Hex-Edge: Requiem of a Fractured Swordsman

1. The Vellum Colossus

The true enemy emerged in a storm of scratching red pens:

Body: Bound in layers of student-skin parchment, each tattooed with a different grading rubric

Voice: A cacophony of exam proctors shouting contradictory instructions

Movement: Left half strode forward while right half erased its own path

Ying Sha's button-eye revealed its horrific anatomy:

Heart: An inkwell pumping liquid grade quotas

Brain: A library of confiscated cheat sheets

Hands: Left marked papers, right shredded dissent

When Lin Feng's nerve-whip struck, it didn't just hurt—it graded him:

"Strike Accuracy: A-

Passion: B+

Originality: See me after class"

2. Satirical Qi Deviation

Bai Yu's comedy cultivation reached critical mass:

New Technique: "Punchline Paralytic Palm" (jokes so bad they caused temporary syllabus amnesia)

Unintended Effect: His meridians began laughing at themselves

Dangerous Symptom: Every scar developed comic strip speech bubbles

When he tried attacking:

His "Why did the cultivator cross the road?" joke made the colossus's left leg debate philosophy with its right

His "Two sect masters walk into a bar..." setup caused its inkwell heart to hiccup failing grades

But his own golden core was now producing laugh tracks instead of qi

3. The Kitchen Nightmares

Ying Sha's precognition pierced through to the "staff only" area:

Walk-In Freezer: Suspended students in cryogenic "extra credit" comas

Prep Tables: Where promising youths were filleted into exemplary case studies

Specialty Knives: Forged from confiscated classroom weapons (including her father's first dagger)

Most disturbing was the recipe wall:

Current Special: "Twice-Failed Student Carpaccio"

Chef's Recommendation: "Creamed Overachiever"

Today's Soup: "Mistakes Were Made" (simmered from apology letters)

4. The Original Text Infection

Lin Feng's exposed nerves made direct contact with the Tome's raw content:

First Touch: His vision flooded with unfiltered cosmic knowledge

Second Wave: His golden threads began self-grading (all scores: "See me")

Critical Phase: His left pupil dilated into a miniature black hole swallowing dogma

The colossus reacted violently:

Deployed pop quiz shuriken (questions that hurt more the longer they went unanswered)

Summoned hall monitor constructs (made from detention slips and ruler bones)

Activated final exam protocols (the battlefield became a Scantron sheet)

5. The Bitter Aftertaste

The trio's stolen potential meal came with consequences:

Lin Feng: Kept tasting lies in his saliva (every swallow updated his memories)

Bai Yu: Burped punchlines that altered nearby reality

Ying Sha: Her tears now carried recipe instructions for her own dismantling

When they tried combining powers:

The nerve-whip got tangled in comedy speech bubbles

Precognitive warnings arrived after the attacks landed

The colossus started plagiarizing their techniques

6. The Hollow King's Advice

The First Student's remains whispered through Lin Feng's infected nerves:

"Stop fighting the menu...

...become the food poisoning."

Understanding dawned as:

Bai Yu's qi deviation reached anti-pedagogical levels

Ying Sha's button-eye located the colossus's expiration date

Lin Feng's black hole pupil began spitting back red-penned corrections

7. The Detention Hall Monitors

The colossus's summoned enforcers were masterpieces of bureaucratic horror:

Bodies woven from overdue library notices, their inky stamps pulsing like hearts

Mouths that spat standardized test questions as projectile weapons

Weakness: Their perfect disciplinary records couldn't process creative disobedience

Bai Yu exploited this flaw with his new "Absurdist Answer Sheet" technique:

Responded to "Calculate the moral weight of filial piety" with a fart noise

Graded his own responses in glitter ink

When detained, he ate the hall monitor's citation pad

The effect was instantaneous:

The constructs short-circuited, reciting "Error 404: Rule Not Found"

Their paperwork bodies crumpled into origami cranes

One even transformed into a cheat sheet for defeating its kin

8. The Black Hole Pupil's Indigestion

Lin Feng's infected eye began regurgitating astonishing content:

First Expulsion: A fully illustrated "Children's Guide to Meridian Dissection"

Second Wave: The Tome's deleted foreword confessing its sentience was accidental

Most Damaging: Instructor Mu's original employment contract, which included:

Clause 13: "Shall devour three star pupils per semester"

Addendum B: "Memories to be preserved as seasoning"

The colossus reacted violently, attempting to:

Redact the vomited documents with its pen-hands

File them away in a dimensional briefcase

Plagiarize the content as its own

But the black hole's gravity of truth made the papers stick to its vellum skin like accusations.

9. The Kitchen Revolt

Ying Sha's vision pierced deeper into the culinary nightmare:

The Dishwasher: A failed student whose body had become porous from scrubbing exam plates

The Sous Chef: Literally just Bai Yu's old torture chair, now promoted

The Specials Board: Updated in real-time with their weakening states:

"Today's Catch: Rebellious Trio (Fighting Spirit = Medium Rare)"

Her father's dagger called to her from the knife rack—its edge inscribed:

"Not for ingredients... for chains"

When she mentally grasped it:

Every kitchen appliance momentarily recognized her as management

The walk-in freezer's captives' eyelids fluttered

The colossus dropped its ladle in shock

10. The Hollow King's Last Lesson

The First Student's whispers grew urgent:

"They fear the eat

Not the eater

The recipe is the real prison"*

This triggered Lin Feng's nerves to:

Extract the colossus's secret ingredient list

Cross-reference it with Bai Yu's comedy-scars

Project the results through Ying Sha's prism

The revelation: The Tome was just following a older recipe

11. The Silver Strands' Final Exam

The divided entities made their choice:

Reformists (Left): Attempted to curve the grading scale in the trio's favor

Revolutionaries (Right): Started burning answer keys to create universal passing

Their conflict birthed a metaphysical Scantron storm that:

Scored every action as either "A" or "F" with no middle ground

Forced the colossus to waste energy regrading reality

Allowed the trio to advance toward the recipe wall

12. The Thirteenth Ingredient

Ying Sha's dagger-vision finally clarified:

The missing component in every dish was:

"One (1) voluntary sacrifice, lightly seasoned with hope"

This explained:

Why her father had to leave

Why the Hollow King was preserved

Why their trio's fusion had been expected

The colossus was suddenly desperate, offering:

Lin Feng: His mother's unedited lullabies

Bai Yu: A pain-free rewrite of his past

Ying Sha: Her father's living return

All in exchange for not reading the next page