43: Chapter 43 Aftermath

The day after the City-level Competition finals, every media outlet in Nanjiang City had the same photo on its front page—the moment Jin Lin's Three-Dragon Sword Qi and Lu Chuan's blood-colored halberd collided above the Law Tablet.

The photographer who captured this shot wrote in his report that the intense light exploded, he couldn't see the viewfinder at all, and he pressed the shutter purely on instinct.

After the photo was developed, he stared at it for a long time, saying it was the most decent shot he had taken in all his years of covering the City-level Competition.

The headline on the front page of the Nanjiang Awakening Daily consisted of only two words: "Double S."

Below it was a sub-headline: "City-level Competition Finals, Shen Ye of Nanjiang No. 7 High School defeats Lu Chuan of City No. 1 High School."

The full report took up three whole pages.

The first page was a full text recap of the finals, from the extreme expansion of Lu Chuan's Blood War Aura to Shen Ye's four-thousand-strong kin formation change, to Lu Chuan retracting his aura to condense the Law Halberd, to the collision of Jin Lin's Three-in-One Dragon Sword.

The second page was a comparison of the growth trajectories of the two S-rank contestants—Lu Chuan had a shining resume from childhood, the top seed of City No. 1 High School, the Undead of the Iron-Blooded Battlefield, crushing everyone along the way; while Shen Ye went from an overlooked growth-type S-rank to consecutively crushing Zheng Chuan and Fang Yan, and finally facing Lu Chuan's Undead Sea head-on in the finals.

The third page was interviews from various parties.

When Lu Chuan was intercepted, he had just come out of the stadium. The sleeve of his dark blue school uniform had a tear, caused by the aftermath of Jin Lin's sword qi.

The reporter handed him the microphone: "Student Lu Chuan, this is the first time you've revealed your Law-condensed weapon and fought personally in the finals, but you still lost to Shen Ye. How do you evaluate this opponent?"

Lu Chuan was silent for a while, then said: "He is not a dark horse. A dark horse wins one game by an upset. He won from the first group match to the last match of the finals, and every game was won without controversy. This is not a dark horse, this is a king."

The reporter pressed: "Some say his kin's individual combat power has already exceeded the average level of the Provincial Tournament. How far do you think he can go in the Provincial Tournament?"

Lu Chuan said: "The Provincial Tournament is not his destination."

Then he left.

Shen Ye's interview was even shorter.

The reporter blocked him at the exit of the contestant passageway and asked for his thoughts on winning the championship.

He said: "Thank you, Principal Zhou, thank you, Mentor Qin."

The reporter waited for a long time, only to find there was nothing more, and asked him about his expectations for the Provincial Tournament.

He said: "Fight well."

The reporter printed these two sentences verbatim on the third page, accompanied by a commentary titled "The Champion Who Speaks the Least."

Shen Ye did not read the newspaper.

He went to Qin Shu's office in the morning.

Qin Shu sat by the window, holding a data pad. On the screen was the complete data of the finals—the expansion and contraction curve of the Blood War Aura, the energy density peak of the Law Halberd, and the spiritual power spectrum during the collision between Jin Lin's Three-in-One Dragon Sword and the halberd.

Qin Shu turned the data pad to show Shen Ye.

"Lu Chuan's Law-condensed weapon hit the threshold of the Demigod level."

Qin Shu said, "He has only been Awakened for a little over a year, and his Divine Kingdom development time is less than twice that of an ordinary Awakened. To be able to touch the edge of the Demigod level, his talent is no worse than yours."

Shen Ye nodded.

He had received that final halberd strike from Lu Chuan head-on on the battlefield; he knew the weight of it best.

At that moment, Jin Lin's Three-in-One Dragon Sword had already exceeded the limit of the Pseudo-Core stage to barely overcome it.

"Many opponents in the Provincial Tournament have similar or even stronger trump cards."

Qin Shu put down the data pad. "This time you revealed Jin Lin's Three-in-One Dragon Sword, the complete array of four thousand kin, and the preliminary application of the fusion of the Five Elements spiritual energy. Your opponents in the Provincial Tournament will study and target you. Are your trump cards still enough?"

