Above a golden sea of light, a fiery red crescent moon rose.
The slash came entirely at will, untraceable as an antelope hanging by its horns, yet instinctively aimed straight for the Exam King's most fragile and undefended angle.
As the moon sank, a head struck the ground.
What splattered across the floor was not crimson blood, but deep, pitch-black ink.
—This was the power of the "mind."
An instinctive choice made in battle faster than conscious thought was precisely the vital mastery and application of mental power by an Extraordinary.
A secret technique fueled by Bai Zhou's full might, reinforced by the Extraordinary saber, was something not even a Rank 4 Extraordinary would dare meet with their bare flesh.
Much less an Exam King whose eyes had been blinded and could see nothing...
Bai Zhou, whom the Major and his people suspected of being a Sun Knight, was always this dazzling.
Nearly everyone fighting him for the first time suffered for it... and there was never a second time.
Even Laia, who had toyed with the magic of Light her entire life, had probably never imagined that "Light" could be wielded in such a way.
—Yet to Bai Zhou's surprise, the Exam King remained animate even after losing its head.
This massive, incomprehensible construct that was anything but an ordinary living creature swayed, reaching out blindly to grope about. It seemed desperate to retrieve its own head.
"My head! My head!"
A piteous, agonized wail echoed shrilly throughout the restroom.
If even a trace of that sound leaked outside, Yuanmeng Middle School would immediately turn into a haunted school of urban legends.
Fortunately, Bai Zhou had sealed the area with a ritual before ever stepping inside.
"The head is on the floor,"
Watching the Exam King blindly fumbling, Bai Zhou kindly offered a hint.
"Except..."
In the next instant, the head was snatched up into the jaws of a translucent white ghost, dangling in midair.
"Are you going to kill me?"
"If you kill me, what will happen to Tinghai Middle School's key admission rate? What about our reputation as the premier school? What will happen to the students' studies?"
The triangular head's eyes were blurred and saw nothing. Feeling someone handling it, it assumed Bai Zhou was the one making a move.
"I don't think it's your place to worry about Tinghai Middle School's affairs."
Teacher Bai Zhou shook his head.
"Key admission rates were never the point. Teaching and nurturing people are."
"If failing to get into a key school means losing all value in life, and warrants being eliminated by the school, then the school itself has lost its reason to exist."
"I believe the other teachers surely think the same."
"As for killing you..."
Bai Zhou glanced a short distance in front of him, where six crimson last words hovered, gleaming brightly.
"Even if I wanted to do it, I'd have to wait in line."
"Wait in line...?"
The Exam King could not comprehend what that meant.
He found out very soon.
With a whoosh,
a chilling wind swept through.
Six youthful ghosts, trailing white plumes of tail flame, eyes blazing with flames of hatred, pounced ferociously upon the Exam King's deformed, broken frame.
They bit, tearing and gnawing.
"You... It's you?!"
The Exam King's furious roar echoed muffled through the devastated restroom.
"Marshal Wrong-Problem! General Stress! Chancellor Guilt! Grand Tutor Chicken Soup! Governor Procrastination! Censor Sloth... How dare you betray me!"
The "Seven Heroes Under the King" who had once been the Exam King's greatest pride had now become the fiercest, most ruthless vanguard deployed against him.
Towering hatred condensed almost into something tangible.
When the Exam King tried to swing the ruler in his left hand to strike them, a flash of purple-gold blade light streaked across.
Accompanied by an agonized howl, the ruler hit the floor with a loud clang.
"Sorry, I'm an accomplice." Bai Zhou smiled brilliantly, admiring the spectacle of the Exam King being thoroughly swarmed.
"No—!"
Roaring and thrashing, the Exam King was torn apart and devoured by the six ghosts in the blink of an eye.
His massive body was reduced to mangled flesh and blood, crashing down with a deafening thud.
"I... I don't understand..."
At last, the triangular head held aloft in the ghost's mouth showed a look of utter confusion.
"If I'd only known, if I'd only known... I should have worked a bit harder these past few years..."
If he had completed his metamorphosis just a bit earlier, would this teacher who had sprung up out of nowhere have been any match for him?
Even in death, the Exam King likely believed he had fallen merely because he had not worked hard enough and had failed to endure the trial of the Heavenly Fiends blocking his path of destiny.
