Lei Qianjue, with his golden hair, gripped a short sword crackling with lightning, his face cold and stern. Opposite him stood a bizarre creature, seemingly pieced together from various insects.
The body of a centipede, the legs of a spider, the mouthparts of an ant, the thin wings of a wasp... and at the same time, huge black, tentacle-like whiskers swayed gently in the void.
“It’s an unformed evil god’s offspring, currently at the fourth-tier level of calamity,” Li Huo stared at the scene expressionlessly, a glint of light flashing in his eyes, clearly using some special technique to probe the other party’s essence. “Luckily, we discovered it early.”
"If we don't discover it, in another three to five years, this thing on the other side might actually be fully formed."
"Once it takes shape, it will be able to devour everyone in the school, thus directly progressing from its initial form as a follower of an evil god to its growth stage. At that point... Jiangzhou will be destroyed. The northern part of the Jiangnan region may be completely dragged into the quagmire of catastrophe..."
The fourth-level calamity corresponds to the fourth realm of cultivation in fantasy, the Four Symbols. However, relatively speaking, the destructive power of a calamity at the same stage far exceeds that of a cultivator at the same level.
Only when they enter the Six Harmonies Realm will their positions change.
Holy Lords represent the true foundation of a nation. Though few in number, each one is capable of suppressing an entire province and protecting its peace.
"You mean, this is our good fortune?" As soon as Lei Qianjue finished asking, the insect beast's familiar pounced over with lightning speed.
Lei Qianjue and Li Huo scattered in all directions with a whoosh, the earth was torn apart, and rocks flew through the air. Li Huo's voice rang out instantly.
"It's not our good fortune, or rather, you could say we're very unlucky... but it's the good fortune of this region. Fortunately, we arrived because of the presence of that person who is suspected to be the Holy Lord. Only then did this place have the possibility of dealing with this disaster."
"Stop him... even if it costs us our lives. It is our duty as inspectors!"
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Chapter 26 Five minutes? That's enough time.
The battle has begun.
Terrifying, scorching lightning swept in all directions. Lei Qianjue stood ramrod straight, his entire body enveloped in lightning, as if he had transformed into a lightning sun.
He pushed forward with astonishing force, and every move he made was imbued with the radiance of immortal chaotic lightning.
The evil insect's retinue emitted a sharp cry, and black mist spread from its body, corroding and destroying everything in its path.
"Damn it!" Lei Qianjue clenched his fist suddenly, and the lightning in his hand transformed into a dazzling blade, which he slashed down with all his might. The lightning tore through the black mist, just like the first ray of light that pierced the heavens and the earth.
Although its offensive was unstoppable, the black fog covered too much area, and overall, the fog's influence continued to increase.
"Maintain the array!" Liu Qiqiang, as a local officer and a squad leader, was naturally present. He was holding a small array diagram in his hand, one of the eight nodes of the array, the other seven of which were scattered throughout the academy.
Wei Xuemin, along with a dozen or so cultivators, stood behind Liu Qiqiang and forcibly extracted their spiritual energy, channeling it into Liu Qiqiang's body.
The Bagua runes appeared and disappeared in the void, binding the mist and preventing it from spreading beyond the school's boundaries.
"Roar!" A sharp cry suddenly rang out from the mouth of the evil insect's retinue. The faces of the cultivators around who had not yet officially entered the First Yuan Realm turned pale instantly, and beads of cold sweat appeared on their foreheads.
"Oh no, it's mental pollution." Wei Xuemin forced herself to stay awake, feeling the world she could see gradually blurring. She bit her lower lip hard. The pain and the taste of blood in her mouth brought her back to a slightly clearer state.
However, three or four cultivators beside her couldn't hold on and collapsed to the ground. The Bagua formation was on the verge of collapse.
"This is a huge problem." Liu Qiqiang's voice was hoarse, and his face was extremely pale. Because the members behind him were affected, the spiritual energy couldn't supply the activation of the Bagua formation. He was now desperately mobilizing the power within his body, squeezing out every last bit of spiritual energy...
