Chapter 1: But… I refuse~

“Senior Su, I… I’ve been watching you for a long time. I like you! If it’s okay… can you be my boyfriend?”

A sweet-looking junior with medium-length hair, who had clearly dressed up with care, mustered her courage to confess to the boy before her, her voice unconsciously rising due to her nervousness.

The boy looked at the girl in front of him with a rather helpless expression, thought for a moment, and finally seemed to make a decision.

“Er… Here!”

Su Xuan fished a wallet out of his pocket and took out a photograph from within.

The junior girl stared blankly at the photo. It was of a beautiful woman with a sweet smile, her long black hair fluttering in the wind. Her delicate features outlined a captivating allure, and her bright, clear eyes seemed to hold countless stars. A faint trace of melancholy between her brows made one’s heart ache for her.

Paired with the dusk-lit riverbank in the background, the shimmering surface of the water exuded a touch of sorrow, making the girl look like a fairy who had fallen to the mortal realm in a fruitless search for love.

“I’m… I’m sorry… I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, Senior!”

The junior stammered out an apology, bowing as she handed the photo back to Su Xuan, and left in a state of dejection. The beautiful woman’s photograph was once again in Su Xuan’s hand.

Su Xuan merely smiled faintly, yet he bore a seventy-percent resemblance to the beauty in the photo, especially that air of melancholy, which was a perfect match. If not for his short haircut, had his hair been just a little longer, he would have possessed an androgynous quality.

He tucked the photo back into his wallet and left the small grove.

He walked unhurriedly to the foot of the teaching building, the corner of his eye catching the full-length mirror next to the stairwell. Reflected within was a young man in a black, medium-sleeved shirt.

A fleeting glance, yet unforgettable. It wasn’t a kind of handsome dashingness; his looks were better described as beautiful, much like Björn Andrésen, with his exquisitely delicate features and unique temperament, like a spirit nurtured for a thousand years in the water towns of Jiangnan.

[TL Note: Björn Andrésen – A Swedish actor known for his striking, androgynous beauty in youth; used here to emphasize the character’s unusually delicate and elegant appearance.]

And that person was Su Xuan himself. Su Xuan remembered clearly that he hadn’t always been like this. Three years ago, he was a sunny and handsome young man. He had originally planned to find a girl and have an unforgettable romance in high school. However, due to certain circumstances, Su Xuan had rejected thousands of girls over these three years, and now, in his final semester of high school, he was still all alone.

Lost in thought, he had already reached his seat—the last row by the window in a single file line. Just as he sat down, the male classmate in front of him turned around, winking and waggling his eyebrows with a kind of cheeky-handsome air.

“Su Xuan, how was it? That girl was pretty high-quality!”

“Not suitable.”

Su Xuan smiled faintly. Being sought out for a confession during the long break between classes was not a new experience for him. It was all his d*mned beauty’s fault.

“What a pity. That girl could easily score an eighty or more, and you still rejected her. If I hadn’t grown up with you, I’d almost believe the rumors spreading among the girls.”

“Heh heh!”

‘Those women, what’s there to say? It’s probably just rumors like these.’

[“Su Xuan and Zhang Xun have never had girlfriends, and Su Xuan looks… Could he and Zhang Xun have a thing going on? Ah! I’m so excited.”]

[“The thought that Su Xuan might be a man that no woman in the world can have just gets me so worked up!”]

While watching the interactions between Su Xuan and Zhang Xun, who was known as the “God of Cheekiness” in their class, with their fujoshi hearts, they also fantasized about one day being able to take both of them for themselves—doting on Zhang Xun during the day, and teasing Su Xuan at night. 

[TL Note: “God of Cheekiness” – A humorous title for someone exceptionally bold, playful, or shameless in a charming or funny way.]

Fujoshi, they were all fujoshi. Their class even had a few online writers who spent several months writing a fanfiction about Su Xuan, complete with illustrations, and posted it on the school’s all-girl forum. Nearly every girl in the school knew that in class 012 of the third years, there was such a pair of boys who could satisfy their sordid fantasies.

