The Obligations of the Elderly - chapter 43

Chapter 42

The classroom was silent.

No one spoke to each other; everyone was carefully studying the mold in front of them, occasionally glancing at the progress of others out of the corner of their eye. Other than that, no one seemed eager to be the first to try.

As high-level Users, none of them wanted to show weakness in front of the others. It was much like how the best students became even more cautious during exams, especially when surrounded by other top students.

Eventually, everyone’s sidelong glances-no, it was no longer just sidelong-everyone’s gaze landed on Xi Liu.

Ignoring what they might be thinking, Xi Liu carefully examined the mold before him.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Xi Liu extended the index finger of his left hand and lightly tapped the tube on the far left. A stream of black energy threaded its way inside!

Then-

“Crack!” “Crack!” Two crisp sounds rang out as the tube on the left shattered in response.

Raising his eyebrows, Xi Liu tapped the second tube on the left. “Crack, crack,” that tube shattered as well.

It wasn’t just broken-it was pulverized into dust.

Two soft snickers sounded nearby.

Xi Liu looked up: it was two boys standing at his ten o’clock, one tall and muscular, the other short and lean. Neither looked particularly friendly. When Xi Liu glanced at them, they didn’t shy away; the short one snorted and looked down, while the tall one actually smiled at Xi Liu.

Meanwhile, to Xi Liu’s right, Xing Yun began his attempt.

Like Xi Liu, he extended the index finger of his left hand. When his finger touched the mouth of the leftmost tube, a stream of multicolored energy flowed through the tube, passing through in just a second and emerging from the other end.

Without pausing, Xing Yun immediately moved on to the second, then the third tube…

Passing through four tubes in succession seemed effortless for him; not a bead of sweat appeared on his forehead as he continued.

Seeing Xing Yun breeze through to the fourth tube and about to tackle the fifth, the others stopped watching and began their own attempts.

Ji Ling Academy’s teaching was reliable; all the students smoothly passed the first three tubes. One boy failed at the fourth, letting out a frustrated “ah!” before retrieving another tube of the same specification from the cabinet below and focusing intently on conquering this model.

The others continued their attempts, but soon failures began to occur. “Crack”-a blonde girl failed at the fifth tube; “Crack, crack”-the two boys who had mocked Xi Liu failed at the sixth tube.

By the seventh tube, nearly everyone had failed-except Xing Yun.

At this point, Xing Yun was the only one at the round table still challenging new tubes.

Eyes fixed ahead, Xing Yun focused solely on the tube before him. He steadily controlled the energy at his fingertip, channeling it into the tube like a gentle stream. But this tube was almost entirely black, with only one-sixth transparent. The exposed transparent section revealed an incredibly complex structure-just ten centimeters in length, yet the internal path folded and twisted so much that, if stretched out, it might be ten meters long! It was clear that the rest of the tube was equally challenging.

As the middle-aged man had said, at this stage, the internal structure of the tube was extremely intricate, like a giant maze-one you couldn’t even see! The key was that the tube was so long… The User had to steadily control the energy input; if it wasn’t stable, the tube would shatter. Moreover, the energy had to be adjusted at any moment, because the tube’s diameter changed unpredictably-sometimes suddenly thickening, sometimes thinning, and these changes were abrupt and irregular, which was truly despair-inducing!

On top of that, there were countless paths inside the tube, but only one was correct and led to the other end…

A simple tube, seemingly straightforward on the surface, but in reality, it required an incredible array of skills.

This type of tube was a new teaching tool, introduced to the Academy only this year. For everyone present, it was a genuinely new experience-no chance to prepare in advance. The test was all about how well each person could control their own abilities.

When the slender, multicolored energy stream finally emerged from the other end of the seventh tube, even Xing Yun was drenched in sweat.

His pale forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, yet he continued to channel energy, maintaining a steady flow out of the tube.

A round of applause sounded from the other Users.

Wherever you are, true strength always earns sincere praise.

Once the energy stream was fully drawn out, Xing Yun took out a handkerchief and wiped his sweat. His long fingers folded the handkerchief and put it away, then he glanced to the side.

Xi Liu was there, but in Xing Yun’s eyes, Xi Liu no longer existed.

“The Dominator isn’t all that impressive…”

“Not as good as Xing Yun.”

“Xing Yun is practically a Dominator! There hasn’t been a Dominator in seventy years, but Xing Yun is already considered Dominator-level!”

“Yeah, speaking of which, there hasn’t been a Dominator in seventy years. Where did this guy even come from?”

“Could he be a fraud?”

Low murmurs of discussion spread around.

The chatter ended with a soft cough from Xing Yun.

Clearing his throat, Xing Yun was ready and began challenging the eighth tube!

He appeared nonchalant, but in fact, he was thoroughly prepared. The energy flow at his fingertips was steady, and Xing Yun was careful to inject the energy into the tube.
After the challenge of the seventh pipeline, Xing Yun knew better than anyone how difficult the eighth pipeline would be!

