As soon as Wu Zhangkong left, Xie Xie could no longer hold back.
He threw his arms around Lu Chen, his voice trembling uncontrollably, his tone filled with excitement and shock. "Brother Lu! A Titled Douluo! That Uncle Long from yesterday was actually a Titled Douluo! And a level ninety-eight assault-type Titled Douluo at that! You really kept that buried deep!"
Squeezed so tightly he could barely breathe, Lu Chen helplessly patted his back. "All right, all right, calm down. Hurry back and cultivate. Didn't you say you were about to break through to level twenty? If you don't work harder, we'll all overtake you."
"Right! Cultivation!" Xie Xie instantly came to his senses and released Lu Chen, the excitement on his face instantly replaced by determination. "I've got to cultivate hard! I'll break through to level twenty as soon as possible!"
With that, he pulled Lu Chen and Tang Wulin along, running quickly toward the dormitory.
Watching their retreating figures, Lu Chen shook his head helplessly, then turned and headed toward Wu Zhangkong's dormitory.
After taking care of everything, Lu Chen returned to his dormitory, sat cross-legged on his bed, and soon entered a state of cultivation.
Yet deep within his sea of consciousness, a horrific scene suddenly appeared before his eyes.
It was a blood-colored battlefield, where an enormous black dragon was being besieged by countless humans.
Its body was covered in densely packed wounds, and its black dragon blood stained the entire land red.
Those humans' swords were also covered in dragon blood, their faces filled with excited, cruel smiles as they cheered wildly nearby.
Looking at this scene, Lu Chen suddenly felt waves of despair and loneliness in his heart.
It was a despair that seeped into his very bones, as though Nidhogg's memories had passed through the bloodline into his heart.
He sank into this despair, unable to pull himself free.
At that moment, Lu Chen had absolutely no idea that the sleeping Nidhogg within his body had quietly awakened.
It felt that absorbing the Golden Dragon King Bloodline leaking from Tang Wulin every day was far too unsatisfying.
So it quietly slipped into Tang Wulin's body and arrived at the seals on the Golden Dragon King Bloodline.
Looking at the seal that glowed with faint golden light, a gleam of greed flashed through Nidhogg's eyes.
It opened its mouth and began devouring that seal, mouthful by mouthful.
That seal contained rich Sea God divine power, as well as the sealed Golden Dragon King Bloodline. To Nidhogg, these powers were all immensely nourishing.
Nidhogg ate with boundless delight, and soon devoured every last trace of the Sea God divine power and the sealed Golden Dragon King Bloodline within the first seal.
It burped, patted its belly in satisfaction, then quickly returned to Lu Chen's body and went back to sleep.
And just like that, Nidhogg silently devoured the first seal on the Golden Dragon King Bloodline within Tang Wulin's body.
His body showed no change whatsoever.
His consciousness noticed nothing either.
Only that seal disappeared without a trace.
Meanwhile, Old Tang, imprisoned deep within Tang Wulin's sea of consciousness, could only watch it all happen, without the slightest ability to resist.
His divine sense had already been severely injured by Nidhogg, and now he was like a homeless dog, confined within a cramped space.
Even more miserably, he had to endure the frenzied torment of the Golden Dragon King's last remaining shred of consciousness at every moment.
That consciousness, filled with destruction and fury, seemed to pour all its hatred over its own death onto him, each assault weakening his divine sense further.
However, no one had expected that Nidhogg's almost plundering act of devouring would, in a sense, indirectly preserve Tang Wulin's life.
The Golden Dragon King's bloodline was tyrannical to the extreme, and the power beneath the first seal was about to exceed the limits of what Tang Wulin's body could withstand.
Had Nidhogg not swallowed all the Sea God divine power and bloodline power within that seal in one gulp, it likely would not have been long before Tang Wulin's bloodline power ran out of control, causing his body to burst and killing him outright.
One could only say that the gears of fate had already veered completely off their original track the moment Lu Chen appeared.
As for the Dragon God, it might never be able to reappear.
The following afternoon, the sunshine was just right.
Abandoning his usual cultivation-crazed behavior, Xie Xie wore an irrepressible smile as he mysteriously tugged Lu Chen straight toward Eastsea City's largest auction house.
"Brother Lu, don't underestimate this place!" Xie Xie said excitedly as they walked. "I heard they've got some good stuff up for auction today. We might even find Spirit Souls that suit us!"
Lu Chen let himself be dragged along helplessly, the corner of his mouth twitching, but said nothing.
Once they entered the auction house, Lu Chen swept his gaze around, and most of the interest faded from his eyes.
Inside the auction hall, quite a few exhibits sat on the display stands, including spiritual treasures of various ages, decent-quality forging materials, and some low-grade Soul Guidance Devices.
The array looked dazzling, but as far as Lu Chen was concerned, he lacked none of these things.
As a member of the War God Hall, he could exchange points in its exchange repository for things much better than these, at prices far below market rates.
Not to mention that he was also a promising talent the Blacksmith's Association was focusing on nurturing, and Master Zhen Hua would occasionally give him some excellent forging materials.
There was also the pile of things Zhang Huanyun had left him earlier; he had not even had time to finish sorting through everything yet.
The things in there were all very good, and there was also a letter.
An apology letter from his director mom.
She said she regretted it, regretted being stubborn back then and thinking she did not need the War God Hall's help.
That had left him with only a ten-year Soul Ring for his first Soul Ring.
To Lu Chen, however, that ten-year Soul Ring was not important.
By comparison, the things in this auction house were not only a little inferior in quality to what his director mom and Zhang Huanyun had given him, but also considerably more expensive than exchanging for them at the War God Hall.
To put it bluntly, the things here might be treasures to others, but to him, they did not even qualify as chicken ribs.
At noon, the group hurried back to school to eat.
Although Tang Wulin could no longer eat much now, Lu Chen was still as ferociously ravenous as ever.
Though he might no longer be poor.
Lu Chen ate half a steamed bun in one bite and half a bowl of soup in two mouthfuls.
Sitting opposite him, Xie Xie stared with wide eyes, his throat involuntarily bobbing, even though he had just eaten his fill himself.
Yet Lu Chen's way of eating had lured out all his hunger worms; he wanted to eat, but his stomach told him he could not fit anything else in.
"Seriously, Brother Lu, is your stomach a bottomless pit?" Xie Xie complained, caught between laughter and tears. "You eat as much in one meal as I do in a whole day!"
Without even raising his head, his mouth stuffed with food, Lu Chen replied indistinctly, "Obviously. If I don't eat my fill, where am I supposed to get the strength to cultivate? Where am I supposed to get the strength to beat people up?"
The moment he finished speaking, he grabbed another steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth.