The Return of the King

At the bottom of the rift valley.

The Beast Emperor's golden blood was still bubbling out, coating the pile of pale white bones in a thick, scalding golden layer.

Hey, I say... Yin Chen finally found his voice again.

He looked at Chen Guan's back. When that man put away the monster core, he didn't even spare a second glance at the crystal that could drive the entire new generation of China crazy.

Aren't you surprised by what you just killed?

Chen Guan turned around.

His gaze swept over the Beast Emperor's corpse on the ground, then over that pool of golden blood, and finally landed on the faces of Yin Chen and Hong Yuan.

He spoke flatly, Walking points.

Points?

Hong Yuan felt as if her worldview was being repeatedly smashed by an invisible sledgehammer.

A peak tier-six Golden Beast Emperor... is just points in your eyes?

Fame, status... these added values seemed completely worthless to the person in front of them.

Chen Guan did not answer.

He just lifted his chin, his voice as low and plain as ever, Let's go.

Their chaotic thoughts were forcibly pulled back to reality by these two words.

Oh... okay.

Yin Chen's body reacted faster than his brain, almost jogging to catch up.

Hong Yuan also hastily shouldered her giant axe and walked on the other side.

She couldn't help but ask another question, her voice kept very low, as if muttering to herself, Why on earth did you reveal this kind of strength? Don't people usually hide their true abilities all the way to the end?

Chen Guan did not stop walking, nor did he answer.

The answer was simple, it just hurt his pride a bit.

Namely, his fighters were too weak to win, so he had to take the field himself.

He certainly wouldn't say this to Hong Yuan's face. Little Red loved to bristle with anger the most.

Over the next two days, in the high-tier monster zone.

Front left, thirty degrees, two tier-four Wind Wolves. Yin Chen's voice carried an excited pant, as dozens of wind blades had already sealed off the monsters' retreat.

Leave them to me! Hong Yuan's giant axe smashed down with the sound of tearing wind. The ground trembled, and one of the Wind Wolves was instantly knocked dizzy.

Roar! The other Wind Wolf lunged at the opening in her defense.

A phantom-like figure flashed past Hong Yuan's axe handle. A streak of black light swept across, and the Wind Wolf's roar abruptly ceased.

The battle was over.

Yin Chen landed on the ground, looking at the fallen corpses with immense satisfaction.

Captain, how much time is left?

Over these two days, Yin Chen had become increasingly skilled at calling out this title of Captain.

In this regard, Yin Chen was incredibly grateful to Chen Guan. After all, having him call Hong Yuan captain was something he truly couldn't accept.

If Hong Yuan were the captain, the team's future would simply be pitch black. She would drive the team into a ditch sooner or later.

Ten minutes left.

Chen Guan said after checking the time. If the protagonist's halo didn't kick in, they should indisputably be in first place.

During these two days, the three of them had practically carried out a racial genocide in the ice plains.

Yin Chen and Hong Yuan were still secretly competing with each other. It was entirely a matter of first come, first served, so all these pitiful monsters suffered the consequences one by one.

Hong Yuan wiped the blood off her axe blade and asked in confusion, The numbers aren't right. I remember killing two hundred and seventy-five monsters on the first day alone. Why is our total number of monster cores not even eight hundred? Silver Hair, did you steal my monster cores?

Out of trust in Yin Chen's character, Hong Yuan completely distrusted him.

Yin Chen was speechless.

Did she think monsters were creatures that automatically respawned every day at midnight?

Chen Guan was also speechless.

What kind of top jungler of Hutou Mountain was this?

Yin Chen and Chen Guan exchanged a glance. It was impossible to reason with her, absolutely impossible.

After a long while, Chen Guan finally said, The numbers are correct.

Oh, alright then.

Her tone carried a kind of conviction that even she hadn't noticed. Subconsciously, she believed that whatever Chen Guan said was right. Chen Guan couldn't possibly bully her like Yin Chen did.

For the past two days, it had basically been Chen Guan commanding and the two of them executing. Hong Yuan had grown somewhat accustomed to obeying Chen Guan's words.

However, this feeling of not having to use her brain was truly exhilarating.

No need to think, just execute orders.

The axe connected to the brain, and fists replaced thinking.

...

The bell signaling the end of the training camp finally rang amidst the sky full of wind and snow.

In the central square of the camp, the surviving freshmen gathered in twos and threes. Everyone's eyes were glued to the giant glowing scoreboard in the center.

Look! Wei Zhe's team from the Magic City Academy has rushed to second place! So fierce!

Nonsense, Wei Zhe is a ruthless guy. Eh? What about Yin Chen and Hong Yuan? What's going on, haven't they returned yet?

Hard to say. Maybe they ran into something tough? This trial isn't peaceful, maybe they won't be coming back.

Amidst the bizarre discussions, three figures walked unhurriedly from the camp entrance.

Walking at the front was Chen Guan, dressed in black and carrying a black coffin, standing out starkly against the snowy white background.

Yin Chen and Hong Yuan followed half a step behind him.

The un-washable stench of blood on the two of them made the surrounding chattering freshmen involuntarily shut their mouths, parting to make a path for them.

The three walked straight to the points registration desk.

The instructor in charge of the tally was yawning. Without even raising his head, he reached out his hand in a businesslike manner, Monster cores.

Yin Chen took a step forward, placed a heavy leather bag on the table, and untied the opening.

Clatter.

Dozens of radiant monster cores rolled out, almost covering the entire table. Even the worst ones were of tier-three quality.

A collective gasp echoed through the crowd.

Hiss!

Holy crap, so many? Did they wipe out a monster nest?

All high-tier goods... How many beasts did they have to kill for this?

Some people looked terrified when they saw the few tier-five monster cores and batches of tier-four monster cores on the table.

One must know that there were gaps even among geniuses. Many of these geniuses didn't even have a tier-five core.

The students thought to themselves: Oh no, who put me on the table?

A hint of expression finally appeared on the yawning instructor's face.

He sat up straight and quickly counted and recorded them.

On the glowing screen, the names of the three began to soar, quickly squeezing into the top three and taking the second place position.

The instructor's tone became a bit more polite, Are there any more?

Yin Chen didn't speak, he just turned slightly and looked at Chen Guan.

Under the gaze of thousands of eyes in the square, Chen Guan reached out, took out that particular monster core, and placed it on the table.

Thud.

A soft sound, yet the entire square fell suddenly silent, as if someone had pressed the mute button.

It was a fist-sized crystal core, its entire body flowing with a molten gold luster.

It just lay there quietly, and the energy fluctuations it emitted caused the surrounding air to heat up by a few degrees.

The pen in the registering instructor's hand hovered in mid-air, and he even forgot to breathe.

What... what is that? someone stammered to ask. Those with sharper spiritual senses could already feel the oppressive aura coming from it.

A knowledgeable student stared fixedly at that crystal core, his voice trembling.

Molten gold halo, fist-sized dimensions, God! A peak tier-six, Golden Beast Emperor's monster core?!

This name was like a thunderclap, exploding violently among the crowd.

What?! The Golden Beast Emperor? That king of the Glacier Rift Valley?

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Exactly, that tiger has been jumping around for so many years.

"Instructors and cadets have come and gone, batch after batch... who went and killed the camp's mascot?"

The instructor's hands were shaking uncontrollably.

He picked up the device, verifying the results three times over.

Each time, the machine let out a piercing beep, proving that what lay before him was absolutely genuine.

Finally, with trembling fingers, he logged the astronomical amount of points into the system.