With a resounding crash, the shattered skeleton collapsed into dust.
The bones transformed into golden motes of light, descending upon the six ghosts and tinting their pure-white figures a pale gold.
Then, wearing expressions of gratitude and profound relief, they all turned and bowed deeply toward Bai Zhou from afar.
"..."
Incapable of speech, they expressed their simple emotions through gestures.
Buzz!
As their bows concluded, their figures gradually faded, dispersing into golden motes of light and dissolving freely into the air, gone without a trace.
A gentle rain of light fell from midair, soft, golden, and wonderfully warm.
Yet as if caught by an invisible breeze, the golden showers gathered together, surging toward Bai Zhou.
"This is...?"
The drifting rain of light dissolved upon contact, pouring into Bai Zhou's body.
This was the purest essence of their souls, as well as the concentrated power of the half-step Rank 4 Exam King.
Bai Zhou blinked. An indescribable sensation washed over his entire body, and the power of his mind surged rapidly.
Just as he had purified the six ghosts, the shower of light they sent as a gift of gratitude cleansed the impurities from Bai Zhou's mind in return.
His gaze grew clearer and gentler, its sharp edge thoroughly concealed, as though it could serenely reflect any person's image.
For an Extraordinary, Rank 2 cultivation centered on the "mind"—and cultivating the mind meant purging its impurities.
Everyone was born with a pure, innocent heart, only to be contaminated by the secular world.
The process of cultivating the mind was a process of tracing back to the source.
The highest path was returning to the original heart of innocence; the middle path was grasping one's most inescapable obsession; the lowest path was acting entirely at will, yielding to one's desires without guilt or remorse.
Whichever path one took, it was a cultivation of the mind, and taking any of them to the extreme allowed one to reach the pinnacle of Rank 2.
—And Bai Zhou happened to be someone whose mind had never held much contamination in the first place.
Life in Wancheng had been far too monotonous; most of his daily hours were spent eating or pondering what to eat tomorrow.
He would have loved to be corrupted or eroded by sugar-coated bullets... but he had never had the chance.
Thus, with the aid of this shower of light, what few impurities and flaws existed within Bai Zhou's heart were thoroughly cleansed.
A heart of innocence had returned!
Enveloped in mental light, Bai Zhou quietly entered a marvelous state.
—This was a divine ability obtainable only by a "Destined" upon reaching completion in a given stage.
At this moment, even if Bai Zhou closed his eyes, he could perceive every change in the surrounding environment through his mind—from the movements of a person down to the flutter of a falling leaf or the subtle direction of shifting air currents.
—It could even be said that with his eyes closed, Bai Zhou might perceive the fine details of an enemy's movements better than with them open, making it far easier to focus on battle!
In certain records, this state was known as the "Mind's Eye."
True to the name, the mind had become a third eye.
Not only that, but Bai Zhou could sense the goodwill or malice directed at him by others.
In the ancient texts of the Eastern Federation, the marvelous states arising from mental completion were often described as "following the heart's desires without overstepping the bounds" or "the cicada senses the autumn wind before it stirs."
After contemplating this state for a moment, a sudden clarity bloomed in Bai Zhou's heart.
At this instant, he knew that his path as a Rank 2 Destined had reached its end.
He had grown stronger...
—In other words, acquiring the secret technique for the next stage had become an urgent priority.
Fortunately, ever since his injuries healed, he had been steadily pouring spirituality into the Adventurer Token...
The path to advancement lay right within it.
Thinking back, Crow had mentioned that with Bai Zhou's sound mental state, his progress in cultivating the "mind" would likely be faster than ordinary people's.
Yet Bai Zhou had never imagined it would be this fast!
If Crow were to find out, who knew what she would think.
Without a doubt, it was all thanks to these lovely students.
They remembered clearly who had been good to them and who had wronged them, repaying both tenfold!
And it was not even over yet—
Buzz!
At the same time, the last words on the restroom floor, which Bai Zhou had discovered upon first arriving at the school, split into six identical inscriptions and merged into the six inscriptions floating in midair.
Red light burst forth, but the crimson radiance carried an air of joy and jubilation.
The moment they returned to their proper owners, the six sets of last words shattered simultaneously.
[Save... save... me...]
[No, don't save me after all—]
[I don't deserve to live!]
—Helping them find release was also a form of "salvation."
