Chapter 401: I Apologize, Please Forgive Me!

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After eliminating An Lin, Xu Xiaolan rested for a while before resuming her footsteps.

All her most powerful competitors had been eliminated, and there was no one else that could pose a substantial challenge to her. Finally, she was the only one left standing in the Forest of One-Thousand Peaks, and her return was welcomed by raucous cheers from all the spectating students.

The free-for-all battle finally drew to a conclusion. Xu Xiaolan took the top spot, Liu Qianhuan was ranked second, Xuanyuan Cheng in third, Zuo Qiubing in fourth, and Su Qianyun to round out the top five spots on the Immortal Rankings Board. Tang Ximen was eliminated too early and could only secure the seventh spot, while the sixth spot was taken by another fourth-year student by the name of Duan Lang.

All the students came to a shocking realization that the top spots on the Immortal Rankings Board had been dominated by the third-year students from Class One, and that was even after the shocking performance of An Lin which saw him drop out of the top one hundred. Aside from the three highest-ranked on the Immortal Rankings Board, the third-year students like Lu Zhan, Miao Tian, Zong Yongyan, Sun Shenglian, Luo Ziping, Tang Man, and Sikong Shu, who were all Spirit Nurturing Stage cultivators from Class One, had secured extremely impressive rankings for themselves.

Everyone then carefully looked through the list of a hundred students on the Immortal Rankings Board to find that over thirty of them were third-year students from Class One. That was simply a terrifying statistic…

“How did we get beaten so badly by our underclassmen? Waah… We’ve cultivated for two more years than them as well, do they want us to f*cking kill ourselves!” a fifth-year female student grumbled with tears streaking down her face.

“How are the third-year students so strong? Did we really follow the same curriculum?” A fourth-year student pondered to himself with a quizzical expression.

“Do you guys think it was that end-of-year trial where they combated the Ant Tribe army that gave them a collective boost in strength?” Another student theorized.

“That’s a valid assumption. I’ve heard the battle against the Ant Tribe was an extremely harrowing experience for everyone involved. There were many casualties and countless wounded students and teachers. Experiencing trials of life and death can often help fortify one’s Dao Heart, thereby helping them to grow more quickly,” another student chimed in in agreement.

“I think we can’t discount the effect of the halo of God An hanging over them as well!”

“Haha, you might be on to something there…”

…

Thus, the free-for-all battle officially drew to a close.

However, An Lin’s battle was only just beginning.

He opened his eyes and was immediately greeted by a group of people glaring at him with cold expressions. A chill immediately ran down his spine as his body trembled.

Liu Qianhuan, Xuanyuan Cheng, Su Qianyun, Xu Xiaolan, and Tang Ximen were glaring at him with barely-disguised rage.

Tang Ximen chuckled coldly. “What an earth-shattering scheme you had planned, you sure had all of us fooled.”

An Lin blinked in confusion before glaring at Liu Qianhuan and almost screaming the word “traitor”.

Liu Qianhuan stuck out her tongue with a justified expression. “That’s what you get for using your nuclear fist to bomb me. You didn’t even warn me in advance and I almost died from shock… Then Tang Ximen came to complain to me, and I didn’t want to be your scapegoat. Don’t blame me for anything! You were the main perpetrator, I was only the accomplice!

“Plus, I still haven’t gotten you back for nuking me yet!”

She aimed a menacing glare at An Lin as she said.

An Lin’s mouth fell open in shock. He didn’t expect Liu Qianhuan to be able to play the blame on him even after her betrayal.

He turned his gaze upon Xuanyuan Cheng for help.

Xuanyuan Cheng heaved a light sigh. “Classmate An Lin, if you want Xu Xiaolan to take number one on the Immortal Rankings Board, we could’ve talked about it and devised a better way to facilitate this. I don’t approve of the underhanded methods that you used, and I’m sure Xu Xiaolan wouldn’t be happy about getting the top spot under such shady circumstances either.”

An Lin turned to Xu Xiaolan to find that she was glaring at him with an extremely cold expression.

She was clearly the most enraged out of everyone here…

She didn’t say anything and only glared at An Lin, but that somehow made An Lin even more fearful.

“That’s right, Xu Xiaolan is so strong, she could’ve reached the number one spot herself with her own power. Classmate An Lin, what you did was completely unnecessary,” Su Qianyun also joined in on the accusations in a mellow voice.

She also had a bit of sly thought as well and that was that if Xu Xiaolan had achieved the top spot fair and square, then it wouldn’t have been as much of an embarrassment to have been defeated by her…

“Do you have anything you want to say for yourself?” Xu Xiaolan’s cold voice sounded as she looked down upon An Lin with the regal majesty of an enraged queen.

What else could An Lin say? He couldn’t tell everyone about his sh*tty system, so he could only offer his sincerest apologies.

“Liu Qianhuan, I’ll play games with you for two days!” he offered with a serious expression.

“Huh? Sure, no problem, we’re cool now!” Excitement flashed through Liu Qianhuan’s purple eyes. She was clearly extremely satisfied with An Lin’s apology.

“Su Qianyun, Sword Immortal An Lin will personally instruct you in the way of the sword for two days!” An Lin continued.

“Huh? Classmate An Lin, you don’t need to apologize to me… But it is a rare opportunity to be able to be instructed by you in the way of the sword, so I’ll accept your offer!” Su Qianyun was ecstatic and a blush crept onto her porcelain-like features.

Xu Xiaolan’s expression grew even colder.

An Lin turned to Tang Ximen and straight-up offered a monetary bribe. “Senior Tang, I’ll give you fifty thousand spirit stones.”

Tang Ximen’s chest constricted with rage. “Classmate An Lin, are you trying to bribe me? I’m not so shallow as to be won over by a monetary bribe.”

“A hundred thousand spirit stones.” An Lin offered again.

“Alright then.” Tang Ximen immediately accepted with a wide smile.

An Lin: “…”

Everyone: “…”

An Lin then turned his gaze upon Xuanyuan Cheng. He was handsome, rich and lacked nothing; he was the perfect man. An Lin’s head began to throb at this notion. “Big Brother Cheng, we’ve been close friends for a long time…”

Xuanyuan Cheng gave him a warm smile. “You don’t need to apologize to me. I can see you already know what you’ve done was wrong, so I’ve already forgiven you.”

An Lin was extremely touched, to the extent that tears were beginning to well up in his eyes. He looked at the kind and forgiving man before him and was at a complete loss for words.

What is true love? This is true love!

An Lin finally turned to Xu Xiaolan. He had helped her secure the top spot on the Immortal Rankings Board, but he knew Xu Xiaolan would be the angriest one among all his friends.

Just the fact that he had made Xu Xiaolan cry in the Forest of One-Thousand Peaks was enough for him to realize just how screwed he was…

He had never encountered a situation like this before, and he finally brought out the last mooncake in his storage ring after a moment of contemplation.

The soft glow of the moon burst forth along with the faint scent of osmanthus flowers with the emergence of the mooncake.

He presented the mooncake to Xu Xiaolan as he said, “Xiaolan, I made a mistake, please forgive me. This is the last mooncake Chang’e gave me, it represents my heart. Please accept it!”

Tang Ximen’s eyes widened in shock.

Su Qianyun tilted her head to the side in confusion. She was unable to comprehend why a mooncake from Chang’e could be considered to be a special gift.

Xuanyuan Cheng looked on with a slight smile.

As for Liu Qianhuan, she felt like her heart had shattered into a million pieces. Thinking back to what An Lin had said to her on the Black Rock Peak about how there was only one mooncake and he was splitting it in half with her, she had the sudden urge to pounce on An Lin and strangle him to death.