"It was over..."
Xie Xie lay spread-eagled on the still-warm rubber ground, his chest heaving violently. Looking up at the azure sky, he felt as though he had been reborn into another world.
For the past three months, even in his dreams, he had been dodging that elusive hand chop.
The suffocating feeling of having his carotid artery severed at any moment had been carved into his bones.
Yet today, when the timer ticked past "05:00," he realized for the first time that breathing could be such a luxurious and blissful thing.
Beside him, Tang Wulin also disregarded his image and plopped down on the ground, rubbing the lumps all over his head as he grinned stupidly.
Though his entire body ached as if it had fallen apart, the exhilaration of breaking through his limits filled every inch of him.
Even the usually reserved Gu Yue leaned against the protective wall and gently exhaled a breath of stale air. The corners of her previously tense lips lifted slightly, forming an expression of relief.
They had done it.
Under the hands of the "Great Demon King" known as Tang Linyuan, they had endured a full five minutes.
This was not merely a victory of time, but a rebirth of will.
"Looks like you're all very happy?"
An icy voice drifted out as if from a frozen cellar, instantly freezing the joy that had just begun to warm the field.
Wu Zhangkong stood with his hands behind his back, dressed in snow-white robes. Not a trace of emotion could be seen in those ice-blue eyes.
He looked down at the three utterly disheveled students on the ground, his tone so calm that it made their hearts tremble.
"Five minutes is merely the passing line."
The smile on Xie Xie's face froze. He