The freed examinees surged forward at once.
Having been trapped in the Golden Cymbal for an hour, they were entirely docile—they absolutely refused to go back into that horror.
That demon Su Fu was the real deal—she would do exactly as she said.
“Attack!”
“We must finish the fight within three hours!”
“Don’t let me end up back in that damned Golden Cymbal!”
In an instant, countless divine skills erupted.
Radiant flashes filled the air—fire, lightning, frost, stone, storms…
A barrage of skills thundered forth, a deafening roar, dazzling light nearly obscuring all possible avenues of attack.
Achilles and the others: “……”
How were they supposed to fight this?!
Su Fu watched with satisfaction—so they wanted to use numbers to gang up on her?
Well, let’s see who really had more people.
All manner of divine skills burst forth, and Achilles’ group, battered by the overwhelming storm and they could only scramble in disarray.
No matter how strong they were, they were simply too outnumbered—forced to dodge and defend at every turn.
Meanwhile, Su Fu darted about on her wind-and-fire wheels, calling out warnings everywhere: “Take this seriously! If I catch anyone slacking, you can go right back into the Golden Cymbal and become roommates with the Yellow Browed Monster!”
At these words, the freshmen felt their scalps tingle—there was no going back!
They would rather die than return!
With that threat, everyone fought with renewed vigor.
A fire-type divine skill user, who’d been hesitant a moment ago, immediately tripled the size of his fireball and hurled it straight at Achilles.
A student who had just been lazily waving his staff now straightened, and, with a solemn look, summoned a radiant blue glow from his staff.
Divine power surged—
[Poseidon’s Trident]!
Su Fu nodded with satisfaction, “Very good.”
Wherever she passed, the students were full of enthusiasm, their divine skills stronger than ever but there were always some who tried to coast.
A short-haired boy in a corner thought he wouldn’t be noticed among the crowd—he seemed to be casting a spell, but in reality, he was just pretending.
Su Fu shot straight over to him and exclaimed, “This is the second time you’ve slacked off!”
Short-haired boy: “???”
‘Wait, you’re actually checking?!’
Before he could say a word, Su Fu made the Golden Cymbal tremble with a sharp—
“Wong!”
A golden light descended from the sky, swallowing him whole.
The remaining freshmen: “!!!”
Suddenly, their energy levels spiked.
They could only mutter apologies to Achilles and his group—there was simply no choice.
Besides, with so many of them, how could there be any fear of retaliation?
But if they didn’t fight now, Su Fu’s Golden Cymbal would really be put to use.
Some couldn’t take it anymore—a girl whispered to her teammate, “Wolves ahead, tigers behind—we’re caught in the middle! Why not just quit?”
Her teammate quickly grabbed her and said, “Are you crazy? No one else has quit—if you do, you’ll lose a whole year’s worth of resources!”
He lowered his voice, “There are so many people here. Achilles can’t punish everyone. Besides, what’s there to fear?”
They were all students of Tianqiong Path Academy.
Maybe not as powerful as Achilles and the others, but it wasn’t like he could really retaliate against everyone—so what if they beat him up?
The girl thought it over, ‘He was right with so many people, if I just tossed out a few skills, how would anyone know which were mine?’
Looking around at the hundreds, the thousands of examinees, all unleashing their own divine skills, how could anyone keep track?
Not a problem.
Once she figured this out, the girl let go of her worries and activated her ultimate: [Phantasmal Soul Spear]!
The long spear pierced through the crowd, shattering Achilles’ defensive shield.
Achilles: “!!!”
‘Who was that!’
The girl quickly slipped away, her mind clear—once Yellow Browed Monster died, the exam would end, and as long as she survived, she’d get her share of the points and resources.
If she quit now, she’d get nothing.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but look up at Su Fu floating overhead, expression complicated: “She’s too strong… She must have already figured out what we’d be thinking, right?”
And thus, the tide was set.
In the center of the battlefield, Achilles and the others were utterly miserable.
