The helicopter circled overhead.
A man wearing a dark blue mask touched the long saber at his waist. "Captain, it's time to go down."
"Yes, it's time we crushed those scumbags." Captain Wuma, whose blue mask had a narrow gold trim, sounded angry.
The Twelve Zodiac had long since received word of what had happened in Magic City last time. Not much time had passed, yet this Evil Cult organization actually dared to show itself again.
They truly had no regard for the Twelve Zodiac or the Special Affairs Bureau.
"Today we'll avenge the Shen Monkey Team. It'll also repay the favor we owed them." Captain Wuma rose, walked to the helicopter's open door, where the wind howled, and looked down.
After the incident in Magic City, the Shen Monkey Team had essentially been wiped out in battle. But all their accomplishments had been recorded by the Special Affairs Bureau, awaiting the next group of members to take up their posts.
Whoosh~
Boom~
Explosions rang out everywhere. Below, Blood Charm held Pandora, hesitating. Once he opened it, his life might disappear.
"Blood Charm, open it!" Beside him, Spider hovered in the air, controlling thread after thread as she watched him. A hint of displeasure showed on her face as she gripped Blood Charm's soul flame and squeezed hard.
Blood Charm's face instantly turned pale. Agonizing pain swept through his entire body, and a faint trace of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Suspended above him, Spider exclaimed, "Lord Ninth Seat's ability is truly terrifying. He can actually give physical form so easily to a soul that no one can touch."
"Such power is truly intoxicating."
But suddenly, a figure wreathed in blue flames fell from the sky, heading straight for Blood Charm and the others.
Boom~
A tremendous crash rang out as four white barriers shot into the sky.
In the smoke stood a towering figure, ghostly blue flames rising around him.
"Rules and Order activated. We of the Wuma Team will lead you to your deaths!!"
Whoosh~
The sound of something slicing through the air rang out.
Before Blood Charm could react, the hand holding Pandora was severed, blood pouring from the wound.
He looked at his severed hand without any change in expression, then gently picked it up and used his ability.
In an instant, the bones joined back together.
Spider, suspended in the sky, looked terrified. She cursed, "Damn it!! How are they so fast? Wasn't that guy, the Puppeteer, coming to support us?"
The burly man with them looked grim. Wearing a knuckleduster, he stared at the person who had just made that slash.
The saber wielder was none other than the member of the Wuma Team from earlier. His expression was icy as he murmured, "Scum."
With a bang, he shot toward them, blue flames burning on his saber.
But his target was neither the burly man nor Spider. It was Blood Charm—or, more precisely, Pandora's Box.
He already knew exactly what the Evil Cult organization wanted to do.
"Spider, stop him!!" The burly man swung his arms wildly, smashing them into the ground and making the surrounding earth shake, but it did nothing to hinder the figure's movements.
Above, Spider continued shooting webs from her fingers, trying to intercept him. But before they could reach him, flashes of saber light severed the threads.
"An Evil Cult organization—a bunch of trash who haven't even set foot in the withered sea realm, yet you dare run wild in Shenzhou City."
A cold laugh rang out. Suddenly, a flash of saber light appeared at Spider's neck, and it was severed in an instant, as if along a line.
Blood splattered across the ground. Her head fell like a ball, her eyes still filled with terror.
Not far away, the burly man and Blood Charm froze for a moment, then immediately fled in different directions. They'd be fools not to run!
Who was the Evil Cult here?!
Pandora's Box was still in Blood Charm's hand, unopened.
The Wuma Team member wiped the edge of his saber and looked coldly in the direction they had fled. "Run? Even if you make it out of Shenzhou City today, you'll still die."
Elsewhere, at Canglan Academy.
Although the Canglan Tournament was still ongoing, undercurrents had clearly begun to stir.
"Cang Lao, are you saying an Evil Cult organization appeared in Shenzhou City today?" Yu Qingnian frowned, pressing his headset as he spoke.
Cang Lao's voice came from the other end, grave and serious. "Little Yu, now that an Evil Cult organization has appeared, Canglan must naturally do its part."
