Astral Douluo

"Good Morning!" Tang Xingxi said, waving his hand at Gu Yue.

"Morning," she responded, looking downwards and away from him.

"Ok ok, what's going on here?" asked a skeptical Xie Xie who just arrived along with Tang Wulin. Feeling his gaze, Gu Yue hid her face from him, hiding behind Tang Xingxi.

Taking a few seconds to process this, Xie Xie suddenly started stuttering, "Y-y-y-y-you and Gu Yue," while pointing his finger at Tang Xingxi. Tang Xingxi started to blush, and Gu Yue's face started turning as red as an apple.

At this point, even a romantic idiot could figure out what was going on, not to mention Tang Wulin. Utterly surprised by his brother's actions, Tang Wulin looked at him with widened eyes.

After gossiping for a while, the quartet went to the entrance of the school where Wu Zhangkong was waiting for them.

"You're late," he said with his cold amber eyes and chilling voice, "Hurry up, follow me!"

Following Wu Zhangkong, the group eventually managed to reach the testing site.

"All of you shall be tested in this order; Xie Xie, Gu Yue, Tang Wulin, then Tang Xingxi." (WZ)

"The first test is the spiritual power test. Xie Xie, touch the device," Wu Zhangkong ordered.

Doing so, a few seconds passed before a "Beep" sounded around the room.

"Alright, Gu Yue, you're next," Wu Zhangkong said, not revealing Xie Xie's score.

After that, everyone all went to have their spirit power taken. The only time there was a change in Wu Zhangkong's expression was when it was Tang Xingxi's turn.

"Alright, I will show all of your results now from lowest to highest," Wu Zhangkong said, "Xie Xie: Spirit Power 29! Gu Yue: Spirit Power 119! Tang Wulin: Spirit Power 120! Tang Xingxi…Spirit Power 1,000!"

All of them were shocked by the results. Even Wu Zhangkong thought to himself, 'Is the machine broken, or is this kid broken?'

Not giving everyone else time to recover, Wu Zhangkong said, "Alright! Next test, Physical test."

This time, the machine was a target with some measuring equipment and two screens on top to show the results. There were instructions written on the side of the machine.

"Punch with the left hand, then the right hand. The machine will activate and announce the scores," Xie Xie read. (Will be using

for machine speech)

Xie Xie started first.

Pak! Pak!

{Left Hand: 95 kg, Right Hand: 125 kg}

Stepping backwards, Xie Xie watched Gu Yue as she did the test, only to have his eyes go wideout of his sockets!

{Left Hand: 104 kg, Right Hand: 126 kg}

"Hah! So high and unscientific! How is she supposed to be a girl!" Xie Xie exclaimed, earning the angry gazes of both Gu Yue and Tang Xingxi.

"Alright, alright, I'm going up next," said Tang Wulin, trying to ease the tension.

Bam! Bam!

{Left Hand: 1156 kg, Right Hand: 1348 kg}

Leaving gaping mouths, everyone was going to scream before Tang Wulin put his finger to his lips. When he confirmed that he got Xie Xie and Gu Yue's attention, he then pointed his finger towards Tang Xingxi who was walking up to the machine.

BAM! BAM!

Fists covered in smoke from the sheer speed of his punches, the machine displayed scores that blew everyone's minds before announcing them, {Left Hand: 3986 kg, Right Hand: 4562 kg}

Absolutely horrified by Tang Xingxi's scores, Gu Yue, Tang Wulin and Xie Xie all looked at him and shouted out, "Monster!"

Tang Wulin and the rest already knew that Tang Xingxi was a monster, but looking at his abilities in a numerical format and comparing it to theirs, just the sheer difference between their numbers, and his was shocking enough!

Everyone, even Wu Zhangkong had to take some time to recover to this news. Sending us off, Wu Zhangkong rushed off somewhere and seemed somewhat excited.

Walking off to the academy, Tang Wulin said, "I'm hungry."

Stopping for a moment, everyone laughed. After all the shock that happened today, everyone was tense except for Tang Xingxi who felt triumphant. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, Tang Wulin just broke the awkwardness by expressing his hunger.

Walking by the marketplace, Tang Xingxi leaned on Xie Xie's shoulder and whispered, "Xie Xie, how about you treat us to dinner? We are by the market area, and my brother isn't the only one hungry here."

Shivering slightly, Xie Xie replied, "O-okay boss," while Gu Yue and Tang Wulin laughed in the background.

Passing by a shop, Xie Xie stopped and said, "Let's eat that skewered beef first. It's boiled to tenderness. Having it with some rice is simply heavenly," whilst making a cat-like expression of pure satisfaction.

"Alright," the trio replied.

'He does know the place,' I thought. I was already getting hungry, my brother too.

Walking inside, one would notice the shop was small in size, and the cooking table was situated outside the shop. There were a hundred little flames, and on top of the table were earthen jars filled with the savoury stewed beef. The steam coming out from these jars caused small vibrations upon the lids. Soft humming sounds echoed from the jars as a sweet and pungent fragrance lured passersby on the road.

Inside the shop, there were only five mediocre-sized square tables. With a maximum occupancy of twenty or so customers, half of the shop was already filled at this time.

The stewed beef dish was prepared by boiling the meat in a light brown coloured earthen jar. After the meat was cleaned, slices of onions and ginger were added inside. The jar was used to trap the moisture in and keep the flavours during the stewing process. As soon as the meat changes colour, ten or so different types of spices were sprinkled into the jar before the long duration of stewing began. The meat would then turn soft and tender, and the flavours of the spices would combine well with the meat. This was a well-known dish within Eastsea City.

