The Half-bodied Demon launched a sudden ambush, and less than ten seconds had passed.
Although Jiang He achieved victory, it was only a miserable one.
Not only did two of his teammates retreat in danger, but he himself was also gravely injured.
Especially his right arm—because it bore the impact of one hundred and twenty-eight times speed, when he severed the Half-bodied Demon, his own bones were shattered into powder, almost reduced to a lump of bloody pulp.
Such a severe injury was no different from losing an arm.
Even with the 「Spirit Heal」 Spell Word, the recovery was still quite slow.
However, his mental value was still relatively abundant, since he had not used too many Spell Words.
"This demon should be at B-rank, right?"
Through intuition, Jiang He sensed that the danger had dissipated.
He stored the Half-bodied Demon's remains into his pouch and exchanged words with Old Jiang.
"No," Old Jiang floated down, stood upon a stone, and said: "A B-rank Transcendent possesses the ability to create an Exclusive Profession, allowing their talent to sublimate and build an entire system of their own…"
"It is a true qualitative leap."
"B-rank exotic beasts and B-rank demons that can be compared to B-rank Transcendents also hold corresponding strength."
"This demon, at best, counts as a strong C. It's still far from B-rank."
Jiang He could not help clicking his tongue.
The one that nearly wiped out the squad, forcing him to pay the price of heavy injuries to defeat, turned out to be merely a C-rank demon.
The Transcendent system truly became more and more strict in hierarchy the higher one climbed…
Even with all the cheats he had, crossing levels was this difficult, let alone for others.
As for being ambushed by the Half-bodied Demon and suffering heavy casualties, he did not feel any sense of defeat.
The three of them had come precisely for actual combat testing, to challenge their limits.
As they delved deeper, the demons grew stronger and stronger. Encountering an enemy they could not rival was far too normal.
Rather than frustration, Jiang He valued reflection—
This Half-bodied Demon had not been as strong as imagined. Despite its excessive speed and power, it was still within his range of response.
The reason such casualties occurred was mainly because he had placed too much faith in the "demon territory" rules, and thus grew lax at the edge of the floor, failing to anticipate the situation immediately.
If he had used [Revelation of Time] in advance to foresee what was coming…
Such a result would absolutely not have occurred.
"Reality is not a game. There are no 'absolute' rules."
"One cannot rely entirely on experience. One must remain vigilant…"
Old Jiang stood upon the stone, watching as Jiang He both took medicine to heal and reflected upon his mistakes.
He revealed a satisfied smile.
On the path of cultivation, no one could sail smoothly without setbacks. Encountering obstacles was the most ordinary thing.
As long as one did not wallow in regret, but learned to reflect upon one's errors and strive to improve… then this was not "failure," but "growth."
As expected of me.
…
With two teammates unexpectedly departing, Jiang He did not withdraw from the Abyss, but instead continued his exploration alone.
He spent a great deal of time, using pre-stocked medicinal resources in combination with Spell Words, to restore himself to peak condition.
Then, circling around the dark playground, he found a passage at the edge.
This time, he first divided the danger into five tiers, then used [Revelation of Time] to check.
The answer came:
「High Danger」
This was the same danger level as the Half-bodied Demon.
Jiang He proceeded along the passage, arriving at a new playground.
Sure enough, he saw another Half-bodied Demon.
Only, it was not a "lower half" this time, but from the neck to the chest portion of a human body. Four arms extended from it, with nipples as eyes and navel as mouth—it was a complete monster.
It floated in mid-air, its four palms each manipulating earth, water, fire, and wind.
Even the ground itself became its weapon, constantly launching terrifying area attacks.
Compared to the Leg Demon, this was yet another extreme.
Jiang He exhausted himself, nearly draining his spiritual energy completely, before he finally brought down the Four-Armed Demon.
He threw the Four-Armed Demon's materials into his Spatial Storage Pouch, then took medicine to recover, restoring his energy back to peak before entering the next passage and activating [Revelation of Time] again.
「Extremely High Danger」
The next area's danger was a whole tier above both the Leg Demon and the Four-Armed Demon!
Jiang He sucked in a cold breath and immediately began stacking buffs through card draws.
Cowardice was impossible—he had entered the Abyss to fight fiercely. At worst, he would just be teleported back to school to heal. After all, he could not die!
To prepare for the battle ahead, he spent a full thirty seconds layering buffs, even going so far as to self-harm, filling the injuries of his Flame Body to maximum for enhanced effects.
If only the Spell Word effects lasted longer, Jiang He would gladly stack buffs for a whole hour. In that case, even the heavens and the earth could be slaughtered with ease.
Now, fully empowered, Jiang He stepped into the passage.
Come, let me see what kind of opponent awaits!
When he passed through and set foot on the new playground—
The flames lit up the darkness, and he saw above the field a massive floating single-eyed head.
Beneath it, two Leg Demons sprinted around the track as if racing for speed, while two Four-Armed Demons floated together, playing "rock-paper-scissors" with their eight hands.
At this moment, they all sensed Jiang He's presence.
All the demons halted their actions and turned toward him.
Jiang He: "...Hi."
…
Central State First High School, square stone stele.
With a flash of white light, Jiang He appeared beside the stele.
The flames on his body extinguished, revealing his twisted, pulp-like hands and decaying flesh. His teeth clenched in pain, he looked utterly wretched.
Yet when the crowd saw him in this state, there was no ridicule, no sympathy—only familiarity.
Every student who returned bore heavy injuries. Some even had lost limbs, returning in miserable condition.
Fortunately, Transcendents could even control time and space. A mere limb regrowth was nothing at all.
A healer who had been stationed beside the anchoring stele acted, golden light descending from above to envelop Jiang He.
In an instant, his wounds closed, his strength returned.
Even his pain dissipated. Jiang He sat up from the ground, letting out a breath of relief.
Indeed, when it came to healing, one had to leave it to professionals.
Recalling the battle just now, he could not help but smile.
Although in the final area the demons were terrifying both in strength and in number, he had fought without fear. Before being "killed," he even managed to drag down one Leg Demon and stuff it into his Spatial Storage Pouch.
One against five, and still managing to counter-kill one—definitely worth it!
"Jiang He, you finally came out!"
Chi Zhilei and Xiao Xue had already returned to school almost two hours ago.
In that time, Jiang He must have long since defeated that demon and advanced much farther.
Now, the two came to his side, smiling as they urged: "Quick, check your combat summary and settlement rewards!"
Jiang He took a jacket out of his pouch, slipped it on, and asked curiously: "The summary comes this quickly? How do I check it?"
"The instructors have been observing everyone's combat performance this whole time. They already discussed the results," Chi Zhilei explained. "Just check your phone messages directly."
Hearing this, Jiang He pulled his phone from the Spatial Storage Pouch. As soon as the signal returned, he indeed received a new message.
He tapped it open, and a line of text appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Jiang He]
[Energy Level: D]
[Battle Record: Mask Demon…]
[Performance: Fully displayed his talent, perfectly integrated with his Profession, forming a synergistic reaction… techniques proficient, clear growth compared to first trial…]
[Evaluation: S]
[Reward: Fourteen days within Twisted Time Domain, S-rank Spiritual Elixir "Wisdom Bodhi" (once fully digested, increases 2000 points of spiritual strength)]
[Note: Elixir has been stored in the resource warehouse, retrieve it yourself.]
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