Sequel (4k Chapter)

He came and went quickly; in just the blink of an eye, that figure in white merged back into the spatial void and escaped. As for Guan Jinyue, she had long since vanished. It seemed she disappeared alongside Baal, though it was unclear if she had been sent away by White Tiger.

An Changqing couldn't carry Chen Guan's coffin. Experiencing it firsthand proved it to be far heavier than he had imagined. Coupled with the scenes that had just unfolded, he couldn't help but feel a secret sense of shock.

Chen Guan had hidden his true depths better than he thought. He had originally assumed Chen Guan's strength was at most on par with his own. He never expected that once Chen Guan's hidden power was unleashed, it would far surpass him.

At the very least, he knew there was absolutely no way he could have injured that high and mighty Demon God.

He placed the pill from White Tiger into Chen Guan's mouth without any suspicion. If White Tiger had wanted to harm them, he would have done so already; there was no need for unnecessary tricks. White Tiger had once again proven his strength. At the very least, he was stronger than the higher-ups of the academies outside, otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to be the first to arrive here.

Who exactly was he?

And what was his goal?

Doubts surfaced in An Changqing's mind, but this wasn't the time to dwell on them.

"An Changqing..." Chen Guan raised his hand with great difficulty and pointed at the coffin left where it was. Su Yuehe was the quickest to understand: "Hurry and bring it over."

Seeing Chen Guan nod, An Changqing finally pulled Long Ao over. With Su Yuehe throwing several buffs on them, they barely managed to carry it over.

Chen Guan touched his coffin with peace of mind and closed his eyes in satisfaction.

The people from the school didn't arrive too slowly. Not long after White Tiger left, they arrived on the scene. Although it was a bit after the fact, they were finally safe. However, Chen Guan himself could no longer feel any of this.

Under the effects of the medicine, Chen Guan only felt his eyelids growing increasingly heavy until his consciousness gradually faded.

...

Meanwhile.

Baal stood suspended in the air with his hands in his pockets, looking nonchalant. Opposite him was White Tiger, still dressed in white.

He looked at White Tiger on the ground with a probing gaze. This person was truly unfamiliar to him. Among humans, there were very few experts he didn't recognize.

Staring at the white mask with its annoying smile, Baal tilted his head and observed for a moment before suddenly laughing. "Someone from the Source Return Group? To think you guys haven't disbanded yet."

White Tiger wasn't surprised that Baal could see through his origins. He waved his hand. "Lord Baal, you're still alive at your ripe old age, so what's so strange about our Source Return Group passing down its legacy?"

He pointed at Guan Jinyue beside him. "Old demon, let's make a deal. I won't touch this little girl, and you don't touch my prospective subordinate."

Baal's smile was even brighter than the one on White Tiger's mask. "Have you guys sunk so low that you need to recruit child labor?"

"Hey, old timer, look who's talking. This little girl and that kid are the same age, right?"

Although White Tiger couldn't defeat Baal in his complete form, he was quite unyielding when facing a mere clone of Baal. "Besides, no matter how weak that kid is, didn't he still steal your wrathful flames? I wonder who it was that got half their body burned off."

Bringing this up made Baal lose some face. He was a dignified Demon God, yet he had been robbed blind by a brat and called out by White Tiger. It was humiliating beyond belief.

"Hmph, you talk too much."

No matter how embarrassing it was, there was nothing he could do. Who would have thought that the ability known as Echo still existed in this world? However, after today, it would also...

Wait, no. The mark was still there. That kid wasn't dead?

Baal realized this belatedly.

Although he couldn't guess what Baal was thinking, seeing this reaction made White Tiger even happier. "Then it's a deal, my dear sweetie Baal."

Before Baal could lash out, White Tiger evacuated at the speed of light, leaving only his cheeky laughter echoing in the air.

Guan Jinyue looked hesitantly at Baal. "That person was..."

"Don't worry about it." Baal scoffed coldly, flicking his sleeve and turning around. "That guy is a psycho from the Source Return Group."

"Source Return Group?" It was Guan Jinyue's first time hearing this name.

"It's not important. You can't come into contact with those people yet." Baal turned back, looking at her with a complex expression. "As for you, do you not regret giving up your life as a prodigy?"

"I don't regret it."

"Is it worth it?"

"It's worth it."

Baal burst into laughter. "Jie jie jie, I hope in the future, you'll still tell me you don't regret it."

Guan Jinyue calmly looked at Baal, who was renowned as a demon lord.

Although this old demon was sometimes a bit mentally unstable and liked to let out laughter that sounded like he ate eight Soul Hall elders for a meal, he was her only hope right now.

