*Sixteen hours later*
Fan Lin killed more than 1000 people. He stopped after that as classes would start in around an hour or so.
He pressed the ejection button and got out.
He went out of the Spirit Pagoda. It was 6 in the morning and classes would start at 8. He jogged towards the academy and stopped at a small garden near it.
Sometime later Qiangu Dongfeng came. He said," kid, are you really human? Although I checked you myself two times. I couldn't believe it."
Fan Lin stopped his cultivation and asked why did he thought so.
Qiangu Dongfeng said," Why do you never kill Soul beasts even though they give more spirit energy?"
"Soul beasts didn't show that many expressions, humans do. Even if they sweared at me, ask for mercy, or just downright hate me, I can see the desperation in their eyes when I kill them. It calms me down. That's why I kill humans. They are an expressive bunch. I never get bored by killing them."
"When though? I have seen your killings and I don't any of the people knew when they died by your hands, much less have any time to react to the situation. So your words just sound like BS to me." [Qiangu Dongfeng]
"Uh-huh. You don't get it. The fact that they couldn't even get the chance to even express their deaths is what that excites me since I imagine what they would say and I laugh at that. It's all in my mind, every laughter, every prayer, to the despair and dread of my actions. Thoughts of my own on what would happen if I kill them in reality, wouldn't it be spoiling to know so. But forget it, you won't understand the pleasure that I feel with each life that I take without any inhibitions of any kind. What do you need from me?"
Qiangu Dongfeng gazed at Fan Lin blankly. He can swear at the heavens that this kid was totally unreadable at times and that was sometimes a scary thing . He will definitely kill this kid after he destroyed Shrek. It was too a dangerous to let someone with this kind of thought process to grow strong.
"Nothing? Then help me make a one word battle armour for me. I need a minimum of spirit refined triple alloys with a harmony rate of 93% or above with metals that provides spirit power amplification. I will pay, you provide the personal. Can you do it."
"It doesn't sound like you are asking for it kid. Ok, I will start preparing for it. When do you need it?" Qiangu Dongfeng asked him.
"As soon as you can. You can start with a part of it first like the hand. A piece a time. Can you do it."
"Doable. Come to the Pagoda three days later. Spirit refining will need your blood."
"Ok"
The next day
"Huh?" Tang Wulin stared at Shen Yi in shock, mouth gaping.
"Why? Teacher Shen, why can't Ye Xinglan participate in the class representative selection tournament?" Tang Wulin asked.
Tang Wulin's mind went blank the moment Shen Yi had told him Ye Xinglan couldn't participate in the class representative selection tournament, his plans crumbling apart. He had felt pressured to face the five rankers, but with Ye Xinglan's help, especially after three years of growth, he had been confident of their victory. Although she did not have four soul rings yet, her combat power was on par, if not better. Her skillful techniques were still etched into his memory. His original plan was to have Gu Yue, Ye Xinglan and himself be the main attack force of their team. That way, they would have a chance against Wu Siduo's Hell White Tiger. But without Ye Xinglan, their chances of victory dropped to next to zero! The disparity between his team and the five rankers was too great!
"Don't ask me why. There is no reason. But your mecha group reassignment has been approved. The condition, of course, is that Ye Xinglan cannot participate in the tournament. Now go back to prepare. You don't have much time. Also, no Fan Lin as well."
Throughout the rest of his classes, Tang Wulin was lost in a daze with his brow furrowed. The atmosphere in the classroom was changed the moment he stepped in, and the majority of his classmates took care to maintain a distance from his group. He and his friends were being shunned by everyone. Even his new companions, Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi, were being treated the same way.
The addition of Ye Xinglan's combat strength and Xu Lizhi's buns had given Tang Wulin confidence in their victory. But now Ye Xinglan was no longer allowed to participate. Their odds for victory were laughable without her strength. His mind occupied by this problem, Tang Wulin didn't pay attention in class for the first time since coming to Shrek Academy.
