Chương 50: Meeting Wong Wushuang Again!

When the tough-looking, black haired boy introduced himself as Tang Wulin, Jian Wang's eyes widened in shock. He stared at the boy and couldn't stop himself from blurting out In surprise.

"You're Tang Wulin, from the Blacksmith Association? The disciple of Saint Blacksmith Chen Mu?"

Tang Wulin, who had just shaken Sheng Feilong's hand, looked at Jian Wang with a confused expression. He didn't recall knowing this giant fellow.

"That's right, Chen Mu is my Master. I'm sorry, but do we know each other?"

Jian Wang's face fell as he looked at Tang Wulin with a slight frown and spoke in a grieving expression.

"No, we don't. Of course you don't know me." he then faked an exaggerated sigh before speaking up once again.

"I'm Jian Wang. Saint Blacksmith Jian Wushuang, an old rival of your Master, is my father. That old man had forced me into child labor since I was 9 years old in order to become a better blacksmith then you and therefore beat your Master. Every time you broke one of those 'youngest rank blah blacksmith of the continent', my training increased again!"

Tang Wulin stiffened, not knowing what to say after the former's speech. Jian Wang continued to speak with a tear rolling down his round face.

"You're the cause of all the grieve my father made me go through! If it wasn't for my good brother, Sheng Feilong, this frail heart of mine would have been broken."

Everyone looked at Jian Wang with pity, causing Tang Wulin to awkwardly scratched his head. Meanwhile, Sheng Feilong stared at Jian Wang with an annoyed expression.

"Stop your nonsense already. If it wasn't for your father pushing you, you'd still be sleeping through most of the afternoon every day."

Jian Wang flinched and awkwardly laughed, quickly averting his eyes from Sheng Feilong and instead looking at Tang Wulin's group.

"Anyways, I think I still don't know all of your names?"

As Tang Wulin had already introduced himself, he didn't do so again. Instead the second boy of his group walked in front of them. He was about the same height as Tang Wulin, while still slightly shorter than Sheng Feilong. He was quite handsome as he had short blond hair, fair white skin and a pair of slightly sunken, deep-green eyes. The boy introduced himself as Xie Xie, causing Jian Wang to instinctively reply, telling the former not to thank him. The boy frowned and spoke with an annoyed expression.

"I'm not thanking you! Xie Xie is my name!"

Everyone giggled lightly and just as Xie Xie was about to say something again, one of the females grabbed his arm and pulled him back. She looked younger than the rest and was also considerably shorter, but her beauty stunned Jian Wang and Sheng Feilong slightly. They didn't quite notice her before, but when they looked at her this time, they couldn't help but be taken aback; Long, light blue hair tied into twintails paired with big eyes of the same colour, snow white skin and a cute face. She slightly giggled as Xie Xie grumbled about her pulling him back before she introduced herself as well.

"Don't mind Xie Xie, he just doesn't like when people get his name mixed up! I'm Xu Xiaoyan, nice to meet you."

Jian Wang looked at her with a slightly silly expression, causing Xu Xiaoyan to become slightly uncomfortable, while Sheng Feilong simply nodded towards her with a smile before looking at the last of their group; a young girl, that looked the same age as Sheng Feilong and the rest with long, straight black hair and matching eyes that seemed full of life. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but had a calm and delicate disposition. She didn't seem too interested in Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang, but still responded Sheng Feilong's look with a nonchalant tone and a slight nod.

"Gu Yue."

Sheng Feilong didn't mind her nonchalance and simply returned the nod. Afterwards, the female teacher that accompanied Tang Wulin's group impatiently stood at the side with a light frown.

"If you've all introduced yourselves enough, then let's head to the eighth trial now."

The teacher then led them to the room where the next trial would be held. On the way there, Tang Wulin seemed to think about how they'd do the next trials, and Sheng Feilong slightly nodded to himself. He really has what it takes to be their leader. Even in these hard exams, he's taking his friends situation into his own considerations. A moment later, Tang Wulin looked at the teacher.

"Teacher Shen, what will the eighth trial be?"

"The eighth trial is a comprehensive battle. You will fight current students of Shrek Academy. The available opponents are random, so your luck will also be a factor. Last ten minutes against your opponent to pass. Defeat them, and you will receive full points. Alternatively, marks between six and ten will be awarded based on your performance."

Tang Wulin fell back into his own thoughts while Sheng Feilong looked at the female teacher, Teacher Shen, and asked another question.

"Teacher Shen, will we take the eighth trial be as a team or one at a time?"

Teacher Shen glanced at him and then replied with the same indifferent tone as before.

