Inheritance

After the brief loss of control, Tang Wulin's emotions slowly ebbed away like the tide, leaving behind longing made ever clearer by tears and a sense of relieved calm. He straightened up, wiped the tears from his face, and looked somewhat embarrassedly at Gu Yuena, who had silently stayed by his side and offered him wordless support.

Gu Yuena merely smiled softly. Her violet eyes held understanding and tenderness as she gently squeezed his hand. "Feeling better?"

"Mm." Tang Wulin nodded and took a deep breath of the fresh air within the academy, as though exhaling the heavy sorrow along with it. "Come on. Let's keep looking."

The two no longer concealed themselves, though they did not fully reveal their true appearances either. Like two inconspicuous breezes, they continued strolling side by side through Eastsea Academy. They passed beneath old tree-lined paths, went around the shimmering artificial lake, and eventually arrived at the academy's core area—the cultivation district.

Its overall layout still retained the same framework as it had ten thousand years ago. A huge circular training ground stood surrounded by cultivation halls of various functions. Yet in the details, everything had changed beyond recognition. The crude training facilities of the past had been replaced by advanced Soul Tool equipment. Even more strikingly, several simulated cultivation zones had been built around the edge of the grounds—an area of blazing lava, a frigid ice-field realm, a small forest thick with vegetation, and a thunder zone filled with violent lightning elements...

At that moment, hundreds of young students were carrying out basic physical training and Soul Power coordination exercises under the guidance of their instructors. Sweat poured from them, while their childish faces showed focus and perseverance. Their chants, gasps, and the faint hum of colliding Soul Power intertwined, forming a scene brimming with vitality and hope.

As they watched those energetic figures, a deep nostalgia surfaced involuntarily in both Tang Wulin's and Gu Yuena's eyes. Once, they too had been like these children, sweating here as they chased dreams of becoming stronger. Those days, though difficult, had been pure and filled with youthful passion. Like old yellowed photographs, they gleamed with warm light in the depths of memory.

Just then, a Soul Power fluctuation that was not particularly strong but exceptionally condensed and focused came from a relatively isolated small simulated cultivation ground beside the training field. It was only at the Soul Elder level, but it carried a faint familiarity that made Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena turn their eyes toward it.

They followed the fluctuation with their gaze.

Inside that small training ground were only four children, three boys and one girl, all appearing to be around eleven or twelve years old. They were engaged in an intense sparring session. Their moves were still immature, but their eyes were unusually resolute, and their coordination was quite orderly. A male instructor who looked to be around thirty, with a stern expression and sharp eyes, stood at the edge of the field with his hands behind his back, scrutinizing their every movement with a piercing gaze.

After a while, the instructor clapped his hands to signal the end of the sparring. The four children immediately withdrew their stances and quickly lined up. Though they were panting heavily, their postures remained straight, their gazes fixed uniformly upon the instructor, filled with respect and anticipation.

The instructor's sharp gaze slowly swept over the children's youthful yet determined faces. He spoke in a deep voice. It was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable authority and clearly reached Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena's ears from not far away.

"You four are the most outstanding among this year's new students at Eastsea Academy in talent, temperament, and perseverance. Starting today, your former class assignments are revoked."

He paused, watching their eyes light up at once, then continued, "I will personally take charge of all your cultivation plans for the next several years. You guessed correctly. The class you are joining is Eastsea Academy's long-standing class with the greatest investment of resources and the strictest demands—Class Zero!"

The moment the words "Class Zero" were spoken, the four children's breathing noticeably quickened, and uncontrollable excitement and pride appeared on their faces. Even the little boy standing at the front, who seemed the most steady and calm, had his tightly clenched fist tremble slightly.

The instructor's tone grew more solemn. "Remember, entering Class Zero does not mean you have already succeeded. This is only the beginning, a starting point toward a higher stage. You have only one task—cultivate with everything you have and uncover all your potential! The academy will provide you with the best resources and the harshest tempering. There is only one goal—"

His gaze swept across every young face as though it were tangible. "Before you turn fifteen, obtain the qualifications for Shrek Academy's entrance examination, and strive to gain admission!"

