Light blades swept through the hall in an instant. No matter how powerful his healing ability was, blood streamed from his body in the blink of an eye.
The red light in the werewolf's eyes began to fade, and his body slowly shrank as more wounds appeared. He could not maintain that form at all times.
Once the attacks reached a certain intensity, his healing ability could no longer keep up, and his stamina naturally began to drain, leaving him unable to maintain his werewolf form.
But his expression was neither vicious nor panicked. He did not believe he would die here. Black light flickered across his body, the effect of a talisman.
His body had completely returned to human form, and his eyes remained fixed on Li Chen until he disappeared.
Li Chen calmly recalled all the light blades, his expression placid. He knew the man had escaped.
At that moment, a figure descended from the air. It was Yu Qingnian. He looked at Li Chen, nodded slightly, and said, "Your control over energy is pretty good."
He had been watching everyone's battles from the shadows and had seen everything clearly, but he had not helped.
Li Chen curled his lip slightly. He had long guessed that quite a few people must have noticed the battle. Otherwise, given how much commotion it had caused, no one had come.
Besides, they were in the academy's Secret Realm. Li Chen had many things he wanted to know, but after thinking it over, he asked.
"Instructor Yu, what would have happened if I had actually killed that man in this fight?"
Yu Qingnian pointed at the sky and smiled. His meaning was obvious.
There were cameras everywhere in the Secret Realm. If you killed someone, it would already have been recorded.
Li Chen fell silent. He had indeed intended to kill just now; otherwise, those light blades would not have gone straight for the werewolf's head.
Not far away, Faluo walked over with Jianping, grinning. Jianping's expression was calm, as though nothing had happened just now.
Yu Qingnian said calmly, "So, have they all been sent out?"
Faluo nodded and looked at Li Chen. He was still a little curious that Li Chen was a Sequence User with S-rank talent. But judging by the battle just now, he really was terrifying. Despite being only in the Dripping Water Realm, he had managed to beat the Tree Demon into complete submission.
Su Zhe and Luo Lin also walked over, though Su Zhe looked miserable. His clothes were in tatters, and a little blood was still trickling from his body.
"Damn, Chen-ge, those light blades of yours are insane!" Su Zhe looked shocked. He had fought for so long without breaking through the werewolf's defenses, yet Li Chen had easily driven him off in just a few moves.
Hearing Su Zhe's praise, Li Chen smiled, then looked at Yu Qingnian and said, "Instructor Yu, we'll be going now."
After all, everyone was exhausted. Although Li Chen had been absorbing energy from his surroundings to replenish himself, he was still inevitably a little mentally fatigued, to say nothing of the others.
Instructor Yu nodded slightly, indicating that they could leave.
With a flash of black light, Li Chen and the others were all teleported out.
After watching them leave, Faluo scratched his head and asked, "Are we really raising those youngsters' rankings? Aren't you worried that putting them too high will backfire?"
A Ranking Board appeared in Yu Qingnian's hand. The rankings on it were still changing, but the top ten had not budged at all.
"Changes in the rankings don't mean much. We're only placing them at the academy's level so they feel the pressure, and so the students can see the gap between themselves and the geniuses."
"We can give those geniuses resources, but only if their strength meets the standard I expect. Naturally, if it doesn't, they'll be pushed down."
"Besides, Imperial Capital Academy adopted this approach long ago. They're already familiar with these rules: the strong prey on the weak, the superior prevail and the inferior are eliminated, and the fittest survive."
Faluo said nothing more. He silently surveyed the battered state of the Secret Realm, as though he had already begun to give up.
Yu Qingnian smiled and said calmly, "Go find Cang Lao and ask him for a forbidden item to repair this place."
Li Chen and the others had long since left the Secret Realm and begun discussing the day's events.
Su Zhe's expression was a little grim as he muttered, "Chen-ge, why does everyone in this special class seem so freakish? That werewolf was only ranked forty-second!"
Li Chen looked at the Ranking Board on his phone, merely raised his eyes slightly, and said calmly, "The students in the special class were selected from several thousand students. Naturally, each one may be a prodigy from a region or a city."
"Often, only by comparing prodigies with other prodigies can you see the gap as it truly is."
Luo Lin spoke up as well. "Li Chen is right. No matter which academy it is, they only care about talented students."
"As for ordinary Sequence Users, if they have neither opportunities nor backing, they can only stay obediently in the academy until they graduate, then choose where to go."
Su Zhe nodded slightly and touched the wounds that had just been healed. They still ached faintly.
Jianping said nothing. He was still thinking about his own problems.
In just two days, the attitudes of the group had changed considerably. Even Li Chen could sense the tension growing stronger.
The struggle over rankings and the elimination system were all for the inter-academy competition a year from now. As students kept challenging those on the rankings, those who were ranked could be pushed off the Ranking Board if they failed to work quite hard enough.
Perhaps some did it for the meager resources, while others wanted their names to remain on the Ranking Board for a long time so they could enjoy the honorary title.
But more people did it for their own futures, so they could shine a little brighter.
The question was whether their strength could match the combat power on the Ranking Board.
The struggle over the rankings had only just begun.
Shenzhou City.
Atop a building with a distinctly complex, high-tech look, several strange figures in black cloaks were engaged in some unknown business.
One of the men in black robes said coldly, "According to the Ninth Seat, one Pandora's Box in Magic City has already been lost. We can't allow anything to happen to the one in our hands."
"If this plan goes smoothly, perhaps we'll have a chance to become the Ninth Seat's direct servants!!"
At those words, the black-robed figures grew excited and murmured, "We shall one day free our compatriots who have been suppressed within the black fog.
"May the stars gather. With our bodies of flesh and blood, we shall open the Forbidden Door."
"Our lord will redeem us!!"
"He is watching us!!"