Zhou Tian Instrument

The flames burned away the monster's face. It dissolved into specks of light that flew from the furnace, circled the sword, then drifted away on the wind and faded into the night sky.

It was dead.

—It had died after helping him review the battle.

As a professional player, reviewing a fight afterward was as natural to Xu Yuan as eating and drinking. It was a habit.

But now—

Xu Yuan's gaze darkened, and killing intent surged within him.

He threw down the furnace lid and pinned it with his foot, smothering the Pill Flame inside. Only then did he turn to look back.

Far away.

The road they had come by.

It lay quiet, as though shrouded in mist.

But would new monsters appear?

After all, he had said, "I'm even sweating."

Would that woman with seven or eight legs know?

—Ever since he and the little boy had run into her underground,

the fighting had never stopped.

That meant one thing.

Even though he was only a small fry at the Qi Refining Second Layer, with an ordinary child in tow—

that monster had no intention of letting them go.

First came several giant earthworms.

After the earthworms died,

the entire tunnel filled with earthworms to block his path.

They failed.

Then the giant ape came back to life.

The giant ape died.

The human skin attacked.

With the defenses he had set up, he had held the human skin at bay too, keeping it from killing him.

Then—

they had fused into a human-skin monster that kept growing stronger.

—The fighting had never stopped!

How could that whole string of battles be a coincidence?

That woman had never intended to let any of them go!

Xu Yuan had a temper too.

After being provoked again and again, he had kept changing tactics: from running and dodging, to fighting behind his defenses, to fleeing by car. Finally, he had brought the pill furnace into play and killed the monster with a mix of tactics.

Playing it safe clearly wasn't going to get him through this.

His tactics had been tested now. Monsters in the Qi Refining Realm could be fought.

Come on, then.

Come kill me.

Surely a high school exam wouldn't throw a monster in the Foundation Establishment Realm at them?

As long as there were no Foundation Establishment monsters—

I might not lose!

He clenched his fist and looked toward his companions.

Jiang Xueyao, Yang Xiaobing, and Zhao Afei, who had all driven the Pill Flame with everything they had, sat cross-legged on the ground, silently regulating their breathing to restore their spiritual energy.

The little boy stood nearby, watching him with a complicated expression.

"It's over."

Xu Yuan smiled at him and looked into the distance.

The road behind them remained quiet.

Seconds and minutes passed, but no monsters attacked.

Perhaps—

those monsters were throwing everything they had at Drum Tower Street Subway Station?

Were there really no pursuers?

He wasn't sure...

But they couldn't wait here forever. They should finish the task they had set out to do.

Get out of the city!

Xu Yuan began searching back and forth along the overpass.

His gaze landed on a car belching black smoke, then moved on;

to another car that was on fire;

to a bus covered in blood, its hood crumpled by a collision;

then to an overturned SUV with a twisted A-pillar.

No good.

Every one of those cars had an obvious problem.

But they had just been through a fierce chase, and their strength, focus, and spiritual energy were badly depleted.

They had to find another car.

Suddenly,

a convertible parked in the emergency lane with its hazard lights flashing caught Xu Yuan's eye.

It looked as though it had been in a collision. One headlight was shattered, a tire was completely flat, and the car sat crooked.

This had promise.

Xu Yuan jumped down from the pill furnace, ran to the car, and crouched to inspect it.

Sure enough.

A nail as thick as a finger had punctured the front tire, causing it to blow out.

The blowout had probably made the driver rear-end the car ahead, shattering the headlight and forcing them to pull over.

The front bumper and hood weren't badly damaged.

No fluid had leaked onto the ground.

The engine was probably fine.

Then he checked the driver's seat.

Perhaps the driver had left in a panic; the car key had been tossed into a cupholder on the center console.

Come on, let's see if there's a spare.

There'd better be one.

Praying, Xu Yuan took the key, opened the trunk, and lifted the floor panel.

A brand-new tire lay before him.

The spare looked a little smaller, but it would do the job!

Xu Yuan whistled and beckoned to Zhao Afei.

"Come help!"

Zhao Afei hurried over.

Xu Yuan took out the tire and tools, then led Zhao Afei to the side of the car.

"Lift it."

"Th-this—I—"

"This car isn't heavy. You're in Qi Refining already. What's a minute or two of lifting it?"

"Then I'll try."

"That's it. We're short on time."

Zhao Afei drew a deep breath and lifted the front of the car. The wheel rose off the ground.

"Good! Hold it right there!"

Xu Yuan's hands flashed. He swiftly removed the old tire, fitted the new one, and tightened the bolts.

Fifteen seconds!

Too bad the tool for tightening the bolts was manual, not powered.

Otherwise, he would have been even faster.

"Get in. We're leaving." Xu Yuan patted Zhao Afei on the shoulder and called out.

Everyone climbed in at once.

"More pursuers?" Jiang Xueyao asked.

"I'd welcome a few more," Xu Yuan said mildly.

"Feeling that crazy?" Jiang Xueyao teased.

Xu Yuan glanced back at her and curled his lip. "Aren't you cramming down pills to recover your spiritual energy and strength as fast as you can?"

Jiang Xueyao laughed.

That fight had been exhilarating!

That was the kind of battle she craved!

Fighting higher-level monsters was invaluable practical experience.

It not only honed combat skills but did wonders for the resolve of lower-level cultivators!

"Let's keep going,"

Yang Xiaobing chimed in, clearly feeling the same way.