It was now mid-autumn and the temperature was dropping as the days went by. The entrance welcomed customers with a gush of warmth and the fragrance of stewed beef. This was a comfortable feeling to experience.

Gu Yue showed a shocked expression to Xie Xie while saying, "I'm surprised that a rich young master like you would eat at a roadside shop!"

"The stewed beef from this shop used to be my mother's favourite, and I ventured here occasionally," said Xie Xie who was already sitting down on a table with three vacant seats.

Tang Xingxi nudged Gu Yue before following Xie Xie into the shop. He sat opposite Xie Xie. Tang Wulin was on the right of Xie Xie and Gu Yue was on the left.

"Oh! Xie Xie has come, and he brought friends with him. The usual dishes?" said a middle-aged man with an oil-stained apron and a wide grin on his face.

"En. Uncle Li, thanks." Xie Xie grinned back as he gave his thanks.

Four portions of stewed beef were delivered to them in a short moment, together with three bowls of rice and two vegetable side dishes.

"It's a first to see you bring friends with you. These side dishes are on the house," Uncle Li said, grinning as he spoke and stroking Xie Xie's head.

"Thank you, Uncle Li," Xie Xie replied.

I opened the lid of the earthen jar while ignoring Gu Yue and my brother's shock as they saw their entire view of Xie Xie overturned. At that very moment, a thick wave of fragrance flowed out from the jar and blasted into my face. The broth was dark gold in colour, and small chunks of beef were visible within it. Touching them with my chopsticks, the chunks immediately broke apart.

Picking up a piece carefully and resting it on my bowl of rice, I nimbly used my chopsticks to eat them together. My face lit up in contentment as I savoured the heavenly taste. The strong fragrance from the beef and broth was a beautiful marriage of freshness, flavour and saltiness that was perfectly supplemented by the rice. It was a perfect combination.

Tang Wulin, Xie Xie and Gu Yue had long since lost their patience at the sight of my face and began to dig in.

All of us sporting big, happy smiles, we ate contently.

"Uncle Li, I'd like thirty more sets," Xie Xie waved towards Uncle Li as he knew too well the eating abilities of me and my brother.

Both of us scratching our heads, we said, "Thank you."

"Yes?" Xie Xie lifted his head towards us. (Xie Xie means "Thank You in Chinese" - Sry I couldn't make that joke earlier.)

My brother gave a helpless face as he answered, "Your name isn't good at all. I was trying to thank you."

Xie Xie gave a bitter smile, his eyes a little red. "My mother gave me this name. She told me that she picked this name as she'd chanced upon something she was grateful for. The best thing that happened in her life was that chance encounter with father, but…" His face turned a shade paler at this moment, his hand gripping his chopsticks harder.

"Your mother?" my brother questioned cautiously. Though we knew that Xie Xie's family was wealthy, this was the first time we heard of his family's matters. I certainly forgot, and I read the novel/ manga.

Xie Xie pursed his lips before he spoke. "Father is always busy during the day. Even when mother was gravely ill, he didn't come home. In the last moments of her life, she had only wished to see father once more, but he came too late. I can never forget that night; Mother's tears, and the regret in her eyes when her grip on my hand finally lost its strength. I hate him. I hate him! I detest my name too. If not for that chance encounter, mother wouldn't have…"

As he reached this moment, Xie Xie dropped down onto the table. It seemed that Xie Xie had dropped all of that icy arrogance front he'd put up when we first met him. This was also the first time he shared his private thoughts with us.

At this moment, Uncle Li came to their table with fresh jars of stewed beef. As he placed the jars onto the table, he sighed. "This child is really pitiful. His mother loved bringing him here to my shop. But after his mother left, he came here alone with only the memories of his mother to accompany him. You can't blame him for that! It's rare to see him here with friends. I'm so happy for him. He's such a young child, yet he has such a heavy heart. Please help him if you can. Ay, how horrible!"

My brother patted Xie Xie's back lightly. I gave him a sympathetic look while Gu Yue stared ahead at the crying Xie Xie, her eyes seemingly filling with something.

Lifting our jars, we left not even a drop of stew, or a piece of meat before dragging Xie Xie away.

Walking to the next part of the market, we saw huge salt grilled prawns. These large, fresh prawns were skewed through with bamboo skewers before being sent off to the coal grill and topped with a sprinkle of salt.

My brother and I fully displayed the demeanour of a glutton god. As we went from one end to the other end of the food street, their conversation was filled with happiness and laughter, while we basically ate all the stocks of each and every vendor we visited.

"I'm full now," Gu Yue said as she held onto my shoulder for support and Xie Xie held onto Tang Wulin's.

We both grinned as we spoke, "If your appetite isn't big enough, don't try to eat like these glutton gods."

Rolling his eyes, Xie Xie said, "What glutton god? You're merely a foodie. That's what I wanted to say when I first witnessed your enormous appetite."

Tang Wulin hummed cooly, "Come on, let's continue eating since you're paying for it."

Xie Xie cried out in astonishment, "You still have space for food?"

'Hasn't this guy already eaten enough to equal a whole cow as we went down this street? Curse you Tang Xingxi for making me pay!'

Tang Wulin and I answered proudly, "Yes!"

"Ah! What's that over there?" Gu Yue suddenly said.

Lifting up our heads, we followed Gu Yue's sight. There seemed to be a commotion near the entrance of food street and there were many bystanders crowding around.

The shop's position seemed to be that of the stewed beef shop!