Imperial Capital Academy.

Inside an office permeated with a scholarly atmosphere.

Dean Liu Ruichuan pushed the door open and walked in.

A warm smile hung on his face.

"Professor Chen, the new dungeon you designed is currently the hottest topic in our academy."

He walked over to the desk, looked at the woman who was lowering her head to review documents, and praised sincerely.

"Principal Deng specifically mentioned it to me, saying that your 【First Sun Illuminating Ximeng】 is simply a one-to-one perfect replica of the old Ximeng City."

"As expected of the only S-grade Formation Master in our Imperial Capital Academy."

Hearing this, the woman raised her head.

She was around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a head of jet-black long hair casually pinned behind her head with a wooden hairpin, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, and eyes behind the lenses clear and calm.

A well-fitted women's suit trousers paired with a white shirt outlined a slender and graceful figure, exuding an intellectual and gentle aesthetic all over her body.

She adjusted her glasses, and a polite smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Dean Liu flatters me."

"I am originally from Ximeng City, and also an eyewitness to that city-destroying battle back then."

"Every blade of grass and tree, every brick and tile there, was carved into my mind long ago."

"In this lifetime, I probably won't be able to forget it."

Hearing this, Liu Ruichuan's smile restrained a bit, replaced by a trace of emotion.

"Yeah, that disaster..."

He sighed.

"If your grandfather, Old City Lord Chen Guanyi, knew that you now have such astonishing achievements on the path of Formation, he would surely find peace in the netherworld."

Speaking of this, Liu Ruichuan changed the subject, his face wearing a bit of a consultative expression again.

"However, Professor Chen, your dungeon design is good, and it can indeed let students experience it firsthand and feel the oppression of the beast tide besieging the city."

"But isn't its difficulty a bit too high?"

"I heard that several instructors led teams in personally, and none could last until the end before being hastily eliminated."

"This really dampens the students' enthusiasm somewhat. Look... can you lower the difficulty just a little bit?"

The woman looked at Liu Ruichuan, still wearing that polite smile on her face, but she shook her head gently.

"I'm truly sorry, Dean Liu."

"I'm afraid I can hardly fulfill your request."

Liu Ruichuan's face showed obvious astonishment.

"Professor Chen, what do you mean by that?"

The woman gently closed the document in her hand, interlaced her fingers, placed them on the desk, and gazed at him calmly.

"To be honest with you."

"In fact, regarding the dungeon 【First Sun Illuminating Ximeng】, from the very beginning, I never designed clearance conditions."

"It was inherently a dungeon that cannot be cleared."

"You..."

Liu Ruichuan was completely stunned. He widened his eyes, becoming even more puzzled.

"Why would you design a dungeon that cannot be cleared?"

"If the students find out about this, where will they get the motivation to continue challenging it in the future?"

The woman shook her head indifferently, her gaze passing over Liu Ruichuan and casting toward the azure sky outside the window.

Her voice was as soft as a dream murmur.

"My original intention in designing this dungeon was never to hope they would bravely kill enemies, stimulate their fighting spirit, and finally defend Ximeng City with difficulty, to make up for the regret of failing to defend Ximeng City back then."

Her tone was very calm, yet it exuded an unresolvable sorrow.

"I just... wanted those proud sons of heaven who grew up in a peaceful era to experience it personally."

"Experience what true despair is called."

"Experience the futility where no matter how you struggle or roar, it ultimately does no good."

"Just like... just like me back then, hiding in the ruins and watching with my own eyes my grandfather swallowed by the flames."

Hearing these words, Liu Ruichuan opened his mouth, and ultimately it could only turn into a long sigh.

"Sigh... It looks like that matter back then left quite a shadow on you."

"Making you still unable to walk out of it..."

"That is not a shadow, Dean Liu."

The woman interrupted his words and turned her sight back to his face.

Her gaze remained calm, but deep within it seemed to burn a faint, cold flame.

"That is an obsession."

"An obsession that makes me never able to forget, and never want to forget."

She once again showed that polite smile, but her tone took on a hint of playfulness.

"Therefore, please keep this secret for me, Dean Liu."

"I still hope that more students can muster the courage to challenge this dungeon."

"They are still young; suffering a few more setbacks won't hurt."

Liu Ruichuan: "..."

...

Meanwhile.

Inside the dungeon.

The 【Abyssal Demon Catfish】 in the sky was moving slowly.

