Chapter 1140: White Pillar, Blood Pool
Li Luo's breakthrough had attracted all of the attention from Yue Zhiyu and the rest of the group. They were astonished when they saw the brilliant seventh pearl floating behind him.
However, it was not because of his successful breakthrough. Rather, it was because they were once again reminded that Li Luo was still only in the Heavenly Pearl stage.
As a Heavenly Pearl, he could finish off two Greater Heavenly Resonance opponents. That was truly monstrous.
"All four altars have been destroyed?" Li Luo asked as he stood up to stretch his muscles. He looked into the sky above. The cursed students had all begun to deflate and they were beginning to fall back down.
Nonetheless, the others did not hurry over to help them. After all, the physical bodies of those who had reached the Fiend Body tier and above possessed a certain level of sturdiness. They would not be so unlucky to die from a fall just like this.
"Yes. However, there is no signal from the fourth altar's side. We do not know what's happened but it seems like the altar has been destroyed." Li Hongyou explained.
"I see."
Li Luo found it a little odd too. Nonetheless, he did not dwell on it for too long. "Perhaps the ward has crumbled because the other three altars have been destroyed."
Li Hongyou nodded her head. That was their guess as well.
Yue Zhiyu's eyes lighted up as she quickly added on, "Since the Ten Thousand Curses Ward has been dispelled, we should grab hold of time and head towards the Ten Thousand Skin Devil Heart Pillar in the center of the city!"
The others agreed with her. As such, they did not dwell any further on the ward that had just been dispelled or the students that were still recovering from the curse. They summoned up their resonant power and dashed towards the center district of the city like bolts of lightning.
At the same time, the teams who were still able to fight also made their way towards the center district. Everyone had the same thought in mind.
...
At the location of the last destroyed Soul Summoning Altar.
The scenery of the surrounding area began to change now that the altar had been destroyed. As the elites from both Ancient Colleges rushed towards the center district, this place turned back into a mountain stream.
The mountain stream was dark. Although the Soul Summoning Altar had been destroyed, corruption did not dissipate here. Instead, it had gotten even stronger.
Some strange chewing sounds could be heard from the shadows of the mountain stream. A few moments later, a shadow slowly walked out. The one at the front carried a blood ossuary. The others behind were carrying black ossuaries.
"These elite students from the Ancient College are truly delicious delicacies. My precious had such an enjoyable time eating." A vicious smile appeared on one of the Black Ossuary Minions. He patted the black ossuary on his back as fresh blood continued to ooze out from the side. When the cover of the ossuary shook a little, one could faintly see a twisted and gooey monster in it.
Previously, some of the students had also rushed over to the fourth altar. However, they were extremely unlucky. Not only did they have to contend with the Greater Evil Spirits, they also had to face the Murderous Ghost Horde.
In the end, none of them survived.
A terrifying appearance could be seen on the face of their leader, the one with a blood ossuary. He spoke in a cold voice, "We've helped them destroy the fourth altar. It's only right that we receive some compensation for it."
He placed his hands on the cover of his blood red ossuary to force it down. From time to time, its lid would shake violently. The blood veins in his eyes would bulge as madness and violence could be seen in his eyes.
"It sure isn't easy to digest these Greater Evil Spirits." Bubbles of blood surfaced on the skin of the Blood Ossuary Carrier, as if it was infected with some form of plague. In the end, these bubbles of blood burst and blood with a strong pungent smile spewed out. Pitch black flesh could be seen underneath it. The flesh wriggled and an eyeball tunneled out of his body, sucking in all of the corruption that had leaked out.
"Boss, they should all be moving towards the center district of the city. When will we take action?" One of the Black Ossuary Minions asked.
The Blood Ossuary Carrier raised his head and looked over to the center of the Swamp City. That area was still shrouded in thick white mist but faintly within it, one could see a gigantic pillar giving out a monstrous amount of corruption energy.
As he looked over there, the crazy violence within his eyes subsided a little. "The Ten Thousand Skin Devil Heart Pillar is the core of this All-Being Ghostly Skin Dominion. The All-Beings Devil King must have made its preparations. No matter what it is, we will let these students scout out the situation first. Ideally, both of them would suffer from the clash and we can head over as the oriole who stalks the mantis."
"What a magnificent plan, boss."
