A Narrow Victory, Reflections

The terrifying ferocity finally faded from the Thousand-Year Purple-Gold Python's vertical pupils.

Its enormous body lay sprawled in a hollow at the border between the ice field and the swamp, its purple-gold scales covered in crisscrossing wounds. The deadliest gash was slightly below its vital point, where an ancient bronze sword wrapped in lightning had pierced straight through it. Residual arcs of electricity still crawled across the serpent's body, crackling faintly.

Yun Zhiyu knelt on one knee, the Xuanyuan Sword planted at an angle in the humus beside her. The light on its blade had dimmed to the brink of extinction. Her chest heaved violently, every breath carrying a burning pain through her lungs. Three virtual soul rings flickered beneath her feet like dying candles in the wind, liable to go out at any moment. Her bloodline had already withdrawn on its own, and the pale purple vertical patterns that had appeared in her eyes during battle had returned to clear black. Only the exhaustion in her gaze remained impossible to conceal.

"Zhiyu!" Gu Yue was the first to force herself upright. The expenditure of soul power had left her face almost translucent with pallor, and cold sweat had plastered strands of hair to her forehead, yet she still gritted her teeth and shuffled two steps toward her.

"How are you?"

"Still alive!"

Yun Zhiyu tugged at the corner of her mouth, her voice hoarse as sandpaper scraping. She tried to pull out the Xuanyuan Sword, but her arm shook so badly that she only succeeded on her second attempt. The moment the sword left the ground, her entire body swayed, and Wei Xiaofeng, who had rushed over, caught her at once.

The agility-attack soul master was not in much better shape himself. His right arm hung limply at his side, and the hidden injury left by the clash between Azure Shadow Sword Finger and the Purple-Gold Python had finally flared up. His entire arm had turned an unnatural bluish-purple, yet he still clenched his teeth and used his uninjured left shoulder as a human support for Yun Zhiyu.

"Stop forcing yourself," Wei Xiaofeng said, his voice heavy with the rough breathing that followed exertion.

"You could've dodged that final tail whip from that beast."

Yun Zhiyu did not answer. Of course she could have dodged, but if she had, that tail whip, powerful enough to shatter boulders, would have struck Gu Yue—and Gu Yue's Elemental Tide had just run dry, leaving her no time to form a defense.

Wu Nianbing was in the best condition among the four, though only comparatively. The Icebound Frost Sword was embedded beside the Purple-Gold Python's head, and the frost marks on its blade had faded until they were nearly invisible. She leaned against a half-broken iron birch and slowly slid down to sit. Her Skyfrost Mist Shadow had frozen the python's joints at the final moment, allowing Yun Zhiyu's Winged Dragon: Heavenly Thunder Flash Slash to find that sliver of fatal weakness.

"Don't just stand there," she said with a wave of her hand, her voice so soft it was almost a murmur to herself.

"Sit down, regulate your breathing, and recover at least ten percent of your soul power before—"

Before she could finish, her ears suddenly twitched.

At almost the same instant, Yun Zhiyu's back stiffened. Though the Xuanyuan Sword's light was dim, she still instinctively held it across her chest. A faint silver glow gathered again at Gu Yue's fingertips. The afterimages of Azure Shadow Stack had yet to fully fade from Wei Xiaofeng's left arm. Wu Nianbing's fingers had already closed around the hilt of the Icebound Frost Sword.

The bushes to the southeast were shaking—not with the steady rhythm of wind, but with the violent tremors of some enormous creature forcing its way through, brutally snapping branches. There was more than one. It was a group. The vibrations in the ground drew closer, like muffled drumbeats pounding against everyone's chest.

Yun Zhiyu's pupils suddenly contracted.

She "saw" them.

The bushes were torn apart by brute force. Three, five, seven—seven jet-black Demon Lions surged out through the opening.

Their manes exploded outward like burning flames, and bloodthirsty hunger blazed in their dark-red vertical pupils. The leader was especially massive, its shoulders nearly reaching an adult's chest. A crescent-shaped scar on its forehead made it look even more savage. Millennium Demon Lions—and an entire pack of them.