If not for an accident where a female classmate carelessly sent the story to him, Su Xuan might have graduated without ever knowing he had been written as a fallen woman!

The day he saw the file sent to his phone, Su Xuan couldn’t sleep well all night.

After finishing the two-hundred-thousand-word fanfiction, Su Xuan’s first thought was surprisingly that the writing was quite good…!?

For a week after reading it, perhaps due to some kind of mental contamination, Su Xuan didn’t dare to make eye contact with Zhang Xun, but things were much better now.

At that moment, Zhang Xun at the front desk turned around again.

“Ah Xuan, the Phantom Soul Test is in a month. Are you nervous!”

[ TL Note (short): “Ah Xuan” – A casual, friendly way to call someone named Su Xuan ; “Ah + given name” is a common affectionate form of address in Chinese.]

“…It’s alright, I guess!”

Su Xuan feigned nonchalance, but inwardly he was panicking like crazy. He had an unspeakable secret about his Phantom Soul, and it was this very secret that had caused him to avoid getting a girlfriend for the past three years. It was also this secret that had led to a series of changes in his appearance.

“Ah Xuan is as steady as ever. I’m panicking like crazy right now. This is a great opportunity to attract junior girls and escape singlehood! Just thinking about those fresh-faced junior girls, stunned by my world-shaking talent, each one of them desperate to have my children, I…”

“Alright, alright, Xun-zi, you can still make it to the bathroom now.”

“Tch, just you wait and see the might of this God of Cheekiness!”

With that, Zhang Xun turned back around. In truth, Zhang Xun was just as popular as Su Xuan, but completely unlike him, he seemed eternally unsatisfied, changing girlfriends one after another.

‘I cultivated all night, I’m so tired!’

Su Xuan yawned and rested his head on the desk, looking a bit exhausted. He had originally planned to take a good nap during the long break, but the girl had interrupted him, and most of the time had passed. He had to hurry and catch up on some sleep.

In a directionless space, a wisp of gray mist arose, and a woman suddenly appeared before Su Xuan.

The woman looked almost identical to the one in the photograph, but she was even more gentle and beautiful.

She glided forward, unhurried, and came to stand before Su Xuan. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but Su Xuan couldn’t hear a single word. Then the illusion shattered, and he vaguely heard someone calling his name.

“Su Xuan… Su Xuan…”

“What is it…”

“Get up, Empress Dowager Chen’s class is starting.”

“Phew~”

Hearing that Empress Dowager Chen had arrived, his drowsiness was naturally suppressed. Students fearing their teachers, especially their head teacher, seemed to be an instinct in any world.

He rubbed his drowsy eyes, and the blurry world came into focus. A female teacher with graying hair, past the age of fifty, entered the classroom. Though not tall, her powerful presence silenced all the chattering voices in the room. From the podium, the sound of the blackboard being moved echoed.

The all-in-one projector was turned on; she probably had something important to say.

A USB drive was inserted into the port. The only sound in the entire classroom was of one person at work. The computer’s startup music seemed particularly loud.

“Class begins!”

“Stand up… Good morning, Teacher!”

“Good morning, students. Please be seated!”

She adjusted her glasses, her resonant voice echoing in the classroom.

“You train an army for a thousand days to use it for one hour. Students, your three years of high school are quickly coming to an end. The days pass as quickly as flipping through the pages of a book. In the blink of an eye, the day of the Soul Test has arrived. For nearly three years, you have all been doing one important thing, and that is nurturing your souls. A month from now will be the day you reveal your Phantom Souls.”

Her speech was paced neither too fast nor too slow, and within her stern eyes was a hidden gentleness. ‘How many of these children will die in battle in the Land of Chaos? How many can live out their lives in peace?’ Three years is a long time. How many three-year periods does one have in a lifetime?

