11: Chapter 11 Ghost General

Opening his eyes, Gu Qingfeng had just stepped out of the simulation pod when he saw a figure appear beside him. He froze for a moment, then smiled and said, "Li Yuan, were you eliminated too?"

Li Yuan hailed from the Li Family, a top-tier clan on Blue Star. Rumor had it that his family still had a trace of connection with the Xuan-Tang Li Family. Relying on this identity, the Li Family's status on Blue Star was half a notch higher than even the Gu Family.

Furthermore, the Li Family and Gu Family were considered in-laws; the two of them had grown up together. However, because of their similar ages, they could be said to have competed with each other since childhood, neither of them ever willing to admit defeat to the other.

"It seems that in this round, we still can't tell the winner apart." Li Yuan looked at Gu Qingfeng, a faint smile hanging on the corners of his lips.

"No matter, it has just begun now, and the divine examination is where we truly compete." Gu Qingfeng waved his hand indifferently, then couldn't help complaining, "The teachers were too outrageous this time, actually using a Storm Giant as a test—it's simply conscience-less!"

Li Yuan shook his head with a wry smile: "Fortunately, it's just a virtual battle, otherwise the vassal race I carefully cultivated would probably all perish here."

Gu Qingfeng nodded in deep agreement, then casually said, "What a pity, this time I can only tie with you for first place, unable to tell who is higher or lower."

"Indeed," Li Yuan echoed.

Not far away, a group of students who had long been eliminated heard these words, all of them wearing strange expressions on their faces.

Gu Qingfeng and Li Yuan also sensed that something was amiss and looked around in confusion: "We've all come out, why aren't we being teleported away yet?"

Mo Beichen hurried forward, lowering his voice to remind Gu Qingfeng in his ear: "Old Gu, stop thinking about first place, neither of you got it. Su Ming is still holding on inside!"

These words were like a thunderclap; Gu Qingfeng froze on the spot, scanning his surroundings with a blank expression, and indeed did not see Su Ming's figure.

"Su Ming is still inside? How is that possible?"

He knew clearly in his heart that although Su Ming possessed the rare nether attribute, his own barbarian attribute was not weak either. Moreover, his Savage Skull Beast was an E-grade vassal race specially sought out for him by his family, with the family's full support.

In contrast, Su Ming came from a commoner background with no one to rely on; how could he possibly survive the fierce onslaught of the Storm Giant?

Li Yuan was also stunned, his eyes narrowing as he whispered, "Su Ming... I didn't expect it to actually be him."

He always planned before acting and had long taken note of the geniuses within the school. Previously, he had never taken the commoner-born Su Ming seriously, but at this moment, a strong sense of curiosity arose in his heart.

Inside the simulation battlefield at this moment, Su Ming knew nothing of this; his expression had turned grim to the extreme.

He wrung his brains trying to deploy troops and form arrays, yet he could never find a way to break the situation. Nearly thirty of his subordinate nether soldiers had already been lost, while on the Storm Giant's body, there were only a few insignificant shallow marks that didn't hurt it at all.

Looking at the disheveled nether soldiers, the Storm Giant's face was filled with a playful expression, as if toying with the prey in its hands, completely disregarding these nether soldiers.

Just as Su Ming was at his wits' end and almost ready to give up, a figure suddenly flew up into the air.

A nether soldier was fiercely knocked flying by the Storm Giant, yet billowing, thick nether energy suddenly surged up around its body, and its aura was rapidly climbing.

Su Ming's pupils shrank abruptly as he said somewhat uncertainly, "This is... triggering an evolution?"

The probability of a vassal race evolving was extremely small, completely a matter of encountering it by chance rather than seeking it out, so Su Ming dared not be completely certain for a moment.

The Storm Giant also sensed the anomaly of this nether soldier, a trace of dread flashing in its eyes. It immediately waved its huge hand, fiercely suppressing it down toward the nether soldier, wanting to obliterate this variable early on.

Just at the instant the huge hand was about to touch the nether soldier, the scarlet color in the nether soldier's eyes surged to the extreme. Its figure flashed like a ghost, instantly appearing at the side of the Storm Giant. A slender, sharp nether long saber materialized out of thin air, carrying a piercing chill as it directly hacked toward the Storm Giant's neck, intending to decapitate it with a single slash!

At the juncture of life and death, relying on instinct, the Storm Giant instantly sensed fatal danger and immediately urged the gale winds around its body to protect it, narrowly dodging this saber strike by a hair's breadth.

But the beast-patterned crown on its head, which it cherished most, was split apart on the spot by the saber, with rock fragments splashing everywhere.

With the crown destroyed, the playful expression on the Storm Giant's face completely vanished, replaced by extreme solemnity and fury.

It stared dead at the nether soldier whose appearance had already transformed, its eyes filled with vigilance.

Intuition from deep within its bloodline was frantically sounding alarms.

Danger!

Fatal danger!!!