"Good luck in the tournament, class president. Well, you don't have to worry about it too much. Even if you resign from being the class president, you can still be the blacksmith representative," Luo Guixing said as he approached Tang Wulin after class.
Yang Nianxia followed closely behind Luo Guixing and looked at Tang Wulin with sincere eyes. "You're the most suitable person to be the blacksmith representative. Please don't force yourself."
"What do you mean force himself? He's just overestimating himself!" Zheng Yiran cut in as she walked by, not even bothering to look back as she left.
They are being shunned. Fan Lin didn't know why. He was like that. You can ask him what happened in the federal government yesterday and he would tell you in detail but he doesn't know what his teacher wore the last day or the names of his classmates. He never remembered there to begin with. Why waste energy on them?
His mentality wasn't young. He had the mentality of a 34(?) year old. He, even if he tried his hardest, would not be able to mingle perfectly among the group of regular children. It's what they call a generation gap.
'Buy why talk about such useless things?'
"So you are the one that the class president was trying to poach. You second skill is indeed strong. Wanna join us?'
'Kids are stupid.'
Fan Lin ignored them and moved on, his actions, once again, disrespectful as always. But this time, a puffy students who were puffed up from the recent gain of popularity they had tried a funny thing.
Yang Nanxia got in front of Fan Lin, while the rest of random nobody's surrounded him.
'For no reason at all?'
And Fan Lin had still not intentions of admitting that his calm and collected true childish behaviour had been 'offensive' to a lot of people since he was being the nicest of the folks there is. But did he care. No he didn't.
So he stood there. The others surrounded him. He stood there. The others surrounded him. The situation was at a stalemate. He knew that they wouldn't be the first to attack as that could be reported as justified self defense by Fan Lin who will most like freeze them and leave.
Fan Lin didn't plan to attack as well.
'Let's all stay like this.'
He just stood there calmly, without speaking or looking anywhere.
Three days later in the first grade's classroom, Shen Yi announced from behind the lectern, "In order to fully examine your combat abilities, Teacher Wu and I have decided for our selection tournament to be decided via real combat. Now, let's depart."
The students stared blankly at her. Shouldn't we be fighting in a virtual space? We could get injured in live combat!
Whispers broke out in the classroom and everyone's gazes shifted towards Tang Wulin and his companions. He was the class president, the representative of the entire first grade, yet the five rankers had joined hands to usurp him. To the Academy, this was a simple tournament. However, to Tang Wulin, the five rankers, and the rest of the first grade, the outcome of the selection tournament would determine the narrative of the class from then on.
Tang Wulin sat in the front, his face a mask of indifference. By his side, Gu Yue wore a similar expression. Neither seemed to care about the announcement at all.
Luo Guixing wore his standard polite smile. When he looked at Wu Siduo however, a silent conversation passed between them. Yang Nianxia lazed in his seat. Xu Yucheng looked gloomy like usual, as different from Luo Guixing as night and day. Zheng Yiran glared at Tang Wulin, her gaze like a predator about to devour him whole.
"Let's go," Shen Yi said.
"Everyone stand up!" Tang Wulin shouted. Regardless of how precarious his position was right now, he still did his duty as the class president.
The entire class of 103 students stood up and walked out in order. Everyone was bursting with excitement, eager to witness the battle between dragons and tigers. To most of the students, it didn't matter who won, a direct contrast to their thoughts a few minutes ago. The competition to choose the class president was different as it was possible to avoid confronting powerful foes. This tournament, on the other hand, would be a direct clash between giants. Whoever won would carry the banner of their class.
Ye Xinglan followed at the back of the line, her complexion abnormally pale. She even needed Xu Lizhi's assistance to walk steady. Yet, in comparison to her weak state, her eyes shone with excitement.
'What did they do?'
"Big Sis Xinglan, don't go. You should rest. I can go request a leave of absence for you." Xu Lizhi said softly.
Ye Xinglan instantly turned towards him with fire in her glare. "Fatty, don't make us lose face for the inner court!"
Xu Lizhi was stunned. Her words stabbed at him. All he could do was smile. "Okay then."
