Chapter 712: Chapter 550: The Elder
"Zzzt—"
A few seconds later, under Yang Xiao’s shocked gaze, the space before him trembled and then suddenly split open with a slit. A figure stepped out from it.
The newcomer wore a mask with the number "Long", had silver hair tied back in a simple bun, sported a goatee beneath the mask, was dressed in unremarkable plain cloth clothes, and wore a pair of old-fashioned black and white cloth shoes. He moved as if he were an ordinary old man.
But now, nobody dared to underestimate the elder who had rashly appeared on the battlefield. Yang Xiao immediately identified him as someone from the Ru Lin Academy, the top expert who had rescued him from the Daoist robe old ghost’s clutches.
"No wonder big sister remained silent the whole time. She must have realized earlier that this person was near!" Yang Xiao realized belatedly.
The people from the Academy weren’t foolish either; having failed to be the bait themselves, they had guessed that the killer would disguise himself as a contestant to eliminate them during the mission. So, they counteracted by also disguising someone as a contestant to infiltrate the mission and, indeed, they had managed to lure out this big fish.
At that moment, a doubt that had recently troubled Yang Xiao was resolved. The person who had attempted to kill him in the cold storage room, while he was trying to regain his body, hadn’t been killed by a Ghost but by this concealed expert.
After all, he was the bait, and the bait couldn’t be allowed to be easily harmed; otherwise, how could they continue to fish?
"Thank you, elder, for your rescue!" With this person here, the threat from the killer was trivial. In that moment, Yang Xiao showed utmost respect.
However, the newcomer ignored him and looked directly toward an old man not far away with a tone full of emotion, "The Star Chessboard was stolen from the Treasure Pavilion three years ago. At that time, the Academy suspected that there was a traitor among us, but we never imagined it would be you."
"Who are you?" Confronted by this person, the old man also didn’t dare to make any rash moves; the other’s methods somewhat frightened him.
"Who I am is unimportant, Han Jun. You are the vice-chair of the Elder Council. I don’t want to make this embarrassing, so surrender, and I can make it dignified for you." The silver-haired elder had his hands behind his back, speaking casually as if discussing a trivial matter.
"What a joke!" The identity-exposed old man boldly removed his mask, revealing a face covered in scars, his eyes as sharp as a hawk’s, staring intently at the mysterious elder, "You know who I am, so you should also know my capabilities. In the entire Academy, only the dean and the chief of the Elder Council, Zhong Qianhe, can best me. How dare you, who rely on Magic Artifacts, ask me to surrender?"
The mysterious elder slightly shook his head, obviously his limited patience was running out, "So stubborn..."
Suddenly, Yang Xiao, in a trance, noticed that the piece of yellow cloth in Han Jun’s right sleeve—the so-called Star Chessboard—was missing, his fingers slightly twitching as if puppeteering. He immediately realized something was wrong and promptly warned, "Elder, beware of his deceit!"
But he was too late. Before the words left his mouth, the black night sky above them abruptly cleared, replaced by a golden cloth with bizarre ancient text-like patterns, divided by neat vertical lines. In the next second, countless silver stars burst forth, and in the blink of an eye, they transformed into a massive net that enveloped the mysterious elder, Yang Xiao, and Qu Muzhi, trapping them like a birdcage overturned on the ground.
"Kekeke..." The vice-chair of the Elder Council, Han Jun, laughed eerily like a Night Owl. He was well aware of the prowess of the person before him, so he had used his killing move right from the start. As someone at the peak of Ghost Level, he was very confident in this move; it had directly slain two Ghost Level elders recently, pressing them so they couldn’t fight back.
To be fair, even if he himself were trapped in it, escape would be impossible. The Star Chessboard was a top treasure from the Treasure Pavilion; he had even killed a Guardian to steal this treasure, nearly exposing his identity, the price paid was utterly grave, but from the results, it was all worth it!
"No matter who you are, this isn’t something you can meddle in. Remember to apologize to our old dean at the Yiling Academy down below!"
After a loud shout, the cage of silver lines began to rotate, spiraling rapidly towards the center to crush everything within. This sight terrified Yang Xiao as not long ago, he had witnessed the power of this move; those two elders had died gruesomely.
Unexpectedly, the mysterious elder in front of him was completely unfazed. He slowly raised his hand towards the spiraling silver lines and the next second, his sleeves moved without wind. At this moment, Yang Xiao felt a shift in the world around him, invisible to the naked eye—it was a profound sensation. He sensed a dull force emerging from nowhere, slowing down the cage’s crushing spin, even... even eventually reversing it.
He suddenly remembered the Mirror World from not long ago, when a similar force had rewritten all that had happened. Time was reversing, allowing him to escape the Daoist robe old ghost’s pursuit in a bizarre rewind-like way and return to his room, lying back in his bed.
