Mid-term Exam, Part 5

Su Qing didn’t hesitate for a second—she spun around and bolted straight toward the zone-boss marker.

Against two late Foundation Establishment second-years in a straight fight? She’d be at a huge disadvantage. But when it came to pure running away? She was slipperier than a loach in mud. Good luck catching her.

The more she slipped through their fingers, the more those two second-years refused to let her go. They chased furiously.

That sword in the kid’s hand was clearly no ordinary weapon, and her storage pouch had to be stuffed with goodies.

As if! The second-years knew perfectly well that every move they made was being watched by countless eyes outside the field. Top performances got recorded on image-recording stones. Embarrassing ones did too.

No matter what, they were the seniors. No way they’d be scared of a first-year, natural genius or not. They were sixty years older and had sixty years more experience!

The thousand sword spirits Su Qing had aggroed followed the parade like a glittering tail of death. Cold light flashed, dust billowed—an absolutely jaw-dropping sight to everyone hiding in the dark.

So this playstyle existed?! Insanely cool, sure, but who else had the guts to pull it off?

With their skills, they’d rather play it safe—one sword spirit at a time, slow and steady.

Yet a few first-years hesitated only a moment before raising their swords and joining the chase.

The reasoning was simple:

1. Those three were definitely going to fight; there had to be loot in the chaos.
2. They were all first-years. Su Qing was strong, but two second-years ganking her? She wasn’t guaranteed to win.
3. Most importantly—they hadn’t forgotten the exam rewards. No way were they letting second- and third-years steal the spotlight in their own midterm!

Su Qing ran, casually harvesting every sword spirit locked onto her along the way.

Her foundation was rock-solid, her heavy sword carried terrifying momentum, and the faster she leveled, the smoother her moves became—fluid as flowing water and drifting clouds, almost elegant.

Golden text exploded above her head nonstop: 【Attack ++】【HP ++】【Spirit Stones ++】【Sword Qi ++】 Numbers rising so fast the eye couldn’t keep up.

Game money spent like water felt amazing.

She instantly blew everything on proper gear: 【Embroidery Brocade Robe: Defense +1000】 【Soaring Cloud Boots ×2: Speed +500 each】 【Ink-Painted Sash: Defense +500】 【Exquisite Jade Pendant: Defense +500】

And underneath all that, she layered fifty tattered Body Cultivator robes.

No more hiding—she swung wildly, sword qi howling everywhere, turning the entire upper Sword Tomb into a chaotic mess. More and more sword spirits aggroed, and more and more confused players followed the noise.

Some who knew each other even temporarily called truces to ask, “What the hell is going on? Why’s everyone grouping up?”

Another, seeing Su Qing—someone every first-year recognized—leading the charge toward the boss marker, confidently declared, “Obviously Friend Su is leading us to kill the big field boss!”

Someone else bought it completely and praised, “As expected of Friend Su—such foresight! Exactly! If we all just kill each other and get eliminated, who’s left to handle the big boss?”

And just like that, a giant train of people inexplicably followed Su Qing to raid the boss.

What should have been a brutal free-for-all suddenly turned weirdly peaceful the moment a common enemy (the boss) appeared.

Of course, the peace was temporary.

Sheng Zhuguang finally caught on. “Wait… so we’ve been baited into fighting the boss?!”

“Took you long enough, idiot,” sneered the other second-year, Wu Feiyu. “It’s actually a brilliant plan, but who’d have thought the game was this sadistic? Serves them right. Time for the first-years to taste the despair we felt back then.”

Sheng Zhuguang exploded, “Fine, fine, you’re the only smart one! Remind me again who’s still stuck on the seventh floor of Wuya Pavilion?!”

Though neither said it aloud, both second-years shared the same dark thought: They’d suffered; the juniors had to suffer too. Fair’s fair. Why should the first-years get to hold umbrellas while they got soaked? Rip those umbrellas to shreds!

Su Qing ignored all the chatter—she was busy running for her life, slashing swords, and looting.

Normally in the sect she had to hold back; damaging sect property cost spirit stones. Here? No such thing as collateral damage.

She went absolutely wild.

When she finally reached the boss zone, she didn’t see some gigantic sword monster. Instead, a bored girl propped her chin on one hand, sitting on a big rock, lazily doodling circles in the dirt with her sword tip.

Su Qing recognized her instantly—not because they’d met, but because a label floated above her head: 【Jiang Chixue: Sword Tomb BOSS】 【Cultivation: Mid Golden Core】

It clicked.

She’d thought the twenty randomly selected third-years were extra competitors. But with second-years (Foundation Establishment) already unfair, adding twenty Golden Cores would make victory impossible for first-years.

