In the darkness of Prison No. 18, a warm breath suddenly emanated from one of the cells.
Gradually, the warm breath turned into scorching heat.
Waves of heat were billowing out of that cell, like the tides at the equator in the evening.
In the two cells next to this one, prisoners were frantically pounding on the alloy gates, shouting loudly for help.
Their cries for help grew fainter, and the water in their bodies was rapidly evaporating due to the high temperature. Just two minutes had passed, and they were already dehydrated.
Lin Xiaoxiao, who had been asleep on the first floor, suddenly got up. He went out to the square, looked up, and exchanged glances with Ye Wan, who had also sensed something was amiss, "Awakening of the elemental type?"
"Yes," Ye Wan nodded, "It's Liu Dezhu's cell."
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Lin Xiaoxiao, shocked and confused, said, "What did this kid experience in the Outer World to have awakened?!"
The alloy gate in the square opened, and six mechanical prison guards lined up neatly in two rows to enter. The drones from the Hive above also descended, soaring towards that abnormal cell.
"Save them first," Ye Wan bent his legs slightly and leaped, landing firmly on the third-floor corridor like a tiger. He opened the two adjacent alloy gates and threw the already fainting prisoners far away.
The heat waves from the cell were pouring out through the alloy gate, and Ye Wan's forehead began to show signs of scorched hair.
The next moment, a semi-transparent force field suddenly converged in front of him. As the heat swept through, one could see the tightly arranged, honeycomb-like structure on the bell-shaped field.
Ye Wan stood in front of the cell door, flanked on either side of the corridor by three mechanical prison guards, and behind him hovered the drones.
He was waiting, and only when the temperature inside began to lower did Ye Wan signal to the mechanical prison guards to open the alloy gate.
With a click, the alloy gate swung open, and Liu Dezhu was seen weakly collapsing on the floor, all the household items in the room burned to black or white ash.
Strangely, the clothes on Liu Dezhu's body were still intact.
This guy, though listless, was muttering excitedly, "I've become an Awakener! I've truly become an Awakener!"
"Come out," Ye Wan said, "Let's get you a different cell."
Liu Dezhu suddenly turned around: "What about my boss? Has my boss returned yet? I need to tell him the news, I've succeeded!"
Ye Wan looked perplexed, he hadn't expected this guy's first reaction to be to report his Awakening to Qing Chen.
He didn't know that, in Liu Dezhu's view, if it weren't for his boss instructing him to stay angry, he might not have awakened now…
Just then, Lin Xiaoxiao came to the door, smiling broadly, "Your boss is too busy to care about you now."
"What level am I now?" Liu Dezhu asked.
"C-Class," Lin Xiaoxiao, leaning lazily against the door, said: "Don't get too excited so early, you have a long way to go."
In the wild, beside a lonely campfire, Uncle Li Dong smiled at Qing Chen: "Having returned this time, did you continue your training?"
"I did," Qing Chen nodded and took off his shirt, revealing his muscled torso.
Uncle Li Dong was somewhat surprised: "I intentionally didn't remind you to train, just to see what you would be like when you let go. Yet unexpectedly, you still persisted. Oddly, after becoming a Knight and gaining so much strength, can you still appreciate the slow progress of your training?"
It's like many people who suddenly become rich and worth billions. If someone dropped ten dollars on the ground, this newly wealthy person might not even bother to bend down to pick it up.
Let alone ten dollars, even a few thousand they wouldn't care for.
However, Uncle Li Dong felt that if Qing Chen became a billionaire and saw a coin embedded in the concrete while walking, his student would still try to pry it out.
This left Uncle Li Dong at a loss for words.
Other teachers might hope their students would be a bit more disciplined, but he was hoping his student would relax a bit more from time to time.
This feeling was a bit off!
Qing Chen put his shirt back on and added some more wood to the campfire, "Master, it's not that I'm overly disciplined. I remember something Lin Xiaoxiao once told me, to face life-and-death trials as an Ordinary Person, so I reckon continuing training will definitely come in handy."
Uncle Li Dong sighed, "You are indeed clever."
"Then, having ascended to become a Transcendent as a Knight, how can I revert to the state of an Ordinary Person?" Qing Chen wondered.
"I was thinking of letting you relax as a Transcendent before telling you," Uncle Li Dong said: "Try reversing the frequency of your Breathing Technique."
Qing Chen recalled the frequency of the Breathing Technique, and instantly, icy blue lines bloomed along his cheeks, starkly different from the previous Fire Runes.
There was a click inside his body, and Qing Chen felt the Genetic Lock that had been opened within him lock up again!
The torrential power inside his body was also drawn away to a corner in that instant.
He suddenly looked at Uncle Li Dong: "Master, should I use the Reverse Breathing Technique for every life-and-death trial from now on?"
"Yes," Uncle Li Dong nodded his head: "And the Breathing Technique cannot be interrupted, even for a second, or you'll have to start over."
"I see," Qing Chen nodded.
He stopped using the Breathing Technique, but the Genetic Lock did not reopen.
Uncle Li Dong explained, "Don't worry, after the Reverse Breathing Technique ends, the Genetic Lock will reopen after an hour. This is also a cost of using the Breathing Technique. If you could restart the Genetic Lock at any moment after failing a life-and-death trial, then the trial would have no meaning."