Above Dahe Academy, a massive black hole slowly contracted, as if it would vanish at any moment.
Just as the black hole was about to disappear completely, two translucent figures suddenly burst out from it.
Mo Fan looked back, just in time to see the black hole shrink into a tiny black dot the size of a grain of rice, then vanish entirely, as if erased by an invisible rule.
This scene left him shaken, realising that if the White Tiger Saint King had been even a moment slower, both demons would have been lost forever in that darkness.
That was a terror beyond Mo Fan’s imagination.
Fortunately, they had managed to escape at the last moment!
“Although that old fool Kong Shan has a rotten character, when he goes mad, he truly doesn’t care for his life. I suspect he knew from the start he wouldn’t make it out alive, so he never planned to. He set up a death trap in the cosmic chess game beforehand.
No matter the outcome of the game, the gate to the chessboard would close, and we’d all be sealed inside forever!”
Beside Mo Fan, the White Tiger Saint King spoke, still shaken, his face somewhat grim. But soon, he sneered, “Too bad that old fool calculated everything but misjudged my speed!
Now, as a primordial spirit, my speed is unmatched in this world!”
“Senior, you’re mighty!”
Mo Fan immediately responded with flattery.
Then he turned his gaze downward, just in time to see a circle of scholars seated on the plaza of Dahe Academy’s back mountain, with burning incense at the centre and talismans glowing with an eerie blood-red light.
“Senior, what are they doing?”
Mo Fan was puzzled, unable to comprehend what the cultivators of Dahe Academy were up to.
Could they be forming some extraordinary array?
“They’re performing a blood sacrifice!”
The White Tiger Saint King had already noticed the scene below and replied calmly.
“Blood sacrifice?”
Mo Fan didn’t understand.
He knew what a blood sacrifice meant, but he couldn’t fathom why the bookworms of Dahe Academy would do such a thing.
“Senior, now that Kong Shan, the dean of Dahe Academy, has been killed by you, why aren’t these bookworms fleeing?”
“Could this blood sacrifice array be more powerful than Kong Shan?” Mo Fan asked.
“You called them bookworms yourself, and you’re still asking?”
The White Tiger Saint King chuckled, making Mo Fan’s face twitch.
“Are you saying these scholars are foolish? Planning to overestimate themselves and throw eggs at a rock?”
“No, they aren’t foolish. They’re just a bunch of little maniacs.”
The White Tiger Saint King shook his head, his expression growing solemn. His gaze fell on the incense in the hands of the core-formation cultivator at the centre of the blood array. He sneered, “These scholars care most about their reputation. Ten thousand taels of gold might not bend their backs, but three pecks of rice could break their spines!
They’re making their final daydream, planning to sacrifice themselves with this blood array.
Using the righteous spirit of scholars to stir the noble aura in the hearts of countless scholars in the southern frontier, then borrowing the power of the Immortal-Seeking Incense to cross two realms and summon a celestial being!”
A celestial being?
Mo Fan was stunned and immediately asked, “What’s a celestial being? Could it be the legendary immortals?”
“I don’t know if they’re immortals, but they’re definitely far stronger than the cultivators of our world!”
The White Tiger Saint King took a deep breath, looked up at the sky, and murmured, “It’s been a thousand years since a celestial being appeared on the Nine Continents. Perhaps this is a chance to get close to one, to understand them…”
“Senior… you… you’re not thinking of fighting a celestial being, are you?!”
Mo Fan’s eyes widened, startled by the White Tiger Saint King’s musings.
To him, these so-called celestial beings were likely the legendary immortals.
No matter how powerful the White Tiger Saint King was, he couldn’t possibly be stronger than a true immortal, could he?
“Don’t worry. Celestial beings aren’t so easily summoned, or this world would’ve been in chaos long ago!”
“A bunch of minor cultivators, not even at the Nascent Soul stage, dreaming of using the Immortal-Seeking Incense to bring an immortal to this realm?”
“It’s just the final madness of these grasshoppers!”
The White Tiger Saint King sneered, not at all worried that these people below could actually summon a celestial being.
At that moment, Mo Fan noticed the scholars on the plaza below beginning to explode one by one, dying in bursts of blood and gore, truly sacrificing themselves…
“Such ruthless scholars. They’re betting the entire future of Dahe Academy!!”
Even Mo Fan couldn’t help but stare in shock, his heart filled with astonishment.
Though he, like the White Tiger Saint King, had no fondness for these scholars, at this moment, he realised these hypocrites actually had some courage, performing a blood sacrifice without hesitation.
In an instant, a tragic aura spread across the entire Dahe Academy.
“With Dahe Academy on the brink of destruction, I, Wu, have no choice but to light the Immortal-Seeking Incense, praying for a sliver of hope from the heavens to guide our academy’s ancestors to descend, slay the wicked demon, and protect our righteous legacy!!”
Watching his fellow disciples sacrifice themselves, their bones shattered and flesh torn, blood soaking the entire plaza, the Wu-surnamed core-formation cultivator was overcome with grief. Tears streamed down his face as he prayed, his sorrowful voice amplified by spiritual energy, shaking the heavens!
“What a tragic scene. But your blood sacrifice is in vain. Today, Dahe Academy will fall, and no one can stop it!”
“No immortals here, but there is a demon saint. I’ll send you youngsters on your way to meet your ancestors!”
“Hahahahaha…!!”
The White Tiger Saint King laughed wildly, then reached out, slamming a palm downward!
Seeing this, Mo Fan felt no pity, only excitement.
He understood that once Dahe Academy was destroyed, the entire southern frontier would be fully exposed to the demon clan. It wouldn’t be long before it fell back under their control.
As for the blood sacrifice and deaths of Dahe Academy’s thousand disciples, Mo Fan thought they deserved it.
From the moment they formed the blood sacrifice array, it was clear these cultivators already knew of Kong Shan’s death. At that point, they had the choice to flee and abandon the fight.
But these scholars didn’t. They chose to stand tall, valuing their honour, willing to shatter their bodies and sacrifice their blood, determined to fight to the end, even if it meant splattering the White Tiger Saint King with their hot blood…
In Mo Fan’s view, from the moment these scholars chose the blood sacrifice, they had chosen their own path to death!
They made their choice, and they died. That was all!
They had courage, but to Mo Fan, these scholars were undoubtedly foolish.
They were like deranged gamblers, betting their lives and the entire future of Dahe Academy on the slim chance of summoning a celestial being.
If they succeeded, perhaps the White Tiger Saint King and even the entire demon clan would face a devastating blow.
But if they failed, not only would they all die, Dahe Academy would fall, and the countless humans of the southern frontier would face catastrophic retaliation!
Their actions were, without doubt, provoking the White Tiger Saint King and enraging the entire demon clan!
At the moment the White Tiger Saint King struck, a chorus of scholarly chanting suddenly echoed between heaven and earth.
The chanting was so powerful it shook the skies, as if it came from everywhere and nowhere.
Mo Fan’s heart trembled. He glanced around but saw no figures, only specks of golden light appearing out of thin air, gathering from all directions, converging above the Dahe Academy plaza into a golden ocean.
As the waves surged, the momentum was overwhelming!
Boom—
The White Tiger Saint King’s palm struck the golden ocean!
