Not long after the cries from Deng Changbai's team, an odd scream that did not sound like a human voice echoed in the white fog. At the next moment, the fog retreated rapidly.
Li Luo could faintly tell that the spot where the white mist was retreating towards was the Devil Heart Pillar.
Suddenly, an angry shout came from Deng Changbai. "Leave them behind!"
Thunder exploded in the air and huge amounts of lightning resonant power surged up. It fought the fog, trying to push it back, but something had stopped it in its tracks.
The white fog retreated faster than they had expected. In just a few moments, it was completely gone.
Li Luo and the group had seen everything very clearly. The fog had retreated back into the Devil Heart Pillar along with two of the Greater Evil Spirits, which had liquefied and flowed back as pools of blood.
There were a few bags made of human skin being carried by the retreating blood stream. The bags obviously contained Deng Changbai's teammates, and the outlines of their struggling faces were easy to see.
In that case, had they been captured by the Greater Evil Spirits?
The Greater Evil Spirits' retreat was too swift. Li Luo could barely catch a glimpse of their shadows before they turned into a stream of blood, flowing back into the Devil Heart Pillar, leaving not a single trace behind.
A sword filled with wild lighting energy slashed the Devil Heart Pillar directly. As the blade sliced across, the area shattered into fragments. However, the pieces simply fell down like black mud. There were no more signs of the Greater Evil Spirits.
Deng Changbai approached and looked down at the black mud. His face was dark and his eyes were full of fury.
Unfortunately, all his team members had been kidnapped by the Greater Evil Spirits.
With so many casualties, his final merit score would definitely be affected. In other words, Deng Changbai was certain to earn nothing even though the mission had just begun. Jiang Wanyu, Lu Ming, and the rest felt a chill in their hearts when they saw this scene. They were probably the ones who had caught the eyes of the Greater Evil Spirits first. Fortunately, Li Luo had sensed that something was off and activated his high-grade Duke Art immediately. If not, they would have been the ones captured in the bags of human skin.
After all, Zong Sha was not strong enough to fend off a Greater Evil Spirit.
"Oh right, isn't there supposed to be three Greater Evil Spirits? But only two of them escaped," Lu Jinci suddenly said.
As soon as he finished speaking, a huge black cocoon fell down from the sky, landing right in front of the group.
The cocoon was made up of countless grayish-black light rays. When the cocoon broke apart, a blood-red body and a destroyed "evil" character spilled out.
It was a Greater Evil Spirit!
However, this Greater Evil Spirit had clearly been slain. The countless grayish-black light rays pierced through its body and repeatedly eroded the corruption energy.
However, the lifeforce of an Other was really strong. The destroyed body parts continued to wriggle about despite the fatal injuries. The "evil" character kept trying to form back together. However, the grayish-black light rays quickly swept towards it, destroying it before it could do so.
Everyone was shocked to see this. They took a few steps back and did not dare to get too close to it, afraid to be accidentally corrupted.
At the same time, a slender figure descended from the sky. There was a dominating presence in the eyes under her dark-red mask.
It was none other than Feng Lingyuan.
Li Luo clicked his tongue secretly. This Greater Evil Spirit had clearly been slain by Feng Lingyuan. The second ranked individual in the Upper Hall was truly formidable. Although Deng Changbai was also in the Upper Hall, he had only been able to fight on par with the Greater Evil Spirit. In the end, his team members had been taken away and he could not do anything about it.
When Feng Lingyuan landed, she took a glance at Deng Changbai, who was still venting his anger on the broken pillar. With a frown, she said coldly, "Deng Changbai, go away if you can't calm yourself down. Don't be an eyesore over here."
She was direct with her words.
Deng Changbai stopped. He knew that venting his anger like this was pointless. He turned around, clenched his teeth, and said with red eyes, "The information was wrong! What's the college doing?!"
If they had been the only team in this town, he would likely have met his end too. There was no way he could have survived an encounter with three Greater Evil Spirits.
Therefore, he was shocked and frustrated.
"Your team members did not die. They've just been captured alive," Feng Lingyuan said.
Everyone's faces turned dark. Sometimes, it was more scary to be kept alive than dead when left to the hands of Others. However, there truly was something odd about this. The Others usually killed off everyone without reserve. Why had they decided to capture these individuals alive now?
What were they going to do with them?
Feng Lingyuan frowned. She stretched out her slender fingers and gently beckoned at the Greater Evil Spirit trapped in the grayish-black cocoon.
