of his hands as his first soul ring lit up. Because he was sofar from the arena, Tang Wulin couldn’t see what were thrown. Yet for somereason, he thought they resembled steamed buns.

Xu Lizhi’s six teammates each consumed one of the objects. The female teammatebeside Ye Xinglan roared as three soul rings materialized beneath her feet. Twowere yellow and one was purple—the optimal soul ring configuration. Lightcoalesced in her right hand to form a seven-tiered pagoda.  As the first threelevels of the pagoda sparkled brilliantly, its glow enveloped the stoic youthspearheading their formation.

The youth released a draconic roar as his body swelled. His arms especiallygrew thick and solid. Four rings rose from beneath him—two yellow, one purple,and one black. Shockingly, he had a ten-thousand-year soul ring!  

Tang Wulin grew feverish as an unknown feeling welled up inside of him. Itcontinued to expand as thunder shook the arena.

Few in the audience saw the whole process clearly. What they did see, however,was cyan light exploding on stage, followed by a baptism of lightning andthunder.