Volume 2: Shenzhou Academy & The Battle of Venice
Chapter 183
Destruction of the Blood Sacrificial Pool
The damp sea breeze howled through the treacherous clefts of the sea cliffs on Heavenly Harbor Island, carrying with it the sharp bite of foam and the rank stench of rotting seaweed. On the surface, this desolate island amid the vast expanse of the Whale Sea appeared to be nothing more than a forgotten coastal outpost from wartime eras. Yet deep within the subterranean bedrock lay a clandestine lair cultivated by the Nether Cult in absolute secrecy for months.
CRASH!
A massive, half-meter-thick stone door covered in dark-purple cursed runes was blasted into a hundred shattered fragments by a fierce wave of explosive brute force. Before the billowing stone dust could even begin to settle, the shrill, terrified shrieks of dozens of black-robed cultists tore through the oppressive, stifling space:
“Who the hell dares trespass upon the holy grounds?!”
“We’re under attack! Quick, sound the alarm for the Deacon! Slaughter them all, preserve their fresh blood for the altar!”
Figures clad in ragged cloaks and wearing ghostly bone masks instantly drew blood-stained curved sickles and rotting magical staves. Foul, reeking miasma surged from the palms of their hands, frantically condensing into razor-sharp white bone arrows that rained wildly toward the cavern entrance.
Yet before those malevolent bone arrows could cross the ten-meter gap, a roaring gale of emerald-green wind churned violently.
“Wind Barrier: Vortex!”
Ye Qingwan’s crisp, resolute voice rang out. Her chestnut-colored combat tunic fluttered fiercely in the gale as her slender hands wove a Wind-element magic incantation. A five-meter-tall magical cyclone materialized instantly at the entryway, sweeping up every single white bone arrow into midair and grinding them into fine powder while simultaneously hurling the black-robed cultists violently against the cavern walls.
The Shenzhou Special Operations Team had officially breached the heart of the Heavenly Harbor Island subterranean cavern!
Yet the moment the full expanse of the colossal cavern unfolded before their eyes, every single member’s footsteps abruptly froze in place.
The cavernous interior resembled an underground coliseum. Its vaulted stone ceiling rose thirty zhang high, damp and jagged with razor-sharp stalactites. At the very center of the cavern lay an artificial pool spanning some thirty square meters, fathomless and boiling furiously. But the churning liquid within was no subterranean springwater; it was a thick, crimson-dark blood plasma, radiating bloody mists and a sickening, nauseating stench that wrenched at one’s chest.
That was none other than the Blood Sacrificial Pool—the evil heart of the Magic City’s Nether Sub-branch!
Suspended right in the center of the vaulted stone ceiling above the pool of blood was a grotesquely oversized, monstrous stone statue. Sculpted in the likeness of an ancient abyssal Sea God, its torso sprouted countless slippery, writhing tentacles bound tightly together, capped by a ferocious visage with dozens of lifelessly glaring stone eyes. From the statue’s maw and tentacle crevices protruded nine thick, pitch-black metal conduits, as wide as a grown man’s thigh, plunging straight down into the depths of the Blood Sacrificial Pool.
Those magical conduits throbbed and contracted rhythmically like colossal blood vessels, frantically siphoning torrents of scarlet plasma from the depths of the lake back up into the eerie statue overhead, causing its stone eyes to intermittently flare with a malevolent crimson glow.
And the source of that blood... lay scattered in heaps along the rocky shores of the pool!
Over three hundred people were imprisoned within rusted iron cages or bound tightly by barbed iron chains hooked directly into their collarbones and wrists. Among them were emaciated fishermen from coastal villages, innocent merchants, and—most agonizing of all—over fifty teenage boys and girls still clad in the uniforms of the suburban Magic High Schools of Magic City.
Piercing deep into the radial artery of every single captive’s wrist was a black magical needle-tube. Pure, youthful lifeblood was being forcibly drained away by magic, dripping continuously down stone grooves straight into the heart of the Blood Sacrificial Pool!
