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One minute earlier, the Silverstar students were still fighting desperately beside the central flower bed.

The flowers that had once bloomed in riotous color had been trampled beyond recognition by students from both academies. Multicolored petals lay scattered across the soil-free silicone mud, dyed scarlet by blood before being immediately washed clean by the torrential rain pouring from the sky, gathering into shallow pools.

At that final, desperate moment, no one was paying attention to the numbers on the scoreboard anymore.

In the eyes, hearts, and chests of every Silverstar student, one belief alone leaped and blazed:

They had to buy Yuan Hanshuang, who had ventured deep into enemy territory, as much time as possible!

Whenever one person fell, another immediately stepped forward to take their place. Row after row collapsed, yet another row struggled to their feet. There was always someone standing at the very front.

“Are these Silverstar freshmen insane? Their elimination count is already over four hundred and ninety, yet they’re still struggling.”

The military academy students did not understand. They were utterly shaken.

Ever since the frenzied Xuan Yuan Sheng had charged into the heart of the Imperial Academy formation and begun attacking without distinguishing friend from foe, all of Silverstar seemed to have gone mad. One after another, they launched savage human-bomb attacks.

Although their strength lagged behind that of the military academy students, they still made the latter suffer miserably.

“Stop getting distracted. There are only a few left. Let’s finish them in one push and go home.”

The deputy commander glanced contemptuously at the Silverstar students.

“No wonder the Imperial grandson couldn’t even get into the Imperial Academy and was exiled to Silverstar. Even their commander-in-chief was the first to withdraw. Silverstar is nothing special after all.”

“Exactly. They only managed to gain a little advantage by relying on that despicable guerrilla warfare at the beginning. No wonder they’re a third-rate academy that’s spent years languishing near the bottom of the rankings. All they know is how to use cheap tricks.”

“Victory shall belong to us! It is our unquestionable duty to uphold the glory of the Empire!”

The next second, a sudden broadcast from the sky brought everyone to a halt.

“The badge has been seized. The academy competition is over.”

“—The victor is Silverstar Academy.”

Unlike the military academy students, who stood rigid and disbelieving, the people from Silverstar stared at one another.

Their faces, plastered with rain and mud, were blank with stunned incomprehension. For a moment, none of them seemed capable of reacting.

Then, in the space of a heartbeat, that dazed emptiness transformed into delirious joy.

“I-I didn’t hear wrong, did I? We won?”

“Hit me! Come on, hit me—ow! Damn, this isn’t a dream!”

“We really won! Aaaaaah, we really won! Silverstar won! Yuan really got the badge! Long live Silverstar!”

In an instant, the flower bed became an ocean of Silverstar cheers.

After the announcement descended from the sky, the weather-protection system covering the central campus came back online. Pale blue barriers took shape overhead, linking together from end to end and keeping the howling wind and torrential rain outside.

At the same time, the medical teams from both academies and the Third Legion rushed into action. Healing manifestations descended one after another, pale green halos circling the injured as the hideous wounds inflicted during the battle slowly regenerated.

Students whose injuries were too severe had their protective rings removed and were transferred onto light stretchers. Wu Haoxuan, for instance, had wounds on his back so deep that his bones were visible. He had passed out from blood loss and was sent directly to the academy’s intensive-care unit.

Then there was the maddened Xuan Yuan Sheng. Although restrained by a protective barrier, his eyes remained blood-red. No one doubted that if the restraints were removed, he would immediately lunge out and tear into anyone in his path, friend or foe alike.

The personnel assigned to deal with Xuan Yuan Sheng had been specially summoned from the imperial household. They expertly activated their defensive abilities, then, while he struggled with all his might, drove a needle as thick as a bull’s horn into his vein and injected a powerful sedative. Only then were they able to carry him away.

Every Silverstar student who could still move wore a wildly triumphant grin.

Once the restrictions around the central area were lifted, large numbers of senior Silverstar students who had been waiting outside for the competition to end rushed in. Whistling, they joined hands and began dancing a tap routine around the flower bed.

“You freshmen did great! You’ve made Silverstar proud!”

“Come on, come on, let your seniors treat those wounds. How is it? Can you move now?”

“Champions of the freshman competition! The whole academy celebrates! This is history-book material! Oh, isn’t that an Imperial Academy student? Goodness, how did you get so weak? You haven’t inherited even a shred of the spirit your seniors had back then!”

Compared with the military academy students’ livid expressions, the people of Silverstar had always been lawless and exceptionally skilled at adding fuel to the fire.

And with no teachers around to restrain them, they were being utterly brazen and outrageous.

“Exactly. Didn’t I hear someone say earlier that they were going to carry on the glory of the Imperial Academy?”