Ever since her own child had died in battle in the Land of Chaos, she had dedicated herself to education, pouring all her emotions into these students, just so they could have a longer future.

If possible, Chen Yanli hoped all her students would have ordinary Phantom Souls. That way, they could only enter the liberal arts colleges. Though they would live ordinary lives, they could at least live a full life without worries. But this was ultimately just a fantasy. If all the students in the world had ordinary Phantom Souls, then as the older generation of warriors passed away, the entire world would be consumed by darkness.

There is no such thing as peaceful years; it’s just that someone is carrying the weight for you. They were merely well-protected by the most heroic group among humanity.

Her gaze swept across the fifty-six students in the class—twenty-eight girls and twenty-eight boys. Chen Yanli picked up her train of thought and continued.

“When the time comes, none of you should be nervous. I have already explained the testing procedure to you clearly. Everyone has their own Phantom Soul. Some are better suited to serve society, while others are born warriors. I do not wish for you to mock or look down upon those with weaker Phantom Souls because your own is powerful. Nor do I wish for those with ordinary Phantom Souls to feel inferior and give up on themselves. At this stage, there are no losers, no winners. Living your own life to the fullest is the best you can do.”

As the days went on, Empress Dowager Chen’s style was no longer as strict as before, but instead revealed a gentleness and concern. She no longer mercilessly checked if you had completed your cultivation tasks for the day, but focused more on character development, hoping the students would let go of their burdens.

Calling her Empress Dowager Chen was a nickname passed down through history. It was no longer a term of fear, but one of affection. The silence in her class was no longer out of fear, but out of respect. That tangible care was something every student could feel.

Su Xuan looked at his silent classmates, wondering how many tears would be shed when they parted, mostly from the girls, he imagined.

Empress Dowager Chen glanced at the countless familiar faces below, hesitating for a moment before finally opening her mouth to speak.

“As we reach the final stretch, there isn’t much more I can teach you. What needs to be practiced, you can all complete independently, and I can’t offer much more guidance. But in these final moments, I want to talk again about the advent of this dark era, so that everyone understands the meaning of our existence.”

“At some point in the past, a chaotic and disorderly Land of Chaos appeared on Aquamarine. A type of powerful and evil creature emerged from it. They were incredibly strong, astonishingly fast, and some even possessed strange abilities.”

“Their special material composition meant that technological weapons had extremely limited effect on them. They came to this world like Columbus discovering the New World, invading this world and causing the Land of Chaos to expand.”

“They are what are now known as the ‘Dark Abominations.’ After enduring the darkest Double Ninth Era, humanity defended its sovereignty with blood and iron. During the struggle, a resource belonging to the invaders was discovered and utilized by humanity. A new form of combat developed rapidly in the human world.”

“With this new form of combat, humanity gradually gained the strength to resist the Dark Abominations and slowly brought the expansion of the Land of Chaos under control. Warriors continuously entered it to fight and obtain resources. This has continued for two hundred years. In these two hundred years, some names have shone in the sky, passed down for a thousand years; some have remained unknown, yet were the pride of their families; and there were also ordinary people who contributed to the foundation of a peaceful society…”

A slideshow played on the all-in-one projector in sync with her words. Terrifying black demons, energy channels soaring into the sky, the death-defying oath of thousands of warriors at sunrise, the life-and-death charge of hundreds of small squads, the single blade strike that parted the dark clouds to welcome the dawn… one after another, these deeply moving images slowly came to life during Empress Dowager Chen’s speech.

Su Xuan listened, captivated by what he saw. He had heard this history many times, but each time he listened, he could feel a profound weight. A short speech, yet it contained hundreds of years of arduous struggle, the deaths of hundreds of millions of living beings. The appearance of the Dark Abominations was something people like them, living in safe zones, could only know through movies, TV shows, or the news, but they had never truly encountered one.

Just how terrifying the Dark Abominations were, no one who hadn’t personally experienced it could truly say.