"Creak—"
"Squeak—"
The rapidly spinning cage slowed visibly until it practically stopped within just about ten seconds or even less, the silver lines of the cage halting right there. Above, the continuously spinning Star Chessboard also ground to a halt.
This scene not only astonished Yang Xiao, an outsider, but also the involved vice-chair of the Elder Council, Han Jun, who broke out in cold sweat. He didn’t understand how the other had managed it; the usually unbeatable Star Chessboard was like a mere toy in this man’s hands... Who, who exactly was this person?!
The mysterious elder did not leave him much time, seeing that the attack had been halted, the elder flicked a long sword from his sleeve and softly chanted,
"Break."
Yang Xiao felt no energy fluctuations, but Han Jun reacted as if facing a formidable enemy. In an instant, countless fine silver threads shielded him, and he flicked out a Jade Ruyi from his chest. But the next second, all the silver threads were severed, and the Jade Ruyi was knocked away. A line of blood trailed over Han Jun’s shoulder, and had he not dodged quickly, that strike would have almost cleaved off much of his shoulder.
After severely injuring Han Jun, the residual force of the attack plowed a terrifying trench in the ground behind him.
"Hiss—"
Looking at this scene, Yang Xiao immediately thought of the metal shelf split open in the cold room of the hospital; yes, it was the doing of this very elder!
The opponent had protected him inside the Academy, and it was the same after entering the mission. Soon, Yang Xiao realized something more terrifying; during the escape from the hospital, not to mention not seeing this person himself, even those ghosts—the three ghosts with different abilities—hadn’t noticed him!
"Netherworld-level! You’re not the Dean, no, even the Dean doesn’t have such methods, who...who exactly are you?!" Han Jun shouted in inner terror, now devoid of any will to fight, clutching his seriously injured shoulder and turning to flee.
Sadly, under the overwhelming suppression of power, he didn’t even have a chance to escape. The mysterious elder waved lightly through the air, slicing down another sword. This time, Han Jun couldn’t dodge in time and had nearly half his face cleanly sheared off.
With his face a bloody mess, Han Jun, who had recently arrogantly urged Yang Xiao to take his own life, now completely resembled a beaten dog. He was overwhelmingly dominated, completely at the mercy of another, "Enough, I surrender!" Han Jun loudly begged for mercy.
However, it seemed the elder did not hear, as he slashed down with another sword, this time slicing horizontally, and in that moment, Han Jun’s pupils suddenly constricted, as if recognizing the elder’s identity, "Azure Darkness Sword, you are the Old...!"
"Ptui—"
An invisible sword energy swept by, and a head flew out diagonally, leaving a headless torso standing in place, spraying blood several meters high from the neck.
The head rolled on the ground and, coincidentally, stopped facing the spot where Yang Xiao stood, its eyes wide open in death, filled with terror, panic, and mostly disbelief.
After easily handling Han Jun, the mysterious elder turned around, looking at Yang Xiao for the first time, his gaze under the mask making Yang Xiao lower his head, not daring to meet his eyes.
"Senior...thank you for saving my life!" Yang Xiao bowed deeply with his fists clasped, full of respect. Facing such a top-tier master was an act of submission under the pressure of strength.
Though Han Jun was defeated, and in quite an embarrassing and unsightly manner, it certainly did not imply he was weak. This was the Vice Chair of the Elder Council of the Confucian Forest Academy, one of the Upper Three Bookshops. Han Jun himself had said that in the Academy, no one apart from the Dean and the Head of the Elder Council could match him—such a high-ranking power among the top three being butchered like slaughtering a chicken, such prowess made Yang Xiao highly respect and simultaneously fear him.
Was this the strength of a Netherworld-level expert? Slaughtering elder-level figures as if crushing ants.
The mysterious elder looked at Yang Xiao for a few seconds, then began to reach with a reverse hand to take off the mask, which terrified Yang Xiao, causing his legs to buckle, dropping him to his knees. He wished he could bury his head in the ground, "No, no, no, Senior, I know nothing, and I won’t talk about anything, please...please don’t take off the mask, I understand the rule, seeing your face, my life would be..."
"Step."
"Step."
"Step."
...
Footsteps passed by him, and Yang Xiao mustered the courage to look back, only to see the mysterious elder stop beside Qu Muzhi, checking his injuries.
Swallowing hard, Yang Xiao heard the elder call him, "Get up, your friend won’t die."
"Thanks to your blessings," Yang Xiao behaved very docilely.
The elder turned around, revealing a face with fair skin, gentle eyebrows, and kind eyes, moving with an air of scholarly grace, resembling a well-maintained neighborly elder, with neatly tied hair and a trimmed goatee adding a touch of immortality. After a pause, the elder asked, "Are you from the Patrol Defense Office?"
