Chapter 2

“Ni Shushu, you should go now. I can’t hold on much longer.”

Gong Jiaxin’s face was smeared with the blood of the demonic creatures. Her eyes welled with tears, and her voice trembled with sorrow. There was a trace of reluctance in her gaze as she looked at Ni Shushu.

“What nonsense are you saying? We saw the distress signal—someone’s bound to come.”

Ni Shushu fiercely wiped the tears from her face and hurled a talisman into the center of the demonic swarm, filled with endless regret.

【They finally made it. Ni Shushu is about to collapse.】

【It’s such a shame the others…】

【Ni Shushu is just a formation master—her role is to give buffs. Isn’t this like sending a support onto the front lines?】

【It’s all because those other contestants earlier woke several demon lairs. Otherwise, how could so many people have died?】

【Some didn’t even have time to forfeit before they were…】

When Su Lanjin and her two companions arrived at the heart of the explosion, this was the scene they saw:

Piles of corpses. Battle uniforms of various colors stacked like hills. Crimson blood flowing everywhere. The demonic creatures howled hoarsely.

Yet at the very front, two figures were still stubbornly holding their ground.

Su Lanjin immediately threw her spiritual energy sword toward the explosion’s center. Spiritual energy flowed through her hands, and golden runes lit up once more.

The sword, like a wild horse freed from its reins, circled around the demons, instantly severing the channels of demonic energy.

In a flash, the dark energy links were cut off. The demons, jarred by the disruption, turned their heads toward the one responsible.

Instantly, the demonic creature split into several clones and charged in her direction.

Su Lanjin gave a mocking smile, pressed her palms together, and spiritual energy surged out of her body. Infused with sealing power, it followed the path of her sword, sealing each and every demon ahead.

As the charging demons were pierced by the spiritual energy sword, their expressions remained ferocious—clearly, they never expected someone could actually destroy them.

And Su Lanjin took them down one by one with ease, effortlessly wiping out the swarm.

The tide of the battle immediately turned. Gong Jiaxin and Ni Shushu were finally able to catch their breath.

【Waaah! I’m calling this the most dazzling spellwork of the entire Federation Selection Tournament! It’s an absolute feast for the eyes—so beautiful!】

【Thank you, Su Lanjin, for coming to the rescue. My poor, worried friend finally survived.】

【Su Lanjin! Su Lanjin! Su Lanjin!】

The name “Su Lanjin” flooded the screen, along with cheers and praise worthy of a hero—for single-handedly pulling contestants out of life-threatening situations time and again.

The crowd rose to their feet in excitement, their earlier sorrow over the fallen contestants swept away.

“Rescue has arrived!”

Seeing that Gong Jiaxin had collapsed from exhaustion, Ni Shushu immediately rushed over and stuck a talisman on her. Then she shouted loudly, “Gong Jiaxin! Gong Jiaxin! Wake up! Don’t sleep, rescue is here!”

After saying that, Ni Shushu turned around excitedly—only to freeze in disbelief when she saw that there were only three people.

“Just… just the three of you?”

As Su Lanjin approached, she heard the girl stammering, but there was no time for talk. She immediately pulled the two behind her and stood guard. At that moment, her spiritual energy sword returned to her.

Su Lanjin glanced back at Jian Xiangxue. After a brief exchange of looks, she charged toward the demonic creatures with the sword in hand.

Jian Xiangxue crouched down, pulled a first aid kit from her pocket, and began treating Gong Jiaxin.

As she watched Gong Jiaxin’s complexion grow rosy again, Ni Shushu finally let out a sigh of relief. Still confused, she asked,

“Just the three of you? At least two demon lairs exploded here. The contestants didn’t even have time to forfeit—they were wiped out. We could barely…”

Boom!

A sudden noise drew everyone’s attention. Instinctively, they looked up—spiritual energy surged wildly through the air.

At the front stood Su Lanjin, spiritual energy swirling around her. Her sword, like it was unstoppable, shot straight into the cluster of demonic creatures.

Pchhk.

Rip.

