Soul Land 3: Legend Of The Dragon King

s.h.i.+t! It"s that guy! Tang Wulin"s blood went cold. Now that he could see the man clearly, his imposing appearance struck his heart. At around 2.5 meters tall, the man"s stature surpa.s.sed humanity"s limits, and his metallic dark-gold aura only added to the striking image.

I"m finished…

“Who are you? Can"t you at least tell me whose hands I"m going to die by?” Tang Wulin croaked out.

The man disappeared in a flicker of motion, reappearing right in front of Tang Wulin. He lifted the boy out of the water.

Now that he no longer needed to stay afloat, Tang Wulin felt his body give in to fatigue. The next instant, the two took off into the air at mach speed.

Huh? Isn"t he going to kill me? Why hasn"t he whacked me yet? Tang Wulin blinked a few times in confusion.

A few seconds later, the two s.h.i.+ps entered his sights. He narrowed his eyes and conserved his strength, waiting for an opportunity to escape as they approached the s.h.i.+ps.

However, before Tang Wulin was fully ready, the man of dark gold accelerated. To the naked eye they turned into a streak in the sky, piercing through powerful winds as they flew. A blink, and Tang Wulin found his feet back on solid ground. Exhaustion caught up with him. He collapsed.

While p.r.o.ne, Tang Wulin gently caressed the ground and spoke sweet nothings to it, finally appreciating solid ground for once in his life. Even if this wasn"t land per se, but the floorboards of a s.h.i.+p, he was overjoyed to be able to stand on something.

After a moment of rejoicing, Tang Wulin looked up and realized where he was specifically. The cabin of his balcony. The man swathed in dark gold stood before him. As his s.h.i.+mmering metallic aura faded, it revealed a face all too familiar to Tang Wulin.

“What…” Tang Wulin stared at the man, dumbstruck, his eyes on the verge of popping. He blinked a few times, then surrendered to his fatigue.

The man was Mu Ye. He bent down to swoop Tang Wulin into his arms, on his lips the hint of a wry smile. He brought the boy back into his cabin, stripped off his wet clothes, and placed him on the bed.

“It looks like my decision was correct,” Mu Ye said, traces of admiration in his voice.

It was all his idea. Mu Ye"s idea. He was the one who had abducted Tang Wulin and tossed him into the deep, dark ocean. He had known about Tang Wulin"s high body density and ma.s.s beforehand, but he hadn"t expected Tang Wulin to do what he did. To momentarily throw him off deep under the sea. Rather than a gap, a wide chasm separated their cultivation levels. Yet Tang Wulin had achieved what was virtually impossible.

Mu Ye had, according to plan, released the boy at a depth that would pose the greatest challenge to Tang Wulin while still maintaining a shred of consciousness. He had meticulously calculated this. It had all been for the sake of testing Tang Wulin"s tenacity and willpower.

Years ago, Mu Ye had also endured this same trial. He remembered ascending no more than thirty meters before he could no longer continue.

Throughout the trial, Mu Ye had positioned his red-grade mecha nearby to monitor Tang Wulin. The instant Tang Wulin"s vital signs went critical, the mecha would have swooped in and rescued him.

When Mu Ye had first reached the water"s surface and observed Tang Wulin through his mecha, he was shocked to find the boy remaining motionless. At first, he thought that Tang Wulin had already lost consciousness. But as he observed closer, he noticed that rather than sinking, Tang Wulin was slowly waving his arms about to keep himself stationary. It was only when he was on the verge of death that he had shot toward the surface. This action did not escape Mu Ye"s understanding. Tang Wulin had been biding his time, waiting for his attacker to increase their shared distance before grasping his opportunity to escape. The ability to remain so calm in the face of death shook Mu Ye"s very bones!

He had watched silently as Tang Wulin ascended five hundred meters from the starting position, surpa.s.sing his personal record. Then Tang Wulin"s organs began to fail. Before Mu Ye could react, a golden aura burst from his body and he accelerated. Not long after, his body shut down once more before he accelerated again.