Their faces were deathly pale, drained of every drop of color; their lips were chapped and chalky white, their gazes utterly vacant like hollow corpses. Several young awakeners could barely draw breath, their feeble groans choking in dry, parched throats. Behind them, two black-robed deacons wielding leather whips soaked in venomous lightning grinned savagely, lashing out viciously across the back of a young schoolgirl who had just passed out:
“Lazy little bitch, wake up and bleed! Lord Sea God is about to awaken; offering your blood to him is the supreme honor of you beasts. How dare you faint?!”
CRACK!
The lash tore open tender flesh, spraying fresh blood across the ice-cold stone floor!
That scene of ultimate brutality and inhumanity pierced straight into Lin Feng’s chest like a red-hot iron spike.
He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles popped, his fingernails digging deep into his palms until blood seeped out, though he felt no pain whatsoever. Lin Feng’s eyes burned crimson, his chest heaving violently as an unprecedented, ferocious fury surged upward like a volcano on the verge of erupting!
These were his compatriots! Teenage peers, students carrying bright and beautiful dreams, yet at this very moment treated like mere cattle by cultists to be drained of their blood for sacrifice!
Upon his chest, the Archaic Dragon Jade resonated with its master’s raging fury, beginning to radiate scorching heat and emitting low, rumbling dragon roars that shook the depths of his soul.
“You damned beasts...”
Lin Feng’s voice was not loud, but it was bone-chillingly cold:
“Not a single one of you leaves this place alive!”
He spun around sharply, his gaze as sharp as a razor blade sweeping across his teammates as he gave a resolute order:
“Gu Xiaowei, Qingwan, Zhao Yuan: Break the chains and rescue the hostages! Protect their safety at all costs! Han Yue, with me—demolish the altar!”
“Understood!!”
The four of them answered in unison, blazing fires of unmitigated hatred burning in every single gaze.
The formation instantly scattered into pre-arranged combat positions.
Xie Zhaoyuan was the first to unleash Earth-element power. He stomped his heel hard against the subterranean bedrock, earthy-yellow magic energy surging overwhelmingly into the ground:
“Earth Wave: Shift! Rock Shield: Block Formation!”
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The ground surrounding the imprisonment zone of over three hundred hostages shook violently. Jagged bedrock surged upward, erecting a sturdy stone fortress wall over a meter thick that enclosed all the civilians within, completely shielding them from enemy magic fire.
Right behind him, Ye Qingwan glided like a green ribbon, her hands continuously releasing Plant-element magic:
“Vine Vines: Swift Binding!”
Dozens of lush green vines as thick as an arm slithered swiftly across the stone floor, accurately wrapping around every single magical needle-tube piercing the captives’ wrists, ripping them free from their flesh without causing further injury while concurrently binding tightly around the iron chain links and snapping every single rusted shackle!
Gu Xiaowei closely followed behind, the Light-element Star Map shining brilliantly within her petite palms:
“Light Fall: Purification Healing!”
Countless warm, golden light dust particles fell like a spring rainshower, blanketing the bodies of the struggling civilians and students. The lacerations on their flesh instantly stopped bleeding, their feeble heartbeats gradually recovering the warmth of life.
“Dammit! How dare you snatch the sacrificial offerings of the Nether Cult?! You suicidal Shenzhou rats!”
The black-robed deacon leading the Blood Sacrificial Pool area—a tier 2 Intermediate Dark-element mage with crisscrossing scars across his face—roared demented. He swung his skull-topped staff high into the air, shrieking madly:
“All Deacons, heed my command! Form the Rotten Bone Demonic Thunder array, slaughter these intruders for me! Use their very blood to sacrifice to the Sea God!”
Nearly twenty Black-robed Deacons and over fifty black-robed cultists howled in unison. Thick, suffocating clouds of Dark Nebula billowed around them. Slimy black lightning bolts intertwined with the shrieks of wailing vengeful spirits in midair, forming a monstrously evil thunderstorm that plunged straight toward Lin Feng!
Yet, they were mistaken. Foolishly and utterly mistaken!
The opponent they were facing at this moment was no ordinary student, but a monster who had just perfected the 3rd-tier Intermediate realm, the sole occupant of the 2nd rank on the All-rounded Battle Rankings of the premier magic academy!
