Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Ones Listed on the Divine Wood Ranking

Sweeping destruction, true sweeping destruction. The alien did not have time to react, nor did Ye Bai, Yao Ling, or Cao Xiaoseng; the Foundation-level alien, which had fought countless times to enter Zone B, vanished—simply disappeared before the three of them.

“Lesson two.” The man in gray slowly walked up from behind. The green longsword flew toward him, and he removed a black crystal from its hilt, continuing, “The radiation zone is the strangest place. When dealing with aliens, you must always use your full strength.”

When Yao Ling finally saw the man’s face clearly, she became extremely excited.

The man in gray looked toward Yao Ling, smiled, and shook his head. “In this area, you never know what kind of monster you’ll face, nor where its weakness lies. The best way is to utterly destroy it.”

From behind the man in gray emerged a woman with long hair, more beautiful than Yao Ling, without the youthful innocence of Yao Ling’s face, but instead possessing a mature charm in every gesture and smile. Her eyes, like autumn waves, glanced at Yao Ling and Ye Bai, a gentle smile dancing on her lips.

Yao Ling could no longer restrain herself. She ran to the woman with long hair and threw herself into the arms of the alluring woman in gray that every man dreamed of.

Ye Bai was about to stop Yao Ling, uncertain whether the newcomers were friend or foe, but when he saw the woman in gray open her arms to embrace Yao Ling, he held his tongue.

“Sister Bai, why are you here? You don’t know how much I’ve suffered along the way,” Yao Ling said, as tears spilled uncontrollably down her cheeks.

The girl called Sister Bai bent her head, looked at the crying girl in her arms, gently wiped away her tears, and said, “Silly girl, how did you wind up here? You’re only a freshman this year, your first monthly assessment task should be in Zone D. If anything happened to you, how would I explain it to your brother?”

Though concern clouded her face, the woman in gray was genuinely surprised—three newcomers who had entered Purple Star Academy only a month ago had crossed Zone C and managed to survive in Zone B for such a long time; it was truly remarkable.

She could imagine the hardships the three had endured, the brushes with death perhaps more than once. Yet she felt no pity; everyone had to go through it. She herself had survived several life-and-death trials before achieving her current status.

“Silly girl, crying again? Did you forget who you are?” The swordsman in gray sheathed his emerald sword, fiddling with the black crystal obtained from the slain alien, and slowly walked toward Yao Ling.

“Ah!” Hearing his voice, Yao Ling cried out, quickly escaping the woman’s embrace, wiping her tears, and forcing a smile uglier than her crying. “Brother Xiao, Ling’er greets Brother Xiao.”

She greeted him with ladylike decorum, then her expression changed and she grew fierce, threatening the man in gray, “Don’t tell my brother I cried today, or Ling’er will make you pay!”

She brandished her little pink fist at him, winking and signaling him not to reveal her secret.

Unexpectedly, the man in gray understood, raising his hand to indicate he’d gotten the message, assuring her he wouldn’t let anyone behind them know. Yao Ling was finally satisfied.

He walked to her side, placed the black crystal in her hand, and said, “Consider this a meeting gift. It’s been years since we last met.”

Yao Ling suddenly remembered something, pulling the man and woman in gray over to Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng, saying, “These are my companions, Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng.”

Introducing Cao Xiaoseng, Yao Ling’s eyes lingered on his dark, shining eyes, her gaze involuntarily evasive, her heart skipping a beat.

Suddenly, the woman behind Yao Ling remarked, “My girl is lovesick. I wonder which fine young man has stirred her heart?”

“Sister Bai!” Yao Ling’s face flushed bright red, wishing she could disappear into the ground.

The woman in gray strode forward, sizing up Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng, and said, “Bai Wan’er.”

She pointed to the man in gray and continued, “Xiao Ou.”

It was the second time Ye Bai heard the name Xiao Ou, and Bai Wan’er as well—ranked first among all sophomores on the Divine Wood List, wielding authority over every student in their year. Though Bai Wan’er spoke casually, her words sent shockwaves through Ye Bai’s heart.

After slaying the alien, Xiao Ou glanced at Ye Bai, then focused all his attention on Yao Ling.

Last time, Feng had told him about encountering weapons taken from the Armory elder in Zone C, which had begun to awaken. At the time, Xiao Ou hadn’t cared, never expecting Yao Ling to be in the same group.

To outsiders, Xiao Ou seemed cold, bloodthirsty, and ruthless, willing to use any means to achieve his goals. But toward Yao Ling, whom he’d grown up with, he truly wanted to protect her. Her eyes were always pure and untainted, unlike the Xiao family, whose pursuit of resources bred honeyed words and hidden daggers.

