'I must work hard to cultivate. I can only protect her better by being stronger. Once I've attained a certain level, she won't have to leave me even if she's recovered her memory.'

When he thought about this, Tang Wulin was filled with motivation. He contacted Jiang Wuyue at the first opportune moment, just so he could subject himself to his beating

"Why is it that I'm the one beating you, but I'm also the one who's sore all over whereas you're fine as if I didn't hit you at all? What's your body made of?" Jiang Wuyue grumbled.

He initially enjoyed beating up Tang Wulin. As time went on, he noticed that the one who was beaten was unaffected, while he himself was tired beyond means. Tang Wulin was not a human at all! Even when he hit him with an attack that should have shattered steel, the most he could do was leave a small mark on his body. Also, when they met again the next day, the wound would have healed already.

His initial happiness and satisfaction dropped drastically.

Tang Wulin rubbed his knuckles together. "Why don't we swap? I'll be the one hitting you this time."

Jiang Wuyue's head started shaking like a pellet drum. "No. By the way, why are you always asking for a beating? Knowing you, you definitely won't do something without a cause."

Tang Wulin did not withhold the truth from him. "So that I can gain better control over my strength. Hmm, it's true that I don't feel as much impact from your hits now. I've to look for someone else. I'll go and look for big brother Ma."

He was on extremely good terms with Ma Shan right now. He had forged the basic metals for Ma Shan's three-word battle armor. They were not only Soul Refined, but some were also even Soul Refined spirit alloys.

After breaking through the tenth seal and obtaining his soul core, Tang Wulin had improved by leaps and bounds in his control over his forging skills. The stronger the three-word battle armor's foundation, the better the chances of it being successfully upgraded to four-word battle armor.

With Tang Wulin's forging, not only did Ma Shan's three-word battle armor overcome some hidden faults of his two-word battle armor, its quality was definitely one of the top in the Blood God Army.

Ma Shan also acted as a promoter as news of this spread throughout the army. Currently, every two-word battle armor master in the army hankered for the services of Tang Wulin. Before this, it was assumed that Soul Refinement forging was not a profitable business. Currently, Tang Wulin's workshop was about to burst from the sheer number of customers he had. However, Tang Wulin had limited time, so he could only accept a few orders.

If it had happened in the past, he might have been picked on. However, he was now Blood Nine! Who would dare to pick on him?

The greatest beneficiary from all this was not him but Long Yuxue. Half of Tang Wulin's workshop's profits were hers. Although he was quite stingy, he honored his word. Hence, Long Yuxue reaped many benefits from Tang Wulin's workshop, more than what Tang Wulin got. After all, she did not have to put in any manual labor.

As a result, Long Yuxue's strength had greatly increased during this period of time, thanks to the merit points she earned from the joint venture. Although she was still weaker than Jiang Wuyue, there were promising signs of her strength being on par with his in the near future.

It also made Long Yuxue's affection toward Tang Wulin change, little by little.

However, the only time she could see Tang Wulin was when she went to the forging workshop. The only opportunity for her to meet him was while he was forging.

In Long Yuxue's eyes, Tang Wulin was just like a humanoid robot that knew no exhaustion. Cultivation seemed to be the only activity he did every single day. When he was not cultivating, he would be forging. He did not seem to allocate any time for entertainment.

His cultivation was done in the Blood God Battalion, a place which was off-limits to Long Yuxue. Ever since she had spent most of her time with Tang Wulin, she felt it more plainly. Tang Wulin seemed to be turning into a different person with each passing day.

Compared to when he first arrived in the army, he seemed like a completely different person now, as if he was born anew.

Tang Wulin's progress in the Federal Star Dou Battle Network Challenge's finals was also smooth. His opponents were all very strong. However, after his strength improved, it was not difficult for him to fight his opponents. The elimination rounds would be over soon, and he would be competing in the round-robin.

After the round-robin, it would be the finals.

In the round-robin, the contestants would be divided into eight groups of eight contestants each. The top two contestants from each group would enter the final elimination rounds. In other words, these were the top sixteen. In the round-robin, there was no danger of one's fate being determined by the outcome of a single match as it was in the elimination rounds. However, the contestants still had to fight hard each time. Only then could they proceed to the next stage of the competition.

"Gu Yue, what're you doing? Oh, you should be eating more then! Hmm, I'm fine here. Don't worry about me. I'm already in the round-robin, and the matches will be scheduled closer to each other. I've got a match every day. I'll check my schedule and see if I can visit you between the round-robin and the finals."

"Father, there's no need for that. You can come back after the competition is over. Otherwise, it'll be tough for you."

"Alright, what a good girl."

The call ended. Gu Yuena's sweet and beautiful smile immediately regained its chilly composure.

She dialed another number. "Let's begin the infiltration. Is everything ready?"

"Yes, my lady. Everything's ready," a seedy voice came from the other end.

"Good. Update me if anything happens. We mustn't let the Spirit Pagoda notice anything."

"Don't worry, my lady. We'll begin the infiltration from the elementary spirit ascension platform. They won't notice us."

Gu Yue ended the call and tidied up her hair. She strode out of her room. If Tang Wulin could see her now, he would definitely be greatly shocked. It was because she was no longer in the Fire Basin. She was currently in a world filled with metals.

"Are you ready?" A pleasant voice sounded beside Gu Yuena's ear. The Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu was already waiting for her outside.

"Hmm, I'm ready, teacher." Gu Yuena nodded at her.

A faint smile appeared on Leng Yaozhu's face. This disciple of hers had never let her down. She raised a hand and did a high-five with Gu Yuena. "Good luck. We'll show them just how powerful this disciple of Leng Yaozhu is."

"Yes, I'll most certainly pass." Gu Yuena's gaze was steady as can be. If she passed this test, she would be the Spirit Pagoda's preparatory spiriter and make her way into the higher ranks of the Spirit Pagoda.

The metal doors opened, and Gu Yuena strode in. What awaited her was the most stringent test of the Spirit Pagoda.

"The first match of the round-robin. Begin!"

With the announcement of the electronic voice, Tang Wulin focused his gaze on his opponent before him.

Number forty-seven. This was the number of his first opponent in the first match of his group's round-robin.

The Federal Star Dou Battle Network Challenge was different from the soul masters' realm's competition in that the contestants knew nothing of their opponents, nor were they able to investigate them. The organizers did a superb job in keeping all the contestants' information confidential. They could only research their opponents by watching recordings of their past matches. However, the crucial factor was that even the line-up of their opponents was kept a secret. That was why nobody knew who their next opponent would be. Under such circumstances, one would have to do tons of research as the number of possible opponents would be large.

It did not pose a problem for Tang Wulin. He had never researched his opponents. The less he knew about his opponent, the more he liked it. The mystery of his opponent would stimulate him even more.

At the moment, he had some basic control over his body. He would not lose control as he did earlier when he broke through the tenth seal. The more control he had over his strength, the more confidence he had.

He would be facing Blood Nine's second challenge in a fortnight. He had never been more confident of himself than he was currently.

He was the only one who was completely sure of the level his strength had attained.