The students in the Assembly Hall were all stunned.
Just a few minutes ago, they were still loudly arguing about the ginkgo incident, so what exactly happened when they turned around?
Li Yunxian herself was also puzzled about Du Rong and Xie Man’s situation, but as always, she reminded herself: aside from Du Rong accusing her, this had nothing to do with her.
So Li Yunxian directly asked the stage, “Is Yu Juanshu still alive?”
The moment these words came out, the students were even more bewildered.
Wait, you all fought to the death, but he might still be alive?
But…
Everyone immediately scanned their fellow students around them, looking closely, but no one looked like Yu Juanshu.
And except for Li Yunxian, the expressions on everyone else’s faces were uniformly confused.
Especially Du Rong.
Even when several of his ribs had been broken and he coughed up blood, he wasn’t panicked.
But hearing Li Yunxian’s question now, Du Rong panicked.
If Yu Juanshu was dead, there would be no evidence—only Du Rong and Xie Man were at the scene.
If Du Rong died before killing Yu Juanshu, and Xie Man had made a mistake, then it would just be conflicting testimonies, and he wouldn’t be in trouble.
But if Yu Juanshu was still alive…
No!
It was impossible for him to still be alive!
He was absolutely certain that Yu Juanshu’s heart meridian had been completely shattered, his breathing had stopped, and his body temperature dropped rapidly.
Later, after learning that Lian Ping and Li Yunxian wouldn’t be returning, Du Rong had even burned Yu Juanshu’s corpse.
—This was the common practice among all students in the Secret Realm when handling the remains of their comrades.
No group would stay in one place for long, and leaving a body behind in the Secret Realm was impossible; burning the body and bringing the ashes out was the best method.
Under these circumstances, how could Yu Juanshu possibly be alive?
Pain surged through Du Rong’s body, leaving him speechless as he widened his eyes, staring at the expressions of the teachers on the stage.
Suddenly, a sinking feeling filled his heart.
He finally noticed the subtle expression on the teachers’ faces.
It was definitely not the look of people who had sent more than six hundred students into the Secret Realm and only got back a fifth.
No one paid attention to Du Rong’s reaction.
After hearing Li Yunxian’s question, all the teachers on stage fell silent together, until Su Wenjing finally spoke.
“He hasn’t woken up yet.
It might be that the checkpoint was somewhat unusual, or that the shock of ‘dying’ at Du Rong’s hands was too overwhelming for Yu Juanshu.
In short, it’s been over a day, and Yu Juanshu is still in a coma.
This is actually a failure on the part of us teachers.
As for whether Li Yunxian needs to explain more about this—none of the teachers are fools; they’ve all guessed the truth.”
Li Yunxian let out an “oh.”
What Su Wenjing meant was that Yu Juanshu was still alive.
That was enough.
Li Yunxian considered that since the school had set the return point at the Assembly Hall, the center of the Secret Realm couldn’t be too far away.
So…
Could Yu Juanshu be nearby?
Li Yunxian extended her Divine Sense and immediately sensed the students who had died in the Secret Realm waiting outside the Assembly Hall.
They didn’t yet know what was going on inside.
They wore puzzled expressions, wondering why the teachers hadn’t called them in yet.
Li Yunxian’s Divine Sense passed through them quickly and soon located Yu Juanshu.
He didn’t have many injuries, and his consciousness seemed fine.
He looked as if he believed he was already dead and had no will to survive.
Li Yunxian raised her brow and decisively slapped Yu Juanshu’s consciousness with her Divine Sense.
The body of Yu Juanshu, who was resting peacefully in the lounge, convulsed violently.
Watching Li Yunxian’s whole maneuver was Su Wenjing.
Having been ‘hammered’ by Li Yunxian twice before, he fully understood how painful it was.
Su Wenjing’s lips twitched slightly, his face forced calm as he added, “But he’s awake now.”
***
As soon as Su Wenjing said this, a teacher immediately went to check on Yu Juanshu.
The doors to the Assembly Hall opened, and the students waiting outside saw their comrades faintly appearing in the doorway.
Their eyes widened in disbelief.
“Bai Yue!!”
“Xiang Ying!”
“Xiao Shu!!”
The students recognized their comrades who were supposed to be dead.
They might not have been very close before, but having lived and died together in the Secret Realm, many had even survived because others had sacrificed themselves.
During that time, the faces of their dead companions appeared repeatedly in their minds.
If not for how fast and dramatic the Du Rong–Yu Juanshu incident unfolded, and the fact that Li Yunxian had just openly admitted she was Ginkgo, many were already rolling up their sleeves to fight her.
Many of their comrades had been killed by the hunters Ginkgo had brought.
This was blood revenge!
But…
After happily embracing one another, the surviving students realized something was wrong.
“How are you all still alive?”
The students outside didn’t yet know what was going on inside, so happily explained the truth of the Secret Realm.
The surviving students finally understood the baffling fight between Li Yunxian and the teachers on stage.
Now the blood feud was over, but they were still angry!
This was too much!
They had suffered for so many days—what did it mean?
They cast long, hollow gazes at the teachers on stage.
Each teacher from the Xuefu was above Nascent Soul, and none of them showed any shame when meeting the students’ eyes.
“Yeah, we did it. Come on, try and fight us.”
Originally, the teachers wanted to gather the surviving students together to say some encouraging words—talk about their shortcomings in battle, how so few survived, and so on.
But none of that happened because everything unfolded unpredictably, and some things just weren’t worth saying.
What mattered now…
The teachers’ gazes subtly landed on Du Rong.
Li Yunxian’s case was special; she knew the truth and hadn’t been seen attacking the students by their accounts.
The student who had forced the Golden Core stage fellow to the brink was outside the door, and the situation was different.
So many things didn’t matter, and the teachers only thought she was a real talent!
But Du Rong, who didn’t know that people don’t die in the Secret Realm, had attacked his own classmates—even those who had lived together for years, his father’s personal disciples…
That was a completely different matter.
One teacher had already contacted the Ice Valley Camp and applied for a call with Du Sen.
Not long after, the extremely weak Yu Juanshu was brought in.
The blame lay elsewhere.
—Except for Su Wenjing, who glanced at Li Yunxian quietly, no one knew that Yu Juanshu’s half-dead state was truly because of Li Yunxian.
The entire hall fell into silence.
The students who came in from outside were also briefed by their comrades about the current situation.
Like the teachers on stage, though on the surface everyone insisted on their own version, deep down they all knew the truth.
“Brother Juanshu…” Seeing Yu Juanshu was really alive, Du Rong pitifully whispered his name.
Yu Juanshu’s eyes flickered but did not respond.
Silent, he followed the teachers past Du Rong and sat beside the podium.
At this moment, communication with the Ice Valley Camp was completed, and a video call opened.
Du Sen’s face appeared on the Assembly Hall’s screen.
When Du Sen was summoned to the Ice Valley Camp, he didn’t know why the Xuefu had contacted him.
Now that the call was live, what came into view was the bloodied, disheveled Du Rong and the weak, dire-looking Yu Juanshu.
Du Sen’s expression darkened.
Everyone clearly heard the crack of something breaking from the speaker.
“What happened?” Du Sen said coldly.