Its massive body, like a floating island, under the reflection of dark clouds and lightning, cast a huge shadow, enveloping the entire Ximeng City within it.

As large areas of city walls were destroyed, the original location of the city gate had long been completely buried by countless collapsed giant rocks.

"Cough... cough cough..."

Wang Xicheng struggled to push away the stones pressing on his body, crawling out of a pile of ruins in a disheveled state.

He shook his dizzy head, still somewhat dazed.

"Damn it... We were fighting just fine, how did the city wall collapse?"

"Just now... what on earth happened?"

At this moment, another student, equally covered in dust, also crawled out from the ruins not far away.

He raised his head to look at the sky, his voice carrying an uncontainable tremor, pointing at that huge shadow.

"Cap... Captain... You... You look at the sky quickly!"

Hearing this, Wang Xicheng instinctively looked up.

The next second, his entire body was struck by lightning, standing frozen on the spot.

That huge, indescribable outline, those hundreds of tentacles dancing in the lightning, that terrifying aura originating from the ancient primordial wilderness...

All of this made his heart feel as if it were tightly grasped by an invisible giant hand, making even breathing difficult.

"This... This fucking... seems to be a level 40 Hell-level BOSS..."

He swallowed hard, feeling his throat so dry it was about to smoke.

"You... You've got to be kidding me, right?"

"A level 40 Hell-level BOSS appearing in a level 30 dungeon?"

"How is this still playable?!"

The boy next to him reminded with a trembling voice.

"Cap... Captain, do you say, could this be the one that perished together with Old City Lord Chen Guanyi back then..."

Wang Xicheng gave a sudden shudder, suddenly realizing.

Right!

It must be like this!

Nowadays, the only one left in the city who could deal with a BOSS of this level was that yet-unseen Old City Lord Chen Guanyi.

At this moment, the beast tide in the distance regrouped.

Losing the barrier of the city wall, they swept toward the city crazily like a black sheet of locusts.

Wang Xicheng abruptly turned his head and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"How many are still alive?!"

Amidst the ruins, figures crawled out one after another.

But most of them were those previously self-organized guild Classer NPCs.

Looking roughly, there were less than twenty true Imperial Capital Academy students left.

Moreover, everyone was injured and in a disheveled state.

Wang Xicheng's heart sank abruptly.

Even beneath the city wall had suffered such huge losses.

Let alone... those people who were standing on top of the city wall just now.

I'm afraid... they have been completely wiped out.

That Demon King Gandalf who brought them shocks time and time again.

Presumably, he also didn't escape unscathed.

Looking at that black torrent getting closer and closer, the solemnity on Wang Xicheng's face was suddenly replaced by a tragic smile.

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of bloody white teeth, and looked at the few remaining students around him.

"Brothers!"

"This time we lasted so long, which is already quite good!"

"Next time we come in, we will definitely have a chance to clear the dungeon!"

"Therefore, for this last time, let us... slaughter to our heart's content!"

Saying this, he held high the greatsword in his hand, being the first to launch a death-defying charge toward that black torrent.

"Let's go! Slaughter to our heart's content!"

"Kill!"

Not only the Imperial Capital students, even those surviving guild Classer roared and followed closely behind.

Those dozens of tiny figures were like isolated boats about to be swallowed by monstrous waves.

Just at this moment.

A high-pitched and archaic chanting sound came from the ruins in the distance.

That sound pierced through the heavy rain and the slaughter, echoing clearly in everyone's ears.

"【Forbidden Spell: Thousand Mile Ice Seal】!"

Hum——!

Extreme chilliness, like a white death ripple, centered around that ruin, suddenly expanded outward!

In an instant, the heavy rain solidified, and the air froze.

That aggressive black torrent instantly stopped on the path of its charge.

Countless exotic beasts maintained their posture of running and pouncing, completely sealed by a layer of thick, crystal-clear hard ice, transforming into lifelike ice sculptures.

The entire battlefield transformed into a grim ice-bound world in a split second.

Wang Xicheng and the others suddenly stopped in their tracks.

With indescribable shock on their faces, they all looked toward the direction the sound came from.

They saw that above those collapsed ruins.

A figure draped in a Star-Moon Robe was standing quietly.

The staff in his hand was still exuding ice-blue afterglow.

Rainwater slid down his stern cheeks, his gaze as cold and stern as ten-thousand-year glacial ice.