His tone softened slightly, carrying a hint of encouragement. "As long as they persevere and have a bit of necessary luck, sixty percent of Class Zero's senior students ultimately succeed in stepping through Shrek Academy's gates! That is the ultimate purpose of Class Zero! Tell me, do you have confidence?!"

"Yes!!!"

The four children shouted at the top of their lungs, pouring all their strength into it. Their youthful voices cracked slightly with excitement, but they were filled with a determination to stake everything on the future and boundless yearning.

"We will definitely enter Shrek Academy!" The little boy at the front spoke with exceptional conviction. An icy blue glint seemed to flash through his black eyes.

Not far away, Tang Wulin, who had taken in all of this, could not help but smile softly. There was no mockery or condescension in that smile, only the gratification of watching one's own juniors strive to grow and... profound nostalgia.

"Looking at them feels like seeing how we were in the beginning." He spoke quietly to Gu Yuena, his gaze distant. "Back then, we were their age too. We were just as... ignorant of the immensity of the world, yet full of drive. Do you remember? Back then, we also said..."

The corners of Gu Yuena's lips curved upward as well. She finished his words, her voice carrying a rare touch of Gu Yue's sweet innocence and remembrance. "'We're going to apply to Shrek Academy together!'"

The two smiled at each other. Ten thousand years seemed to compress into that single moment, and the pure promise of their youth, the passion of fighting side by side, crossed time and space to gently knock upon their hearts.

Tang Wulin's gaze fell once more on the little boy at the front. The child possessed a special temperament—steady, resolute, sunny, with clear and focused eyes.

Was it an illusion? Or perhaps...

A thought quietly sprouted in his heart like a seed.

He stared at the child, his eyes deepening. The next instant, an invisible and intangible divine consciousness, unnoticed by anyone, spread out soundlessly like the gentlest moonlight. It precisely and gently touched the edge of the little boy's spiritual world.

The child's spiritual world was still tender, like a newly budding flower. Tang Wulin's divine consciousness stirred no ripples and did not harm him in the slightest. He was merely like a passerby, leaving something behind—a seed formed purely from his divine consciousness, containing the embryonic intent of "tenacity," "protection," and "ultimate ice," as well as... an exceedingly faint trace of the essence of Wu Changkong's Skyfrost Sword intent.

This seed would slowly nurture the child's spirit and will as he grew, while that trace of sword-intent essence would subtly influence his understanding and insight into the sword. This was not forcing a seedling to grow, but lighting a faint yet potentially crucial guiding lamp for his future path.

After finishing all this, Tang Wulin withdrew his divine consciousness as though nothing had happened. He took Gu Yuena's hand and said softly, "Let's go."

Gu Yuena's violet eyes flickered. She seemed to have noticed his subtle action just now, but she asked nothing and merely nodded obediently.

As they had arrived, the two figures silently blended into the academy's surroundings and quietly departed without attracting anyone's attention.

Not long after they left, the little boy at the front of the training ground seemed to sense something. He subconsciously lowered his head and looked at his palm.

The next instant, he froze.

A delicate little sword phantom was quietly floating above his palm, though he had no idea when it had appeared. The entire sword seemed carved from ice. It was only an inch or so long, crystalline and translucent, emitting a faint icy blue glow and a barely perceptible sharpness that chilled the soul.

"What is this...?" The little boy's eyes were full of shock and confusion. He tried to touch it, but the phantom ice sword instantly merged into his palm and vanished, leaving behind only a cool sensation and an extremely vague yet incomparably profound thought concerning the sword in his mind.

He raised his head and looked around in confusion, but saw only the stern instructor, the vast sky, and the smiling girl beside him. He gently shook his head.

His martial soul was called the Skyfrost Sword!

Far in the distance, Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena had already left Eastsea Academy.

"What did you give him?" Gu Yuena finally asked softly.

Tang Wulin looked into the distance, his gaze seeming to pierce through the clouds and see an even farther future. A faint, meaningful smile rested on his lips. "A gift from the past. Perhaps it will make his future path a little smoother."

He did not know what kind of flower that seed would bloom into, nor where that trace of sword intent would ultimately lead. But he believed that child with the determined eyes deserved a better possibility.

And that quietly appearing icy blue little sword had been silently buried in the soil of time, waiting for the day it would break through the earth and write a legend belonging to the Sword God of a new era.