Chapter 31: Conquering Wu Changkong, the All-Federation Competition (1 / 1)
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Tang Wulin slowly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the white bathroom ceiling above him. A sense of coolness emanated from his body, bringing his thoughts back to reality.
Gurgle~
"I'm so hungry! How long have I been practicing?" Tang Wulin rubbed his stomach. Right now, he felt like he could eat ten elephants.
"You've been practicing for five days," the Goddess of Life said flatly.
"Really?! It's been longer than I expected."
Tang Wulin rose from the bathtub, dried himself, quickly dressed, and used his Douluo Consciousness to de-intermediate the room before leaving.
As he stepped out, he saw Wu Changkong, a cold-faced man, leaning against the opposite wall.
Seeing Tang Wulin's calm words, Wu Zhangkong said, "You're awake! I thought you were going to practice all the way until the competition started."
"I'm human too. I'd starve to death in here after ten days of practice. By the way, is there any place to eat in this hotel? I'm starving." Tang Wulin clutched his stomach and looked around. He just wanted to find a place to eat a big meal.
"Come with me. The hotel cafeteria is on the first floor."
Wu Zhangkong walked ahead and quickly led Tang Wulin to the cafeteria below the hotel.
Tang Wulin immediately ordered a large table full of dishes, including sweet and sour spare ribs, spicy chicken, ramen, braised pork, and a variety of delicacies.
Without hesitation, he devoured the food on the table as quickly as a whirlwind.
Wu Zhangkong stared blankly at Tang Wulin, who ate a chicken leg in two bites and a whole roasted lamb in a minute. He was truly shocked.
Tang Wulin spat out a bone and looked across at Wu Changkong, who seemed hesitant to speak. He swallowed his food and asked, "Just get to the point. Stop wasting time, okay?"
Hearing this, Wu Changkong took a deep breath and tentatively asked, "Do you have any way to resurrect someone who's been dead for years?"
"Why, do you have someone you want to resurrect?" Tang Wulin asked knowingly.
"Yes," Wu Changkong nodded, a hint of sadness flickering in his eyes.
"That depends on what kind of resurrection you want," Tang Wulin said, continuing to eat, seemingly unfazed by the sadness emanating from Wu Changkong.
"What do you mean?" Wu Changkong looked at Tang Wulin, puzzled.
Tang Wulin said slowly, "There are many ways to resurrect. For example, being reborn as an undead creature counts as resurrection, and there's also the simple revival of the soul.
Of course, there's also the serious way, where a person regains life.
And then there's the resurrection, like me, through reincarnation, where I retain my memories."
Wu Zhangkong swallowed and said, "Of course I want to regain my life."
Tang Wulin's lips curled up slightly, taking the bait. "If that's the case, you can't do my method right now. You can't even treat the hidden injuries in your body."
Tang Wulin is too weak right now. Even if he has many backup plans, they're only for survival. His Douluo Consciousness still has to manage the entire world and can't help him with everything, let alone Blue Silver.
Tang Wulin needs someone who can help him in society, and someone with a valid ID.
Wu Zhangkong is just the right person. He has a clean background, and unlike the Shrek and Tang Sect, they don't have a whole family to take care of.
He needed someone with leverage, or someone with a vested interest in him, someone who had no power to rely on, someone capable and willing to help him on their own.
"Can you do that?" Wu Zhangkong looked at Tang Wulin expectantly, as if a drowning man had grasped at a last straw.
"I can't do that now. I don't have that much strength. At least I'll have to wait until I'm fully recovered before I can do it."
The first half of Tang Wulin's words made Wu Changkong look at him, but the second half gave him hope.
"But..." Tang Wulin changed the subject, looking up at Wu Changkong coldly: "Why should I help you?"
At these words, Wu Changkong froze.
Tang Wulin continued, "Let's put it bluntly: we met five days ago and have only exchanged a few words since then. As for friendship, that's out of the question.
Let's be frank: we're just strangers who've just met. You might know me, but that's about it.
Resurrecting someone would come at a huge price. Why would I help a stranger I just met?"
