In a dark, empty hall in Imperial Capital City, nine thrones forged from countless bones floated in the air. Several humans whose genders were impossible to discern sat suspended on them, wearing strange masks.
The hall was utterly silent.
Suddenly, a person wearing a demon mask rose to his feet. Standing in midair, he seemed to gaze in a certain direction as he spoke slowly. "Are we to begin this so-called chaotic era in Shenzhou City?"
Nothing in his voice betrayed his gender. There was only indifference.
But no one answered him.
Silence... endless silence...
Until, a moment later...
Another person rose. Its mask was engraved with countless patterns resembling red flowers, like spider lilies that represented death.
It spoke. "By now, we have brought Pandora, the taboo object from within the black fog, into every city. All we need to do is wait."
"Shenzhou is merely a byproduct of our efforts. The chaotic era is approaching, and our lord will protect us."
But then another person wearing a black mask stood up. He seemed to have something to say, but in the end, he remained silent for a moment before floating away.
As the man left, the other masked figures said nothing, merely watching his retreating figure.
A hint of something terrifying flickered in the eyes of the person wearing the spider-lily mask. It said calmly, "He is the one who was just promoted to Fifth Seat. I only wonder what it was that attracted the sect master, to actually be able to sacrifice the former..."
Before it could finish, it was interrupted.
"Speak no more. The sect master will be displeased."
In the blink of an eye, a month passed...
In the student dormitory, Li Chen looked at the bed, which had accumulated quite a bit of dust. Energy flickered in his hand.
In an instant, he cleaned away the dust.
He had not rested in a long time. Ever since his ability awakened, he seemed to no longer need sleep to replenish his mental energy. Instead, his body passively absorbed energy from its surroundings to nourish itself.
Unlike Jianping and Su Zhe, wherever he went, the energy floating in the air would gather around him of its own accord and then be absorbed.
"Still not enough. The Looking River Realm." Li Chen could feel that he was already very close to the Looking River Realm. It was as if the mental energy in his mind were a cup, and the Dripping Water Realm represented slow daily cultivation, with drops of water about to fill that cup. Now that the cup was almost full, he was naturally very close to the Looking River Realm.
But that was not what puzzled Li Chen. It was something else. "Su Baozi and Jianping have both broken through to the Looking River Realm. Why is my progress still so slow when I absorb so much energy every day?"
"Could it be a problem with my talent?"
"Or perhaps it's because of that strange space?"
The strange space was the dark space that had inexplicably pulled Li Chen in before. Over the course of the month, Li Chen had gradually established a connection with it.
As long as he wanted to enter, he could, though it would cost him a little mental energy.
Li Chen dismissed the thought. He did not think the space was the problem; it was probably his talent.
Differences in talent naturally led to other differences. Su Zhe, for example, had reached the Looking River Realm simply by eating every day, while Jianping had broken through by practicing his swordsmanship.
As for Li Chen himself, perhaps he had too much energy and had not fully digested it?
Li Chen shook his head and stopped thinking about it. A breakthrough was only a matter of time; how long it took depended on him.
The academy's ranking battles had long since begun.
No one knew whose idea it had been, but the rankings had been changed to run from one to one hundred, and students ranked below fiftieth were assigned to Special Class 2.
Su Zhe had been overjoyed when he heard the news. He was finally no longer at the bottom, and his ranking could at least be considered relatively high now.
Li Chen walked along the road to the Battle Institute. This had become part of his daily routine.
He had risen to eleventh place, the most awkward position, as it was called. Many students believed that only by defeating the eleventh-ranked student could they possibly beat the top ten. For that reason, many students challenged Li Chen every day, but so far, none had succeeded.
Suddenly, Su Baozi's voice came from beside Li Chen. Jianping and Su Zhe had already arrived at the entrance to the Battle Institute.
Jianping was probably there to meet his challengers, while Su Zhe had come purely to watch the show. After all, no one was competing for his rank anymore.
"Chen-ge, over here, over here!!" Su Zhe shouted from the entrance to the Battle Institute, a steaming Baozi in one hand.
Li Chen smiled and walked over. "Do you two have challengers today too?"
Su Zhe pointed at Jianping. "Brother Ping does. I had nothing to do, so I came to watch."
"I bet you came to see the pretty girls at the academy," Li Chen said with a smile.
At some point, the academy had started a Beauty Ranking Board among its rankings, which included the male students as well.
Jianping and Li Chen had visited the Battle Institute so often that many students naturally remembered them, and they had even gained quite a few fans.
Su Zhe scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. "I'm a real gentleman!"
Jianping: "Heh heh..."
Inside the Battle Institute was a place like an open-air soccer stadium. The ground was vast, and the place looked like a bird's nest.
Many students were already seated in the spectator stands, waiting for the challengers and ranked students to arrive.
Li Chen looked at a Ranking Board floating in the air. Quite a few people had already scheduled challenges against him, and some much lower on the board had even challenged him directly, skipping ranks. He sighed.
He could not understand it. Many people thought themselves strong, yet they were unwilling to challenge those ranked lower and instead kept coming after him. It troubled him greatly.
"Today's going to be another troublesome day. Maybe I should drop my ranking a bit? Throw a match?" Just as Li Chen was thinking this, a pleasant voice rang out beside him.
"You're Li Chen, right?"
Li Chen turned to see a red-haired woman in a fiery red dress smiling at him. He was somewhat puzzled. He knew who she was, of course: she was in the same Special Class as him, but they had never spoken.
"And you are?"
The woman smiled and held out her hand. "My name is Ji Shao."
Li Chen politely shook her hand. "Mm... Li Chen. Did you need something from me?"
"Of course I did, but your battle is about to start. I just came over to meet you for now. I'll wait for you at the entrance to the Battle Institute afterward." Ji Shao spoke directly.
Li Chen was a little confused. What was going on?
But suddenly, an announcement rang out, cutting off the words he was about to say.
[Eleventh-ranked Li Chen, please proceed to the battle arena. The challenger is in position.]
[Ranked...]
Ji Shao waved and smiled. "I'll wait for you outside."