Volume 2: Shenzhou Academy & The Battle of Venice
Chapter 123
The Traitor Unmasked and the Blood Sacrificial Array
The acrid stench of stone and earth scorched by lightning intertwined with the nauseating metallic reek of slaughtered sea beasts, refusing to disperse as it clung to every jagged crevice of Black Thunder Crevasse.
Following more than an hour of desperate, bloody combat to carve an escape path through the swarm, the narrow basalt gorge—flanked by sheer vertical cliffs rising nearly thirty meters—had become the last defensible bastion for all surviving students. Over two hundred freshmen and senior upperclassmen slumped against the jagged crags, chests heaving raggedly, their faces pale as chalk from complete mana exhaustion. Beneath their boots lay the shattered, chitinous carapaces of Taotie Demon Crabs and viscous puddles of dark green hemolymph that continued to vent faint wisps of grayish smoke, filling the enclosed canyon with a foul, acidic stench that stung the throat.
“Earth and Ice mages, coordinate immediately! Erect three more layers of ice-reinforced stone battlements across the mouth of the cleft! Anyone who still has mana left, sit down and meditate to recover—do not abandon your posts under any circumstances!”
A second-year upperclassman wearing the robe of the Earth School, a blood-soaked bandage wound tightly around his forehead, barked hoarse commands while planting his wooden staff into the churned ground. Only thanks to the savage onslaught of the Abyssal Thunder Wolf, which had shredded the vanguard wave of monsters earlier, had they bought this narrow sliver of time to regroup and re-establish their defensive perimeter.
A dozen paces from the gorge’s entrance, the colossal black wolf lay sprawled atop a raised granite shelf. Its coat, pitch-black and gleaming as if lacquered in oil, bristled faintly with every gust of sea wind whistling into the canyon. The obsidian horn crowning its brow crackled intermittently, discharging sharp arcs of deep violet lightning. Its smoldering crimson eyes swept over the huddled students below, radiating an aura so terrifying that no one dared venture within a five-meter perimeter of the beast.
“Lin Feng, the wound on your shoulder...” Ye Qingwan stepped up beside him, her voice hushed with concern. A gentle, emerald-green radiance of Wood magic blossomed from her palm, softly hovering over his shredded shoulder sleeve.
Lin Feng gave a slight shake of his head. Taking a canteen from Gu Xiaowei, he drank half of it in one go. The icy water soothed the scorched burning in his throat. Wiping a smear of dried blood from the corner of his mouth, his dark eyes remained fixed on the overcast, churning sky beyond the coast.
“Just a surface graze from flying crab armor, nothing serious.” He turned toward Ye Qingwan and Gu Xiaowei, his voice low and measured. “Stay here with Xie Zhaoyuan. With the Abyssal Thunder Wolf anchoring the gorge, no beast below the Warrior Tier can force its way in. Every thirty minutes, Qingwan, channel your Wood mana to guide and stabilize its reserves, keeping the summoning tether intact.”
Gu Xiaowei blinked her wide, round eyes, the butterfly ribbon in her hair knocked askew and her cheeks smudged with dried mud. “What about you? Where are you going? Out there is an ocean of blood, crawling with monsters rising from the trench! What if—”
“There are no ‘what-ifs,’” Lin Feng cut her off, his gaze cold as ice as it cut through the crimson mist gathering over the sea. “The military lighthouse was detonated from within. The nodes of the teleportation barrier were sabotaged with surgical precision right down to the array cores. And now, the oceanic currents circling Huanglu Island are being dyed crimson with Frenzy Blood Demon Fluid. This is no spontaneous beast tide. Someone is orchestrating this massacre from behind the curtain.”
Xie Zhaoyuan shuddered at his words, lowering his voice to a fearful whisper. “You mean... cultists infiltrated the island? But the academy’s senior oversight delegation is stationed right here on Huanglu! Would they truly dare make a move right under the noses of master-tier instructors?”
“The very fact that the grand barrier collapsed in an instant despite the presence of the inspection panel only proves which echelon the traitor belongs to.” Lin Feng tightened his grip on the hilt of the dagger at his waist, his tone bone-chilling. “If we don’t find the source of that demon blood and sever the sacrificial array, the Commander-tier horrors lurking in the abyssal trench will be dragged ashore. When that happens, this Black Thunder Crevasse will become a collective grave for everyone here.”