The fulfilled last words shattered into heaps of fragments, rushing toward Bai Zhou in a scramble, just like students pouring out toward the school gates when the bell rang on Friday.
"..."
His vision blurred. Bai Zhou slowly closed his eyes, his expression shifting through complex emotions as if he were taking in something profound.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw those fragments coalescing before him into a test paper covered in written questions, drifting gently down before his eyes.
"What's this?"
Bai Zhou let out a soft murmur.
Across this test paper, a red mark of "59" stood out glaringly.
Before Bai Zhou could reach out to catch it, the white paper folded on its own, turning into a crumpled paper airplane.
After a playful loop in the air, the paper airplane sailed back into Bai Zhou's hand.
The instant his fingers touched the paper airplane, a stream of information surfaced in his mind.
[59-Point Paper Airplane]
[Carries the students' yearning for freedom and their longing for the sky outside the classroom window, born from the gratitude of deceased souls toward a teacher; the poor students have nothing of their own, and can only offer this pure emotion as a gift.]
[Board this airplane to soar freely into the high skies.]
[Scores are merely the runway for takeoff, but once airborne, the plane never needs to land, flying forward toward infinite possibilities.
Please depart, and fly high! Where the nose points is the flight path named "The Future"!]
"..."
Studying the paper airplane in his hand, combined with the crushing pressures from family and school that he had just glimpsed in his mind, Bai Zhou fell into a trance.
In truth, they all shared a common trait: they had once been proud, confident top students, but after suffering setbacks at the elite Yuanmeng Middle School, their grades slipped due to a multitude of external and internal factors.
A flaw appeared in their hearts, allowing the Exam King to exploit it.
It was precisely their excessively high expectations of themselves that had bred such immense pressure and distress.
If they had been like Bai Zhou, calmly accepting any circumstance and meeting everything with optimism, the Exam King would never have targeted them...
—Yet in the end, they must have felt light and joyful, right?
"Thank you."
Cradling the crumpled paper airplane gently in his palm, Bai Zhou murmured silently in his heart.
...
On the other side, Jia Tingting huddled trembling in the corner, curled into a tight ball, cautiously watching Bai Zhou.
This mysterious teacher who had slain the monster was staring blankly at his empty palm, lost in thought.
Watching that fair hand from a distance, Jia Tingting seriously wondered whether a slap from it would send her skull flying.
She had never imagined that an ordinary girl like herself would become the heroine of a teen drama, embarking on a thrilling romantic adventure with a superpower wielder disguised as a teacher.
—After all, she was just a brat, and that cold face of his was utterly terrifying.
How terrifying was it? She had stumbled into a battle between a monster and a superhuman. Compared to any other possibility, the likelihood of being silenced to keep a secret seemed by far the highest.
Just as she was trembling in dread,
Jia Tingting suddenly realized the teacher had looked up at some point, gazing at her with a stiff, dangerous smile.
"!"
Jia Tingting let out a tiny whimper, like a frightened rabbit.
"Look here,"
the man said, raising a finger and gesturing for Jia Tingting to look over.
"—Say cheese!"
The miniature ritual carved into his fingertip activated smoothly.
With a pop of blooming light, Jia Tingting froze in place, wearing a dazed, blank expression.
Only then did Bai Zhou drop the forced, amicable smile.
A faint, unhurried voice drifted into Jia Tingting's ears...
"Feel your breathing gradually turning calm..."
"Let your thoughts grow light... empty..."
"..."
Hypnosis? Is this hypnosis?
Witnessing the entire process from the side, Fang Xiaoyan could no longer keep her composure.
It was bad enough that this mysterious psychological counselor was impossibly good at cutting down monsters, but how was he this proficient at hypnosis too?
A psychological counselor? Is this what a counselor does? Hiding someone like this in a school is way too suspicious!
Hypnotizing a middle school girl—what kind of hypnotic command was he about to give?
He wouldn't end up hypnotizing her as well in a moment, would he?
—Stop, stop, stop!
The moment her imagination began to run wild, Fang Xiaoyan panicked and quickly shouted to stop him.
"No! Hey! Teacher Zhou, what are you doing!"
Bai Zhou had no time to pay attention to her right now, and the hypnosis ritual was not interrupted by Fang Xiaoyan's voice.
