218: Chapter 218 Award Ceremony (End)

That's right, this unfortunate Soul named 'Golden Light Hero' was none other than Xing Yaoyan.

She never would have imagined in her wildest dreams that her actions over the past few days would be recorded in such detail by these detestable humans, let alone that they would give her such a socially mortifying title.

Back when she learned that the Yao Race was no longer allowed to participate in this operation, she had been internally resistant. She had originally planned to select a more leisurely mission and use it as an excuse to search around. If she encountered hidden Star Beasts, she would absorb their Star Souls just as she had done with Xiao Dao and Little Chaos.

After all, her Spirit Sea had expanded significantly, and it was more than enough to accommodate a few more exploitation targets... tenants. If she encountered The Lost, she could also absorb their Star Souls into her Spirit Sea for storage, making early preparations for her future Breakthrough.

However, after several complaints—even citing the Human Alliance's Personal Freedom Act to no avail—Xing Yaoyan gave up... but not entirely.

If this path was blocked, she would simply take another.

If you won't let me do it openly, then I'll do it in the shadows.

First, she took out the Night Stone that the Dream Beast had given her previously. Using it as a medium, she gauged roughly how many Star Beasts were in Kyoto. Then, using 'Swap', she began placing Spirit Stones marked with Swap sigils in various high-probability locations across the city.

After that, she continuously swapped positions at intervals, using her Malice Perception to pinpoint the exact locations of these Star Beasts and finally achieving 'containment'.

After her Breakthrough to the Four Marks, her Malice Perception had been greatly enhanced once again. Moreover, most of the Star Beasts hidden in Kyoto were below the fourth rank, so she reaped a massive harvest with almost every Swap.

She knew that with the scale and determination of the humans' operation, not a single Star Beast in Kyoto would survive.

Since it was going to benefit others anyway, it might as well benefit her...

Thus, she moved rapidly right under the humans' noses, continuously absorbing the Star Souls of those Star Beasts, even snatching the kills during the gaps in the Espers' sieges on a few occasions.

Her Spirit Sea was now much livelier than before, with many chibi-style little Star Beasts wandering within. However, to Xing Yaoyan's slight disappointment, the intelligence level of most of them was just like Little Chaos.

Even so, the boost they gave to her strength was immense. These Star Souls were constantly, consciously or unconsciously, consolidating the Power Of Will within her body. Some special Star Souls could even help her decompose the Breath of the Abyss, just like Xiao Dao.

Most of the Breath of the Abyss had already been decomposed. In a few more weeks, it should be entirely gone. At that time, her strength would surely undergo a qualitative leap...

Everything was so wonderful, and Xing Yaoyan's mood had been exceptionally good these past few days because of it.

But all of this was ruined by those three words: 'Golden Light Hero'...

Clips began playing on the holographic projection in the sky. These clips all shared a similar pattern: a flash of golden light at the start, followed by the scream of a Star Beast, then another flash of golden light as the Star Beast collapsed...

Besides feeling embarrassed, Xing Yaoyan slowly began to have doubts about her ranking.

She hurriedly sank her consciousness into her Spirit Sea and carefully counted the Star Souls she had collected over the past few days.

The result was a shock; she was surprised to find that she had actually collected over a hundred sentient Star Souls in just a few days!

At the time, she had been so immersed in the excitement of the 'hunt' that she hadn't paid much attention.

Looking back now, it seemed she really had dealt with two-thirds of the Star Beasts in Kyoto...

And since hunting Star Beasts provided special bonus points for this mission, she had accidentally ended up in first place.

"May I ask... is this 'Golden Light Hero' present?"

Yun Long's voice, wrapped in spiritual power, echoed across the square.

Because the golden light of this 'Golden Light Hero' had been detected as a special fourth-rank spiritual power fluctuation, the System had very thoughtfully categorized it into the individual rankings for the mission.

Upholding the principle of fairness and justice, Yun Long suppressed the unpleasantness in his heart and called out in a deep voice.

Internally, he thought he would see exactly who this mysterious person was.

