Lu Tianyu touched the singed lock of hair atop his head and asked in alarm, "Did I die? Am I still alive?"
"Yes." Li Sinian nodded.
At the instant the fireball came crashing down, it had truly been a hair's breadth between life and death, dangerously close. She had felt a suffocating pressure.
The heat of the burning flames rushed into her face, as if a river of magma had fallen from the sky, about to drown, devour, and incinerate her into gas in an instant.
If this had happened in the past, Li Sinian should have been terrified too. Back then, she had only been an ordinary student. The most dangerous thing she had ever experienced was being surrounded at the school gate by upperclassmen because she had been too popular right after enrolling.
People changed. Ever since she had survived Killer Crow's attack and those ugly Water Ghosts that had leaped from the lake, Li Sinian had grown rapidly. Nothing could move her anymore.
Those who had experienced life and death always had hearts more resilient than ordinary people.
Although she was still just an underage girl.
By contrast, Lu Tianyu—who had seen plenty of "grand occasions" yet had been pampered and had hardly experienced any danger—was much more flustered.
"Is my face disfigured?"
Li Sinian carefully examined Lu Tianyu's face. She said nothing, merely letting out a soft sigh.
"Wh-what do you mean by that?" Lu Tianyu's voice trembled with nervousness. He reached up to touch his face and said, "M-my face... is it ruined?"
"Ruined." Li Sinian nodded. "It was ruined from the moment you were born."
"You..."
"Lu Tianyu, act like a man." Li Sinian spoke sternly. "I know you're nervous. I know you're afraid. But the people standing before us are opponents of your