Even so, it was only barely enough to prevent the Bagua formation from being completely destroyed.
“After all, who could have imagined that such a monster would appear here?” A middle-aged man with an equally pale face said in a low voice.
Jiangzhou is a small place under Jinling, and the number of cultivators there is far less than in larger regions. The fact that Liu Qiqiang, a cultivator at the First Yuan Realm, can serve as a squad leader in the local cultivator force and is currently one of the eight nodes of the Eight Trigrams Formation speaks volumes.
"Wait," Wei Xuemin suddenly realized something, her pupils contracted, and her voice trembled slightly, "Captain, Xu Qing's condition is not quite right."
Xu Qing was one of those lying on the ground. Those who were still conscious looked at Xu Qing and were shocked to find that his body was twitching, his exposed skin was slowly turning black, and even scales were slowly emerging from under his skin.
“…mutation.” Someone’s lips trembled, clearly frightened by the scene before him. His voice trembled as he spoke the knowledge he had read in the textbook, “Evil gods… cannot be looked at directly! The evil god’s followers also inherit this characteristic. If a human with a vastly different strength visualizes an evil god’s followers, he will gradually mutate into an evil being.”
"Damn it," Liu Qiqiang's eyes widened, bloodshot in them, "Idiot, didn't we tell you in class that during battle, you absolutely cannot think about the survival patterns of the evil creatures you're fighting, and you can't be afraid of them?"
Everyone fell silent. They did know about such things, but this was the first time they had faced such a powerful evil being, as described in the textbooks, which explained why some of them had fallen victim to its attack.
“Wei Xuemin,” Liu Qiqiang’s expression shifted several times before he made up his mind and said in a low voice, “I am ordering you, in the name of my squad leader, to take Xu Qing and evacuate… It’s just a preliminary infection, it’s not a big problem.”
"But..." Wei Xuemin opened her mouth. What if the spiritual energy supply from the Bagua array couldn't be maintained if she left now?
"Follow my orders!" Liu Qiqiang's voice was hoarse, his muscles bulged again, and the spiritual energy gathered in his palms at the array's intercept point increased by 20%.
"Captain, if you keep pushing yourself like this, your future cultivation path will be..."
"Stop talking, Captain. Isn't this the kind of situation where we should step up?" Liu Qiqiang said calmly. He had already made this decision long ago. "Besides... if we don't deal with the evil god's minions on the other side, everyone here today will die. It won't make a difference if I'm one more."
"This is truly... I've heard something incredible." A leisurely sigh suddenly rang out.
“…What?” Wei Xuemin, who had only taken a few steps away, paused. She suddenly felt that the voice sounded familiar.
Liu Qiqiang's pupils suddenly contracted, and he abruptly turned his head, only to find a young man standing there quietly with red pupils containing spinning windmills.
"It's you?" Liu Qiqiang shuddered, almost losing control of the array. He was utterly shocked. Although he hadn't clearly remembered Su Han's face last time, seeing those distinctive eyes this time immediately confirmed the person's identity.
But how could he be so young? Could he be the legendary old monster whose cultivation has reached its peak and who has reversed the aging process?! Liu Qiqiang's mind raced with thoughts.
Su Han ignored Liu Qiqiang and stared expressionlessly at the evil insects in the distance.
Today, he finally resolved a long-standing question: why there was no news of evil gods circulating among ordinary people.
Visualization can be corrupted... Only cultivators who have received special training and have extremely strong self-control can control themselves.
If news of the evil god spreads among the people, there will definitely be many who recklessly try to visualize it, and there will probably be quite a few... At that time, strange phenomena will flourish everywhere, many of which will be converted from local residents, and the situation will definitely be dozens of times worse than it is now...
"How much longer can you hold on?" Su Han suddenly asked.
Liu Qiqiang was stunned for a moment before realizing that Su Han was asking him a question. After a quick mental calculation, he gritted his teeth and replied, "Five minutes at the very least, ten minutes at most."