Return to the Academy

Long Ao's expression froze on his face, his jaw practically dislocating.

He racked his brains but just couldn't figure it out.

Instead of choosing priceless pills and treasures, he picked an ordinary, broken stone out of a pile of junk?

What kind of logic was this? Even trying to act noble and unmaterialistic shouldn't look like this!

Long Ye's gaze shifted momentarily between Chen Guan and that piece of jade.

His temperament is good, but unfortunately, his eye for treasures is a bit lacking.

He had studied the items in this chest more than once. Aside from being made of a slightly harder material, this stone was just an ordinary rock.

This kid was still too young after all, plenty of arrogance, but lacking in experience. He had deliberately stuffed some good things into the chest, but the kid hadn't even recognized them.

"Since you like it, take it."

Long Ye waved his hand, making the final decision.

"Chen Guan, you..." Long Ao wanted to say something else, but was choked back by a stern glare from Long Ye.

"The matter is settled. Let him get some good rest."

After speaking, Long Ye turned and walked out, without the slightest hesitation.

After giving some brief instructions, the doctor also quickly left the room.

Long Ao looked at the stone in Chen Guan's hand, opened his mouth, and finally could only let out a long sigh.

He had no choice but to attribute this to Chen Guan's extraordinary abilities, which made him look down on worldly possessions.

The room returned to silence.

Chen Guan held the ink-black ancient soul-nourishing jade. A cool and gentle sensation spread from his palm, soothing his turbulent mind.

He let out a long breath, his eyelids so heavy they could close at any moment.

Just then, on the nightstand, the screen of his phone which had somehow survived the battle lit up and emitted a faint vibration.

He picked up the phone and unlocked the screen.

An emergency notification from the Academic Affairs Office of Huaqing Academy popped up.

"Attention all students: No one is allowed near the Central Library area. The area has been locked down."

...

The journey back to Huaqing Academy was unusually quiet.

Long Ao sat in the back seat of the car, eyes closed as he adjusted his breathing. Because of the lockdown in Jiang City, they had to hitch a ride back to the academy.

The dragon blood marrow in his body was slowly fusing with him, and the power sealed by the White Tiger was seeping out bit by bit.

With every heartbeat, his muscles and bones let out faint popping sounds, proof that his strength was growing.

The Jiang City incident had earned him the breakthrough he had dreamed of.

A true Tier 4. Give him a little more time to digest it, and Tier 5, or even Tier 6, wouldn't be out of reach.

He could already imagine the surprise that would appear on An Changqing's gentle face when they saw each other.

This time, he was going to win it back fair and square.

Chen Guan leaned against the other side, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the ink-black jade.

The gentle aura of the jade was seeping into his palm little by little.

[Brother Ao is going back this time, won't he make An Changqing's jaw drop?]

[Looking forward to Long Ao version 2.0 vs An Changqing version 2.0. They should be evenly matched this time.]

[Wrong, it's no longer Long Ao's home ground. Brother An is still Brother An.]

[Brother Guan is still playing with his broken stone, lmao. The whole world is paying attention to Brother Ao getting stronger, but only Brother Guan cares about his souvenir.]

The discussion in the bullet comments couldn't affect Chen Guan.

He was calculating how much help this ancient soul-nourishing jade could provide for the awakening of his main body.

The scenery outside the car flew backward, and before long, it returned to a familiar sight.

They had arrived at Huaqing Academy.

Long Ao was the first to jump out of the car.

His muscles and bones hummed in unison, his fighting spirit soaring. He couldn't wait to go find An Changqing.

"I'm going back to the dorm, are you..."

Long Ao turned back to look at Chen Guan, but halfway through his sentence, his attention was drawn by a heated argument among a few students not far away.

"It was simply a miracle! You guys didn't see it, President An's final sword strike dyed the sky golden!"

"Such a powerful enemy, and President An was actually able to hold them off alone?"

"What do you mean 'hold off'? It was a counter-kill! He broke through in the heat of battle, advancing straight to Tier 5! He killed it with a single strike!"

When those students saw Long Ao, their conversation stopped.

Immediately, someone recognized him. Chen Guan knew him too; it was Zhou Tong from their class.

"Long Ao, Chen Guan, long time no see."

Long Ao's brows furrowed deeply as he interrupted, "This President An you're talking about..."

He had a bad feeling.

Zhou Tong nodded. "You probably don't know yet. An Changqing successfully ran for Student Council President a while ago. The original Vice President has gone off to do an internship."

"An Changqing... advanced to Tier 5?"

"Yeah." He pushed up his glasses. "A senior who couldn't graduate went mad. He was deceived by a demon and mutated into a monster. Fortunately, he discovered it early. He held off that Tier 5 monster all by himself, buying time for the instructors. Most importantly, he advanced to Tier 5 on the spot and then killed it with one strike."

Tier 5.

As these words poured into his ears, Long Ao felt a tightness in his chest, and even his breathing grew heavy.

The breakthrough he had fought so hard for seemed so insignificant in the face of the term Tier 5.

"Not just President An," another girl they didn't know added, "Student Su Yuehe is also super amazing! She successfully advanced to Tier 4 during this incident too!"

Tier 4.

Another mountain.

Long Ao's straight back visibly slumped.

He was only Tier 4.

While others, in the comfort of the academy, had effortlessly crossed the finish line he was looking up to.

[...Holy crap, I just skipped two episodes to follow Brother Ao, and An Changqing is Tier 5? He must be using hacks!]

[I take back what I said earlier. This time, Brother Ao... seems to have risked his life for nothing.]

[I feel bad for Brother Ao, really. The progress he made by risking his life isn't even worth mentioning in front of a true genius.]

The tone of the bullet comments shifted from anticipation to sympathy.

Chen Guan got out of the car, taking all of this in.

He glanced at the devastated Long Ao, his face expressionless.

"Baal," he called out in his mind, "was the demon in the academy from the same batch as the one in Jiang City?"

"No, but it's also a third-rate one. Even if you gave it another hundred years, it wouldn't be as formidable as the one you're carrying on your back." Baal's lazy voice sounded.

"However," Baal said carelessly, "that kid forcibly activated his myth-class ability, overdrawing his future potential just to barely execute that strike. Cracks have already appeared in the foundation of his swordsmanship. It won't be noticeable in the short term, but when he tries to break through to Tier 6, he'll know the severity of it. Tsk, tsk, a fine sword, what a pity."

Even though Chen Guan wasn't at Huaqing, it didn't stop Baal from knowing everything about what happened there.

He was omnipresent.

Chen Guan walked over to Long Ao's side.

Long Ao had his head down, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles protruded and the veins on the back of his hands bulged.

He didn't even notice Chen Guan approaching.

Chen Guan didn't offer any words of comfort.

He just calmly looked past Long Ao's shoulder toward the locked-down Central Library in the distance and spoke lightly.

"His sword is too fast; it will break."

Those words entered Long Ao's ears clearly.

Long Ao looked up abruptly, staring at Chen Guan in bewilderment.

He didn't understand.

Chen Guan didn't explain. He patted Long Ao's shoulder, turned around, and walked toward the dormitories.

Long Ao stood rooted to the spot, mulling over those words again and again.

His sword was too fast, it would break...