After a thousand years of cultivation, he returns at the pinnacle!

That night, the whole world was sleepless.

In the first hour after the live broadcast ended, the headlines of major media outlets worldwide all featured the same photo. It was a frame captured from the live broadcast: in the void, thousands of silver-white swords hung like an inverted galaxy, with a boy in the Jiangzhou Academy uniform standing in the center. His right hand was raised, fingers loosely clenched, his posture as casual as raising his hand to answer a question in class. Behind him, the body of the Thirteenth Apostle, Astra, was beginning to dissipate into dark golden specks of light from the edges.

In the next 24 hours, this photograph became the most widely circulated, most viewed, and most reposted image in human history. Without a doubt.

The Xinhua News Agency of China was the first to release its report. At 12:17 AM, an urgent telegram titled "Humanity's First Victory: The Thirteenth Apostle's Temple Cleared, Apostle Astra Killed" appeared on the terminals of all partner media outlets worldwide. The article began with only one sentence, bolded, centered, with each word broken into an independent paragraph:

"On October 24, 2024, at 9:03 PM Dragon Kingdom Standard Time, the Thirteenth Apostle, Astra, was killed by Jiang Chen, a citizen of the Dragon Kingdom, on the 100th floor of the Thirteenth Apostle's Hall in the Kunlun Mountains."

Below this sentence was a 3,000-word summary of the battle report. It detailed everything from the moment Ye Wuhen and his companions entered the Apostle Hall, to Astra's display of the Law of Immortality, to the three Awakened Ones' near-death state, to Jiang Chen's sudden appearance, to the unfolding of the Sword Domain and the shattering of the Law by countless sword blades, to Astra's complete dissipation into specks of light. Every crucial moment was pinpointed to the second, and every detail of the battle was repeatedly verified.

The last paragraph of the report reads as follows:

"According to the Dragon Kingdom's Awakened Affairs Management Bureau, the death of the Thirteenth Apostle, Astra, marks the first successful slaying of a Guardian Apostle of the Apostle Temple in three hundred years. The significance of this victory is no less than the birth of the first Awakened One three hundred years ago. From this day forward, the balance of power between humanity and the Apostles begins to tilt."

Within ten minutes of its release, the report had been shared over 300 million times worldwide.

Reuters' headline was "The Myth of Immortality Dies at the Hands of a High School Student." The Associated Press's headline was "The End of the Apostle Era? A Seventeen-Year-Old from the Dragon Kingdom Rewrites Human Destiny." AFP's headline was the most straightforward, just two words, displayed in the largest font on the first page: "Jiang Chen. Victory."

Immediately after the live broadcast, the BBC produced a 47-minute documentary. It began with historical records of the Apostles' arrival three hundred years prior, interspersed with introductions to the lives of Ye Wuhen, Zhou Tianze, and Luo Qinghe. This was followed by a historical review of the Apostle Temple challenge, and finally, nearly twenty minutes were dedicated to analyzing the battle between Jiang Chen and Astra. The documentary's final frame focused on Jiang Chen's departing figure. A deep, restrained British accent delivered the closing remarks:

Three hundred years ago, black ice flowers fell from the sky, nearly wiping human civilization from this planet. Three hundred years later, a boy in a school uniform stands in the void, using millions of swords to tell those beings from beyond the heavens: the age of humanity is not over yet.

Within China, the density and depth of reporting far exceed those of international media.

The People's Daily removed all content from its front page overnight for the following day. The originally scheduled headline was completely removed, replaced by an unprecedentedly large headline of only eight characters, printed in gold foil:

"The light of humanity was born in Jiangzhou."

Below the title is a photo that takes up almost half the page. It's not the iconic image of the swords hanging upside down from the live stream, but a passport photo retrieved from Jiangzhou College's student records. The boy in the photo is seventeen years old, wearing a white shirt, with handsome features and a gentle gaze; he looks no different from any other ordinary high school student. Next to the photo is only a line of small print: Jiang Chen, male, seventeen years old, student of Class 5, Grade 12, Jiangzhou College.

This photograph became the most frequently used image by all media outlets in the Dragon Kingdom over the next few days. Not because of its exquisite composition, nor its sophisticated lighting, but because of the almost suffocating contrast between it and the figure in the void wielding countless swords and shattering the laws of immortality.

A commentator article in the Guangming Daily used the title: "From 'The World's First Person Without Abilities' to 'The Light of Humanity'—One Month, One Boy, One New Era." The article meticulously outlined the complete timeline of Jiang Chen's journey from the day of his awakening to the battle at the Apostle Hall: being judged as a person without abilities on the day of his awakening, breaking up with his ex-girlfriend Liu Ruyan on the same day, the explosion at the Emperor Hotel celebration banquet, the massacre of the Liu family, the C-level monster incident at the training ground, the failed assassination attempt by the Dark Night Organization, the annihilation of 100,000 apostles with a single sword during the arrival of the apostles in the capital, and finally, killing Astra on the 100th floor of the Thirteenth Apostle Hall.

