"How could I?" Long Yuan patted Gu Yuena on the shoulder and answered with righteous indignation.
"You'd better not have!" Gu Yuena rolled her eyes. She was now one hundred percent certain that this guy had been thinking about something indecent just now.
Long Yuan laughed awkwardly and quickly changed the subject. "The Class Promotion Tournament is starting soon, right? Are you taking part?"
"The Class Promotion Tournament?" Gu Yuena shook her head. "Forget it. You want me to bully those kids?"
"Bully kids? You're slandering me! If you want to be technical about it, you're the same age as them now." Long Yuan said it as if it were only natural.
From a certain point of view, he was right. After all, Gu Yuena really was only that old after taking human form.
Seeing how strongly he wanted her to participate, Gu Yuena stopped refusing and asked instead, "You want me to join this Class Promotion Tournament so badly. You're not hoping to watch me fight Tang Wulin, are you?"
After thinking it over, she figured that the only person who could make Long Yuan so insistent was Tang Wulin, whose body sealed Long Yuan's bloodline and Divine Core.
"Of course." Long Yuan nodded with a grin. "Don't underestimate him too much. If he beats you, will you still have the face to see me afterward?"
"Hmph! How could a mere human possibly be a match for me?" Gu Yuena lifted her chin slightly, looking thoroughly disdainful.
"True. The power inside him hasn't awakened yet. Aside from having a portion of my bloodline power, he's just an ordinary Blue Silver Grass Soul Master for now." Long Yuan thought it over. As things stood, as long as Gu Yuena didn't underestimate him, Tang Wulin—the half-baked stat monster—could only be kited around by her.
When all was said and done, Tang Wulin's stats were still too low.
Gu Yuena suddenly asked, curious, "Why do you think so highly of Tang Wulin? Logically, you only need to break through the seal. You don't have to take him on as your disciple and genuinely teach him, do you?"
She hadn't finished speaking, but from what she'd seen these past few days, Long Yuan truly seemed intent on raising Tang Wulin as his own disciple.
Long Yuan rolled his eyes. He couldn't exactly say that he'd had a pretty good impression of Tang Wulin in the early part of his previous life, could he?
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Given the situation right now, aside from you and me, Tang Wulin is probably the most talented person on the Douluo Continent. Never mind my bloodline power and the Sea God Bloodline hidden inside him. Just his status as the Child of Nature, blessed by the Goddess of Life at birth, is enough to carry him to the peak of this plane."
The Blue Silver Emperor was already an exceptionally powerful plant-type Martial Soul. Combined with his status as the Child of Nature, the two complemented each other perfectly.
"Besides, don't you think it'd be delightful to turn a pair of former enemies, father and son, against each other?"
Gu Yuena shook her head. She still couldn't understand Long Yuan's thinking. But whatever. He was her dear older brother, after all.
Still, she offered a kindly warning. "You're so sure you can turn that father and son against each other?"
"Heh. Of course. Tang San was so clever that he came up with this so-called Ten Thousand Year Plan. Wouldn't it be a waste not to make use of it?"
"Ten Thousand Year Plan?"
"You'll find out later. For now, let me touch your hair a couple of times."
Long Yuan held Gu Yuena's silver hair in his hand, looking content. "Your hair is so soft. Why don't you take my advice and try a different hairstyle—"
"Long Yuan! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"I hereby declare the Eastsea Academy Class Promotion Tournament officially open!"
Standing on the newly built competition platform, Long Hengxu announced it in a loud voice.
Calling it a competition platform was a bit of a stretch. It was really just a ten-centimeter-thick metal plate laid over the sports field, with a few soul-guidance shield generators set up around it. It was crude, but more than enough for the Intermediate Division's Baby Cup.
The first day of the tournament was scheduled for after school. Plenty of students had finished classes, but hardly any had come to watch.
As the saying went, there wasn't much appeal in a Baby Cup match between Class Five and Class Four, at least for most people.
Wu Zhangkong had already lined up with the students of Class Five. The Class Four homeroom teacher, Kong Hanwen, arrived quite late. He had never gotten along with Wu Zhangkong, so he had deliberately shown up late to give him a little warning.
The short, stout Kong Hanwen walked over to Wu Zhangkong, his face wreathed in smiles. "Teacher Wu, your class is lined up so neatly! I could never manage that. Those little brats of mine have gotten far too unruly. I'll have to rely on you in this Class Promotion Tournament. We might not manage to become Class Three, so in the end, we'll be counting on your class to hold on to Class Four! Ha ha!"
Wu Zhangkong glanced at him, then ignored him as if he were thin air, fixing his eyes on the side of the competition platform.
Two people sat there, pressed close together: Long Yuan and Gu Yuena.
Kong Hanwen followed his gaze and naturally spotted the pair as well. He lowered his voice. "Teacher Wu, are you jealous? I suppose so. After all, Teacher Long has a genius like her in his class."
In fact, all the teachers, Kong Hanwen included, were extremely envious of Long Yuan. After all, Long Yuan didn't even have to teach students at the academy, and he was also close to Gu Yuena, a genius.
Kong Hanwen had read her file too. There was no doubt she was a genius who could at least become a Titled Douluo. Having a student like that was a source of pride for teachers like them.
Wu Zhangkong finally moved. He looked at Kong Hanwen impassively. "Is that what you wanted to say? It's a tragedy for the students of Class Four to have a teacher like you."
"You!" Kong Hanwen's face flushed red as he started to retort angrily.
"Enough. The match is about to begin."
Wu Zhangkong gestured toward the other side, where Long Hengxu was urging them on.
Kong Hanwen had naturally heard Long Hengxu's urging too. At that moment, he felt as if he'd thrown a punch into cotton, all his strength coming to nothing.
He took several deep breaths before saying through gritted teeth, "Fine! We'll see about that!"
Outside the arena, Long Yuan and Gu Yuena had seen the whole farce.
Gu Yuena shook her head and sighed. "Looks like not all the teachers at Eastsea Academy are good ones."
Just as Wu Zhangkong had said, Class Four had drawn the short straw with a teacher like Kong Hanwen, who couldn't even control his emotions.
It was easy to imagine that if Class Four lost this match, Kong Hanwen wouldn't show them much kindness from then on.
Long Yuan, however, simply took Gu Yuena's hand. "It seems you've misunderstood what being a teacher means. Teachers are people too. They have their own joys and sorrows, just like anyone else. There's no higher or lower profession. If anything, plenty of people in the Douluo Federation probably use the teaching profession as a cover while doing things that outrage both heaven and man."
While Long Yuan and Gu Yuena were talking, Wu Zhangkong confirmed the lineup for Class Five: Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Yun Xiao, who was a support-type Soul Master.