Chapter Fifty: A Final Desperate Strike Before Death

Tang Tian hurried over and checked Amory, finding him unharmed. Delighted, he scampered off to collect his spoils of war. Everyone else wisely averted their gaze, the three big shots setting a fine example.

The trio felt awkward and pretended to discuss the situation.

“Something’s not right about this,” Liang Qiu said solemnly.

“Absolutely. Very suspicious—both the barrier and the rocks are different. I suspect someone tampered with things. Otherwise, this whole setup reeks of a trap,” Sima Xiangshan, a conspiracy enthusiast, declared, his eyes gleaming like a cat in the dark.

Those who had been listening intently to their conversation now grew tense, each feeling that something was amiss. Hearing the three masters voice the same concerns, the atmosphere tightened, oppressive and uneasy.

Suddenly, an excited voice broke through the tension.

“Aha! This guy really is a fat sheep! Wow, wow, wow! Fourth-rank Silver Card—oh, oh, oh! Fourth-rank Starstone!”

All the somber tension instantly vanished.

Liang Qiu silently muttered: Just a Silver Card… just a Starstone… Are you doing this on purpose…?

Sima Xiangshan muttered: Keep pretending, please, at least make your act more believable. Silver Card and Starstone, how could it be so fake?

Han Bingning muttered: Back to your true colors again…

The surrounding crowd twitched but continued to feign ignorance. Tang Tian, after all, was not someone to offend—a killer without hesitation. The way he dispatched Zhou Peng was swift and merciless, as if slaughtering a chicken. Even the Zhou family suffered as a result.

Such a person was not to be provoked.

“Wow! This guy has something too!”

“Wow! This is a good thing!”

The three big shots exchanged glances and wisely kept silent. Discussing grave matters in such a bizarre atmosphere was simply too difficult.

Suddenly, a thunderous crash echoed, and countless rocks came tumbling down.

Hmm?

Tang Tian paused, looking up—it was above.

His sensitivity to force, whether vibration or explosive, was extraordinary. From the tremors underfoot, he immediately deduced the source of the disturbance was overhead.

“They’re above us!” Tang Tian shouted to Han Bingning, the one he was most familiar with among them.

Had it been Sima Xiangshan, perhaps he’d suspect a hidden motive, but Han Bingning would not. She stepped forward, her voice steady: “Which senior uses a hammer?”

“I do!” A burly man stepped up, wielding an enormous long-handled pumpkin hammer, so massive it drew gasps. His build, forged of bronze and iron, surpassed even Amory’s.

The man took a deep breath, bellowed, and leapt, his pumpkin hammer glowing yellow as he smashed it against the cave ceiling.

Boom!

The rocky dome collapsed, rubble cascading down.

A whip shadow suddenly wrapped around the burly man—it was Sima Xiangshan. With a flick of his wrist, the giant was thrown aside.

Several figures fell through the opening.

“Principal!” “Principal!”

A chorus of surprised voices rang out.

Tang Tian exclaimed, “Old man, you’re here too!”

The Crystal Principal, the Northern Swallow Principal, the Beast Principal, and Old Wei surrounded a single man—Mr. Wu!

All bore wounds, evidence of a fierce battle.

“Hey, Wu, you’re not getting away!” the Beast Principal chuckled. “To lay such a huge trap, your motives must be great!”

“I advise you to confess!” the Northern Swallow Principal snorted coldly.

The Crystal Principal glanced at Old Wei, who glared back impatiently. “What are you looking at me for?”

The Crystal Principal huffed, “You must have figured it out. We’ve partnered for twenty years—I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

All the students were shocked, even the other two principals paled. This unremarkable old man had once been the Crystal Principal’s partner! What was his true background?

Sima Xiangshan and Shen Yuan were dumbfounded. They’d heard of disputes between Old Wei and the Principal, but had never imagined they’d once been partners. Shen Yuan turned pale and anxious—if Crystal and Sachima Academy were brother institutions, his recent troublemaking at Sachima Academy…

The Crystal Principal had a stellar reputation in Starwind City. His origins were unknown, but everyone knew his strength was unfathomable and his character upright, never partial.

Old Wei laughed heartily, “Of course I see through it, and it’s not hard to explain. But those secret treasures must all be mine! My Sachima Academy is small and poor, and my two students have nothing—so pitiful!”

Sima Xiangshan and the others exchanged odd looks—like master, like student; Old Wei and Tang Tian were cut from the same cloth.

“Fine!” the Northern Swallow Principal agreed readily.

“I have no objection,” the Beast Principal nodded.

Old Wei’s power took the two principals aback. Three bronze secret treasures meant little to them. To gain favor with someone of his caliber for such a price, they gladly agreed.

“Alright, speak. No one will fight you for them,” the Crystal Principal said coldly.

“You think you can guess? Ha!” Mr. Wu laughed wildly. “With just you few, how could you break my trap? Bring out the real expert behind you!”

