The dimly lit stage was bathed in brilliant shafts of light, resembling stars ignited against the night sky.
As the Poet of Great Love pressed a hand to her chest and bowed elegantly, the stage lights dimmed, and the melody began to play.
At the back of the stage, Lanqi kept his head bowed, his gaze focused, fingers lightly caressing the keys as he began striking the opening notes of a hellish overture.
Meanwhile, at the front of the stage, the Poet of Great Love wore an unrestrained smile, chanting in her celestial, heavenly voice.
Below the stage, the four mentors all furrowed their brows, their eyes wandering across the platform as dissatisfaction and impatience began creeping onto their faces.
This seemingly underwhelming overture was not what they wanted to hear.
Yet, precisely when they had not yet grasped Lanqi's intentions—
Lanqi pressed the keys with his left hand while, like a conjurer, his right hand continuously produced magic cards, activating them on the spot!
Every single one was from the Erroneous Healing series, brimming with the aura of healing and rebirth.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lanqi decisively and firmly channeled all his might into casting these healing spells onto the music mentor, Mutated Venom Body—a textbook demonstration of using extreme remedies for severe ailments!
Before anyone could react—
"Aaaaargh—!"
Endless agony surged through Mutated Venom Body in an instant. His body began convulsing violently, thrashing as though entangled by rabid vipers. A horrifying shriek tore from his throat, echoing through the theater; a demonic roar ripped through the air, instantly overwhelming the entire hall.
The Poet of Great Love's demonic singing reverberated in tandem across the stage, her melody coiling like venomous serpents to burrow deep into Mutated Venom Body's ears. His screams escalated in intensity, his agonized emotions bursting forth like a tidal wave, completely shattering his ability to maintain rational control.
"What are you—!"
The presiding examiner's voice rang out from the side of the stage. He moved to halt Lanqi's actions, only to find that the Magic Eye showed no reaction whatsoever.
After his initial astonishment, he realized in a flash that Lanqi had not cast offensive magic, nor had he inflicted any damage.
Yet the scene that followed made it impossible for the examiner to maintain his usual composure.
Everything changed so rapidly that not a single demon present could immediately comprehend how this disaster had unfolded before their very eyes!
"Stop! Stop it!"
"Spare me—!"
Mutated Venom Body wailed miserably like a beast being torn apart under the cover of night. His shrieks of torment carried a peerless mental attack potent enough to outstrip every demon present. The students in the audience clutched their heads as if struck by a massive jolt of electricity, trembling violently as they bore a psychic onslaught far beyond their limits.
Meanwhile, on the stage, the Poet of Great Love stood bathed in the spotlight, singing to her heart's content. Her melodious, lilting vocals drifted through the theater, forming a jarring contrast with Mutated Venom Body's agonized wails.
Yet her sweet voice brought no relief to the scene; instead, it magnified tenfold the misery born of the mental attack Mutated Venom Body was inflicting on all the students.
The demon students could take no more. Their ghostly howls and demonic wails drifted through the classroom like specters. The students' minds unraveled, their trembling gazes growing hazy and unhinged, as though the entire audience had been driven mad.
These newly erupted shrieks acted like venomous hexes, influencing and torturing one another, repeatedly provoking and amplifying the mournful chorus of agony filling the theater.
The students subjected to greater torment radiated even more agonizing cries, creating a feedback loop among them that turned the theater into an inescapable purgatory in a matter of moments, like a landslide triggering a tsunami!
Lanqi had initially only nudged a tiny pebble to set the entire classroom in motion, but now, this vicious, rolling boulder of a loop could no longer be stopped!
Weaker demons, such as Bachel, were already foaming at the mouth and convulsing in their seats. Yet the pain was so excruciating that the nightmare reverberating through the hall swiftly jolted him awake, forcing him to join in the wretched screeching once more.
Even Hyperion was covering her ears with all her might, burying her head between her knees and continuously whispering prayers to the Goddess.
Had she not braced her mind well in advance to withstand the Poet of Great Love, she would likely have gone mad by now as well.
At the side of the stage, the once-suave presiding teacher stood paralyzed with shock at this hellish scene. His face turned as white as paper, stripped of all its former confidence. His previously upright posture wavered on the verge of collapse; the hand he used to steady himself against the wall trembled violently, as if he might crumble to the floor at any second.
His eyes were wide with terror, utterly unable to believe what he was witnessing.
"What are you trying to do?!"
The presiding teacher's voice was practically a screech. He had fully realized just how dire this performance had become.
Standing in the center of the stage, Lanqi seemed not to hear him at all.
He continued playing the piano.
He even had the composure to casually explain physics as if talking to himself:
"In nuclear fusion, when temperature, pressure, and time all reach a certain threshold, the heat generated allows the temperature to sustain further fusion reactions. That condition is called self-sustaining burning."
His voice was calm and resonant, like a poet reciting verse.
Lanqi's state of mind was serene, as though the chaos consuming the theater did not affect him in the slightest.
His eyes saw only the keys; his ears heard only the melody.
"What—what on earth are you babbling about?!"
The presiding teacher's voice turned even shriller.
He felt as though Lanqi were spouting bizarre, terrifying jargon completely beyond his comprehension!
"These are the fruits of my studies, as well as the artistic philosophy behind this performance," Lanqi explained earnestly.
Once self-sustaining burning was achieved, the fusion reaction would continue indefinitely without requiring any further input of energy.
He surveyed the theater, feeling that the pressure within the hall was already sufficient.
There was still a little over a minute left of the time allotted for free magic use.
If he could use this window to fiercely turn up the temperature, he might just achieve that self-sustaining burning.
When that happened, even if Lanqi stopped the music, did nothing else, or even dismissed the Poet of Great Love, this demon classroom would remain trapped in an absolute, perpetual feedback loop.
Only when the four music mentors and all the demon students were burned to ash and lost consciousness would this infernal nuclear fusion of sound finally come to an end.
He firmly believed that this performance—whether in terms of the demon students' passionate shouts, the visual and auditory effects, or the deafening, intoxicating trance that would ultimately send everyone to sleep—completely satisfied all the prior requirements set by the four mentors.
'This should make everyone thoroughly satisfied, right?'
Sitting before the piano, Lanqi raised his head and looked around. Seeing how thoroughly the four music mentors appeared to be enjoying themselves, he felt that his merit for the day had overflowed once again.
Chapter 58