Shen Ye thought about it.

Jin Lin's sword intent fused with Twilight Sword Qi, and this time he only used three dragon patterns.

Mu Sheng's vines had five layers of Life Law Imprints superimposed, and this time he only used the guiding vine.

Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain had three spirals merged into one, and this time it was only used to bolster the soft force of the sword intent.

The first batch of foundation establishment pills from the Fire Spirit Root Artificer had already been produced, and the number of kin establishing their foundation was still climbing.

The Angel Legion and Succubus Legion had not been revealed even once.

The Twilight Apostle had not yet been born, but the construction conditions for the Twilight Altar were approaching.

"Enough."

Shen Ye said.

Qin Shu looked at him and was silent for a while.

"Is there anything you want to ask me?"

Shen Ye said: "Fang Zhen. He was a comrade-in-arms with Lu Chuan's father, Lu Zheng. Lu Zheng was the commander of the reinforcements on the day Fang Zhen sacrificed himself."

Qin Shu leaned back in his chair, looking out the window.

There were lower-grade students running on the playground, their sweat glistening in the sunlight.

"The defense line Fang Zhen guarded was the Seventh Outpost of the Third Zone in the Gray Zone. That rift eruption was massive, with three Void Race Lords attacking simultaneously. Fang Zhen's outpost bore the brunt of it. He held off the first Lord for a full hour, nine out of ten of his kin were lost, and his Divine Kingdom shattered. When Lu Zheng arrived with reinforcements, Fang Zhen was still standing in front of the outpost ruins, with the remains of Lava Giants piled up like a small mountain behind him."

Qin Shu's voice was very flat, as if stating a battle report. "Lu Zheng later told me that the first thing Fang Zhen said when he saw him wasn't 'You're finally here,' but 'I held it.'"

Shen Ye did not speak.

"After Lu Zheng retired, he taught at City No. 1 High School. Every year on the anniversary of Fang Zhen's death, he would sit alone in his study and place two glasses of wine. He would drink one himself, and leave the other. Lu Chuan has seen this since he was a child."

Qin Shu turned around. "Fang Zhen was the strongest shield among our batch. He guarded for twelve years, guarding until his death. Behind the defense line he guarded were three cities and tens of millions of people. Not a single Void Race crossed his line."

Shen Ye lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Fang Zhen's Magma Hell was a top-tier attribute, and War Frenzy was an S-rank talent.

He guarded the border for twelve years, withstood the impact of countless Void Race Lords, and eventually died on the defense line.

He was a comrade-in-arms with Lu Chuan's father.

When he died, he didn't say 'I can't do it anymore,' he said 'I held it.'

Shen Ye looked up.

"When does the Provincial Tournament start?"

"In one month."

Qin Shu said, "This month, your training volume will double. The opponents in your projection training will be upgraded from military-grade Void Race standards to the internal standards of the Pathfinder sequence. Those are the parameters I used before I retired."

Shen Ye stood up.

"What time tomorrow?"

"Seven o'clock."

Qin Shu picked up the data pad. "Don't be late."

Shen Ye walked out of the office.

The corridor was very quiet, and his footsteps echoed between the walls.

The commands from the playground outside stopped, replaced by the bell for the lunch break.

He walked through the corridor, not returning to the dormitory, but turning into the meditation room, closing the door, and sitting cross-legged.

His consciousness sank into the Cultivation Divine Kingdom.

In the Cultivation Divine Kingdom, the number of kin in the Foundation Establishment Stage had exceeded six hundred.

The first batch of foundation establishment pills from the Fire Spirit Root Artificer team had all been produced, with a high success rate and excellent quality.

The raw materials for the second batch of foundation establishment pills were ready, with the spiritual plant essence, moonlight vine petal extract, and high-concentration spiritual spring concentrate sent by Su Wanqing neatly stacked in the corner of the pill room.

Jin Lin was teaching the hundred-man sword cultivation squad a simplified version of the Three-in-One sword intent—it wasn't him alone fusing three dragon patterns, but three sword cultivators each holding one dragon pattern, completing a combined attack the moment they drew their swords.