"Let's just end this Canglan Tournament early."
Yu Qingnian fell silent. He knew which matter took priority. Between the Canglan Tournament and the invasion of Shenzhou, there was no way they could put the former first.
Besides, quite a few students at the academy had families in Shenzhou.
Yu Qingnian asked, "Then should we do as we did last time and keep the students in the academy while we wait for news?"
There was no answer from the other end. After a moment of silence,
a faint rustling came through, followed slowly by Cang Lao's voice, carrying a slightly different tone.
"Let them out."
"Go see this Evil Cult invasion. It's time they saw what this world is really like."
"Young eagles whose wings have yet to fully grow will one day spread them and soar."
"All we need to do is show them more of this world before they grow up."
Yu Qingnian looked at the sky, then at the teams still fighting in the arena, unaware of what was happening. Had his state of mind changed a little at that moment?
He murmured, "Yes. These children have never seen the cruelty of Sequence Users fighting to the death."
"They've never known just how terrifying Evil Cultists or Eerie Monsters can be, either. They only know from their phones or some unknown source that those Evil Cult organizations are demons everyone should exterminate. Some students have never even encountered an Eerie Monster."
"All they know is that even if Eerie Monsters or the Evil Cult come, taller people will stand in front and hold them off."
Faluo smiled beside him and clenched his fist. "They're young. There's always a time when they don't know any better."
"Back when I was arrogant and studying at Canglan Academy, I could take on more than a dozen at once!!"
As he spoke, he flexed his muscular arms.
Yu Qingnian rolled his eyes and looked down at the arena.
After hesitating for a while, he picked up the microphone.
Elsewhere, Li Chen and the others were still discussing the Evil God in the waiting area, though most of what they discussed were facts they had never seen for themselves.
"Brother Ping, how do you know all this?" Su Zhe asked, puzzled.
"My grandpa told me." Jianping's expression didn't change. He couldn't very well say his sword had told him, could he?
"An Evil God?" Li Chen sat in his seat, thinking about the scene he had seen in the Black Mist. Even now, he could still feel a scorching heat filling his entire body.
According to what Jianping had just said, no one knew where the Evil Gods came from. Humanity knew about them only because of the appearance of Evil Cult organizations.
The Evil Cult organizations worshiped the Evil Gods to an extreme. If an Evil God could speak and told one of its followers to die, the other followers would immediately swarm forward.
It was an extremely twisted form of worship. The Evil Gods had also appeared after the blood-colored meteorite fell sixteen years ago. Everything seemed to be connected.
After all these years of arrests, the Special Affairs Bureau had naturally captured quite a few cultists, but none of them had ever truly seen an Evil God. Their minds had simply been completely corrupted, even twisted.
What exactly is it? And is the one sealed inside me an Evil God, a human, or some other creature?
Just as Li Chen was thinking about these matters, an announcement rang out.
[The Canglan Tournament has been temporarily suspended. The academy has received notice that Shenzhou City is currently under attack by an Evil Cult organization. Please check your Student Badges for further instructions.]
[Repeated three times]
"An Evil Cult? Another invasion? And in Shenzhou?" Su Zhe's face was somewhat pale.
After all, the incident in Magic City had caused such a huge commotion, and even a calamity-realm uncanny creature had appeared. This time it was happening in Shenzhou, so it was hard not to panic a little.
What if another calamity-realm uncanny creature appeared? Or one of an even higher realm?
At that moment, Jianping spoke calmly from beside him. "An Evil Cult organization? I'll cut them down with one swing of my sword."
Li Chen was somewhat lost in thought. Ever since the scorching sensation had appeared in his body, he had known something must have happened. Even so, he was surprised it was happening in Shenzhou City.
No wonder the scorching sensation was growing stronger.
"An Evil Cult?" Li Chen narrowed his eyes and looked out the window at the dark sky, murmuring under his breath.
Both times, the agitation had been caused by an Evil Cult. This time, he didn't intend to sit back and do nothing. He wanted to see just what was drawing him.