The entire arena shook violently. A massive crater more than three meters in diameter exploded open with his fist at its center, sending countless chunks of stone mixed with blue arcs of electricity spraying in every direction like a storm of shrapnel.
Bai Huanran’s figure reappeared more than ten meters away. A thin film of water spread beneath his feet, sliding all the flying stones and electric arcs harmlessly aside.
“See? It’s always the same.”
Bai Huanran spread his hands and smiled with feigned ease. “Aside from destruction, what else can you do?”
“That’s enough.”
Charles halted his pointless pursuit. His chest heaved violently, the veins in his neck bulging grotesquely, while blue lightning flickered beneath his skin.
“That’s enough?”
Bai Huanran raised his brows in mock surprise. “I thought the captain of No. 0 Academy could hold out a little longer.”
Charles ground his teeth.
He’d been provoking me the whole time…
You’ve really pissed me off!
He ended his warm-up and spread his arms.
Boom!
Blinding blue lightning detonated into a genuine thunderstorm. Centered around Charles, a gigantic sphere of lightning expanded wildly in every direction.
The entire arena was swallowed by raging blue plasma. The alloy tiles melted into glowing red-hot iron amid sizzling sounds, while the protective barrier around the stands was pushed to its limit and let out an ominous hum, as though it might collapse at any moment.
In No. 0 Academy’s rest area, Ross was startled as well. He knew all too well how powerful this move was.
Bai Huanran’s figure staggered left and right within the thunderstorm. The moment the rising curtains of water touched the lightning, they exploded into white steam, leaving him like a tiny boat tossed about in towering waves, liable to be swallowed completely at any moment.
In Huaqing Academy’s rest area, Qin Wu, who had recovered from his injuries and been discharged from the hospital, sighed. “Bai Huanran has pushed things too far.”
“Not necessarily.”
An Changqing’s gaze pierced through the raging lightning and fixed on the steam rising into the air.
At the center of the thunderstorm, Charles threw back his head and laughed like a victor. He looked at Bai Huanran, who was struggling desperately beneath the force of his power, his eyes filled with savage delight.
“It’s over!”
He was preparing to unleash his final burst of power and deliver the killing blow.
At that very moment, Bai Huanran’s voice rang clearly through the thunderous roar.
“Yes. It’s over.”
He raised his hand, spreading all five fingers. Then he gently clenched them toward empty space.
In an instant, the invisible moisture permeating the entire arena became the deadliest conductor under that single gesture.
All the lightning released by Charles instantly spiraled out of control. Following the omnipresent pathways, it surged madly back toward its sole source.
Himself!
“What?”
Charles’s eyes flew wide. His own rampaging lightning was reflected in them.
He tried to cut off the flow of energy, but the power that had already been unleashed was like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins. It no longer obeyed his control. Instead, passing through that invisible conductive network, it formed a perfect loop and turned back upon its master.
Crack!
Countless blue arcs of electricity poured into his body through every pore, savagely tearing at his muscles and scorching through his internal organs.
The lightning power he had always been so proud of had now become the cruelest torture imaginable.
“AAAAAAAH!”
Charles’s massive body convulsed violently beneath his own power, the skin covering him turning black and charred inch by inch.
The thunderstorm came quickly and vanished just as quickly.
When the last bolt of lightning faded, the arena had been reduced to a scene of utter devastation. All that remained was a molten crater more than ten meters across at the center, along with a kneeling, charred human figure smoking at its edge.
Bai Huanran slowly descended. His face was somewhat pale; clearly, controlling such an enormous amount of moisture to redirect the thunderstorm had cost him dearly as well. Even so, he remained standing straight.
He walked step by step toward Charles. Looking down at his opponent, who had completely lost the ability to resist, he condensed the water in his hand into a blade as thin as a cicada’s wing.
Charles struggled to raise his head. His face had been burned beyond recognition, but his eyes were still filled with unwillingness.
“You…”
“I told you. Popping pills every day makes you stupid.”
Bai Huanran rested the water blade against his neck and spoke softly.
The referee’s voice echoed throughout the empty arena.
“The winner: Beishi Academy’s Bai Huanran!”
Bai Huanran withdrew the blade from Charles’s neck. The translucent weapon dissolved into clear water in his palm, trickling through his fingers before evaporating completely against the blackened arena tiles.
He did not spare the still-smoking charred figure on the ground another glance. Turning around, he walked step by step toward his team’s rest area.
After a brief repair of the arena, the crowd’s discussion was interrupted by a new burst of light. Everyone’s attention was drawn once more to the enormous holographic screen.
The light shifted and swirled before finally settling.
When two portraits appeared side by side on the screen, the entire arena erupted.
Huaqing Academy, An Changqing.
Huaqing Academy, Su Yuehe.
“The first internal matchup!”
“The showdown nobody wanted to see has happened. Huaqing’s two championship favorites have met far too early!”
The commotion spread through the stands like a plague.
In Huaqing Academy’s rest area, however, the atmosphere was quite relaxed.
An Changqing and Su Yuehe looked at each other and smiled, their understanding requiring no words.
An internal matchup had been expected from the beginning. Even with Long Ao suffering serious injuries and forfeiting without taking part, Huaqing simply had too many competitors.
“This is a competition, but it is also our way of honoring all the hard work we’ve put in over the years.”
An Changqing stood up, as calm and gentle as ever. “It’s the perfect chance for me to see just how strong you are now, Yuehe.”
“So am I.”
Su Yuehe rose as well. She walked up to An Changqing and met his gaze without the slightest hint of retreat.
“You’d better be careful.”
With that, she turned and walked alone toward the arena.
An Changqing watched her back, then picked up his longsword and followed.
The two walked one ahead of the other along the path leading to the arena, forming a rare picture of harmony between competitors.
That warmth lasted only until they took their positions at the center of the arena, standing ten meters apart and facing each other from afar. Then it was torn apart and replaced by a razor-sharp battle intent that soared into the sky.
Inside the box overlooking the arena, Santai was still watching with great excitement.
“Which is stronger in the end—the sharpest spear or the sturdiest shield?”
“They aren’t a spear and a shield.”
Southern Dipper casually brought up the two competitors’ information. “They represent the collision of two different Rules. It depends on who understands their Rule more deeply.”
“That’s true. Kids these days…”
Santai glared at the arena with an indignant expression.
They were barely old enough to be called children, yet they had already started fiddling with Rules. Wasn’t she a genius too? How had she ended up being outclassed like this?
“Hey, Santai, who do you think will win?”
White Tiger called out to her.
Santai thought for a moment before answering, “It should still be An Changqing. I remember that he won every time the two of them fought.”
At that, White Tiger put on a mysterious, knowing expression and said, “How about we make things more interesting? I’ll bet on the little girl.”
Santai immediately grew wary. White Tiger was an exceptionally cunning creature. It would never make such a suggestion without being certain of victory.
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.
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!
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...
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
