The Gu Brothers

Sunlight fell across his face, gilding his sharply defined features with a faint golden glow. His pale golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly beneath the light, like a feline's instinctive reaction to brightness.

An invisible aura seemed to surround him, separating him from the world.

Though he stood amid the crowd, he seemed to belong to another world.

"Is that him?"

"Yes, that's him. Those eyes are unmistakable."

"Damn... That look really is kind of scary."

"What's his cultivation level?"

"No idea, but the four yesterday were all one-ringed. He took on all four by himself and finished them in ten seconds. He has to be at least two-ringed, right?"

"Two rings? In first grade? Two rings?"

"That's why I said damn."

Among the crowd, several upper-year students exchanged glances. The disdain on their faces had long since vanished.

After all... in theory, the Class Promotion Tournament allowed students to fight their way into the upper grades!

On the other side, the atmosphere among the first-year class formations was even tenser.

Those who had mocked Class Five yesterday now all wore grave expressions.

In Class Two's formation, the four participating students standing at the front were quietly discussing something, occasionally looking toward Class Five. Their eyes held vigilance, wariness, and a trace of poorly concealed nervousness.

They had originally thought today's opponents would be Class Four—no, Class Five now.

According to the Class Promotion Tournament rules, Class Five had defeated Class Four yesterday and would challenge Class Three today. Class Two, logically, was supposed to be Class Three's next opponent and only needed to watch today.

But now, they had already begun worrying about tomorrow.

What if Class Three lost too?

What if Class Five really fought their way all the way up?

Then tomorrow, they would be the ones standing on the competition stage.

Class Two's supervising teacher was a middle-aged man. At that moment, he frowned as he watched Class Five's formation. His gaze lingered on Zhong Shenxiu for a long time before turning toward Class Three's team, his eyes carrying a trace of sympathy.

Class Three...

They were in trouble today.

Class Three's formation was exceptionally neat.

Unlike Class Four's loose appearance yesterday, Class Three's students had consciously lined up the moment they arrived at the field. No one joked around, no one whispered to one another. Everyone waited quietly.

Because they knew that today's battle would not be easy.

Standing at the very front of the class formation were four people.

The first person on the left looked more mature than the other three. He had a square face and steady eyes. His name was Lu Feng, the captain of Class Three's team for this match. His martial soul was the Green Wind Eagle, and he was a level sixteen Agility Attack System battle Soul Master. At that moment, he stood with his arms folded, his gaze fixed on the golden figure in Class Five's formation, his brows slightly furrowed.

Standing beside him, however, were three identical faces.

Delicate features, straight noses, the same short hair, and the same stance. Unless one was extremely familiar with them, it was impossible to tell who was who.

Triplets.

Gu Tianri, Gu Tianyue, and Gu Tianming.

The triplets were Ye Yingrong's trump card.

As the homeroom teacher of First Grade Class Three, Ye Yingrong had taught at Eastsea Academy for five years. She had seen many exceptionally gifted children, and she had also seen many children ruined by their gifts.

Thus, she understood clearly that talent was only a stepping stone. What truly determined how far a Soul Master could go was whether they could turn their talent into a tangible advantage.

And these triplets were the greatest advantage in her hand.

Skyscraper War Eagle.

It was an extremely rare flying beast martial soul.

On Douluo Continent, unless one's Soul Power cultivation reached the six-ring Soul Emperor level, allowing one to fly through the air with one's own Soul Power, only Soul Masters with flying beast martial souls could gain the ability to fly in the early stages.

A flying Soul Master was innately invincible against opponents on the ground.

Not to mention three of them.

Gu Tianri, Gu Tianyue, and Gu Tianming were triplets. Their martial souls were all Skyscraper War Eagles, and their Soul Power Levels were all fifteen.

Yes, level fifteen.

One level lower than Lu Feng.

But Ye Yingrong had never cared about their Soul Power Levels. Because she knew that when these three children took to the sky and attacked at the same time, their threat was far beyond what Soul Power Level could measure.

Three pairs of eyes locked onto the same target from three different angles.

Three pairs of sharp claws tore at the same enemy from three different directions.

Three figures crisscrossed and darted through the air, making it impossible for opponents on the ground to lock onto their positions.

That was the triplets' advantage.

That was Ye Yingrong's trump card.

She stood at the front of Class Three's formation in a long green dress, her hair pinned up. Her features were delicate, and she looked only a little over twenty. At that moment, her gaze rested on the competition stage, on her four students, before shifting to the golden figure opposite them.

Her brows furrowed slightly.

She had watched yesterday's match.

Ten seconds. Four people. Total defeat.

That child had not even used his second soul skill.

With only a spear and himself, he had achieved a crushing victory.

In five years of teaching, Ye Yingrong had never seen a student like that.

Not a genius.

A monster.

But monsters had weaknesses too.

Ye Yingrong shifted her gaze away from Zhong Shenxiu and looked at the three people behind him—Gu Yue with her black hair and black eyes, Xie Xie with his dark green eyes, and Tang Wulin, who was as beautiful as a little girl.

Level seventeen, level nineteen, level twelve.

Other than Xie Xie, who had some fighting strength, the other two...

The corners of Ye Yingrong's lips lifted slightly.

She had heard of that Gu Yue.

An Elementalist martial soul. It was theoretically very strong, but how much power could a level seventeen one-ring Soul Master bring out?

Moreover, an Elementalist martial soul required time to guide the elements and space to unleash soul skills. In fast-paced combat, it could easily become a point of breakthrough.

As for Tang Wulin...

Level twelve.

Blue Silver Grass.

Ye Yingrong did not even need to spare him a second glance.

Therefore, the only true threat was that monster.

And her four students happened to have a way to deal with such a monster.

Flight.

As long as they flew into the air, that monster's spear could not reach them.

As long as they flew into the air, they would remain invincible.

Then, they would slowly wear him down.

Wear him down until his strength was exhausted, until he revealed a weakness, until they found an opportunity to kill him in one blow.

Ye Yingrong looked at the four students on the stage and nodded gently.

She knew that they knew what to do.

On the competition stage, Lu Feng stood at the front, with the triplets behind him.

All four pairs of eyes were fixed upon the golden figure opposite them.

Lu Feng's hands clenched slightly, then relaxed.

He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "Follow the plan."

Behind him, the triplets nodded at the same time.

The three identical faces bore the same gravity and the same determination.

They were not afraid.

Because they were flying Soul Masters.

Because they had the advantage.

Because they...