He had seen many geniuses—meteors flashing by, new stars rising, established powerhouses. Each was a genius.

The so-called “genius” was only a joke. If true geniuses existed, they wouldn’t be confined to three small main cities, wouldn’t have to build those cities around the Forbidden Sea, constantly on guard against its chaos, forever worried about threats within and without, always pressing themselves to break through, again and again.

Genius was simply the result of greater effort, of experiencing what others had not, possessing faith more resolute than most. On the path of evolution, they faced only two choices: evolve or die. There was never stagnation or retreat.

So when Xiao Ou saw Ye Bai, he was merely a little interested; he just wanted to see who could lift and awaken the Armory elder’s weapon. Nothing more. Perhaps he would soon forget Ye Bai.

In this world, it was the geniuses who advanced fastest—and also died most often. If Ye Bai had what it took, let him make Xiao Ou remember his name with his own strength.

Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng stood aside, unsure what to say. Xiao Ou spoke not a word, and they wouldn’t dare converse with Bai Wan’er, so for a while only the two women were talking.

“So it was Brother Mu who gave Ling’er the Heart-Protecting Pill?” Yao Ling recalled Bai Wan’er saying Xiao Ou had sent Feng to investigate in Zone C. She remembered the gray figure she met there who gave her the pill—it must have been Brother Mu.

Only Yao Ling called him Brother Mu; others never got the chance before blood was spilled. In truth, Yao Ling hadn’t seen Feng often; he rarely appeared before others, and Yao Ling thought the one who gave her the pill was a friend of her family, who had shown mercy and saved Cao Xiaoseng.

“Where’s Brother Mu?” Yao Ling looked around but saw no sixth person.

Bai Wan’er pointed toward the shadow of a dead tree, backlit and indistinct. “Over there. But except for your Brother Xiao, no one can get close to Brother Mu.”

“Ah!” Yao Ling was surprised. “Not even Sister Bai?”

Bai Wan’er shook her head, remembering the quiet figure who mysteriously appeared in her team, coming and going without a sound, mastering the art of assassination, always preferring solitude. In battle, no one ever knew where he would strike from to deliver a fatal blow.

Feng—a name absent from the Divine Wood List, yet etched in the heart of every sophomore. Bloodthirsty as Ou, deadly as Feng, rumors had spread throughout their year, and everyone knew that behind Xiao Ou’s shadow lurked a ready assassin, poised to hunt at any moment.

“Ladies, shall we be on our way?” Xiao Ou, for once, cracked a joke. Perhaps today was the most he had smiled in years.

Everyone knew Xiao Ou showed no mercy to his enemies; to leave a whole corpse was already a favor. Most ended up like the alien just now, dead without a trace. As he said, give no chance for resurrection, let them evaporate from the world. He preferred permanent eradication over the hope of spring’s return.

Xiao Ou glanced at the smart-bracelet on his wrist, opened a message from Feng, memorized it, and walked deeper into Zone B. Feng’s figure vanished as Xiao Ou stepped forward.

Xiao Ou walked alone at the front; Yao Ling and Bai Wan’er in the middle; Cao Xiaoseng and Ye Bai, as if forgotten, lagged behind.

Earlier, Ye Bai had been so tense he felt nothing, but now, relaxing, he sensed the aches and pains, the gnawing exhaustion within—a consequence of his depleted dual attributes of wood and water.

He looked at his wan face reflected on the back of the Jinghong Blade and suddenly felt like a miserable wretch, possessing nothing, knowing only how to gamble with his life.

Ye Bai and Cao Xiaoseng supported each other, following the three ahead. Suddenly, Ye Bai said, “When do you think our days will end? Living on the edge, surrounded by mutant beasts, aliens, fallen ones, and caught between forbidden zones—will we ever see the peace of the old world before the Age of Darkness?”

Cao Xiaoseng glanced at the eyes not far ahead, his throat moving, then looked at the spot where the alien had been destroyed, and continued onward, supporting Ye Bai.

Ye Bai thought Cao Xiaoseng wouldn’t reply, but after a while, Cao Xiaoseng finally spoke: “I don’t know when these days will end. But I know that we will survive, and witness that day arrive, whether for him or for her.”

As he spoke, Cao Xiaoseng looked at the figure in red before him, memories of his father and mother flashing through his mind.

“Yes, no matter what, we will survive. We will witness the coming of that day.”

Ye Bai, too, thought of his mother, Mu’er, and the shadow buried deep in his mind—Xiao Mo.