Without giving them a chance to reply, Lin Feng’s form blurred.
Beneath his boots, the shadow cast by the basalt cliff rippled like dark liquid. Deep within his sea of consciousness, the Shadow Stardust hummed as seven violet-black Star Cores instantly linked into a flawless Star Path.
Basic Shadow Magic — Shadow Slip!
The youth dissolved on the spot, melting into the shadows hugging the foot of the cliff. Ye Qingwan merely felt an icy draft sweep past the hem of her skirt before the dark specter darted away at frightening speed, threading through the gaps in the reefs and vanishing into the pitch-black fog beyond the gorge.
Gales shrieked relentlessly off the open sea, laden with salty brine and a suffocating reek of fresh blood.
Gliding in the state of Shadow Slip, Lin Feng felt his physical weight disperse into nothingness. He moved like a ribbon of living ink, sliding soundlessly across the jagged volcanic rocks without producing the faintest tremor. His pupils shifted to the pale, ash-gray hue of shadow sight, piercing cleanly through the heavy smog cloaking the island.
The coast of Huanglu Island had become a sprawling charnel ground.
Murky crimson breakers surged violently, crashing against the cliffs and throwing up frothing crests of foul, sticky foam. Swarms of Taotie Demon Crabs and Poison-Claw Sea Demons scrambled onto the shoreline in frenzy, their eyes bloodshot and devoid of all reason—driven into an uncontrollable bloodlust by the Frenzy Blood Demon Fluid. They snarled and snapped at one another, violently tearing apart the mangled carcasses of marine beasts that washed up on the sands.
Lin Feng skirted through the shadows of shattered palms and tectonic fissures. His boots never touched the ground, his gliding momentum adhering seamlessly to the contours of the rugged terrain.
Against his chest, the Primordial Dragon Pendant emitted a steady, soothing warmth, humming with faint, rhythmic pulses. Purified by its ancient dragon aura, the corrupt miasma drifting off the crimson sea could not invade his meridians. Even more, the dragon pendant acted as an infallible magical compass, guiding him toward the nexus where the foulest, densest malice was pooling.
The northeastern horn of the island—Sea Eagle Promontory.
A jagged spur of limestone jutting far out into the deep sea, Sea Eagle Promontory was a treacherous promontory walled by sheer fifty-meter cliffs, its base battered by violent subterranean whirlpools that roared year-round. On the academy’s official trial map, Sea Eagle Promontory was strictly designated as a forbidden zone due to the thousand-meter-deep oceanic trench flanking its perimeter.
As he neared the promontory, the air grew increasingly viscous, chilling to the marrow.
Lin Feng pulled up behind a craggy granite boulder crusted with dried barnacles. He dialed back his mana fluctuations to absolute zero, slowing his pulse by half and locking down his breath. Peering through a hairline fissure in the rock, he surveyed the sunken hollow at the tip of the headland.
The scene struck him like a blow, causing his pupils to contract sharply.
Upon the jet-black basalt bedrock, a colossal circular altar spanning over thirty meters in diameter had been erected at an unknown hour. What chilled the blood was that the structure was not built from brick or stone, but meticulously assembled from thousands of bleached monster bones!
Arched leviathan ribs as thick as temple pillars from deep-sea beasts and monstrous, horned skulls of ancient oceanic terrors were interlocked together, forming a horrifying sacrificial terrace shaped like an inverted lotus.
Deep channels carved into the rock plateau radiated from the altar’s base, snaking toward the cliff’s edge before plunging into the churning surf below. Demonic crimson radiance pulsed along the carved runes in a sickening rhythm, uncannily resembling the throbbing blood vessels of a gargantuan subterranean beast.
Standing motionless at the center of the bone altar was a tall, lean figure.
His back was turned toward Lin Feng, clad in an ankle-length ceremonial robe of deep midnight blue. Embroidered on the back was a gruesome visage with neither eyes nor nose, only an open, cavernous maw lined with razor fangs dripping blood—the demonic insignia of a Blue-Robed Deacon of the Nether Church!
