37: All members passed

A week's time, gone in a flash.

Inside the main teaching hall, the atmosphere was so heavy it felt like water could drip from it.

The final assessment test had begun.

Everyone's nerves were stretched to their limit.

"Next, Zhang Qiqi."

Li Heng's voice was calm and steady.

The Heavenly Spiritual Root girl slowly walked onto the high platform and, under everyone's gaze, placed her tender white hand on the head-sized testing crystal.

She closed her eyes and, as Li Heng had taught, mobilized the Spiritual Qi within her body.

The next second.

Instead of the expected dazzling light, the testing crystal let out a strained "hum"!

Immediately after, fine cracks, centered on Zhang Qiqi's palm, rapidly spread across the entire crystal!

"Holy crap! It's going to explode!"

A student below the stage shrieked.

Li Heng raised an eyebrow, flicked his finger, and a stream of Spiritual Qi struck the crystal, instantly stabilizing the about-to-collapse crystal.

Even so, the light bursting from within the crystal still stung everyone's eyes, making it impossible to open them.

As the bright light receded, Li Heng glanced at the nearly 廢d crystal, then at the innocent-looking Zhang Qiqi.

"Second level of Qi Condensation."

He calmly announced the result.

...

The entire main hall fell into a deathly silence.

A week!

From drawing Qi into the body to the second level of Qi Condensation!

What kind of Cultivation speed was this? Was she riding a rocket?!

Han Li, Liu Lian, and the others gaped, feeling their worldview once again being trampled and rubbed into the ground.

The gap between people was truly greater than that between humans and dogs.

The subsequent tests, although not as exaggerated as Zhang Qiqi's, yielded equally unexpected results.

All two hundred students, including stragglers like Han Li, surprisingly met the "bright as day" assessment standard.

Everyone passed!

Li Heng stood on the high platform, looking down at the excited or exhilarated young faces below.

"Congratulations, all of you have passed."

"From today onwards, you have truly embarked on the path of Immortal Cultivation."

An irrepressible cheer erupted from the crowd.

But Li Heng's next words poured a bucket of cold water on them.

"Don't celebrate too early."

"Right now, you are, at most, infants who have learned how to walk. And my next task for you is to learn to run within a week."

He paused, then continued: "For the next week, there will be no theoretical classes. What you need to do is to practice the use of Spiritual Qi on your own until you can 'skillfully' control it."

"What does 'skillfully' mean?"

"It means to make the Spiritual Qi in your body move like your arms and legs, as if at your command."

After Li Heng finished speaking, he turned and left the main hall, leaving behind two hundred students who exchanged glances, yet were eager to try...

In the following days, the training ground of Kunlun Cultivation Academy presented a bustling scene.

"Watch me! Fire Spell!"

A student from the Magic Cultivation Department shouted, holding back for a long time in his palm, only for a small flame to "puff" out, almost singeing his eyebrows.

"Hahahahaha! Is that all? Watch my Water Control Art!"

Another student, unwilling to be outdone, formed a hand seal, and a crooked stream of water shot out, missing the target ten meters away and instead drenching a passing classmate.

The entire training ground was filled with various failed Spells and the strange shouts of students.

The Sword Cultivation Department was even more pathetic; a group of people surrounded their Flying Swords, chanting incantations and gesturing, but the Flying Sword remained as still as a rock, making many stomp their feet in frustration.

Li Heng stood on a distant tall building, looking at this group of energetic rookies, a relieved expression on his face.

Although clumsy, everyone was full of enthusiasm.

This drive was the most precious thing...

Night.

Room 404.

Fang Yuan, Liu Lian, and Xie Wangsheng were all sitting cross-legged on their respective beds, quietly Cultivating.

Only Han Li was slumped in a chair like a salted fish, holding his phone, his fingers rapidly sliding across the screen.

The dormitory was quiet, with only the faint sound of Spiritual Qi flowing in the air.

In the corner, Xie Wangsheng, who had been silently reading, suddenly made a small movement.

He took off his thick, black-rimmed glasses and casually placed them on the bedside table.

Then, he looked up at a landscape painting hanging on the opposite wall.

The texture of the mountains and rocks in the painting, the veins of the leaves, and even the water droplets splashing from the distant waterfall, all appeared clearly in his vision.

The entire world was clearer than ever before.

His myopia had been silently healed by Spiritual Qi in the few days after he drew Qi into his body.

Xie Wangsheng calmly withdrew his gaze, picked up his book again, as if nothing had happened.

Just then, a national expletive broke the silence of the dormitory.

"Damn it!"

Han Li suddenly sprang from his chair, his face filled with shock and excitement.

"Something big has happened! You guys, come look at this!"

He rushed to the center of the dormitory, holding his phone.

Liu Lian, who was on the verge of entering meditation, was startled by him and almost suffered Qi Deviation.

He opened his eyes, annoyed.

"What are you yelling about? Did another internet celebrity's career collapse?"

"It's ten thousand times more exciting than a career collapse!"

Han Li shoved his phone screen into his face.

"See for yourself! Gusu Province University Town! Man-eating monsters sighted! Students have already gone missing! It's trending now!"

On the phone screen was a post title with a red exclamation mark, accompanied by an extremely blurry but still terrifyingly outlined image below.

It seemed to be a twisted human figure in the dark, with disproportionately long claws.

Fang Yuan also leaned over, and upon seeing the words "man-eating monster," his face instantly turned pale.

Liu Lian frowned, snatched the phone, and carefully examined the image.

"It's Photoshopped, right? This pixelated quality is like my grandma's TV when it loses signal. These days, for traffic, people will make up anything."

He tossed the phone back to Han Li, a look of disdain on his face.

"Is it real or fake...?" Fang Yuan muttered softly, feeling a chill run down his spine.

"Of course it's real!" Han Li became anxious. "The comment section is blowing up! Several people claiming to be from that University Town said the school has already been sealed off, no entry or exit!"

"Sealing off a school isn't unusual?" Liu Lian scoffed.

Just then, Xie Wangsheng, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

"This isn't Photoshopped."

His voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced the dormitory.

Han Li, Liu Lian, and Fang Yuan all looked at him in unison.

Xie Wangsheng put down his book, his expression calm.

"The authorities are deleting posts."

"Half an hour ago, I saw a similar post on a forum. It was removed less than five minutes after it was posted. The fact that this one made it to the trending topics means there's only one possibility."

He paused, then delivered his conclusion.

"The situation has become so severe that it can no longer be suppressed."

The air in the dormitory seemed to solidify.

The mockery on Liu Lian's face disappeared, replaced by a look of solemnity.

Fang Yuan felt a chill shoot straight from the soles of his feet to his Heavenly Spiritual Root.

Although they were in the isolated Kunlun Immortal Mountain, they all knew that they were ultimately members of that mortal world.

Man-eating monsters... This term used to exist only in movies and novels.

Now, however, it had burst into their reality in a bloody way...

At the same time.

Principals Office.

Li Heng was scrolling on his phone, which displayed the exact same post Han Li had seen.

He looked at the blurry monster image, and the constantly scrolling comments filled with panic and speculation below, lost in thought.

This world was beginning to change.

These so-called monsters were probably fiends nurtured by the revived Spiritual Qi, or attracted by it.

It seemed that the peaceful days were over.

Li Heng turned off his phone, looked out the window, and frowned deeply.