Tragic Ending

Tang Wulin, standing to the side, felt his mind go blank the moment he saw Xie Xie covered in blood, crashing heavily onto the shattered floor.

An unprecedented terror gripped his heart, leaving him almost unable to breathe.

Yet, in a mere instant, that extreme fear erupted into a towering rage, ruthlessly shattering all reason.

Tang Wulin's left index finger twitched.

Immediately following, a violent, golden current surged from within his body. Golden dragon scales spread across his arm at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the brilliant Golden Dragon Claw suddenly took form.

Without waiting for Long Hengxu to shout a warning, he stomped his foot, shattering the floor beneath him, and lunged toward the Dark Bone Dragon King like a bolt of golden lightning.

His overflowing anger and heartache threatened to consume him entirely.

With eyes burning crimson, Tang Wulin didn't say a word. He swung the Golden Dragon Claw, imbued with the violent power of the Golden Dragon King and fueled by world-shattering fury, and brought it crashing down upon the Dark Bone Dragon King!

The Dark Bone Dragon King was still immersed in the shock of having his Bone Dragon Claw cracked.

When he sensed the danger and looked up, the Golden Dragon Claw was already looming large before his eyes, leaving him no chance to dodge.

The Dark Bone Dragon King had already found it unbelievable that his Bone Dragon Claw had been cracked by Xie Xie's brute force; now, seeing Tang Wulin—a mere one-ring soul master—daring to pounce on him with such ferocity, he was incensed.

An indescribable sense of humiliation surged to his head, and his rage burned like a wildfire.

He laughed in his fury, a dull, drum-like roar echoing from his skeletal chest as the black soul mist surrounding him surged violently.

He raised his cracked Bone Dragon Claw, refusing to dodge, and met Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Claw head-on with a vicious, crushing aura.

In his eyes, a one-ring soul master who hadn't even reached the second ring, no matter how strange the golden energy on his body might be, could never contend with him head-on.

In an instant, the brilliant, blinding golden light and the gloomy, icy black radiance collided in mid-air, exploding as two extreme forces clashed!

Violent shockwaves swept outward from the point of impact.

The already shattered floor disintegrated further, and countless shards of stone and wood were sent flying into the air by the blast!

A deafening metallic clang erupted. The Dark Bone Dragon King felt a violent force far beyond his imagination surge into his body through his Bone Dragon Claw, causing his sturdy dragon bones to tremble.

A sharp pain radiated from his cracked Bone Dragon Claw, which was being forced to bend under the sheer pressure of Tang Wulin's strike!

The contempt and anger in his eyes were instantly replaced by extreme astonishment.

In that split second of the Dark Bone Dragon King's hesitation, the crimson killing intent in Tang Wulin's eyes did not diminish in the slightest, and the golden light on the Golden Dragon Claw surged to its peak.

The Golden Dragon Claw pressed down fiercely!

With a shrill whistle that tore through the air, Tang Wulin twisted his wrist, bypassing the opponent's defensive claw, and slammed down like a golden warhammer directly onto the Dark Bone Dragon King's skull!

"Stop!"

"Wait, Tang Wulin!"

Long Hengxu and Ye Yingluo shouted almost simultaneously.

But Tang Wulin, blinded by the rage brought on by Xie Xie's severe injuries, had already committed his full force to the strike and could no longer pull back.

Just then, a slender hand appeared silently on Tang Wulin's right arm.

With a gentle flick of that palm, the descending Golden Dragon Claw was quietly deflected.

Even though it had been nudged off course, the Golden Dragon Claw, still carrying the violent power of the Golden Dragon King, remained unstoppable, slamming heavily into the chest of the Dark Bone Dragon King with a whistling gale.

"Crack—!"

A crisp, piercing sound of breaking bone shattered the silence of the arena.

The sturdy dragon bones of the Dark Bone Dragon King's chest collapsed over a large area, and black bone fragments splattered along with thick, dark mist.

The Dark Bone Dragon King's massive body disintegrated instantly, turning into a sky full of black bone dust and dark light.

At the center of the dissipating black light, two figures fell out of the air in a sorry state, accompanied by a sharp, pained groan.

The moment Wang Jinxi hit the ground, he curled up in agony, his face turning as pale as paper. His chest heaved violently, and his arms lay limp on the floor.

Zhang Yangzi's condition was just as dire; his legs felt as if they no longer belonged to him, and he suffered from a suffocating pain in his chest, each breath coming with heavy, labored resistance.

One had broken arms, and the other had broken legs.

Their ribs were certainly fractured, and it was unclear if they had suffered comminuted fractures.

No one had expected the Class Promotion Tournament to turn so tragic.

Wu Zhangkong stood still in the center of the competition stage.

In that flash of lightning just moments ago, it was she who had lightly nudged Tang Wulin's arm, barely dissipating the lethal force of the Golden Dragon Claw and saving the lives of the dying Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi.

Her movements were light, yet steady as a rock.

Under the gaze of Gu Yue's purple eyes, which were filled with worry and anxiety, she bent down, reached out, and steadily gathered the unconscious Xie Xie into her arms.

As her fingertips touched Xie Xie's cold skin and blood-soaked robes, the usually icy gaze of Wu Zhangkong darkened, and the air pressure around her plummeted.

Just as she turned to leave with Xie Xie, a figure stood firmly in her path.

"Teacher Wu, how could you allow your student to commit such violence?" Ye Yingluo, who had rushed onto the stage, pointed at Wu Zhangkong and roared.

Wu Zhangkong looked at Ye Yingluo blocking her way, her expression unchanged.

Her fingertips trembled slightly from the warmth of Xie Xie's blood, and the suppressed unease in her heart transformed into a bone-chilling coldness that surged wildly in her eyes, threatening to shatter all restraint.

She lowered her eyelashes slightly, her thin lips parting to release a voice devoid of any warmth, yet harboring an irrepressible, biting intent to kill:

"Get lost."

As the word fell, a bone-chilling pressure instantly enveloped Ye Yingluo.

Ye Yingluo felt a terrifying killing intent, originating from a top-tier powerhouse, lock onto her firmly. A freezing cold permeated her entire body, leaving her limbs as stiff as iron.

The barrage of questions she had prepared died in her throat; even breathing became a struggle, and she dared not move a single step further.

The Golden Dragon Claw on Tang Wulin's left hand dissipated, and the violent power of the Golden Dragon King receded with it. In its place, a wave of exhaustion swept through his body, and the crimson hue of rage gradually faded from his eyes.

When he saw Xie Xie unconscious and covered in blood in Wu Zhangkong's arms, his heart gave a violent jolt, and his voice trembled.

"Xie Xie!"

Ignoring the roiling discomfort of his soul power, he stumbled forward a few steps, his tense frame softening the moment he drew near.

Looking at Xie Xie's pale, bloodless face and his robes soaked in crimson, Tang Wulin clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white, his heart filled with self-reproach and lingering fear.

Gu Yue hurried over as well, her gaze fixed intently on Xie Xie, her violet eyes brimming with worry.

Wu Zhangkong held Xie Xie, her icy gaze sweeping over Tang Wulin and Gu Yue.

She did not linger; radiating a biting chill, she walked straight past the frozen Ye Yingluo with Xie Xie in her arms.

Seeing this, Tang Wulin and Gu Yue quickly followed.

Long Hengxu stood where he was, looking at the severely wounded Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi on the ground, then toward the direction the others had departed, his expression darkening to the extreme.