Did It

“Just drained.”

Chen Guan held him steady, feeling the furnace-like heat beneath his palm slowly recede. He offered the simplest explanation.

“You landed the final blow. Nicely done.”

“Me?”

Long Ao blinked blankly. Looking at his own limp hands, he had no memory of doing anything at all.

An Changqing and Qin Wu hurried over. Seeing Long Ao’s weak and bewildered expression, they exchanged complicated looks and tacitly chose not to mention the golden bird that had incinerated everything.

That kind of power was already beyond their comprehension.

“Don’t talk for now.”

Qin Wu reached out to touch Long Ao’s forehead, but the astonishing heat made him jerk his fingers back. He turned to the others and said in a low voice:

“We won. Let’s rest first.”

The joy of victory never came. Everyone wore the same look of exhaustion.

What they had witnessed in the illusion—especially Long Ao’s final, godlike form—had shaken them far more violently than the battle itself.

And thanks to Long Ao’s performance, everyone had conveniently chosen to forget Chen Guan’s.

Chen Guan, meanwhile, was thinking about something else.

“Baal.”

He called out to him mentally.

“Heh heh, what do you want, boy?”

Since they had yet to leave, Baal could still emerge and chat as he pleased.

“Were you frightened by your friend? That Vermilion Bird bloodline of his—tsk, tsk. It may be pitifully thin, but it was still more than enough to burn away a bit of that idiot colleague of mine’s scalp.”

“The code names of the Guiyuan Group—Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon—are they named that way because of this?”

Baal raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Your little brain works faster than I expected.”

It did not answer directly, but its attitude had already given Chen Guan the answer.

At that moment, a grand voice descended from the heavens.

“The first round, the Team Survival Competition, has ended.”

“The final victor is Huaqing Academy.”

“All participating students, prepare to be transported back.”

As the announcement faded, columns of gentle white light descended from the sky, enveloping the members of Huaqing Academy on the plaza.

…

Meanwhile, in the outside world.

An Changsong sprang to his feet. As the provider of the illusion, he had already realized that it had been shattered.

They had done it…

These children had really done it!

Seeing An Changsong’s reaction, everyone immediately guessed what had happened inside. Shock appeared on their faces.

“President An, was this part of your plan too?”

Huaqing’s principal, Ren Ping, had finally managed to recover a sliver of rationality from his wild joy, though his voice still trembled.

His students were this terrifying, yet he, their principal, had known nothing about it.

“Plan?”

An Changsong shook his head with a bitter smile. “I only wanted to use a fragment of Astaroth’s spirit to put some pressure on these children and see the limits of what they could do.”

He looked frankly at the others, his voice carrying barely restrained emotion.

“But what these children gave me wasn’t a pleasant surprise. It was a genuine fright.”

Under An Changsong’s heated gaze, Chen Guan and the others reappeared in the center of the plaza.

Meanwhile—

When the tug of the white light faded, the cool air of the plaza flowed into their nostrils once more, washing away the lingering stench of blood from the illusion.

Chen Guan supported Long Ao by the arm, clearly feeling the scorching heat within the big man’s body rapidly fade.

Almost the instant their feet touched the ground, several medical personnel who had been waiting nearby rushed over with a life-support pod.

“Make way! Make way! Where’s the injured student?”

Qin Wu stepped forward. He wanted to speak, but his throat was still too dry to produce a sound. In the end, he merely raised a hand and pointed at Long Ao, whom Chen Guan was holding up.

“His condition is the most serious. Examine him immediately.”

The medical personnel moved with professional speed. Various probes and instruments were quickly attached to Long Ao’s body, and warning alarms rang out one after another.

“Vital signs are extremely unstable! Heart rate elevated, body temperature abnormal, mental fluctuations disordered. Hurry—get him into the intensive treatment pod!”

Long Ao was carefully lifted onto a stretcher. His eyes were still filled with confusion as he looked at his teammates gathered around him. His lips moved.

“Did I… hold everyone back again?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Qin Wu walked over and reached out to pat him on the shoulder, but the astonishing heat made him jerk his hand back.

He looked at Long Ao, his throat bobbing as his eyes filled with both awe and lingering fear.

“Get some rest. We won. You played a crucial role.”

“Me?”

The confusion in Long Ao’s eyes only deepened.

Could someone please play back the VCR for him?

An Changqing and Su Yuehe came over as well. Looking at Long Ao, Su Yuehe said gently, “Long Ao, you’re just exhausted. Get some sleep and you’ll be fine.”

Long Ao seemed to want to say something else, but an irresistible wave of fatigue swept over him. His eyelids grew too heavy to hold open.

As they watched Long Ao being quickly wheeled toward the medical center, none of the surviving Huaqing team members let out a cheer of victory.

That golden bird which had incinerated the will of a demon god had branded itself into everyone’s mind, leaving behind a mark that could never be erased.

“Why are you all just standing there?”

A steady voice came from behind them. Ren Ping and An Changsong walked over together.

Ren Ping’s delight was visible to the naked eye. He looked at his students as though he were staring at his own path to promotion.

I, the principal, am getting promoted again!

An Changsong, who had nowhere left to climb, was far calmer. His gaze swept over every student present before finally settling on his own son.

“Changqing.”

“Father.”

An Changqing met his father’s gaze and gave a slight nod.

“Well done.”

An Changsong’s praise was brief but forceful. His gaze moved past An Changqing and landed on Qin Wu.

“And Qin Wu, as captain, you performed admirably.”

“Your praise is too generous, President An.”

Qin Wu straightened his back, but his voice carried a note of shame.

“I didn’t do much. It was my junior brothers and sisters… They were the ones who turned the tide.”

His gaze involuntarily drifted toward Chen Guan and Long Ao, who had just been carried away.

An Changsong saw through his thoughts and merely smiled.

“That’s not the case. The process isn’t important.”

He looked around at everyone, his voice carrying to every corner of the plaza.

“I hereby announce that the final victor of the first round, the Team Survival Competition, of the Intercollegiate Tournament between the Four Schools is Huaqing Academy!”

The plaza fell deathly silent.

Ren Ping looked at these students, who seemed to have just fought a battle to annihilate the world and whose mental states were clearly less than sound. He felt both pride and concern. Clearing his throat, he tried to lighten the mood.

“All right, stop looking so grim. You’re the champions. Give me a smile.”

Several students forced the corners of their mouths upward. Their smiles looked worse than tears.

An Changsong saw this but did not press them. He understood how they felt.

“I know you’re exhausted. The mental fatigue you’re suffering is far greater than the physical exhaustion.”

“The academy has prepared the highest-grade recuperation suites for you. You have three days to recover.”