Meanwhile, Xing Yaoyan, who was still deep in thought, was snapped back to reality by the words 'Golden Light Hero' as if by a reflex.

She swore that even if she were beaten to death, she would never admit to such a socially mortifying name...

"Hahaha... 'Shining Hero', you're killing me..."

Huan Wuxing's heartless laughter suddenly echoed from the Spirit Sea.

The First Seat of the Star Cult Priests had been quite well-behaved these past few days.

Every time Xing Yaoyan's Soul avatar entered the Spirit Sea, she would see this woman leisurely floating in the golden Power Of Will, as if she were on vacation.

During the past few days of action, she hadn't forcibly closed her sensory connection to the Spirit Sea, so the other woman had seen everything she experienced clearly.

"Tsk..."

Xing Yaoyan curled her lip, 'muted' the person adding fuel to the fire again, and blocked her perception.

Seeing the purple-haired beauty in the Spirit Sea crossing her arms like a child angry because an adult turned off the TV, Xing Yaoyan felt her mood improve quite a bit.

"Golden Light Hero... Golden Light Hero..."

The name began to echo uncontrollably in her mind.

In the end, Xing Yaoyan had no choice but to place her hand across her forehead to cover her face, hiding her embarrassment.

"Golden Light Hero~"

That voice wasn't right!

Xing Yaoyan snapped her head up.

But soon, she realized what had happened and revealed a 'kind' smile.

"You Old Fox..."

"Oh my~ Little Xiao Yan, it looks like I guessed correctly~"

Xing Yaoyan didn't turn her head; she didn't need a brain to know that this Old Fox must have a cheeky grin on her face right now.

Finally, having 'searched to no avail', Yun Long let out a long, theatrical sigh.

But everyone could hear the irrepressible joy in his sigh.

"It seems this Golden Light Hero was likely a misjudgment by the System... In that case, we will adjust the rankings accordingly. White-Robed Mysterious Person, first; Qian Mo, second..."

"As for the new tenth place... Longxiang Academy, Feng Qing!"

Looking at the somewhat timid boy in glasses slowly walking onto the stage, Xing Yaoyan narrowed her eyes.

Back in the mine, she had ambushed him and knocked him out with a single blow; she had thought he was just a weakling. But looking at it now, this weakling probably had something she didn't know about...

The prizes were brought out in order, the crowd cheered, and the representatives of the various major powers all showed smiles of relief.

This award ceremony, which had quite a few surprises, finally came to a successful conclusion. Fortunately, the outcome was happy for everyone.

After announcing the end of the ceremony, Yun Long simply vanished from everyone's sight without saying another word, as if he wasn't at all afraid of his little disciple being caught in the vortex of power struggles.

As soon as White-Robed Mysterious Person stepped off the stage, she was quickly surrounded by a swarm of people.

The major powers began throwing all sorts of sugar-coated bullets at this worldly-inexperienced young girl.

But clearly, White-Robed Mysterious Person had expected this. No matter what the other side said, she simply ignored them and walked forward with her head down.

Seeing this, the people around her didn't give up and kept moving with her, maintaining a certain distance.

The result was that wherever she went, the circle of people surrounding her flowed with her.

"You are so annoying... move..."

The girl's angry tone carried a hint of being overwhelmed.

Her Master had told her before that this was a test for her first entry into the world, and he hoped she could retreat safely without using her strength to suppress them.

But... it's so hard...

The girl's right hand twitched slightly, as if she were ready to draw her sword at any moment.

Over there, Mu Changqiu, who was still being watched by various cameras, immediately sensed that his Junior Sister's mood was wrong.

"Sigh~ It seems I'll have to rethink this... Master really is something, this is clearly pushing things too fast..."

Just as he casually reached out to push a camera away from his face to go help her, he suddenly noticed that the crowd surrounding the girl had abruptly parted to both sides, revealing a wide passage.

At the end of the passage stood a girl in casual clothes, with a white ponytail and her hands in her pockets.

"Hello, beautiful~"