“Hahahaha! At this rate, I think your generation of Imperial Academy students is going to extinguish the glory of the Empire!”

“You!”

The deputy commander’s face flushed red, his neck swelling with anger, but there was nothing he could do.

After all, his academy had lost. That was how it worked after losing: you had no say.

The Silverstar forum itself was overwhelmed, collapsing beneath the flood of posts.

[The first time in a century! Is this generation of Silverstar students the hope of the future?]

[We won! The freshman competition belongs to Silverstar!]

[Silverstar freshmen return in triumph! All students, put down whatever you are doing and go welcome our heroes!]

[What the hell? I didn’t even follow the freshman competition, and we actually stole the championship from the Imperial Academy. This year’s freshmen are something else!]

At the instant the announcement was broadcast, the central command room also fell silent.

Because the live feed on the fifth floor had cut out, the eyes of every instructor and teacher were still fixed on the scoreboard displaying 499:251.

Gu Nong was even more convinced that victory was in hand. He had already risen from his seat, a smile of absolute certainty curling his lips.

Yet the moment the broadcast was restored, Silverstar’s victory overturned everything.

As they watched the black-haired girl holding the badge from behind, everyone in the command room suddenly understood.

The rules of the competition had always been simple: seize the badge, or eliminate five hundred members of the opposing side ahead of time. Nowhere did they say that victory required defeating the opposing commander-in-chief!

“I never expected Silverstar’s underestimated assault team to successfully seize the Imperial Academy’s badge, ending the match in a way none of us could have anticipated.”

Feng Yuanming was the first to rise and applaud.

“I thought Bian Yu had guarded the badge securely. I never imagined a freshman would actually manage to pluck it from his hands. It was certainly a remarkably精彩 match.”

Page 2 of 3

“It’s a shame the live-feed camera malfunctioned. Otherwise, the result wouldn’t have surprised us so much.”

After being lavishly praised by the Imperial Academy’s honorary president, Zuo Zitao felt refreshed from head to toe. He rose with a smile.

“Not at all, not at all. Who would have thought Silverstar would be the one to claim victory in the end?”

“The freshmen from both academies show great promise this year. Hahaha, great promise indeed!”

As applause filled the room, Gu Nong’s smile vanished at once. He slammed his fist onto the table, his face dark.

Back in the tiered classroom, after delivering her stylish final declaration, Yuan Hanshuang ignored the military academy students, whose expressions were a tangled mess of shock, disbelief, humiliation, and conflicting emotions. She turned and walked away.

After leaving the classroom with her back straight, she did not hurry downstairs. Instead, she turned and made her way to the rooftop.

Bang—

The cold wind slammed the iron door shut.

The instant the rooftop door closed, Yuan Hanshuang broke into a cold sweat and slid down the freezing metal until she was sitting on the ground.

Her last-second theft of the badge had appeared effortless, clean, and decisive. Only she knew how difficult it had truly been. At her current cultivation level—early fourth rank—she still could not fully unleash the essence of the technique known as Scattering Flowers from Heaven. Each use required her to burn through nearly ten thousand starcoins’ worth of high-grade cores before she could barely force out an explosive surge of power.

“Still, every cloud has a silver lining. I should be able to break through to the intermediate level in another couple of days.”

The pressure of fighting a high-level opponent was painful, but for a gifted person, enduring and overcoming that pressure could actually be beneficial.

Even so, she was undeniably in a sorry state.

At that moment, Yuan Hanshuang’s arms hung limply at her sides. From overexertion, she could barely feel them anymore.

Along with the ferocious assault of Scattering Flowers from Heaven, she had clearly heard the sound of bones cracking with every punch she threw.

“Fortunately, the interstellar medical system and healing manifestations are so advanced. Otherwise, how could anyone survive the way I abuse my body?”

Although she was battered, Yuan Hanshuang shook her head with a smile. The joy of victory still lingered in her eyes.

After resting for a while, she gathered her strength and felt around for the button to her spatial compartment, intending to retrieve something to treat her injuries.

Fortunately, having spent years fighting in the black markets, she always carried emergency medicine for situations exactly like this.

But after Yuan Hanshuang had struggled to retrieve a spray and bitten open the cap, her ears suddenly twitched. She turned sharply.

“Who’s there?”

A rustling sound came from somewhere below the empty rooftop.

The weather-protection system had sealed off the sky. All she could see in the distance were hazy flashes of lightning, dark clouds, and the unending rain. Just as she was about to straighten up and look around, she suddenly realized that white feathers were drifting down all around her.

It was as though the whole world had begun to snow.

Yet this snow fell with uncanny precision onto her head.

The feathers were illusory, fluttering down like willow fluff. Along with them came swirling golden motes of sacred light, one after another brushing against her face.

