The defeat of Wang Lie sent a shockwave through the exam rankings.
On the massive holographic scoreboard hovering above the Spirit Pagoda, the name Jiang Chen rocketed from Rank 312 to Rank 4.
The VIP viewing box was buzzing.
"Who is this kid?" a recruiter from the War God University leaned forward, spilling his tea. "He just swatted a Qi Gathering cultivator like a mosquito with... is that a broken door?"
"It's a Heavy Sword," corrected the recruiter from Daoist Academy, adjusting his monocle. "Though his technique is... primitive. He destroyed the terrain to unbalance his opponent. Smart. Ruthless. I like him."
Sitting in the shadows of the back row, the representative from the City Lord's Office narrowed his eyes. He tapped his earpiece. "Run a background check on Jiang Chen. Orphan from District 9? Interesting. Keep an eye on him."
Inside the Pagoda. Floor 4: The Ice Cavern.
The transition from the Lava Zone to Floor 4 was brutal. The temperature plummeted from 50°C to -20°C in seconds. The humid sulfur air was replaced by biting, dry cold.
Jiang Chen shivered, his breath misting in the air. He pulled the collar of his tactical suit up.
"From oven to freezer," he grumbled, stepping onto the icy floor. "The Examiner has a twisted sense of humor."
Beside him, a mound of blankets shuffled forward. Fatty Wei peered out from the fleece, his teeth chattering like a machine gun.
"B-Bro Jiang," Fatty Wei squeaked. "Can we stop? My fat is freezing. It's losing its tenderness!"
"We need to reach the top," Jiang Chen said, trekking through the snow. "Top 5 get into the Spirit Spring Ruins. I'm currently Rank 4. It's not safe."
Suddenly, the ground shook.
CRACK.
A massive icicle fell from the ceiling, shattering just inches from Fatty Wei's nose.
"EEP!" Fatty Wei jumped into Jiang Chen's shadow, clinging to his leg.
From the darkness of the cavern, dozens of blue eyes ignited.
[Enemy Detected: Frost Scorpions (Level 7)]
A swarm of scorpions, each the size of a coffee table, scuttled out from the cracks in the ice. Their tails dripped with liquid nitrogen venom.
"Scorpions!" Fatty Wei screamed. "I hate bugs! Especially ones that can turn me into a popsicle!"
Jiang Chen drew his heavy sword. The Cold-Iron Heavy Sword hummed in his hand. The black metal seemed to wake up in the cold, drinking the ambient frost Qi hungrily. The blade began to emit a faint, azure glow.
"Let's farm."
For the next hour, it was a massacre.
Jiang Chen was a whirlwind of destruction. The environment buffed his weapon, making him faster and deadlier. Fatty Wei, despite his cowardice, proved surprisingly useful. He pulled out a Black-Tier Detection Compass from his bag of snacks.
"Three at 2 o'clock!" Wei shouted, pointing with a sausage.
Bam. Jiang Chen smashed them.
"Big one at 6 o'clock!"
Crash. Jiang Chen flattened it.
Jiang Chen's points climbed steadily. Rank 3.
But as they neared the glowing portal to Floor 5, they encountered a problem.
The exit gate was guarded. Not by a monster.
By a girl.
She sat on a block of ice, swinging her legs. She wore the uniform of Saintess High, the most prestigious all-girls school in the city. She had silver hair tied in twin tails, huge innocent eyes, and looked about twelve years old.
Floating around her were six glowing daggers.
Gu Linger. Rank 2.
Cultivation: Body Tempering 8th Stage (Telekinetic Specialist).
"Halt," Gu Linger said, popping a bubble of pink gum. "Floor 5 is closed for maintenance. By maintenance, I mean I don't want anyone else going up to steal the Boss points from Sister Qingxue."
Fatty Wei whispered loudly, "Bro, that's the Little Witch. She's terrifying. She once put a guy in the hospital because he said anime was for kids."
Jiang Chen stepped forward. "Move aside, little girl. I don't want to bully children."
Gu Linger's eye twitched. The bubble gum popped.
"Little... girl?"
The air temperature dropped another ten degrees.
"I am sixteen!" she shrieked. "And I'm going to turn you into a pincushion!"
She pointed a finger. Six daggers shot toward Jiang Chen like guided missiles.
Jiang Chen raised his sword to block.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The daggers were fast and heavy. Each impact pushed Jiang Chen back a step.
"Telekinesis is annoying," Jiang Chen grunted. He couldn't get close. If he charged, the daggers would flank him.
"Dance, big guy, dance!" Gu Linger laughed, waving her hands like a conductor. The daggers swirled, attacking from all angles—shin, shoulder, back.
Jiang Chen defended grimly. He was losing ground.
"Fatty!" Jiang Chen shouted. "Do something!"
"Me?!" Fatty Wei yelped, hiding behind a rock. "I'm a pacifist! I cook, I don't fight!"
"Distract her! Or I'm throwing you at the daggers!"
"Okay, okay!"
Fatty Wei rummaged frantically in his bag. He pulled out... a shiny, holographic poster.
"HEY! LITTLE WITCH!" Fatty Wei yelled.
Gu Linger looked over, annoyed. "What?"
Fatty Wei held up the poster. It shimmered in the dim light. "Look! It's the autographed limited edition poster of Moon-Chaser Idol! Only ten exist in the world!"