The laws of hunters in the forest had always been cruel: the scent of blood attracted more dangerous predators. The Purple-Gold Python's corpse, the soul power fluctuations spread through the battle, and the lingering blood scent on the four of them were no different from the brightest signal flare in this forest.

"Damn..." Wei Xiaofeng's Adam's apple bobbed. His Azure Shadow Serpent martial soul's instinct for danger made every hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He instinctively reached for the distress button at his waist, but his fingertips trembled.

Gu Yue barely managed to gather a fist-sized ball of water with Elemental Tide, but the instant she saw the size of the lion pack, it collapsed into a mist that scattered through the air. Her soul power was so depleted that she could no longer maintain even the most basic elemental control.

Wu Nianbing tried to pull out the Icebound Frost Sword, but her arm was too weak to exert any strength. Skyfrost Mist Shadow had consumed more than she had anticipated, and the soul power flowing through her meridians was as thin as winter morning fog.

Yun Zhiyu slowly rose to her feet. The Xuanyuan Sword gave an unwilling hum in her hand, the lightning patterns on its blade struggling to emit a faint glow before dimming again.

She knew perfectly well that in their current state, even facing one Millennium Demon Lion would be a near-certain death sentence, let alone seven.

The crescent-scarred Demon Lion at the front let out a low growl and impatiently scraped its forepaws against the ground, overturning the humus and exposing fresh soil beneath.

The six Demon Lions behind it spread out in a fan formation, vaguely forming an encirclement. This was the standard hunting formation of a lion pack. They were not even in a hurry to charge. They were waiting for their prey to reveal a weakness—or rather, waiting for their prey to fall into complete despair.

"Press it." Yun Zhiyu's voice was quiet, yet remarkably calm. She released the Xuanyuan Sword and let it turn into a streak of light that vanished into her body, then reached her right hand toward the cold metal button at her waist.

"As long as there's life, there's hope."

Gu Yue looked at her, a complicated emotion flashing through her eyes beneath her hair. But in the end, she said nothing and silently pressed her own button. Wei Xiaofeng and Wu Nianbing moved almost at the same time. Four faint glows of soul power lit up just before the lion pack pounced, swallowing their figures in a soft white radiance.

Outside the Ascension Platform, four figures stumbled out of the teleportation array almost as if they had fallen from it.

Yun Zhiyu's knees went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the ground, only for Shen Yi, who had been prepared, to catch her. Shen Yi had already released her Sensitive Plant martial soul. Pale pink light fell like spring rain, carrying the fresh scent of vegetation as it seeped into the meridians of all four.

Yun Zhiyu felt a cool, gentle energy flow through her limbs and body. Her depleted soul power did not recover immediately, but the agonizing pain in her meridians, as though they had been torn apart, truly eased considerably.

"Don't move yet." Shen Yi's voice carried an unquestionable gentleness. The leaves of her Sensitive Plant trembled lightly as more healing motes drifted toward Gu Yue and the others.

"You four have overdrawn your soul power far too severely. If you'd come out half a minute later, even your foundations would have been damaged."

Gu Yue leaned against the edge of the teleportation array, allowing the healing light to envelop her. At last, a trace of color returned to her face. Wei Xiaofeng slumped onto the ground, while Shen Yi gave special attention to his injured right arm. The bluish-purple discoloration faded at a visible rate. Wu Nianbing closed her eyes with the Icebound Frost Sword laid across her knees, and the frost marks on the blade slowly gathered again under the Sensitive Plant's healing.

On the other side, Tang Wulin and his group of four emerged from another teleportation array almost simultaneously.

Zhang Yangzi was half-dragged and half-carried out by Wang Jinxi. The consumption from his Dark Illusion Demon Eagle martial soul had left him without even the strength to stand, and he looked as though he had been pulled from water, black hair clinging to his pale cheeks. Wang Jinxi was in slightly better condition, but the aftereffects of Bone Dragon Transformation made the bones on half his body groan under unbearable strain. With every step, faint clicks of grinding joints could be heard.

