His movements… abruptly… froze! Those claws, capable of tearing steel, were less than half a meter from Li Bing’s blurry, shadowy figure!
The violent wind had even ripped Li Bing’s clothes across his chest!
This sudden halt! It was as if a pause button had been pressed!
Li Bing and Bai Lingdong were both stunned! Immense fear had blanked their minds!
But Tang Buyu wasn’t stunned! He instantly seized this fleeting opportunity!
“Run!!!” he roared hoarsely! At the same time, he slammed both hands onto the ground!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At the Sports Hall entrance, that heavy, rusty alloy door! Along with the surrounding scattered giant metal trusses! Under Tang Buyu’s full-force manipulation! It was as if an invisible giant hand had lifted them! With a deafening roar! They crashed heavily towards… Zhuang Han!
These metals were like paper in front of Zhuang Han! But… their goal… was not to attack! It was… to block his vision! To create chaos!
The massive metal door panels and trusses crashed down like collapsing mountains! Dust shot into the sky! Instantly obscuring Zhuang Han’s vision!
“Go!” Li Bing reacted instantly! He grabbed the still-dazed Bai Lingdong! His figure once again turned into an afterimage! Like two ghosts merging into the night! They instantly rushed into the Sports Hall’s dark, gaping entrance! And vanished!
Tang Buyu also didn’t hesitate! He turned and bolted in the opposite direction—towards the Experiment Building, where the explosion had occurred!
He deliberately chose different directions! To distract Zhuang Han!
“Roar—!!!”
From within the dust! Came Zhuang Han’s even more enraged, more frenzied roar! In that roar… besides the fury of being played… there seemed to be a hint of… an indescribable… shock and… unease?
Boom—!!!
The giant claw, covered in black jade scales, violently ripped open the obstructing metal barrier!
Like tearing a thin piece of paper! Zhuang Han’s massive body burst out of the dust! His crimson beast eyes instantly locked onto Tang Buyu’s fleeing back! And… the Sports Hall entrance!
He seemed to hesitate! His crimson beast eyes briefly… scanned between Tang Buyu’s back and the Sports Hall entrance!
Finally!
The alarm and unease brought by that cold will fluctuation seemed to outweigh the desire to pursue! Especially the profound darkness of the Sports Hall entrance… which instinctively made him feel a hint of… danger?
He let out a low growl full of reluctance and brutality! His massive body abruptly changed direction! No longer bothering with the fleeing Tang Buyu and the two who had hidden in the Sports Hall! Instead… he charged towards the direction from which that cold will fluctuation had come—deeper into Linghui Academy, that area shrouded in even denser darkness and ruins! Like an arrow shot from a bow… he charged away at extreme speed!
He instantly vanished into the depths of the ruins! Leaving behind only the deep craters where the ground had been crushed and the terrifying pressure that lingered in the air!
Escape… escaped?
Tang Buyu’s frantic footsteps abruptly halted! He leaned against a half-collapsed wall, panting heavily! His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would explode!
He looked incredulously at the direction Zhuang Han had vanished, then at the dark, gaping entrance of the Sports Hall, his eyes filled with the relief of having survived a disaster and… an indescribable… bewilderment.
Just now… what was that sudden will fluctuation? Why did it make that terrifying monster… suddenly stop? And even… give up the chase?
He shook his head, clearing his jumbled thoughts. Now was not the time to think about such things! He immediately rushed to the Sports Hall entrance.
“Bingzi! Lingdong!” he called out in a low voice.
The Sports Hall was pitch black, filled with thick dust and a musty smell. In a corner, Li Bing and Bai Lingdong’s figures appeared.
Li Bing was slumped on the ground, his face as pale as paper, blood still continuously oozing from the corner of his mouth, his breath weak.
Bai Lingdong knelt beside him, clutching his arm tightly, her face streaked with tears, her body still uncontrollably trembling.
“How… how is she?” Tang Buyu rushed over, his voice filled with anxiety.
“Internal organs… were severely injured… the spiritual core… also…” Li Bing spoke with difficulty, each word accompanied by violent coughing and bloody foam.
“Don’t talk!” Tang Buyu quickly stopped him, rummaging through his backpack for the last half-bottle of water, carefully feeding him a few sips, “We need to get out of here quickly! That monster… might come back!”
