Chapter Seventy-Three: Top Scholar Candidate, Chen Xi Refuses to Lie Down

In the observation gallery, Tang Nai, the president of the Jinling Dreamwalker Association, leaned on his cane, his head full of white hair, eyes nearly closed from exhaustion—almost reduced to slits. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, wide and round with shock. A bead of sweat appeared on his deeply lined forehead and slid slowly down his wrinkled skin. In that brief instant, he had felt a suffocating and despair-inducing pressure, a heart-pounding terror. He stared intently at Du Fang in the arena, his red coat billowing like flames.

Tang Nai had known from the start that the ghost-backed female dream demon would attack Du Fang; dream demons were always cunning, and Tang Nai was not ignorant of this fact. He thought Du Fang might suffer a minor setback, learn from the experience, and grow. But he had not expected Du Fang to react with such speed.

"Where did the black slime go?" Nearby, a senior member of the Dreamwalker Association voiced his confusion. It was as if another space had swallowed up all the black slime.

That was precisely what made Tang Nai sweat. Others might not have noticed, but who was Tang Nai? President of the Jinling Dreamwalker Association, a city-level Dreamwalker. His dream sense was the strongest in Jinling. So, just now, he had caught a glimpse of a pink light—fleeting as a startled bird, gone almost instantly.

Judging from its shape, it seemed to be... a pig? The thought surfaced in Tang Nai's mind, and he immediately doubted his sanity. How could it possibly be a pig? He was certain his senses had played tricks on him.

"Such a shame—it lasted only a moment, vanished too quickly."

"Was it a forbidden artifact?"

"Or perhaps a domain?"

Tang Nai took a deep breath and began to analyze. "It resembles a forbidden artifact, and... its grade is extremely high. The pressure that flashed forth was at least of sequence-level forbidden quality. Did this child obtain a forbidden artifact from that ninth-grade spectral dream disaster?"

"But a ninth-grade spectral disaster can't yield sequence-level forbidden artifacts."

"This child is hiding a great secret."

Tang Nai watched as Du Fang’s fiery red coat gradually returned to black, his brows furrowed as he rubbed his cane.

...

Jinling First Hospital.

In a private ward, Lan Xiang was tightly bound to the hospital bed. His face still bore traces of lingering fear, his complexion grim. The air was thick with a pungent stench. Lan Xiang’s face was pale, his eyes lifeless—a side effect of social death, unable to face anyone.

Opposite his bed hung an LCD television, currently broadcasting the Newcomer Dreamwalker Invitational at Jinling Sports Center. In reality, the official footage wasn’t ready yet, so it shouldn’t have been aired. Sun Yaohai had leveraged his connections to have the live feed projected here.

Lan Xiang’s vacant eyes stared at the television. Sun Yaohai and his son Sun Zhe stood quietly, arms crossed, watching as well.

As they watched, the atmosphere in the ward grew increasingly strange. Sun Yaohai’s expression grew sour, mixed with a hint of relief, and in that relief, some bewilderment.

"So... Zhang Changlin wasn’t lying."

"If it had come to blows, Lan Xiang... he wouldn’t have just been beaten until he ‘pooped’—he’d have been beaten into ‘poop’ itself..."

"Damn, Zhang Changlin really lucked out!"

Sun Yaohai’s face was complicated, and after the complexity came a surge of unmatched envy and jealousy.

...

On the television, Du Fang’s rampage through three dream demons was being broadcast. The scene made Sun Zhe’s legs tremble beside Sun Yaohai.

"Is he really a newcomer?"

Sun Zhe’s lips quivered; the gap between people was truly unimaginable.

Lan Xiang stared blankly, recalling scenes from the dream disaster. At this moment, he could barely remember what he had witnessed, but he clearly remembered the source of his terror: Du Fang. He knew that from now on, whenever he saw Du Fang, he would never again be able to lift his head.

Du Fang had become a nightmare in his heart—unless he could shatter the terror Du Fang had planted within him.

...

Du Fang was both shocked and furious.

What a cunning female dream demon! He, Du Fang, had been too naïve, actually believing the demon’s plea for mercy. The harshness and coldness of society had struck him deeply today; he had almost been tricked by a dream demon and nearly sprayed with its disgusting black slime... tainted.

Du Fang shuddered in retrospect; this battle had taught him a valuable lesson. He learned never to trust women easily—the more robust the woman, the more deceptive she could be!

