After Long Hengxu announced the results, he stood there in a daze, watching Tang Wulin and the others step down from the platform.
He had originally put Xie Xie in Class Five partly to curry favor with Wu Zhangkong, but he hadn't expected Xie Xie to reach the second ring so quickly.
And that Tang Wulin—if he remembered correctly, his Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, right? When had his Soul Ring reached the thousand-year level? Had he gone to the Spirit Ascension Platform?
And that girl—if he hadn't seen wrong, she controlled both space and fire elements. Twin Martial Souls?
She also seemed to be the student Wu Zhangkong had mentioned a few days earlier, the one who had missed the enrollment deadline and wanted to join the academy. Strictly speaking, she couldn't be admitted, but Long Hengxu had done Wu Zhangkong a favor and processed her enrollment anyway.
Only now did Long Hengxu understand why Wu Zhangkong, with his temperament, had swallowed his pride and come to ask him. It turned out he'd taken a liking to the girl's talent!
Over the next few days, talk of Tang Wulin and the others spread throughout the lower grades. Even some of the upper-grade students had heard about them.
The strength of this year's Class Five was simply too outrageous. In the past, the Class Promotion Tournament had been little more than a formality for Class Five. If they managed to win even one or two matches, they'd have counted themselves lucky.
But Tang Wulin and the others had not only defeated Class Four in under thirty seconds; in the following two days, they'd also beaten Class Three and Class Two in less than two minutes apiece.
Some people had even started saying that Class One wouldn't last three minutes against them, either.
Tang Wulin and the others, however, didn't care much about the talk. Or rather, they didn't have time to care.
After all, the Class Promotion Tournament was the Class Promotion Tournament, but they still had to endure several hours of Wu Zhangkong's training every day.
Xie Xie and Gu Yue had it a little easier. Once their special training was over, they could go back and rest.
But Tang Wulin couldn't! After his daily training, he still had to finish the few Hundred Refinement commissions he'd taken on two days earlier.
After all, failing to complete a Blacksmith Association commission on time meant paying compensation. Tang Wulin wasn't short on money these days, but wasting it wasn't his habit. Besides, blacksmithing was his second profession, and a little extra practice was a good thing.
"Creak!"
Tang Wulin pushed open the door to Mang Tian's workshop in Eastsea City. He planned to finish his last Hundred Refinement piece that night and then submit the commission to the Blacksmith Association, so he could focus entirely on the final Class Promotion Tournament match of the first year against Class One the next day.
"Hm?"
But as Tang Wulin walked over to the forging table as usual, he spotted a familiar figure.
"Teacher! What brings you here?"
Mang Tian stood behind the forging table, holding the metal Tang Wulin had finished refining over the past two days.
Mang Tian looked at the metal in his hand and nodded, saying with satisfaction, "The purification is good. It seems you haven't let your forging go to waste while I was away. Keep it up."
"Thank you, Teacher!" Tang Wulin said with a smile. Though he had grown used to Eastsea City, seeing someone familiar from Aolai City still made him very happy.
"By the way, Teacher, what brings you to Eastsea City?"
Mang Tian set down the metal and walked around the forging table to stand in front of Tang Wulin. He said slowly, "There are two main reasons I came to Eastsea City."
"The first is to see you and make sure you haven't let your forging go to waste."
"The second... is that your parents asked me to give you this letter."
"A letter?" Tang Wulin was puzzled. His parents should already know his communication number. And even if they wanted to write him a letter, they could simply have mailed it. Why had they asked Mang Tian to deliver it to him?
Though confused, Tang Wulin still took the letter from Mang Tian. As he did, he noticed a complicated look in Mang Tian's eyes.
"Open it and see," Mang Tian said, looking at Tang Wulin meaningfully.
Tang Wulin seemed to sense something, too, and hurriedly opened the envelope.
Inside were a bank card and a sheet of paper.
Tang Wulin paid no attention to the bank card and immediately unfolded the letter. The familiar handwriting on it belonged to his father, Tang Ziran.
"Wulin, my son. By the time you read this letter, your mother and I will have gone somewhere very far away."
"Your father is actually an excellent mecha designer. In our early years, your mother and I didn't live in Aolai City. We had our own workshop in a very large city."
"But it was precisely because your father was so talented that one of my mecha designs caught the attention of a faction. They wanted me to join them and design mechas for them."
"But I knew that faction well. Once I fell into their hands, they would control my life, my everything. You were only about a year old then, and I didn't want your childhood to be without your mother and me."
"So, to escape that faction's control, I took you and your mother and fled to Aolai City."
"There, your father never showed any talent for mecha design. I simply worked as an ordinary repairman."
"But because I ran away, I couldn't give you and your mother a better life. I couldn't even afford to buy you a Spirit Soul. I even made you start working as a blacksmith at six. Every time I saw you come home with your hands covered in scars, my heart ached."
"The day you drew a defective Spirit Soul, I cried alone for a long time. I hated my own cowardice. I hated my helplessness, that I couldn't even give you a better Spirit Soul."
"Your father isn't a Soul Master, but when I was young, I had a Soul Master's dream, too. I know very well what a good Spirit Soul means to a Soul Master."
"Your thoughtfulness only made me hate myself more. But now I can't even offer you the slightest help. You've gone to the better East Sea City Spirit Master Academy, and I don't want to remain unable to help you."
"So after you left for Eastsea City, I contacted that faction of my own accord and agreed to join them."
"The one million in this bank card is the relocation allowance that faction offered me to join them. I hope it's enough to buy you a hundred-year Spirit Soul. From now on, your mother and I will also transfer the money we earn into this card."
"This is all your father can do for you now. Wulin, forgive me for leaving you alone. I also have to face who I was in the past."
"Wulin, your life shouldn't be confined to a tiny place like Aolai City. Your goal is the sea of stars. I also believe that one day you'll become the most powerful Soul Master on the continent."
"But before that, please allow your father this one selfish wish: to face the coward I used to be."
"Your mother and I already know your Soul Communicator number. Don't come looking for us. And until we know it's absolutely safe, please forgive your mother and me for not calling you."
"Your mother and I love you. We will love you forever!"
Handwritten by Tang Ziran!
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