Chapter 45: Li Heng, Don’t Be Discouraged

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Li Heng, Don’t Be Discouraged

Maple City Battle Hall.

[Ding! Ice Jiao Lake Dungeon results finalized!]

[Young Ice Jiao (Not Achieved)]

[Completion Rating: F]

[Dungeon Reward: None]

[Failed to achieve a rating of A or higher. Unable to unlock this God-tier Dungeon.]

[Expend 200 Soul Energy to enter the Ice Jiao Lake Dungeon?]

"Whew~"

Li Heng took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He could sense ice-type Soul Power, so he knew better than anyone what he had just faced.

That was a whole damn group of Cold Ice Pythons getting ready to use their Soul Energy Skills!

Right after tearing the Teleportation Talisman, the last thing Li Heng saw were blue threads slowly materializing around each Cold Ice Python.

Good thing he got away fast. If he had stayed there any longer, there was no need to even think about the consequences—he would have been turned into an ice sculpture!

’Didn’t my teammates teleport out?’

’Not a single one came out?’

’They must have... retreated back the way they came!’

After calming himself down, Li Heng’s first instinct was to look around and see if any of his teammates had teleported out with him.

After a few dozen seconds, since not a single teammate had appeared, he was certain they must have retreated and left.

Li Heng wasn’t worried about his teammates, especially the flat-chested loli. Her words from last time, "Li Heng, fall back," were etched into his mind. From that moment on, he had considered Bai Shasha to be a very steady and reliable person.

Besides, the others weren’t stupid; their heads were on straight. Thus, Li Heng wasn’t worried about their safety. At worst, it was impossible that not a single one of them made it out, right?

Li Heng breathed a huge sigh of relief and stopped thinking about his teammates’ situation, instead turning his attention to his total gains from this trip to the secret realm.

1,362 Soul Energy points!

The Ice Feather Ring!

Frost Spider Silk!

The ability to now use the Cyan Blade Longsword normally!

A rudimentary Sword Intent!

And, the newly discovered Ice Jiao Lake Dungeon!

All in all, Li Heng felt his greatest profit from this trip was unlocking the Ice Jiao Lake Dungeon. Having this dungeon meant access to more potential resources.

"Excuse me, student! Are you all right? Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?"

Not long after Li Heng teleported out, a uniformed medic walked over and asked.

"Thanks! I’m not hurt. I don’t need medical attention, just let me catch my breath for a bit."

"All right! If you start feeling unwell, go to the medical tent at any time. Don’t delay."

After telling Li Heng to take care of himself, the medic left his side and returned to the medical tent.

The next person to approach Li Heng was Wang Guodong, one of the teachers leading the students.

"Li Heng?! Are you okay?"

Seeing the concern on Teacher Wang’s face, Li Heng smiled and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Teacher Wang. I’m not injured, I just need a moment to recover."

The school had sent two teachers to lead the group—one for the day shift and one for the night shift—to keep a constant watch over their students.

Although it was only the third day of the mock college entrance exam, out of the 23 students from Thirteenth Middle School who had participated, 16 had now returned, including Li Heng.

In other words, only 7 students from Thirteenth Middle School remained in the Fallen Jiao Icefield.

Wang Guodong had a deep impression of Li Heng. He was a very low-key student, and Wang Guodong had discovered he was a Soul Apprentice back when he was exchanging items at school.

A student who was powerful, polite, and didn’t show off—what teacher wouldn’t like someone like that?

But of all people, Wang Guodong hadn’t expected Li Heng to be the one to teleport out of the secret realm so early.

In Wang Guodong’s original estimation, setting aside any potential gains in the secret realm, he believed Li Heng was the type of student who could at least last until the final day of the exam.

Moreover, Wang Guodong remembered that Li Heng also had Bai Shasha, the fourth-ranked student, as a teammate. Logically speaking, they shouldn’t have come out this early.

But considering various factors, Wang Guodong chose not to press Li Heng for details. Instead, his gaze fell upon the Cyan Blade Longsword and the ring in Li Heng’s hands, and he began to console him.

"Student Li Heng, it looks like you had a good haul from this secret realm mock exam! Well done!"

In Wang Guodong’s eyes, Li Heng was a promising talent. There were likely all sorts of other reasons why he had teleported out this time.

At the same time, with such an excellent student, Wang Guodong was very worried that this early exit would be a blow to Li Heng’s confidence, causing him to become demoralized and unable to recover.

With the actual secret realm college entrance exam just around the corner, Wang Guodong didn’t want a student’s morale to be low—especially not a student with a high chance of getting into a prestigious university.

"Thank you, Teacher Wang. I just got lucky! Really lucky!"

Although Wang Guodong didn’t detect any dejection in Li Heng’s words, he knew in his heart that geniuses like Li Heng, after suffering a setback, would definitely pretend to be fine while actually feeling terrible inside!

The kind of terrible where they just want to find a place to cry their eyes out!

So, he gently patted Li Heng’s shoulder.

"There are still four days until the mock exam ends. And for a Soul Apprentice like you, the intensive training sessions at school afterward won’t be of much use anyway. Your strength is substantial. You can use these next two weeks to get yourself in the right headspace, hone your skills, and prepare for the actual secret realm exam. The school’s training grounds are always open to you guys. Others might not be able to do it, but I believe you can!"

Wang Guodong had revealed his knowledge of Li Heng’s Soul Apprentice status, but he mentioned it only briefly before counseling him. He also informed Li Heng that he could skip the upcoming intensive training sessions at school.

’I don’t have to go to the intensive training!’ This was certainly good news for Li Heng.

Counting the days, the secret realm college entrance exam was in about two weeks. For others, these two weeks would indeed be a time to adjust their condition and hone their skills.

But for Li Heng, he had two dungeons to grind, and they were the safe kind, without any real danger.

’How nice!’

Therefore, Li Heng planned to spend the next two weeks entering the dungeons to grind for Soul Energy points and farm some resources.

At the same time, Li Heng also planned to explore the newly unlocked Ice Jiao Lake Dungeon once he was fully prepared.

But the immediate priority was to leave the City Combat Hall, head home to let his parents know he was safe, and grab a backpack as a cover to visit the skill shop and check out the pet store.

After all, now that Li Heng had grasped a rudimentary Sword Intent, he was in urgent need of a Swordsmanship manual. And after working with Lin Tao, he had come to deeply understand how much help a Soul Energy pet could provide.

Having sorted out his plans, Li Heng said to Wang Guodong, "Well then, Teacher Wang, I’m going to head home first and let my parents know I’m safe."

"Mhm! Go on! But... take this as some personal advice from me. One failure is nothing. This is just the mock exam, after all, not the real thing. You are the pride of Thirteenth Middle School; a little thing like this isn’t worth getting discouraged over!"

???

’Huh? Discouraged?’

’I’m not discouraged at all. In fact, I’m actually a little happy...’

"O-Okay, thank you, Teacher Wang! I’ll be heading home now."

Listening to Teacher Wang’s heartfelt words, Li Heng was momentarily bewildered and didn’t know what to say. He just offered a polite response, nodded to Wang Guodong, and strode out of the City Combat Hall.

As Wang Guodong watched Li Heng’s retreating figure, despite the verbal encouragement he had just given, he still felt a little worried. ’That kid is truly excellent, outstanding in every way. It’s just that the difficulty of the Falling Flood Dragon Icefield Secret Realm was indeed too high this time. I hope he can bounce back quickly!’