He carried the almost exhausted Li Bing on his back, with Bai Lingdong following closely behind.
The three dared not linger, nor did they care about the food and water they had painstakingly collected. They stumbled into a hidden ventilation duct deep within the Sports Hall, like startled mice, disappearing into the darkness of the duct.
Above the ruins, the blood moon still hung high.
The cold moonlight shone on the huge crater left by Zhuang Han when he departed, and also on the battlefield covered in metal fragments and dust.
In the air, the terrifying pressure slowly dissipated, but the lingering aura of that sudden, cold will fluctuation, like a ghost, remained over the ruins… for a long time.
Deep within the Linghui Academy Ruins, atop the broken walls and crumbling remains, Zhuang Han’s massive skeletal body, like a giant skeleton beast crawled out of a hellish furnace, stood in the center of the library ruins.
The stark white bone armor covering his entire body glowed with a pale, corpse-like cold light under the blood moon, and the jagged bone spurs, like countless inverted daggers, gleamed with a chilling light that made one’s heart palpitate.
His crimson beast eyes were fixed on the dark, gaping entrance of the Sports Hall, and the tyrannical killing intent, like a solidified ice pick, fiercely pierced into that profound darkness! Those three tiny insects from before!
However.
Buzz—!!!
An indescribable will fluctuation, as if from the deepest part of the soul, cold, dead silent, yet carrying supreme majesty!
Like an invisible, time-freezing cold current! Without warning… it fiercely stabbed into his mind!
Not a sound! Not energy! But… a pure, absolute… command!
This will… was as cold as ten thousand years of profound ice! As deep as a bottomless abyss!
It carried a… power of absolute control, transcending all things and indifferent to everything! Instantly… it froze all the boiling killing intent within Zhuang Han! And even… froze the power he was about to unleash!
“Stop.”
A cold thought, like a brand, was fiercely etched into the depths of Zhuang Han’s soul!
Zhuang Han’s massive body suddenly stiffened!
His forward momentum was abruptly halted, and in his crimson beast eyes, the towering rage and killing intent instantly solidified! Replaced by an… indescribable… shock and… a bone-deep… fear!
Soul Jade Physique! The Master’s will!
How… could he… descend… at this moment?!
Zhuang Han’s soul trembled! The imprint of absolute submission to the Soul Jade Physique, originating from the depths of his bloodline, was like the strongest shackles, firmly binding all his thoughts of resistance!
That cold will choked the source of his power! Making him unable to move! Making him… only able to… submit!
“Why…?” Zhuang Han let out an extremely suppressed, beast-like whimper from his throat. His crimson beast eyes were filled with unwillingness and… a hint of incomprehensible confusion.
Those three insects… were right in front of him! Within reach! Why would the Master stop him?!
“Ants… need not be bothered.” The cold will came again, with an undeniable indifference, “Your target… is the ‘bait’.”
Bait?
Zhuang Han’s crimson beast eyes narrowed slightly. Did the Master mean… those three people… were bait?
Luring whom? Could it be… that girl with spatial teleportation? Or… that guy who can control shadows? Is there a bigger fish… behind them?
Just as Zhuang Han was filled with shock and uncertainty!
Buzz—!!!
That cold will did not dissipate! Instead… it became even more condensed! Fiercely stabbing into the depths of his soul!
At the same time… a massive and chaotic memory fragment! Carrying blood, brutality, despair, and… a soul-shaking… sense of spatial tearing! Instantly flooded his mind!
Memory Fragment: The Bloody Net of Luo Zhi · Tang Buyu’s Rise to Fame!
Scene: Tang Family Forbidden Land · Thousand Machine Tomb, Shu Province.
Time: Fifth year of the apocalypse, early stage of spiritual energy recovery.
The air was filled with a strong smell of sulfur, blood, and a… nauseating, wailing resentment, like countless wronged souls!
The massive, honeycomb-like mountain dwelling, had now become a slaughterhouse!
Among the broken walls and ruins, bodies of disciples were scattered everywhere! Their deaths were extremely gruesome!
Some were twisted into a pretzel shape by an invisible force!
Some were nailed to spiked metal torture instruments!
Others were like dried husks, as if all their blood had been drained!
Blood stained every inch of the land, forming viscous streams that wound through the ruins.