Su Ming's gaze locked tightly onto that mutated figure, full of curiosity. With a movement of his will, its panel information clearly surfaced before his eyes:

[Name: Ghost General (Elite)]

[Potential: D+]

[Race: Nether]

[Realm: Extraordinary Stage Three]

[Skills]

Nether Battle Body: Immunizes against most physical attack damage, surrounded by chilling ghost qi. Those who approach close will be invaded by evil spirits, continuously draining stamina.

Unregretful Slash (Hero Skill): The blade condenses with pitch-black evil qi, and the slashing force is heavy and tyrannical, bursting forth with multiple times the damage.

Nether Prison Suppression (Commander Skill): Instantly gathers the nether evil soul power of all subordinate nether soldiers, channeling it entirely into oneself to deliver a fatal strike utilizing the full strength of the entire army. (The greater the number of subordinate nether soldiers, the stronger the gathered might.)

[Equipment: Yama Armor, unregretful saber]

[Description: An orthodox nether soldier commander from the lower layers of the underworld. A bloody, fierce general of the battlefield in the past, he guarded the borders drenched in blood until his entire army was wiped out. With his obsession unvanquished and his soul refusing to disperse, he fell into the netherworld and transformed into a Ghost General.]

Looking again at the Ghost General, its nine-foot-tall body was stalwart and upright, surrounded by dark nether qi so thick it couldn't be dissolved. Its grayish-blue, deadened skin exuded a bone-chilling cold, its visage was as stern and sharp as if carved by a knife, demonic horns grew on its forehead, and crimson eyes burned with nether flames, radiating a terrifying and awe-inspiring might.

Its grayish-white long hair hung down disheveled. It wore a blue-black dragon-headed battle armor with menacing shoulder guards, exposed fangs, and swirling evil qi. Behind the armor was a dark-colored long cape fluttering in the wind, its waist was bound with a dark-patterned ghost belt, and its feet stepped on nether black boots. In its hand, the unregretful saber flashed with cold light, and a biting aura of evil hit one directly in the face.

The unregretful saber was different from the long sabers of the nether soldiers; it was a long-handled pole-blade with a wide blade head, a thick back, and a black cloth-wrapped handle, similar to a crescent blade.

Wild joy instantly ignited in Su Ming's eyes—he never expected that the nether soldier would directly evolve into a hero!

One must know that within the vassal race system, heroes were divided into six grades: Elite, Excellent, Epic, Legendary, Peerless, and Mythical.

Let alone Mythical-grade heroes, even heroes of the lowest grade were extremely precious existences.

At this moment, the Ghost General's aura, although still slightly inferior to the Storm Giant's, already had an extremely small gap, enough to contend against it head-on!

Su Ming no longer hesitated and immediately gave the order: "All nether soldiers, converge toward the Ghost General!"

The remaining nether soldiers responded instantly, their figures closing in like ghosts as the nether evil soul power around their bodies continuously surged toward the Ghost General.

The Ghost General slowly raised the unregretful saber in its hand, countless forces of nether evil converging on the blade. The blade grew increasingly dark, its aura surging correspondingly, causing even the surrounding space to ripple slightly.

"Nether Prison Suppression!"

The Storm Giant had long been enveloped by a fatal sense of crisis. With a furious roar, gale-force winds surged around its body, and a storm greatsword several zhang long instantly condensed in its hands. The sword body was wrapped in violent wind blades, carrying a world-destroying momentum as it fiercely hacked toward the Ghost General, determined to completely slaughter the Ghost General.

Just at the moment the storm greatsword was about to hack right before its eyes, the unregretful saber in the Ghost General's hand had already gathered the nether evil power of all nether soldiers, transforming into a forty-meter-long nether giant blade. The blade was wreathed in pitch-black nether fire, its evil aura soaring into the sky.

"Bang—!"

The nether giant blade and the storm greatsword violently collided in the void. The two terrifying forces intertwined, instantly whipping up boundless Storm Giant waves. The surrounding air was torn apart, emitting a piercing screech, and even the void rippled with distortion.

The next second, a dazzling, pitch-black blade light cleaved across the horizon, reaching the ultimate speed as time seemed to freeze at this moment.

"Crack—"

The Storm Giant froze in place, its eyes widened round, looking down at its own body with a face full of disbelief.

A straight, blood-red line ran vertically from the top of its head down to its lower abdomen, cleanly splitting its body in half.

"How... how is this possible!" The Storm Giant's eyes were filled with unwillingness.

But at this time, it could no longer ponder these things.

The Storm Giant's body slowly split apart and fell, transforming into fluttering wind catkins all over the sky, completely dissipating within the battlefield.

Holding the unregretful saber, the Ghost General stood proudly before the Storm Giant, letting out a world-shaking roar toward heaven and earth, its voice full of slaughter and majesty.

"Greetings, General!"

The nether soldiers beside it all knelt on one knee on the ground together, their heads lowered and expressions respectful, the nether evil qi around their bodies resonating with the Ghost General's aura.

Suspended in the void, Su Ming looked at the scene before him, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curling up.