Rewards! Punishment?

A few days later.

All the first-year students at East Sea Spirit Master Academy were gathered on the athletic field.

Unlike a few months ago, when the school year had just begun, Class Five now stood where Class One had originally been, and every other class had moved down one place.

Tang Wulin, as class monitor, stood at the very front of the line, with their homeroom teacher, Wu Zhangkong, beside him.

After a few days of rest, Xie Xie had nearly recovered. At that moment, he stood behind Tang Wulin with Gu Yue.

The new Class Two seemed to be missing two students.

They were Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi. They still hadn't recovered from taking Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Claw version of Eight Extremities Collapse a few days ago. They were probably still lying in some Soul Master hospital in Eastsea City!

Ye Yingluo stood at the front of Class Two, looking so furious that she seemed ready to tear Wu Zhangkong apart with her glare.

Just then, Yu Zhen, the dean of the lower grades, stepped onto the stage and spoke in a solemn voice.

"To all you outstanding Soul Masters of the future, this year's Class Promotion Tournament has now come to a successful conclusion. I'm sure everyone gained a great deal from the competition, and that it will prove a great help on your future paths of Soul Master cultivation."

"Of course, since this was a competition, there are naturally rewards."

"Starting today, the top class in each grade—that is, Class One—will receive one free Grade A Meal every day until the next Class Promotion Tournament ends. Class Two will receive one free Grade B Meal every day."

Hearing that they'd get a Grade A Meal every day, Tang Wulin's eyes lit up. Although he was quite wealthy now and a Grade A Meal was no big deal to him, the thrifty habits he'd picked up growing up told him he could save himself a little more money.

"Lastly!" Yu Zhen continued. "The students who competed for Class One in each grade will each receive a Spirit Pagoda Primary Spirit Ascension Platform Pass provided by the academy."

The crowd below immediately broke into discussion.

"The academy's being so generous this time, rewarding us with Spirit Ascension Platform Passes! There must be dozens of them altogether. Can the academy really afford that?"

"Too bad only Class One gets this reward. Ah, what difference does this so-called Grade B Meal reward make to me?"

"Do you think Spirit Ascension Platform Passes are just handed out to anyone who asks? It's already impressive that the academy can provide this many."

"What's a Spirit Ascension Platform Pass?"

"No way! You don't even know that?"

"Teacher Wu, what's a Spirit Ascension Platform Pass?"

Tang Wulin had the same question. He knew about the Spirit Pagoda, but he had no idea what a Spirit Pagoda Primary Spirit Ascension Platform Pass was.

"Wulin, you don't even know what the Spirit Ascension Platform is? I thought your Thousand-Year Soul Ring had been upgraded there," Xie Xie asked curiously.

Gu Yue smacked Xie Xie on the head. "What's the big deal? I don't know either."

Wu Zhangkong lowered his gaze to Tang Wulin and explained, "The Spirit Ascension Platform is the Spirit Pagoda's most groundbreaking research achievement of the past hundred years. A lot of people don't know about it, so there's nothing strange about that. But it really is a good place, and its greatest benefit is that it can increase the age of your Soul Rings!"

"Increase the age of a Soul Ring?" Tang Wulin was astonished. His own Soul Rings had gone from Ten-Year Soul Rings to Century Soul Rings, and finally to his current Thousand-Year Soul Ring. That was a major part of why he was so shocked: his Soul Rings had been upgraded by Yao Lao and by absorbing the Golden Dragon King's essence. Most people couldn't use a method like his, and now he'd heard of another way to increase a Soul Ring's age.

"Teacher Wu, if the Spirit Pagoda really can increase the age of Soul Rings, wouldn't that greatly improve a Soul Master's combat strength?" Gu Yue asked.

Wu Zhangkong shook his head. "It's not that simple. Spirit Ascension Platform Passes are already hard to come by, and passes for higher-level platforms are controlled by the major powers. Ordinary Soul Masters can't get them at all. And even if you enter the Spirit Ascension Platform, increasing the age of your Soul Rings depends largely on chance. I've entered a few times, but my luck wasn't very good. My Soul Rings' ages only increased a little."

"I see." Tang Wulin nodded thoughtfully.

"Ah, no matter what, there's still a chance. You know how hard these things are to get. I've never been there in my whole life!" Xie Xie said with a grin.

"Hope you get lucky," Wu Zhangkong said coolly.

"All right!"

Yu Zhen changed tack. "Now that I've finished discussing the rewards, I'll talk about the punishments."

"Punishments?"

"What punishments?"

Many of the students looked puzzled at his words.

"Of course, these punishments only concern Class One and Class Two of the first year," Yu Zhen continued.

A great many eyes turned toward the first-year Class One and Class Two, especially toward Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue.

"Before the Class Promotion Tournament began, I believe Director Long emphasized that no one was to deliberately injure another student."

"However, in the final match of the first-year Class Promotion Tournament, Class Two students Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi deliberately injured Xie Xie first, and then Tang Wulin seriously injured Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi. Therefore, all three of you will be punished."

"No way! What's this old geezer trying to pull? They were the ones who struck first!" Xie Xie protested indignantly.

Tang Wulin grasped Xie Xie's arm and shook his head to show it was all right.

"Since Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi of Class Two are still in the hospital with serious injuries, we'll decide their punishments after they recover."

Yu Zhen's gaze swept over the crowd before settling on Tang Wulin.

"After discussion among the academy's senior staff, it has been decided that Tang Wulin, class monitor of Class One, used an extremely domineering Soul Skill against his classmates during the Class Promotion Tournament and showed no intention of holding back, seriously injuring two students. Their Martial Souls may even be left permanently damaged."

"Under normal circumstances, the academy would expel a student for causing injuries of this severity. However, since Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi struck first and seriously injured Xie Xie, there are extenuating circumstances."

"The academy has decided on the following punishment: if Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi's Martial Souls are left with hidden damage, Tang Wulin must forge enough rare metal for them to design One-Word Battle Armor before graduating from the lower grades, as compensation. If no hidden damage remains, he won't need to do that. In addition, for the rest of his time at the academy, Tang Wulin must refine one piece of Hundred Refinement metal for the academy each month."

Yu Zhen had clearly looked into Tang Wulin and even knew he was good at forging. Still, these punishments really weren't much of a burden to him.

Xie Xie, on the other hand, wasn't happy.

"What? The academy's obviously using this as an excuse to get Wulin to forge for them for free! Won't that get in the way of him forging me mecha parts later?"

Tang Wulin smiled and patted Xie Xie on the shoulder. "It's fine. The academy's been fair. Refining one piece of Hundred Refinement metal a month is no big deal for me. It won't get in the way of forging your mecha parts later."

"That's good, that's good." Xie Xie couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Is all you care about your mecha?" Gu Yue gave Xie Xie a hard kick in the butt and said crossly.

"Ow, ow, ow! I'm not completely recovered yet, Gu Yue!" Xie Xie hopped forward, pulling a comical face.