"The Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition? And we have to compete in the seven-person team event too?"
The next day, when Wu Zhangkong announced the news in the classroom, all seven members of Class Zero except Lan Kai wore shocked expressions.
For a major competition held once every five years with an age limit, plenty of people would be at a disadvantage because of the relationship between their birthdays and the competition date. The members of Class Zero were classic examples of this unlucky group.
They were all around eleven years old, Gu Yue included. Naturally, they would be at a considerable disadvantage in the Youth Group competition, which was restricted to participants between the ages of eleven and fifteen.
Of course, being disadvantaged by their age alone might have been manageable. But for various reasons, Class Zero had never trained in a team battle involving more than three people. Even in the Spirit Ascension Platform, Lan Kai had always sat out because of the gap in their strength, so he had never worked with the others.
With obstacles on both fronts, most of Class Zero naturally found Wu Zhangkong's proposal puzzling.
Wu Zhangkong offered no explanation, though. After telling them they would head to Skysea City for the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition in a month, he simply continued with his lessons.
These days, however, most of his lessons consisted of practical combat, and he even used Soul Skills himself.
Everyone in Class Zero except Lan Kai was having a miserable time. Xu Xiaoyan, who had just joined them, was the opposite: not only did she seem completely at ease, she was downright excited.
Before the practical combat lesson began, she even sidled up to Lan Kai and quietly asked:
"Class monitor, have the lessons in Class Zero always been this fun?"
Hearing Xu Xiaoyan ask that, Lan Kai nearly lost his composure for a moment. What kind of Three Purities Education Team comment was that?
Still, Lan Kai could use Wu Zhangkong's strength to overcome his fear of the cold, while also learning to control and master his fire attribute more thoroughly. Compared with Juggler's training, this was clearly a completely new experience.
So he was quite interested in Wu Zhangkong's practical combat lessons, unlike God King of Defeat, who was the loudest in Class Zero when it came to whining.
Besides, Lan Kai had suddenly remembered that before Xu Xiaoyan's Martial Soul had fully mutated, its special ability could only be displayed at night. That made him even more curious.
"Yes, it really is."
Lan Kai nodded and answered softly.
After just one lesson, Wu Zhangkong had completely cured Xu Xiaoyan of her Gu Yue Phobia, and she had smoothly settled into Class Zero.
And, unexpectedly, Lan Kai—who had hardly ever fought alongside the others in Class Zero—had formed a rapport with them with ease. His individual combat ability hadn't been diminished at all, and he was able to coordinate better with the whole team, producing results that exceeded Wu Zhangkong's expectations.
Gu Yue, on the other hand, seemed to grow even more distant from the others in Class Zero, despite being sternly taught a lesson by both Wu Zhangkong and Lan Kai. She acted as though she wasn't part of the team at all.
Although her performance on the team was passable, when it came to how hard she tried, she was nowhere near good enough—not even as committed as Xu Xiaoyan, who had only just joined the team.
This left Wu Zhangkong troubled. He even went out of his way to find Lan Kai, hoping Lan Kai could use Juggler's connections to contact Leng Yaozhu. By going over Gu Yue's head and complaining to her, he hoped Leng Yaozhu might bring Gu Yue to her senses.
"Teacher, are you asking me to go tattle?" Lan Kai looked at Wu Zhangkong, quite speechless. He wasn't optimistic about this kind of running-to-the-parents approach.
Actually, Wu Zhangkong's method of trying to get Gu Yue to join the team from the outset had been completely wrong for her.
Besides, he wasn't Ultraman Mebius. He couldn't draw on friendship and bonds to transform into some absurdly powerful, willpower-fueled form, then slap Gu Yue around until she came to her senses.
As for Leng Yaozhu... Lan Kai didn't think that woman could do anything to help educate Gu Yue.
"Please. If even you, as a fellow member of the Spirit Pagoda, can't make Gu Yue understand the importance of teamwork..."
Though Wu Zhangkong's plea sounded rather ill-suited to the situation, Lan Kai eventually agreed. He would treat it as payback for the last time Gu Yue had gone to Leng Yaozhu to complain about him.
To Lan Kai's surprise, though, three days later, Gu Yue really did work much more smoothly with the rest of Class Zero.
Still, both Wu Zhangkong and Lan Kai noticed something strange: the interest Gu Yue had once shown in Tang Wulin had now shifted to Lan Kai.
Wu Zhangkong thought it was a little odd, but not a big deal. After all, Lan Kai was the most outstanding in Class Zero, and both he and Gu Yue came from the Spirit Pagoda. There was nothing strange about her being drawn to him.
Lan Kai, however, was starting to panic. Wu Zhangkong might not have noticed, but Lan Kai knew very well that Gu Yue wanted to get her hands on his body. He just wasn't sure whether she was after the Light of Orb or Lan Kai himself.
Perhaps it was the former for now, but on this Romance Continent, even brotherly affection could turn into true love in an instant. Lan Kai was quite sure that Gu Yue's feelings would change in the future.
However, when Juggler heard Lan Kai's theory, he immediately burst into his signature raucous laughter. His grin was almost identical to the one he'd worn when he took the card case from Kurenai Gai.
"Isn't that a good thing? If that Silver Dragon King really falls in love with you, it might actually be a good thing for this world, right?"
"Good my ass! Then why did you leave the Storage Facility in such a hurry back then, Teacher Juggler? Maybe I should steal some custom anesthetic from the Tang Sect and get in touch with Senior Ohta Yuka?"
Lan Kai angrily wanted to flip the table, but held himself back. Instead, he fired off a sharp protest.
Juggler's expression immediately froze. Thinking of that subordinate who looked like someone with whom Juggler had a bit of history—and who wanted to dissect him—he instantly understood how Lan Kai felt.
But Juggler didn't say much. He just patted Lan Kai on the shoulder and told him to handle it himself.
Worst came to worst, he could always pull an Ultra Marriage Escape. He wouldn't be the first Ultraman to do that.
A month passed in the blink of an eye, and at last it was time for Class Zero to compete in the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition.
Apart from Tang Wulin, who also had to compete in the Forging Project, everyone else was only entering the one-on-one and team events.
Tang Wulin had now been taken on as Mu Chen's disciple. When he learned that Lan Kai definitely wouldn't enter the Forging Project, he was secretly pleased to have one fewer rival for the champion's prize money. Still, he couldn't understand why Lan Kai would give up competing.
"Senior brother, you can already perform Spirit Refinement. Why aren't you entering the Alliance Grand Competition?"
"It's too boring. I don't want to go." Lan Kai waved a hand, then followed Wu Zhangkong onto the soul-guided bus.
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