Wait for me...

She too had someone more important than her own life, someone for whom she was willing to risk everything.

...

When Chen Guan regained consciousness, the first things he noticed were the smell of disinfectant and the soft bed beneath him.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying in a hospital room. The decor didn't look like Huaqing's medical center; he had probably been sent to the nearby North City Academy.

Sunlight spilled through the gaps in the blinds, bringing a hint of warmth, though no amount of warmth could compare to the time he had set himself on fire.

A faint ache radiated from various parts of his body, especially deep within his mind, which felt as if it had been ruthlessly scraped by something, leaving behind a lingering dull pain.

He tried to circulate the Stargazing Meditation Technique to look within himself. His spiritual power had recovered slightly, but it was far from full. More noticeably, a lingering cold aura still haunted the depths of his soul, like a brand left by the glare of a venomous snake. That was the trace left by Baal's mark.

"You're awake?" A gentle voice came from the side of the bed, giving him no more time to observe.

Chen Guan turned his head and saw An Changqing sitting in a chair nearby, holding a report. Although his face still looked a bit tired, his gaze had returned to its usual steady calm.

Long Ao was leaning against the window with his arms crossed, resting with his eyes closed. His breathing was steady, and he seemed to be fine. Seeing Chen Guan wake up, he just lifted his eyelids slightly before closing them again. Su Yuehe, meanwhile, was asleep on a nearby desk, a tired look on her face.

"We..." Chen Guan's voice was a bit hoarse from dehydration.

"We're all alive. We took some injuries, but nothing serious. You exerted yourself the most."

An Changqing put down the report and poured a glass of warm water, handing it over. "This is the North City Medical Center. After we passed out, the rescue teams from the academy and the association arrived and brought us out of the secret realm. Over at the trial grounds, the spatial structure was severely damaged, so it's been temporarily closed."

Chen Guan took the water and drank a few mouthfuls, feeling his throat soothe a bit. "What about Guan Jinyue? And... that guy?"

An Changqing understood he was referring to White Tiger, and his expression grew a bit more solemn. "Guan Jinyue disappeared along with Baal's clone. No traces were found at the scene. The association is doing everything they can to track them down, but..."

He shook his head. "Currently, there are no clues, and there probably won't be any in the future either. As for that Mr. White Tiger, it's the same old story—not a single trace."

"What happened in the secret realm has been classified as top secret," An Changqing continued. "The official statement is that the secret realm encountered a spatial storm, which caused the trial to terminate early and resulted in injuries to some students. Any information regarding Baal, Guan Jinyue, and the White Tiger is strictly prohibited from being leaked."

"What about the results of the Four Academies Tournament?" Long Ao opened his eyes at some point and asked in a muffled voice. His injuries were second only to Chen Guan's, so he hadn't had the time to learn about what happened afterward.

"According to the current point statistics, our Huaqing Academy ranks first in both the individual and team battles. Since the secret realm competition was unexpectedly halted, points were calculated based on the standings right before the termination, and we are still in the lead."

"In the comprehensive assessment, Huaqing Academy won the overall championship of this year's Four Academies Tournament. We... achieved a grand slam."

"The second-years took second place, the third-years also took second, and the fourth-years got first."

This was probably the only good news amidst the gloom. Long Ao snorted, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up.

"Chen Guan." An Changqing didn't continue the topic of the tournament. Instead, he looked at him with a serious tone. "Regarding that ability you used at the end... I didn't say anything. When they asked, I just said you took a direct hit from Baal to save me. You need to be prepared."

"Dean Situ is willing to vouch for you, so for the short term, you won't encounter any trouble."

Chen Guan nodded. "I understand, thank you."

He knew An Changqing was helping him cover up the anomaly of his Reverberation. An ability that could steal the essence of a Demon God's power would undoubtedly attract massive attention if exposed.

What surprised him was that Situ Ming actually vouched for him. Although the old professor was a bit rigid and stern, he truly treated him well.

After a brief chat to confirm there were no issues, the others left one after another, leaving Chen Guan to rest. The black iron coffin still stood beside him; he had no idea who had brought it over.

What good people, he sighed in his heart. He couldn't leave the coffin's side; once he reached a certain distance, it was like hitting an invisible wall. If they hadn't carried it over for him, he wouldn't even know what situation he'd be in.

Opening the forum, he wanted to see if there was any news about Baal and Guan Jinyue.

However, he didn't expect that the first thing to catch his eye would be himself.

[On the Connection Between Chen Guan and Baal]

The poster's ID was President of the Chen Guan Fan Club. Chen Guan still remembered this ID, and combined with the highly attractive title, he immediately clicked on it.

