Chapter 733: You Still Have the Nerve to Ask for Credits?

The ones he mentioned were all famous geniuses of the Artifact Academy, whose strength was no less than Luo Yan's, if not stronger.

Artifact refining first requires body training; many couldn't endure the hardship and gave up this profession, resulting in not many top-tier geniuses in the Artifact Academy.

This had always been a sore point for him. Hearing someone challenge the record now, he couldn't help but sigh.

"None of them. It's a new student named Zhang Xuan!"

Luo Yan hurriedly said.

"New student? A newly arrived freshman?" Yuan Hong was startled.

"Yes, reportedly he only passed the assessment today and entered the academy without even a student ID... The purpose of challenging the record is to earn credits, wanting to activate the Artifact Sea and take the Five-Star Artifact Refiner exam..."

Luo Yan explained.

"Nonsense!"

Hearing that someone without even a student ID had come to challenge the record, Yuan Hong raised his eyebrows.

As the vice dean of the Artifact Academy, he always valued rules. A clueless fellow coming to challenge—wasn't that asking for death?

Did he even know what the Earthfire Passage record represented?

"Even if others don't understand, Luo Yan, don't you? The Earthfire Passage is a test of the physical body. How could a new student, who hasn't yet received systematic academy training, possibly endure inside?"

The more he spoke, the angrier he became, his face turning livid.

"Teacher..." Blinking his eyes, Luo Yan tried to speak but was interrupted.

"Alright, you're just a student. If someone really wants to challenge the record, we can't stop them. I'm not blaming you, I just think today's students are increasingly overestimating themselves. To be honest, these recent classes are the worst I've ever taught..."

Sighing, Yuan Hong knew it wasn't right to vent at a student, so he shook his head: "Alright, has that fellow lasted a few minutes? Is he seriously injured? This is Clear Spirit Liquid, which can treat burns..."

"No, this new student... he hasn't come out yet!"

Finally getting a chance to speak, Luo Yan said hurriedly.

His teacher was good in every way, except for his one flaw—he loved to ramble.

Because of this, no student who attended his lectures didn't complain of headaches.

"This Clear Spirit Liquid, just apply it externally..."

Thinking the other was asking how to use it, Yuan Hong explained a sentence, then suddenly froze, his eyes widening: "What did you say? He hasn't come out? What do you mean by not coming out? When did he go in?"

"He... went in about an hour ago!" Luo Yan said.

"An hour ago?" Yuan Hong's body swayed, nearly fainting.

"Yes, I didn't know what to do, so I came to report to you, Teacher..."

Luo Yan hurriedly said.

"Report? What use is reporting now? An hour and he hasn't come out—it's definitely not that he held on and broke the record. He must have been burned to ashes within two breaths of entering!"

Yuan Hong was about to explode with anger. He slammed the table and stood up.

What nonsense!

Should have reported earlier, but now it's too late!

In the Earthfire Passage, if a person dies, they would be sent out, but... if they were burned to ashes upon entry, leaving no remains, there would also be no movement.

He's been in for an hour with no movement—he must have died long ago.

"Ah... Is that so? I... didn't know..." Luo Yan was stunned.

He only knew that the dead would be sent out by the mechanism; he hadn't heard that someone could be burned to ashes within two breaths of entering... What to do!

That guy seemed quite strong; he shouldn't die so easily, right...

"You've seen too little. I've been at the Master Teacher Academy for over eight hundred years; I've seen more than you've read in books!"

Yuan Hong snorted: "Let's go. I'll go with you, open the passage, and have someone clean it up. Someone who doesn't know their limits, doesn't know life or death—even if they survive, they'd be trouble..."

Waving his hand, he was about to continue when suddenly the ground shook beneath his feet, followed by the sound of something collapsing.

Boom!

The direction was exactly the record passage.

"What's wrong?"

Raising their eyebrows, the two quickly went outside the room.

A new student had just died, and now such a commotion—what was going on today?

"It's bad, Master Yuan... the Earthfire Passage has collapsed..."

Before long, a master teacher rushed over in a panic.

"Collapsed? What do you mean... what collapsed?"

Yuan Hong was dumbfounded.

"The Earthfire Passage inside the record passage..." the master teacher explained.

Yuan Hong nearly went mad: "I know it's that thing, but... this was jointly forged by the Artifact Academy and the Engineering Academy, a combination of various mechanisms. How could it collapse?"

The Earthfire Passage, part of the record passage, was jointly constructed by the Artifact Academy and the Engineering Academy, extremely sturdy. It wasn't a stone building; how could it just collapse?

What on earth happened?

Luo Yan on the side also staggered.

He had just mentioned the Earthfire Passage, and now it had an accident—what happened?

The master teacher who rushed in seemed unable to believe it either: "I can't figure it out either. I only saw that place turned into ruins..."

"Let's go see..."

Knowing there was no time to delay, Yuan Hong's mouth twitched a few times as he hurried forward. In a moment, they arrived at the record passage.

By now, half of the record passage had collapsed, and the entire hall was filled with dust and smoke.

"What happened?"