Mu Sheng was by the spiritual field, leading the hundred-man array mage squad in deducing the dual guidance technique of vines and water flow.

Elder Quan was by the Twilight Spirit Spring, teaching the hundred-man dharma cultivation squad the group casting of the Spiral Water Curtain.

They were preparing.

In the Land of Gods and Demons, the Angel Legion and Succubus Legion had finished forming their ranks.

Chen and Ye stood on either side of the Twilight Spirit Spring, with twilight light rising from the depths of the spring, dyeing the sky of the entire Land of Gods and Demons a color between gold and purple.

Gain Without Labor was continuously replicating every building upgrade in the Cultivation Divine Kingdom into high-grade buildings in the Land of Gods and Demons.

The number of angels and succubi was increasing every day.

The construction conditions for the Twilight Altar were approaching.

Shen Ye opened his eyes.

The lights in the meditation room were dim.

He stood up and pushed the door open.

There were footsteps at the end of the corridor; it was Liu Yang running over.

"Shen Ye! Su Wanqing is waiting for you downstairs, saying she has something for you."

Shen Ye went downstairs.

Su Wanqing stood under the ginkgo tree at the entrance of the dormitory building, holding a cloth bag.

The bag was not big, but it was bulging.

She saw Shen Ye and handed the bag over.

"From Han Xu for you."

Shen Ye took the bag and opened it.

Inside was an ice-blue spiritual plant, its root system wrapped in spiritual silk, with a thin layer of frost on its leaves.

"ice condensation grass. Rare grade. It took a long time to grow in his Frost Tundra to get one."

Su Wanqing said, "He said you asked someone for the data on the Blood War Aura before the finals. He didn't give it to you directly, but asked me to pass it on. Now that the finals are over, this ice condensation grass counts as your supply."

Shen Ye looked at the ice condensation grass.

The ice-blue leaves refracted a faint iridescent light in the sunlight.

He remembered what Han Xu said in the contestant passageway: "I don't know if this is useful to you."

"Thank him for me."

Shen Ye put the bag away.

"Also this."

Su Wanqing took out a small bottle from her pocket, filled with pale silver liquid. "The extract from the Thorn Queen's third evolution. I kept half, and this half is for you. You helped me plant so many moonlight vine petals, this counts as your share."

Shen Ye took the bottle.

The pale silver liquid flowed slowly in the bottle, carrying a very faint floral fragrance.

"Provincial Tournament doubles event, team up with me."

Shen Ye said.

Su Wanqing looked at him.

"Do you know what level the opponents in the Provincial Tournament doubles event are? S-ranks from other cities will also team up. Some combinations are specifically trained in doubles coordination."

"We haven't trained."

Shen Ye said, "But your Thorn Queen's large-scale battlefield control, and my Cultivators' individual reaping—this is complementary. Lu Chuan's Undead Sea doesn't fear control, but other S-ranks might not."

The corners of Su Wanqing's mouth curved slightly.

"Fine."

She tucked the data pad under her arm, turned and walked a few steps, then stopped. "By the way. Your final sword strike in the finals, Lu Chuan is still talking about it. He said when his Divine Kingdom recovers, he wants to find you for another private fight, the kind without an audience."

"Anytime."

Shen Ye said.

Su Wanqing waved her hand and disappeared at the end of the ginkgo tree path.

Shen Ye carried Han Xu's ice condensation grass and Su Wanqing's thorn extract, standing under the dormitory building for a while.

The ginkgo leaves were just starting to turn yellow, with a circle of gold at the edges and green in the center.

The afternoon sunlight leaked through the gaps in the leaves, casting golden, shattered light spots on the ground.

Liu Yang poked his head out from the stairwell.

"The cafeteria is serving food, they have the spirit beast steaks you like today."

Shen Ye turned around and walked up the stairs.

Upstairs, Jin Lin was teaching the sword cultivators the rhythm of the three-sword combo.

The Fire Spirit Root Artificer's pill room was glowing with firelight; they were keeping watch tonight, and the second batch of foundation establishment pills would be produced before dawn.

There was one month left until the Provincial Tournament.

Everything was in preparation.