“Xiao Huo!” Lin Jin called softly. A lick of flame appeared on his shoulder. It was the Rank 5 fire wolf, Xiao Huo. With him to illuminate their surroundings, Lin Jin was finally able to look around.
However, the sight he was greeted with made him frown.
He clearly wasn’t in Peach Blossom House anymore. Rather, he was in what appeared to be a mass grave. Burial mounds and slanted tombstones dotted the landscape.
Lin Jin’s first suspicion was that Shu Xiaolou was playing a trick on him.
After all, Shu Xiaolou was the only one he knew who could successfully perform Teleport. Lin Jin may have obtained the Cosmos Ink, but there was no way he could master teleportation with paintings in such a short amount of time.
“Shu Xiaolou, stop fooling around,” Lin Jin shouted. His voice reverberated in the space but there was no response. Lin Jin and Shu Xiaolou had grown to be quite familiar with each other over the past few days. It was why Lin Jin decided to call out her full name this time.
All of a sudden, Lin Jin felt movement below his feet. A ghost hand abruptly stuck out of the muddy ground and grabbed Lin Jin’s ankle.
This ghost hand’s grip was forceful and it felt ice-cold as if it belonged to a real corpse. The iciness that emanated from the arm made Lin Jin’s leg go numb. He was frightened when this happened.
Xiao Huo’s reaction came swift. It pounced down with its jaws wide open, ready to chomp down at the arm that attacked his master.
But the ghost hand was much faster. Before they knew it, it had already retreated back underground.
Roar!
Enraged by the ghost hand sneaking an attack on Lin Jin, Xiao Huo promptly grew up to a length of ten meters, and a height of three meters. Flames burned intensely on his hulking figure, illuminating the area around them instantly.
No doubt, they weren’t at Peach Blossom House anymore. They weren’t even inside the academy.
Xiao Huo’s light could only illuminate a radius of a hundred feet. Beyond that was pure darkness. This sight confirmed Lin Jin’s suspicion that he was in a realm similar to a Nebula Barrier.
Someone was trying to attack him.
And it wasn’t Shu Xiaolou.
Wasting no time, Lin Jin took out his Nebula Flag and tossed it up into the air. To his bafflement, instead of gradually fading into thin air, the magic tool fell back to the earth like any other object.
The Nebula Barrier failed to activate.
Lin Jin drew in a breath of cold air as he felt his heart sink.
This was bad.
The Nebula Barrier that had never failed him in the past was failing to work now. Lin Jin had a feeling that the dark energy around was suppressing his spell-casting.
Putting the tiny flag away, Lin Jin’s expression turned grim.
Just then, the burial mounds around him started to quake. Then, each one of them burst open. Foul-smelling ghouls crawled out of these mounds before pouncing at Lin Jin.
However, before they even got close to Lin Jin, Xiao Huo blasted them with fire, burning them to a crisp.
Almost the same time, haunted wails laid siege to Lin Jin and Xiao Huo’s ears from every direction, disturbing their minds with their piercing cries.
Lin Jin quickly covered his ears with both hands but the sound still managed to creep in. With no options left, he pierced his acupoints with needles to seal off his hearing, finally cutting off that dreadful noise.
Now, Lin Jin was more than certain that someone was out to get him. Thinking on his feet, he knew that his biggest enemy right now was none other than the Demonic Appraisal Association.
Prior to this, Lin Jin had killed two of their key members so it was inevitable that they would launch a counter-attack. However, he didn’t expect them to do it inside Heavenly Spiral Academy.
Nevertheless, if the organization had members capable of teleporting him somewhere else, things would be different.
Anyway, Lin Jin now knew he wasn’t at the academy anymore.
This realm that suppressed him was pretty durable and it prevented Lin Jin from deploying his Nebula Barrier. If things went on this way, he would have to face an endless barrage of attacks. Sooner or later, he’d find it hard to defend himself anymore. Truth be told if he wasn’t powerful enough that first attack would have been the end of him. Despite the zombies being incinerated by Xiao Huo, had it been a physical battle with no flames involved, Xiao Huo would probably lose even in his large wolf form.