"Right. Let's keep running," Zhao Afei said too.

The car roared to life, rolled forward, gathered speed, and raced down the road.

"Which way?" Yang Xiaobing asked.

A voice suddenly spoke up:

"I know this city well. I'll give directions."

The little boy!

Xu Yuan's eyes lit up. He smiled. "All right. You tell me where to go, and I'll drive!"

"Take the exit, go straight, then turn left after three traffic lights!" the little boy said.

"Got it."

Xu Yuan stepped on the gas.

He focused on driving. Yang Xiaobing sent out White Crane, Jiang Xueyao stood on the rear of the car to keep watch, and Zhao Afei ate an entire chocolate bar.

Each had a role, and they worked together.

The little boy was no longer panicking or trembling either. He sat quietly on Yang Xiaobing's lap, calm and composed.

He seemed like a different person.

The convertible tore down the road like the wind and lightning.

Suddenly,

a high, strange cry rang out from far behind them.

"Toward Xinzhou Subway Station, high in the sky—a monster's coming after us!" Yang Xiaobing shouted.

Everyone looked back.

Night.

The vault of the sky.

Masses of leaden cloud looked as if a giant hand had seized them, their edges veined with dark blue-black.

The monster poked its head out from behind the clouds—

It had no facial features, only seven pairs of compound eyes arranged in a ring. Its body was a mass of darkness that writhed without shape, appearing and vanishing among the clouds before their eyes.

"What is that?" Zhao Afei cried.

"A demon—and one in the Foundation Establishment Realm," Jiang Xueyao said.

"That's beyond the exam's scope. It shouldn't be chasing us," Xu Yuan said.

Is this exam bugged?

Whatever.

Run first.

He floored the accelerator, eased off, then floored it again.

Faster.

Just a little faster!

At the same time,

at the Examination Institute,

the old man—the director of the Examination Institute—sat on the raised platform and spoke:

"Tell me, all of you. What should we do now?"

No one made a sound.

The examiners seemed to have turned into statues. They sat there without moving a muscle.

Silence.

Several breaths passed.

The old man sighed. "The temporary world created by driving the Zhou Tian Instrument with a large-scale Soul Art has slipped beyond our control—"

"What does everyone think of ending the monthly exam on those grounds and letting the world fall silent?"

The examiners came back to life at once, speaking up:

"Yes, yes!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"That's the most legitimate reason we could give."

"That monster is at the peak of Foundation Establishment. It's beyond the scope of the exam. We have to protect the students."

"End the exam."

Seeing their reactions, the old man sighed inwardly.

It was the only choice.

If the exam continued and something happened, it would be a calamity beyond measure!

"End the exam. Start grading!"

He gave the order.

Elsewhere.

The imperial capital.

A park.

A lake surrounded red walls and a white pagoda.

Beside an arched bridge beneath the pagoda, several old men were playing chess.

A middle-aged man stood beside them, waving a palm-leaf fan, pointing this way and that, and grumbling:

"Ugh, what a rotten move. Old man, do you even know how to play?"

"Your opponent's a fool too."

"That move was a mistake. You're bound to lose a piece."

The old men looked helpless. They pretended not to hear him and kept playing.

—They had already called the security guards, then the police.

But by now, the police still had not come, and the guards were nowhere to be seen.

What could they do about him?

"Make this move. Come on, trust me. Make this move!"

The middle-aged man picked up a piece and moved to place it on the board.

"Are you playing, or am I?" one of the old men snapped.

"Let's have a little fun together. After all, it's an honor to have me guide you," the middle-aged man said with a smile.

"I'm done playing today!" the old man said angrily.

"Right, we're done for today. The rest of us are going fishing, so don't follow us," another old man added.

They rose, packed up the board, and hobbled away.

The middle-aged man stood alone where they had left him, fanning himself. He did not look the least bit discouraged.

"I think a few old men are practicing their punches to the east... I'll go have a look..."

He sauntered off, slowly waving his fan.

A black shadow appeared without a sound.

It dropped to one knee and reported quickly:

"There's been a minor problem with the Nationwide Joint Examination."

"The Examination Institute forcibly ended one group's monthly exam. A demon at the peak of Foundation Establishment was chasing the students, and it was clearly beyond the exam's scope."

The middle-aged man smiled.

"Excellent. Young people have spirit."

"Whether it's luck or quick thinking, why not let them keep trying?"

"—Why report such a trivial matter to me?"

The shadow bowed its head. "That group of students took the Commandery Princess with them. They got out from underground and fled across the surface. They're about to leave the city."

The smile froze on the middle-aged man's face, though his voice remained loud and interested:

"Not bad. Getting this far puts them ahead of many of the fools from back in the day."

"They're all pillars of the nation! Excellent!"

Another shadow swept in, dropped to one knee, and reported:

"The Commandery Princess entered the exam world in the final few minutes. When she realized the exam had been forcibly ended, she took the Zhou Tian Instrument and headed south of the Yangtze."

The smile finally vanished from the middle-aged man's face.

He lowered his palm-leaf fan and gazed at the rippling lake. Only after a long silence did he speak:

"Yiyi still hasn't let go of what happened ten years ago..."

"Ah, let her go."

"No."

"The Crown Prince is governing in my stead, and I have nothing better to do. Make arrangements at once. I'm going too."

"After all, this exam was my idea."

"I'll see it through!"

The shadow immediately bowed its head in salute.

"As you command, Your Majesty."