74: Chapter 74 National Finals

Finals day.

The Wanxiang University Main Arena was packed, with admissions officers from all four top universities in attendance. On the light screen at the center of the dome, two names scrolled by—Shen Ye and Chi Yan.

Chi Yan had fought his way back from the loser's bracket.

After losing to Shen Ye in the semifinals, he had defeated Cang Ming in the third-place match, standing on the final stage with the last three flags from the Endless Battlefield.

His crimson battle armor was in tatters, and the law nodes shattered by Yan Shan were still leaking dark red remnants of law energy.

When Shen Ye stepped onto the stage, the cheers of the audience caused the law-reinforced light screen to tremble slightly.

He did not bring Yan Shan today—after so many tough battles in the National Competition, the Rock Patterns on Yan Shan's right arm had been tempered by Abyssal Assimilation, the Sea of Laws, the echoes of ancient god-kings, and Time Stop, and they needed time to recover. At this moment, Yan Shan was sitting cross-legged deep within the Body Refining Cave, with Hou Tu squatting beside him, palms pressed against the stone floor to sense the flow of underground spiritual energy, transmitting the rhythm of the vibrations to his father to assist him in re-tempering the Rock Patterns.

Shen Ye unfolded the Land of Cultivation.

Jin Lin stood at the forefront, with Mu Sheng and Daoist Quan flanking him on either side.

Xiao Zhi's Spirit Synchronization Net covered the consciousness seas of all three.

Three completely different powers leaped into the air in sync, their movements as precise as if one person possessed three different bodies.

Jin Lin's flying sword struck first, the sword light of the three dragons weaving into a net in mid-air; Mu Sheng's Guidance Vines wound its way through the gaps in the sword light, and Twilight Sword Qi permeated the fibers of the Guidance Vines the moment it touched the sword light; Daoist Quan's spiral water threads wrapped around the sword-intent-infused vines, accelerating to the rotation limit found only in the depths of spiral mineral crystals.

Jin Lin's sword intent, Mu Sheng's Law of Life, and Daoist Quan's spiral acceleration—the three powers were woven together by Xiao Zhi's Spirit Synchronization Net, transforming into a three-colored torrent that charged head-on toward the Endless Battlefield.

It was not guidance, nor infiltration; it was a direct, frontal assault.

Chi Yan poured all his remaining law energy into the last three flags.

The crimson wasteland trembled violently, and all the civilization laws that had been devoured condensed under the three flags into a giant law spear, its tip a mixture of the law echoes of countless civilizations.

The three-colored torrent collided with the law spear in mid-air, a blinding flash of light exploding at the center of the impact. The law-reinforced light screen bulged outward under the shockwave, and all the spectators held their breath simultaneously.

The light dissipated.

The law spear shattered inch by inch, and the last three flags of the crimson wasteland slowly fell.

Chi Yan knelt on one knee in the center of the ruined Endless Battlefield, his crimson battle armor completely disintegrated.

He looked down at his empty hands, then raised his head to look at Shen Ye.

"You didn't use that twilight longsword this time."

"Jin Lin is strong enough. He has practiced at the sword stele for so long; it was time to let him show his true full power."

Chi Yan was silent for a moment, then he smiled.

It wasn't the confident smile from before, but the relief of finally letting go after a loss.

"Good. I will remember this sword strike of yours."

He stood up, nodded to Shen Ye, and turned to walk off the battle stage.

His back remained proud, just no longer lonely—those who can be defeated fairly are never the weak.

The referee raised a hand to announce the champion of the National Competition.

Shen Ye recalled his familiars; Jin Lin sheathed his sword, Mu Sheng retracted his vines, and Daoist Quan tucked his hands back into his sleeves. Deep within the Scripture Pavilion, Xiao Zhi let out a long sigh of relief and slowly withdrew the Spirit Synchronization Net back into her consciousness sea.

He turned and walked off the stage without looking back.

After the awards ceremony, Shen Ye was invited by the Wanxiang University admissions officer to a private meeting room.

The admissions officer was an elderly professor with graying hair who introduced himself as Professor Qin, the director of the Ancient Archives at Wanxiang University.

He placed an admission letter for a core student in front of Shen Ye.

"Core students have the right to apply for entry into the core area of the Ancient Archives. Before that, I would like to ask you a question—the EW-071 file you intend to access is related to the Twilight Civilization, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"This university has waited a long time, finally waiting for someone who can activate it."

Director Qin stood up and pushed open a hidden door behind him. Behind the door was a stone staircase spiraling upward, leading directly to the top floor of the Wanxiang Giant Tower.

"Lin Tianyin has already submitted the resonance frequency to the Academic Committee. She asked me to tell you that Chen and Ye are ready at the Twilight Altar and can cooperate with the activation at any time. The top of the tower is the Ancient Archives, and that twilight crystal has been waiting for you for a long time. Go."

Shen Ye stepped through the hidden door and walked up the spiraling stone staircase.

Halfway up, he suddenly remembered what Liu Yang had said when he stuffed the amulet into his hand at the Nanjiang No. 7 High School airport: "Bring it to the National Competition, and it's equivalent to me being there too."

He took the amulet with the wrongly sewn corner out of his pocket, held it in his palm, and continued upward.

At the top of the tower, beneath the dome of the Ancient Archives, a gray crystal floated on a law-reinforced display stand.

The twilight light inside the crystal had long since gone dormant.

Shen Ye manifested the twilight longsword and gently pressed the tip against the core law line on the crystal's surface—the resonance frequency marked by Lin Tianyin synchronized with the twilight energy within his body.

The crystal suddenly lit up, and a beam of twilight light shot up from the top of the tower, piercing through the clouds and illuminating the entire Lake Heart Island.

The twilight crystals in the other three Founding Towers responded simultaneously, drawn by this beam of twilight light—the golden tower tip of Shenyu University, the silver-white tower body of Cangqiong University, and the dark green tower top of Eternal University. Three beams of light rose from different directions, intersecting in the sky with the twilight beam from the Wanxiang Giant Tower.

The four keys were gathered.

Teacher Cang Yue looked up at the sky over Lake Heart Island, now dyed in twilight by the four-colored beams of light, and filled in the final coordinate on the incomplete ancient star map from the EW-071 file.

When Jiang Yue saw the light beams rise from the window of the ancient book hall, she put down the fragment in her hand and whispered to the sky: "It has been brought back."

Gu Qinghan updated the flight path on the encrypted channel—the shadow cast by the intersection of the four tower beams fell exactly on the area of law turbulence deep in the core of the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist, matching the charcoal map Gu Yan had left behind years ago perfectly.

Shen Ye stood at the top of the tower and recalled the twilight longsword into the Land of Gods and Demons.

The first key had been activated; he would have to go to the next three towers himself.

He also had to return to the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist.

But not today.

He turned and walked down the spiraling stone staircase.

There were still people waiting for him.