Under Fang Xiaoyan's flustered gaze, Bai Zhou stepped up to Jia Tingting, who was slumped on the floor, and spoke in a low, gentle voice:
"You have forgotten everything here, and you have forgotten the monster and me."
"Now, forget the stress and worries of studying. Don't do any homework tonight."
With a serious expression, Bai Zhou said earnestly,
"—Right now, all you want is to reward yourself with a piece of cake, followed by a bite of braised pork knuckle in rock sugar: glossy, rich without being greasy, falling apart at the touch of chopsticks!"
Fang Xiaoyan: "?"
What is this man going on about with such a straight face?
Who gives hypnotic commands like that!
"Remember, you must always remember..."
Bai Zhou bent down, meeting Jia Tingting's unblinking eyes, his lowered voice echoing gently within her heart:
"Only your own happiness matters most. There's no need to put so much pressure on yourself."
"Study well and improve every day, but don't become obsessed."
"As long as you try your best with a clear conscience, don't worry about other people's opinions and pressure."
"Those who love you won't stop loving you just because your grades aren't good. Even if you mess up the high school entrance exam, the sky won't fall. The steamed bun shop will still open, and the sun will rise as usual tomorrow."
Hearing this, Fang Xiaoyan's eyes widened.
She had never heard of a "hypnotic command" like this.
And yet...
"..."
Pausing briefly, Bai Zhou thought for a second and added earnestly,
"Your life, from this moment, has only just begun."
"Because life does not begin at birth or at some particular age."
"—Life begins on the day you stop pleasing the onlookers and start living solely for yourself."
This was Bai Zhou's hypnosis.
It was not mere memory wiping; there were other "hypnotic commands."
Yet it was neither dangerous nor evil.
It simply suited Bai Zhou's duties as a "psychological counselor" remarkably well.
It could be considered his heartfelt reflections after witnessing the tragedies of those deceased students.
Lessons from the past guide the future... and this was not something Bai Zhou alone wanted to do.
Those six students earlier had personally watched Jia Tingting being lured by the Exam King, and had even acted as his accomplices...
They, too, hoped that Jia Tingting would have a relatively relaxed life.
—To live happily on their behalf.
"..."
Jia Tingting remained silent, sitting there blankly. She seemed to have heard none of the words, yet seemed to have heard and memorized every single one.
Clap.
A crisp sound abruptly echoed through the restroom.
Bai Zhou gently clapped his hands and stepped aside from Jia Tingting.
What appeared before Jia Tingting was a wide, open path leading straight to the exit.
The floor was clean and clear.
"Now, you can leave this place,"
Bai Zhou issued the final hypnotic command:
"Student Jia Tingting, go embrace your brand-new life!"
And so, swaying slightly, Student Jia Tingting stood up from the dark corner of the restroom and slowly walked toward the doorway.
Her steps were slow, but each stride was steady.
Pushing aside the heavy door curtain, sunlight outside the exit shone upon her face, outlining her silhouette.
Golden, warm, and brilliant.
Bai Zhou watched her departing figure.
Faintly, it seemed six other figures also lingered in place, watching her go.
Once Jia Tingting disappeared from view, Bai Zhou still paid no heed to Fang Xiaoyan beside him, who wore a dazed expression, having completely misunderstood earlier. Instead, he looked down at his feet.
*Time to deal with this...*
Bai Zhou murmured to himself.
Blood resembling ink wound across the floor, looking like the scene of some bizarre sacrificial rite.
And amidst that pool of ink, where the Exam King had just fallen,
there lay...
completely unstained by the ink...
a school uniform!
It bore the words "Tinghai City Yuanmeng Middle School."
The design was slightly older than the uniforms currently worn at Yuanmeng Middle School in reality, but it was identical to the uniforms Bai Zhou had seen in the Reflected Ruin Realm.
—Where on earth had this uniform suddenly come from?
The moment the Exam King died and his body dispersed into light, this uniform had fluttered to the floor right before Bai Zhou's eyes.
Bai Zhou had a hypothesis about this.
Could it be... the Exam King's true body?
Yet this guess was perhaps too astonishing. Even as he kept his expression calm on the surface, his heart pounded against his ribs.
The true body of a...
"super anomaly"—one possessing bizarre abilities and overall power practically on par with a Rank 4 Extraordinary?
Chapter 87