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An Lin finally came to his senses after hearing his score being announced.
He stared at everyone around him with wide-eyed shock as he scratched his head.
“U… useless teammate!”
Wang Xuanzhan’s anguished voice sounded from beside him.
An Lin: “…”
An Lin was also a little baffled, how could this happen…
The mystic realm was far more terrifying than he imagined, it simply didn’t seem plausible!
He looked toward Vice-Principal Yu Hua with a pitiful expression. “Vice-Principal, I think something is amiss here…”
Vice-Principal Yu Hua could only shake his head and sighed with a resigned look on his face.
The Starry Maze was an extremely mysterious mystic realm to the point that even Return to Void Stage mighty figures couldn’t glean the entirety of the secrets hidden within.
An Lin’s result was very hard for everyone to accept. Even Yu Hua himself didn’t believe that An Lin would be unable to even make it to the second step.
But that was the irreversible reality.
There was no way they could find out the reason for this result, so he could only announce the result as it was.
The Heavenly Court received a total of 8.7 points in the Dao segment, placing them dead last.
This was an absolutely crushing result, and some students were already wiping away tears in private. Many of them were still unable to accept what had happened.
“Impossible… How could our God An not even be able to take one step?”
“Could it be because he’s not feeling well?”
“It simply doesn’t make sense!”
“I suspect it might be because of the after-effects from the explosion in the Spells segment…”
“Waah… Has he become disabled in pursuit of glory for the Heavenly Court… ”
“I’m more curious about where the guy that said he’s going to eat his own sh*t if God An got stuck on the first step has gone to.”
“Do you have a soul? How could you be thinking about things like this right now?!”
…
All the students at the spectator stands were discussing among themselves. Even those from the other three powers were staring at An Lin with peculiar expressions as if they had seen some sort of anomaly. He almost received full points in the Spell segment, but then he almost received zero for the Dao segment… What the hell was going on?!
Hong Dou was chortling with mirth as he gave An Lin a thumbs-up. “An Lin’s Dao Heart truly is number one under the heavens.”
An Lin winced at Hong Dou’s words. Who would have thought that a day would come when he would be insulted by a weak trash like Hong Dou.
There were five segments in total: Spells, Dao, Intent, Life, and Seize. Although they were last in the total standings at the moment, they could still turn the tables with the last three segments. They were down but not out!
An Lin clenched his fists in determination. He planned to fight until the end and redeem himself.
“Wang Xuanzhan, Liu Qianhuan, what… what happened to you guys!?” An Lin exclaimed in shock as he turned his gaze upon his two teammates.
The two of them was lying down on the ground, staring up vacantly at the clouds in the sky.
“Don’t bother me, I’m just a failure. I brought up the rear among the Heavenly Court representatives and I’m the disgrace of all young sorceresses…” Liu Qianhuan spoke with a hopeless expression.
“Don’t bother me, just let me lie here like this. What’s the point of coming first? It just ends in a loss anyway. What’s the point of even trying, you’ll lose to everyone anyway. To be honest, this is all just fate…”
That’s right! Some things simply could not be achieved no matter how much you tried. It was all just fate!
An Lin was stunned into silence at this sight as a thought welled up in his heart.
It’s over, both of them have completely lost their fighting spirit…
If a team lost their urge to fight, then what the f*ck was the point of even competing!
No, he had to reignite their will!
“Liu Qianhuan!”
“What…”
“If you’re losing in a video game, what would you do?”
“Surrender, of course.”
“…”
An Lin winced.
F*ck, that wasn’t the response he wanted…
He yelled loudly, “Wrong! When you’re losing, you should be thinking about how to turn the tables! Trust me, with our collective efforts, we can stage a perfect comeback!”
“The last person who said that to me successfully secured 0.1 of a point…” Liu Qianhuan wrinkled her intricate nose as she mumbled in response.
An Lin felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart by her words.
His fighting spirit was almost snuffed by her response.
He temporarily gave up on Liu Qianhuan and directed his attention toward Wang Xuanzhan.
“Senior Wang, you’re the head representative of the Heavenly Court, should you just roll over and accept defeat like this!?”
“So what? Even if I fight, even if I come first individually, there’s still a possibility that the team will come last. An Lin, I’m not blaming you for anything, I just want to say that this is all fate!”
An Lin: “…”
If Earth Immortal Ming Yuan heard this, he would definitely happily accept Wang Xuanzhan as his personal disciple…
An Lin had nothing to say in response. After hearing Wang Xuanzhan’s response, he felt as if another knife had been driven into his heart.
An Lin had originally intended to reignite their fighting spirit but even he himself was falling into despair. He raised his head up to the sky and heaved a forlorn sigh.
Vice-Principal Yu Hua also felt exhausted at this scene. But the conference had to continue, so he introduced the Lion King from the Hall of Creation as the latter went up to the stage to host the third segment.
The third segment was a competition of intent. This was referring to the true intent that one had attained. There were countless types of true intent in this world, and each of them reflected the level of depth to which a Dao-seeker grasped their own domain.
The Lion King walked onto the stage and a huge black crystal appeared from his storage ring.
“This is the intent realm crystal, you will only need to place your hand on the crystal, and inject your true intent within, and your consciousness will appear within the crystal. There are ten mechanical puppets within the crystal which you’ll need to battle with your true intent.
“The mechanical puppets will appear sequentially after you vanquish its predecessor. You’ll be rewarded one point for each mechanical puppet that you defeat. You battles will be displayed on the crystal, and even if your consciousness is destroyed within the crystal, it’ll have no impact on your physical body.
The spectators all became a bit more excited at the Lion King’s description. After all, this segment involved a combative element so it should make for some good viewing.
An Lin’s breathing also began to speed up as a scorching expression appeared in his eyes.
An intent realm crystal… What a familiar name!
His true intent was very powerful, on par with even the top prodigal Sword Immortal in the Purple Star State. He had this segment in the bag!
Su Qianyun also smiled lightly from the spectator stands as she stirred slightly. “An Lin should be able to redeem himself this time.”
“Oh, why do you say that?” Xu Xiaolan asked curiously from beside her.
To be honest, even her heart ached for An Lin after his score of 0.1.
Su Qianyun’s eyes rippled like water as she stared at the man on stage. She then recounted to Xu Xiaolan the events during which An Lin competed against Sword Grand Master Jiang Yanan of the Green Wood Imperial Palace in the discipline of true intent.
Xu Xiaolan’s eyes lit up after hearing Su Qianyun’s description of the event. She was also beginning to develop an interest in the events that were about to happen next.
For this segment, the Heavenly Court team were the first to take the stage.
“Wang Xuanzhan, Liu Qianhuan, let me go first this time!”
An Lin proposed with a serious expression.
Wang Xuanzhan and Liu Qianhuan were all taken aback by his words.
An Lin asked, “If I come first this time, are you guys willing to fight with me for first place in this Dao Exchange Conference!?”
An Lin spoke each word firmly as a scorching intent burned in his eyes.
They did not know why, but An Lin’s confident demeanor suddenly lit up the fire in the other two team members’ hearts.
“Well now that you put it that way, how could I refuse?” Wang Xuanzhan replied with a knowing smile.
“I do well in video games where I’m winning, so if you can put us in an advantageous position, I’ll definitely be happy to offer my services. Do your best!” Liu Qianhuan smiled sweetly.
An Lin nodded solemnly. “Don’t give up, we can still turn the tables!”
He began to walk toward the black crystal at the conclusion of his sentence.
He had to use his actions to inspire everyone!