In an instant, a warm, soothing heat enveloped her body, as though she had been immersed in water of exactly the right temperature.

Yuan Hanshuang could clearly feel the tiny tingling sensation as the dislocated and shattered bones in her fingers slowly knit themselves back together. Even the exhaustion that had left her swaying on the verge of collapse vanished beneath that comforting healing.

If not for the cold sweat still clinging to her back and the red marks around her wrists, Yuan Hanshuang might have suspected that she had gone to a spa with Xia Mengrou instead of engaging in a spectacular and vicious challenge against the Imperial Army Academy’s close-combat commander while fighting above her rank.

“What an incredible healing ability.”

Only the possessor of a mythic manifestation could make that manifestation use its abilities after summoning it.

Combined with those unmistakable characteristics and such terrifying healing power, the identity of the visitor was obvious.

Now that she had regained her strength, Yuan Hanshuang slowly rose to her feet.

Just as expected, a four-winged seraph floated beyond the rooftop, its entire body glowing with holy light.

Its features were indistinct, but its image was pure and noble, its bearing solemn. Long silver hair hung down its back, while a hazy, dreamlike halo surrounded it. It embodied every beautiful image people associated with angels.

“Thank you.”

Whatever the circumstances, Yuan Hanshuang still politely thanked it.

In truth, she felt somewhat awkward inside.

Yuan Hanshuang usually displayed her battered side only when she was alone, like a small beast accustomed to licking its wounds within its own territory and refusing to show vulnerability before anyone.

She did not even like showing that side to her fellow Silverstar students, much less to someone from an enemy academy.

But regardless of the circumstances, gratitude was still necessary.

The seraph’s healing ability was practically capable of bringing the dead back to life. It could steal the livelihood of every doctor in the interstellar realm. Compared with a portable emergency spray, it was the difference between heaven and earth—utterly incomparable.

Yuan Hanshuang had originally expected to spend two days recuperating in her dormitory. After a single ability from this being, she was already vigorous and full of life again. It was truly terrifying.

The seraph tilted its head slightly at her thanks.

Unable to speak, it raised a hand and silently pointed at its closed eyes before shaking its head. In the next instant, it transformed into countless pale golden strands of mental power and dispersed into the air.

Only Yuan Hanshuang remained alone on the rooftop, utterly perplexed.

“What did it mean?”

She opened the door and began walking downstairs, pondering as she went.

Then, recalling the widely known aftereffects of the Radiant Saint’s awakened mythic manifestation, she suddenly understood.

“Wait. Did the seraph mean that because it can’t see, I shouldn’t feel embarrassed?”

The more she thought about it, the more convinced Yuan Hanshuang became that this was exactly what the seraph had intended to convey.

“I’ve heard that mythic manifestations are highly intelligent, but this one can not only read people’s expressions and moods—it even has emotional intelligence. That’s absurdly overpowered.”

She was deeply shaken.

“Why is my little black bird still so stupid and vacant? All it knows how to do is eat.”

Then she remembered Xuan Yuan Sheng’s concise assessment of the Radiant Saint on that earlier occasion: “He’s a good person.”

Yuan Hanshuang, who had previously refused to believe it, found herself wavering.

If the Radiant Saint were not a virtuous gentleman of noble character, the Imperial commander would never have gone to such lengths to dispatch the seraph Gabriel to heal her.

After all, as the leader of an opposing military academy, the proper thing to do would have been to expose her when he realized she was already at the end of her strength, preserving his own academy’s dignity.

Page 3 of 3

Still startled by the thought, Yuan Hanshuang glanced casually into the tiered classroom as she passed it.

The room was already empty.

Clearly, after their collective defeat, the military academy students had gathered their things and left.

The tiered classroom, once fitted with orderly seats and advanced, fully equipped facilities, had been reduced to a wreckage of broken wood. Several enormous spiderweb cracks spread across the walls where they had been struck.

After admiring the results of her battle for a while, Yuan Hanshuang turned to leave. Then the corner of her eye caught a faintly gleaming object wedged between two seats.

Puzzled, she walked over and bent to pick it up.

It was an Imperial Academy student identification card bearing the name Bian Yu. It had probably been dropped accidentally during the recent chaos of battle. Its owner, likely in a foul mood when he left, had not bothered to check carefully.

They said that after wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search, one might find what one wanted without the slightest effort.

Yuan Hanshuang’s heart leapt with delight. She quickly picked up the card and put it away.

She had no idea that the scene had been witnessed by Feng Bai in another monitoring room.

Elsewhere, Bian Yu stood at attention with both hands pressed tightly against the seams of his trousers.

So did every other Imperial Academy freshman.

Inside the spacious Imperial ceremonial hall, Gu Nong’s voice was harsh and furious.