Tang Wulin's right arm was covered in fine bloodstains. The Golden Dragon Claw driven by his Golden Dragon King Bloodline had indeed been invincible when killing the Human-Faced Demon Spider, but that power placed an equally terrifying burden on his body. His Bluesilver Grass martial soul had already withdrawn on its own. He was gritting his teeth as he used his left hand to press down on the deepest wound on his right arm, and blood beads seeping between his fingers glimmered faintly gold.

Xie Xie looked the most bedraggled of the four. The Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger were crossed in the sheaths on his back. His school uniform had been corroded into tatters by spider silk, exposing equally scarred skin beneath. Yet his eyes were astonishingly bright, as though two flames within them refused to go out.

"Human-Faced Demon Spider..." he panted, exhilaration from surviving the ordeal ringing in his voice.

"We took it down! That beast's venom sac got pierced straight through by Wulin's Golden Dragon Claw!"

Long Hengxu and the Spirit Pagoda staff member had already hurried over. The staff member's gaze swept across all eight children, the expression on his face changing from shock to admiration before finally becoming something complicated that was almost reverent.

"A Thousand-Year Purple-Gold Python!" He looked toward Yun Zhiyu's group, then turned to Tang Wulin and the others.

"And a Hundred-Year Human-Faced Demon Spider. You... you children, and the oldest among you is only a little over ten?"

"Sister Zhiyu is over ten." Xie Xie wiped the blood from his face and grinned, revealing two sharp canine teeth. "The rest of us aren't even ten yet."

The staff member opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he merely shook his head and let out a long sigh.

That sigh contained admiration, emotion, and a trace of envy that could not quite be named. "I've worked at this Spirit Pagoda for over twenty years. I've seen plenty of Soul Elder and Soul Ancestor teams come to train in the Ascension Platform. There are quite a few who can retreat unscathed when facing a pack of Millennium Demon Lions, but those who can stay calm enough to press the distress button after killing a Purple-Gold Python, with their soul power exhausted, are rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. As for the Human-Faced Demon Spider..."

He paused and looked at the golden scale patterns that had yet to fully fade from Tang Wulin's right arm. "Its venom is so potent that even a Three-Ring Soul Elder would lose a layer of skin from touching it. Yet you actually managed to kill it."

"It was teamwork." Tang Wulin's voice was muffled. The weakness after the Golden Dragon King Bloodline receded had left him somewhat listless, but the earnestness in his tone was beyond doubt. "Yangzi's Darkness Control limited its vision, Jinxi's Bone Dragon Claw held it back from the front, and Xie Xie's Light Dragon Storm and Shadow Dragon Storm severed its legs. Only then did I have the chance to strike its vital point with the Golden Dragon Claw. We couldn't have done it without any one of us."

Zhang Yangzi weakly raised a hand and gave a thumbs-up, tugging his lips into a pale smile. "Wulin's right. Though Eagle Dragon: Dark Bone Canopy wasn't used in the end, the suppression from Darkness Control combined with Bone Dragon Transformation... If Jinxi hadn't blocked that beast's final counterattack with Bone Dragon Claw, I wouldn't have had time to use Eagle Strikes the Sky to interrupt its spider-silk spray."

Wang Jinxi said nothing. He merely used his still-mobile left hand to pat Zhang Yangzi's shoulder. The two exchanged a glance, an unspoken understanding flowing in their eyes. The resonance of their Martial Soul Fusion Skill had brought their soul power fluctuations beyond the realm of ordinary teammates to a certain degree. That feeling of blood-linked closeness was more real than any words.

Shen Yi's Sensitive Plant healing light continued for a quarter of an hour before gradually fading. Though the eight children's injuries were not serious enough to damage their foundations, the overdrawn soul power and physical strain would require a longer period of rest. Led by the staff member, they boarded the academy's soul-guided vehicle waiting outside the Spirit Pagoda one after another.

