Chapter 64: Invitation to the Emperor Battle Team

Tianlin arrived at the exclusive training grounds of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, a facility specially provided for the Emperor Battle Team by the academy's three teaching administrators due to their exceptional performance. At this moment, the Emperor Battle Team was in the middle of a competitive training session. Since Tianlin was absent, they had exactly eight members present, which allowed them to split into two groups of four for a mock battle. One team consisted of Yu Tianheng, Yu Feng, Shi Mo, and Ye Lingling. The other team included Gu Ran, Dugu Yan, Shi Mo, and Oslo. It was a relatively fair division. Among the members, Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, and the Shi brothers had already advanced to the Soul Elder rank. Oslo and Yu Feng were at the peak of Rank 29, while the weakest members, Gu Ran and Ye Lingling, were at Rank 28. Thus, the key to victory in this match hinged on whether Gu Ran's side could hold off Yu Tianheng's powerful attacks while creating an opening for Oslo to take down the opposing team's support-system Soul Master in the backline. However, they failed. After advancing to Rank 30, Yu Tianheng began learning his family's secret technique, Dragon Transformation. His first dragonized body part was his right hand, which transformed into a dragon claw. This drastically increased his attack power, allowing him to almost instantly defeat Gu Ran in one blow. With the loss of their assault-system Soul Master, Gu Ran's team lacked offensive strength and was quickly defeated. Qin Ming shook his head as he walked forward to scold them, saying, "Gu Ran, Dugu Yan, the main reason for your defeat this time lies with the two of you." "Gu Ran, your attack power is far inferior to Tianheng's. That is painfully obvious. You shouldn't have faced him alone. You should have let Shi Mo withstand his attacks while your primary task was to hold off Shi Mo's twin brother. Although his defense is strong, his attack power is average, and he wouldn't have been able to defeat you quickly. This would have allowed Oslo more time to act." "And Yan, as the control-system Soul Master of your team, when Gu Ran made a tactical mistake, you should have been the first to step in and stop him. Instead, you were too focused on spraying poison at Yu Feng and completely ignored Yu Tianheng. You must understand that, even though you and Tianheng are in a relationship off the battlefield, in the Soul Arena, he is your opponent. You absolutely cannot let your emotions cloud your judgment." "Yes, we understand our mistakes," Gu Ran and Dugu Yan apologized with their heads lowered. They knew the fault lay with them. "Honestly, Gu Ran, Sister Yan, you've embarrassed the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Looks like I can't leave you guys alone," Tianlin said as he walked over with a laugh. As soon as Gu Ran saw Tianlin, he ran over in excitement. "Boss, you're finally back! I've missed you so much!" Gu Ran almost threw himself into Tianlin's arms. Although he was already thirteen, he addressed nine-year-old Tianlin as "Boss" without a shred of embarrassment. He seemed proud of it. Fortunately, he didn't leap into Tianlin's arms; otherwise, Tianlin might have punched him away. After all, a burly guy like Gu Ran couldn't compare to someone like Ning Rongrong, the little princess Tianlin would much rather embrace. "Xiao Tian, welcome back! It's been half a year since you left. We were guessing you'd return around this time and were even planning to throw you a welcome party," Yu Tianheng and the others greeted Tianlin with smiles. Dugu Yan, however, asked curiously, "Hey, Xiao Tian, why did you say I embarrassed the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan? I'm not part of your clan." "Exactly," Yu Tianheng added seriously. "Yan is my girlfriend. She's part of our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, not yours, Xiao Tian. Don't make baseless claims." Tianlin smirked mischievously. "Hehe, Tianheng, Sister Yan will indeed belong to your clan in the future—but only after she marries you. For now, she's one of us." "You! Are you trying to steal my girl?" Yu Tianheng exploded in anger. Brothers were brothers, but when it came to his girlfriend, that was a line that couldn't be crossed. "Brother Tianheng, calm down. I'm not interested in Sister Yan. But over the past six months, I managed to persuade Senior Dugu to join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan as a guest elder. Naturally, his granddaughter would follow her grandfather, so when I say Sister Yan is one of us, where's the mistake?" Tianlin explained. "What?!" Everyone was shocked. Dugu Bo, who had always been a lone wolf, had been convinced to join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. This meant the clan would now have three Titled Douluo, drastically boosting its power. "My grandfather did mention this, but I thought he was joking. I didn't expect it to be true," Dugu Yan confirmed Tianlin's claim. Yu Tianheng almost spat out blood. He had gone through so much effort to win Dugu Yan's heart, not just because he loved her but also to draw Dugu Bo closer to their family, as the Poison Douluo cared about nothing in the world except his precious granddaughter. But now, while Yu Tianheng had been working hard to woo the granddaughter, Tianlin had gone straight for the grandfather, effectively outmaneuvering him. It was a devastating blow. "Boss, you're amazing! With three Titled Douluo, our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan is undoubtedly the number one sect in the world now!" Gu Ran exclaimed excitedly. Even the Clear Sky Clan, which publicly claimed two Titled Douluo, couldn't compete with this. Tianlin shook his finger with a sly smile. "Not three Titled Douluo—four. I'm back this time to deliver invitations to all of you." Saying this, Tianlin pulled several invitation cards from his Soul Tool and handed them to the members of the Emperor Battle Team and their teacher, Qin Ming. "Everyone, including Teacher Qin, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan sincerely invites you to attend the Title Ceremony of Elder Yin Yang one month from now." "Title Ceremony?!" Yu Tianheng was shocked. "Your clan's third elder has broken through to the Titled Douluo rank? But hasn't he been stuck at the peak Soul Douluo level for fifteen years? How did he suddenly break through?" Yu Tianheng found it hard to believe—and didn't want to believe it. While he and Tianlin were friends, there was a competitive relationship between the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. With Dugu Bo joining and Elder Yin Yang's breakthrough, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's strength would far surpass their own. After all, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan only had one Titled Douluo—the clan leader, Yu Yuanzhen. "It's true. Brother Tianheng, do you think I would joke about something like this?" Tianlin gave him a serious look before continuing. "As for the breakthrough, it wasn't a coincidence. In Senior Dugu's cultivation grounds, there were many medicinal herbs. I used some of them to refine a powerful pill, which Elder Yin Yang used to achieve his breakthrough." Tianlin didn't intend to hide anything. After all, the most important reason for his visit was to bring them immortal herbs.