Dragon Tamer

Chapter 486: Chapter 488: Ranking First

…

Upon arriving at the academy’s grand arena, Zhu Minglang scanned the crowd and noticed that there were many more people today than usual.

It was probably because of the spring season’s opening battles; every student wanted to showcase themselves on this day of leaders, to stand out, gain a high reputation, something every Dragon Shepherd aspired to!

“Zhu Minglang, Zhu Minglang, we’re over here!” someone shouted from the crowd.

Looking over, Zhu Minglang saw his old classmates, and Teacher Duan Lan was also there. She still looked so vibrant and beautiful in the crowd, pleasing to the eye.

Zhu Minglang walked over and sat down with them.

For the opening battle, the majority of the students were present, and more and more were arriving, including some big names from the Nine Tribes of Neon Sea who took seats at the very front, apparently scouting for outstanding students to recruit into their clans.

“Zhu Minglang, are you going to go up there? Look at that circle of podiums in front, they are all prominent figures of Neon Sea. Being noticed by them means exclusive salaries and resources after leaving the academy…” Hong Hao nudged Zhu Minglang’s arm, goading him.

“The Nine Tribes of Neon Sea are here recruiting?” Zhu Minglang felt this was the only explanation, looking at the spectacle before him.

Unless students stayed at the school as teaching assistants or teachers, they would all have to leave after a certain period, and then they’d have to find their own way.

“Yeah, otherwise why would there be so many people today?” said Hong Hao.

“I’ll go down for a bit of fun. Do I need to register in advance?” asked Zhu Minglang.

“It’s all done in an arena format. If you think you’re up for it, just step on up and fight until you can’t stand anymore. Naturally, people will come up to challenge you; of course, if you see someone very strong with consecutive wins, you can challenge them too. But if you win, you’ll have to hold your ground up there,” Hong Hao explained.

“Zhu Minglang, the arena doesn’t limit the number of challengers,” Teacher Duan Lan reminded Zhu Minglang at this moment, as if she knew that he was a man who enjoyed taking on tough challenges.

Zhu Minglang broke into a smile.

That sounded even more interesting.

“I’ll go up later. Right now, it’s Tong Huisheng up there; he’s already racked up thirteen consecutive wins, and it seems he hasn’t even summoned all his dragons yet,” said Lu Wenye.

“No worries, I don’t need to see who it is to deal with these youngsters. My Little Black Dragon needs a punching bag,” Zhu Minglang said with a confidently soaring smile.

“But this Tong Huisheng has a Dragon Monarch on the field, isn’t your Refining Ash Black Dragon just at Lord Level?”

“When I go up there, we play by my rules,” Zhu Minglang stated.

“Zhu Minglang, I don’t think my water bottle pouch can hold as much as you can!” Chen Bai couldn’t help but mutter.

“This opening battle is supposed to be open to everyone, but it will probably end up as a show for the Monarch Level big shots, sigh,” Nan Ye sighed, feeling somewhat discontent.

…

Zhu Minglang headed towards the center of the grand arena.

Just then, the student named Tong Huisheng dominantly secured his fourteenth consecutive victory, which sparked discussion among some of the surrounding students.

“You going up?” asked a supervising teacher standing at the base of the stage, as Zhu Minglang walked up directly towards her.

“Yes,” Zhu Minglang nodded.

“What’s your rank in student combat? Considering we don’t want the fights to be too uneven, we’re currently only allowing the top two hundred ranked students to go up,” the supervising teacher said.

“First,” Zhu Minglang stated.

“Huh?” The supervising teacher thought she had misheard.

“Wasn’t Li Xu the first? When did it change to you? What’s your name? I’ll have someone check.”

“Zhu Minglang.”

The supervising teacher called over a young teaching assistant and asked her to flip through a thick register.

Every formal duel was recorded, and rankings would be updated accordingly; the young teaching assistant burrowed her head, searching diligently for the name Zhu Minglang.

She flipped quickly through the pages, yet after browsing several, at least the first few hundred entries had no mention of Zhu Minglang.

But by then, Zhu Minglang had already walked onto the dueling platform.

“Young student, don’t make things difficult for the teacher, come down at once!” the supervising teacher hurriedly called out, but Zhu Minglang still stepped up, turning the supervising teacher’s face dark with frustration, muttering under her breath, “If you’re so ignorant of the heights of the heavens and the depths of the earth and want to seek out your own suffering, I won’t stop you!”

…

“I haven’t seen you before, at least not among the top fifty,” Tong Huisheng said to Zhu Minglang with a touch of disdain in his tone.

“Do you have any Lord-level dragons, preferably ones with strong abilities?” Zhu Minglang stepped forward to ask.

“Of course, I have,” Tong Huisheng replied.

“Then call them all out. I have a growing Black Dragon that needs some real combat experience, but it’d struggle a bit against your Dragon Monarchs,” Zhu Minglang stated.

Tong Huisheng paused for a moment upon hearing Zhu Minglang’s words.

In normal circumstances, if someone wanted to spar and set the rule to only summon Lord-level Dragons for combat, it wouldn’t be impossible.

But what was the occasion now?

The dignitaries of the Nine Tribes of Neon Sea were on the viewing platform, and many high-level officials of the academy were watching; anyone stepping onto this dueling platform surely intended to showcase their strongest abilities. Who would want to play such a game with an unknown nobody?

“If you don’t have the strength, then roll down on your own,” Tong Huisheng said with extreme impatience.

“Perhaps you haven’t understood; I don’t want to be accused of bullying the lesser,” Zhu Minglang retorted with a cold snort.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a fierce radiance began to pour down above Zhu Minglang; the light carried an intense burning power, and as it spread across the wide dueling platform, the ground blazed like golden flames.

Simultaneously, one after another, birds of light that resembled flames dove down; they struck at Tong Huisheng, at his Red Earth Dragon King!

That Red Earth Dragon King, at least, had a thick suit of earth armor, and its robust limbs along with a sturdy earthy body gave it the impression of a solid little hillock. However, as the light poured down and the birds of light with powerful luminous energy plummeted, the Red Earth Dragon King’s entire suit of dragon armor shattered to pieces!!

The powerful birds of light inflicted serious damage on the Red Earth Dragon King, a nearly qualified Dragon Monarch with the thickest earth armor among Dragon Monarch, but under the baptism of those birds of light from the sky, it directly fell unconscious!

Tong Huisheng was shocked and looked up high, only to see an Azure Phoenix Dragon, arrogantly soaring above Zhu Minglang, with sacred, radiant azure feathers cascading down!

“Your… your dragon…” Tong Huisheng was flabbergasted.

How could his Red Earth Dragon King have been instantly knocked to the ground?!

The Azure Phoenix Azure Dragon flapped its wings, stirring up a gale that swept the unconscious Red Earth Dragon King and Tong Huisheng off the fighting stage!

Tong Huisheng hadn’t withstood even a single round!!

“Found it, teacher. This Zhu Minglang is ranked more than 13,000, a first-year student. I guessed this person was just causing a stir, so I started from the very first volume, and sure enough, I saw his rank…” the assistant said at this moment.

The teaching assistant who had been searching for Zhu Minglang’s ranking wore a smile, feeling exceptionally clever. She looked up just in time to witness the scene of Tong Huisheng and his dragon being thrown out of the arena, and her mouth dropped open in astonishment!!