Lin Feng did not retreat a single half-step. Facing the incoming evil thunderstorm, the corners of his mouth curled upward into a chilling, terrifying arc.
“Daring to play with thunder in front of me?”
BOOM ——!!
Within Lin Feng’s spiritual domain, the deep-purple Thunder Nebula roared furiously like an ancient dragon awakening from a millennial slumber! Forty-nine Thunder Star-Nodes shone resplendently, arrayed into seven Star-Paths. The seven Star-Paths intertwined at the speed of light to form a flawless, unblemished Magic Star Map!
The peak aura of 3rd-tier Intermediate erupted comprehensively!
The spiritual essence Yaksha Divine Thunder within his body was fully activated, combining with the coercion of the Archaic Dragon Jade to forge an overpowering, tyrannical Thunder Domain. The entire colossal subterranean cavern suddenly echoed with ear-splitting thunderclaps, the dry air crackling fiercely with clusters of violet-blue sparks!
Lin Feng raised his right arm high, spreading five fingers straight toward the cultist mob, his voice as cold as a supreme judge:
“Intermediate Thunder Tier 3 —— FLASH: FURY TIDE!!”
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM ——!!
The vaulted ceiling of the subterranean cavern threatened to split apart right down the middle!
It was neither a single bolt of lightning nor scattered sparks! What descended from the void was a violently raging, deep-purple SEA OF THUNDER!
Tidal waves of lightning five to six meters high, carrying voltages of tens of millions of volts alongside tens of thousands of writhing purple lightning arcs tearing through space, swept furiously across the cavern stone floor like a wrathful natural flash flood!
The evil Rotten Bone Demonic Thunder storm unleashed by the black-robed deacons shattered into nothingness the moment it touched the edge of the deep-purple sea of thunder, like soap bubbles before a gale! The power of a supreme spiritual essence combined with 3rd-tier magic existed entirely on an absolute dimension of suppression!
“Argh, argh, argh ——!!”
“Save me! What... what kind of magic is this?!”
Terrified screams rang out for barely a split second before being instantly drowned out by the roaring thunder. Wherever the deep-purple thunder sea swept, rock and earth exploded into dust and sand!
Over thirty black-robed cultists failed to even raise their magical shields before being swept up into the lôi tide. The horrific electrical current instantly incinerated their meridians, melting flesh and bone into pitch-black ashes in the blink of an eye!
Nearly twenty Black-robed Deacons desperately activated defensive magic armor, but their fragile dark shields were no different from scrap paper before dragon claws. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Protective armor shattered to pieces, deep-purple lightning pierced straight through their chests, hurling all the deacons into midair before tearing their bodies apart into charred, smoking fragments!
A single Fury Tide! Wiping out all over fifty cultists into dust and ashes!
The cavern stone floor was ruthlessly plowed and ravaged, leaving behind deep trenches smoking pitch-black and violet electric sparks lingering idly in the air.
Standing behind the stone wall, over three hundred hostages stared wide-eyed at the scene before them, their chests choked with a mixture of terror and ultimate reverence. The demons who had tortured them worse than death for days on end had been utterly obliterated before this youth in the span of a single breath!
Yet Lin Feng still did not stop. His gaze had already shifted toward the boiling Blood Sacrificial Pool and the deep-sea Sea God statue suspended overhead.
At that moment, as if sensing that the lives of its cultists had been snuffed out, the nine dark-purple magical conduits suddenly swelled to twice their size! The blood within the pool boiled frantically, scarlet plasma being siphoned upward at a horrifying speed. The entire subterranean cavern began to shake violently, the deep-sea Sea God statue emitting bizarre growls from the nether realms as dozens of stone eyes upon it flared with evil, blood-red light, exuding a dense aura of death intent on devouring the souls of everyone present!
“They want to forcefully activate the summoning forbidden art!”
Han Yue stepped to Lin Feng’s side, her silver hair dancing in the chilly wind, her glacial lapule-blue eyes filled with stern gravity:
“That statue is absorbing all the blood resentment within the pool to tear open an abyssal spatial gate. If it completes it, abyss behemoths from the bottom of the Whale Sea will flood ashore!”
