Douluo: I Am the Lord of Mysteries

After the match ended, Wu Zhangkong glanced briefly at the four students who stepped off the platform. Without offering any comment on their performance, he turned and walked toward the dormitory building.

"Is Teacher Wu satisfied or not?"

Xie Xie asked Tang Wulin in confusion.

Tang Wulin shrugged.

"How would I know? But I guess he wants us to reflect on our own."

Gu Yue nodded.

"We shouldn't have initiated the attack. When Itou Makoto disappeared, our first reaction was to strike the Gu triplets instead of guarding against a sneak attack from him.

"If we had stayed on the ground and focused on defense, those three in the sky would've eventually been forced to come down into our range. Once they were grounded, they'd have no chance against us.

"Flying Martial Souls like theirs could easily flee if they wanted to, but in a formal match like this, they'd have no way to escape.

"Itou Makoto was the real threat. If he had launched a sneak attack at the right time, he might've taken one of us out. We can't afford to be that impulsive next time."

Xie Xie turned to Tang Wulin.

"Wulin, she's calling you impulsive. I'm not trying to stir the pot or anything, but if someone said that to me, I'd blow up."

Tang Wulin replied earnestly to Gu Yue,

"It was our first time facing flying-type Soul Masters. I did act on impulse back there. Sorry."

"Whoa, are you for real?"

Xie Xie was shocked.

"She just criticized you, and you're apologizing?"

Gu Yue chuckled.

"Stirring up drama won't work on him. What he did is called admitting your mistakes, or being a gentleman, if you want to sound fancy. Not everyone is as petty as some people. Wulin, dinner's on me tonight. But just one deluxe meal."

Tang Wulin laughed.

"Sure! Even a fly's still meat. Let's go—I'm starving."

Nan Fusheng watched the three of them joke around quietly from the side. After they'd gone out together the night before, their bond had deepened. Gu Yue no longer looked at Xie Xie like he was some kind of useless burden. Though the two still squabbled, it now felt more like friendly teasing than real animosity.

After dinner, Xie Xie once again suggested going out to explore the city, but both Tang Wulin and Nan Fusheng turned him down flat.

Tang Wulin's reason was simple—he wanted to cultivate.

Nan Fusheng had just sat down to meditate when Wang Ba and the others barged into the room.

"Bad news, Fusheng! Something's going down at the academy gates! A bunch of people are outside causing a scene. Looks like they're from some big-shot organization, and they've got photos of Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue. They're yelling at the academy to hand them over!"

Nan Fusheng raised an eyebrow.

"Ignore it. They'll be fine."

Without another word, he returned to his cultivation, paying them no more attention.

The next morning, Nan Fusheng headed straight to the cafeteria. He quickly noticed that Tang Wulin seemed unusually distracted, while Xie Xie was bursting with energy, chatting nonstop.

The moment Xie Xie spotted him, he began making exaggerated facial expressions.

"Fusheng, you'll never guess what happened yesterday!"

"You mean when Teacher Wu went full war god mode and beat up the commander of Eastsea City's Mecha Division, Guang Biao?"

"How do you know about that!?"

Xie Xie exclaimed in shock.

"Please, the entire academy knows by now. What did you guys do to provoke someone like him?"

Nan Fusheng rolled his eyes.

"Well… it wasn't exactly him we provoked. It was his little brother,"

Xie Xie muttered, his tone shifting to righteous fury.

He recounted the tale of how Guang Long, Guang Biao's younger brother, was a complete scumbag—bullying others, harassing girls, just a walking pile of garbage. Xie Xie told it like they had fought a long, arduous battle to defeat him finally.

"But you didn't see it, Fusheng. When did Teacher Wu show up? Just two sword strikes—and he took down Guang Biao, who's also a six-ring Soul Emperor!"

"Kid, not only did I see how your dear Teacher Wu defeated him… I experienced it firsthand."

Nan Fusheng didn't respond, but said that to himself silently.

Yesterday, through the Time Worms he'd parasitized on Wu Zhangkong, Nan Fusheng had personally experienced the entire battle from Wu's perspective. But of course, he didn't tell Xie Xie that.

And so, the day passed in its usual rhythm—meals, studies, Advancement Tournament.

But Nan Fusheng noticed something strange—Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xie Xie were being pointed at far more than usual. Unsurprisingly, it was due to the incident at the academy gate.

What was truly surprising, however, was that none of the three received any punishment. The academy acted as if nothing had happened.

Even more people came to gawk at Wu Zhangkong—students and even teachers. That battle had elevated the "cold male god" to an entirely new level of fame. Now, he wasn't just the girls' idol—he was the idol of the whole academy.

But Wu Zhangkong himself? Still indifferent. Business as usual.

Later that day, Class Five challenged Class Two, and Nan Fusheng, Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xie Xie easily won again. The opposing team only had one Soul Master with a yellow, hundred-year Soul Ring. Against the four's flawless coordination, they didn't stand a chance. With Gu Yue's elemental firepower support, Xie Xie effortlessly took them down.

Three victories in a row, combined with the publicity from yesterday's drama at the gates, had finally put Class Five in the spotlight.

The next day would be a break. But after that, they would face Class One—the strongest team of their grade.

Every year, Class One was where the best of the best were gathered. For the past twenty years, there had never been a case where a class other than Class One had won the Advancement Tournament for their year group.

On their day off, Tang Wulin and the others invited Nan Fusheng to visit the Eastsea Museum, but he declined, saying he had other matters to attend to.

As the three walked away, Nan Fusheng watched them go.

"So, Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon King bloodline is finally about to break through its first seal…"

The Eastsea Auction House was jointly operated with the museum. Though Nan Fusheng had only been in Eastsea City a short while, he had already stolen plenty of intelligence from teachers' dreamscapes via his Time Worms—including the locations of the auction house and major powers within the city.

Yes—he'd finally started targeting the teachers.

After confirming that not even Soul Emperors could detect his parasitism, Nan Fusheng had withdrawn his worms from senior students and redirected them to a few instructors instead.

After all, Eastsea Academy required its teachers to be at least four-ring Soul Ancestors. That was way better than most students.

Of course, he didn't dare go too far—just a few here and there. After all, he still had Wu Zhangkong, a living, breathing Soul Emperor power bank.

But even he needed a break from draining Wu Zhangkong too often. That man was, after all, something of a protector to them.

"If I remember correctly,"

"There's supposed to be a major typhoon this week. It'll last over seven days and force the tournament to pause… giving Tang Wulin time to gather the materials he needs to unlock the Golden Dragon King's seal. I wonder if this is the work of A Yin and Tang Hao."

Nan Fusheng pondered deeply but ultimately decided that nothing was more important than cultivating. Only with true power could he reach for destiny's greater gifts.

And sure enough, by evening, the academy's emergency broadcast system came online:

"Attention, all teachers and students.

According to the latest report from the Meteorological Bureau, a powerful tropical storm will strike tonight. The typhoon is expected to last for over one week.

All students are to remain within the campus grounds. All classes are suspended during this period.

The Advancement Tournament is temporarily paused and will resume once the typhoon has passed."