37: Chapter 37 Fragments of the Ancient God

Jiang Xun's additional condition, "Make them bow and apologize," was like a nail, driven firmly into the faces of everyone in the office.

Chen Jianhua's face was so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water. He stared daggers at Jiang Xun, as if he wanted to cut him to pieces with his gaze.

"Good! A truly arrogant kid!" He laughed in extreme anger, squeezing the words out through his teeth, "I'd like to see what you use to win next week's assessment!"

With that, he flicked his sleeves and stormed out, slamming the door behind him, taking Brother Feng and the others, who were equally filled with resentment, with him.

A storm had temporarily transformed into a pact.

After the farce in the office ended, the campus forum had already exploded.

[Shocking! E-rank Talent Jiang Xun bets against half the elites of the Key Class; the loser is eliminated, the winner takes all!]

[5v5 Team Battle! The rules were set personally by Teacher Wu Jingguo; Jiang Xun is doomed this time!]

[I heard Brother Feng has already contacted Zhao Yu and Sun Miao, who are in the top ten of the class, to form the 'Sure-Win Team'. Three A-rank civilizations plus two top-tier B-ranks—how could they possibly lose?]

[What about Jiang Xun's side? Just him and Xu Qingran? Where will he find the remaining three teammates? Is he going to look for the dregs from the ordinary classes?]

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

In their eyes, personal prowess had limited utility in a team battle that emphasized coordination. Jiang Xun's patchwork "Frankenstein" army, facing several mature A-rank civilizations capable of mutual coordination, would only end up being crushed.

Xu Qingran walked beside Jiang Xun, a hint of worry on her beautiful face.

"Teacher Wu Jingguo's rules are clearly biased toward them. Are you confident?"

Jiang Xun looked at the sunset in the distance, his expression calm: "In terms of unit strength alone, I fear no one. But team battles don't test the individual; they test the system."

He knew his own weaknesses better than anyone.

His army fused various civilizations like the undead, orcs, and dwarves; their individual combat capabilities were extremely strong, but in terms of synergy, they were a scattered mess. The deathly aura of the undead would suppress the ferocity of the orcs, and the heaviness of the dwarves couldn't keep up with the strange, tricky movements of the assassins.

This kind of temporary patchwork was full of flaws when faced with a mature civilization system that truly had tacit coordination.

This was Teacher Wu Jingguo's true killing blow.

On the other side, Brother Feng and the others were gathered in a luxurious clubhouse, laughing triumphantly.

"Hahaha, that fool actually dared to accept the challenge! Does he think a team battle is a duel?"

"Brother Feng, this time we must make him lose until he doesn't even have his pants left! We'll not only kick him out of the Key Class, but also make him kowtow to us in front of the whole school!"

Brother Feng held his wine glass, his face filled with a grim smile of certain victory: "Don't worry, I've already talked it over with Zhao Yu and Sun Miao. When the time comes, the Holy Light Knights will charge from the front, the dragon breath will provide aerial suppression, my Storm War Eagles will harass from the flanks, and paired with Wang Mang's earth-type defense, it will be an inescapable net! Even if Jiang Xun had three heads and six arms, he would undoubtedly die!"

"Once he rolls out of the Key Class, I'd like to see who dares to protect that trash Lin Hao! I'm going to crush every single grain of sand in his Divine Kingdom!"

Jiang Xun paid no attention to the storms outside.

Night fell, and he went to the library alone.

Old Baitou was still dozing on the table, as if indifferent to everything in the outside world.

Jiang Xun sat down opposite him, not speaking, just waiting quietly.

I don't know how much time passed before Old Baitou slowly raised his head and rubbed his sleepy eyes: "Kid, why aren't you preparing for the assessment in the middle of the night, and instead running to this old man?"

Jiang Xun looked straight into his seemingly murky eyes and asked slowly: "Senior, I would like to ask a question."

"Speak."

"How can light and darkness coexist, how can fire and ice dance together? How can civilizations that are completely different, or even in conflict with each other, be twisted into a single rope?"

Old Baitou's hand rubbing his eyes stopped.

He lowered his hand and sat up straight for the first time; a flash of unprecedented sharp light passed through his murky eyes. He re-examined the young man in front of him as if he didn't recognize him.

This question had already exceeded the scope of "technique" and touched upon the origin of the "Dao".

Old Baitou was well aware of the confrontation in the office and the battle in the Mist Canyon. He knew the predicament Jiang Xun was facing, but he hadn't expected that Jiang Xun was contemplating such a profound proposition.

"Why do you seek this kind of power?" Old Baitou asked in a deep voice, "For more efficient killing? Or for more thorough plunder?"

"To establish order," Jiang Xun answered calmly, "An order that allows miners to mine in peace, farmers to farm in peace, and the weak not to worry about being crushed by the strong in their sleep."

"For this, I need a blade sharp enough. This blade must be able to cut through all chaos."

The room fell into a long silence.

Eventually, Old Baitou sighed long and hard, his eyes becoming incomparably complex—there was admiration, relief, and a trace of feeling unburdened.

"Waited for so many years... finally waited for someone... who doesn't just think about painting the whole world with a single color."

He stood up and beckoned to Jiang Xun.

"Follow me."

He led Jiang Xun past rows of bookshelves to an inconspicuous wall in the deepest part of the library. He extended his withered fingers and tapped on the wall in a mysterious pattern a few times.

The wall slid open silently to both sides, revealing a dusty staircase leading underground.

An ancient, vast, and heavy aura rushed out from the underground, as if it had spanned billions of years of time.

"This is the forbidden area of Jiangcheng No. 3 High School, and also the real reason for its establishment." Old Baitou said as he walked down the stairs, "Every era has some brilliant and talented people. But most people only want to use their own civilization to cover and assimilate other civilizations. What they pursue is 'purity', is 'uniqueness'."

"But they are wrong. True strength has never been about purity, but about inclusiveness."

At the end of the stairs was a huge underground storage room. There were no books here, only ancient artifacts emitting a faint light.

Old Baitou brought Jiang Xun to the very center of the storage room.

There, a palm-sized, tattered black stone slab was floating quietly.

The stone slab was covered with mysterious, incomprehensible patterns; those patterns seemed to be alive, flowing slowly. Just one look at them made one feel as if their soul was about to be sucked in.

"This is...?" Jiang Xun's heartbeat began to accelerate uncontrollably.

"Three hundred years ago, a senior brought it back at the cost of their life from a mythical battlefield ruin. It does not belong to any civilization system known to us." Old Baitou's eyes became incomparably solemn and fanatical.

"We call it—the ancient god fragment."

"The information dimension it records is too high. Any god who tries to forcibly analyze it has only one outcome in the end—their Divine Kingdom collapses, and their divine fire is extinguished."

"We tried countless methods and finally discovered that there is only one possibility that can carry its information. That is to possess a civilization core that can encompass all paths, rather than exclusively honoring one."

Old Baitou turned his head and stared intensely at Jiang Xun.

"Your appearance has given me hope."

"Go, child. Use your heart to feel it. Whether you become its nourishment or its master depends on your own fortune."

Jiang Xun took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and slowly extended his hand.

The moment his fingertips touched that cold stone slab.

Hum—!

The SSS-rank Talent that had been silent in his mind for a long time, like the deep sea into which a nuclear bomb had been dropped, stirred up monstrous waves!

A cold and mechanical prompt sounded in his mind with a boom.

[Detected super-dimensional civilization information source... Permission confirmed... Meets fusion conditions...]

[SSS-rank Talent [Civilization Plunder], starting to advance into unknown territory...]

[10%...30%...70%...]

[Advanced program initiated!]