A Shocking Sight

"Hehe, Qiuqiu, don't you still have me with you?"

Meng Hongchen smiled as she linked arms with Nan Qiuqiu and comforted her. "I'm not particularly obsessed with the Academy Genius Ranking, but I heard that making the top ten earns you a special reward from the academy. I'm quite interested in that reward."

"How nice, to be young and full of energy."

Listening to the lively chatter of these younger students, Jing Ziyan could not help but smile beneath her glasses, her violet eyes gleaming faintly.

She remembered herself and Ji Juechen. Hadn't they been the same back then? They had given everything they had to squeeze into the top ten of that dazzling ranking, cultivating day and night and carrying out missions without rest.

Unfortunately, even now, they had not succeeded.

She sighed inwardly.

They were already sixteen, not far from the Academy Genius Ranking's age limit of eighteen.

Perhaps they would never get another chance in this lifetime.

But she no longer clung to it so desperately. After all, those who could firmly hold a place in the ranking's top ten could not simply be described as "geniuses."

Every one of them was a genuine monster.

For example, the man currently sitting at the top of the ranking, Bai E, was a monster through and through.

Even Ji Juechen, standing beside her with his crystal-clear sword heart and extraordinary combat strength, could not last more than a few moves against Bai E in the academy's public matches.

What was most unimaginable was that Bai E was not even a soul master.

He possessed no flashy soul skills at all—only swordsmanship that had reached the pinnacle, along with physical prowess capable of crushing everything.

Of course, first place on the Genius Ranking was also the position that changed hands most frequently.

That was because Wan Di, ranked second, was just as monstrous.

His strength was evenly matched with Bai E's. The two seemed like natural nemeses, often fighting fiercely over the throne of first place.

Their wins and losses were always evenly split, so the title of number one on the Genius Ranking frequently rotated between the two of them.

As for the few ranked beneath them, they were either naturally laid-back powerhouses content to coast through life, or close friends of theirs. None of them seemed interested in challenging upward to improve their rankings.

Jing Ziyan's thoughts drifted away.

Sanctuary Academy had not been established for very long, and this Academy Genius Ranking was only in its first iteration.

Yet even so, the academy and the geniuses on its ranking had already begun to show their edge on this continent, drawing the close attention of behemoths such as Spirit Hall, the Heaven Dou Empire, and the Star Luo Empire.

After all, people like her and Ji Juechen were merely within the top hundred of the ranking, but in the outside world, fifteen- or sixteen-year-old Soul Kings were legendary super geniuses beyond the imagination of Douluo Continent's native powers.

As the boys and girls talked, the group's pace unknowingly quickened considerably.

The wind and snow still howled, but they could no longer cool the fighting spirit blazing in their hearts.

At last, after passing through a sparse stretch of woodland, the outline of a small village shrouded in wind and snow appeared at the edge of their vision.

They had reached Blackstone Village.

"Location confirmed."

Jing Ziyan stopped and raised the smart phone in her hand. The map on its screen had already been enlarged to the maximum.

The red dot representing the otherworldly creature remained motionless at an isolated wooden house on the village's eastern side, flashing with an ominous glow.

"The target hasn't moved. It seems... we may have arrived too late."

Her voice sank, and a trace of gravity flashed through her violet eyes beneath the lenses.

In a situation like this, a motionless target often meant the worst possible outcome—the slaughter had already ended.

"Damn it."

Ye Guyi gritted her teeth and was the first to rush forward.

"Wait."

Jing Ziyan tried to stop her, but it was already too late.

The group could only follow immediately, swiftly crossing the village's deserted main road and heading toward the location marked on the phone.

The village was terrifyingly quiet. Apart from the mournful whistling of the wind and snow, not a single sound could be heard.

As they approached the wooden house at the edge of the village, a dense stench of blood mixed with the smell of something burnt pierced through the snowstorm and filled everyone's nostrils.

Along with that smell came a series of strange, rhythmic dull thuds.

"Thump... thump... thump..."

The sound was heavy and oppressive, like someone repeatedly pounding a piece of tough leather with a giant hammer. With every impact, their hearts involuntarily clenched.

"What is that sound?"

Nan Qiuqiu asked softly. The liveliness from earlier had vanished from her face, replaced by tension and vigilance.

No one answered her.

Everyone, including the ever-stern Ji Juechen, placed a hand on their weapons or soul tools as they cautiously approached the wooden house with its half-broken door.

When they finally saw the scene before the house clearly, every one of them froze where they stood, their expressions becoming portraits of utter disbelief.

The horrific sight they had expected—of a monster running rampant amid corpses strewn everywhere—did not appear.

In its place was a scene far stranger and far more overwhelming.

Amid the wind and snow, a white-haired boy who looked no older than six or seven, his entire body drenched in blood, straddled the corpse of a headless monster.

Golden flames burned around his right fist as it slammed down again and again, with mechanical precision and coldness.

Each strike smashed the freshly writhing, regenerating head of flesh at the monster's neck into fragments once more, just before it could fully take shape.

The headless monster writhed and convulsed madly beneath him, yet it could make no sound. It could only endure this endless torment within an infinite cycle of "regeneration" and "destruction."

"...Am I dreaming?"

Nan Qiuqiu rubbed her eyes, her pink pupils filled with confusion.

This was completely different from the scene she had imagined.

That... that little kid... was beating that Demon senseless all by himself?

The arrogance on Xiao Hongchen's face had long vanished. He stared fixedly at the undying golden flames around Bai Mo's fist, his heterochromatic pupils contracting violently.

Beside him, Meng Hongchen instinctively covered her mouth, her beautiful blue eyes filled with shock and distress.

What she noticed more were the boy's injuries, his tattered clothes, and the terrifying charred patch on his chest.

What... had he gone through?

"This..."

Ye Guyi's hand holding her sword hilt trembled slightly. The fighting spirit and sense of justice filling her heart were shattered by the scene before her.

She did not know what she should do. Should she step forward to help the boy? Or... stop him?

Jing Ziyan's breathing quickened. She looked at the dot representing the otherworldly creature on her phone screen, then raised her head to look at the tireless boy throwing punch after punch. For the first time, her exceptionally analytical mind crashed.