13: Chapter 13 I'll get in myself

Jiangcheng No. 3 High School, Dean's Office.

The mahogany desk was polished to a high sheen, clearly reflecting the expensive crystal chandelier on the ceiling.

The walls were covered with photos of outstanding graduates; in the very center, in the most prominent position, was a standard portrait of Li Ang wearing ceremonial Deity robes, looking high-spirited and ambitious.

Below the photo, Director Li Fu was leaning back in his leather office chair, thrusting out his massive beer belly, enjoying the afternoon sun.

When Jiang Xun pushed the door open and entered, he didn't even lift his eyes.

"Something you need?"

Li Fu's voice carried the greasy arrogance that comes from long-term association with those in power.

Jiang Xun didn't speak; he simply placed a document gently on the spotless desk.

It was the proof of his championship in the school assessment and an application for admission to the Key Class.

Li Fu finally deigned to shift his gaze from the scenery outside the window.

He glanced at the name on the application form, and then, he smiled.

It was an undisguised mockery, as if he had just seen some colossal joke.

He picked up the application form, which represented Jiang Xun's honor, holding the corner of the paper with his fingers in disgust, as if he were pinching something filthy.

Then, he flicked his arm.

The paper traced a light arc through the air, landing precisely in the gilded trash can in the corner.

"Jiang Xun, right?"

Li Fu slowly and methodically wiped the fingers that had held the application form with a napkin, as if he had touched something unclean.

"E-Rank Talent. You relied on some shady, underhanded method to luckily win the school assessment. Now, you actually have the nerve to bring this 'stolen' honor and apply to enter the most elite Key Class at our Third High School?"

His voice wasn't loud, but the students in the hallway outside—who were pretending to pass by but were actually straining their ears to eavesdrop—heard every word clearly.

"What do you think the Key Class is? A garbage dump?"

"Every person in there is a future Deity elite, the hope of Jiangcheng. And you," he looked Jiang Xun up and down, his gaze filled with disdain, "a piece of trash whose registration for the Resource Competition was rejected, a potential threat whose Divine Kingdom has already been classified as 'alienated' by the Deity Administration Bureau—what right do you have?"

"Just because of this piece of paper?" Li Fu pointed to the trash can. "Don't dream. Third High School doesn't welcome thieves, and it welcomes trash even less."

A wave of suppressed snickering erupted from all around.

Everyone was waiting to see Jiang Xun make a fool of himself.

They were waiting to see him fly into a rage, waiting to see him get angry from embarrassment, waiting to see him tuck his tail and slink away like a dog that had had its tail stepped on.

But Jiang Xun didn't.

His expression remained unchanged from beginning to end, as calm as a pool of ancient ice.

Under everyone's gaze, he slowly walked to the corner, bent down, and picked up his application form from the pile of waste paper.

He took out a handkerchief and meticulously wiped away non-existent stains, bit by bit.

It was as if it weren't just an ordinary piece of paper, but a sacred work of art.

After finishing this, he finally raised his head again and looked at Li Fu.

"Director Li."

His voice was equally calm.

"First, I am not a thief. Li Ang's civilization was won fair and square by my own ability."

"Second, I am not trash. You know better than I do what's really going on with the Deity Administration Bureau's assessment."

"Third," he folded the wiped-clean application form again and put it back into his pocket, "I will definitely enter the Key Class. Since you won't let me in, then I will break in myself."

He paused, a trace of a smile seemingly touching the corners of his eyes.

"I'm taking the championship of the Resource Competition. I hope by then, your Face won't hurt too much, Director."

On the outskirts of the crowd, Xu Qingran's brows were tightly knitted together.

She had witnessed the entire, truly ugly humiliation.

Li Fu's smug, petty Face made her feel physically repulsed.

The elite education she had received taught her that rules were sacred and inviolable.

But the reality before her was telling her that so-called rules were nothing more than toys to be played with at will in the Face of power.

Jiang Xun's counterattack was crisp and decisive, even carrying a coldness that made her heart shudder.

There was no anger in his eyes, only a kind of… a kind of indifference that viewed everything as a pawn.

This look inexplicably reminded her of her father.

The man who had defended against the Evil Gods at the border, only to be betrayed by "his own people" and disappear into the river of history.

Their eyes were too similar.

Both had that look of someone who trusted no one and believed only in the sword in their own hand.

Jiang Xun turned and left.

His straight, upright back was like a sharp sword about to be unsheathed.

When he reached the door, he stopped and didn't look back.

"You won't let me in, so I will break in myself."

"No one can stop me."

The voice wasn't loud, but it struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

There was a deathly silence in the hallway.

The students who had just been snickering all lowered their heads, not daring to meet that retreating figure's gaze.

Li Fu's complexion turned from flushed red to iron-blue at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He slammed his hand on the desk and grabbed the personal terminal on it.

"Hello! Director Li! That little bastard just came to my office! He's too arrogant! He doesn't even put our Li family in his eyes!"

On the other end of the line came Director Li Jianguo's cold voice.

"Let him make a scene. The higher he jumps, the harder he will fall. The list for the Resource Competition is already locked; he doesn't even have the qualifications to participate, so what is he going to use to win the championship?"

"The Black Snake side has already moved. Unless something unexpected happens, he won't live past tonight."

"A weed from the bottom, wanting to turn the sky? I only need to flick a finger to turn him and his Divine Kingdom into dust."

Li Fu hung up the phone, and the shock and anger on his Face instantly turned into a cruel, sinister grin.

He walked to the window, watching Jiang Xun's gradually receding figure, as if looking at a dead man.

Night fell.

In the rented room in the urban village, the light was dim and yellow.

Jiang Xun didn't dwell on the day's humiliation, nor did he worry about the Li family's potential retaliation.

These emotions were, for him, a meaningless waste.

He simply sat calmly at the table, his consciousness sinking into his Divine Kingdom.

One million Faith Points lay quietly in the reserve pool at the core of the Divine Kingdom, emitting an alluring glow.

For a starting deity, this was a massive fortune capable of changing his fate.

"Since you have already set the stage, it would be too rude not to put on a good show."

Jiang Xun's conscious form hovered over his Divine Kingdom.

He reached out his hand and gave a light wave.

The one million Faith Points instantly transformed into a golden torrent, roaring and surging as it poured into every corner of the Divine Kingdom.

"Divine Kingdom Announcement:"

"Effective immediately, the entire population is to enter Level 1 combat readiness."

"All resources are to be diverted to combat units; believer cultivation speed is increased tenfold."

"Initiate the forced Fusion evolution of 'Undead Body Refining' and 'Orc Forging,' regardless of cost, regardless of loss."

"Objective—before the Resource Competition begins, forge a battle-hardened army capable of trampling everything."

As his cold voice fell, the entire Divine Kingdom began to shake violently.

Above the earth, countless barracks rose from the ground.

The believers, who were originally just ordinary Human Race, began to undergo drastic physical changes under the catalysis of the massive amount of Faith Points; their muscles bulged and their bones roared.

Huge furnaces appeared out of thin air, and the plundered Orc Forging techniques began to frantically forge weapons flickering with undead runes.

A high-stakes gamble had begun.

There was not a ripple in Jiang Xun's eyes.

He was going to use this money, squeezed from his enemies, to forge the sharpest blade, and then, with his own hands, sever the black hand clutching his throat.