Wu Zhangkong fell silent upon hearing this. Yes, why would someone help me? You're not even related.
The only connection is that we both graduated from Shrek, but the former graduated 10,000 years ago. So many years have passed. At most, there's a little kinship.
Someone might help you when you're down, but paying a huge price to revive someone is practically impossible.
After a long moment of contemplation, Wu Zhangkong made up his mind. He looked up at Tang Wulin seriously, "I may not have anything you'd value, but I'll do anything for my life, as long as it's not against Shrek or the Tang Sect."
Tang Wulin took a bite of rice and said calmly, "You talk about a life, but at least you have some value. If you don't, I'll use your life for nothing. Arrange everything for this competition first.
Especially information about my opponents. I heard they're selected from among the elite talents in their region after fierce battles."
At the mention of this, Wu Zhangkong As if on cue, he quickly said, "Speaking of which, this year's All-Federation Competition is a little different. Originally, as you mentioned, the All-Federation Competition would be held in their respective regions, with the top six teams and the top 18 individuals participating.
Due to Shrek's backing this time, in addition to the original participants, there are also talented individuals selected from various secondary schools.
This has resulted in the number of participants in the individual competition of this All-Federation Competition increasing several times from the original less than a hundred."
"What the heck?" Tang Wulin nearly spat out his rice in excitement upon hearing this.
Since he usually stayed in a small city like Aolai City, he was completely unaware of the changes to the All-Federation Competition and was completely immersed in his training.
He had originally thought it would just be a five- or six-day battle against talented individuals of different ages, but he didn't expect Shrek to pull a big game on him.
According to Wu Changkong, there are as many people as there are secondary academies on the Douluo Continent, plus the group that originally participated, who will participate in this All-Union Tournament.
Wow, his descendants are truly ruthless in their attempts to trick their ancestors. They already thought it was going to be difficult, but they managed to more than double the number of opponents.
Of course, that's not even the crux of the matter.
The point is, there are clearly many ways to deal with this, but instead of trying to be more low-key, they've resorted to such a drastic move. Do they really think the entire Federation is theirs? I'm really trying to force them to blow up Shrek beforehand.
You're an academy dedicated to cultivating talent, with students everywhere and people everywhere, yet you're acting so high-profile.
Ordinary people think the Federation wants to increase the challenge of the All-Union Tournament, but those in the upper echelons of the Federation know that Shrek is behind this. Isn't this testing their patience?
Wu Zhangkong, unsure of Tang Wulin's intentions, quickly explained, "Don't get too excited. Shrek isn't participating in this competition. That's why His Majesty the Holy Spirit and the others devised this plan: to allow you to participate as a student from the East Sea Academy."
"Ah, I know that," Tang Wulin sighed. Was he trying to double his enemies? If he weren't the direct beneficiary, he'd seriously want to go to the Sea God Pavilion and ask the people there, "Can't we keep a low profile?" He had to provoke those who already disliked Shrek.
Tang Wulin held his forehead with one hand and waved his other. "Alright, let's get back to the Federation Competition."
Wu Zhangkong then told Tang Wulin more about the Federation Competition.
Over the next few days, thanks to the Federation Competition, the already bustling Douluo City became even more bustling, packed with people.
The Douluo Federation wasn't as harmonious as it appeared; there were also so-called factional disputes.
They constantly sought to increase their voice within the Federation in various ways, and the All-Federation Competition was precisely that platform.
The All-Federation Competition was established in the second year of the Douluo Federation's founding, making it nearly 9,000 years old.
In its early days, this platform was not only for selecting and encouraging talent, but also for offering generous rewards to help those who advanced, thereby further enhancing the Federation's foundation.
However, over time, it also became a stage for the open and covert struggles among the Federation's various factions.
Early morning, on the opening morning of the All-Federation Competition, the representative teams from each region entered Shrek Stadium.
Tang Wulin, following Wu Changkong, walked alongside the East Sea Alliance team, observing the bustling crowds around them. The stands were packed, with at least a million people evident at a glance.
Some of them lived in Shrek City, while others had gathered from across the continent to witness this continent-wide event firsthand.
