"The Secret Realm Tournament is based on academies. Teamwork and resource exploration skills are more important," Su Yuehe said softly. "It makes sense for her to conserve her strength and forfeit. This also counts as setting up Academy Zero, causing them to miss out on the championship and runner-up spots early on."
Chen Guan did not voice his suspicions or the information from the bullet comments. For one, he lacked evidence, and for another, he didn't want to expose his uniqueness. He just listened silently, but the uneasiness in his heart lingered.
"Regardless, the team battle is a foregone conclusion. Next, we will fully prepare for the Secret Realm Tournament." An Changqing pulled himself together and brought up a light screen, displaying information about the Desolate Proving Ground.
"The Desolate Proving Ground is a secondary space controlled by Beishi Academy. It has been cleared many times and has a low danger rating, but it covers a vast area with complex terrain and some natural hazards. The main threats are the environment itself and some low-level demonic beasts."
An Changqing looked at Chen Guan and Su Yuehe. "You two have consumed the most energy. Rest and recover well tonight, and try to adjust to your peak condition for tomorrow."
Chen Guan and Su Yuehe nodded in agreement. After hanging up the call, Chen Guan opened the forum and started browsing the posts.
Unfortunately, while there was plenty of random news, there was nothing about Guan Jinyue. Although she had gained a large number of fans thanks to her face, personality, and formidable strength, she was simply too mysterious.
Seeing that he had found nothing, Chen Guan activated his Stargazing Meditation Technique, doing his best to recover to his optimal state.
...
The next morning, at the entrance to the Desolate Proving Ground.
The teams from the four academies assembled once again.
Compared to yesterday, many contestants had less excitement and more solemnity on their faces. After all, the initial thrill had faded during the first two rounds. Today was the final match, and the success or failure in the Four Academies League hinged on this one move.
Guan Jinyue still stood at the very front of the Beishi team. With her silver hair and white clothes, her expression remained as calm as ever, as if yesterday's team battle defeat and the dispute with Ross had never happened.
On Academy Zero's side, Ross himself stood in the front row, looking equally nonchalant.
The dean of Beishi Academy gave the usual safety briefing. After finishing, he gave the order: "Teams from all academies, enter in order. The trial time is twenty-four hours. Begin!"
Passing through the spatial barrier, the dim, desolate world unfolded before their eyes once more.
"Group up and move out according to the plan."
As the class leader, An Changqing gave the command, and the Huaqing team quickly split into five squads, heading in different directions.
An Changqing, Long Ao, Chen Guan, and Su Yuehe naturally formed one squad. Their target was the area closer to the center of the proving ground. Resources were usually more abundant there, and the level of the mission steles might be higher. It was also within their standard for speed-clearing, but correspondingly, the competition would be fiercer.
Fortunately, their squad's combat power was strong enough that they could solve most problems just by showing their faces. After all, no one wanted to tangle with the champion squad from the previous round.
Along the way, they encountered a few scattered waves of animals that looked like vultures, with a strength of about early Tier 1. They were easily dispatched by a few magic orbs from Su Yuehe. The group also found some low-tier crops and gathered them in passing, slowly increasing their points.
Two hours later, they arrived at a relatively open Gobi desert area. In the center stood a dilapidated stone altar, upon which a faintly glowing mission stele could be vaguely seen.
"There's a mission!" Su Yuehe's eyes lit up.
The group approached. Ancient text was carved into the stele, with a spiritual energy sensing device at the bottom.
An Changqing pressed his hand against it and injected his spiritual energy. The text on the stele lit up and translated into information they could understand.
[Clearance Mission: A pack of mutated Sandstorm Hyenas has gathered deep in the Gobi desert. Their leader is suspected to be close to Tier 2, posing a severe threat to passing explorers. Eradicate the Sandstorm Hyena pack and bring back the leader's fangs as proof. Reward: 300 points.]
"A leader close to Tier 2..." Long Ao curled his lip. "Boring."
To be honest, he still preferred fighting real people. Demonic beasts were mostly a bit stupid, and it was hard to find one whose strength matched his own.
"Sandstorm Hyenas usually live in packs, so there might be quite a few of them," An Changqing analyzed. "The mission reward isn't low; it's worth a try. Yuehe, scout the surroundings, especially that area of wind-eroded rocks behind the altar. That would be an ideal nest."
Su Yuehe nodded, her spiritual energy quietly spreading out like a spider web. She quickly caught the life signatures coming from deep within the rocky area.
"Deep in the rocky area, about three hundred meters away, there is a large cluster of life forms. The one with the strongest fluctuation should be the leader," Su Yuehe said in a low voice. "The number... I estimate there are over thirty of them."
"Over thirty of them, plus a leader close to Tier 2..." She was a bit worried. "With just the four of us, isn't it too risky?"
Ever since the Shadow Wolf incident last time, Su Yuehe had suddenly become the conservative type, preferring to play it safe in everything.
"We can fight them," Long Ao said, brimming with confidence. "It's just a pack of dogs. As long as we take out the leader, the rest are nothing to fear."
He was as confident as ever. After thinking for a moment, Su Yuehe agreed.
The four of them quietly made their way toward the rocky area. Inside, bizarrely shaped rocks were jagged and rugged, and the passages were winding and tortuous.
Soon, they spotted their target. In a relatively open sandy area, dozens of mutated hyenas, a full size larger than normal hyenas, were lying or resting.
One of them was particularly robust, with a shoulder height approaching two meters. Its fangs were exposed, and a ferocious spiritual light flickered in its eyes. Without a doubt, it was the leader.
"Do it!"
At An Changqing's command, Chen Guan was the first to strike.
Mass Fear.
An invisible wave of spiritual energy enveloped the pack of dogs. Many Sandstorm Hyenas instantly let out terrified whimpers and fell into a panic, spinning around in place and plunging into utter chaos.
Su Yuehe blew her piccolo. A sluggish status effect was accurately applied to the hyena leader, while a sharpness buff was cast on An Changqing's weapon.
"Roar!" The hyena leader was enraged. It roared and stood up on its hind legs, a sandstorm swirling around its body to form a miniature sandstorm domain. Resisting the sluggish effect of the spirit words, it lunged toward the closest person, Long Ao.
"Bring it on!" Long Ao didn't dodge or evade. Crimson aura erupted from him as he threw a punch. The wind from his fist clashed with the sandstorm, producing a muffled boom.
An Changqing, moving like a swimming dragon, bypassed the sandstorm with a golden sword gleam and aimed straight for the leader's flank.
Chen Guan continuously maintained the illusion. At the same time, his spiritual energy locked onto a few hyenas attempting to flank them, using sensory misdirection to make them lose their bearings and crash into each other.
Although his physical combat skills were not bad, Chen Guan increasingly preferred using his spiritual energy as his primary method of fighting.
The battle erupted in an instant. Long Ao clashed head-on with the leader, An Changqing roamed and struck, Chen Guan controlled the field and disrupted the enemies, and Su Yuehe provided auxiliary support.
The four coordinated seamlessly. Even though the hyenas were numerous, they were divided by the illusions and struggled to form an effective siege.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
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.
