The Class Promotion Tournament was an annual grand event for Eastsea Academy, because it was the only competition in which every grade and the entire academy participated.
At the center of the Intermediate Division's sports field.
A competition platform had long since been set up there.
Calling it a competition platform was somewhat inaccurate. It was actually a circular area one hundred meters in diameter, paved with metal plates ten centimeters thick.
Soul Guidance Barrier Generators had been set up around it to prevent accidents during the matches.
Today was the first day of the tournament. To avoid disrupting the students' studies, the matches were held after school.
The dismissal bell rang.
The students poured out of the teaching buildings, but very few headed toward the competition platform.
After all, the battle between Grade One Class Five and Class Four was hardly worth watching.
Only a handful of curious onlookers, along with Class Three, who would compete tomorrow, paid attention to the upcoming match.
On a campus path.
Xu Yue held Xu Xiaoyan's hand as they walked slowly forward.
At that moment, Xu Xiaoyan suddenly raised her head and suggested to Xu Yue, "Brother A-Yue, let's go shopping."
"Hm?" Xu Yue paused. "Aren't you going to watch the Class Promotion Tournament?"
"What's there to watch?" Xu Xiaoyan shook her little head, speaking quickly. "With you around, is there any chance our class will lose?"
As she spoke, she blinked her large dark-blue eyes, pouted, and gently shook Xu Yue's arm in a coquettish manner.
"Brother A-Yue... you said before that as long as I broke through to Soul Grandmaster before school started, you'd make time to go shopping with me."
"All right!" Xu Yue smiled indulgently. "But I'll ask Sister Mu Xi whether she wants to come too."
Yet before he could take out his communicator, Xu Xiaoyan abruptly pressed down his hand, a trace of mischief appearing on her delicate face.
"Hehe, I already asked. Grade Five Class One, where Sister Mu Xi is, is preparing to challenge Grade Six, so she doesn't have time today."
"You..." Xu Yue immediately understood Xu Xiaoyan's little scheme. He reached out and lightly scraped her dainty nose. "Then we'll do as you say..."
However, just as Xu Yue turned around and was about to lead Xu Xiaoyan toward the school gate.
A wave of startled cries suddenly came from the sports field.
Even from several hundred meters away, they could hear them clearly.
Hearing the uproar, Xu Xiaoyan tilted her little head and looked toward the sports field.
"What happened?"
Xu Yue smiled and shrugged indifferently.
"Maybe Class Five beat Class Four."
But at that moment, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded behind them, accompanied by a shout.
"Brother Yue! Sister Xiao Yan!"
The two looked behind them and discovered that the newcomer was Wei Xiaofeng.
"Xiaofeng, did you need something from us?"
Looking at Wei Xiaofeng, who had run over and was gasping heavily, Xu Yue asked with a smile.
"Huff... huff..." Wei Xiaofeng panted. "This is bad, Brother Yue. Class Five... over at Class Five..."
"Class Five? What happened to Class Five?" Xu Xiaoyan asked in confusion.
"I can't explain it in one sentence." Wei Xiaofeng waved his hand. "Brother Yue, hurry and take a look!"
Seeing Wei Xiaofeng like this, Xu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan exchanged a glance before heading toward the sports field.
The closer they got to the sports field, the louder the cries became.
At the same time, Xu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan could hear the subject of the discussion more clearly.
"Did you see that?! That girl is actually a Soul Grandmaster! Class Five actually has a two-ring powerhouse."
"Does being a Soul Grandmaster even matter? Didn't you see that she has a thousand-year Soul Ring?"
"How is that possible? That's completely different from what the teachers taught us!!"
"How could such a genius be assigned to Class Five?"
The discussion washed into Xu Yue's ears with the uproar, making him frown deeply.
A girl? A Soul Grandmaster? A thousand-year Soul Ring?
Could it be Gu Yue, the Silver Dragon King?
But that wasn't right either!
He searched through the memories in his mind. Even though Gu Yue had come looking for Tang Wulin because of Na'er, she had deliberately suppressed her Soul Power to around level fifteen.
Even after two months of cultivation, he vaguely remembered that she should only have been at level seventeen or eighteen, with merely a hundred-year Soul Ring.
Other than her gender, nothing seemed to match the information currently being discussed in the arena.
However, the answer was not far away, so there was no need for him to keep guessing in his mind.
Led by Wei Xiaofeng, Xu Yue parted the crowd and made his way to the very front.
At first glance, he saw the black-haired woman in white on the stage, who had just withdrawn her Martial Soul.
She was slender and perfectly proportioned. The skin on her exposed arms gleamed with a lustrous pale-white sheen, while that stunningly beautiful face rarely showed any emotional fluctuation, making her seem cold and distant.
At the same time, the many elemental traces still lingering on the stage, along with the flash of purple light that had vanished in an instant, allowed Xu Yue to identify the woman's true identity immediately.
She was Gu Yue, the Silver Dragon King.
Yet all the ways in which this differed from his memories made him furrow his brow as he stared at Gu Yue in confusion.
On the stage.
Gu Yue felt a weighty gaze upon her and could not help turning her head. Her eyes met Xu Yue's beneath the stage.
Seeing Gu Yue look over, Xu Yue instinctively nodded in simple greeting.
After hesitating for a moment, Gu Yue nodded back as well.
At that moment, Xu Xiaoyan tugged at him. "Brother A-Yue, let's go. You promised to take me shopping."
Xu Xiaoyan was indeed surprised by Gu Yue's strength. She had not expected such a genius to appear in the worst Class Five.
But that alone was not enough to interest her. The person she liked also had a thousand-year Soul Ring—and even more of them.
Hearing Xu Xiaoyan's words, Xu Yue nodded, and his furrowed brows relaxed.
It was only a small change that differed from his memories. It was nothing important.
Besides, with his presence, this world was already bound to differ from its predetermined course. There was no need to dwell on it.
"Okay! Then let's go!"
As he spoke, Xu Yue greeted several Class One classmates nearby, then left again with Xu Xiaoyan.
Among Class Five's group.
Xie Xie looked at the noisy crowd over there and curled his lip disdainfully. "Tch, who's that? Making such a huge show of it."
"He's the Class One class monitor," Tang Wulin said.
He had seen Xu Yue as well.
Thinking about how he would have to face Xu Yue in a few days, he told his teammates the information he had obtained from Cen Yue.
"What? A Soul Elder?! A Level 4 Blacksmith!" Xie Xie cried out in shock.
"How is that possible?"
When Gu Yue, who was not far from them, heard this information, a sharp glint flashed through her black eyes.
"Interesting! Could it be him?"
With that thought, Gu Yue looked in the direction Xu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan had left, then quickly followed after them.
Seeing Gu Yue leave, Xie Xie immediately called out.
"Gu Yue, do you want to come to Snack Street with us? We just defeated Class Four. Let's celebrate!"
Yet Gu Yue, walking ahead, did not even turn back at his suggestion. Her steps even quickened.
"What was that? We've been classmates for months, and she's still so icy." Xie Xie curled his lip.
"Geniuses always have some pride," Tang Wulin said with a smile. "Weren't you about the same at the beginning?"
Likewise, he thought of Xu Yue at the Blacksmith Association, as well as the Xu Yue he had just seen.
"How am I anything like her? Let's go to Snack Street."
"Wait for me first! I'll be right there."
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