Countless television stations broadcast the event live via Soul Guides.
In the center of the arena, massive competition platforms stood side by side, each one crowned by a high-level soul-guiding barrier.
From afar, Tang Wulin could even see countless gigantic mechas.
Wu Zhangkong noticed Tang Wulin's thoughts and glanced at the mechas in the distance. Remembering that mechas hadn't appeared before 10,000 years ago, he explained, "Those are white mechas. They started appearing around 300 years after you became a god. After 10,000 years of development, they've become the white, yellow, purple, black, and red mechas.
Thus, they've become the mainstream of modern armies.
But don't worry. You're participating in the individual junior competition, so you won't be facing them."
Tang Wulin looked away, surprised. "Only appeared after 300 years? No way! A prototype of this thing already existed in my time. I made one myself, but due to the technology at the time, it wasn't as sophisticated as it is now."
As a level 10 soul master, Tang Wulin's research primarily focused on improving his own combat capabilities. He had studied mechas, which weren't very helpful to him, but he did so alongside his battle armor research, and it wasn't very advanced.
But the fact that it appeared 300 years after his ascension was a bit beyond his expectations. After all, he remembered leaving a prototype machine at the Tang Sect before his ascension.
"I don't know about that. That's what the book records." Wu Zhangkong shook his head. That was 10,000 years ago, so how could he know why it appeared so late?
"Never mind. Some things don't require thorough investigation." Tang Wulin scratched his ears. This kind of thing really didn't require too much understanding. After all, it had been so many years, and it wouldn't be very useful.
When was this opening ceremony going to end? That person up there was standing there talking for ages, nagging and complaining. Why don't you just start? What's the point of offering a few words of encouragement at the end?
After an unknown amount of time, Tang Wulin felt like he had been standing there for quite a while, and then the opening ceremony was over.
Next came the draw for the competition, which the team leaders would handle.
The participants seemed rather disengaged.
Tang Wulin stood among a group of people, most of whom were taller than him, waiting in boredom. Suddenly, a teasing voice echoed from the side: "Whose bean sprout is this? By the way, little brother, are you 10 years old? Which college are you from? Your college teacher arranged for you to participate in this kind of competition. Are you sure you're not here to get bullied?"
Tang Wulin looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young man with an exceptionally sturdy build, about 1.5 meters tall, looking at him with a playful expression.
The other person's voice also attracted the attention of the others, and they all looked at Tang Wulin.
Tang Wulin was participating in the junior competition, and naturally, he was surrounded by boys and girls around 15 years old.
Although Tang Wulin was taller than his peers, he was only less than 7 years old, which was a huge difference compared to the 15-year-old boys and girls around him.
Someone like Tang Wulin did attract some attention.
Tang Wulin even received a lot of teasing glances.
"I'm being underestimated." Tang Wulin scratched his head. He hated trouble, didn't like getting involved, but since it had come knocking on his door, he might as well deal with it.
Tang Wulin, with a kind smile, walked up to the boy who had called him "Bean Sprout," and extended his hand. "Hello, meet Huo Yun from East Sea Academy."
The boy was genuinely bewildered by Tang Wulin's behavior, but sensing the gazes around him, he reached out and shook Tang Wulin's hand, announcing his name: "Sun-Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, Xiongzhong!"
"Oh." Hearing this familiar name, Tang Wulin paused for a moment. "Sun-Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, it truly is an academy with a long history."
Tang Wulin spoke casually, feeling the power coming from his hand across from him.
Surrounded by people his own age, it would be incredibly embarrassing for anyone to cry out in pain.
Taking the initiative, Tang Wulin smiled faintly. "Good fellow! I haven't even started yet, and you're the first to do so. Let's see who's stronger."
In a split second, Xiong Zhong's face drastically changed, turning a pale white. He felt as if his hand was being squeezed through a meat grinder.
With a gentle swing of Tang Wulin's arm, the immense force, accompanied by gentle kneading, caused the bones in Xiong Zhong's palm to slightly dislocate. The excruciating pain, accompanied by spasms, would be unbearable for most people.
Xiong Zhong couldn't help but scream, "Ah!"