958 – Bloodsong Blade
TL: GoldenLung
The large screen on the wall of Ying Luohong’s office was showing images of the Star Wars experimental class students undergoing the Blood Trial. They could observe any student’s trial and interrupt it immediately if any special situation occurred.
However, Tang Zhenhua had not been bluffing the Star Wars experimental class before. If any student failed the Blood Trial this time, they would be eliminated for real. As Lan Xuanyu had anticipated, the Blood Trial was not only a test of their strength but also a test of their willpower.
They had already gone through a character assessment in the graduation exam, but willpower was highly valued in the Inner Court. After a Soul Master’s cultivation reached a certain level, they often needed to take some risks to continue breaking through and improving. The better the student’s talent, the greater the risk. This was very evident from the situation Lan Xuanyu encountered when he was breaking through.
Thus, willpower became a top priority. When breaking through, the strength of one’s willpower could determine success or failure. A soul master with strong willpower, even if their talent was weaker, was likely to go further. Of course, the students of Shrek Academy were all talented, but willpower often could not be determined by talent alone. It required countless experiences to enable them to go further.
The performance of the Star Wars Experimental Class in the Outer Court for six years was stunning, completing many tasks that Outer Court disciples could not accomplish. However, the teachers of the Academy also saw very clearly that in order to achieve this level, Lan Xuanyu and those highly talented students played a major role, and the Star Wars Experimental Class turned them into a whole, with all actions being collective actions.
This was certainly a good thing for a team, but it was not necessarily a good thing for individual growth.
As the leader, Lan Xunyu naturally underwent a great deal of training, but his significant contributions would inevitably lead to other students depending on him.
Therefore, after these students were approved to enter the Inner Court, the Inner Court teachers discussed that the first issue to address was the students’ dependence on Lan Xuanyu. A united team would only be truly powerful if each individual became even stronger, and then came back together as a team.
The Inner Court had already decided to admit them, with the readiness to cultivate their team into talented individuals. The first thing to do was to make each of the 33 Sky Wings become stronger. Only then would their combined strength become even greater.
The Blood Trial was a test, and those with weak willpower were certain to be eliminated in this trial. This meant that they had relied too much on the collective during the graduation exam and other assessments before, and their personal strength was not sufficient to continue to move forward with the collective.
As Tang Zhenhua said, entering the Inner Court did not mean that one could rest easy. In fact, the competition in the Inner Court would be even more intense. Excellent people would become even better, while those who constantly fell behind would be eliminated and could only leave in disappointment.
This was also why the number of disciples in the Inner Court of Shrek Academy ws so small, but every disciple who graduated from the Inner Court of Shrek Academy was undoubtedly one of the top talents in the federation today. However, they would not be recruited by major forces and would only choose to stay in Shrek or Tang Sect.
“Teacher, who should we look at first?” Ying Luohong asked Wang Tianyu.
Wang Tianyu replied, “Let’s start with a regular student, randomly choose one.”
“Sure.”
Ying Luohong answered and pressed the control button to randomly select. Soon, a figure appeared on the screen.
It was a student who looked a bit thin and weak, not like an adult who had already exceeded the age of eighteen, but rather looked a bit short, only like a fourteen or fifteen year old.
Even Xiao Qi and Tang Zhenhua, who were the class teachers, had to look carefully to recognize who he was. This child in the class really didn’t have much presence. His abilities were also in the middle and lower levels.
“He is called Tan Xiaodao. His martial soul is the Bloodsong Blade. He is in the middle and lower level in the class. A six-ringed, second-level Battle Armor Master.” Xiao Qi reported to Wang Tianyu.
“Okay, let’s see how he performs.” Wang Tianyu nodded.
Xiao Qi and Tang Zhenhua exchanged a glance, both feeling a bit nervous. The top ten students in the class, including the seven from the Lan Xuanyu team and others like Ding Zhuohan and the Bing Tianliang trio, were all present. However, Tan Xiaodao was definitely not among them. This child was usually very low-key and didn’t seem to work very hard in cultivation. To put it simply, he went with the flow.
Xiao Qi was really worried. If this kind of student’s performance was not good enough right from the start, it would leave a bad impression on the internal teachers present and be detrimental to the overall situation of the 33 Sky Wings.
The Inner Court teachers didn’t say anything and all eyes were focused on Tan Xiaodao.
At this moment, Tan Xiaodao was walking on a corridor that was about three meters wide but seemed to have no end. The front of the corridor was pitch black, and there were dim red halos on the walls on both sides.
He walked forward cautiously, looking around from side to side. He moved quietly, as if afraid of stepping on something.
He didn’t even release his martial soul, looking around from time to time. The only thing that made the teachers curious was that the child’s face was always smiling, and it was an excited smile.
Tang Zhenhua even wondered if the child had not yet recovered from the excitement of passing the graduation exam.
Any teacher will inevitably have some bias in the teaching process, at least in their hearts. Excellent students would inevitably receive more attention.
According to Tang Zhenhua’s memory, Tan Xiaodao’s ability in star warfare was ranked second or third from the last in the class, near the bottom. If he were to evaluate him, Tan Xiaodao would definitely not qualify to enter the Inner Court.
At this moment, a shadow quietly appeared behind Tan Xiaodao. This position happened to be his blind spot in his field of vision, and coupled with the cover of dark areas, Tan Xiaodao seemed to have not noticed the other party at all.
Just then, the shadow moved, its speed incredibly fast, like a ghostly figure pouncing towards Tan Xiaodao from behind.
Meanwhile, Tan Xiaodao was poking his head forward, looking ahead, seeming to have no sense of the attack coming from behind.
Many teachers from the Inner Court frowned upon seeing this, commenting on his poor vigilance. They wondered if this child would fall in the hands of the first enemy?
Just as the dark figure was about to pounce on Tan Xiaodao, he suddenly moved. His movement was small, and it felt like his right shoulder had just shrugged back slightly.
A red lightning flashed by, and with a “pu” sound, that black figure had already been cut in half by a particularly even cut, splitting open from the top of the head all the way down to the crotch.
Blood spurted out, spraying Tan Xiaodao’s back.
Tan Xiaodao turned his head to look at the body lying on the ground, a pale-faced man dressed in all black. At this point, he was naturally as dead as he could be, with a miserable appearance and a large amount of viscera already spilled out onto the ground.
He crouched down, his smile not diminishing but instead showing a few more shades of surprise. He reached out and touched the body, saying, “Wow, it’s still warm. The Douluo World really made it realistic. The feel of the organs is the same as that of a real person. Interesting!”
Of course, he didn’t know that his voice could be heard by the teachers.
At this moment, the previously furrowed-browed teachers in the Inner Court all showed looks of astonishment.
This child wasn’t afraid at all! Just now, that attack was extremely swift and clean, it seemed like he didn’t even need to release his soul ring before he had already killed the enemy with one slash. Although the enemy attack was only at around the four-ring level. But his killing blow was too clean, wasn’t it? Also, he seemed more interested in the corpse being alive. At this moment, Tan Xiaodao was carefully examining the heart of the corpse he had just picked up. He even licked the fresh blood on his hand to discern the taste and temperature.