In the center of the forbidden land.
Upon a metal altar, composed of countless giant gears, chains, and grotesque torture instruments, slowly rotating like a living thing!
A figure wearing a tattered official robe embroidered with a ferocious Bixi pattern, was suspended in mid-air!
His face was emaciated, his eye sockets sunken, but his eyes! They flickered with a chilling, ghostly green light that made one’s heart palpitate!
His body was in a translucent, smoke-like, eerie state, with countless fine, blood vessel-like dark red energy threads extending from his body, connecting to every torture instrument on the altar!
And also connecting to… an elder in elder’s robes below the altar, but with eyes rolled back, foaming at the mouth, and body convulsing!
Through Ling Chen’s memory, Zhuang Han knew.
Tang Sect Elder · Tang Qianji!
Because he coveted the “spirit artifact” sealed deep within the sect, which was formed from a cruel official from the previous dynasty—the fragmented page of 【Luo Zhi Jing】!
He tried to use its power to break through his bottleneck! But he was instead eroded and controlled by the terrifying will slumbering in the fragmented page! Becoming… the sacrifice and vessel… for the resurrection of the most cruel official of all time—Lai Junchen!
This was the terrifying consequence of being unable to suppress the deceased’s will within a spirit artifact!
One would be… possessed!
“Hehehe…”
Lai Junchen let out a hoarse, sandpaper-like laugh, his voice carrying a soul-piercing chill.
“The Tang Family? A thousand-year-old aristocratic family? You are merely… ants… offering your flesh and blood as sacrifices… for my rebirth!” His emaciated finger gently hooked!
“The feeling of having a physical body again… is truly exhilarating!”
Buzz—!!!
On the altar, a spiked iron maiden torture instrument suddenly opened!
Inside, countless rusted spikes grew and twisted wildly like living things!
Instantly enveloping and piercing a Tang Family elite disciple who tried to approach!
That disciple instantly turned into a dried corpse, as if all his life force had been sucked dry!
And a pure flesh and blood energy surged along the dark red threads into Lai Junchen’s translucent body, making his ethereal figure solidify a bit!
“Form a formation! Trap him!” A Tang Family Elder’s eyes were splitting with rage, as he roared hoarsely!
Dozens of surviving Tang Sect disciples suppressed their grief and fear, quickly forming a formation!
Various hidden weapons poured out from their hands like a rainstorm! Poisoned darts! Exploding thunder-fire bombs! Bone-piercing nails glowing with a faint blue light! There were even some spirit artifacts! All were infused with spiritual energy, carrying sharp whistling sounds as they fiercely shot towards Lai Junchen on the altar!
“Petty tricks!” Lai Junchen’s lips curled into a mocking arc! His emaciated finger gently flicked!
Buzz—!!!
The space around the altar… instantly twisted!
Like water disturbed by a thrown stone! Those rapidly approaching hidden weapons, at the moment they neared the altar, were like hitting an invisible wall covered in sticky colloid! Their speed drastically slowed! Their trajectories twisted!
Finally… like flies stuck in a spiderweb, they hovered in mid-air! Unable to move!
“Most of the hidden weapons you use were actually invented from my torture instruments!”
Lai Junchen gave a sinister smile! His finger flicked again!
Buzz—!!!
Those hovering hidden weapons… instantly changed direction! At a speed faster than they came! With piercing screams! They shot fiercely towards… the Tang Sect disciples in formation!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Screams rose and fell! The sound of hidden weapons piercing flesh was incessant! Poisoned darts pierced throats! Thunder-fire bombs exploded in the crowd!
Bone-piercing nails embedded in eye sockets! Instantly! Another dozen or so disciples fell into pools of blood! The formation… instantly collapsed!
Despair! Like a cold venomous snake, it coiled around the heart of every survivor! This… was simply not a battle on the same level!
Lai Junchen controlled… rules! He controlled… the power of torture that toyed with life!
They… had no chance of winning!
Just in this moment of despair!
A figure! Like a ghost! Silently appeared in the shadows at the edge of the altar!
It was… Tang Buyu!
At that time, he was not yet the Young Master of the Tang Sect, but merely a taciturn, exceptionally talented collateral disciple brought back from outside!
Of course, a very small number of people also knew that he was the illegitimate son of the current Tang Family Patriarch.