The cabin was more spacious than expected. A foldable metal table separated two rows of facing leather seats. Yun Zhiyu habitually chose a window seat, resting her forehead against the cool glass and closing her eyes to recuperate. Outside, the Spirit Pagoda building slowly receded. The lingering rays of the setting sun dyed the window a warm orange-red, casting a soft halo across her pale cheeks.

The seat beside her was occupied almost instantly.

Gu Yue sat to her left, her black hair lightly stirred by the wind coming through the window, its ends brushing across Yun Zhiyu's shoulder badge. Wu Nianbing and Wei Xiaofeng squeezed in on her right. Wu Nianbing lowered her head to wipe away the python blood still clinging to the Icebound Frost Sword, while Wei Xiaofeng's Azure Shadow Serpent martial soul had been withdrawn, but his narrow eyes still swept toward the window from time to time, maintaining the vigilance unique to an agility-attack soul master.

Across from them, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Zhang Yangzi, and Wang Jinxi were crammed together.

Zhang Yangzi occupied the seat closest to the window, stretching his legs carelessly into the aisle until Xie Xie stepped on them without the slightest courtesy. Wang Jinxi leaned against the seatback. The aftereffects of Bone Dragon Transformation still made him drowsy, his eyelids half-lowered, yet he continued forcing himself to join the discussion.

"Let's talk about the Human-Faced Demon Spider first." Xie Xie pulled a squashed chocolate bar from his pocket, broke it in half, handed one half to Tang Wulin, and stuffed the other into his own mouth before speaking indistinctly.

"Yangzi, your second Darkness Control was half a beat too slow. When the human-face pattern on that beast's abdomen started glowing, you should've predicted that it was about to spray spider silk instead of reacting only after it opened its mouth."

Zhang Yangzi pulled his legs back and scratched his wet hair. For once, he did not argue. "That's true. I was focused entirely on its forelimbs at the time. I didn't expect that thing's spider-silk spray angle to be so tricky. If your Shadow Dragon Storm hadn't cut in so quickly, Jinxi's right arm would've been ruined."

"There was a problem with Bone Dragon Claw's defense too." Wang Jinxi kept his eyes closed, his voice thick with congestion.

"When I took the first hit head-on, my soul power output was too fierce, which slowed the follow-up transition into Bone Dragon Transformation. When the Human-Faced Demon Spider's corrosive bodily fluid seeped in, if I could've completed the transformation half a second earlier, it wouldn't have burned through three layers of bone armor."

Tang Wulin bit into the chocolate, the hunger following the retreat of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline leaving his stomach painfully empty.

He waited for Wang Jinxi to finish before speaking in a subdued voice. "I didn't actually control the force of the final Golden Dragon Claw properly. That strike was meant for its heart, but it missed by three inches and only pierced the venom sac. If the Human-Faced Demon Spider's final counterattack had been any faster, and Xie Xie hadn't managed to finish it off in time, at least one of us would've been left in there."

"You've already done very well!" Long Hengxu sat in the front row without turning around, but his voice reached everyone clearly.

"What you faced was a soul beast that even Three-Ring Soul Elders would not dare claim they could defeat with certainty. You killed it, retreated unscathed, and can still sit here reviewing your own shortcomings—this is what surprises me most."

The cabin fell silent for a moment.

Yun Zhiyu slowly opened her eyes. The orange-red sunset made her narrow them slightly. She turned her head to look at the four crammed together across from her, then lowered her gaze to her fingertips, which were still trembling faintly. She suddenly spoke, her voice soft but clear. "The situation with the Purple-Gold Python was worse."

Gu Yue turned her head, the shifting light outside the window reflected in her eyes.

"If I hadn't hesitated for a few seconds while setting the strategy, you wouldn't have been injured." Yun Zhiyu's tone was as calm as though she were describing something unrelated to herself.

"But that wasn't the most serious part. I couldn't control the force of that final Winged Dragon: Heavenly Thunder Flash Slash at all. I nearly hurt you by mistake."

