Chapter 32

As classes ended for the day, Tang Wulin went up to Huang Yu. They had already returned to school for a week.

Everyone had become friends with Xu Xiaoyan rather easily, even Huang Yu. Although she feared him quite a bit in the beginning, she quickly found him to be a pretty nice person.

Her relationship with him wasn't as close as it was with the others, but she no longer felt fear the moment she saw him.

"Huang Yu, do you wanna spar against us tonight?"

With a raised eyebrow, he replied, "I'm fine with it. I don't have anything to do tonight."

While normally he would have rejected this, he saw a hint of competitiveness in Tang Wulin's eyes. It was a huge change from how Tang Wulin previously looked at thim.

It was rather clear that he got a powerup during the days of vacation. Huang Yu was curious to see how much Tang Wulin improved during this time for him to think that they even stood a chance against him.

Also, he wanted to test out the power of the spirit ring from Jorm, so their invitation was pretty convenient.

"Alright, then let's meet at the academy field around 8 o'clock ok?"

"Sure."

– – – –

That night, Huang Yu went to the designated spot that they would fight at. When he arrived, he found out that Gu Yue, Xie Xie, Tang Wulin and surprisingly Xu Xiaoyan had been waiting for him.

"Did I arrive late?" Huang Yu asked.

"No, it's just that we arrived early."

Oh? In the past spars they never acted like this. They would try to delay the spars as much as possible. This was truly a great change in terms of confidence.

"Alright then. Before we begin, do you want me to use my martial spirit or not? I'm fine both ways."

Tang Wulin looked at the others when he heard this. When he received a nod from all of them, he gave his reply. "We want to fight you at full power."

Huang Yu's eyes widened when he heard this. Full power? Wasn't this a blatant underestimation of him?

"Are you guys sure…" Huang Yu asked with a disbelieving tone.

"Yea. I know that we might not win, but don't underestimate us Huang Yu. I'm sure we'll surprise you."

"Ok…" Huang Yu said before he turned his gaze to Gu Yue.

When Gu Yue saw the way Huang Yu looked at her, she understood the underlying question behind his stare.

'You didn't tell them?'

With a helpless smile, she shook her head.

At that, Huang Yu sighed. "Ok then. Let's fight."

– – – –

"I thought you said that we stood a chance with Xu Xiaoyan's night ability…" Xie Xie said in a slightly blaming tone.

Hearing this, Tang Wulin let out a grimace before looking down. "I didn't think that he would just start throwing out acid with a swing of his sword…"

The two of them had many cuts on their body. Not only that, they were large patches where skin seemed to be burnt off from their body.

"Didn't you say that his spirit ring ability was just a paralytic poison that was easy to detox, Xie Xie? You didn't tell us that he could fling it, nor that it was acidic…" Xu Xiaoyan said, standing next to Gu Yue.

The two of them weren't hurt that much. This was because Xie Xie and Tang Wulin were close-ranged combatants while they were long ranged ones, hence, they would tank most of the attacks as well.

It also helped that they surrendered fifteen seconds after the fight began.

"But it was!"

"Well, I guess we found out the fact that it wasn't anymore first hand."

After a few back and forths between the Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan, Gu Yue suddenly spoke up.

"Wulin, what's wrong. You've been quiet for quite a while."

At this, Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan stopped their argument. Their gazes shifted from each other to Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin looked up before giving a fake smile. "It's nothing. I'm just a little frustrated that I haven't closed the gap between me and Huang Yu at all. It feels like every step I take, he takes five…"

Hearing this, Gu Yue looked at Tang Wulin with a look of concern. Tang Wulin was usually an extremely confident person. Was not being able to catch up to Huang Yu such a huge blow to him?

In reality, Tang Wulin was not frustrated at Huang Yu, but rather himself. He couldn't help but keep chastising himself that if he had been as strong as Huang Yu, he could help his parents.

Trying to cheer him up, Gu Yue said, "What do you mean you're not closing the gap? Haven't we made him use his spirit ring for the first time in a while?"

Tang Wulin seemed to regain a bit of confidence when he heard these words. Her words were true! He had been so upset about losing so fast that he didn't remember that Huang Yu had never used his spirit ring before this fight.

"I'm sure that as long as you keep training, you can become as strong as him eventually." Gu Yue said with a smile.

She believed that her words held a hint of truth. Tang Wulin had the powers of the Golden Dragon King inside his blood. If he awakened more of its power, no normal human could ever hope to match up against him.

Gu Yue's mistake was thinking that Huang Yu was just a normal human.

Tang Wulin let out a smile, this time much more genuine than before. "Thank you Gu Yue." This time, there was a hint of something in his eyes that wasn't there before.

"No problem."

Xie Xie suddenly interjected with a grin on his face. "Hehe, Gu Yue, with the way you're talking to Wulin right now, it would seem like you like him..." Xu Xiaoyan was looking from the side nodding her head.

When Tang Wulin heard this, his cheeks gained a slight red tint. Gu Yue on the other hand frowned slightly.

"What are you saying? Do you really want to get beaten up?"

"Eh?? I was just kidding! Just kidding I tell you!

"You're only ten-years-old and you're thinking of such things already?" Gu Yue said with a disdainful tone. "I don't want to be near a pervert like you. I'll be leaving."

Before anyone could react, Gu Yue had left the infirmary.

As she walked back to her dorm, her head was full of thoughts.

"Liking someone… I wonder what it feels like to like someone…" she whispered softly to herself.

For some reason, when she said this, her thoughts moved to a certain red-haired boy. Noticing this, she shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.

'No. I can't get too attached to him. I'll only hurt myself when that day comes…"

With a sigh, Gu Yue returned to her dorm.