“It won’t be given that chance.” Lin Feng stated coldly.
His eyes closed gently, then snapped wide open!
In that instant, all trace of thunder aura around him vanished utterly, replaced by a scorching, tyrannical heatwave akin to a blazing midday summer sun!
Swapping elements across the battlefield in the blink of an eye!
Within his chest, the 3rd-tier Intermediate Fire Nebula churned and revolved. Forty-nine Fire Star-Nodes, tempered by the supreme Fire-element Spiritual Essence, blazed brilliantly, connecting into a Fire Dragon Star Map brimming with ancient coercion!
The Scarlet Flowing Flame spiritual essence awakened completely!
Radiant golden-yellow flames poured out from Lin Feng’s body, instantly superheating the surrounding air until it warped and distorted. The stone floor beneath his feet began to glow fiery red before melting into viscous, glowing lava!
Lin Feng took a step forward, throwing both hands up toward the sky as he roared like thunder:
“Blazing Flame: NINE PALACES FIRE DRAGON!!”
BOOM ——!!
Beneath Lin Feng’s feet, a gigantic golden-flaming Nine-Palaces Bagua magic array over twenty meters in diameter burst into brilliant radiance!
From within the nine array nodes, nine golden fire pillars shot straight up into the sky, transforming into NINE COLOSSAL FIRE DRAGONS over fifteen meters long! Every single fire dragon possessed sharp dragon scales formed from Scarlet Flowing Flame, ferocious claws carrying ancient Tyrannosaurus might, roaring thunderously throughout the subterranean cavern!
“Break for me!!”
Following Lin Feng’s roar, the nine golden fire dragons tore through the gloom, carrying thousands of degrees of thermal heat straight toward the nine magical conduits and the heart of the Blood Sacrificial Pool!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The power of the golden flames was unimaginably unstoppable. The nine metal conduits inscribed with demonic runes were twisted and shattered the very instant they brushed against the fire dragons’ claws, melting into streams of pitch-black molten steel that evaporated in hissing plumes across midair!
BOOM ——!!
All nine fire dragons plunged headfirst straight into the center of the Blood Sacrificial Pool!
An earth-shattering explosion erupted! The entire boiling pool of blood was instantly swallowed whole by the golden sea of fire. The extreme temperature of the Scarlet Flowing Flame frantically vaporized every drop of filthy plasma, burning away all the malice and evil runes at the bottom of the lake.
The foul toxic blood was incinerated into pure white smoke before dissipating into the void. The vast expanse of the Blood Sacrificial Pool melted in the blink of an eye into a boiling lava pit, and under Lin Feng’s exquisite fire control, the lava cooled rapidly, crystallizing into a layer of chalk-white, dry, ashen rock, thoroughly destroying the cult’s blood supply!
Simultaneously, the shockwave from the fire dragon explosion and tens of thousands of rock fragments blasted outward from the vaulted ceiling in all directions.
“Ice Chains: Myriad Ice Lotus Domain!”
A crisp, ethereal shout rang out. Han Yue had soared into midair, her porcelain-white arms spread wide.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh ——!
Hundreds of thick, sapphire-blue ice chains radiating bone-chilling frost shot out from the void, intertwining densely to form a colossal crystalline ice hemisphere enclosing the entire zone of over three hundred hostages! All radiated heat and massive boulders plummeting from the cavern ceiling were completely blocked by the ice-chain wall, shattering into glittering snow dust that fell harmlessly outside.
Inside the barrier of ice and snow, absolute safety!
The deep-sea Sea God statue, having lost its nine blood conduits and taken a direct hit from the fire dragons’ brute force, instantly sprouted countless crisscrossing cracks.
CRASH!
The evil statue exploded into thousands of stone fragments that cascaded down into the ashen pool bed!
The altar had collapsed! The Blood Sacrificial Pool had been completely wiped from the mortal world!
The moment the ice wall gradually melted into pale blue specks of light, the three hundred-plus people inside stared dazedly at the outside world.
There was no more nauseating stench of blood. No more savage cultists brandishing leather whips and cursing. No more terrifying blood-draining apparatus suspended overhead. There were only warm golden flames slowly shrinking within the palm of the youth standing tall amidst the ruins, alongside the glittering auras of the Shenzhou Academy mages.
