Chapter 781: Official Students (II)

BOOM!

The barbarous enemy that Li Hao faced was unbelievably strong. Punch after punch forced Li Hao back; their staunch body as if an invincible construct!

Li Hao’s hand connected with their body, but only inflicted a small cut as opposed to obliterating the enemy. After the young man withdrew his hand, he saw the cut rapidly return to pristine condition.

“Damn it!” Li Hao cursed. What kind of healing ability was this?? It was like how he was when he wielded Stellaris! Any injuries he inflicted instantly healed, whereas his blood flowed freely now because he lacked sword energy. There was nothing he could do to heal himself!

He wanted to see how the others were doing and tilted his head in their direction. Li Hao gasped with horror when he gained a clear look. It wasn’t just him—everyone was suppressed and unable to move from their spot.

Is the Black Armor trying to fail us on purpose?

“You have a hope of joining Evenround Martial if you win,” sounded the Black Armor’s voice. “This is a real battle truly recorded in history. Humanity won that battle! You can also withdraw, of course. Withdrawing will mean that you fail the test!”

A real battle recorded in history? Li Hao’s eyebrows raised upward.

BAM!

His moment of distraction permitted the barbarian to land a punch, almost shattering his bones. Spewing blood, Li Hao flew backward. Sky Sword was also sent flying not far away from the young man. He, too, vomited blood from the force of the palm strike!

Hou Xiaochen, Hong Yitang, and the little tree...

Even an entity as strong as the little tree could mount no resistance whatsoever. It couldn’t seem to use its imperial palace projection, so it was completely under the thumb of a powerhouse and gave way with every blow!

Heated battle raged on all sides, but humanity was firmly on the losing side. The middle-aged men who’d spoken to the group earlier were doing battle as best they could, but they were firmly suppressed. Some even had to hold off three or four opponents at the same time and endure purely through sheer willpower!

How are we supposed to win?! This is a farce!

Li Hao cursed to himself. They were hemmed in on all sides, how was this supposed to lead to a human victory? The enemy outnumbered them many times over and was so strong that no one could fight back. How was turning the tables at all possible like this??

It’s just trying to get us killed!

Hou Xiaochen flew backward after a loud impact, a bloody hole in his chest. He coughed painfully, disbelief in his eyes that his immense strength was once more being dismantled. His opponent had overcome him in every aspect possible! There was no chance for him to strike back!

The voice that Li Hao heard had also sounded in their ears. All of them wanted to curse out the Black Armor! They were somehow supposed to pull a win out of this situation? Who was it kidding??

“I forgot to say that all of you fail if more than half of the human army is lost,” came the Black Armor’s voice again. “You will forever stay here and believe me, it’s impossible for you to break this illusion! So make haste if you wish to withdraw from the test!”

Li Hao and the rest sagged with the implications. They faced an army ten times their size and wouldn’t be able to withdraw from the scene once their side’s losses exceeded half of their total number. Should they give up now?

Giving up now meant admitting to failure and then... being forever trapped in these ruins. No one could determine how strong the Black Armor was, but they all knew that a powerhouse that could imprison them within an illusory realm was someone that they could not measure up to.

The little tree constantly fell back from the force of the blows it suffered; its voice echoed by the group’s ears. “What the Black Armor says is true, he’s too strong. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, and he was very likely a Saint when he was alive!”

“A... Saint?”

“The Saint cultivation level exceeds the Apex level. What comes after Apex is the Emperor level, which was later changed to simply Immortal to indicate the unending eternity one reaches at that level. Only after that is the Saint level!”

Li Hao and the others shook.

Da fuck?? That strong?!

The little tree wasn’t even an Apex, but their enemies were several major cultivation levels stronger? Didn’t they say that very few powerhouses had stayed behind when the Human King left? How was there such a premier existence in a minor martial university? Did they even stand a chance of getting away from the Black Armor?

No wonder the little tree had been so meek and humble after encountering it!

The group was caught between a rock and a hard place. The little tree suffered a relentless barrage from the enemy because it’d split its attention to talk to them. Its armor was dented and it shrieked with agony. Plainly, it was no match for the enemy either.

Li Hao’s quartet were having the living daylights beaten out of them and heavyweights were dying one after another beneath them.

Fucking hell!

This was an impossible mission! The Black Armor wanted to keep them all in the ruins forever! The only course of action they could take was to withdraw and keep the Black Armor company as they all grew old together.

BOOM!

A loud impact sounded as Li Hao saw a person erupting with bloody sparks out of the corner of his eye. The person instantly coalesced a blade of blood and decapitated an enemy with a loud whir, but they burst apart as well!