Gu Linger froze. Her eyes went wide. The floating daggers slowed down, wobbling in the air.
"Is that..." she whispered, drooling slightly. "The Summer Concert Edition? With the alternate costume?"
"YES!" Fatty Wei shouted, sweating bullets. "If you let us pass, I'll... uh... let you look at it for five seconds!"
"Give it to me!" Gu Linger abandoned her tactics entirely. She flew toward Fatty Wei, her daggers forgotten.
Jiang Chen seized the moment.
He didn't attack her. Instead, he rushed past her toward the exit gate.
"Fatty, run!"
"Wait, my poster!" Fatty Wei screamed as Gu Linger tackled him like a feral cat.
"Thanks for the sacrifice!" Jiang Chen yelled, diving through the portal to Floor 5.
Behind him, he heard Fatty Wei wailing, "No! Don't bend the corners! It's mint conditioooon!"
Floor 5: The Void Deck.
This was the final floor.
Unlike the others, this wasn't a simulation. It was a simple, flat platform floating in a digital void.
Standing in the center was the Final Boss.
It wasn't a beast. It was a Humanoid Construct. A metallic warrior holding a spear, radiating the aura of the Qi Gathering Realm 3rd Stage.
Only one other student was here.
Lin Qingxue. (Rank 1).
She was fighting the Construct alone. It was a dazzling display. Her sword was coated in frost Qi, clashing with the spear in a shower of sparks. She was fast, elegant, and deadly.
But she was tired. Her breathing was ragged. The Construct had infinite stamina; she didn't.
Clang.
The Construct swept its spear. Lin Qingxue blocked, but the force sent her sliding back. She coughed, a trickle of blood appearing on her lip.
"Warning," the Construct's mechanical voice boomed. "Challenger Stamina Low. Surrender recommended."
"Never," Lin Qingxue hissed, preparing to charge again.
"Need a hand?"
Jiang Chen walked onto the platform, dragging his heavy sword.
Lin Qingxue glanced at him, surprised. "You made it? I thought the Little Witch would stop you."
"I had a secret weapon," Jiang Chen grinned (RIP Fatty Wei). "Looks like you're having trouble."
"This Construct adapts," Lin Qingxue said, wiping the blood from her chin. "It learns my moves. Every time I use a technique, it counters it perfectly the next time."
"It learns?" Jiang Chen looked at the robot.
[Enemy: Adaptive Combat AI (Level 9)]
[Weakness: Cannot calculate irrational variables.]
"Irrational variables..." Jiang Chen muttered.
"We need to attack together," Lin Qingxue said. "I'll distract it. You hit it with that slab of iron."
"Plan B," Jiang Chen said. "I'll distract it. You hit the core."
"You? You're slower than me."
"Just trust me."
Jiang Chen walked toward the Construct.
"Target Acquired," the Construct beeped, its red eye focusing on him. "Analyzing Combat Pattern: Heavy Sword Style. Calculating Counter-measures: Dodge Left and Pierce."
Jiang Chen raised his sword high. "Take this! Ultimate Technique: Falling Mountain Smash!"
The Construct processed the shout. It calculated the trajectory of a downward smash. It prepared to sidestep to the left.
But Jiang Chen didn't smash.
Mid-swing, he let go of the sword with one hand, reached into his pocket, and threw a handful of Red Powder into the Construct's sensors.
"POCKET SAND!"
Fzzzt.
The powder wasn't sand. It was Fatty Wei's Extra Spicy Ghost Pepper Mix.
The Construct's optical sensors flared red. "Error. Visual obstruction. Unknown chemical compound. My eyes! Wait, I do not have eyes. Why does it burn?!"
It flailed blindly with the spear.
"Now!" Jiang Chen roared, swinging the heavy sword horizontally at the robot's knees.
CRUNCH.
The metal legs buckled. The Construct fell to its knees.
"Dishonorable!" Lin Qingxue yelled, scandalized, but she didn't waste the opening.
She leaped into the air, her sword glowing with blinding blue light.
Frost Bite: Decapitation.
Shing.
The robot's head went flying.
[Final Boss Defeated.]
[Trial Complete.]
The holographic sky turned gold. Confetti rained down.
Lin Qingxue landed gracefully. She sheathed her sword and looked at Jiang Chen with a mixture of respect and horror.
"You threw... spice at it?" she asked.
"It adapts to martial arts," Jiang Chen shrugged, dusting off his hands. "It doesn't adapt to culinary warfare."
Lin Qingxue stared at him for a long moment. Then, a rare, small smile broke through her icy demeanor.
"You're weird, Jiang Chen."
"I'm practical."
[Exam Results Finalized]
[Rank 1: Lin Qingxue (Assist Points + Boss Kill)]
[Rank 2: Jiang Chen (Boss Assist + Highest Damage Dealt)]
"We did it," Jiang Chen exhaled. "Spirit Spring Ruins, here I come."
But as the teleportation lights began to surround them, Jiang Chen felt a sudden chill. Not from the ice. Not from the robot.
From his own head.
[System Alert: The Grave is reacting to the Spirit Spring energy signature.]
[New Quest: Locate the Sword Sovereign's Lost Fragment in the Ruins.]
Jiang Chen's smile faded.
"Sword Sovereign?"
Great. Just when he thought he could take a spa day.