The countless grayish-black rays of light around the Greater Evil Spirit rotated quickly, slicing its body into a few parts.
A rotting stench filled the air immediately.
However, Li Luo did not turn away. He stared at the body of the Greater Evil Spirit. Its body had no organs or blood; it was stuffed full of blood-red plants.
The blood-red skin was merely the outer layer of its body.
However, it carried frightening amounts of corruption. The entire sight was strange.
Feng Lingyuan studied the broken parts for a moment. Suddenly, she noticed something and lightly waved her fingers in the air again. The skin was peeled off layer after layer. Soon, the crowd could see a thin, white layer of flesh within the layers of skin.
The white layer of flesh was still wriggling slowly, making one feel really uncomfortable.
"This Greater Evil Spirit is under the command of the All-Beings Devil King. Others in his Dominion are all born from skins. Why would there be flesh and blood in it?" Feng Lingyuan asked slowly.
There were rules around how Others were born, especially for those under an Other King. They all had to follow the will of the King. The All-Beings Devil King used skin as its medium. Therefore, it was really odd to find a layer of flesh and blood in the Greater Evil Spirit.
Everyone shook their heads. No one had the answer.
"Deng Changbai, your team members have been kidnapped. You can send out a call for help using the Ancient Spirit Leaf. The other teams may see it and be able to help," Feng Lingyuan told Deng Changbai. She did not waste any more time, seeing that no one had the answer.
Deng Changbai looked slumped. He activated the Ancient Spirit Leaf with his resonant power and sent out a call for help. However, his face suddenly froze.
"W-w-what's happening?" he stuttered in shock.
Li Luo and the rest were surprised, so they activated the Ancient Spirit Leaves on their hands too.
The light glowed up and formed a screen that looked like a map. It was the map that showed the area they were in, and it was full of red dots.
Each of the dots represented a call for help.
There were more than ten teams calling for help. It seemed they were all having trouble.
Everyone's faces turned serious.
"So, the other teams have fallen into the same trap too?" Li Luo asked in a low voice.
If they were the only ones who had encountered three Greater Evil Spirits, it could've been considered a coincidence. However, there were a dozen calls for help. This meant that the All-Beings Devil King had prepared a grand feast for the arrival of the Heavenly Origin Ancient College's students.
It was a grand feast for the Devil King.
It was a truly tragic and bloody start.
"There's a new mission!" Jiang Wanyu suddenly shouted.
Everyone focused their minds and sensed a new message coming from the Ancient Spirit Leaves.
Rescue Mission: A-Class.
Head over to the specified district and rescue the students. Merits will be allocated based on your performance. Up to three A Merits.
"Three A Merits?!" everyone exclaimed in shock. Even the cold Feng Lingyuan was staring with wide eyes. Based on their understanding of how the college operated, it was rare to find a mission that gave a single A Merit. Now, however, they had been presented a mission that would award three A Merits!
However, this also told them that the situation here had gone out of the college's expectations. They had to break the rules and send out a call for help urgently.
Li Luo was very surprised to see this. He had checked the scores earlier and noticed they'd gotten a B Merit for accomplishing the mission earlier. Feng Lingyuan had one A Merit and one B Merit, most likely due to her killing a Greater Evil Spirit.
As Li Luo stared at the map on his Ancient Spirit Leaf, he noticed a red skull a little north from them. That was the location of the rescue mission.
So the kidnapped students had been sent over there?
Just as Li Luo was pondering over it, Lu Ming tapped his shoulder. She cried out in surprise, "Li Luo, take a look at the scoreboard!"
Li Luo was startled. He focused his mind and opened up the scoreboard on the Ancient Spirit Leaf.
The screen in front of him changed into a list. Li Luo glanced at it and understood what Lu Ming was trying to say.
He could see a familiar name on the top of the scoreboard.
Jiang Qing'e, three A Merits, one B Merit.
When he saw those simple words, Li Luo could not help but take in a deep breath. Had Jiang Qing'e encountered the same problem as them?
However... she had killed all three Greater Evil Spirits?!
How had she done that? Even Feng Lingyuan had only managed to kill one before the others escaped. Yet Jiang Qing'e had eradicated all of them?!
At this moment, Li Luo could only sigh in his heart.
The big goose from House Luolan was a truly terrifying killing machine.
Chapter 1115: Heavenly Crimson Pills
While Li Luo was taking in Jiang Qing'e's incredible achievements, the others noticed the news too. Everyone was shocked to see this.
