Free Web NovelChapter 341: Chapter 172: Advancement: Beastman Shield Guard
"Unfortunately, your performance was unacceptable."
"Go back and pack your things now. An instructor will escort you out of the training camp."
The words had barely been spoken when a stifled sob came from within the ranks.
Everyone turned toward the sound. The female student whose name had just been called, Liu Feifei, was biting her lip hard, but tears streamed down her cheeks anyway.
Su Yunjin’s expression darkened, a flicker of sympathy appearing on her face.
"Your performance was already excellent. In any other class, you would have been considered absolute elites..."
"You have long roads ahead of you. A single failure means nothing..."
Yin Liulan’s emotionless voice sounded again.
Just as Su Yunjin and Nie Cang turned their heads in surprise, thinking she’d had a change of heart and was about to offer some words of comfort, her tone took a sharp turn.
"If it were your Mr. Su, he would definitely say something like that to you."
"But unfortunately for you, you won’t be hearing that kind of nonsense from me."
Her gaze swept across the five young faces filled with disappointment and indignation.
"Get back there and reflect on exactly where you fell short."
"And then... keep trying."
With those last two words, Yin Liulan’s tone finally softened slightly, no longer so inhumanly cold.
The weeping female student shuddered and snapped her head up, her eyes, as she looked at Yin Liulan, filled with complex emotions.
A moment later, she gave a deep bow to Yin Liulan, Nie Cang, and all the other instructors.
The other four eliminated students, their eyes also red, straightened their backs and gave a solemn bow.
They understood.
Here, cheap comfort was not needed.
What they needed was just a reason to grit their teeth and keep going.
And the words "keep trying" were the best reason of all.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the five figures turned and left.
Their departing figures looked bleak and carried an air of lingering gloom. Every step they took was incredibly heavy.
Inside the training hall, the remaining sixteen students stood in place. For a moment, the atmosphere was oppressive.
Only when the five had completely disappeared through the doorway did the relief of having survived wash over everyone like a tide, diluting the sorrow of their departure.
They had passed.
Yin Liulan’s gaze returned from the doorway and settled back on the sixteen young faces, her eyes as calm as still water.
She began to speak slowly. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it reached every person’s ears clearly.
"There are still too many people..."
The moment these words were spoken, the atmosphere, which had just relaxed, instantly froze again.
The looks of relief on the students’ faces froze, replaced by utter shock and horror.
’No way! Why do those words sound so familiar?’
Almost everyone recalled their first day at camp, when Yin Liulan had used that same placid phrase to kick off the hellish entrance assessment.
A terrible premonition surfaced in everyone’s mind.
Even Nie Cang, standing to the side, grew anxious. He subconsciously took half a step forward, his face full of worry.
He was genuinely afraid that the head instructor, on a whim, would suddenly add some other absurd test.
Just as he was about to speak up and dissuade her, Yin Liulan’s next words drifted over.
"But I must admit, according to the standards I set at the beginning, you have indeed passed."
She paused, looking at the group before her—students who had gone from heaven to hell and back again, their composure completely shattered. The corner of her mouth seemed to twitch upward in an almost imperceptible smile.
"You’ve... graduated."
BOOM!
It was as if those two words set off a bomb in everyone’s mind. Nerves stretched to their breaking point suddenly went slack, and they were overwhelmed by a massive wave of ecstasy.
Nie Cang let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if his heart had just skipped a beat.
He was the first to start clapping, a genuine smile on his face.
Zhou Yan and the dozen or so other instructors in charge of the camp’s daily affairs followed suit, clapping enthusiastically. The applause was thunderous.
Yin Liulan waited for the applause to die down a bit before continuing, "According to the rules from previous years, the training camp lasts for four weeks, with one assessment per week. But this year, I compressed the entire schedule."
"There are still nine days until the camp closes."
"During this time, your first entry and use of all functional facilities within the camp each day—including the Spirit Core Hall, the Bone Marrow Cleansing Hall, and the Nirvana Tower—will no longer cost any academic credits."
Before she had even finished speaking, stifled cries of joyful surprise erupted from the crowd.
’No more pressure from academic credits!’
This meant they could finally use those ridiculously effective training facilities without any reservations, no longer needing to pinch pennies and obsess over every last credit.
"At the same time, the Martial Arts Hall will provide a digital version of the ’Tai Xu Two Principles True Understanding’ for you to consult at any time."
Yin Liulan dropped another bombshell.
"Oh, and the digital version includes annotations and insights from Lin Hanshan. I hope you will use it to review what you’ve learned and discover new things."
’Lin Hanshan’s annotations!’
At this, even Lin Ye’s eyes lit up.
"The Meditation Hall will also be open all day. The ’Candlelight Illuminating the Nine Netherworld Map’ in the darkroom will be on display 24/7."
"Mr. Nie will usually be in the Martial Arts Hall. If you have any problems with your Body Technique or martial skills, you can go find him."
"As for me," Yin Liulan’s gaze swept over the crowd, "I will be in the Nirvana Tower. Every day, I will take a group of you inside for training."
Everyone’s eyes went wide, shining with incredulous light.
They had truly weathered the storm and come out on top!
These remaining nine days were an absolute godsend—a golden opportunity for them to hold nothing back, focus wholeheartedly on patching up their weaknesses, and get terrifyingly strong!