Shrek Academy had the most advanced sparring facilities. Students could use them by paying a fee. The main benefits of this arena were that it was isolated and prevented energy from running wild. A seven-ringed healing-type soul master was also always monitoring the facilities. The moment a participant suffered a grievous injury, staff members would extricate the person from the arena and treat their injuries. For some reason though, when the first grade class entered the facility, they only saw a single person.
A pure and elegant beauty stood on the stage, long evergreen hair flowing down her back. With a slender figure and bright complexion full of life, she seemed to be in her thirties.
Shen Yi and Wu Zhangkong quickly walked over the moment they saw her and bowed. "Your Highness."
"Please, no need to stand on etiquette." The woman smiled gently at them, filling the room with a comforting warmth.
Wu Zhangkong turned around to face the students, his face stern. "This selection tournament will be held in public, and will be judged fairly. There are seventeen teams, so matches will be decided through lots. One team will get a pass. It will be a knock out tournament. Whoever the victor is today will represent our class against the second grade in four days. The representatives for the four professions will be the members of the class council. Let us begin."
Tang Wulin went up and drew his lot. "The empty lot has been drawn by Tang Wulin's team." He stared at the stick blankly.
After getting off the stage, Tang Wulin sat down cross-legged, his expression wholly serene. His companions sat down beside him, all six of them meditating together.
Shrek Academy lived up to its reputation. Even the first round of battles was fierce, every participant fighting hard to shine the brightest.
The Holy Light Douluo acted as the tournament's referee today. She would make a move when a victor emerged, or someone was in dire straits. With a simple wave of her hand, light would descend on the arena and halt the match. What truly left everyone amazed was her healing ability. By the time the next match started, the participants of the previous match would be in perfect condition.
The eight matches of the first round took about an hour to finish. Luo Guixing's team breezed through their matchup as their opponent had immediately forfeited. Although they hadn't drawn the pass, the result was the same.
In the second drawing, Luo Guixing's team drew the empty lot. Everyone's face scrunched up in disbelief as they began to understand what was going on. Considering that Tang Wulin's team had drawn the empty lot first then Luo Guixing's team, the tournament was clearly rigged so the two teams would only face each other in the finals!
The tournament demanded teams of at least five, so Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan, and Xu Lizhi stepped onto the stage. They had the first match of the second round. Their opponents was a team that had won the first round, though only barely. They understood how large the gap was between them and Tang Wulin's team.
Tang Wulin controlled the flow of battle and served as the vanguard, Xie Xie stood ready in the battlefield in wait of an opening, and Gu Yue provided ranged control. They achieved victory without much effort.
The second round finished twice as fast as the first. Nine teams trickled down to five, and the third round began.
"We surrender!"
"We're forfeiting!"
"Forfeit!"
Before any of the matches of the third round even began, the other three teams forfeited. It wasn't that they weren't confident, especially against Tang Wulin's team. However, they didn't wish to get in the way of the five rankers. They all understood that the rankers were unsatisfied with his leadership and targeting Tang Wulin. It was because of this that they thought it was better to step out of the way and let the final confrontation come quicker. Even if they managed to defeat Tang Wulin's team, the outcome wouldn't necessarily be good for them. Luo Guixing had already declared that they would crush Tang Wulin with their own hands.
The Holy Spirit Douluo looked at them in surprise, but when she saw the sparks flying between the two remaining teams, she understood what happened.
"Okay. Since it's like this, we'll immediately begin the final match. Tang Wulin's team versus Luo Guixing's team," Wu Zhangkong announced.
The final match of the tournament was about to begin. Whoever won would represent their grade in the match against the second grade. They would win honor and glory, and bear the weight of being their class's champions.
'This should be what should happen. Then why is Wulin staring at me. That Wu Zhangkong denied my leave petition as well. Now I have to waste my time here. Huh.'
Fan Lin thought while looking at them.
The match was boring for him. There was sense of excitement. He just need a thought and he could have ended both teams. That was the strength that he had.
"Do I even need Shrek anymore?"