Chapter 33: Flickering Shadows, Floating Light
Fifteen minutes passed quickly.
“Forty minutes remain.”
Song Ling glanced at her identity device and stood up. “Jiang Jian, let’s go.”
Her face was still pale.
“Are you recovered?”
Jiang Jian said softly.
Song Ling nodded: “My spirit has regained some strength—it won’t hinder my talent activation.”
“Then let’s keep going.”
Jiang Jian gripped his wooden sword and stepped first onto the swaying lantern staircase. “The first floor and second floor should have no non-citizens left.”
Du Fang followed behind him and asked: “Jiang Jian, how do you know?”
Jiang Jian smiled: “On the first floor, the strongest thing was that dummy.”
“On the second floor, it was that toy octopus monster.”
“Both are dead.”
“The rest, frightened, naturally fled elsewhere.”
As he spoke,
Jiang Jian climbed two more levels of the lantern staircase.
He stopped at the third-floor landing and looked up.
Around him,
Countless shelves and goods lay overturned.
A scene of utter chaos.
“There’s nothing left on the third floor.”
Jiang Jian spoke gravely: “The shops on both sides were destroyed by powerful blade qi.”
“It must be Shi Xuan’s doing.”
Upon hearing this,
Du Fang clenched his teeth and said: “That Shi Xuan—why didn’t he come to meet us?”
Jiang Jian sneered: “Even though we’re on the same team, everyone has their own evaluation score.”
“Shi Xuan holds the Moon-Seeking Blade—he could cut through them like melons. Why should he help you?”
Du Fang froze.
Jiang Jian shook his head in silence and continued upward toward the fourth floor.
Meanwhile,
After a long silence, the alert tones suddenly began chiming in rapid succession!
“Team Alert: Storekeeper Ghost has been slain.”
“Non-citizen kills: 40.”
“Team Alert: Storekeeper Ghost has been slain.”
“Non-citizen kills: 41.”
…
“Team Alert: Storekeeper Ghost has been slain.”
“Non-citizen kills: 65.”
Hearing the alerts,
Du Fang’s eyes widened in shock. “He killed over twenty storekeeper ghosts at once—is this Shi Xuan’s work?!”
Jiang Jian nodded: “Likely so.”
Song Ling scanned the surroundings and said: “Shi Xuan is clever—he must have used the Moon-Seeking Blade to herd them together.”
“Then used his Divine Gift, Return-to-Origin Storm Qi, to wipe them all out at once.”
“In this way,”
“Shi Xuan’s evaluation score will mostly be attributed to his Divine Gift.”
Listening to Song Ling,
Du Fang couldn’t help but look surprised, turning to her: “Song Ling, when did you get so smart?”
Song Ling rolled her eyes: “Didn’t Jiang Jian say that if Shi Xuan kills them with the ‘Moon-Seeking Blade,’ it barely adds to his evaluation score?”
“Shi Xuan isn’t stupid—he knows more than we do.”
“How could he not think of this?”
Du Fang grumbled: “Fine.”
Fourth floor.
Jiang Jian halted and studied the area carefully.
There were no non-citizens here either.
“Xu Yu went to the sixth floor.”
“The sixth floor has a powerful hanger ghost.”
Jiang Jian continued upward along the spiral lantern staircase.
Just past the fifth-floor landing,
A deafening crash erupted beside Jiang Jian’s ear!
Clang!
Dozens of meters away, Shi Xuan swung the Moon-Seeking Blade hard against a steel shipping container!
Sparks flew everywhere!
Spotting Jiang Jian, Shi Xuan’s face lit up with relief.
“Jiang Jian!”
“Come help me—there’s a stubborn ghost here!”
“It can turn invisible!”
Shi Xuan planted his blade in the floor, gasping for breath.
His clothes were torn to shreds.
His wounds were grotesque, oozing blood, some already crusted over.
Song Ling climbed the staircase, saw this, and immediately activated her soul healing ability.
White light surged forth.
The wounds on Shi Xuan’s body began healing slowly.
“Thank you!”
Shi Xuan exhaled, sitting down on the floor.
Under the white light, his expression remained wary.
“This ghost is powerful—appears and vanishes at will. I can’t even hit it!”
“If you hadn’t come, I’d have already failed the evaluation!”
Jiang Jian frowned slightly, studying the empty fifth floor, saying nothing.
This level was filled with steel shipping containers.
They were piled haphazardly, severely obstructing vision.
Du Fang stepped forward and asked: “When the lights went out, were you taken away by the elevator ghost?”
Shi Xuan shook his head: “I don’t know.”
“One moment my vision went black, the next—”
“I was on the third floor.”
Shi Xuan pointed to the spiral staircase. “I stood on the third floor and heard no sound from any other level.”
“I wasn’t even sure if you were still on the first floor.”
“So I just kept fighting my way up with the Moon-Seeking Blade.”
As he spoke,
Shi Xuan fell silent, his pupils contracting sharply as he stared past Du Fang: “Get out of the way!”
Having been ambushed before, Du Fang reacted swiftly.
He pushed his sword energy to its absolute limit, summoning a shimmering barrier of blades behind him.
Crack!
A grotesque ghostly face suddenly appeared!
It opened its bloody maw and instantly shattered Du Fang’s blade barrier!
The blackened ghost head kept its momentum, swift as lightning.
