314: Chapter 314 Flaming Mountain? Have I been transported to Journey to the West again?

The moment his memory returned, a wave of extremely "heavy" regret and self-reproach instantly flooded Jiang You's conscience like a rushing river!

He slapped his thigh hard, his face full of bitter remorse!

"Jiang You, oh Jiang You! How could you be slacking off at a time like this!"

"Principal Pang placed such high hopes on you, even going so far as to sacrifice his old face to eavesdrop on you!"

"At this very moment, your lovely teammates might be in this cruel secret realm, enduring inhuman torment and beatings from the top students of other universities!"

"And you? As the captain of the first team of Magic City Martial Arts University, the hope of the whole village, you actually hid in this cave to sleep?"

The more Jiang You thought about it, the more uneasy his conscience became. He pointed at his own nose with extreme grief and indignation, issuing a soul-searching question:

"With your status, at your age, how can you sleep soundly?"

Amidst this profound self-reflection, Jiang You took a deep breath, his eyes becoming firmer than ever before.

Like a peerless warrior who suddenly awakened before the White Gate Tower, he let out a deafening, tragic, and regretful cry in his heart:

"I have been misled by sleep, becoming so haggard on the competition field!"

"From now on, I, Jiang You, will definitely refuse all competitions!!!"

After completing this abstract "Lu Bu-style abstinence" self-PUA.

Jiang You decided it was time to go out, show his skills, and save his teammates who were in deep water and scorching fire!

"But this damn place is too hot, it's enough to make a person break out in heat rash."

Jiang You wiped the hot sweat from his forehead and, with extreme disdain, picked up the black and gold team uniform, which represented the highest honor of Magic City Martial Arts University, from the bluestone slab.

Inside, he was wearing that bright yellow spongebob printed pajama set, and he draped the team uniform casually over his shoulders.

"Let me see what the situation is like outside..."

Muttering to himself, Jiang You swaggered to the cave entrance, pulled aside the withered yellow vines, and poked his head out.

Then, Jiang You's movements froze abruptly.

What met his eyes was not any competing contestants engaged in fierce fighting, nor any ferocious otherworldly beasts.

There was only an endless sea of molten lava, where even the sky had been scorched into a blood-red color!!!

The primeval forest at the foot of the mountain had completely turned into rolling magma, and terrifying tongues of fire were crazily licking the cliff walls!

Even the mountain peak he was on had been more than half burned into charcoal, but because he was lucky enough to be stuck in a leeward spot on the mountainside, he hadn't been swallowed by the sea of fire yet!

"..."

Jiang You's dead-fish eyes widened, then returned to calmness.

"Did I... did I transmigrate again?"

Under the extreme heat, Jiang You's Brain began to run wild with abstract thoughts:

"Could this be the Flaming Mountains from Journey to the West?"

"Holy crap, the fire is so intense. Are the Tang Monk and his disciples about to pass by with the White Dragon Horse? Should I go borrow a Banana Leaf Fan?"

Just as Jiang You was clutching his black and gold team uniform on his shoulder, wearing his spongebob pajamas, and facing the sea of fire while caught in extreme confusion and self-doubt about "Who am I, where am I, should I ask Sun Wukong for an autograph,"

In mid-air, the official broadcast camera happened to lock onto him tightly!

At this moment, the misunderstanding was complete!

His eyes, which appeared extremely dull and calm from just waking up,

fell into the eyes of everyone outside, instantly sublimated into the demeanor of a supreme emperor who "does not change his expression even when Mount Tai collapses before him" and "views the catastrophes of heaven and earth as his own backyard"!

And on that mountainside surrounded by the sea of fire,

as a hot wind mixed with an extremely pungent sulfur smell blew by, Jiang You's Brain, which had been dazed by the high temperature, finally finished rebooting with great difficulty, like an old tractor.

"Wait..."

Jiang You rubbed his eyes, which were stinging from the smoke, and looked down at the familiar terrain beneath his feet.

"This isn't the Flaming Mountains! This is still that Forbidden Zone No. 009!"

The moment he recognized reality, Jiang You was stunned!

He widened his dead-fish eyes, looking at the magma sea at the foot of the mountain that was distorting even the space, and the terrifying crimson vortex in the sky. A sense of extremely righteous and abstract anger rushed straight to his head like a volcanic eruption!

"Holy crap! The competition organizers are too unscrupulous!!!"

Jiang You cursed angrily and lifted his foot with great heartache, looking at his ten-yuan knockoff sneakers that were starting to deform and fray from the high heat.

"This is simply abusing students! Disregarding human life!"

Jiang You pointed at the sea of fire in the sky, furiously accusing them in his heart:

"We are the flowers of the motherland! We are here to participate in inter-university exchanges! You're dropping nukes directly into the competition field? Is this kind of fire something carbon-based lifeforms can withstand?"

"This is too much! You simply don't care about the safety of us students!"

The more Jiang You thought about it, the angrier he became, and an urge to "defend his rights" burned fiercely in his salted-fish heart.

"No! I can't stay in this shitty competition for even one more second!"

"When I get out, I will definitely find the best lawyer in Daxia and sue this bunch of conscience-less Organizing Committee members! Not only will I sue them for attempted murder, but I will also make them fully compensate me for my emotional distress, lost wages, and the depreciation of my limited-edition sneakers!!!"

Carrying this extremely righteous, extremely abstract, and justified anger,

Jiang You did not hesitate at all. He decisively took out the crystal-clear [death-immunity jade tablet] from the pocket of his spongebob pajamas.

Without any nostalgia, without any hesitation.

"Snap!" Jiang You crushed the jade tablet into pieces!

"Hum—!" A dazzling white teleportation light instantly lit up, completely enveloping his slender figure, wearing spongebob pajamas and the black and gold team uniform draped over his shoulders, as he calmly disappeared from the cliff above this apocalyptic sea of fire.

...And this scene!

Falling onto the big screen at the National Martial Arts Competition Center, and into the eyes of all the top geniuses looking up at him,

it triggered an unprecedented ultimate tsunami, comparable to an 18-magnitude earthquake!

"Holy crap!!! Look! He crushed the jade tablet!!!"

"He wasn't under any threat to his life at all; he withdrew voluntarily!"

Helan Que held his head with both hands, his eyes filled with extreme terror and awe, and roared hoarsely:

"Terrifying! Too terrifying!!!"

"He saw that the rain of fire had already cleared the entire map, knowing his victory was sealed, so he didn't bother to stay in these ruins for even a second!"

"He is preparing to crown himself the winner of the first round!!!"

Zhao Zhenlei also gasped, his rugged face covered in cold sweat:

"He didn't make a single move the entire match! He just hid in the shadows, letting his two rookie teammates disrupt our vision!"

"Then he set up an extremely exquisite chain of schemes, provoking Qin Zhuo into a rage to use her ultimate move, and finally, he arranged for his Tier 5 battle pet to replicate the skill, directly burning the entire map!"

"He even calculated that Ji Daixu would soften his heart and use his ultimate move to save people, thereby forcing all of us contestants out of the secret realm!"

"And he himself found a prime spot early on, looking down at the sea of fire, admiring his own peerless masterpiece!!!"

Qin Zhuo bit her pale lips, her eyes full of defeat and deep dread:

"This Jiang You, his schemes are simply peerless! Such terrifying cunning and methods..."

"This kid is terrifyingly formidable!!!"