Mu Ye"s jaw had dropped lower and lower each time Tang Wulin surpa.s.sed his limits. He could hardly believe his eyes when Tang Wulin finally pierced through the surface of the water.

In the history of the Body Sect, the only person who had accomplished this feat before was its founder. The founder had been trapped under the sea by enemies, which led to his martial soul"s secondary awakening. With his already powerful body martial soul strengthened, he managed to escape the watery jaws of death. Since then, the Body Sect had adopted this life and death crisis as a trial for all new members. How far they managed to ascend would determine their acceptance into the sect, would serve as a marker for their talent.

Tang Wulin was undoubtedly a G.o.dly talent, not just in terms of his physical abilities, but in his willpower as well.

Although the Body Sect has existed even longer than the Tang Sect, they were never able to grow as great as the latter. A large part of this was due to the savage nature of their cultivation methods. Disciples of the Body Sect needed an immense amount of willpower to endure the torturous training. Without such willpower, they would never be able to persevere and inherit the legacies of the sect.

Mu Ye thrust his palm into Tang Wulin"s chest and in response, Tang Wulin shuddered. Then Mu Ye rapidly slapped Tang Wulin"s chest dozens of times in the next few seconds.

A golden aura enveloped Mu Ye"s hands with every slap, each imparting a wisp of golden energy into Tang Wulin"s body, each causing his unconscious body to quiver. The golden aura darkened, and so did the energy infused into him. A network of golden lines rose to the surface of his skin to give off a faint glow. They bore a slight resemblance to his scales, except these lines covered his entire body.

Tang Wulin"s quivering slowly settled down as time pa.s.sed, until they could only be described as subtle twitching.

“He"s even better than I thought. This kid has the most powerful blood essence I"ve ever seen! It was worth it to take him in even if I have to share.”

While unconscious, Tang Wulin felt as if he had entered a giant furnace and was being baked alive. His blood vessels were bursting as blood surged through them, circulating a scorching type of heat. One that made him desire both life and death at the same time.

The pain eventually subsided and Tang Wulin dove into a deep slumber.

☀

At the sound of knocking on his door, Tang Wulin slowly opened his eyes. He was completely drained of strength and could barely open his mouth as he lay there. “Who is it?”

“Captain, it"s time to eat!”

Tang Wulin bolted upright the moment he heard those words. No matter how battered and fatigued he felt, food was worth enduring the pain! He did not think with his brain, but his stomach!

He hopped off his bed and approached the door, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Naked. He was completely naked. Right there, that was his s.h.i.+ny b.u.t.t, and over there were his other bits. Last night"s brush with death suddenly burst into mind, the images bright and vivid. He glanced at the balcony door. It was shut. Was it all a dream? No way! That felt too real to have been a dream.

“Uh, gimme a minute. I"ll be out right away.” Tang Wulin quickly washed his face, but didn"t have the strength to lift up his toothbrush. His entire body felt like jelly. After throwing on some clothes, he left his room and was greeted by his friends.

“What"s with you?” Gu Yue asked.

“Yeah! Captain, why are you so pale?” Xie Xie asked, shocked. “You okay?”

Tang Wulin truly cut a haggard figure. Dark bags drooped under his eyes and his skin was as pale as the dead. He even moved as if he were dead too, sluggishly and without any grace. There was not a hint of energy in his usually brilliant eyes.

“It"s nothing. I just ran into some trouble cultivating last night, so I don"t feel that well right now. Let"s get going” He walked over to Xu Lizhi, slinging his arm around his friend"s shoulders, his hunger apparent from his gaze. “I"m starving. Lizhi, can you give me some buns to tide me over first?”

Gu Yue"s expression loosened a bit when she saw Tang Wulin"s typical action.

Xie Xie snuck over to Tang Wulin"s side and whispered, “Boss, don"t tell me you were having trouble sleeping last night after seeing Gu Yue"s dance? It"s not good to have too many delusions, you know?”

Although Tang Wulin itched to toss Xie Xie overboard that instant, he lacked the strength. All he could do was send a sharp look his teammate"s way.
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