Dark clouds, dark mist, dark whispers.
A never-ending stream of Others kept charging the barrier, and all the while, the grinning demon hopped and raved its mad dance in their midst.
It was bizarre and preposterous, but not a single student laughed. Even someone with the brainpower of an ass hair would know that something terrible was incoming.
Yet they couldn’t do anything now. They would have to deal with whatever appeared.
“Highest alert!” Jiang Qing’e called. “Be ready for anything!”
Outside the purified spot, the demented howling of the monsters was deafening. Inside, a tense silence.
Finally, the grinning demon was done with its dance, and its grin seemed to deepen even further.
Rows upon rows of gleaming, black fangs.
“Kekeke!”
Dark power dripped off its fangs onto the mud figurines that it had made.
There was a little hiss each time the power dripped onto a mud figurine, and then nothing.
The students waited and waited in trepidation. Perhaps something had gone wrong with the demon’s ritual?
“Argh!”
They had hoped too much. Suddenly, a scream came from their midst.
They whirled around to see black smoke billowing out of some students’ bodies. Their mouths were being ripped open by some invisible force, and their screams soon turned to giggles of madness.
Waves of corruptive energy washed over them, overwhelming them and taking control of their bodies.
In a few short moments, these students had become puppets, marked by their dull, red eyes. They attacked the students closer to them.
The situation in the purified spot dissolved into chaos.
Li Luo surveyed the situation worriedly.
“The undiscovered corrupted ones…”
“Those black mud figurines must be linked to the seeds of corruption inside their bodies,” Jiang Qing’e said. “It has triggered them and turned them into puppets now.”
Clearly, they hadn’t managed to detect all of the corrupted students. The grinning demon had planted these seeds very deep for this very situation and purpose.
Duze Honglian shuddered. If she hadn’t been cleansed by Jiang Qing’e and Li Luo, she would be in the same state now.
“Be careful of Yuan Xiong and Ye Qiuding! They met the grinning demon alongside me as well, there’s a high chance they were deeply corrupted!”
Boom!
She spoke not a moment too soon. One stone tower was suddenly crumbling, a girl running like hell out of it.
It was Tian Tian, who had been watching over Ye Qiuding and Yuan Xiong!
She was running pell-mell away from the dust and smoke. Behind her, a few figures emerged, walking slowly.
It was Yuan Xiong, Ye Qiuding, and a few others, the tell-tale sign of blood all over their faces. Their dull, red eyes were locked on Tian Tian.
“Leader, they’ve grown much stronger after they got corrupted!”
Tian Tian yelled a warning up to Jiang Qing’e and the others.
“No need to panic,” Jiang Qing’e called loudly to all of the students. “Work together, suppress them.
“Form a defensive line near the central tower, and don’t let them get close. Their goal must be to break the central tower and remove the purification barrier!”
The students rallied around Jiang Qing’e, and a semblance of order was restored. Soon, they were working together to repel the corrupted students.
Now the goal was clear: keep the central tower standing. If the purification barrier fell, they would be overwhelmed by the horde of Others.
Sure death!
The threat of death sharpened their senses, and they fought with redoubled vigor.
Li Luo, Duze Honglian, Qiu Bai, and other key leaders were spaced out to maintain order.
Only Jiang Qing’e remained on the high wall now, watching the situation with a calm and sharp eye. She was also keeping watch on the grinning demon itself.
For now, the situation was manageable without her. She had to be alert to any new changes that their ultimate enemy might wreak.
She knew that she was the only one who might even pose a semblance of a threat to the grinning demon.
But even so, there was an indisputable gap between her strength and the demon’s. She had to wait for a good chance.
She stood tall on the wall, blood-scented wind fanning her hair out behind her. Her hand rested gently on the hilt of her giant sword, its blade plunged into the ground.
…
Weng!
Li Luo’s shortswords cut out again and again, and he managed to send another corrupted student flying.
He stepped forward to close, but another streak of corrupted energy came at him from the flank.
His swift reflexes threw up a mirror of light that blocked it.
Crash!
The mirror broke, reflecting the attack back to his attacker, who negated it easily and sent another bolt of black lightning his way.
Dang!
Li Luo took the attack on his blades.
Incredible blasts of resonant power followed in quick succession, and Li Luo was forced back, parrying furiously. His hands were throbbing from the sheer impact alone, although the attacks were mostly elemental in nature.
The corruption warped the appearance of the students, but this one was still recognizable.
“Ye Qiuding?”
Li Luo frowned. Even before corruption, Ye Qiuding was a third-tier Resonant Master, far stronger than himself. Now that he had the evil boost, Li Luo was hopelessly outmatched.
Ffft!
Ye Qiuding’s crimson eyes glinted maliciously, and he sent another terrific blast of power Li Luo’s way.
Li Luo swore and dived away.
Ye Qiuding continued pursuing him relentlessly, sending punishing attacks his way while ignoring everyone else.
“Does he hate me that much?”
Li Luo fled desperately, cursing. Ye Qiuding should have traded his intelligence for corrupted power, but this single-minded dedication to hunting Li Luo down was unusual, to say the least.
Which meant that at the primal level, this guy was still obsessed with Jiang Qing’e.
“Son of a bitch, I can’t believe you’re still jealous even when corrupted.”
Ye Qiuding’s speed was too great. Soon, Li Luo was cornered, and he turned to face his attacker.
Even after the onyx lake, he was still only a Third Pattern, whereas Ye Qiuding was already at the Evolving Resonance Tier!
Still, Ye Qiuding was alone, and Li Luo was not.
A burst of starlight resonant power swarmed Ye Qiuding’s face with starry butterflies.
A streak of shadow power cut out towards Ye Qiuding.
Although Ye Qiuding managed to shrug off Bai Mengmeng’s Fluttering Star easily, it bought Li Luo a precious second to make his getaway.
A sizzling bolt of shadow energy flew out like an arrow, aimed directly at Ye Qiuding’s vitals, but he casually plucked it out of the air.
Li Luo lowered his swords. “Any later and all you’d have is my corpse to bring back!” he grumbled to his squad.
“We can’t beat him as we are either,” Xin Fu grumbled right back.
Even with the three of them together, Ye Qiuding was still stronger. After all, he was one of the elites in the Two Star Hall, and now he was boosted by the corruption as well.
“Well, if we can’t beat him, we’ll just have to call for backup,” Li Luo said cheerfully.
He beckoned to another group, and soon another squad was with them.
Three very familiar figures indeed.
Yi Lisha, Si Qiuying, Qian Ye.
The two squads sandwiched Ye Qiuding in the middle.
Without hesitation, all six attacked as one, ready to take their Two Star Hall senior down.