The poor Imperial Academy freshmen had just endured a battle that had turned from overwhelming advantage to sudden defeat in a storm of violence. They had lost their military-training credits, their emotions had risen and fallen wildly, and they were already disheartened.

Now, as soon as the competition ended, every student who could still move and had not been carried unconscious into the infirmary was dragged here to be disciplined.

“Wonderful. Just wonderful. You really gave me a tremendous surprise today.”

“What was that? Silverstar Academy! An academy that spends every year wandering around the bottom of the rankings, universally recognized as a sightseeing group. Even their entrance-examination scores average more than a hundred points below those of every one of you sitting here.”

The barrage of scolding crashed down over them, and the military academy freshmen wished they could find a crack in the floor and crawl into it.

“The territory conquered over a century by the Empire’s First Military Academy, the glory and honor we built—all of it has been ruined by your generation of freshmen!”

The moment Gu Nong recalled Zuo Zitao’s smug face in the central command room, his humiliation flared into fury. What made it worse was that Honorary President Feng Yuanming refused to take responsibility and had even helped an outsider.

“You! Bian Yu! You are the one with the biggest problem!”

Even before his prized student, Gu Nong did not soften his words.

“A dignified peak fourth-rank fighter, defeated by someone in the early fourth rank. Did you feed all the results of your training to the dogs?”

“No.”

Bian Yu stood perfectly straight, his eyes drifting slightly as he could not help answering back.

“That girl’s ancient martial arts really are formidable. Besides, I got carried away fighting. Where would I have found the time to worry about some badge or other?”

“And the commander-in-chief himself said that the freshmen at our academy have been too restless these past two years. Relying on the Imperial Academy’s halo, each one has become more arrogant than the last. Losing this time may actually be a good thing. It will keep us from dragging down the academy in next year’s ranking tournament. Besides, all our true elites are in the upper grades. Next year’s rankings are where we’ll show our real strength. This was merely an insignificant little competition. It doesn’t matter at all!”

“You still dare argue!”

Seeing Bian Yu treat Lou Jia’s words like sacred scripture, Gu Nong grew even more furious. He glared at him with an expression of exasperated disappointment.

Bian Yu had long grown accustomed to his mentor’s foul temper. He obediently kept his mouth shut on the outside, while his mind wandered elsewhere.

Yuan Hanshuang, was it?

She had been right. The best way to make someone remember a name was to do something memorable.

At least now, Bian Yu thought, there was no chance he would forget that name anytime soon. For quite some time, no battle would be able to compare with the one they had just fought.

He recalled the sight he had seen in the classroom: those red eyes, brilliant and fierce as a blazing sun, and the many declarations that were outrageously arrogant yet somehow impossible to resent.

Unable to stop himself, Bian Yu lowered his head and lightly pressed a fist against the corner of his lips, which had unconsciously curved upward. His eyes shone with eager battle intent.

It was rare to meet a close-combat fighter so perfectly suited to his tastes.

If he got the chance, he truly wanted to fight her again.

Elsewhere, in the central infirmary, the silver-haired saint was helping treat the injured students from both academies free of charge. He slowly raised his eyes, as though sensing something.

“Your healing is truly astonishing, Your Highness.”

As one critically injured patient after another returned to full strength beneath the saint’s holy light, the doctors marveled one after the other.

They looked at Lou Jia as though he were a walking miracle, their eyes filled with reverence and worship.

Lou Jia answered politely, “It was nothing more than a small favor.”

The illusory form of the seraph gently descended beside him and synchronized the simulated images it had just captured.

There was a universally acknowledged rule concerning manifestations. Some manifestations were simply too powerful. Because their strength exceeded what the manifestation bearer could endure, they left behind lifelong disabilities or pathological changes. The formal term for this was manifestation defect.

Those who awakened mythic manifestations were no exception. While they enjoyed the applause and acclaim reserved for geniuses, the suffering brought by manifestation defects accompanied them for life.

Lou Jia was one such person. Behind the dazzling halo of his S-plus manifestation lay suffering that ordinary people could scarcely imagine.

From the year he awakened his manifestation, his eyes had lost the functions of normal human sight. Even now, he could only roughly determine the location of objects through mental-power simulation.

No matter how lifelike the simulation became, it could never truly compare with the colors preserved in his childhood memories.

That regret had remained in his heart.

Until the recent events in the tiered classroom.

“I’m sorry. The final winner is me.”

The Silverstar freshman had stood there, proudly proclaiming her victory.

“Ah, Gabriel. That is a rising sun.”

After ten years, Lou Jia had once again “seen” color.

That Silverstar freshman, who possessed a mythic manifestation, was like a fierce golden-red sun, blazing brilliantly within his field of perception and announcing a presence unlike any other.