It slashed across Du Fang’s shoulder!
“It hurts!”
A large chunk of flesh was torn away!
Blood sprayed everywhere!
Du Fang collapsed to his knees, face as white as paper.
Jiang Jian’s gaze flickered with cold light as he said, “Found you!”
“Exterminate the Spirit!”
BOOM!
The Pure Spirit True Flame, long concealed, erupted in blazing heat!
The grotesque ghost head, having struck its ambush, was just reveling in its success, about to vanish again.
It was instantly engulfed by the ferocious crimson sea of fire!
SIZZLE!
The ghost head thrashed wildly, emitting a venomous, piercing shriek.
Thick black smoke billowed from its entire body!
“Damn thing, you’ve tormented me long enough!”
Seeing this, Shi Xuan beamed, snatched up the Moon-Seeking Blade, and leapt into the air!
While the ghost head was exposed by the True Flame’s burn.
The Moon-Seeking Blade slashed through with a sonic crack, cleaving horizontally!
BOOM!
The blade’s aura spiraled and shredded the ghost head into dozens of pieces!
At the same time,
Jiang Jian activated the Pure Spirit True Flame, draining his Qi rapidly.
The crimson flames surged over, gathering the fragments, emitting a grating sizzling sound!
Thick black smoke rolled within the gaps of the display cabinets.
After several seconds,
The black smoke cleared.
The identity device also emitted a notification.
“Team Alert: Model Ghost Head is dead.”
“Number of non-citizens eliminated: 66.”
“Special Alert: Eliminating the Model Ghost Head grants bonus assessment points.”
Hearing the voice,
Shi Xuan’s expression relaxed, finally letting out a breath of relief.
“Jiang Jian, no wonder you’re a Level 3 ‘Art’ user!”
“Without your Pure Spirit True Flame, this thing would’ve slipped away!”
Shi Xuan had noticed long ago.
Since Jiang Jian reached the fifth floor, he hadn’t uttered a word.
Clearly, he’d been secretly activating his talent.
He’d buried the Pure Spirit True Flame around them all.
The moment the ghost head appeared, he’d trigger it instantly to trap it!
Jiang Jian smiled and turned to Du Fang: “Du Fang, you alright?”
Du Fang winced, tore a strip from his clothing, and pressed it to his shoulder. “Jiang Jian, I really have to quit the assessment now.”
Song Ling activated her talent to aid his recovery, her expression troubled: “I’m mentally exhausted—forcing Mind Healing now, I could collapse at any moment.”
The brief rest earlier
Hadn’t restored her fully.
Jiang Jian nodded. “Then you two should end your assessment.”
“With the bonus points from the Model Ghost Head,”
“You should both make it into the First Academy.”
Hearing this,
Song Ling nodded.
Through gritted teeth,
She activated Mind Healing once more, accelerating Jiang Jian’s Qi recovery.
The next instant,
Her face turned deathly pale.
She staggered violently, nearly collapsing.
At that moment,
The proctor descended, catching Song Ling, and said gravely:
“Du Fang, choose to voluntarily end your assessment.”
“You will be removed from the assessment zone and await scoring.”
“Song Ling, choose to voluntarily end your assessment.”
“You will be removed from the assessment zone and await scoring.”
He finished speaking.
He grabbed Du Fang immediately.
One in each hand, he left the shopping mall.
Jiang Jian sensed briefly.
He realized his Qi had dropped to only forty percent.
Shi Xuan stepped forward, holding the Moon-Seeking Blade horizontally, his expression unreadable: “Jiang Jian, I knew you were on the first floor.”
Jiang Jian’s gaze remained calm, unsurprised.
Shi Xuan said: “But I thought clearing two floors alone would earn more assessment points.”
“So I didn’t come down to join you.”
Jiang Jian said: “It’s understandable. No need to explain to me.”
Shi Xuan smiled. “Were you the one who killed the mannequins on the first floor and the octopus on the second?”
His words were phrased as a question,
But his tone carried certainty.
Jiang Jian fell silent for a moment, then said: “What are you getting at?”
Shi Xuan wiped his hands on his clothes, then extended them toward Jiang Jian.
“Let me reintroduce myself.”
“I’m Shi Xuan.”
“Level 3 Talent, Martial, Guiyuan Gangqi.”
“Third son of the Shi family, Lord of Linjiangzhou.”
Looking at his hand,
Jiang Jian paused, then
Reached out and gave it a light shake.
“So you’re from Linjiangzhou. No wonder you know so much.”
Jiang Jian looked at Shi Xuan. “If that’s true, why did you go to Shaoshuizhou and enroll as an outsider?”
Shi Xuan’s face was streaked with blood, his smile twisted. “Of course—I was disliked, exiled there.”
Here,
He seemed unwilling to elaborate.
He lifted his head, gazing at the stairway leading to the sixth floor.
“There’s still a hanger ghost on the sixth floor.”
“Let’s take care of it together.”
“Perfect end to this assessment.”
Shi Xuan held the Moon-Seeking Blade, brimming with confidence.
Jiang Jian murmured: “The hanger ghost isn’t easy to handle.”
Shi Xuan grinned: “I can hold it off for a while.”
Jiang Jian raised an eyebrow: “Xu Yu, with his Strength Like Bear talent, got swatted away by one slap. What makes you think you can stand it?”
(End of Chapter)
End of Chapter