"Junior Li Luo, your fiancee is a tigress." Zong Sha sighed with a complicated look.
She had gotten three A Merits very quickly. It seemed like the trap set up for them was actually a gift to Jiang Qing'e.
Meanwhile, they had only earned one A Merit, and it was at the cost of the total elimination of one team.
The difference in power made them feel complicated.
"How in the world did she do it? Senior Lingyuan was only able to kill one Greater Evil Spirit. I don't think even Wu Changkong can kill three of them at once, right?" Jiang Wanyu asked in disbelief.
Feng Lingyuan took a look at the scoreboard and commented, "She's a dual ninth-grade light resonance wielder. She holds an advantage over the Others. It's not entirely out of the world for her to achieve such results."
Afterwards, she took a look at the subsequent ranks on the scoreboard. The one second place was also from Hallowed Coruscation Ancient College.
It was Ning Meng, who had two A Merits and one B Merit. Feng Lingyuan assumed that this person was the top ranked in their Upper Hall.
In the same rank as Ning Meng was Wu Changkong with two A Merits and one B Merit as well.
The ones following them had one A Merit and one B Merit.
Feng Lingyuan glanced at the scoreboard for a while before turning back to Jiang Qing'e. She had clearly caught her eye. The new superstar of the Hallowed Coruscation Ancient College had taken the first place from both the top-ranked individuals of both ancient colleges. Although this was likely temporary, it was still testament to her strength.
In a year or two, such a person would likely become the strongest student in the whole Academic Federation.
Feng Lingyuan suddenly looked towards Li Luo.
Li Luo looked back at her strangely. "Senior Feng, what's the matter?"
Feng Lingyuan replied, "Such an outstanding lady didn't wish to break off your engagement?"
Li Luo smiled back. This seemed unexpected... right? She surely would never guess that he was the one who had proposed that they should break off their engagement. Although he had regretted this reckless action countless times in the dead of the night, the engagement had been annulled in the end. He could only force out a laugh and swallow the bitter pill left behind by his youthful self. Of course, he wasn't going to share all this knowledge with Feng Lingyuan. He put on a brave front and retorted, "Senior Feng, what do you mean by that? We're not a bad pair."
Feng Lingyuan did not say anything further. Although Jiang Qing'e was exceptionally outstanding, Li Luo was not ordinary either. He had triple resonances, so even someone with an ordinary lower ninth-grade resonance would pale in comparison to him. Besides, he had managed to defeat three Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier opponents when he was just a five-pearl. This was a clear sign of just how strong his foundation was. All of that along with being a high ranking member of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li, Li Luo was truly an exceptional person himself as well. Most importantly, he was also very handsome.
Feng Lingyuan took a look at that handsome, young face. His eyes were filled with warmth and friendliness, with a bit of sharpness hidden beneath. His hair was grayish white. All of this added points to his charm.
Although Feng Lingyuan was not one who would go crazy for looks, she had to admit that Li Luo looked much better than most guys.
"I hope we find Jiang Qing'e soon. We can join hands then and collect all the Merits we need. We'll leave Wu Changkong speechless," Feng Lingyuan said.
"That's exactly what I had in mind, Senior Feng." Li Luo smiled back brightly.
"So, Wu Changkong, you want to see me fail? Wait until I find the plump white swan. I'll show you the might of a true power couple!"
Then Li Luo had another thought. Would it look bad if he relied on external help like this?
However, he soon had his answer.
The plump white swan was part of his family. There was no need for any distinction between them. Hence, he wasn't really relying on others!
As a result, he felt at ease.
While they were chatting, they suddenly sensed energy waves around them. Soon, the town around them turned hazy. However, they were not surprised by this development. They waited around quietly.
They knew that the town wasn't real; it was just a product of the All-Being Ghostly Skin Dominion. Now that the Devil Heart Pillar had been destroyed, the illusion would naturally dissipate. As such, the scenery around them would slowly revert back to that of the Fifth Minor Earthly Branch Realm.
When the town vanished, all that was left was a silent valley. The surroundings had been eroded by corruption, so almost everything had withered. The valley appeared desolate.
Though not every inch of the land had turned into a wasteland. In a region of the valley, the ground collapsed and revealed a hole. Countless crimson crystals rolled out of it, each one containing a crimson pill.
There was a mysterious light circulating around each pill, and they gave off a special fragrance.
"Are these... Heavenly Crimson Pills?"
