The First Sequence

The news of Teacher Li Yan's miraculous recovery spread throughout Huaqing Academy overnight.

It caused a massive uproar across the campus.

Students discussed it heatedly on the campus forums, calling it the greatest medical miracle since the founding of Huaqing.

All sorts of speculations came pouring in.

People analyzed exactly how Teacher Li Yan managed to survive the desperate situation of having his life essence completely depleted.

Some said that Principal Ren Ping had hidden his true strength and his life-attribute ability had reached the pinnacle of perfection.

Others claimed that Teacher Li Yan possessed extraordinary willpower, pulling himself back from the brink of death.

It was a carnival of celebration.

The return of a hero was the story everyone loved to see most.

Isolated from the jubilation outside, however, the principal's office was filled with a heavy, dead silence.

Ren Ping pinched the latest medical report between his fingertips, his eyes glued to it, his brows knitted into a tight knot.

The report showed that Li Yan's vital signs were surprisingly good.

They were even a bit stronger than his peak condition before the injury.

This should have been a wonderful thing.

Yet the weight pressing down on Ren Ping's chest only grew heavier.

"Still can't find the cause?" he asked the chief physician standing opposite him.

Sweat beaded on the chief physician's forehead as he explained with a bitter expression, "Principal, we've used every piece of equipment available, even bringing in the military's latest models, but the results are all the same. A furnace of vitality has seemingly appeared out of thin air within Teacher Li's body. That life force is pure and vast, but its origin is completely unknown. It doesn't belong to the essence you injected, nor does it belong to him. It's as if it was created out of nothing."

Created out of nothing.

Ren Ping muttered to himself.

He recalled his own assessment back in the hospital room.

This wasn't medicine; this was creation.

This thought made even a Tenth-Tier powerhouse like him feel a wave of exhaustion. His life's learning seemed entirely meaningless in the face of those words.

He waved his hand, signaling the chief physician to leave.

He was left alone in the office.

He walked to the window and looked out at the vibrant students on campus.

The confusion in his heart was deeply rooted and tangled, making it increasingly difficult to find a way out.

This matter had to be investigated thoroughly.

Since this unknown power could save people, it naturally could harm them too.

At the same time, Chen Guan was lying on his dorm bed, staring blankly at the dazzling number on his system panel.

Although it had gone up a bit, it was nowhere near its previous level.

Going from over three hundred thousand back to zero overnight accurately described his current situation.

The effect of that drop of World Tree dew had been instantaneous.

But its price made him feel like a piece of his chest had been scooped out every time he thought about it.

The little bit of security he had painstakingly accumulated had vanished into thin air once again.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the dorm door.

"Chen Guan, it's me, An Changqing."

Chen Guan bolted upright from the bed.

The slight, mundane look of worrying about money instantly vanished from his face.

When he looked up again, he had returned to his usual expression.

He opened the door, and the two burly figures of An Changqing and Long Ao blocked most of the doorway.

Seeing him, both of them wore genuine smiles on their faces.

"Chen Guan, we just got back from the hospital!" An Changqing's tone was full of uncontainable excitement. "Teacher Li, he can get out of bed! The doctors say he recovered even better than expected, it's totally beyond everyone's imagination!"

Long Ao nodded vigorously beside him. "The doctors said it's all thanks to the principal."

Chen Guan's gaze fell outside the window, his voice very soft.

"As long as the teacher is okay."

This posture of having already seen through everything but simply choosing not to say it instantly caused An Changqing and Long Ao to imagine a whole dramatic backstory in their heads.

He had long anticipated that the principal could save Teacher Li, which was why he was so calm!

He wasn't being cold; he was just hiding all his worries deep in his heart!

The two of them practically had their thoughts written on their faces, which made Chen Guan's skin crawl.

Just as he was about to politely kick these two over-imaginative guys out of his dorm, all three of their phones vibrated at the same time.

The faint blue glow from their communicator screens illuminated three distinctly different faces.

Long Ao's eyes were locked firmly onto the ancient crest at the top of the screen, formed by a coiled dragon and a city wall. His voice even pitched up a bit: "This... this is..."

An Changqing's expression instantly turned serious.

He leaned closer to the screen and read out the two large, gilded characters beneath the crest, word by word.

Great Wall.

As those two words were spoken, the air in the dorm seemed to grow heavier, pressing down on them until it was hard to breathe.

An Changqing's chest heaved once before he continued reading the contents below.

It was an invitation.

Inviting the students of Huaqing Academy's Tianshu Class to head to the Northern Frontier First Academy within three days to participate in the First Sequence Genius Training Camp. Enrollment was voluntary.

His voice wasn't loud, but every word smashed clearly into the hearts of the other two.

"Great Wall... it's the Great Wall's training camp!"

Long Ao's breathing grew heavy.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking, and the muscles on his face twitched slightly from extreme excitement.

"First Sequence! Haha! My fists are already starting to itch!"

"Don't celebrate too early." An Changqing turned off his screen, a dark cloud settling over his brow. "Long Ao, do you know what the First Sequence means?"

"Of course I know. It's a staple program every summer." Long Ao waved his hand dismissively. With his family background, he was very familiar with training camps.

"Is it summer vacation right now?"

Long Ao froze. Right, the name was correct, but the timing was wrong.

"This means the situation at the border might be far more severe than any of us imagined."

An Changqing's tone grew solemn.

"The impact of the demon race incident last time might be far more serious than we thought."

The excitement faded from Long Ao's face, his tense muscles relaxed, and he began to calm down and think.

An Changqing turned his gaze toward Chen Guan, who hadn't spoken a word this whole time.

He noticed that Chen Guan had merely turned off his communicator screen in silence.

That piece of news, enough to drive any superhuman crazy, failed to stir up even the slightest ripple in him, as if it were just an ordinary email.

"Chen Guan, what do you think?" An Changqing couldn't help but ask. He felt Chen Guan's calmness was a bit too much.

Although it might be because he didn't fully understand it—the First Sequence was the most dangerous, yet many of the people currently holding high positions came from the First Sequence training class.

Chen Guan slowly turned his head back. What did he think? What else could he think? If An Changqing was going, of course he was going.

But the words changed flavor by the time they reached his lips.

"No matter what, I'll be going."

"With the demon race invading, no one can stay out of it."