A heavy silence persisted for a mont.
Liu Ziming's eyes were red, his voice filled with resentnt: "I just can't understand it! What was the academy thinking? Throwing us freshn directly into that kind of place? That wasn't a battlefield we should have been on at all!"
Xu Hao imdiately chid in: "Exactly! They called it a combat drill, but what kind of fucking drill is that? That was life-threatening!"
Feng Jue gritted his teeth and nodded silently.
"What level are we even at? Dealing with scattered stragglers is one thing, but that scale of assault? We were just cannon fodder!"
Liu Ziming said excitedly: "Doesn't the academy know this? An SS-grade Life Soul! Gone just like that! Have they calculated this loss?"
"Perhaps in the eyes of those important figures, we're just numbers."
Xu Hao's tone was bleak: "A few geniuses die, they can just recruit more later. After all, the Mist Creatures aren't going extinct..."
Feng Jue imdiately said: "Haozi, watch your words."
Xu Hao imdiately caught himself and didn't continue further.
They couldn't understand, nor could they accept, why they specifically had been pushed into such a desperate situation.
Su Zhan silently listened to the complaints from Feng Jue and the other two, sitting to the side with an inscrutable expression in his eyes.
"Knock knock knock..."
The lounge door was knocked on.
Wang Mingyuan pushed the door open and entered, his gaze sweeping over the four emotionally drained students in the room before he let out a soft sigh.
"Everyone pack up, the vehicle is waiting outside. We're returning to the academy imdiately."
Feng Jue was the first to stand up, pulling along a sowhat reluctant Xu Hao.
Liu Ziming also wiped his face, took a deep breath, and stood up.
Su Zhan was the last to rise, and he glanced at Wang Mingyuan.
The other man was also looking at him, his expression complex, seeming to contain too many unspoken things.
Without saying anything more, the four followed Wang Mingyuan in silence, taking a special vehicle to Tancheng's military airport.
They boarded the Vermilion Bird Academy's private plane.
The four each found seats and fastened their seatbelts.
With a sensation of being pushed back into their seats.
The private plane taxied, took off, and rapidly climbed.
Outside the window rolled a sea of clouds.
The atmosphere inside the cabin was oppressive and heavy.
No one was in the mood to appreciate the view outside the window.
Everyone remained silent, either gazing out the window or staring blankly ahead.
Xie Xi's sacrifice, the academy's decisions, uncertainty about the future, and the shadows left by that brutal battle.
Like the thick clouds outside the cabin, they weighed heavily on everyone's hearts.
...
The private plane landed smoothly on the runway of Vermilion Bird City's airport.
The cabin door opened, letting in a familiar atmosphere.
Completely different from the front lines perated with the sll of gunpowder and blood.
They took another vehicle to Vermilion Bird Academy.
They had finally returned to Vermilion Bird Academy.
Stepping onto the academy's solid ground, looking at the distant familiar grand teaching buildings, training grounds, and the iconic Vermilion Bird sculpture.
Su Zhan, Feng Jue, Liu Ziming, Xu Hao.
The nerves that had been tightly wound in the four of them finally seed to relax sowhat, a belated wave of exhaustion washing over them.
Students still ca and went within the academy, so noticing them and casting curious glances, whispering among themselves.
Clearly, news of the incident at the front lines had more or less made its way back to the academy.
Wang Mingyuan stopped walking, turning to face the four: "You four, go directly to the dical Departnt for a comprehensive examination and treatnt first, this is an order.
I have so matters to attend to right now, I'll co find you imdiately after I'm done.
As for the mission report... no need to write it for now, and don't discuss the details of this mission too much with others. Everything waits for the academy's official notification, understood?"
Feng Jue was the first to nod.
Liu Ziming and Xu Hao also responded in low voices.
Su Zhan nodded silently.
"Go on."
Wang Mingyuan waved his hand, signaling them to leave.
He himself turned and walked quickly toward the direction of the Administration Building.
The four watched Wang Mingyuan leave, then glanced at each other, all seeing complex, hard-to-express emotions in each other's eyes.
Without saying much, they silently headed toward the dical Departnt.
Arriving at Vermilion Bird Academy's dical Departnt.
The pristine white corridors were filled with the faint sll of disinfectant and the fragrance of spirit herbs, forming a stark contrast to the blood and filth of the front-line battlefield.
A gray-haired chief physician received them, asking no questions and directly arranging a series of detailed examinations for them.
Spiritual energy fluctuation scans, vital sign monitoring, ntal energy assessnt, and comprehensive checks from head to toe, inside and out...
Soon, preliminary results ca out.
The chief physician held the test reports, looking at Feng Jue, Liu Ziming, and Xu Hao:
"The three of you are in similar condition - spiritual energy exhaustion, multiple soft tissue contusions throughout your bodies, so minor bone fractures, and significant ntal energy depletion. It's clear you went through a fierce battle.
However, fortunately, these are all external injuries and consumption, not damaging your foundations. That's fortunate amidst misfortune.
You'll need rest and recuperation next, combined with the academy's recovery potions and treatnt pods, and regular visits for spiritual energy guidance.
In about a month, you should mostly recover without any lasting side effects."
This outco made Feng Jue and the other two secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Although being unable to undergo high-intensity training and missions for a month was sowhat frustrating, at least their bodies were unhard, which was much better than they had anticipated.
They couldn't help but think of Xie Xi again, their moods sinking once more.
The doctor's gaze turned to the final report.
The one belonging to Su Zhan.
His eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Seeing this, Su Zhan and the other three imdiately felt a sense of foreboding.
During dical visits, nothing is more frightening than seeing a doctor frown.
Liu Ziming cautiously asked: "Doctor, Brother Su... what's wrong with him?"
"Su Zhan."
The doctor let out a long sigh: "Your condition is much more serious than theirs. You overdrafted your ntal energy during combat, and your spiritual energy..."
The doctor showed the report to Su Zhan.
Although the professional symbols on it were incomprehensible to others, the red areas were enough to indicate the problem.
"Your spiritual energy test results show a... near-collapse state of exhaustion."
The doctor's tone intensified: "This state's typical characteristics usually only appear under one circumstance.
That is irreversible damage caused by forcibly overdrawing spiritual energy at the cost of exhausting potential!"
"Overdrawing potential?"
Liu Ziming exclaid in a low voice.
Feng Jue and Xu Hao's expressions instantly changed as well.
Potential determines the upper limit of all cultivation.
Damaging potential almost ruins one's future!
The doctor nodded gravely: "Exactly, to put it simply, to obtain spiritual energy beyond your limits in a short ti, knowing it would destroy your foundation, you still relied on that foundation to exchange for power."
Su Zhan's heart tightened.
At that ti, to help his companions survive, and for his own survival, when his ntal and spiritual energy were almost exhausted, he had forcibly activated Future Vision.
How could he not know that this would damage his foundation?
But what choice did he have?
Surviving cos first, then cos the future.
But when the doctor said this would ruin his future.
Su Zhan couldn't help but feel desolate inside.
The doctor pointed to a curve on the report: "Look here, your spiritual energy activity curve shows a steep climb at a certain point.
But what followed was a cliff-like collapse and sustained low-energy lethargy. This is the most typical manifestation of the aftereffects of forcibly driving spiritual energy.
The consequences of this approach are extrely severe.
It overdrafts your future potential.
This will bring enormous, possibly irreparable aftereffects to your future cultivation path!"
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