From the fissure revealed as the giant hand parted the dense clouds, a thick stench of blood poured downward. A strange, slightly decayed, sour odor rushed over them, making everyone frown in disgust.
As the fissure widened, a massive object emerged from the clouds, rolling around coated in viscous fluid. Densely covered in fine hairs around its sides, it resembled a bloody, living bead.
“W-What is that thing?” Shen Yun gasped, suddenly grabbing Shi Yu's hand.
After staring for a long moment, the crowd was horrified to realize that it was actually a bloody eyeball!
The eyeball was several hundred feet in diameter, occupying nearly half the sky. Its pupil, like a blood moon, emitted a cold, bloodthirsty light as it swept over the crowd below, radiating an endless malice that cast an unspeakable pressure over everyone.
Shi Yu felt as if the surrounding air had frozen solid the moment the giant eye appeared. Her eardrums throbbed with pain, and the beat of her heart echoed loudly in her chest. She squeezed Shen Yun's hand tightly in return; her palm was slick with sweat, though she couldn't tell whose hand was cold-sweating.
Under the gaze of the giant eye, many in the crowd clutched their eyes and ears, groaning in agony as they struggled to endure the pressure.
The young man clad in a crane cloak raised his eyes and flicked his sleeve. A radiance of azure light dispersed, neutralizing the pressure emanating from the sky and allowing everyone to finally gasp for breath.
Taking a deep breath, Shi Yu turned to look at Shen Yun. Seeing her pale face from the pressure, she asked, “Senior Sister Shen, are you all right?”
Shen Yun's fingers twitched, and she stiffly released her tight grip on Shi Yu's hand. Pursing her lips, she nodded and looked up at the young man, her eyes bursting with fervent excitement. “With the Vice Principal stepping in, let's see what kind of petty scum dares to attack us now!”
Shi Yu's heart settled slightly as well. The Vice Principal of Shiyan Academy, Venerable Ningzhu, had formed his Nascent Soul a century ago and was a powerful Nascent Soul powerhouse. With him presiding over the situation alongside the city-protecting array, everyone's safety should be guaranteed.
Venerable Ningzhu leapt into midair, the Heavenly Book Pen manifesting in his hand. With a swift stroke, he wrote the character for “Disperse” in the air. The thick clouds filling the sky instantly vanished, revealing the scene with stark clarity.
However, the view was far from the clear blue sky they had hoped for. The heavens remained dreary and dark. Before everyone's disbelieving eyes, a gigantic object almost as large as the entire Shiyan City appeared. The giant eyeball, several hundred feet wide, was merely an embedded bead adornment on one corner of this massive entity.
“That's...” Shi Yu looked up, taking a long moment before speaking in an extremely quiet voice, “a parasol.”
It was an open parasol placed upside down, divided into eight ribs and nine faces. Every rib was crafted from the backbone of a demon beast, and every face was stitched together from layers of flesh. Embedded across the nine faces were all sorts of bizarre objects—the giant eye from before, hearts, severed limbs, and more. Arranged in various hideous forms, they clawed, writhed, and twisted across the canopy, looking like living tapestries of hell.
The moment this parasol, capable of blocking out the sun and sky, revealed itself, a dazed helplessness and chill struck everyone's hearts. Then, a burst of unrestrained laughter echoed through the air:
“Wei Handan isn't here! Today, the great enmity of stealing the Tuo Dragon shall be avenged!”
Shi Yu narrowed her eyes and looked toward the source of the voice. She spotted a dozen people sitting or reclining on the frontmost rib of the parasol. Among them was a Buddhist master with an exposed chest and a skull-bead necklace, wearing a deceptively benevolent expression; a lovely female cultivator with high-styled hair; and evil cultivators shrouded in dark energy and blood fiends.
The person who had just spoken was their leader—a cultivator wearing a brownish-yellow Daoist robe, yet bearing ordination scars on his head.
Wei Handan... Shi Yu frowned slightly. That was the name of Shiyan Academy's Principal.
With the Principal absent, the Vice Principal was presiding over the situation. For this group to dare challenge them directly, they bound to have the confidence to face him, meaning this ordained-scar cultivator was likely a Nascent Soul powerhouse as well. As for the other dozen or so, their cultivations were probably no weaker than the Golden Core Realm.
Venerable Ningzhu spoke calmly, “The Tuo Dragon resides in the Boundless Sea. Since when did it become private property of your Blood God Temple?”
Tuo Dragon... Shi Yu recalled records she had read in ancient texts. It was an ancient offshoot variant of the divine dragons, resembling an ox with a dark blue body, hornless, and possessing a single foot. Whenever it entered or exited the water, wind and rain accompanied it. It could manipulate the powers of heaven and earth, making it extraordinarily formidable.
