Splurt!

A blade pierced through Grand Steward's chest, and he turned his head in shock to look behind him. Appearing before his eyes was the utterly exhausted, barely standing Xianchan Chenchen!

"Kids get real cranky when they're woken up," Raccoon Slave growled.

Le Yu didn't let the chance slip by—his left hand gathered a burst of light, then he smashed it heavy into Grand Steward's abdomen!

Biting Battle Technique, Desolate Bite!

The fierce explosion of light bit Grand Steward clean in half at the waist. His body split into two, the lower half still standing, the upper half sent flying!

Grand Steward landed next to the bookshelf. There wasn't any pain or fear on his face; instead, he looked apologetically at Xianchan Chenchen, "Did I wake you when my Sea of Consciousness fluctuated just now? Sorry about that. But how are you still able to move?"

"You think... I wouldn't bring the antidote...?" Raccoon Slave's body teetered and swayed, then he suddenly dropped to his knees and vomited a mouthful of black blood, collapsing in his own mess.

Le Yu looked at the fallen Xianchan Chenchen in confusion, but Grand Steward explained, "There's no antidote to Galingen, so you can only fight it with another poison. I'd guess he swallowed some poison that cancels out Galingen, but he still has to deal with the effects of the 'antidote' itself. Still, the 'antidote' definitely won't be fatal."

Le Yu nodded and didn't say anything. Instead, he looked toward the nearly-complete Holy Sword Brilliance, dragging his injured body as he moved closer.

He never expected that he might actually have a chance to finish his mission early.

"Whether it's 'Holy Sword Brilliance isn't a physical object' or 'Grand Steward has a way to summon Holy Sword Brilliance,' both were things Le Yu never saw coming, so neither figured into his plans. But as luck would have it, he now had a shot at becoming the last one standing."

As long as he could just touch Holy Sword Brilliance,

He could end it all.

At that moment, Holy Sword Brilliance's weave had already reached the end of the hilt. Le Yu forced down the effects of Galingen's poison, rallied the last of his strength, and reached for Holy Sword Brilliance—

But just before Le Yu touched Holy Sword Brilliance, a hand suddenly closed around the sword.

The next instant, a blinding, dazzling holy light burst forth, flooding the entire seventh floor in a split second!

Even Le Yu couldn't withstand it; he couldn't help but squeeze his eyes shut.

Suddenly, the world spun and tilted. When Le Yu opened his eyes again, he found that the seventh floor had returned to its original brightness, but he was now standing in front of Grand Steward, not at the center of the floor where the Holy Sword had been!

It was as if, in that instant, someone had used a time-stop to teleport him away.

Just as Le Yu was about to look back to find the Holy Sword Brilliance, someone suddenly patted his shoulder.

"Don't look back. Lose your head that way."

Le Yu froze up completely.

It wasn't that he'd been startled—it was that the hand resting on his shoulder seemed to suppress the Ice Blood Physique!

He might not have been feeling pain, but all sorts of lesser negative sensations came rushing in: fatigue, dizziness, muscle damage, numbness, stiffness—almost more than he could bear!

"Maybe not as bad as Zhengwei's last battle, but tonight, Le Yin's body had really been through hell. He'd fought a fierce foe, unleashed Forbidden Combat Technique No. 121, and then gotten poisoned by Galingen... Even the original Le Yin never could have survived this kind of punishment."

"Huh? Turns out... Sorry." The person behind him let go, and the Ice Blood Physique surged back to full power, but Le Yu had already felt the strength of this unexpected guest—it was a level far beyond anything Le Yu could possibly contend with right now.

"Le Yu had once speculated about the workings of the 'Ice Blood Physique.' He had a strong suspicion it was a kind of mental illness. No—perhaps it was some disease where spiritual power twisted and reshaped the physical body, just like Shi Wenlaiya's 'Nightmare Disease.'"

"The difference was, Nightmare Disease came about from misfortune and trauma, while Ice Blood Physique was something congenital. Maybe Qian Yuliu was just born with abnormal spirit, and that warped his body so much that every nerve for pain was severed completely."

"To suppress the Ice Blood Physique, in essence, was to force Le Yu's spirit to totally shut down, to shove his consciousness deep inside his body so he couldn't affect the real world!"

"Such power was just flat-out unattainable for anyone at an ordinary Peak of Perfection stage!"

So he'd already guessed who the person behind him was.

Grand Steward looked at the person behind Le Yu and wore a 'just as I thought' expression, "Sword Holder, so you finally decided to show yourself."

"I've finally shown myself, as your master wished."

Sword Holder's voice couldn't be placed as male, female, young, or old; it was as though it echoed from the Combat Technique of Harmonious Qi, "He will regret this."

"The president was looking forward to meeting you."

"Sure. After all, we're family. I don't mind helping Big Brother give his wayward child a lesson."

"So, our wager—I think I win, don't I?" Grand Steward said with a laugh, "I reached the seventh floor, finished my mission. Sword Holder, shouldn't you be giving me my reward?"

"You haven't lost, but you haven't won either. Because everyone you brought along is dead, and you're about to die too. I don't have anyone left to reward."

Grand Steward couldn't take it, "No way! Sword Holder himself, actually using loopholes just to pocket the prize?"

"When you all used loopholes to ambush the Imperial Academy and tried to mess up my game, you should have expected that I'd like nothing better than to watch you all die." Sword Holder said, "Do I look like someone with a pleasant temper to you?"

"If I said you do, would you let me leave?"

"Do you truly want to live?" Sword Holder suddenly asked a strange question.

"Didn't used to, but..." Grand Steward stared intently at Sword Holder, "After seeing Holy Sword Brilliance, I want to live a little longer. There are still too many things I haven't done. I'm closer than ever to what I want to achieve..."

"But I won't allow it," Sword Holder said, "I won't trouble you for the time you have left."

Le Yu had been standing silently the whole time, not saying a word, until Grand Steward commented, "He's gone."

Le Yu turned around and stared at the empty hall, "He felt a wave of sorrow. What a chance—he'd been so close to Holy Sword Brilliance..."

Still, compared to Holy Sword Brilliance, there was something more important to verify right now.

Le Yu squatted down before Grand Steward, carefully studying his grotesque, scarred face, "Are you—"

"To be honest, I was surprised you didn't recognize me right away. Because back when I struck up a conversation with you earlier tonight, I already knew who you were."

Grand Steward laughed, "Maybe that's the curse of being a teacher—no matter how students grow and change, a teacher can always see through to the child they once taught."

"Compared to the cliché of 'a comrade suddenly turning out to be the villain,' I much prefer the drama where 'teacher and student, long separated, are forced to battle to the death because of their opposing causes.'" Grand Steward said, "Having you give me my last line—that's about as fitting an end as I could have asked for."

"A tidal wave of memory and emotion almost drowned out Le Yu's Ice Blood, flooding his mind. For a fleeting moment, he felt his body slip from his control—like Le Yin, through the validation of an old friend, had seized the account and logged in once more. With complicated feelings, he let a single name slip out:"

"Qin Xiao."

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