You Fucking Toying With Me?

On the other end of the communicator, an aged voice, tinged with extreme astonishment and a hint of mockery, said, "Gu Ci? You're such a silent rock, you actually contacted me today? Tell me, who's the fool who offended you and needs me to remove you from the Federation?"

The energy contained in the sound caused a barely perceptible ripple in the air.

Gu Ci ignored the other person's joke. He stood in Alloy Gate of the A-Level Gravity Training Room, his figure stretched long by the cold light. His voice was calm and direct.

"I need a spot."

"Quotas?" The old man paused, seemingly thinking quickly, then realized, "Blue Star Training Camp? Madman Gu, you must be joking. This year's list was submitted last month. The interests of the Military Department, the Government Office, and those major financial groups are all entangled in it. Nobody can touch it now."

Gu Ci's answer was simple and domineering, as if stating a fact that had already been written.

"My student is going."

There was a long, dead silence on the other end of the phone.

It was as if even the signals from quantum communication froze in the face of these four seemingly unreasonable words.

Immediately afterwards, the old man's aged voice rose sharply, filled with unbelievable ecstasy and trembling.

"You... you've taken on an apprentice??"

"Good! Good! Good!"

The old man said "good" three times in a row, his excitement barely concealed, even carrying a hint of relief and joy.

"Anyone your Madman Gu can afford to take a liking to must be a prodigy among prodigies! I don't care! Even if it means tearing those guys apart, I'll get you this spot! Tell me, what's his name? I'll have my men..."

The old man was very excited. He knew Gu Ci's character very well. Someone who could make Gu Ci acknowledge him as his student must not be an ordinary Prodigies.

After all, any one of Gu Ci's students... is a top talent in the Federation!

However, Gu Ci's next words caused the old man's overwhelming joy to freeze instantly, as if he had been doused with liquid nitrogen.

He reported for duty a year later.

"... What?"

The old man thought he had misheard.

"One year later," Gu Ci repeated, his tone unchanged.

"Gu! Ci!"

A furious roar erupted from the communicator, almost piercing eardrums.

"Are you fucking messing with me?! I'm reporting for duty a year from now, why are you asking me for this year's spot? Why don't we just wait for next year's election? Do you know how much I had to pay for this spot! How many favors I owe?!"

Facing the overwhelming rage on the other end, Gu Ci's lips curled up slightly, but his tone remained calm.

"That's your problem. Reserve this spot for me for a year. If you can't do it, don't contact me again."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Ci ended the call without giving the other party any chance to respond.

"Beep..."

A busy signal sounded.

He put away the jet-black communicator, slowly raised his eyes, and looked at the heavy, cold Alloy Gate of the A-Level Gravity Training Room, his gaze deep.

Behind the door were his students.

It was his Gu Ci to gamble with his entire future.

Inside the training room.

The triple gravitational field operated silently, making the air as viscous as mercury.

Chen Fan sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation room, with the warm, smooth jade box floating in front of him.

He took a deep breath and opened the jade box.

A lotus flower, its entire body a fiery red, seemingly sculpted from the purest magma, lay quietly within. The extremely pure fire-elemental energy caused the surrounding temperature to rise by tens of degrees out of thin air.

Crimson Flame Earthheart Lotus.

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Fan picked up the priceless rare treasure and swallowed it whole.

Boom!!

It was as if it had swallowed a miniature Star!

A terrifying heatwave, powerful enough to incinerate everything and melt steel, exploded outwards from his abdomen!

The scorching energy, like volcanic lava bursting its banks, instantly overwhelmed all order within his body, surging wildly into his limbs, into every meridian, and into every cell!

Chen Fan's body turned bright red in an instant, and wisps of white steam even rose from his skin, like a boiler about to be burned through.

"Snort!"

He groaned, enduring the excruciating pain, and without the slightest panic, immediately activated the "Star-Transferring Blood Art".

As the cultivation technique circulated, the cold and domineering Star Power was originally as easy to control as his own limbs was completely ignited by this external, violent energy!

If the power of the Crimson Flame Earthheart Lotus is the scorching heat that burns everything...

Therefore, the Star Power is the Nine Netherworlds Ice that freezes all things!

Ice and fire, two completely opposite extreme forces, collided fiercely within Chen Fan's body, in this narrow "battlefield"!

There was no buffer, no fusion, only the most primitive and savage mutual annihilation and collision!

"Sizzle"

The eerie sound didn't come from the outside, but from inside Chen Fan's body.

That was the sound of his Qi and Blood being instantly evaporated and then instantly frozen.

It was the sound of his meridians being scorched by raging fire and torn apart by freezing ice.

Chen Fan's thin body tensed instantly, and the veins bulged like small snakes under his skin.

A bizarre and utterly bizarre scene unfolded.

His body was split in two by an invisible line. The left half of his body was as red as a branding iron, with scorching steam rising continuously; the right half of his body, however, was covered with a layer of icy blue frost, exuding a chilling aura.

Half of it is a fiery hell, and the other half is a frozen wasteland.

"Ugh..."

Even with Chen Fan's iron will, he couldn't help but let out a suppressed roar of pain at this moment.

This is no longer just simple pain.

This is a form of torture in which the Life Origin is repeatedly torn apart, crushed, and then reassembled.

His consciousness fluctuated between clarity and confusion under the onslaught of violent energy.

He could clearly see that his incredibly resilient meridians were beginning to develop fine cracks under the combined attack of ice and fire.

Golden Qi and Blood surged and struggled within, but was nearly crushed by two more domineering forces.

Give up?

If we stop our cultivation now and let Teacher Gu Ci intervene, we might still be able to save our lives.

The thought only flashed through his mind for a moment before he ruthlessly extinguished it!

"Not enough!"

Chen Fan gritted his teeth, shattering them, and blood trickled down his chin, only to be instantly evaporated by the intense heat.

His eyes, amidst extreme pain, instead burst forth with an almost insane stubbornness and obstinacy.

My parents are still fighting on the front lines!

Teacher Gu Ci paved the way for him!

He chose this path himself!

"Get moving!!"

He let out a roar from the depths of his soul. Instead of slowing down the operation of his technique, he frantically urged the Star Power within his body in a self-destructive manner, actively meeting the violent fire-attribute energy!

What he wants is not balance!

What he wanted was to extract a sliver of hope for a stronger future from this extreme destruction!

Boom!!

The collision of the two forces reached an unprecedented peak.

Chen Fan's body, like a balloon inflated to its limit, began to blur and intertwine the boundary between crimson and ice blue on his skin, and terrifying streaks of blood bloomed on his skin.

The excruciating pain, like a tidal wave bursting its banks, instantly overwhelmed all his senses, as if it were about to tear his soul apart and annihilate it completely.

Consciousness, at this moment, plunged into boundless darkness.