Feng Lingyuan recognized them immediately, and her eyes lit up. Heavenly Crimson Pills were not a product of man; they were formed when Crimson Refining Worms dug their way into crystals full of worldly natural energy. When the two fused together, the unique Heavenly Crimson Pills were formed. Heavenly Crimson Pills contained an extremely pure form of worldly natural energy. They were a rare cultivation resource that could greatly boost one's resonant power. They were popular and were high in demand even in the auctions of the inner divine continent.
The others stared passionately. No one had expected such a reward.
"This is where the Devil Heart Pillar was located earlier," Deng Changbai said after taking a glance.
Feng Lingyuan nodded. "Devil Heart Pillars can only be erected in places where worldly natural energy gathers. With Heavenly Crimson Pills forming here, it's a clear sign that this is the location with the highest concentration of worldly natural energy in this district."
She waved her sleeve, and all the Heavenly Crimson Pills flew up into the air. There were around ten of them, but not all of them had matured fully. Three were exceptionally eye-catching though. They were deep red like burning fire but also translucent. One could faintly see the silhouette of a worm curled up in the heart of the crystal.
These three Heavenly Crimson Pills were top-class items.
Feng Lingyuan was not shy and took one for herself. She handed another over to Deng Changbai as he had helped to hold down one of the Greater Evil Spirits earlier. His teammates had also been captured, so he definitely deserved one.
As for the last one, she thought about it for a moment before giving it to Li Luo.
"If not for you, we'd likely have suffered heavy casualties earlier. You deserve one too," Feng Lingyuan said. She had a headstrong personality and decided on everything without consulting the rest.
However, the others did not object to her decision. After all, it was just like Feng Lingyuan had said. If not for Li Luo, they would likely have been captured by the Greater Evil Spirits too.
Li Luo did not stand on ceremony. He reached out and accepted the Heavenly Crimson Pill. With this, he could get even stronger. This mission was more dangerous than they had imagined, and it would be best for him to power up as much as possible.
As for the remaining pills, which were of lower grade, Feng Lingyuan distributed them equally amongst the rest. Everyone was pleased.
The fear instilled in them by the Greater Evil Spirits earlier finally dispelled after the pleasant surprise of treasure.
Li Luo pinched the Heavenly Crimson Pills lightly. He finally understood why the Heavenly Origin Ancient College was fighting the All-Beings Devil King for the Fifth Minor Earthly Branch Realm. This place had a vast amount of cultivation resources. If they could secure it, it would be a great boost to the college.
If a Thousand Skin Devil Heart Pillar indicated a few handfuls of Heavenly Crimson Pills, then there would definitely be rarer treasures under a Ten Thousand Skin Devil Heart Pillar.
When he thought about this, Li Luo grew more passionate.
Although Merits could be traded for cultivation resources, that was a delayed reward. It was more practical to receive treasures by themselves on the spot. Besides, the two weren't mutually exclusive.
He could just get both.
Li Luo and Feng Lingyuan exchanged glances and saw the excitement within each other's eyes.
As a late stage Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier cultivator, Feng Lingyuan was currently paving her path towards the Duke Stage. Therefore, the amount of cultivation resources she needed was immense. In other words, the Fifth Minor Earthly Branch Realm was the perfect chance for her to ascend.
Feng Lingyuan did not dally. She looked at the map on her Ancient Spirit Leaf. There were dozens of red skulls on it, each representing a big Other nest.
Those places would be their main battlegrounds moving forward.
Teams from both ancient colleges would be heading towards them.
Feng Lingyuan's eyes lit up as she asked, "Deng Changbai, do you want to come along with us?"
Deng Changbai hesitated for a while. Feng Lingyuan had just shared one Heavenly Crimson Pill with him, so it would be a bit rude to turn her down. Besides, his own team members had been captured and he really needed to find a strong ally right now. It was not a bad choice to stick with Feng Lingyuan, who was ranked second in the Upper Hall. The only problem was dealing with Wu Changkong, as he seemed to dislike Li Luo. If he followed them, would he be offending Wu Changkong?
However, he recalled what Li Luo and the rest were chatting about earlier. Jiang Qing'e, who was at the top of the scoreboard, was Li Luo's fiancee?
That was definitely a really strong person. In that case, he did not have to worry too much about any fallout with Wu Changkong. After he pondered all this, Deng Changbai came to a conclusion quickly. He nodded towards Feng Lingyuan, agreeing to team up.
Feng Lingyuan smiled faintly. She then pointed to an area with a blood-red skull with her slender finger.
"In that case, let's do our best and head over there."