The Incantation of the Blade of Blood!

Li Hao recognized it! These people were employing that method! Intense pain burst from his ear—his opponent had grazed him with a punch. Blood dripped down Li Hao’s face as he roared and slammed his palm out.

Damn it!

He didn’t have Stellaris, the Windchaser Boots, or even a storage ring. All he could do was truly rely on his personal strength. There were no external objects that he could make use of. Even the characters found it difficult to stop the enemy!

What should they do?

People were dying very quickly beneath them. If this continued... they would have to stay here forever.

“Withdraw!” Li Hao transmitted to the others. “Withdraw so that we can retain a sliver of hope. At the very least, we’ll be able to grow stronger in the ruins and eventually make it out one day!”

They couldn’t fight the Black Armor. They could only keep it company as everyone grew older in the ruins.

Hong Yitang’s resigned voice echoed in his ears. “Do you know... what the consequences will be... if we do not... return?”

Li Hao blinked. He’d almost forgotten! His expression shifted with dismay when he thought over the consequences. If they did not emerge from the ruins, then the outside world would think that both sides had gone down together in mutual destruction or were trapped inside, that exit was impossible.

At that point, those holding down the fort outside... would be exterminated. Without Li Hao, Hou Xiaochen, Hong Yitang, Sky Sword, Sky Mountain Manor, the Silver Moon Guards, and the newly joined Night Watchers would soon fall apart.

The nine ministries looked to have suffered great losses, but other than Qian Wanhao, the other seven ministers from the old guard were four or fever element Arcanus. Deputy Zhou and Yao Si could not stop them.

Li Hao’s eyes darted around. He’d been tunneled in on the events at hand just now and failed to consider the ramifications of his actions. The young man had come with quite a great deal of confidence and he did have the reason to be so. Reality had proven that if nothing untoward developed, none of Qian Wanhao’s side would be getting away!

It had been a massive victory for Li Hao’s side!

So... what now?

BOOM!

The powerhouse across from Li Hao seemed to be wary of something. They backed a few steps away to give the young man some breathing room. This gesture was repeated with the rest as the enemy looked cautiously around them—at the martial masters that’d exploded.

The Incantation of the Blade of Blood! Going down with the enemy!

The method came across as a threat, genuine intimidation, and fear inducing! Where one thousand enemies went down, so did eight hundred troops on one’s own side!

Hong Yitang looked around him, suddenly realizing what the ancient civilization had done to win this battle. He smiled ruefully, finally understanding that this test subject was. They had to triumph to become a student; only students were allowed to leave school grounds.

There were too many powerhouses here, a faithful replication of the scene in ancient history. There was no way to win as there were too many heavyweights present. The only course of action was to kill large sums of powerhouses to demonstrate their determination. They had to scare the enemy and let them know that they would only lose more as the battle dragged on!

Yet the enemy was stronger than them. How should they eliminate their foes in an instant that would also horrify these powerful beings?

In this moment, Hong Yitang understood. He wasn’t the only one—Sky Sword, Hou Xiaochen, and Li Hao grasped the idea at nearly the same time.

The young man’s expression shifted drastically and he broke out in loud curses. “You bastard! This isn’t a test, tests should not be like this! You’re just forcing us to our deaths!”

The Black Armor was forcing them to utilize the Incantation of the Blade of Blood so they could erupt with sufficient strength against their enemies. Li Hao wouldn’t care about this course of action if he had easy and unfettered access to sword energy. But without it, melding mental strength and life force into the incantation was guaranteed death!

The Black Armor remained silent.

Li Hao’s quartet would create bigger trouble in the outside world if they withdrew from the test, but if they didn’t... they wouldn’t have a chance to once casualties exceeded half of the human army.

Someone had to use the Incantation of the Blade of Blood if they were to win! Only through shocking slaughter and hearty intimation could they hope to save one or two out of the quartet. The survivors could become students and smoothly exit the ruins.

What kind of test was this?! Li Hao raged. This was just a death sentence! Damn it, didn’t the Black Armor lack life essence for its revitalization? It’d taken a lot of deaths at Battle Heaven before some of the soldiers were revived. This was just a repeat of that occurrence!

The Black Armor must be limited by rules that said it couldn’t outright kill trespassers. But once the trespassers broke the rules in the university, that opened the playing field. The Black Armor could do whatever it needed to cause their deaths and absorb their life essence. It could even claim their storage rings—there were a lot of treasures in Li Hao’s storage ring, such as a mountain of mysterious power stones!

He was onto the Black Armor’s scheme!