Outside the cage, the referee was once again splattered with blood and chunks of flesh. He had been careless and didn’t dodge, thinking the battle was over when he saw the demon kneel and beg for mercy. Who could have expected that the ghost-backed female dream demon would be so crafty, so unwilling to accept defeat, so muscular yet unwilling to fight honorably, resorting to cheap tricks?

The referee was caught off guard and bathed in the exploding gore and flesh. Calmly wiping his face clean, his expression grew more wooden.

Du Fang walked out of the cage, looked at the referee, and wondered aloud.

"I could dodge, but there’s no need."

"Because I am happy," the referee replied.

Du Fang nodded—so long as you’re happy.

He then headed toward the fourth cage, where the dream demon was already kneeling on the ground.

"I won’t be deceived again. I won’t trust you cunning dream demons anymore."

"Stand and fight me—show me what a dream demon should be."

Du Fang spoke earnestly and seriously.

The kneeling dream demon sobbed uncontrollably, truly trembling all over.

Show you what? The pressure and terrifying aura that burst forth from Du Fang earlier had robbed the remaining two dream demons of any will to fight.

Dreamwalker Association... These dreamwalkers were so vicious! Was this a new kind of punishment? Truly cruel!

As it turned out, the remaining two dream demons genuinely surrendered, utterly afraid to face Du Fang in battle.

Du Fang, who had rampaged through his group, finally met a spiritual defeat: the last two demons refused to fight him.

"Well, it seems I can’t test the power of the Red Coat state against these two dream demons," Du Fang sighed.

"Looks like I’ll have to spar with Captain Zhang when I return."

"That’s just as well—with Captain Zhang’s strength, I should be able to go all out!"

...

Du Fang pondered. He could roughly estimate his combat power after activating the Red Coat state—at least at the mid-tier Dreamwalker level. But which tier of mid-level Dreamwalker he could match, he wasn’t sure. After all, a hundred units of dream energy counted as mid-tier, but so did nine hundred ninety-nine...

"Congratulations, you’re the first to defeat five dream demons and become a candidate for provincial champion," the referee approached, his face full of complex emotions as he looked at Du Fang.

"I’m sorry," Du Fang replied, equally complicated.

"I couldn’t let you keep enjoying yourself."

Referee: "..."

Thank you very much!

To be honest, the referee felt uneasy. He suspected that even if he faced Du Fang himself, the outcome would be nothing but a "bang."

In the referee’s eyes, this newcomer Dreamwalker, Du Fang, was unfathomable.

"Please return to the rest area and wait. If another Dreamwalker passes five rounds, they’ll compete with you for the provincial champion spot," the referee said.

Du Fang nodded and did not linger.

The audience erupted in wild cheers, screams, and applause. A few especially dedicated fans, paid to be there, waved signs with Du Fang’s name and fainted from excitement.

Amid such enthusiasm, Du Fang made his way to the rest area.

Dream demons imprisoned in cages trembled as Du Fang walked by, their eyes full of terror, not daring to even breathe loudly, afraid he might suddenly enter their cages and put on another show.

Du Fang returned to the rest area. Chen Xi was beside herself with excitement and admiration, clenching her fists in anticipation.

"Du Bro! You’re amazing!"

Chen Xi truly hadn’t expected that Du Fang would sweep through dream demons with such overwhelming force, so ruthless and unstoppable.

So Du Fang had been hiding a trump card during training! Thinking back, if he had revealed it then, she, Chen Xi, would surely have been overwhelmed.

At that point, she would have only added to Du Fang’s reputation as the bro who blows everyone away.

Du Fang smiled, "Is it your turn to go up?"

Chen Xi nodded. In the distance, the referee was already calling her name.

Chen Xi was excited and nervous. She knew her own limits and doubted she’d go far. Without sticking close to Du Fang, she couldn’t find a better way to coast through.

But with that in mind, Chen Xi didn’t want to just lie down—she wanted to see how far her own strength could take her.

In the cage, surrounded by the scarlet eyes of many dream demons, Du Fang slowly raised his hand and patted Chen Xi’s shoulder, flashing a radiant smile.

"Go for it!"

"Leave no regrets!"

Facing Du Fang’s flawless looks, Chen Xi felt courage surge within her.

"Mm!" she nodded vigorously, full of fighting spirit.

She turned, tied her hair into a ponytail, and strode onto the field toward the cages holding the dream demons of group B.

The referee opened the cage door.

Chen Xi stepped inside.

Before her stood a ferocious dream demon, eyes bloodshot and wild, exuding sharpness and madness—

It knelt heavily before her!

Chen Xi: "...?"

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