"You'll take turns fighting them. This test won't just test our strength, but also your judgement as there are both strong and weak people mixed into your opponents."

Tang Wulin was still lost in his own thoughts while the rest of his team seemed quite at ease knowing their captain was forming a plan. Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang were also quite relaxed and didn't disturb them. Arriving at the hall, Teacher Shen spoke with an indifferent tone once again.

"You may begin to choose your opponents."

Tang Wulin had already snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang. He took a step closer to them and wanted to talk to them, but another voice interrupted him.

"Eh? Junior Brother Sheng and Junior Brother Jian? Is that really you?"

Everyone heard this voice and simultaneously looked at the source. It was one of their opponents for this trial; a boy with broad shoulders, clad in Shrek Academy's uniform, who had long black hair. Jian Wang looked puzzled while Sheng Feilong squinted his eyes. He then recognized the voice and suddenly blurted out a name.

"Senior Brother Wong?"

(A/N: Okay, I'll have to admit, that I've made a mistake here. Wong Wushuang graduated from Heaven Dou Academy two years before Sheng Feilong and co., but Shrek Academy only holds its entrance exam every three years, so Wong Wushuang shouldn't be able to become a Shrek student at this point. However, I took the liberty to still have him be a Shrek student; There is no explanation to this. Just leaving him out after he became the reason for Sheng Feilong to go to Shrek would have left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Really sorry about this bummer!)

The boy smiled and nodded at Sheng Feilong while Jian Wang's eyes widened. He hastily turned towards Teacher Shen and asked her if they could start the battles already. The teacher was surprised but nodded and Jian Wang jumped onto the arena.

"If you're really Senior Brother Wong, then I'll need to fight you! I haven't seen how strong you are in a few years!"

Wong Wushuang looked surprised but then smiled as he stepped onto the arena. He stopped opposite of Jian Wang and his expression and the air around him changed. He now looked focused and determined to defeat his opponent; a look Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang remembered from when they hunted Soul Beasts in the Spirit Ascension Platform together with Wong Wushuang!

"Then prepare yourself!"

Wong Wushuang and Jian Wang simultaneously released their Spirit Essences and Soul Rings; 2 purple ones for Jian Wang, while 3 purple ones sprung up behind Wong Wushuang! Both activated their first Soul Skill and charged at each other, quickly engaging in a brutal melee. Due to Wong Wushuang being a Agility Type Soul Master and having a higher rank than Jian Wang, he had a clear advantage in speed. His vicious and precise strikes were filled with the clear intention to win this match, but Jian Wang systematically blocked every single one of them while still occasionally counter-attacking with lethal swings of his heavy Mountain Splitting Axe!

They fought for minutes without a clear victor, shocking Tang Wulin and his friends to the core; they hadn't expected that this big fellow would be so overbearing! Every strike with his axe would force his opponent to dodge back a few steps and they left deep marks on the arena, some powerful ones even cracking the floor around him. Xie Xie then suddenly spoke out with an excited expression.

"That big fellow is so strong! If he keeps this up, he'll win easily!"

Tang Wulin looked back at the battle, but slightly frowned. Just as he wanted to say something, they all heard Sheng Feilong's calm voice.

"No, Brother Wang will lose in about a minute. Senior Brother Wong isn't getting the upper hand, but Brother Wang is wasting more Soul Power than him. He'll lose because he fought Senior Brother Wong as an equal rather then someone stronger."

No one answered, but Teacher Shen looked at Sheng Feilong deeply before turning her head back to the match. About a minute later, just as Sheng Feilong had said, Jian Wang's Soul Power was nearly exhausted, giving Wong Wushuang the opportunity to end the match. He held his dagger at Jian Wang's throat, stopping just millimetres from cutting the latter. Jian Wang had held out for a full 9 minutes, but still lost in the end.

He looked at Wong Wushuang with a smile as he willed his Mountain Splitting Axe to disappear.

"You're even stronger than I remembered you, Senior Brother! I'm recognizing this lose!"

Both of them walked down the arena, and took place at their respective sides. Tang Wulin and the others looked at Jian Wang with complicated expressions, causing the latter to look at them like the were idiots.

"What's with the long faces? So what if I lost? I've already got 54 points anyways; I'll just have to succeed in the next trial."

While Tang Wulin and the others were shocked by his optimism, Sheng Feilong walked up the arena and looked through his opponents. After a while he fixed his gaze onto one of them; a slender male, that was most likely an Agility Type Soul Master, with the number 2 on the right of his chest. Sheng Feilong was about to announce his decision, but then stopped himself and looked at student number two again for a moment. He looked like he understood something for a second before then speaking up.

"I choose student number two as my opponent!"