The Fallen Genius

Early in the morning, the internal forum of Huaqing Academy had never been so noisy.

A highlighted and pinned post was seeing its reply count skyrocket at a visible rate.

Every refresh brought hundreds of new comments.

The title of the post was written in blood-red, bold letters, filled with malice between the lines.

[Video] First-year top student An Changqing practicing sword in the bamboo forest, unexpectedly reduced to a beginner's level!

The content of the post was unusually brief, containing only a thirty-second video.

The video was shot in the academy's trial forest. It was quite blurry, clearly secretly recorded.

The morning mist had not yet dispersed, and the lighting was dim and unclear.

An Changqing was standing in a clearing in the forest.

He was the academy's genius top student, having recently slain a demon with the power of the fifth tier, and was now the unparalleled Student Council President.

At this moment, he was wearing the most ordinary training uniform.

In his hand was not his usual sword, but a rough wooden one.

He repeated the most basic sword-swinging motions over and over again.

His movements were perfectly precise, yet there was no fluctuation of energy around him.

There was no sword aura, no light, not even a single fallen leaf stirred up.

He just swung the wooden sword like that, no different from a newly initiated kendo apprentice, practicing the most tedious basic skills.

At the end of the video, he sheathed his sword and stood still, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, his chest heaving.

Those few basic movements had drained all of his strength.

The forum's comment section had completely devolved into chaos.

"Did I see that right? Is this An Changqing? That fifth-tier sword cultivator?"

"Did he experience a cultivation deviation?"

"Hilarious. He was the center of attention just a few days ago, and today he's become a cripple? I knew it was impossible for him to improve so fast."

"Watch your mouth upstairs. An Changqing did it to protect us."

"So what? In the world of superhumans, being weak is the original sin. Looking at him now, he couldn't even beat me."

"Is there a possibility that this is some sort of more profound cultivation method?"

"Stop making excuses for him. Look at how weak he is, is that a normal state for cultivation? It's obvious his foundation is completely destroyed."

"Can the guy upstairs shut up? If you have the guts, post your dorm number, and I'll send you some local specialties."

All kinds of speculations and malice bred in every corner of the forum.

An Changqing himself did not make any response, which only made the spread of rumors worse.

Chen Guan sat in his dorm room, looking at the forum notifications popping up on his terminal, his expression unchanging.

The bullet screen comments flashing before his eyes, however, were a hundred times crazier than the forum, still starting with a barrage of swear words.

[Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! The big one is here, An Changqing really went to practice the basics.]

[Brother Guan! The eternal god! He said the sword would break, and something really went wrong with the sword.]

[Don't forget White Tiger, upstairs. White Tiger told him to shatter and rebuild, to return to his original nature. An Changqing really listened.]

[I get it now. It's terrifying when you think about it carefully. Chen Guan never denied that he wasn't White Tiger.]

[The ever-changing Prison Guan, such a familiar sentence structure. Is the ID upstairs the president of the Chen Guan fan club? Why are you here every time?]

The bullet screen almost turned the view completely white.

In an instant, more popularity points were credited to his account.

Chen Guan looked at the growing number, becoming even more unfazed. Unless they gave him a million popularity points one day, it would probably be hard for him to feel any fluctuation over numbers.

...

At eight o'clock in the morning, at the academy's east gate square.

A giant silver door, ten meters high, stood in the center of the square.

Complex runes were engraved on the doorframe.

Inside the door was a slowly rotating silver vortex, breathing out spatial fluctuations.

The members of Class Tianshu had mostly arrived, gathering in twos and threes. Class Tianxuan was not present this time, so it seemed Class Tianshu had booked the whole place.

Chen Guan, carrying his coffin on his back, stood alone at the edge of the crowd.

Long Ao walked over from the other side and stood next to him.

He had changed into black clothes and looked much calmer, returning to how he appeared when they first met.

The outward aggressiveness of the past had now transformed into a rock-solid steadiness.

He glanced at Chen Guan and quickly looked away.

His voice was tight, revealing a bit of unnatural stiffness.

"Thanks."

Those words came from his throat, carrying a sense of calmness after letting go of his pride.

Chen Guan nodded with almost no reaction, his gaze still fixed on the spatial door.

Long Ao said no more, and the two just stood there in silence.

[A tsundere tough guy's thanks, the value is maxed out.]

[Long Ao has completely figured it out. Brother Guan carrying the child of destiny all by himself, who else could do that?]

[This damn teammate bond. Ever since Jiangcheng, Long Ao's favorability has almost been maxed out by Chen Guan.]

Just then, the noise in the square died down.

A tall figure had appeared in front of the spatial door at some unknown point.

He was burly with a cold and stern face; it was Li Yan.

Wherever his gaze fell, the previously excited and chattering students instantly fell silent, even lightening their breathing. Even though everyone had made considerable progress, they still subconsciously felt intimidated when facing Li Yan.

Like a tree known by its shadow, a man is known by his reputation. Li Yan had always been well-known.

Li Yan's gaze slowly swept over every student present. Those he looked at felt as if their skin was being lightly scratched by the tip of a needle, causing a wave of numbness.

"Everyone is here."

His voice had no inflection as he spoke coldly.

"Destination: D-rank secret realm, Weeping Valley. Mission objective: Hunt the Windblade Wolves in the valley and obtain their crystal cores. Time limit: Twenty-four hours. The number of crystal cores obtained will serve as the grading standard for this practical combat test."

Li Yan's gaze moved through the crowd, finally pausing on Chen Guan for a moment, a flash of approval in his eyes.

Chen Guan had his aura-concealing technique constantly active, suppressing his presence to the level of an ordinary student.

But under Li Yan's stare, he still felt a sense of scrutiny, as if he had been completely seen through.

"The secret realm is not an amusement park."

Li Yan looked away, his tone devoid of warmth.

"There are no rules inside, only hunting and being hunted."

"Windblade Wolves are pack animals, cunning and cruel. A mistake by any one of you could lead to the total annihilation of your squad."

He paused and looked around at everyone.

"I will only emphasize one point. In the Weeping Valley, no one will pay for your stupidity."

These words cooled the eager expressions on many students' faces, turning them to vigilance.

"Now, form your own squads. If you encounter danger, you can fire a flare to forfeit. However, if one person forfeits, the entire squad is eliminated and all will be marked as failed."

After Li Yan finished speaking, he stepped aside to clear the way to the spatial door.

The students immediately sprang into action.

Long Ao naturally stood by Chen Guan's side.

Soon, Su Yuehe and An Changqing also walked over.

Long Ao cast a glance over. He wasn't disconnected from the internet, so he had seen the things on the forum as well.

He originally wanted to send some local specialties to those people, but unfortunately, keyboard warriors backed down way too fast.

An Changqing's face was a bit pale, and his aura seemed far weaker than before.

But his eyes were exceptionally bright, and his mental state looked very good. Seeing this, Long Ao felt relieved.

"Sorry, I'm late."

He walked up to the team and smiled apologetically at everyone.

Su Yuehe immediately went up to greet him, asking with concern, "Changqing, are you alright? Those things on the forum..."

"I'm fine."

An Changqing shook his head, his expression unchanged. He couldn't care less about the forum.

Those who criticized him didn't even have the qualifications to stand before him, so why should he care?

Seeing that everyone had finished forming their teams, Li Yan didn't say much and simply raised his hand to signal them.

"Move out."

An Changqing walked at the very front.

He stopped before the vortex, his chest rising and falling briefly, before he took the lead and stepped into the swirling curtain of silver light.

Chen Guan followed behind Long Ao, stepping right into the gate of the secret realm.