As for this Blood God Temple... she had never heard of it. Judging by their grand entrance, it was likely some evil or demonic sect.
Shen Yun whispered softly into Shi Yu's ear, “Five years ago, the Principal formed a contract with a shape-shifted Tuo Dragon. That's probably the one they're talking about.”
The ordained-scar cultivator burst into loud laughter. “The Boundless Sea is the inner sea of my Blood God Temple! Naturally, every living creature within it is the private property of my Blood God Temple! Hand over the Tuo Dragon and there may still be room for negotiation. Otherwise... once the Blood God Parasol is unleashed, your Shiyan City will not survive!”
Venerable Ningzhu let out a soft laugh. “Boastful talk.”
The ordained-scar cultivator's smile vanished, replaced by bone-chilling coldness. “Refusing a favor, are we? In that case—”
“Today, I will wipe out your Shiyan Academy and soak this city in blood to establish the prestige of my Blood God Temple!”
The moment his words fell, the dozen people behind the ordained-scar cultivator simultaneously formed hand seals. On the giant parasol, a sea of blood began to churn, and countless bloody bubbles bubbled up, transforming into bloody demon beasts that lunged downward.
Shrieks of alarm rose one after another as everyone drew their magic artifacts, looking up into the sky in sheer tension.
Fortunately, the city-protecting array radiated brilliant, enigmatic light. As the demon beasts slammed into the array, it was like raindrops falling upon a lake surface, triggering deafening rumbles and stirring up waves of ripples, keeping every single one blocked outside.
At the same time, with the Heavenly Book Pen in hand, Venerable Ningzhu wrote out countless runes stroke by stroke. Turning into beams of azure light, they arced sharply and darted toward the ordained-scar cultivator.
As the two clashed in midair, colors shifted across heaven and earth while clouds churned violently. No bystander could intervene in the slightest. Affected by their clash, the city-protecting array shimmered with chaotic light as ripples surged over its barrier.
Venerable Ningzhu glanced down briefly before drawing the ordained-scar cultivator toward the distant horizon as they fought. Fearless, the ordained-scar cultivator battled him further and further away into the distance.
Seeing this, Instructor Jiang Tingchuan said solemnly, “The Vice Principal has drawn away their leader. The rest is up to us. We must guarantee the safety of the students!”
Instructor Ye, being the eldest and most respected, nodded and issued orders: “All instructors, take to the air with me and eliminate the remaining villains!”
With that, he looked toward Jiang Tingchuan. “Tingchuan, stay below to take charge and hold the array!”
Jiang Tingchuan nodded. “Leave it to me.”
Seeing a dozen instructors at the Golden Core Realm soar into the sky to charge at the evil cultivators resting on the ribs of the Blood God Parasol, Shi Yu exchanged a glance with Shen Yun, then turned her gaze toward the demon beasts pouring incessantly from the parasol.
An onslaught of demon beasts in such numbers was no less menacing than a beast tide. Most of the instructors had leapt high into the sky to engage the villains while the rest maintained the array's operation, but maintaining the city-protecting array consumed immense energy, and no one knew how long it could hold out.
In the square, some people looked terrified while others burned with righteous indignation. Yet regardless of their thoughts, charging out of the array with their current cultivations would be suicide. They could only wait in anxious confusion as the tide of battle shifted.
Stepping onto a flying sword, Jiang Tingchuan commanded in a deep voice, “All students, hear my order!”
“Heaven Class students, head to the northwest corner of the array! Earth Class, to the southwest! Mystic Class, to the northeast! Yellow Class, to the southeast! Show every trick you have—slay as many demon beasts as you can to ease the burden on the formation!”
Jiang Tingchuan's arrangement was made based on the condition of the city-protecting array. The array was weakest at the northwest corner, which was why he dispatched the strongest Heaven Class there, and so forth.
Receiving their orders, the students snapped to attention. “Yes, sir!”
“Heading out immediately!”
“Understood!”
The students of Shiyan Academy were indeed extraordinarily well-trained. Though panicking and alarmed, they moved swiftly under their instructor's command.
Only the prospective students who had passed the entrance evaluations just days prior looked at each other in bewilderment, asking cautiously, “What about us?”
Jiang Tingchuan glanced at them. “The situation is dire. Prospective or not, everyone goes.”
Hearing this, Shen Yun grabbed Shi Yu. “Let's go! You're part of the Yellow Class now too. Follow me to the southeast corner!”
Rate on N.U.