“Damn… Damn it!” Achilles gritted his teeth, eyes blazing with rage.
Bodhi Yue’s Brahma Manifestation was nearly invisible, just a faint shimmer of light remaining.
“I’ll never forget today’s humiliation.”
Freya was in even worse shape—her divine power of fertility was utterly depleted, no longer able to support her teammates’ recovery.
Saffiros’s silver sword was bent and dulled, his hair in disarray, while Hopte had burrowed into the earth and was playing dead.
Su Fu was satisfied, ‘Good, everyone had a bright future ahead.’
***
Jianxia Mountains.
Murray and the others had guessed Su Fu would win, but never expected she’d win so… effortlessly?
“This… isn’t this just ridiculous?”
They saw Su Fu leisurely gliding around the battlefield on her wind-and-fire wheels.
She looked busy, but in fact, she was just supervising everyone else’s work, occasionally using the Golden Cymbal to scare lazy students—she had the whole rhythm of the battlefield in her grip.
Meanwhile, Achilles and the others… it was a tragic sight.
They really were the cream of the crop—whether in manifestation or divine skills, all were impressively strong.
But the ones fighting them were fellow freshmen—everyone who got into Tianqiong Path Academy was a powerhouse in their own right!
Even if the difference was big, how big could it really be?
Not to mention, this was pure numbers—if each person threw a skill, hundreds, thousands at once, it was like a hundredfold increase.
How could anyone withstand that?
Even an S-class genius wouldn’t survive and with Su Fu overseeing everything, quite a few students even tried teaming up in secret, aiming to take Su Fu down.
But unfortunately, when Su Fu summoned her hundred-meter-tall Saint’s Manifestation, those students’ hopes instantly crumbled.
Come on, how was that even possible?
A hundred meters… what did that even mean?
Most people weren’t even ten meters tall—she just stood there at a hundred?
They immediately bailed on that idea.
The would-be assailants immediately behaved, obediently going all out against Achilles and his group, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
Lina rubbed her temples and said,”Looks like Su Fu really is planning to beat up Achilles and the rest for a full three hours?”
That’s brutal.
Just hearing about it would make one cry, witnessing it would break your heart.
Honestly, why did they have to provoke her in the first place!
At that moment, Murray suddenly received a string of notifications:
[Olympus Family representative requests entry into Jianxia Mountains to observe the Newborn Joint Entrance Exam]
[Asgard Family representative requests entry into Jianxia Mountains to observe the Newborn Joint Entrance Exam]
[Brahma Holy Clan representative requests entry into Jianxia Mountains to observe the Newborn Joint Entrance Exam]
[Paradise Saint Clan representative requests entry into Jianxia Mountains to observe the Newborn Joint Entrance Exam]
[……]
Murray’s expression changed, ‘What the heck? All the great families wanted to come? For what?’
He instinctively glanced at the scene of Achilles and the others getting thrashed onscreen.
If the families saw their precious prodigies being beaten this badly, wouldn’t they flip out?
Almost simultaneously, the number of permission requests doubled.
Murray couldn’t help but curse, “Just how many people are coming?”
He hesitated—should he approve these requests?
This kind of scene really wasn’t fit for them to see, but just then, a message arrived from the Vice Dean: [Allow them entry.]
Murray paused, incredulous. “Really let them in? Won’t they be furious when they see… their prodigies getting beaten like this…?”
He sighed, shaking his head, “Since the Vice Dean said so, I have no choice.”
With Murray’s confirmation, all the requests immediately switched to [Approved] status.
Almost at once, beams of light of various colors descended on the plaza.
As the lights faded, out stepped groups of people dressed in finery, exuding impressive auras.
Nearly all representatives from the seven great families had arrived.
As soon as they entered the Proctoring Zone, they instinctively looked up at the massive projection screen—only for their expressions to freeze in unison.
“What… what is going on?”
“Is that… Achilles?”
“Which one is Bodhi Yue?”