The sound of the sword piercing through the demons echoed one after another. Soon, demonic energy roiled, bodies were torn apart, and the number of enemies dropped rapidly—visibly.

“This…”

Ni Shushu stood frozen, shock flashing in her eyes. She held back the questions that almost spilled out of her mouth and instead looked at Su Lanjin, who was still slaughtering demons on the battlefield, her eyes glittering.

The wind howled as spiritual and demonic energies clashed, causing the surrounding mountains to be blown apart. Objects buried deep in the pits were revealed—

Bodies, severed limbs, scoring devices.

“They’re… all dead?”

Song Juncai muttered, feeling the cruelty of the selection tournament for the first time.

“There are too many demons—they keep coming. We have to leave now.”

Supporting the now-awake Gong Jiaxin, Ni Shushu threw down a formation while gritting her teeth. “Just the few of us can’t handle this. We need to retreat first.”

“Wait—there are still a few unconscious contestants here!”

Song Juncai shouted.

Because of the earlier explosion, several unconscious contestants had been blown out of the piles of rubble. Seeing that they were still breathing, he charged through the horde using talismans he’d bought at a high price, carving a bloody path.

After he brought everyone to a safe place, he finally sat down.

【Song Juncai’s physical constitution is Grade A—otherwise, there’s no way he could have carried all the contestants back in one go.】

【We have to leave quickly. The number of demonic creatures is still increasing.】

【Exactly. We need to get out of here fast. Even if they have the stamina, they don’t have enough spiritual energy to keep fighting.】

“We can’t hold on anymore. Have the person up front come back—she’s almost out of spiritual power,”

The now-awake Gong Jiaxin had already joined the fight, but after a short while, she wiped her sweat and, panting, looked at Su Lanjin not far away who was still cutting through demons with her sword, utterly confused.

Wait a minute—she’s been using her spiritual energy for this long and still hasn’t run out? Even her energy is still at the same level as when she first arrived?

Gong Jiaxin was starting to question her entire worldview.

She knew that combat-type cultivators had abundant spiritual energy, but she didn’t expect it to be this abundant.

Su Lanjin continued to dispatch the demonic creatures in an orderly manner. As more and more monsters appeared before her, the only thing in her eyes was pure fighting spirit.

Jian Xiangxue also picked up her broadsword, like an emotionless machine, constantly trapping, suppressing, and repeating the process over and over.

Seeing all this, Gong Jiaxin couldn’t help twitching the corners of her mouth, but she didn’t stop moving either—doing her best to suppress the demons.

“Let’s have them withdraw from the competition. Then we can go help,” Gong Jiaxin said calmly.

“Withdraw?”

Song Juncai looked up in shock. Looking at the unconscious contestants still lying on the ground, he hesitated. “But… shouldn’t they have the right to wake up and then…”

Click.

Ni Shushu squatted down, pulled open a few of the unconscious contestants’ sleeves, and pressed the withdrawal button next to their scoring devices.

In an instant, several teachers appeared and carried the contestants away. But before they left, they gave a subtle look at Su Lanjin, who was still fighting up ahead.

“If it weren’t for us, they would’ve been torn apart by the demons already. As far as I’m concerned, they’re already out.”

Ni Shushu stood up and looked down at the confused Song Juncai.

“This is a selection tournament, not child’s play. You want to let them wake up only to face death again? Or have the rest of us protect them?”

“Look at the still-warm corpses and the mangled limbs of other contestants. Then look at the one still charging forward for us. Are you really planning to dump all the monsters on her alone?”

“We may be companions, but in this tournament, we’re also competitors.”

Gong Jiaxin gave Song Juncai a glance and shook her head helplessly.

They were human, not gods. Humans get tired and run out of strength. Without saying another word, she pulled out a speed talisman and rushed toward the battlefield.

Jian Xiangxue continued to swing her broadsword, venting her fury. Su Lanjin silently slashed down demons with her sword.

For a moment, the two of them worked together with perfect coordination.

The entire battlefield was filled with nothing but fighting—fighting, and more fighting.

