18: Chapter 18: The Trialers Return! Is Lin Ye Doomed?

July 8th, 3:00 PM.

The playground of Qingzhou University was packed with people.

Twelve Planes Gates were lined up in the center of the playground. Every few minutes, a gate of light would swing open, spitting out one or two disheveled trial takers.

Isolation ropes were strung around the perimeter of the playground. School leaders sat on the rostrum, rosters spread out before each of them. Every time someone came out, a checkmark was made next to their corresponding name.

Vice President Zhou Bingwen held a teacup, staring unblinkingly at the Planes Gates below.

"That's the seventh batch." Academic Director Sun Zhiguo flipped through the roster. "One hundred and fourteen came out of the Shadow Escape Plane, and twenty-one died. The survival rate is alright."

"Two hundred and eighteen came out of the Secret Treasure Sea, and thirty-six died."

A female teacher next to him chimed in, frowning, "Fifteen students still haven't come out, and time is running out."

Vice President Zhou Bingwen didn't speak; he just picked up his teacup and put it down again.

Every July 8th was like this.

When the trial takers returned, some were ecstatic, some broke down crying, and some stayed in another world forever.

He had been in this line of work for fifteen years and had seen too much.

But every year at this time, his heart was still hanging.

In the center of the playground, another gate of light swung open, and a boy wearing tattered martial arts clothes stumbled out, his face covered in scabs of blood.

He knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, his shoulders shaking violently, and it took a long time for two staff members to help him up.

As he passed the rostrum, he muttered the same sentence over and over: "I survived… I survived… I survived…"

"From the Barbaric Martial Arts Plane." Academic Director Sun Zhiguo checked off the roster. "As long as he came back alive."

Vice President Zhou Bingwen nodded, his gaze sweeping across the student formations at the edge of the playground.

Today was the Trial Takers' Return Day, and classes were suspended school-wide.

Ordinary students who hadn't participated in the trial gathered outside the isolation ropes, stretching their necks to look inside.

Their gazes only lingered on those disheveled returnees for a few seconds before quickly shifting away, casting towards the other side of the playground.

On the east side of the playground, the prodigies who had completed their trials and returned early were gathering in twos and threes.

A bald boy was surrounded by a group of people in the middle. His skin emitted a cyan-gray stone-like luster, as if his whole body had been poured with a layer of concrete.

He grinned, clenched his fists, and smashed a punch into the ground.

The ground exploded into a shallow pit the size of a fist, and gravel splashed everywhere!

The surrounding classmates let out a gasp of cold air.

"Stubborn Stone Body!"

Someone shouted enviously, "The top-tier physique of the Barbaric Martial Arts Plane!"

The bald boy scratched the back of his head honestly: "Good luck, good luck, I stumbled into becoming an apprentice, haha…"

Not far away, another girl was also surrounded.

She opened her palms, and a fist-sized flame burned out of thin air, with an orange-red flame core and light blue edges.

With a casual flick of her hand, the flame turned into an arc and flew five meters away, exploding into a small firework in the air.

The onlookers let out another exclamation.

"Did she eat that-what-was-it fruit? From the Secret Treasure Sea?"

"Yes, yes, yes! It's all over the school! It's said that the grade of the fruit she ate is not low!"

"I'm dying of envy. My cousin went to the Secret Treasure Sea last year, searched for seven days without even finding a rotten fruit, and almost starved to death inside. Others found it as soon as they went in. Comparing people to people really makes you angry."

"What about that one over there? From the Ghost-Slicing Team Plane?"

Someone pointed to the corner of the playground.

A tall, thin boy wearing glasses was lowering his head to wipe a blade in his hand.

The body of the knife was pitch black, with only the blade emitting a pale silver cold light.

He wiped it very slowly and carefully, as if wiping an extremely precious treasure.

Someone nearby wanted to touch it, but he didn't even raise his head. With a gentle block from the scabbard, that person's wrist went numb.

"That knife is called the Ghost-Slicing Blade, and it has a special attack bonus against demons and ghosts. It is said that after he personally killed an evil spirit, he inherited it from a senior of the Ghost-Slicing Team."

"Awesome."

"Our school's current cohort is full of hidden talents."

"Indeed, quite a few have obtained opportunities. I heard there is someone in the next class who contracted a demonic beast. What specific beast is still unclear, but its rank is not low."