“That must be Freya, right?”
Everyone strained to identify those bruised, battered, and utterly bedraggled figures on the screen.
Honestly, how could you even tell?
They’d originally rushed here after hearing rumors of the Bull Demon King.
Ostensibly, it was to observe the freshmen’s strength—but in truth, they’d come to protect their own.
If their family’s genius fell prey to the Bull Demon King, they’d pay any price to rescue them.
But they’d never expected—it was true their kids had been thrashed, but by the examinees!
The representatives quickly learned the whole story, but their faces soon grew even darker.
“So, the mastermind behind all this is Su Fu?”
“Not only does she have the Founding Goddess Nüwa Manifestation, she can also switch to the Saint’s Manifestation of the Great Sage?”
“Most importantly, she actually managed to seize the Golden Cymbal from the monster’s hands?”
“This ability… is simply unheard of!”
They exchanged glances—something wasn’t right.
This Su Fu, who’d appeared out of nowhere, was just too strong.
She was simply dominating this entire cohort.
What would happen to their families’ prodigies now?
No one knew, so they hurriedly sent word back home for instructions.
Olympus Family.
In a dark study, only a desk lamp glowed softly, illuminating a hand adorned with a golden ring.
He finished listening to the report and gave a cold snort.
“A loss is a loss, but for Achilles to cause such a scandal—he’s still too young, too pampered, and too arrogant. Send Patriarch Karisto to handle this. This news must not leak from the Jianxia Mountains.”
On the other side of the desk stood a burly man, head bowed deeply: “Yes, sir.”
He quietly slipped away, but inside he was in turmoil, ‘This was insane—if Lord Zeus found out the young master had actually gotten pregnant in the exam hall…’
He almost blacked out at the thought—everything would be over!
Ten minutes earlier.
In the depths of darkness, a golden door appeared.
It floated in the void, then slowly opened, bright, gentle light spilling from within.
At that moment, a faint buzzing arose in the darkness, and a woman approached the golden door.
She looked a bit battered, injuries all over, a few bloodstains not yet dried on her face.
As she stopped, Shen Yan’s voice sounded by her ear: [“Guardian XZ-9527, you are applying to cross the boundaries of the worlds.”]
[“Current coordinates: B-137 Sector.”]
[“Identity verification in progress…”]
[“S-class clearance, verified.”]
[“Major Tang Yu, congratulations on completing your mission.”]
[“New task detected: Please proceed to Tianqiong Path Academy · Ling Mountain Instance · Newborn Joint Entrance Exam space, and eliminate S-class Anomaly · Bull Demon King.”]
[“You will be transmitted directly to the Jianxia Mountains. Confirm acceptance of task?”]
Tang Yu frowned slightly, ‘there was another S-class Anomaly in Ling Mountain?’
She checked her condition—about seventy percent of her energy had been used on the last mission, but she still had enough left.
More importantly, this concerned the current year’s freshmen.
She couldn’t let an anomaly ruin such good seedlings.
She wiped the blood from her cheek and said quietly: “Guardian Tang Yu, confirm task acceptance.”
Shen Yan’s system replied: [“Task confirmed, preparing transmission.”]
[“Estimated time: ten minutes.”]
Tang Yu took a deep breath, dusted herself off, and stepped toward the golden door.
Just as she crossed the threshold, a terrifying aura suddenly rose up behind her.
Tang Yu tensed instantly, gripping her short blade and spinning around.
At that moment, she froze—
In the endless darkness, the shadow of a massive dragon slowly emerged, and within a few breaths, it had drawn near, gradually taking human form.
It was a woman dressed in dark robes.
She wore a green hairpin, the only source of light in the darkness.
As their gazes met, Tang Yu saw her eyes—golden vertical pupils.
At that moment, the time for the door elapsed.
Everything before Tang Yu blurred, and she suddenly realized who the woman was.
Tai Xuanzi.
From the Chinese Pantheon—Tai Xuanzi.