“We... we’re saved?!” An elderly fisherman trembling touched his calloused face, tears streaming freely down his cheeks.
“Mom! I’m saved! I don’t have to die anymore!” A middle school girl burst into heartbroken sobs, collapsing to her knees to hug the companion beside her.
“Heroes! You are Shenzhou military mages! Thank you! Thank you for saving our lives!!”
Over three hundred people simultaneously dropped to their knees on the stone floor, weeping and kowtowing in boundless joy as people returned from the jaws of death. Tears rolled down emaciated faces, and chants of gratitude echoed thunderously throughout the subterranean cavern.
Seeing the hope-filled gazes and radiant smiles of their compatriots, an indescribable warmth surged within the hearts of Ye Qingwan, Gu Xiaowei, and Xie Zhaoyuan. Every hardship and peril of this lightning raid seemed to dissolve before this sacred moment.
Yet...
Before the smile could fully bloom on Lin Feng’s lips, his chest suddenly tightened violently!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Archaic Dragon Jade on his chest vibrated in rapid succession, burning hot like a red coal and emitting an unprecedented highest-level danger warning!
At the same time, Han Yue’s expression underwent a drastic shift, her lapule-blue pupils contracting violently:
“Lin Feng, watch out below!!”
RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE ——!!
The cavern space that had just quieted down suddenly shook violently ten times harder than before! Massive subterranean stone pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling began splitting apart, boulders raining down like a downpour!
At the bottom of the Blood Sacrificial Pool bed—where it had just been scorched to stone ash—a large section abruptly caved inward. Immediately after, a crisp CRACK tore through space!
The entire pool bed split open into a fathomless, pitch-black ravine stretching over sixty meters, bottomless!
From beneath that dark ravine, an ice-cold, bone-chilling black wind carrying a stench of blood ten times thicker than the Sacrificial Pool billowed frantically upward. Accompanying it was a colossal magical coercion, heavy as Mount Tai pressing down upon the shoulders of everyone present in the cavern!
The pressure of a... SUPERIOR MAGE!!
This aura was so powerful that even the Scarlet Flowing Flame around Lin Feng flickered and trembled, while the magic energy within Gu Xiaowei and Zhao Yuan’s bodies nearly froze over!
CREAK, CREAK, CREAK ——!!
An earth-shattering, screeching shriek echoed from beneath the earth, shaking the entirety of Heavenly Harbor Island amidst the Whale Sea!
Under the horrified gazes of the entire squad, from within that fathomless ravine, a colossal behemoth head as large as a train car slowly rose!
It was a gigantic ancient python, its entire body tightly armored in blood-red scales as thick as steel plating. Atop its head grew a jagged, dark-purple horn dripping venom that corroded the ground, while its two cauldron-sized eyes burned with bloodthirsty, evil crimson light! Its massive serpentine body stretched over sixty meters long, the overlapping rings of its scales scraping against the subterranean bedrock to produce bone-chilling screeching sounds!
Peak Commander-level —— Blood-Scaled Giant Python!
And most horrifying of all, towering atop the head of that ferocious giant python, a figure stood with hands clasped behind his back, looking coldly down upon the ruined cavern.
That person wore a luxurious dark-blue long robe embroidered with a bleeding crescent moon—the exclusive insignia reserved solely for those holding supreme authority within the cult:
A BLUE-ROBED GREAT DEACON of the Nether Cult!
Beneath his blue hood, his eyes flashed with venomous, snake-like malicious light. The corners of his mouth curled upward into a horrifyingly cruel grin, his shrill voice echoing throughout the shattered space:
“A pack of Shenzhou Academy vermin... daring to destroy this deity’s Blood Sacrificial Pool?”
“Good... very good! Today, this deity shall use the very souls and marrow of Shenzhou’s second prodigy to pay blood-tribute for the holy pool!!”
The monstrous killing intent of a Superior Mage locked unwaveringly onto Lin Feng’s form! An earth-shattering death match hovered on the verge of erupting in a split second!