Maybe it was their unwavering fearlessness in the face of death, or perhaps it was Su Lanjin’s endless and ever-changing methods of destroying the demonic creatures.

As the last demon was vanquished, the battlefield finally began to quiet down.

The group looked around at the devastation and felt a deep discomfort in their hearts.

After resting for a bit, they began to clean up the battlefield.

Su Lanjin watched as they gathered the mangled bodies of contestants—some with severed limbs—into one pile for cremation. As they bowed their heads, hands clasped tightly in front of their chests, she watched silently.

【Alright, enough chatting. Everyone observe a moment of silence.】

【Damn it! When I’m of age, I swear I’ll wipe out every last demon!】

【Although some of them deserved it—if they hadn’t caused the demonic lair to erupt, we wouldn’t have had so many casualties—but they still paid with their lives.】

【Every year there’s always a few who stir up trouble in the selection trials. What, not enough people die to satisfy them?】

【Shut up and pay your respects properly!】

Some cursed those troublemakers whose actions got everyone dragged into the lair. Others sincerely mourned the fallen contestants. But most simply kept their grief bottled up.

After a while, once the bodies had been completely burned, the group slowly left the area.

—

—

“This is where I rest temporarily. It’s safe—I’ve set up formations all around. They’ll hold for about a day.”

After bringing the group to her hideout, Ni Shushu introduced them to Su Lanjin. “I’m Ni Shushu, and this is my good friend, Gong Jiaxin.”

“Su Lanjin,” she replied, scanning the formations around the area while responding.

Gong Jiaxin muttered Su Lanjin’s name to herself, then walked up to her and asked, “Su Lanjin, what kind of spell did you just use? Did you store the demons somewhere?”

She paused, her eyes flickering with doubt, then added, “Or… did you kill them?”

Back on the battlefield, she had watched Su Lanjin slash through the demons with her sword—so cleanly that each one vanished after a single strike. They weren’t trapped or sealed—they were split in half and then disappeared.

Could the rule that “demons can only be contained, not destroyed” be about to change?

“Store them?” Su Lanjin looked a little puzzled. “I just killed them directly.”

“What? You actually killed them?”

Gong Jiaxin grabbed Su Lanjin’s wrist excitedly, her eyes lighting up. “You really killed them? Like, they’re dead-dead? Totally gone?”

“Yes.”

Su Lanjin nodded slightly, as if she had guessed something, her brows furrowing tightly.

Recalling the previous battlefield, neither Jian Xiangxue, nor Gong Jiaxin, nor Ni Shushu had truly killed the demons, it seemed like they had used other methods.

Could it be what she meant by “storing them“?

“My God, I never thought that after thousands of years, demons could really be killed by us and not just contained! Doesn’t that mean the number of demons will decrease more and more?”

Gong Jiaxin leaped up with excitement, looking at Su Lanjin with admiration, her eyes full of exhilaration.

Su Lanjin raised an eyebrow slightly, her expression indifferent.

【Tch, just because she said so, does that make it true? Should I say I’m the Emperor of the Empire, would you believe that?】

【Haha, just because you’re all fawning over her, it’s just a small spell. She’s talking about “killing” demons, but she’s just fooling you guys who don’t know any better.】

【Seriously, did you forget to wipe your mouths before coming out and spouting nonsense? Just now you were praising Su Lanjin, and now you’re saying she’s lying. What, you’ve said everything you want to say now?】

【What’s wrong? It’s her unique spell technique, and if you can’t do it, that’s your problem.】

The barrage of comments came flooding in, with many troublemakers from the empire eager to stir up chaos.

Others opened the selection competition’s contestant page to search for more information about Su Lanjin.

In the main control room of the selection competition.

“Following your instructions, Su Lanjin’s data has been classified as high rank confidential, but there are still some forces that might…”

The man glanced at the person sitting at the desk before pursing his lips and continuing, “I’ve already received inquiries from major factions within the Federation, even the Marshal’s side…”

“Mm… I understand.”

The man’s long fingers tapped the table, his lips pressed together as he flipped through the documents in his hands, lingering on the section regarding Su Lanjin’s rank for a long, long time…