“You think I can’t guess?” Old Wei sneered. “When I saw the Blood Eye, I understood. Let me tell you, I also have a microscope base secret treasure. The Blood Eye, a bronze secret treasure with only one function: to discern the quality of bloodlines. Am I wrong?”

“You…” Mr. Wu’s expression froze.

“It’s easy to deduce. You laid this huge trap and had the city lord move the martial tournament here—clearly, you’re after bloodlines. Let me guess further: you’ve mastered some secret technique to refine bloodlines, but it requires specific blood, and in massive quantities. If you tried this in any constellation on the Heavenly Road, you’d attract attention. So you came to Wu’an Star, a remote planet. Under the pretext of frontier development, you set your trap. Even if many died, no one would suspect you. Deaths during pioneering are common, after all.”

Old Wei stared coldly at Mr. Wu, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.

“The Star Gate is real, the Maze of Souls is real, and in the face of profit, people lose their heads. You just needed to act quietly, collect blood, analyze it with the Blood Eye, pinpoint your targets, and make them disappear to refine their bloodlines. Because you wove your web throughout the Maze of Souls, no one suspected a thing. Only, you didn’t expect your plan to fail at the last moment.”

Old Wei fixed his gaze on Mr. Wu, enunciating every word: “Am I right, Black Soul Mr. Wu?”

Mr. Wu stared at Old Wei in terror. “Who… who are you?”

“Wow! Old man, you’re amazing!” Tang Tian shouted in astonishment.

The atmosphere instantly evaporated, Old Wei’s mysterious aura shattered.

Old Wei’s eye twitched, and he turned to curse, “Will you die if you don’t speak?”

“Ah! Why not speak?” Tang Tian replied in confusion.

Old Wei, helpless, turned back to the Crystal Principal: “Well, that’s about it.” He didn’t forget to add, “As agreed, those bronze secret treasures are mine!”

Mr. Wu suddenly raised his head and screamed with all his might, “Who is it? Who ruined my plan? Come out! Show yourself!”

“Stop shouting. The senior expert must have found your deeds intolerable and decided to punish you a little,” Old Wei said smugly. “Just confess and accept your fate, save us all some trouble.”

“Exactly!” the Northern Swallow Principal, intolerant of evil, snorted. “Clearly a senior couldn’t bear your cruelty!”

They all understood: someone powerful must have intervened. Otherwise, with their abilities, they could never have broken the trap. The shifting forces within the Maze of Souls were unpredictable, and combined with the three bronze secret treasures, it was impenetrable. The four had been inside for ages, yet noticed nothing.

“Hmph, you think you can stop me?” Mr. Wu sneered, the terror vanishing from his face as his aura surged. “If you won’t come out, I’ll force you!”

A slender black rapier appeared in his hand, its tip curving gracefully. The blade vibrated, emitting a resonant hum.

He moved, ghostlike, a shadow flashing faster than lightning, aiming straight for the Northern Swallow Principal.

“Careful! That’s the Flying Fish Constellation’s bronze secret treasure, the Rapier!” Old Wei quickly warned.

The Northern Swallow Principal shouted, undaunted, his swordplay dazzling. The clash rang out like a rainstorm. The other three joined in without hesitation.

Explosive energy surged wildly.

The onlookers retreated in terror. The collision of fifth-rank true force was devastating.

Sima Xiangshan, Han Bingning, and Liang Qiu stood their ground, weapons ready, prepared to support at any moment. Tang Tian stayed too, eager to witness such a fierce battle.

Mr. Wu’s strength was astonishing—he held his own against four, his movements so fast Tang Tian saw only a blur, unable to discern his form. The supple rapier in his hands became deadly.

But Mr. Wu was already wounded from the earlier fight, blood seeping into his clothes, his swordplay slowing.

The four principals, seasoned in battle, fought calmly, clearly aiming to wear him down.

Mr. Wu sensed their strategy and abruptly reversed his true force, a flush spreading across his face. His speed suddenly increased, and the rapier’s strike grew shrill and piercing.

The four grew solemn, recognizing his desperate last stand, and poured all their strength into the fight.

Mr. Wu darted about, the four’s formation shifting ever so slightly. A cold glint flashed in his eyes. With a feint, he drew them off balance, then shouted and his rapier burst into blinding light.

Boom!

The slender rapier exploded into dozens of fragments, raining outward like a storm, whistling like angry arrows. The four principals’ faces changed, quickly blocking and protecting themselves.

Seizing the moment, Mr. Wu slipped from the battle zone like an eel.

Liang Qiu’s hand strikes, Sima Xiangshan’s whip, and Han Bingning’s sword swept in together. The three were clever—just needed to entangle Mr. Wu for a moment.

Mr. Wu took a deep breath, his face flushed, his sleeves billowing as he clashed with the trio.

Boom!

His sleeves tore apart, revealing arms covered in bleeding wounds.

Blood trickled from Mr. Wu’s lips, a fierce light flashing in his eyes as he used the momentum to accelerate.

Tang Tian froze. Mr. Wu was charging straight toward him.