Chapter 179: Advantage

After all, how heavy-handed could he have been when he inflicted such a wound on himself?

They had appeared suddenly, and without warning.

Qin Ye nodded with a bitter smile on his face as he employed his masterful acting skills, “Still alright. I should be fine after a day’s rest. Boss, could you grant me a day off tomorrow?”

Qin Ye shook his head, “I don’t know. I only saw several blurry figures similar to the ones that had earlier attacked Student Ye and breached the Great Dipper Vault. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see what exactly they looked like.”

“Not more than ten.”

They were now speaking at the same level. Zhou Xianlong looked Qin Ye straight in the eye and suddenly quipped, “You know…”

Qin Ye’s heart skipped a beat.

Qin Ye smiled, “It’s probably got to do with the cultivation I practice.”

“Keep patrolling. And call me if you need anything.”

“He wasn’t lying.” He glanced at the hand on which he had patted Qin Ye’s shoulder. A golden runic symbol glowed faintly in the palm of his hands.

Qin Ye was oblivious to all of this. He simply remained seated on the ground, pretending to recover over the next half an hour before he finally stood up once more and lifted his heels. The faint outline of a rune glowed with a black luster as it imprinted itself into the ground.

And this was precisely because it was the First Academy of Cultivators.

He didn’t rest immediately. Instead, he continued to circle around the perimeter of an area five hundred meters away from the memorial hall. As he walked, the runes that were wrapped around his feet continued to imprint themselves into the ground. Then, just as he completed a full circle around the memorial hall, the lights within the hall flickered wildly for a split second, and then grew still and silent once more.

But a closer inspection revealed nothing.

“You’ve done very well. This formation array will reveal the presence of all underworld emissaries for ten seconds. That’s enough time.” Arthis’ voice suddenly entered his ears just as he was laying down on the ground. Qin Ye closed his eyes and whispered, “I’m flattered.”

“And this is not to mention the collateral benefits of the merit points you’d gain from purging these extraterritorial emissaries. If all goes according to plan, you would be able to attain the next promotion to an Anitya Hellguard by the end of the battle!”

“And what’s most important is the last thing you did earlier.” Arthis transformed into a paper crane that flew down from the canopy of the trees and perched itself on his shoulder, “Zhou Xianlong has bought your story. With that… you’ll have the perfect excuse to be absent when all hell breaks loose in the memorial hall. What’s more, you can even use the chaos to your advantage to transform into your Hell's emissary state and lay silently in wait for the perfect opportunity to make your move.”

The transformation into his Hell’s emissary state would most certainly be discovered by Zhou Xianlong. But… what if he transformed into his emissary state when Zhou Xianlong were too distracted by the others?

The ideal outcome of all of this would be if every single one of the extraterritorial emissaries were killed by Zhou Xianlong. And even if someone did manage to get away, he would be the fallback that pursued them and took them down.

“The preparation work is complete.” He closed his eyes wearily, and a smile crept up the corner of his lips, “I’d like to see if anyone else dares try their luck on our territory after tomorrow.”

“They can escape to the farthest lands or the deepest oceans, but they would never be able to escape the sword of judgment from Hell.”

5.30 a.m.

Dormitory Four, room 126. Gou Yun quietly opened his eyes.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

This was a room for two.

“Old Xie?” He called out once more. This time, he heard it clearly - it was definitely coming from the bathroom. The gurgling sound stopped for a split second, before ensuing with ever greater intensity.

Having still received no response, Gou Yun immediately hopped out of bed and made his way towards the bathroom in his pajamas.

“Uurrghhh… Woaoaaargghhhh!!” As soon as he opened the door, a pungent smell immediately assaulted his olfactory senses. And then, he froze completely.

“It’s gross… so… gross… urrrrggh…” Old Xie continued to murmur to himself. It was as though he didn’t even realize that Gou Yun had entered the bathroom. Gou Yun was just about to speak up when he suddenly shuddered violently.

An inexplicable voice bellowed in his mind. And then, he suddenly felt… a chill.

He fervently suppressed the fear in his heart, gulped, and glanced nervously at his surroundings.

The only source of light was the dim moonbeams that shone through a sliver of opening in the ventilation window. Incidentally the light shone directly on Old Xie’s back, revealing… innumerable scars and wounds all over his body!

“AHHHHH!!” He screamed in fear.

It was devoid of all traces of warmth. In fact, it was even damp and slippery. Then, Old Xie stopped vomiting into the sink, and slowly looked up into the mirror.

The top half of his face was still Old Xie’s face.

It was as though something had cleanly sliced off his face from below his nose in what must have been a desperate battle, leaving only a grisly row of upper teeth protruding from his head and no lower jaw!

“Help--...” A sharp blade made a clean cut right across his throat before he could even cry out for help. All that remained was a look of incredulity and fear in his eyes as his limp body crumbled and collapsed to the ground.

Old Xie stared blankly at him for two seconds, and then lunged straight at the still-convulsing body as he bit open his throat and began to suck desperately.

After some time, Old Xie straightened his body once more and looked out the window at the campus grounds with a venomous gaze in his eyes. He muttered in Cathayan with much difficulty, “... There’s no other choice…”

He lifted his hands and began to draw a complex formation array on the mirror. And then, he spat a mouthful of blood all over it. A moment later, the blood appeared to vanish, as though it were sucked into the mirror, and ripples suddenly appeared on its surface.

“Your Excellency…” Old Xie threw himself on his knees, “We’ve encountered unforeseen circumstances. Scorpio IV is requesting backup…”

“Yes…” Old Xie kowtowed, “The location-bound teleportation array has been destroyed, and the Yin node has been broken. We… will no longer be able to retreat safely. This is why we have no choice but to open the special communication channel… Mr Gu’s casket will be arriving in approximately one hour. There are five known forces, one of which is suspected to be one of the remnant forces of Cathay’s underworld…”

He chuckled contemptuously, “Their underworld might not even be around anymore… A hundred years ago, Hell erupted with a massive fluctuation of Yin energy that shook the entire continent. And ever since that day, their numbers have been dwindling and lessening… And that’s fine. This time, we’ll let Hell know something.”

“Right now, it’s our time to shine!”

“This is…” A single glance made Scorpio IV tremble vigorously, “An authentic…”

“Take it.” The voice faded as the countless wisps of Yin energy began to pour back into the mirror and vanish, “If you fail again this time, you… can consider yourself a martyr.”