Chen Guan listened in silence. By the sound of it, his odds of winning were actually pretty good.
Unfortunately, most of his demon-series skills were hardly fit for the big stage. He might have to spend some popularity points to boost his stats and become a walking numerical monster.
Still, the rewards made it worth taking the gamble. If he managed to turn the tables and become the MVP, he would probably rake in another wave of popularity points as well. It was a positive feedback loop.
The only thing he cared about was Baobao’s food.
As if sensing his thoughts, Baobao anxiously circled his feet, pawing at the legs of Chen Guan’s pants.
“Hungry.”
Su Yuehe took out several monster cores of decent quality and fed them to Baobao, smiling as she rubbed its head.
Watching them, An Changqing shook his head helplessly and led the way toward the dormitory.
“Let’s get back and rest. We’re going to suffer for the next month.”
……
Inside the training arena.
Blinding fluorescent lights illuminated the synthetic track until it gleamed white. Chen Guan gripped his scythe tightly in both hands.
“Come on!”
Long Ao let out a thunderous roar.
Chen Guan drove his ankle into the ground and shot forward like an arrow. His scythe swept through the air in a low arc, heading straight for Long Ao’s legs.
Long Ao’s right fist surged forward, the black-iron knuckle guard around it smashing into the blade of the scythe. The ear-piercing clang of metal reverberated through the arena.
Using the impact to propel himself backward, Chen Guan performed a backflip and landed steadily, the scythe swinging behind his back.
“You’ve gotten stronger again.”
Long Ao shook his numb wrist and raised his chin proudly. “The stacking effect of Endless Combat. The longer I fight, the stronger I get.”
“I’m calling for a break.”
Chen Guan leaned against the wall to rest. In truth, he wasn’t tired at all. He had nearly forgotten what fatigue even felt like.
He had called a halt because of someone on the upper platform.
A frail figure wearing black-rimmed glasses was crouched up there, staring motionlessly at Chen Guan from the edge of the arena. The gaze made him deeply uncomfortable.
“That guy Shan Heng is here again.” Chen Guan pointed upward with his towel.
Long Ao flipped himself to his feet and rolled up his sleeves. “That kid comes here to spy on us every day. I’m going to drag him down and get some answers.”
Chen Guan reached out and held him back, shaking his head. “Let him watch. It’s not like he can figure anything out.”
After all, Huaqing’s school rules didn’t prohibit first-year students from watching second-year students spar. If they made a fuss, they would be the ones in the wrong.
Of course, if the guy dared follow them back to the dormitory, Chen Guan would let him experience the sensation of acute iron poisoning.
Su Yuehe rubbed her arms. Even she couldn’t stand the man. “The way he looks always gives me chills.”
An Changqing sheathed his sword and glanced at the figure above. “Once we’re on the battlefield, we’ll naturally find out what he’s capable of.”
At present, Shan Heng was the most likely candidate to become the top student of the first-year class. An Changqing was looking forward to seeing his strength.
……
Polaris Arena.
The enormous structure, built on the edge of a cliff, was drowning in a sea of people. The salty, fishy wind swept across the spectator stands.
Chen Guan stood in Huaqing Academy’s formation with the black coffin on his back and let out a long yawn.
Baobao obediently squatted at his feet. After a month of being fed, it had filled out considerably.
An Changqing straightened his tie and looked around. “There are more people here than I expected.”
A massive holographic projection hovered in the center of the arena.
Chen Beixuan was dressed a little more formally today. Standing at the front of the team, he bellowed loudly, “Everyone, look alive!”
“If we don’t win the championship this time, every single one of you will run one thousand kilometers with a full pack when we get back!”
The fourth-year team captain, Qin Wu, wore a crisp uniform and protested with a smile. “Teacher Chen, don’t scare everyone like that. We were the undefeated grand-slam champions last year.”
Chen Beixuan glared at him, clearly displeased. “Pride comes before a fall. As captain, you have to set an example.”
Li Yuqing, now a third-year student, chimed in from the side. “Even defending champions can’t afford to let their guard down. This year’s opponents are no pushovers.”
Chen Guan looked toward the back of the team. Shan Heng still looked exactly the same, head lowered as he repeatedly pushed his slipping glasses back up his nose.
“Hey, junior. Don’t get scared to tears later,” Long Ao teased casually.
Shan Heng stammered out a reply, not even daring to meet his eyes.
“I—I’ll do my best.”
Amid the roar of machinery, the arena gates rose.
“Now entering the arena is Team Zero Academy!” the female announcer cried in a high, impassioned voice.
A group of students in black combat uniforms marched into the arena. The blond young man at their head stopped and swept his gaze over Huaqing’s team.
He raised his right hand, pressed his thumb against his own throat, and dragged it forcefully across his neck with a mocking grin.
Long Ao’s temper flared instantly.
“That bastard’s asking to die.”
An Changqing grabbed his shoulder and spoke quickly. “That’s Charles, Zero Academy’s team captain. He’s been injected with the latest-generation genetic enhancer. Don’t act rashly.”
Long Ao shook off his hand and clenched his fists. “Let me run into him. I’ll still knock him flat.”
Next to enter was Japan’s Kamitani Academy. The young man leading them wore a pure-white kariginu and gently waved a folding fan, his smile warm and mild.
Several little figures cut from yellow paper floated and danced around him.
“What kind of trick is that?” Chen Guan asked, pointing at the figures overhead. He wasn’t particularly familiar with the Japanese contestants.
Su Yuehe, as reliable as ever, explained, “Those are shikigami. That boy is Kamitani Academy’s chief onmyoji, Shū Kashiwa, a fourth-year student.”
The last team to enter was North City Academy. They all wore matching uniforms and marched in perfect formation.
On the chairman’s platform, the higher-ups from the Human Council and the Superpower Association were already seated. One white-haired elder stepped up to the microphone.
“Children, welcome to the final stage of the Four-School League.”
The elder’s voice rang throughout the arena through the loudspeakers.
“This year’s league will no longer use the traditional arena-style format.”
“We will be adopting an entirely new free-for-all survival battle!”
The holographic projection behind him instantly switched to a map of an island, marked with dense forests, swamps, and an abandoned city.
“All participating students will be randomly transported to different locations across the island.”
“An energy barrier around the island will gradually contract, forcing you toward the central area.”
“The last team standing will win the overall championship for its academy! Teleportation will begin in one minute!”
The rules weren’t complicated. It was just like a four-character game Chen Guan had once played, except there would be no need to search for supplies.
An Changqing’s expression darkened completely. This was something he hadn’t known before the competition. “Random teleportation means we’ll be forced apart.”
Su Yuehe added, “It also means we might run into a fully assembled team from another academy right at the start.”
Long Ao rolled his neck, unconcerned. “Then we fight. No need to overthink it.”
Team captain Qin Wu hurried over and gave Long Ao a pointed warning. “Everyone, if we get separated, make your way toward the abandoned city at the center of the map. If you run into students from another academy along the way, don’t engage them head-on.”
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
