The Broken Sword

[What does this mean? Brother Guan is speaking in riddles again.]

[A broken sword? Is he talking about An Changqing? No wonder, at the end of the last episode, An Changqing's expression was a bit off.]

[Holy shit! I get it! Brother Guan means that An Changqing's breakthrough method is draining the pond to catch the fish, his foundation is unstable. Brother Ao's breakthrough is the real deal.]

[An Changqing lost because he doesn't have a system. Only the power gained through a system is solid.]

The style of the bullet comments reversed once again, shifting from sympathizing with Long Ao to frantically interpreting Chen Guan's words.

Chen Guan ignored the discussions behind him and walked straight away. Long Ao was still frozen in place, even forgetting to return to his dorm.

"Do you still remember our agreement?" Baal's voice continued, "There are quite a few good souvenirs inside the library."

"The core of an abyssal worm," Baal's voice carried a hint of interest. "It clearly wasn't there before. If you manage to get it for me, I'll give you a chance to secretly learn from me, letting you copy another one of my moves. However, whether you can master it will depend on yourself."

Chen Guan's footsteps paused for a moment.

The opportunity to secretly learn from Baal was rare.

Moreover, he had an agreement with Baal beforehand, and it was indeed inappropriate to break a promise.

He was determined to get this dish.

He believed in taking what he could: what is mine is mine, and what is yours is also mine.

...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of impacts, each heavier than the last, echoed through the corridor.

Long Ao was bare-chested, sweat trickling down the bulging ravines of his muscles, his whole body steaming with scorching white vapor.

He did not use his supernatural ability, relying solely on his flesh and blood to smash his fists into the specially made punching bag.

The skin on his knuckles had long been worn away, and beads of blood mixed with sweat splattered in all directions.

He was completely oblivious to this, only using this most primitive method of self-mutilation to vent the depression filling his chest.

He had caught up, only to be thrown even further behind.

This sense of powerlessness was even worse than when he faced strong enemies in Jiangcheng.

[Sigh, Brother Ao is too miserable. He risked his life to level up, only to look back and see his home base stolen.]

[An Changqing is Tier 5... How can they fight? Mythological abilities inherently have a higher ceiling than enhancement abilities, and now he is a tier higher.]

[I feel like Brother Ao's mentality is going to collapse.]

Chen Guan sat on his bed, turning a deaf ear to the commotion next door. The academy's soundproofing needed improvement, and so did Long Ao's.

He took out the ink-colored soul-nourishing ancient jade from his clothes and placed it close to his main body's chest.

A cool and gentle aura penetrated his skin, and immediately, the faint black mist lingering between his brows dissipated.

It worked.

He tucked the jade stone into his inner lining pocket, ensuring it pressed tightly against his skin.

"Kid, don't just focus on your broken stone," Baal's voice echoed in his mind. "When are you going to fetch the thing you promised me?"

"Location," Chen Guan responded in his mind.

"Central Library, third underground floor, the deepest archive room." Baal's tone carried a bit of excitement. "It was probably only after your miserable senior died that this good stuff was spawned."

"The academy doesn't allow entry," Chen Guan said concisely.

Baal's voice was full of amusement at watching the drama unfold. "Do you still care about that? I remember humans have a rule against forming contracts with demons."

Chen Guan did not reply again.

He glanced out the window; the night was already thick.

Next door, Long Ao's hitting sounds continued, but the frequency had slowed down, turning into muffled thuds mixed with heavy panting.

He stood up, put on his jacket, and moved slightly without making a single sound.

Chen Guan opened the door until he completely disappeared.

...

At midnight, Huaqing Academy sank into a dead silence.

Clouds obscured the moonlight, leaving only streetlights casting dim yellow halos at fixed distances.

Tree shadows swayed in the night breeze, stretching out into grotesque shapes on the ground.

Chen Guan walked on the boundary between light and shadow.

He didn't deliberately hide, and his pace was neither fast nor slow.

But every step fell exactly in the blind spots of the patrol team's vision, and every turn perfectly blended into the shadows of the buildings, successfully deceiving their eyes.

He had spent some popularity points to upgrade his aura-concealing technique to purple quality.

Under the operation of the aura-concealing technique, his breath, heartbeat, and even the tiny sounds of his clothing rubbing were compressed to the extreme. The student council members alone could not detect him.

To protect student privacy, surveillance cameras were only installed in a few places, and obviously, there were none on the ordinary main roads.

His movement was completely silent.

Soon, the massive outline of the Central Library appeared ahead. Chen Guan found a corner, applied an illusion, and put down the coffin on his back. Then, using an item exchanged from the system, he directly transformed into another face.

A face Chen Guan was not unfamiliar with. From now on, I am Lin Jiu.

A ring of yellow caution tape completely isolated the library.

Every ten meters stood a student on guard.

They were members of the student council, but most of them were quite casual, chatting without much vigilance.

After all, who would have thought that someone would run here in the middle of the night.

Therefore, passing through was effortless.

He pushed open the heavy glass doors of the library, and a stale, bookish smell mixed with cold, damp air rushed over his face.

He didn't stop and walked straight toward the stairs leading underground.

The further down he went, the heavier the sweet smell of blood in the air became.

On the second underground floor, traces of battle could still be seen. There were sword marks and claw prints on the walls. Chen Guan was quite familiar with the aura on the sword marks; they came from An Changqing.

Upon reaching the third underground floor, the scene before him was completely different.

The walls were covered in a layer of slippery, dark slime that was slowly dripping down. It was no wonder students were kept away.

"Left, third row of bookshelves," Baal's voice sounded in his mind.

Chen Guan turned to the left.

This was the ancient books section, and the air was filled with the smell of humus.

He followed the guidance and headed toward the archive room.

The item was just sitting right there on the bookshelf, allowing him to get his hands on it without much effort. Its name sounded mysterious, but its appearance was extremely ordinary, looking just like a small stone.

Just as he was about to leave, a very faint sound of something piercing the air reached his ears.

Swish.

It was the sound of a sword blade slicing through the air.

Chen Guan stopped his footsteps, pressed his body against the tall bookshelf, and looked through the gap toward the source of the sound.

In the clearing not far ahead stood a familiar figure.

Dressed in a white shirt, with a tall and straight posture.

It was An Changqing.

He actually hadn't left, staying alone in this distorted pollution core. Normally, students on guard duty would only be outside. He must have chosen to come in himself, just like Chen Guan.

His face was a bit pale, but the hand holding the sword was very steady, repeating the most basic sword-swinging motion over and over again.

Chen Guan's gaze fell on An Changqing's sword, and the words he had said at that time echoed in his mind.

His sword is too fast, it will break...

Right at this moment, An Changqing's sword momentum sank.

His chest heaved, his wrist flicked, and the longsword thrust straight forward.

A dazzling golden sword light suddenly bloomed, illuminating the entire space down to the finest detail.

That light was condensed to the extreme, containing an unstoppable power that could break through anything.

However, the sword light only extended for less than three meters before it flickered violently in the air.

Then, with a soft puff, the sword's radiance flickered like a dying flame running out of fuel. It shattered into a sky full of golden motes of light before being completely swallowed by the darkness.