Luo Yan couldn't help but look at Li Xuan.

"I don't know either... We were waiting for Master Zhang when we heard a roar... and then, and then it became like this..."

Li Xuan's face was full of misery.

Not just her, everyone around was stunned at this moment.

No one knew why the usually sturdy record passage had suddenly collapsed, and at its very center was where the Earthfire Passage lay.

"Master Zhang... is probably dead!"

Remembering his teacher's words, Luo Yan waved his hand, about to explain, when he heard footsteps in the dust.

Then came the sound of coughing.

"Cough, cough..."

Hearing this sound, everyone shuddered and looked forward in unison, then saw a young man walking out.

Who else could it be but Master Zhang, who had entered earlier?

"You... you... are you okay?" His body trembling, Luo Yan's eyes went wide.

Just now, his teacher had confidently said he must have been burned to ashes, and in an instant, he emerged unscathed, without a single wound...

Was it real or not?

Not dead, stayed inside for over an hour, and even collapsed the Earthfire Passage...

What exactly did you come here for?

"I'm fine!"

Slightly embarrassed, Zhang Xuan turned his head to look at the passage that had become ruins: "It's this Earthfire Passage... seems to be broken!"

"Does it even need a 'seems'?"

Everyone stumbled.

This vast ruin—even a blind man could see it was broken, right?

"Are you the new student who went in for the trial just now?"

Yuan Hong, suppressing his trembling lips, looked over.

"Yes!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

Although he didn't know this person, his energy was full and his aura astonishing, clearly indicating formidable strength, not much weaker than Elder Mi or Hall Master Mo from before.

"Weren't you challenging the record? What exactly happened?"

Yuan Hong couldn't help asking.

Challenging the record... how did you manage to collapse the Earthfire Passage?

"This... I don't understand either. Just now, after entering, I found the Earthfire Tunnel wasn't too difficult, so I stayed to cultivate. Then, before I knew it... it collapsed!"

Zhang Xuan's face flushed slightly.

Just now in the tunnel, he had cultivated with his soul separated from his body, absorbing spiritual energy at an extremely fast rate. His soul body grew larger and larger. After an unknown amount of time, having absorbed who knows how much energy, his whole body trembled, exceeding a height of ten meters.

The soul body suddenly expanded, and the speed of absorbing spiritual energy instantly accelerated. Coupled with the previous devouring, the Earthfire Rock in the core could not withstand it. In a short while, it was completely consumed.

Once the spiritual energy in the Earthfire Rock was exhausted, it was like a car without an engine. How could the formations that had been maintaining its operation hold up any longer?

Similar to the Purification Pool back then, without energy to sustain it, such formations lost their balance. It was already fortunate that they didn't explode on the spot.

Thus, the scene before everyone appeared: the tunnel collapsed, the buildings destroyed...

Fortunately, he reacted quickly. His soul directly drilled back into his physical body and used true energy to block the falling rocks. Otherwise, he feared he would have become the first student in the Artifact Refining Academy to die not from heat but from being crushed by stones while traversing the Earthfire Tunnel.

Seeing the rubble everywhere, Zhang Xuan felt an indescribable frustration.

This time... he had genuinely just wanted to break a record and earn some credits. He never dreamed it would turn out like this.

However, even if he had caused the collapse, he couldn't admit it.

Not to mention anything else, just those four pieces of Earthfire Rock were more than he could afford to compensate.

So, he had no choice but to brazenly pretend not to know.

"Before you knew it... it collapsed?"

Hearing such shameless words, everyone was stunned. Yuan Hong even stumbled.

This underground fire passage had stood in the academy for at least three or four thousand years. So many people had passed through it without incident, yet it collapsed the moment you came along... With a casual 'unintentional,' you think you can just gloss over it...

Even if you were trying to fool ghosts, they wouldn't believe it!

Can't you come up with a more sincere excuse?

"What the hell is going on?" Yuan Hong's face darkened as he couldn't help asking.

"After entering the passage, I saw that the heat of the flames was just right for tempering the body, so I couldn't resist absorbing a bit more... I didn't expect it to collapse..."

Zhang Xuan had no choice but to say.

"Just right? Absorbed a bit more?"

Yuan Hong was speechless.

Others might not know about the underground fire passage, but he had participated in its repair and knew it well. It contained four Earthcore Blaze Stones, each imbued with boundless scorching spiritual power.

An ordinary person would be burned to ashes just by touching it. Even a six-star artifact refiner would be burned alive if they absorbed it. You... think it's just right for body tempering and even absorbed a bit more...

Just how much more did you absorb to cause the entire passage to collapse?

His face livid, he was about to ask the other party exactly how much he had absorbed, when he saw the young man looking at him with hopeful eyes: "I stayed in this underground fire passage for about an hour just now. That should be a record, right? Um... can I exchange it for credits now?"

"Exchange for credits? You still have the nerve to ask me for credits?"

Yuan Hong nearly exploded with rage.

You've thrown the entire record passage into chaos, ruined the Artifact Academy's underground fire passage, and still have the nerve to mention credits... Where's your shame?