So the twenty Golden Cores weren’t players. They were bosses. The villains.

What kind of decent sect makes upperclassmen into villain bosses to stomp the underclassmen?! How is that conducive to sect harmony?!

No wonder the second- and third-years had been so excited—they weren’t here to take the exam. They were here to write it.

The gap between Golden Core and Foundation Establishment was insurmountable. Even three Foundation Establishment together might not beat one Golden Core.

The second everything connected in Su Qing’s mind, she turned to flee—she was right on the edge of the boss zone; escaping should be easy.

But Jiang Chixue’s eyes lit up. She grinned, “You’re already here—why leave?”

With a casual flick of her sword, she drew a simple circle on the ground.

Instantly the circle expanded from the tip, turning everything it enclosed into soft cloth-like material. Rocks and grass became printed patterns on fabric. Anyone caught inside was like an insect stuck on a spider’s dangling web.

Su Qing’s feet sank into the sticky cloth. The scenery around her rose into looming walls. Countless silken threads wove overhead, blotting out the sky.

Her HP immediately started ticking down—fast. Luckily her defense was stacked absurdly high; she still had a buffer before real damage.

Jiang Chixue was from the Array School—of course she dual-cultivated arrays and sword. She’d long mastered the advanced elective “Hide Arrays in Swords, Hide Swords in Arrays.”

Array School students: soft on the outside, venomous on the inside.

Su Qing was used to it.

She’d never fought a Golden Core head-on, but she had fought a Divinity Transformation cultivator.

So mentally she was fine. Losing wouldn’t kill her. In fact, the pressure lit a fire under her—danger became fuel. Her brain spun at max speed, excitement surging.

Silk webs? Cloth? If she had a Body School senior’s raw strength she could just rip it apart. Too bad. If she had Senior Sister Qin Zhen’s sword intent that could cut the tangible and intangible alike, also no problem. Too bad—she’d only brushed the edge of sword intent.

…Thinking about it, she really was kinda useless.

The one thing she was good at? Hoarding junk.

Su Qing opened her storage pouch and dumped every single 【Useless Pebble ×10,000】.

She’d been too lazy to pick them up at first, but the drop rate was insane and she’d been panic-looting everything. Result: a mountain of garbage rocks.

Ten thousand pebbles instantly formed a literal hill beneath her feet.

The rising pile pushed her right out of the trap. She immediately sold every piece of defense gear she had and converted everything into pure speed—boots, robes, accessories, all agility.

Now standing tall atop the unstable, sinking pebble mountain, she planted her heavy sword tip-first into the summit.

Purple qi detonated.

An explosive wave of recoil launched her skyward like a cannonball. Bones stretched, muscles screamed under pressure and then gloriously released. She was used to this kind of violent propulsion—she even adjusted her posture mid-flight for the perfect landing angle.

Sheng Zhuguang’s eyes flashed. “Not bad! Actually escaping Heaven-Net Array!”

Wu Feiyu stepped forward, voice trembling with shock, forgetting to bicker. “That’s not escaping—”

Indeed.

It was a counter-attack.

Boss rule: cannot leave their designated zone. Otherwise twenty Golden Cores would have swept the map already.

That put array cultivators at a huge disadvantage—they were stuck inside their own arrays.

She had escaped her cage. Now it was someone else’s turn to be trapped.

Come all this way and leave? No way.

Su Qing, every single stat point dumped into agility, blitzed straight at Jiang Chixue—so fast the Golden Core couldn’t even react before Su Qing was right in her face.

Too close.

But Jiang Chixue didn’t panic. Not all array cultivators were glass cannons; she had deliberately trained her weak points. She was confident she could tank a Foundation Establishment body cultivator.

Su Qing was counting on exactly that mindset.

She grabbed Jiang Chixue’s shoulders. Under the boss’s confused gaze, she slammed her forehead forward with all her might.

BANG!

Jiang Chixue’s vision went black. She passed out cold.

A mid Golden Core… knocked unconscious by a headbutt?!

Everyone watching collectively questioned their life choices.

So array cultivators really were that fragile?! Then maybe they could—

Su Qing clutched the massive bump on her own forehead and thought: Headbutt my ass.

Divine-sense attack.

Many teachers outside the field noticed the anomaly. The headbutt was just cover—the real strike was an instantaneous divine-sense spike.

She wasn’t great at controlling it yet, so she needed point-blank range. Otherwise she might have accidentally hurt Jiang Chixue too badly.

Half-baked, but effective.

Su Qing warily scanned the surroundings.

Confirmed no one was rushing to KS the loot.

Then, with extreme criminal energy, she swept every single glittering golden reward that exploded from the boss and vanished into the dark night.