The atmosphere on the playground was pushed higher and higher bit by bit by these prodigies.

But not everyone was so glorious.

Most of the returning trial takers were in very poor condition.

Some collapsed on the ground as soon as they came out and were carried away.

Some hugged their companions and cried because the people who went in together didn't come out.

Some sat in the corner without saying a word, staring blankly at the ground.

Being able to come back alive was already the greatest luck for most people.

As for opportunities? Abilities?

Those were things only a very few prodigies were qualified to think about.

Su Tang came out of the Demonic Beast Contract Plane.

Her clothes had several tears, and there were a few shallow scratches on her face, making her look somewhat disheveled, but her gentle, moonlight-like temperament still couldn't conceal her white-moonlight quality.

Behind her followed a half-person-high demonic beast cub, resembling a Silver Moon Wolf, with snow-white fur and a pair of ice-blue vertical pupils, cautiously sizing up the unfamiliar surrounding environment.

"Silver Moon Wolf!"

Someone who recognized it exclaimed, "A top-ten combat-type demonic beast in the Demonic Beast Contract Plane! An adult form can go head-to-head with a three-star trial taker!"

Su Tang ignored the surrounding gazes and walked straight to the area where her class was located.

As soon as she stood firm, her gaze hurriedly scanned the crowd. Then her brows furrowed.

"Teacher Qu." She walked up to Qu Xianghong, a trace of slight eagerness in her voice, "Lin Ye hasn't come out yet?"

Qu Xianghong leaned against the railing.

He had been standing here all afternoon without saying a word.

Hearing Su Tang's question, he was silent for a long time before sighing.

"No."

"The Planes Gate of the Classic of Mountains and Seas…" Su Tang looked back at the center of the playground. Among the twelve Planes Gates, eleven were opening frequently, but only the gray-white gate on the far right remained motionless, "It has never been opened?"

"Never opened."

Su Tang bit her lip.

Her Silver Moon Wolf sensed its master's emotions and rubbed against her calf with a low whine.

"He will come back." She said, her voice not loud, but her tone very firm, "I made an agreement with him."

Qu Xianghong glanced at her, hesitating to speak, but finally opened his mouth.

"Su Tang, I know you have a good relationship with him. But that world of the Classic of Mountains and Seas… a zero survival rate for three years. There is a reason for it."

His voice was low and tired, "Lin Ye… chose that world himself. I tried to stop him, the school leaders tried to stop him, everyone tried to stop him. But he still chose it."

"Although I'm unwilling to admit it, but… he is most likely dead."

Su Tang didn't speak, her lips pressed into a straight line.

Someone nearby overheard this conversation.

"Lin Ye?"

A boy with a buzz cut leaned over. He had been standing in the front row all afternoon. The Stubborn Stone Body that had just demonstrated its ability was his roommate from the next dorm room.

Although he didn't get any decent opportunities himself, he had survived for seven days in the Shadow Escape Plane.

He learned a shoddy cloning technique, and his self-confidence was skyrocketing.

"Just that idiot who chose the Classic of Mountains and Seas?"

Several people behind him laughed along.

"If I were him, I would casually choose any other world, even the trashiest Magus Guild Plane. At least I could learn the lowest-level magic perception. It's useless, but at least I'd come back alive. Choose the Classic of Mountains and Seas? That's seeking death directly."

"You can't put it that way. What if he had a dream?"

Another girl sarcastically chimed in, and then couldn't help laughing herself, "Having a dream is a good thing, it's just that you lose your life."

The buzz-cut boy spread his palms, and a ball of gray mist almost invisible to the naked eye emerged from his palm, barely condensing into a crooked fist shape, shaking twice before dispersing.

He raised his eyebrows proudly: "See that? What I learned in the Shadow Escape Plane is the Substitution Technique! Although I can only make a fake fist right now, practicing it to the later stages can create clones! This is the gap between choosing the right world. What about your Lin Ye? A world with a zero survival rate, what can he bring back? A pile of dirt?"

Su Tang turned her head, her gaze turning cold: "Are you done talking?"

The buzz-cut boy was stunned for a moment, then raised his hands sheepishly: "Fine, fine, fine, I'm done talking. Anyway, a dead man won't jump out to slap me in the face…"