Just as Lin Jin surmised, the wailing continued. Fresh blood began seeping out from below his feet. The crimson liquid gushed out so quickly that it now reached his ankles. If things dragged on, no one could guess what will happen next.
“Open!”
Lin Jin was forced to open the Visitation Hall’s door and use the museum’s energy to fight back against the power of this realm.
The instant a door opened up behind Lin Jin, his surroundings began to crumble away, including the wolf’s howl, the ghastly wails, and the surging sea of blood. Amid the rolling waves, Lin Jin vaguely noticed something closing in. However, everything was destroyed the moment the Visitation Hall’s door opened.
Following a loud rumble, the sea of blood vanished and the horrifying sounds died away too. The darkness that surrounded him faded away, ultimately disintegrating like broken pieces of cloth.
Finally, Lin Jin saw the moon and stars again.
Apart from that, there was a sharp blade inches away from his face.
Brandishing the blade was a deformed person. He had a bulky build, but there was a tiny human leaning against his back where their flesh connected. The sight was nothing short of bizarre.
Lin Jin’s attacker looked startled. Of his arms, one was short, the other long, and one thick, the other slender. Upon closer observation of the blade he held, it seemed like a sword being forged from a vertebra. And yet, due to the Visitation Hall’s door opening, despite only being a tiny crack, the powerful energy that was released parried the sword attack.
Lin Jin broke out in cold sweat at this sight.
That was way too close for comfort.
Had he been any slower, this bone sword might have pierced through his throat, resulting in instant death.
Lin Jin reacted quickly, firing out a series of needles. A barrage of silver needles pierced into the deformed man’s body, but even still, he didn’t back away. His body was shaped like a rubber man sculpted by toddlers so Lin Jin found it difficult to locate his acupoints with the needles. He could only injure the man for now, not paralyze him.
It was his first time facing such an enemy.
The deformed man suddenly shouted, “Ghost Feather, if you don’t take do anything soon, I’m gonna die!”
Right after the man finished speaking, Lin Jin felt a breeze behind him. Realizing that he was being ambushed, Lin Jin launched his Thunderfire Needle without hesitation.
The Thunderfire Needle struck the black shadow that was swooping over Lin Jin. In an instant, sparks flew and a bolt of thunder illuminated the night sky.
The lightning came from the Thunderfire Needle. Whatever it was that clashed with the needle remained suspended in the air. Not too far away, an arrow fell onto the floor.
The arrow’s body had snapped but it was still burning.
What ambushed Lin Jin moments ago was clearly an arrow that came from an unknown direction.
Had Lin Jin reacted any slower, or he didn’t have the Thunderfire Needle, he might already have been skewered by the arrow.
Another close call.
In mere moments, Lin Jin had multiple close brushes with death. Unable to consider too much, he invoked a spell and breathed out Dragonfire. The area within a hundred feet radius around him was engulfed by a sea of flames, burning the deformed man who shrieked madly in pain.
Meanwhile, Xiao Huo had darted off to pursue the person who fired the arrow.
Since Xiao Huo was a Rank 5 fire wolf, it didn’t take long for him to return with his prey. Sure enough, there was a burnt corpse hanging from his jaw. The man was evidently bitten to death by Xiao Huo. Judging by the remaining half of his body, this person was also deformed with an uncoordinated body structure.
However, no matter who he was, he still died under Xiao Huo’s sharp fangs.
Inside the sea of Dragonfire, blood abruptly spluttered from the first deformed person’s body, extinguishing the flames that were roasting him alive. Although heavily injured, this person was still alive.
Lin Jin frowned.
His Dragonfire was no average fire, so this person’s blood must be abnormal for him to be able to extinguish the flames with such ease.