Cast aside in the mud and gore at his feet were an expensive ash-gray suit jacket and a striped silk tie bearing the emblem of Shenzhou Academy, trampled under his polished black leather boots.
The hollow clinking of heavy iron chains scraping against rock broke the silence.
A few steps from the altar, three figures cloaked in hooded black robes, their faces concealed behind iron skull masks, bent beneath the weight of heavy alloy canisters. Across the lids, the pale-yellow sealing runes had been scraped off, exposing thick crimson sludge leaking from the seams.
One of the Black-Robed Cultists slammed a container onto the stone and threw open the latch.
The lid popped open, unleashing a suffocating blast of rancid gore and sulfur. The viscous sludge within bubbled violently, momentary ripples forming translucent, agonized human faces that writhed and screamed silently in despair—pure, concentrated Frenzy Blood Demon Fluid!
“Hurry it up, you worthless trash!”
The Blue-Robed Deacon barked from atop the altar. His voice was raspy, laced with a harsh metallic scrape, yet carried a familiar resonance that made Lin Feng’s fingers dig deep into the granite.
The blue-robed figure turned his profile slowly to inspect his followers.
Under the bloody glow of the bone altar, his features were exposed in vivid clarity.
A square face in his early forties, high bridge of the nose, stern cheekbones, and the faint imprint of gold-rimmed spectacles across his nose—the very glasses he wore during lectures.
Zhou Zhending!
Senior Instructor of the Institute of Space & Formations at Shenzhou Academy! The very man who had stood upon the podium at the harbor this morning, delivering solemn safety instructions to the incoming class; the man who personally inspected and held the array plate controlling the emergency teleportation barrier for all of Huanglu Island!
An educator renowned for his impeccable decorum and scholarly grace, greeted with respectful bows by thousands of students at the academy gates... was in truth a ruthless Blue-Robed Deacon of the Nether Church!
Lin Feng gritted his teeth, disgust churning in his gut. He recalled the moment the defensive barrier shattered; he recalled Zhou Zhending’s subtle, eerie smile as he handed out the teleportation jade medallions to the students that morning.
The truth was now laid bare. Those life-saving jade medallions were never meant for rescue—they were mana-tracking beacons designed to funnel students into pre-determined killing grounds and drive them to their doom!
“Deacon, the eighty-first vessel of Frenzy Blood is prepared!” One of the Black-Robed Cultists knelt trembling at the foot of the altar, offering an elongated bronze ladle with both hands. “According to the Hierarch’s array blueprint, once this final vessel is emptied into the channels, the grievances of ten thousand souls gathered from the Northern Massacre will fully ignite the Blood Sacrificial Grand Array.”
Zhou Zhending’s lips twisted into an unnatural sneer. He reached out an emaciated hand to take the ladle, his voice thick with twisted gratification.
“Good... Very good. Those fools at Shenzhou Academy truly believed that deploying freshmen to Huanglu Island for wilderness trials was shrouded in absolute secrecy. Little did they suspect that three months ago, the island’s precise coordinates and the structural layout of the coastal defenses were already resting in my grasp.”
He walked to the edge of the bone terrace, peering down into the black abyss below. The crimson swells surged violently, crashing against the reefs with heavy, resonant booms like sledgehammers driving into the earth.
“My Lord...” The second cultist stepped forward, hesitating. “The freshmen and sophomores have barricaded themselves inside Black Thunder Crevasse. Word has it a brat from the Summoning School manifested a Warrior-tier black wolf and broke the first wave of Taotie Demon Crabs. Should we... dispatch men to finish them off?”
“Why waste time on a trifling Warrior-tier mutt?” Zhou Zhending sneered, his eyes filled with contempt. “The more they cluster together, the better! The harder they fight, the thicker the stench of fear and despair that rises from them. That is the finest seasoning to awaken the God sleeping in the Nether Abyss Trench!”
He raised the bronze ladle high, scooping up a ladle of the thick Frenzy Blood Demon Fluid and pouring it directly into the runic groove carved atop the ancient beast’s skull.
The moment the corrupted blood touched the bleached bone, it hissed violently, throwing up thick coils of dark red smoke. The runic veins tracing the altar ignited in searing bloodlight, shooting straight into the black storm clouds above and forming a colossal demonic magic circle that rotated slowly across the sky!
