"Congratulations, challenger, on passing the second test. The third will be prepared for you immediately. Test difficulty: nightmare."
A dazzling light flashed. Before Jiang Mingyuan appeared a handsome boy whose features were almost delicate. With powder-blue and pink hair and bright, liquid eyes, the boy looked somewhat androgynous.
Jiang Mingyuan propped up his chin with one hand and studied the figure carefully.
"Doesn't look like Tang Wulin."
Standing opposite him was Tang Wutong, the daughter of Great God King Tang. More precisely, she should still have been Wang Dong during this period. After all, ten thousand years later, people could only imagine what those historical figures had looked like based on archival records.
Unlike the previous two opponents, who had possessed two soul rings, Wang Dong had three rise beneath her feet: one yellow and two purple. Her soul ring configuration alone already surpassed Jiang Mingyuan's.
"Now the pressure's on. I'd better make this quick." Considering that even Oscar had been strengthened, Wang Dong was probably more than a simple three-ring opponent.
Jiang Mingyuan beat his wings and shot high into the air. Flames tinged with blood-red continuously poured from his body, gradually forming an enormous phantom phoenix behind him.
Wang Dong also spread her gorgeous golden wings, and a small, gleaming black hammer actually appeared in her hand. She was using her twin martial souls simultaneously.
"Phoenix Roaring Sky Strike!"
The enormous phantom phoenix hurtled toward Wang Dong at tremendous speed. Faced with the head-on charge, she had no time to dodge. The Clear Sky Hammer in her hand kept growing, and she held it across her body, trying to block the strike.
Behind the phantom phoenix, Jiang Mingyuan held a silver sword burning with black flames. While Wang Dong was occupied with fending off the phantom phoenix and had no strength left to fight back, he slashed through her neck.
Triple kill!
Just as Jiang Mingyuan was waiting to see who would be next to take a beating, that sensation of weightlessness suddenly returned, and he was kicked straight out.
When he opened his eyes again, Tang Wulin, Wu Changkong, and the others were already standing before him.
"How did it go? How many tests did you pass?"
Wu Changkong asked coldly. Among the others, only Tang Wulin had barely managed to pass the second test. Jiang Mingyuan's test had lasted the longest, so perhaps he had gone further than Tang Wulin.
Jiang Mingyuan slowly held up three fingers.
"Three!"
"Holy crap, I nearly lost the first one!" Xie Xie clutched his head, seemingly unable to believe the gap between people could be so enormous.
"Brother Yuan, you're amazing! I only passed two."
Wu Changkong and the others left the special space and entered a room that resembled an office. They sat on the sofa, and Wu Changkong began explaining things to them.
"Have you heard of the Tang Sect?"
The Tang Sect. In this era, it had gradually withdrawn from the public spotlight, but it was conducting arms deals behind the scenes.
"We're currently inside a technology company owned by the Tang Sect, called Xuanshi Tang Sect Technology Co., Ltd. The Tang Sect developed a special training method-the Hall of Heroes, where you just took your tests. Your opponents were Tang Sect members who had once served as members of the Shrek Seven Devils."
Apart from Jiang Mingyuan, none of them could hide their surprise. In other words, their opponents had all been renowned historical figures. No wonder they couldn't beat them.
"Then my opponent was Cauldron Douluo Xiao Xiao, who lived ten thousand years ago, in the same era as Spirit Ice Huo Yuhao." With Jiang Mingyuan around, Tang Wulin knew quite a bit about the Douluo II era. The moment he thought of the great cauldron in that green-haired girl's hands, he realized who his opponent had been.
"Teacher Wu, my opponent's martial soul seemed to be a rabbit, and she was really beautiful. Do you know who she was?"
Wu Changkong thought for a moment.
At present, the Hall of Heroes contained only the first-generation Shrek Seven Devils and the generation from Huo Yuhao's era ten thousand years ago. Among those fourteen, two had the Soft Bone Rabbit martial soul.
"Your opponent might have been Soft Bone Douluo Xiao Wu from twenty thousand years ago, or Soft Rabbit Douluo Jiang Nannan from ten thousand years ago. What else do you remember? Their specific appearance, for example, or what they wore?"
Xie Xie scratched his head and searched his memory. He had taken quite a beating, and aside from remembering that she was beautiful, he really hadn't retained much about his opponent's appearance.
"I just remember she was pretty, with long hair hanging loose down to her waist."
"Then it was Soft Rabbit Douluo Jiang Nannan," Jiang Mingyuan said outright. "Soft Bone Douluo wore her hair in a long scorpion-tail braid."
"My opponent was tall and muscular, with somewhat dark skin, and he was wearing a whole pile of soul tools. That must have been Destruction Douluo He Caitou, right?" Whenever Zhang Yangzi thought of his opponent, he couldn't help feeling a little regretful. His abilities were actually quite effective against soul engineers who attacked from a distance, but he couldn't withstand He Caitou's blanket fire, which simply ignored his attempts to obstruct his line of sight.
"Then my opponent was Black Tortoise Douluo Xu Sanshi." Compared with offense, Wang Jinxi's Bone Dragon King was actually more adept at defense. Two tortoise shells clashing really did make for a difficult fight.
Finally, all five of them turned their gazes toward Jiang Mingyuan. Tang Wulin shifted his bottom a little, moving closer to him. His face was full of curiosity. "Brother Yuan, who were your opponents?"
"Well, I don't know why you each fought the same person, but I had three opponents. They were Sausage Douluo Oscar, White Tiger Douluo Dai Mubai, and finally Dragon Butterfly Douluo Tang Wutong. I thought there would be a fourth match, but after I beat Tang Wutong, I was teleported straight out."
Everyone, Wu Changkong included, was surprised. Setting Sausage Douluo aside for the moment-since they didn't know the Hall of Heroes had given him cheats-the other two were both top-tier power attack system soul masters.
"Brother Yuan! You're incredible!" Little stars sparkled in Tang Wulin's eyes. He knew that Cauldron Douluo excelled more at defense and control than offense. Yet the two opponents Brother Yuan had fought were genuine power attack system soul masters.
Wu Changkong nodded. His judgment had indeed been correct. Even at Shrek Academy, Jiang Mingyuan's talent would rank among the very best.
"In fact, whether or not you passed these tests has no bearing on the results of your end-of-term assessment. Besides assessing each of your abilities, I also had a small personal motive for bringing you here."
"You've all seen it yourselves. With equal levels of strength, the abilities of these Tang Sect forebears were not to be underestimated. If you want to become as strong as they were, you can join the Tang Sect. Once you join, you can learn the Tang Sect's secret transmission cultivation techniques."
Tang Wulin and the others instantly grew excited. Countless marvelous legends about the Tang Sect circulated across the continent. Compared with the Spirit Pagoda, the Tang Sect had a far deeper history. Compared with Shrek, the Tang Sect's history was even more sweeping and tumultuous.
"We're willing," Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi said in unison.
It was like having an employee at one of the world's top three companies happen to offer you a leg up. Neither Zhang Yangzi nor Wang Jinxi came from a particularly well-off family. If they really managed to join the Tang Sect, they could brag about it for the rest of their lives.
Out of the others' sight, Tang Wulin quietly reached out and hooked Jiang Mingyuan's finger with his own.
He gently brought his mouth close to Jiang Mingyuan's ear and whispered, "Brother Yuan, let's join too."