Chapter 73: Post-Battle Summary

"Yes!" Zhang Yangzi answered awkwardly, standing up. "My performance yesterday was absolutely terrible. Teacher Wu, I was wrong."

Wu Zhangkong waved a hand. "There's no need to admit fault to me. Your life is your own. You still have the chance to reflect now, but if yesterday had been a real spirit beast forest, you'd be nothing more than a corpse — or perhaps not even a trace left behind. Speak about what you felt, about the spirit ascension platform, or even about yourself."

Zhang Yangzi's face twitched with embarrassment. "The world inside the platform felt too real. Inside it, I couldn't sense anything fake. So, the moment I entered, I was incredibly curious. I climbed a tree because I wanted to see farther. Also, my martial soul has some gliding abilities, so I figured from the treetop I could fly in multiple directions and better observe the surroundings."

"So at the start, I wasn't wrong. But where I made a mistake was underestimating my surroundings. I was arrogant, and I didn't understand the attack patterns of spirit beasts. I acted rashly, drew their attention, and got wiped out."

"Next time I enter the platform, I'll be extra cautious, do my best to survive as long as possible."

Once he finished, he sat down again.

Wu Zhangkong offered no comment and turned to Wang Jinxi. "And you?"

Wang Jinxi gave a bitter smile. "Teacher Wu, I honestly don't remember much else clearly now. All I can recall is the face that appeared above me — and then the bone-deep cold, as if my soul itself froze over. It's been haunting me like a nightmare ever since. I don't even know how I'll handle it if I encounter it again next time."

Wu Zhangkong said calmly, "You need to relax your mind. It'll gradually improve in the next few days. Your situation was special — the Man-Faced Demon Spider is an extremely rare and extremely powerful spirit beast. Even at a hundred years old, it can hunt thousand-year spirit beasts. Dying to it isn't shameful. But remember this: next time you encounter such a beast, press the rescue signal immediately. This time, you were directly killed inside the platform, and that's dangerous."

Teacher Wu… comforting someone? That was extremely rare!

"Thank you, Teacher."

Wu Zhangkong turned to Gu Yue.

Gu Yue said calmly, "The spirit ascension platform is a very real world. I felt like I'd truly entered an ancient forest. I think… I liked it there. I liked it a lot. During the fights, the spirit beasts felt very real — everything seemed no different from the real thing."

"That's it?" Wu Zhangkong frowned slightly as he saw Gu Yue sit back down. When she had voluntarily exited the platform, he'd already been a bit angry. The platform slots were precious. Even the basic level was something an ordinary family might never experience even once in their lifetime. Yet Gu Yue had pulled out early just because of a conflict with Gu You? That was truly unacceptable.

Gu Yue nodded silently.

Wu Zhangkong's gaze hardened. "Then explain to me: why did you leave the platform on your own? Even if there was a conflict, you should have resolved it afterward. Do you have any idea how rare that opportunity was?!"

Gu Yue froze, lowering her head and biting her lip. "Teacher! I was wrong. I shouldn't have wasted the opportunity or let down the academy's expectations."

Wu Zhangkong gave her a cold look but didn't press further. He turned to Xie Xie and Tang Wulin. "Your turn."

The two boys stood up.

Xie Xie spoke first, his voice full of excitement. After all, he and Tang Wulin had performed well in the platform, and he was sure Teacher Wu would praise them. "Teacher Wu, I really liked it there too. Hunting spirit beasts in that forest felt amazing! That environment is perfect for agility-type battle soul masters like me. If I could get even faster, my survivability would go way up."

Then Tang Wulin added, "The forest felt incredibly real. Even though I knew it was an illusion, once I was inside, I couldn't help treating it like it was real. Especially the pain when injured — it made the battles feel truly lifelike. That realism was very helpful for improving combat experience. I think if we keep training in a place like that, we can become real soul masters. I also feel like we need to work more on our teamwork. Only through close cooperation can we combine our strength to take on spirit beasts stronger than us. We need to keep exploring and seeking opportunities inside the platform."

After listening to all five of them, Wu Zhangkong nodded.

Finally, his gaze fell on Gu You.

Gu You reflexively stood up, straightening his back. With a crisp voice, he said, "Teacher Wu, this spirit ascension trip taught me one thing: strength alone doesn't determine everything. Even when facing an opponent who seems weaker, carelessness can still lead to disaster."

Wu Zhangkong looked at him with curiosity. "Why did you collapse from soul power exhaustion and suffer a mental backlash after absorbing the energy from the thousand-year Crystal Bear? Everyone's curious — that kind of fainting was bizarre."

At that, Tang Wulin and Xie Xie both froze.

The thousand-year Crystal Bear… was Gu You the one who killed it? Didn't that mean they had actually benefited from Gu You's efforts?

Xie Xie was so moved he almost teared up. Tang Wulin's gaze toward Gu You also shifted. He still remembered Old Tang's warnings, but seeing the truth now — how the soul ring advancement they'd gotten had come from Gu You defeating the bear — made him realize that behind the scenes, someone had been quietly paving the way for them all along.

Tang Wulin's expression softened. He was determined: this friend, he would keep.

Meanwhile, Gu Yue sat with an expression of disdain, feeling a little aggrieved inside. Why was everyone concerned about Gu You? Why did no one care about her, the "victim"? She'd been forced to call him "big brother" in front of everyone! Seriously, who wouldn't feel outrage after something that humiliating happened out of nowhere?!

Gu You scratched the back of his head casually. "Teacher, the whole experiment kind of… crashed. I was trying to see if I could absorb that energy into my mental sea and bring it out afterward, but, well, you saw how that went."

Wu Zhangkong was speechless. Who on earth thinks like this kid? Trying to smuggle ascension platform energy out… was that even something a normal person would think to test? In the future, no matter what federal scientific experiments came up, Wu Zhangkong vowed he'd never let Gu You volunteer as a test subject again.

"This spirit ascension training session — if I were to grade you all," Wu Zhangkong said calmly, "Zhang Yangzi, zero points. Wang Jinxi, one point. Gu Yue, zero points. Xie Xie, five points. Tang Wulin, five points. Gu You, three points."

Zhang Yangzi had expected his low score and sighed. Wang Jinxi wasn't surprised either.

Xie Xie puffed out his chest proudly, grinning. Tang Wulin was thrilled too — who didn't love being praised?

But when Wu Zhangkong said Gu You only scored three points, lower than Tang Wulin and Xie Xie, the whole room showed surprised expressions.

After all, with Gu You's performance, punching out a thousand-year spirit beast in one blow, even with his mistakes, surely he deserved at least four points, right?

(End of Chapter)

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