From the altar’s troughs, streams of toxic blood spilled over the cliff edge, plunging into the ocean depths.
A tremendous tremor from thousands of meters beneath the seabed rippled through the rock. The entire promontory shuddered violently; massive granite boulders along the precipice cracked and sheared away, plunging into the foaming, blood-stained waters.
In the abyssal gloom far below, a titanic shadow hundreds of meters long began to stir. A savage, suffocating pressure—tens of times heavier than any Warrior-tier monster—crept steadily toward the surface, forcing every marine creature within ten miles to cower flat against the seabed.
Commander Tier!
A true, apocalyptic Commander-tier sea leviathan!
“Hahahahaha!!” Zhou Zhending threw his head back in wild laughter, his blue robe whipping in the gale. “Awaken! Blood-Armored Titan Demon of the Nether Abyss Trench! Cleanse your thousand-year seal in the flesh and blood of Shenzhou Academy’s three thousand prodigies!”
He swung around toward his disciples, his tone fanatical and venomous.
“Do you know why the Hierarch chose this batch of freshmen? These three thousand youths are the elite seeds of every prominent magic clan, the finest talents chosen from millions across the country! Slay them here on Huanglu Island today, and this empire’s magical lineage will suffer a twenty-year void!”
“With no successors, who will hold the coastal fortresses twenty years from now? Who will stop our Sacred Church from tearing through the maritime defenses?! When that day comes, this entire fertile coastline will belong to the Nether Church!”
Every brutal word struck Lin Feng’s mind like a hammer blow.
The malice of the Nether Church went beyond slaughter. They sought to sever the future of an entire nation, drowning thousands of promising lives in the deep sea to lay the foundation for their dark dominion.
Crouched behind the boulder, Lin Feng struggled to rein in his fury, his chest rising and falling. His fingers clenched so hard his nails dug into his palms.
He could not let that Commander-tier monstrosity fully awaken!
If the Blood-Armored Titan broke the surface, a single swipe of its tail could summon a magical tsunami that would level Black Thunder Crevasse, wiping out his companions, teammates, and the hundreds of defenseless students holding out inside.
He had to destroy this altar! He had to kill Zhou Zhending and cut off the flow of Frenzy Blood Demon Fluid!
Lin Feng drew a deep breath, steadying his mana. He rapidly calculated the distance: from his hiding place behind the boulder to the center of the altar was roughly forty meters. Zhou Zhending was an instructor at least at the peak of the Intermediate Tier, perhaps half a step into the Advanced Tier. He was guarded by three Black-Robed Cultists at the peak of the Basic Tier.
In an open confrontation, the odds of victory were practically zero. His only option was an ambush: using Shadow Slip to close to point-blank range, then detonating a dual-element burst of Lightning and Fire to smash the altar’s core in one decisive strike!
The instant his plan took shape, Lin Feng prepared to channel his Shadow Stardust once more.
Yet, as the mana began to circulate through his meridians, a faint wisp of warmth inadvertently leaked from the Primordial Dragon Pendant beneath his shirt. That warmth was too pure, too ancient, and it immediately clashed with the foul energy of the sacrificial array around him.
A fragile ripple—thinner than a hair—shivered in the air.
An ordinary mage would never have caught such an imperceptible fluctuation amidst the howling wind and crashing waves.
Yet Zhou Zhending was a senior instructor specializing in Space and Formations! His sensitivity to magical ripples far exceeded that of ordinary men!
Zhou Zhending’s laughter died instantly.
Sea Eagle Promontory fell into a deathly silence. The three cultists pouring the blood froze in confusion, looking toward their Blue-Robed Deacon.
The wind slicing through the rocks seemed to halt; the air froze in place.
Zhou Zhending whipped around. His blue robe settled, revealing eyes sharp, dark, and frigid as a hawk hunting in the night.
His gaze did not wander or search. It locked with terrifying accuracy onto the narrow fissure in the granite boulder where Lin Feng was hidden!
A sinister sneer pulled at his lips. As he raised his hand, pale blue ripples of Space magic twisted the air around his fingertips:
“Which little rat... dares spy upon the sacred rites of God?!”