But after seeing the content inside, his expression instantly turned into the confused old man looking at his phone meme.

[1. Chen Guan has never denied that he isn't Baal.]

[2. Both of them have black hair.]

[3. Both of them play with fire.]

[4. Both of them...]

After reading the long post, all he could say was that the poster's train of thought was very far from human and very close to divine.

Exiting at the speed of light, Chen Guan started searching for normal posts.

Unfortunately, information about those two was still vague, though he did see quite a few comments about himself.

[@President of the Chen Guan Fan Club, although the boss's post is a bit nonsensical, in all seriousness, I feel like Chen Guan might actually have some connection to Baal.]

[Why is Chen Guan like an onion that has to be peeled layer by layer? Just how many more surprises do you have that I don't know about?]

[To this day, we still don't know the true identity of the person in the coffin. Our Bro Coffin literally burned out physically, yet didn't forget to take one last look at him.]

[Punching Baal, I'm scared to tears. Is this still bro? In the main cast combat power analysis thread, Chen Guan is only lower than An Changqing.]

[Buff Long Ao! Only our Long Ao gets stuck in jail every day, this kid has been innocent since he was little.]

[A reasonable deduction for Long Ao turning evil is that his companions are all like the Thousand-Hand Guan Yin, hiding countless tricks and keeping them all from him.]

The audience's reactions didn't exceed his expectations, though their imaginations were running a bit wild.

Although Reverberation had recorded the skill Raging Flames, its original owner was Baal. God knows if that old demon could interfere with him.

...

Over the next few days, Chen Guan and the other three underwent multiple inquiries and psychological evaluations from different departments.

The questions mainly focused on their experiences in the secret realm, their knowledge of Guan Jinyue and Baal, and their observations of the White Tiger. Chen Guan responded cautiously, telling the truth for the most part, but naturally didn't mention a single word about the details of his own ability and the Return to Origin Group.

The personnel in charge seemed to just be going through the motions. After some simple questioning, they didn't make things too difficult.

Long Ao had become even more taciturn recently, dragging his not-yet-fully-healed body to work out every day, causing the nurses' sharp shrieks to echo throughout the entire corridor.

With top-tier healing resources and his own formidable recovery ability, Chen Guan's injuries and mental strength recovered very quickly.

However, Baal's mark was like an incurable disease attached to his bones, impossible to dispel, constantly reminding him that he was being targeted by a Demon God.

Fortunately, he was the only one who knew about this thing. Others couldn't detect it, and nothing strange had appeared on his body.

A week later, they were approved to return to Huaqing Academy.

Although he had been tossed about quite a bit, the benefits for Chen Guan were not small.

[Name: Chen Guan]

[Identity: First-year student at Huaqing Academy]

[Ability: Life Type - Fortitude, Mental Type - Illusionist, Mythological Type - Reverberation]

[Special Skills: Military Combat Arts (Blue), Heavy Weapon Mastery (Green), Scythe Specialization (Blue), Breath Concealment (Green), Stargazing Meditation (Blue)]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 20.7]

[Stamina: 12.5]

[Agility: 11.2]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Spirit: 31.1]

[Popularity Points: 47231]

His attribute panel had welcomed a new leap.

His Spirit broke through the 30-point mark, reaching an astonishing 31.1. His Strength, Stamina, and Agility also saw significant improvements.

Especially with his Strength breaking past 20 points, his basic scythe skill had automatically upgraded to Scythe Specialization. Twenty points of Strength paired with Scythe Specialization meant his close-combat ability was incomparably better than before.

What surprised him the most were his Popularity Points. After purchasing distance previously, he still had 47,231 points left. This was undoubtedly a massive return brought by his highlight performances in the Four Academies Tournament.

"It's time to properly plan how to use this huge sum of money." Chen Guan's eyes flashed with a bright light. It was time for his favorite shopping spree segment.

First were his attribute shortcomings. Although his Intelligence had also increased to 10 points, it was still on the low side compared to his other attributes. The sudden surge in Intelligence should be related to Reverberation, so it had to be bolstered.

"Exchange for 5 free attribute points and add them all to Intelligence."

[Intelligence: 15]

Instantly, Chen Guan felt a refreshing coolness in his mind. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but in his spiritual world, the flow of the gray mist seemed to have become more spirited. His gray energy was originally a combination of spiritual power and mental power. Now it seemed that his Intelligence attribute indeed boosted his gray energy as well.

Next was the enhancement of skills and equipment.

The blue-quality Stargazing Meditation had decent effects, but its recovery and improvement speed still seemed insufficient when facing higher-level enemies. He looked toward the higher-tier options in the shop.