Jiang Qing’e and Li Luo’s squads began to make their preparations for the purging mission.
At a dark place in the Umbra Cave.
Wraith-like figures moved through the deep fog, voices muffled in the gloomy, smoky air.
The tapping of light footsteps.
This person wore the robes of a Violet Vibrance mentor from the Astral Sage College. It was none other than Shen Jinxiao.
He traversed the fog easily, completely unafraid of the evil he knew lurked nearby.
He stopped at one point, looking down to see pale, bloated hands twisting around his ankle like snakes.
The evil aura swamped his leg, trying to invade his body.
Shoosh!
The fog around him swirled, all manner of other things stirring to life in response. It converged into a dark wind that blew against him.
Shen Jinxiao was unfazed by this sudden attack. His own resonant power formed a shield, brick-like and impenetrable.
“Flame God’s Halo.”
With a low mutter, a huge halo of fire rippled out of his body, raising the temperature around him.
The halo was covered in fiery symbols that seemed to resemble a dragon’s scales. The black mist evaporated before it, and the dangers hidden in its murk were burned to a crisp.
As well as the pale hands.
Soon, the entire area had been cleansed.
Such was the power of a Duke.
After the area had been purged of corruption, Shen Jinxiao moved towards a hill, hands clasped behind his back as he contemplatively gazed deeper into the Umbra Cave.
There was a powerful aura beyond, one that gave him pause.
He could sense the overwhelming power within, a beacon of raw, elemental strength that drew the danger to it.
The principal.
He stood in a balance against the powers of the Umbra Cave.
“King-class experts are something else.” Shen Jinxiao sighed. A long time ago, he longed to taste that power.
However, the breakthrough to King was incredibly difficult.
Many geniuses before him had been foiled at this hurdle.
“Time to move some plans ahead… for the sake of my path to King.” His head jerked backwards, to another location in the Umbra Cave.
“Ninth-grade light resonance… brilliant as the sun, and heart as clear as glass. No evil can even get in.
“Why is Li Luo so important to you?” Shen Jinxiao mused to himself. “If he dies before you, will that break your pure heart?”
With a flare of his robes, he moved on.
At the spot where he stood, the ground began to crack, revealing a sinister human face that poked out of the ground.
It stared in the direction that Shen Jinxiao had gone with a nasty smile, then it sank back down again until it was a mere thread of black on the ground. It moved backwards swiftly.
…
Some time later, Li Luo’s group had already found a place to camp: on the top floor of a stone tower.
It was barely adequate in terms of facilities, but space-wise it was enough for everyone to have their own room, so the two squads chose it.
They handed out the special jerky that the school had prepared. It was said to have been soaked in energy liquid to encourage healing and stave off hunger. One piece could last most of the day.
Hunger dealt with, Jiang Qing’e spread a coarsely-made map on the stone table. In the center was a tall tower magically glowing with light rays.
This was the purified spot that they were at.
There were other, smaller towers depicted nearby in a discouraging black.
“Those are the locations of the purification towers, and they’re currently dark because evil has overrun them. They haven’t been activated yet.
“Once they are, the map will show them as lit,” Tian Tian told them.
The newcomers nodded, impressed. This rough map was not at all as shoddy as it looked. It could reflect changes in the purification tower status? That would save them a lot of trouble.
“Don’t look down on the map. It’s very useful. As good as the Greenwood Comforter,” Jiang Qing’e told them.
Li Luo touched it, and his hand jerked in surprise. “Is this made of the tree’s bark?”
Tian Tian and Qiu Bai looked up at him curiously, nodding.
Now he understood. The grand tree that sheltered all of the Astral Sage College seemed more and more important by the day. The students cultivated with it, the Umbra Cave was defended by it, the door was activated by it…
It almost seemed like the entire school revolved around the tree. Without it, there would be no school.
“The density of the tower’s darkness is different… Is that because the corruption levels are different?” Bai Mengmeng asked.
“Indeed. That’s an astute observation.” Jiang Qing’e praised her.
Bai Mengmeng blushed and looked down.
“As she said. The corruption levels are different around each purification tower, which is why the school has divided them into a simple three-level system.
“The area around the purification tower where we land is generally level one. However, the further we get from the safe base, the stronger the darkness is. That would be level two…”
She gestured with her finger at some of the further points on the map where the darkness was indeed more pronounced.
Li Luo nodded in understanding, then he looked at the furthest edges of the map, where two towers were depicted.
They were almost completely black, like a pair of eyes staring out of the map.
“Those… are level three purification towers?” Li Luo asked.
Jiang Qing’e nodded solemnly. “The two most dangerous places, and also the ultimate goal of our purging mission.
“The corruption there is especially bad, and the chances of stronger Others appearing is also higher. It’s hard to deal with, but we eventually must go.”
Li Luo nodded woodenly.
Qiu Bai laughed, breaking the tension. “High risk, high reward, eh? Level three purification towers are worth 10,000 school points, you know.”
Li Luo’s head jerked up so fast that he almost sprained his neck. “10,000 school points?” he croaked. Their hard-won first place in the ranking battle had barely squeezed 5,000 school points. And one level three purification tower here would get him twice that?!
Jiang Qing’e inclined her head. “10,000 points for a level three purification tower, 4,000 points for a level two purification tower, and 1,500 points for a level one purification tower.”
This was a crazy point scale. The ranking battles were looking cheap in comparison.
Suddenly, the map on the table looked like a drawing of riches. There had to be dozens of purification towers, right?
How many was that in total?
Li Luo’s heart was beating like mad. So this was the best way to get points in the Astral Sage College… No wonder Jiang Qing’e was desperate to bring him along.
Rinse and repeat a few times, and suddenly 100,000 points didn’t seem that far out of reach.
“Besides the tower bonus, eliminating Others also gets points,” Tian Tian continued. “500 points for a white eroder from the Eroding Class, and 800 for a red eroder.
“Disaster Class Others are divided into Earthly Disaster and Heavenly Disaster Classes. The chances of Heavenly Disaster Class Others appearing isn’t too high in our zone, so we just need to watch out for the Earthly Disaster Class Others.
“Even the Earthly Disaster Class is further classified, but it’s quite simple. Greater Earthly Disaster Classes are roughly equivalent to a late stage Earth Fiend cultivator, and worth 4,000 points. Lesser Earthly Disaster Classes are worth 2,000 points.
“As you can see,” she chuckled, “prices are all clearly marked.”
Li Luo felt his fear give way to greed. Raw, unfettered greed.
“So when do we start?”
Tian Tian and Qiu Bai were looking at Li Luo’s over-eager appearance apprehensively. This was a bold kid.
Only Jiang Qing’e was looking amused. She rolled up the map.
“No time like the present.
“Oh, and…” She turned to look at the three of them properly.
“Welcome to the test… of the terror of the Umbra Cave.”