Ouyang Zixin

"This..."

Seeing the scene before him, Wu Zhangkong's pupils had already widened. He stared at Tang Wulin in disbelief, so stunned that he could barely form a coherent sentence.

Tang Wulin's Soul Ring configuration could only be described as... invincible!

They were neither white, yellow, purple, black, nor even red, yet they were extraordinarily shocking. Their oppressive aura was far stronger than even a hundred-thousand-year red Soul Ring.

Because they were golden Soul Rings!

"Golden Soul Rings..."

"Tang Wulin, what is going on with you?"

After a moment, Wu Zhangkong came back to his senses. Looking at the boy before him with shock written across his face, he could not help but ask.

As a student of the continent's number one academy, he naturally knew a great deal about powerful Soul Rings. Among them, golden Soul Rings were especially significant!

Legend had it that Tang San, the Sea God and Shura God, master of the Tang Sect and one of the original Shrek Seven Monsters, had ultimately obtained a red-gold Soul Ring and ascended to become a God Rank powerhouse.

Golden Soul Rings had thus become synonymous with truly immense power, but the chances of them appearing were exceedingly slim—

After Tang San, only Huo Yuhao, the Spirit Pagoda's founder who had risen from humble beginnings ten thousand years ago and become the strongest Soul Adept in history, had achieved such a feat. Tang Wulin before him seemed to be the third.

"Besides those strange Soul Rings, the pressure from this Martial Soul..."

"Among all the Martial Souls I have ever seen, there truly isn't a single one that can surpass this dragon."

Looking at the Dragon King phantom that had appeared behind Tang Wulin, Wu Zhangkong silently marveled. He felt that Tang Wulin's aura was anything but ordinary.

Even as a Soul Master with a weapon-type Martial Soul, he could not help feeling suppressed by it. If it were a beast-type Martial Soul...

"I wonder what Master's Martial Soul would be like under the pressure of his Martial Soul?"

Wu Zhangkong fell into reminiscence, his thoughts gradually drifting away before he finally thought this.

His teacher's Martial Soul was also a true dragon. He was a Titled Douluo-level powerhouse and an elder of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, possessing formidable strength.

But if they were comparing Martial Souls alone, his teacher truly seemed inferior to Tang Wulin!

"I'm not entirely sure either."

"My Second Martial Soul is dragon-type. Its Soul Rings weren't obtained by absorbing Soul Spirits; they appeared on their own whenever I reached a bottleneck."

"I don't really understand it either. Perhaps it's some special ability of this Martial Soul?"

Tang Wulin gently shook his head at those words. After thinking for a moment, he answered as such.

Naturally, he could not reveal the Golden Dragon King's Bloodline. Besides, even if he did tell Wu Zhangkong, the man probably would not understand.

People of this era did not understand concepts such as the Dragon God or Dragon King. Rather than leaving him baffled, it was better to attribute it to... mystery.

"The world is vast, and strange things abound. What's so strange about Soul Rings appearing on their own?"

That was what Tang Wulin thought.

As a transmigrator, he obviously did not find anything wrong with it. But if he thought about it carefully, if he had been a native of Douluo Continent...

Seeing Soul Rings appear out of nowhere—and legendary golden ones at that—would probably have left him frozen in shock on the spot.

"Is that so..."

"I understand."

Wu Zhangkong nodded as though he had gained some insight.

Yet the shock and confusion in his heart did not lessen in the slightest.

Understand? What the hell did he understand!

"His Martial Soul is extraordinarily powerful, and perhaps Soul Rings appearing once his strength reaches a certain point can be explained. But especially those legendary golden ones..."

"Even among every student Shrek Academy has recruited throughout its history, there may never have been such a monstrous talent."

A glint flashed in Wu Zhangkong's eyes as he sighed inwardly.

"Tang Wulin, go back first."

"Tomorrow, you and Xie Xie will train together. Rest today."

After pondering for a while, he looked toward Tang Wulin and said this.

"Yes, Teacher."

Tang Wulin quietly responded and slowly left the area.

"In three years, he'll be around twelve."

"That's exactly the age when Shrek Academy recruits students..."

Watching Tang Wulin's retreating figure, Wu Zhangkong could not help forming an idea in his heart.

Meanwhile, Tang Wulin left the teaching building and slowly headed toward the training field... Yes, the training field.

Once he arrived, he found himself with little to do. After thinking for a moment, he began a rather strange activity: running.

Running was an academy exercise that could be said to have run through the timelines of Douluo Continent One, Two, and Three. It seemed every protagonist of Douluo had been unable to escape it, and had changed because of running?

"This running."

"It probably won't help me much."

As Tang Wulin ran, he thought this to himself.

Perhaps weighted running like in the original story could indeed strengthen a Soul Master's body and improve their physique, but for him now...

No matter how one looked at it, unless his bloodline evolved into that of the Dragon God, someone with the Golden Dragon King's Bloodline like him likely had no room left to improve physically.

After all, throughout all of Douluo Continent, there had never been a physical body stronger than the Golden Dragon King's. He might still have room to grow stronger, but he definitely would not grow stronger by running.

"Still."

"I really haven't run seriously much since awakening my Martial Soul. This isn't bad, actually..."

Tang Wulin enjoyed the feeling of running as he said this to himself.

At that moment, not far from him, a girl was also running quietly. She was a tall, slender young woman, exceptionally beautiful, with delicate features and large, watery eyes.

She looked to be fourteen or fifteen. Her long blue hair was tied into a ponytail, and her already well-developed figure was accentuated by a pink tracksuit.

Her skin was white and tender like congealed cream, and a white towel hung around her long, fair neck as she ran around the training field as well.

"This is the Donghai Academy beauty from the original story."

"Ouyang Zixin?"

Tang Wulin looked over and sized up her appearance. Combining it with the character from the original story, he roughly guessed her identity.

Although there had been very little description of Ouyang Zixin, she had still been a girl who influenced the original host early in the story. To put it simply...

Before getting together with Gu Yue, she was the person the protagonist confessed to.

"She really is a very beautiful girl."

"But compared to our Na'er... Na'er will definitely be prettier than her in the future."

The Silver Dragon Necklace around Tang Wulin's neck glimmered as he could not help thinking this to himself.

"I remember this girl didn't have enough talent in the original story. Faced with the genius protagonist, she ultimately rejected his confession and watched him leave with tears in her eyes."

"It could be considered an ill-fated connection. Maybe in this life, I shouldn't..."

Tang Wulin pondered inwardly, feeling somewhat helpless.

Since they were destined not to end up together anyway, perhaps he should simply...

"Hello, um..."

But just then, the girl jogged up to him. She was breathing heavily as she spoke softly.

"Can we... get to know each other?"