The last paragraph of the article reads:

"A month ago, when the Awakening Stone determined Jiang Chen to be the world's first person without abilities, the whole world laughed at him. A month later, when he shattered Astra's laws in the void, the whole world looked up to him. History always punishes those who are quick to judge and rewards those who silently accumulate strength in such an ironic way. Jiang Chen never explained where his power came from, nor did he ever defend himself against the ridicule and humiliation inflicted upon him. He simply did one thing: he stood up when humanity needed hope most."

This article has been forwarded more than 20 million times across the internet. In the comments section, countless people spontaneously dug up posts, comments, and short videos from a month ago that mocked Jiang Chen, took screenshots, posted them online, and apologized.

A month ago, after news broke that Jiang Chen had been deemed incapable of anything, a hashtag trended at number one on Weibo: #JiangChenWaste#. At the time, this hashtag garnered hundreds of thousands of posts mocking, abusing, and gloating. Someone dug up his three-year record of being first in his grade, captioning it, "What's the use of hard work? No talent, no talent." Someone photoshopped a picture of him and Liu Ruyan into a black and white image, captioning it, "A souvenir photo of a swan and a toad." Someone created a meme of him, cutting out his face and photoshopping it onto a dejected dog, captioning it, "Is this all humanity's hope?"

One month later, the same person, the same topic, but clicking on them yields completely different content.

"I'm here to apologize. A month ago, I called Jiang Chen a good-for-nothing here. I said he 'wasted the educational resources of Jiangzhou Academy,' and I said he 'would be better off dropping out and working.' Today, I'm publicly apologizing. Jiang Chen, I'm sorry. I'm not qualified to judge you."

"I also criticized him. I said he 'brought shame to Jiangzhou,' and that he 'wasn't even as good as those classmates who developed life skills.' I deleted all those comments today, but deleting them doesn't mean they didn't happen. I owe Jiang Chen an apology. Jiang Chen, I'm sorry."

"I'm not here to apologize; I'm here to see what kind of faces those who criticized Jiang Chen are making now. A month ago, you called him a piece of trash; a month later, he killed the Thirteenth Apostle. Don't your faces hurt?"

"It hurts. It really hurts. But I have to accept the pain. I scolded them, and I admitted my mistake."

Tens of thousands of such apology posts were published under the hashtag #JiangChenWaste#. Some have calculated that within twelve hours of the live stream ending, over 100,000 new apology posts were added under this hashtag. Those who didn't apologize, chose silence, or deleted their history were repeatedly ridiculed and mocked by netizens by posting screenshots in the comments section.

"This person posted over a dozen Weibo posts mocking Jiang Chen on Awakening Day, but has since deleted them all. However, I took screenshots."

"And this, after the bombing at Liu Ruyan's celebration banquet, he said Jiang Chen was a 'jinx' who 'brings death wherever he goes.' He's deleted his account now. But I have screenshots."

"You can run away, but you can't hide. You should apologize now for how you insulted Jiang Chen back then."

This spontaneous wave of online apologies continued to escalate over the next few days, eventually being dubbed the "Jiang Chen Effect" by the media and featured in countless commentary articles.

Meanwhile, an even more fervent emotion was also ignited online.

Two hours after the live stream ended, an unprecedented scene unfolded on Weibo's trending topics list. The top fifty trending topics were all occupied by items related to Jiang Chen.

From #JiangChenKillsTheThirteenthApostle# to #JiangChenSchoolUniform#, from #JiangChenSaysToGoHomeForDinner# to #JiangChenIsAbilityless#, from #JiangChen'sMotherJiangXueqin# to #JiangzhouCollegeSeniorClass5#, every angle that could be explored has been dug up by netizens, and every detail has been repeatedly discussed, amplified, and spread.

This discussion continued from night until dawn, from dawn until daybreak, and from daybreak until the evening of the next day, with no sign of its intensity waning.

Among all the discussions, one video was shared more than 50 million times, becoming the most representative work in this online frenzy.

The video's content is simple. The creator edited together two clips. The first clip is from news footage from the day of awakening a month ago: Jiang Chen walks out of the awakening testing room, his expression blank, his eyes vacant, surrounded by whispering crowds and flashing camera flashes. The voice-over is a reporter's question, sharp and excited: "Jiang Chen, as the world's first person without abilities, how do you feel right now? Do you think your life is over?"

The second clip comes from today's live stream: Jiang Chen stands in the void, with a vast sea of ​​silver swords stretching across the sky behind him, and Astra dissipating into specks of light before him. The voice-over is his own, calm as if he's talking about something trivial: "Going home. My mom's waiting for me to eat."

Between the two pieces of footage lies a month. It represents the entire distance a young man travels from the bottom to the top.

The video's title consists of only four characters: "This is Jiang Chen".

The top-voted comment under this video reads:

A month ago, the whole world was asking him: Is this the end of your life? A month later, he answered the world with his actions: No, my life has just begun.