73: Chapter 73 This world is all about background, connections, and public opinion!

On the other end of the phone was a timid, submissive voice.

It was the yellow-haired lackey who usually ran errands for Zhou Tianren.

Zhou Tianren took a deep breath, trying hard to make his voice sound less shaky: "It's me."

"You recorded the live broadcast footage from just now, right?"

The yellow-haired lackey hurriedly replied: "Rec... recorded! Full HD, didn't miss a thing!"

"Very good, send it to me immediately! Now!"

"Yes!"

Less than ten seconds later.

"Ding-dong."

Zhou Tianren's phone vibrated, and a video file was transferred over.

He opened the video; the footage was a clip of that battle in the Echo Gobi.

In the video, Li Murou stood in the center of the Gobi, facing a charge of dozens of people, hands caressing the zither, her expression resolute.

As her fingertips fell, that eerie blue sound wave instantly froze time for everyone present.

Even through the screen, Zhou Tianren could feel that suffocating sense of oppression.

"Hmph..."

Zhou Tianren stared fixedly at Li Murou's face on the screen, the corners of his mouth slowly curling into a chilling, hair-raising sneer:

"Well done..."

"To win the Freshman Challenge Tournament, you actually went so far as to use that kind of evil method..."

His eyes were filled with malicious glee:

"Li Murou, oh Li Murou, you've handed me the knife yourself."

"To think you dared to use a [Sacrifice-type Forbidden Curse] to forcibly alter the rules of time in broad daylight?"

"If I pin this massive black pot on you, even if you win the championship, I'll make you spit it all back out with interest!"

In this world, skills are strange and countless.

But in the orthodox education system and legal regulations, there is a class of skills listed as an absolute taboo, strictly forbidden from being used in schools, cities, and any situation that isn't a matter of life and death.

That is—the [Sacrifice-type Forbidden Curse]!

These types of skills usually originate from some ancient and evil heritage, or contracts signed with Abyss monsters.

They often possess the terrifying power to break conventions and distort reality, and are collectively known as "Forbidden Curse"s.

But in contrast, they have an extremely cruel and inhumane cost for casting.

To activate such a Forbidden Curse, one must sacrifice the blood and souls of living people, or use the caster's own lifespan, vitality, and spirit as fuel.

Although powerful, because the act itself violates the basic moral bottom line of humanity and can easily lead to the caster falling into demonic corruption, they are explicitly banned by major universities and the Alliance.

Of course, in those lawless, chaotic areas Outside the Border, or on life-or-death battlefields facing alien invasions, there are no restrictions; after all, surviving is the only hard truth.

But now, it's at school! At the Freshman Challenge Tournament!

If a Sacrifice-type Forbidden Curse is used in such a setting, the nature of the situation changes completely!

That means expulsion from school, and even being investigated by the Professional Alliance!

The yellow-haired lackey on the other end of the phone seemed to understand Zhou Tianren's intention and said hesitantly:

"Young... Young Master Zhou, is... isn't this a bit too far-fetched?"

"Is such a trumped-up charge really okay?"

Although the yellow-haired lackey wasn't very skilled, he still had basic common sense. He cautiously reminded him:

"To be honest, when I watched that Li Murou cast her skill, she was clean, and I didn't see her sacrifice anything..."

"And the Sacrifice-type Forbidden Curse recorded in textbooks usually involve soaring blood light and howling sinister winds; her skill looks quite... quite aesthetic. The difference is pretty huge!"

"Shut up! What the hell do you know!"

Zhou Tianren directly interrupted the yellow-haired lackey, roaring at the phone, his tone filled with arrogance and tyranny:

"Facts? Truth?"

"Heh..."

Zhou Tianren stood up from the ground, brushed the dust off his body, and a look of extreme arrogance and disdain appeared on his face:

"In this school, who am I?"

"I am Zhou Tianren! My father is Zhou Hanguang!"

"If I say she used a Forbidden Curse, then she used a Forbidden Curse!!"

"If I say she performed a sacrifice, then she performed a sacrifice! Who dares to say otherwise?!"

He pointed at the phone screen, his eyes full of madness:

"A First-Year University Student support, how could she possibly master the laws of time? How could she freeze dozens of people in a group? This in itself is unscientific!"

"The only explanation is that she used a forbidden technique! She overdrawn her life! She might even have sacrificed something unspeakable in secret!"

"This is logic! This is the truth!"

The more Zhou Tianren spoke, the more he felt he was right, and he commanded with a chilling tone:

"Less nonsense! The online trolls you were told to arrange, they're all set, right?"

The yellow-haired lackey shuddered in fear and hurriedly nodded:

"Arranged! Arranged! They are all veterans; as long as the money is there, they'll attack wherever pointed!"

"Very good."

Zhou Tianren chuckled sinisterly.

He straightened his messy collar, resuming his high-and-mighty young master demeanor:

"Now, immediately, right now!"

"Post this video to the school forum and to all major social platforms for me!"

"I've already thought of the title—Shocking! Black Magic Appears at the Freshman Challenge Tournament: Nirvana Battle Team Publicly Uses Sacrifice-type Forbidden Curse to Win the Championship!"

"Tell the trolls to smear her to death! Control the narrative! Say she used unscrupulous means to win, and might even have been corrupted by the power of the Abyss!"

"I want the entire school's teachers and students to denounce her! I want the spittle of public opinion to drown them!"

Hanging up the phone, Zhou Tianren looked in the direction of the trial grounds in the distance, the resentment in his eyes almost overflowing.

"Chen Xi, Li Murou..."

"Fine, you guys know how to fight, right? You can one-shot bosses, right?"

"What's the use of knowing how to fight?"

Zhou Tianren sneered and turned to walk into the depths of the shadows:

"In this world, it's all about background! About connections! About public opinion!"

"No matter how strong you are, can you be stronger than the public voice? Can you be stronger than the school's rules and regulations?"

"Just wait..."

"When you come out after finishing the dungeon, what will greet you won't be flowers and applause."

"But the condemnation of thousands of people, and the school's expulsion notice!"

...

Echo Gobi.

Chen Xi and the other two turned into streams of light and sped towards the deepest part of the Gobi.

Just shortly after their figures disappeared around the corner, a faint ripple suddenly appeared in the air.

A completely transparent, ghost-like owl silently poked its head out from behind a towering wind-eroded rock.

Its pupil-less eyes flashed with an eerie glimmer, coldly scanning the tragic scene in the canyon.

After confirming that Chen Xi and the others had gone far away, this transparent owl flapped its equally transparent wings and flew towards another hidden direction of the Gobi.