"And my Elemental Tide failed at a critical moment." Gu Yue took over, absentmindedly tracing circles on the armrest with her fingertips.

"My Water Element Control wasn't precise enough. When I froze the Purple-Gold Python's joints at the end, the layer of ice was half an inch too thin, and it nearly broke free. If my soul power had been fuller, or if I understood the elements a little more deeply..."

"You already did very well." Wu Nianbing suddenly spoke, cutting off Gu Yue's self-criticism. She laid the cleaned Icebound Frost Sword across her knees, the frost marks on the blade gleaming with a cold light in the sunset.

"I misjudged the timing of Skyfrost Mist Shadow. I should've acted two seconds earlier instead of waiting until the Purple-Gold Python raised its tail to freeze it. That two-second delay forced Zhiyu to take that strike head-on."

Wei Xiaofeng leaned against the seatback. His injured right arm could now barely move. After listening silently for a while, he suddenly snorted. "You're all so humble that you're making me seem completely unnecessary."

"Your Azure Shadow Sword Finger really was unnecessary," Nianbing added with a half-smile as she leaned over from the opposite side. "That last strike could clearly have pierced the python's eye, but it veered into its scales instead. Sparks sprayed all over my face."

"The Purple-Gold Python closed its eyes too fast!" Wei Xiaofeng widened his eyes and retorted instinctively. "Besides, the scales on its forehead were three times thicker than its eyelids. My Azure Shadow Stack afterimages couldn't pierce through them at all—"

"Enough, enough!" Yun Zhiyu raised a hand to rub her temples, though the corners of her lips lifted into a faint smile without her noticing.

"Save your strength. We still have evening class after we get back. Teacher Wu won't go easy on us just because we just fought Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."

Several weak groans sounded through the cabin.

Zhang Yangzi pressed his face against the cool window, his breath condensing into a blurry patch of mist on the glass. "I just want to lie in bed and sleep until the end of time..."

"Go to sleep!" Tang Wulin curled deeper into his seat as the exhaustion after the Golden Dragon King Bloodline faded washed over him like a tide. "I'll wake you when we arrive."

"You'll have to be able to wake me first," Zhang Yangzi mumbled. His voice grew softer and softer, and soon steady breathing could be heard.

Wang Jinxi had already fallen asleep, his head tilted against Zhang Yangzi's shoulder. Their hair tangled together, impossible to distinguish. Xie Xie idly played with the Light Dragon Dagger, its blade refracting specks of light in the sunset and casting shifting bright spots across the cabin ceiling.

Yun Zhiyu closed her eyes again, her forehead against the window as she felt the faint vibrations from the glass. Gu Yue sat beside her, and the wind occasionally lifted her hair, the tips gently brushing Yun Zhiyu's hand with a trace of coolness.

"Zhiyu." Gu Yue suddenly spoke, her voice so soft that it seemed afraid to disturb something.

"Mm?"

"Next time..." Gu Yue paused, as though choosing her words carefully.

"Don't take it head-on. I can be faster."

Yun Zhiyu did not answer immediately. The scenery beyond the window had turned into rows of towering buildings, and the sun was sinking toward the horizon, pouring its last thread of gold into the cabin. She remained silent for so long that Gu Yue thought she had fallen asleep, before an extremely soft reply finally came.

"...I'll try."

Gu Yue's lips curved slightly, and she said no more.

The soul-guided vehicle drove steadily along the road toward East Sea Academy. The voices in the cabin gradually faded, replaced by shallow, uneven breathing. Eight children, eight faces still carrying traces of youth, sank into sleep beneath the lingering light of the setting sun.

They did not yet know that today's battle would be recorded by the Spirit Pagoda staff as one of the classic cases of Ascension Platform training. Nor did they know what waves their achievement of killing Thousand-Year Soul Beasts and a Hundred-Year Demon Spider, then retreating unscathed before the age of ten, would stir in the near future.

At that moment, they were simply tired.