Strange laughter burst out from the Black Ossuary Minions. Although they still had the face of humans, there was nothing human that could be seen in their eyes, only brute violence seemed to be contained within. They were extremely peculiar, as if they were Others themselves.
At the same time, Li Luo and the group rushed over to the center district of the city. They crossed street after street but surprisingly, there had been no Others along the way.
Just like this, they arrived in the center district unhindered.
The first thing they noticed upon arrival was a huge pit in front of them. In the huge pit, there was a white giant pillar that spanned several thousands of feet high.
This pillar was different from the Devil Heart Pillars they had encountered earlier. Although it was also white in color, it was no longer the kind of pale white like that of a dead human's skin. Instead, there was even a certain purity to the translucent alabaster color.
It even gave off a seemingly divine sort of feeling.
If not for the corruption that continued to spew out from the top of the pillar, they would have thought that they were looking at a giant pillar which was bathed in light resonant power.
Meanwhile countless white chains extended out from the surface, as if it was anchoring the pillar to the void.
On these chains, a horrifying scene was revealed. Bloody red bodies were bound onto it and on closer look, these were actually humans who had been stripped of their skins!
They were all hung onto the chains with a burning white candle seen atop their heads.
The candle flame flickered eerily.
As it remained lit and burned, fresh red blood spilled out and trickled towards the feet of these bodies before dripping down.
Tick.
It was only at this moment that the crowd realized the huge pit contained a pool of blood so deep they couldn't see its bottom. Ripples continued to appear in this pool of blood. From time to time, faces would appear on the surface. These faces appeared to be struggling, as if they were trying to escape.
As Li Luo, Yue Zhiyu and the rest watched this scene in horror, a chill ran up their spines.
Tui!
Sonic booms could be heard from other directions as many figures dashed over and stopped nearby.
Li Luo turned his head around and saw Feng Lingyuan, Wei Chonglou and the others.
Strong resonant power surrounded their bodies as they held onto their treasured artifacts. Their bodies were full of injuries. It seemed like they had just finished a tough battle.
Both sides were delighted to see each other. However, they did not approach each other directly. From the incident earlier, they had learnt to be careful and to verify each other's identities first.
"Li Luo, it seems like you're fine. I thought you would have turned into one of those lanterns in the sky." Feng Lingyuan heaved a sigh of relief when she saw Li Luo.
The previous incident had been too terrifying. Even some of the Greater Heavenly Resonance students fell prey to it, let alone a Heavenly Pearl like Li Luo.
As he heard this, Li Luo smiled back helplessly. "Senior Hongyou and I happened to bump into Wang Kong and Yue Zhiyu."
Wei Chonglou took a quick glance at him. "You're a lucky individual, Junior Li Luo."
He was clearly a little unhappy about things. His side had fought a deadly battle and even he had been injured in order to destroy the altar. Yet, Li Luo appeared to be completely unhurt under the protection of Wang Kong and Yue Zhiyu. This really didn't sit quite right with him.
Sensing his animosity, Li Luo did not give in. "It seems like Senior Wei has suffered."
"I have slain one Greater Evil Spirit and seven Evil Spirits. Although there are some injuries, my companions are all safe. This is nothing." Wei Chonglou calmly replied.
The other students that had come along with Wei Chonglou nodded their heads, praising Wei Chonglou for his courage and strength. At the same time, they glared back at Li Luo, hinting that he shouldn't be mocking Wei Chonglou about it.
Wei Chonglou took another look at Li Luo. He said in a warning tone, "Junior Li Luo, Junior Jiang has been known to possess unparalleled potential. If you're just someone who sits on the side and enjoys the fruits of her labor, you're going to tarnish her name."
Li Luo smiled back. "This is between the two of us. There's no need for you to worry about it."
At this point, a hint of fury flashed in Wei Chonglou's eyes. He was clearly provoked by Li Luo's words.
"Alright, stop finding trouble, Wei Chonglou. Although I don't quite like him, I have to admit it. If Li Luo did not help us kill off two Greater Evil Spirits earlier, we will be in a much worse position right now." At this point, Yue Zhiyu unwillingly interrupted the two of them.
"Which is why, if you're saying he's made no contribution, I am afraid no one from our side will agree with you."
As she finished her sentence, everyone was shocked. Even Feng Lingyuan and Wei Chonglou were startled, as if they had misheard her.
"Li Luo finished off two Greater Evil Spirits?!"