Sure enough! The flow of energy guided by his fingers sank without a trace as soon as it entered the pipeline. The pipeline inside was surprisingly thick, made of some kind of folded material. It looked narrow, but its actual capacity was far greater than it appeared!

Xing Yun had to immediately increase the energy output from his fingers. However, he kept outputting energy, continuously, for a long time, yet still could not fill the entire pipeline…

He had to narrow his energy flow, making it thin and long, and tentatively searched for a way out with this slender stream of energy…

Ten minutes later, the pipeline cracked with a sound, and multicolored energy spilled out from the fissure. Finally, Xing Yun’s challenge came to an end.

“That was already amazing.”

“Xing Yun, you stayed in there for so long, you must have made it quite far inside, right? Maybe you were just a step away.”

“Yeah, maybe if you try again, you’ll succeed! After all, you’ve already made it through all the previous ones!”

People around congratulated Xing Yun, but he frowned and remained noncommittal to their words of praise.

Others thought he had failed near the finish line, but only he knew: he had failed right at the entrance!

It was that section where the pipeline suddenly thickened at the entrance-his energy got completely lost inside, eventually losing control and stability, causing the pipeline to shatter.

The slight sense of victory from passing the seventh pipeline vanished instantly, and Xing Yun became extremely calm once more. However, just then, as everyone crowded around Xing Yun to inspect the pipeline he had traversed, next door, Xi Liu, who had failed from the very beginning, took action again.

Unlike others who fetched a new pipeline from the locker below, Xi Liu simply placed his finger at the entrance of the third pipeline, and a surge of black energy immediately poured in from his fingertip.

The speed at which that energy entered was visibly fast! Most people input energy slowly, bit by bit, but not Xi Liu-his energy shot in like an arrow! Because the flow was so rapid, the energy at his fingertip gradually became a thin black line.

At such speed, everyone thought the pipeline would soon shatter, just like the previous two that had crumbled to dust, but it didn’t-

The third pipeline did not break. The black energy quickly surged out from the exit at the other end of the third pipeline, without any sign of backflow. The energy directly entered the fourth pipeline, passed through it at the fastest speed, then twisted into the fifth pipeline in the same manner, then the sixth, the seventh?!

The seventh pipeline, which had stopped everyone except Xing Yun, was easily passed by Xi Liu!

There was none of Xing Yun’s sweaty exhaustion upon emerging; Xi Liu looked relaxed, even with a smile at the corner of his mouth. Under everyone’s gaze, the energy shot out of the seventh pipeline like a rocket, without pausing, and charged into the eighth pipeline with the momentum of a thousand galloping horses!

The eighth pipeline, where Xing Yun had failed…

Xi Liu took only three minutes to pass through!

He actually did it again?!

In the classroom, every User wore an expression of utter disbelief, especially Xing Yun, whose eyes were wide open, watching more intently than anyone.

He watched as the black energy that had cleared the eighth pipeline went straight into the ninth pipeline without stopping.

The legendary ninth…

When Xing Yun failed at the eighth pipeline, he knew he would probably be stuck there for about a month. He hadn’t tried the ninth yet, but judging by the difficulty doubling from the seventh to the eighth, he conservatively estimated he’d need at least four months for the ninth pipeline.

And now-

The pipeline Xing Yun estimated would take him four months, Xi Liu passed in just four minutes…

Xing Yun watched as the black energy emerged from the end of the ninth pipeline, which was a section of transparent glass extending upward to the ceiling, where there was a spherical object.

He saw that sphere fill up with black energy-Xi Liu’s black energy.

“Congratulations to Xi Liu for completing this semester’s project assessment and successfully advancing to the next level of study.”

“Congratulations to Xi Liu for becoming the first student across the entire continent to pass this project exam. We hope you continue to work hard and achieve even greater results~”

As the sphere was filled, a voice suddenly rang out in the classroom-a slightly mechanical, electronic female voice.

It was probably the device’s pass notification; previous devices had similar prompts. But continent-wide ranking… this was the first time they’d heard of it. Previously, it was always just internal Academy rankings…

Everyone couldn’t help but shift their gaze to Xi Liu.

He had already removed his finger from the pipeline entrance at some point, but the black energy in the sphere kept accumulating. Unchecked energy overflowed from the top of the sphere and the pipeline entrance, filling the classroom with black energy. Everyone’s energy was once again obscured, and the whole classroom became pitch black. The black energy even began to materialize-they could see long strips of energy bodies drifting through the air…

What terrifying energy…

Whether those drifting bodies or the energy itself, they saw it slowly floating toward Xi Liu.

Surrounded by this black substance, Xi Liu looked like a demon king in the night. His lips were faintly visible in the darkness, and they heard him say:

“Looks like I won’t be seeing you all in this class anymore~”

Those thin lips seemed to curl into a faint smile.

Then-

He left, carrying the black mist with him.

With a “bang” as the door closed, everyone was left in the dark classroom.