Ritual Interrupted

Lin Qin took a deep breath and brought himself into peak condition. He glanced at Aileen, who was wholly focused on preparing her spell, then fixed his gaze once more on the officiant at the center of the altar, who held a skull-topped staff.

There was no more time to wait!

Lin Qin drove off the ground with a sudden burst of force and shot out from his hiding place like a cannonball, heading straight for the center of the altar! While still in midair, he clenched his right fist. A fist intent as heavy as a mountain and as tempered as steel locked onto the officiant in an instant!

"Thick Earth Fist!"

There was no earth-shattering display, only a condensed beam of ocher fist energy that crossed a hundred meters in the blink of an eye and slammed toward the officiant's face! Space rippled faintly in its wake, and it carried an intent that seemed to suppress everything!

The sudden attack startled all three Saint Realm experts on the altar!

"How dare you!" The officiant reacted swiftly, stamping his skull staff against the ground. A pitch-black energy shield appeared before him at once. Countless vengeful spirits wailed across its surface as it tried to stop Lin Qin's fist energy.

"Boom!!"

The fist energy smashed into the shield! The violent explosion everyone expected never came. Instead, the condensed attack seemed to contain the weight of the entire earth, forcing the shield of wailing spirits to cave inward with a strained creak! The officiant's expression changed. The immense force drove him back several meters before he managed to steady himself!

"A Saint Realm expert?! Who are you?!" The officiant stared furiously at Lin Qin, who had landed a short distance in front of him. He had never imagined that a Saint Realm expert could infiltrate this place unnoticed—and strike with such force right from the start!

The other two Saint Realm experts, the Necromancer and the Shadow Assassin, reacted in an instant as well.

"Kill him!" The Necromancer's thin fingers danced rapidly as he chanted an obscure incantation. The ground around the altar split open, and dozens of pallid skeletal hands burst through the earth, reaching for Lin Qin's legs! At the same time, several black bone spears wreathed in a rotting aura formed in the air and shot toward him with shrill whistles!

The Shadow Assassin vanished from where he stood like a wraith. In the next instant, a bone-chilling killing intent swept toward Lin Qin from the shadow behind him, and a poisoned black dagger silently stabbed at his back!

Faced with the three Saint Realm experts, Lin Qin remained expressionless. His footwork shifted, and he seemed to merge with the earth. The skeletal hands shattered against an invisible force as they neared him. Without even looking behind him, he punched backward, striking the incoming dagger with pinpoint accuracy!

"Clang!"

Fist and dagger collided with the ring of metal on metal! The Shadow Assassin felt an irresistible force surge through the dagger, numbing his entire arm. The weapon nearly flew from his grip! Stunned, he used the force of the blow to slip back into the shadows.

As for the black bone spears flying toward him, Lin Qin simply opened his mouth and uttered one word:

"Shatter!"

The sound wave, infused with his Saint Realm will and the Laws of the Earth, spread like a tangible force. The formidable black bone spears broke apart in midair, disintegrating into dust!

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Facing three opponents at once, Lin Qin had not only held his ground—thanks to his rock-solid foundation and precise control over his power, he had even gained a slight advantage!

His goal was to create chaos and draw everyone's attention!

At the same time that fighting erupted on the altar, Aileen sprang into action from her hiding place. While everyone's attention was fixed on Lin Qin, she quietly unleashed the spell she had prepared.

Several blue streams, fine as hairs and almost transparent, flowed along the ground like living things. They slipped past the patrolling guards and shot precisely toward the most important Bone Pillars at the edge of the altar. These streams contained highly concentrated, precisely controlled Water Element magic. Rather than attacking the pillars' surfaces, they wormed into the tiny cracks where energy flowed, burrowing inside like maggots!

"Sizzle..."

A faint sound of corrosion, almost too quiet to hear, came from within the Bone Pillars. The runic nodes sustaining the Soul Vortex and transmitting its energy began to fluctuate under the internal erosion of the Water Element magic. The energy flow grew sluggish and erratic!

The gray Soul Vortex above the altar shuddered violently. Its rotation slowed sharply, and its wails grew sharper and more chaotic! The energy field around the entire altar was affected, growing unstable!

"What is going on?!" The officiant, still battling Lin Qin, immediately sensed something amiss with the altar. He whipped around and saw the ghostly green flame atop one of the Bone Pillars flicker violently a few times before going out with a soft pop!

"Someone is sabotaging the altar!" The officiant was shocked and furious. He roared, "Catch the saboteur!"

Some of the guards and the Necromancer immediately turned toward the Bone Pillars, trying to find Aileen.

"Your opponents are right here." Lin Qin spoke coldly, then intensified his assault! He stopped holding back and unleashed both fists, sending condensed beams of ocher fist energy crashing down on the three Saint Realm experts in a storm. He kept them firmly pinned down, giving them no chance to break away!

"Thick Earth Domain, open!"

A domain as heavy as a mountain erupted outward from Lin Qin! The three Dark Saint Realm experts within its range immediately felt their bodies sink. Their movements slowed as if they had been trapped in a swamp! Even the Shadow Assassin hidden in the shadows was forced to reveal a blurry outline!

Taking advantage of the opening, Aileen grew bolder. She kept changing positions, and the fine streams of water continued to act like precise scalpels, destroying the energy nodes in the other Bone Pillars. The flames on two more pillars went out, and the Soul Vortex above the altar grew thinner and more unstable, as if it might collapse at any moment!

"Bastard!" The officiant's eyes nearly bulged with rage. The interrupted ritual had ruined all their efforts, and now they would have to suffer the backlash! He swung his skull staff wildly, summoning more powerful dark creatures and curse spells in an attempt to break through Lin Qin's blockade.

But Lin Qin's defenses were like an iron wall. His fists were steady and weighty, each strike infused with the power of the earth. He blocked and deflected every attack. He had yet to use his Thick Earth Seal, but his domain and basic boxing techniques alone had firmly suppressed three opponents of the same rank!

Aileen had already managed to destroy more than half of the crucial Bone Pillars. The altar's energy pathways were in complete disarray. The Soul Vortex above it released a great wail, like a sigh of relief, then vanished with a thunderous crash! The fragments of soul bound inside it became specks of light and gradually returned to the world.

The ritual had been forcibly interrupted!

Below the altar, the hollow-eyed sacrifices kneeling on the ground seemed to lose whatever had been sustaining them. They slumped down one after another. Though still weak, their eyes began to regain a faint glimmer of awareness.

"We did it!" Aileen rejoiced inwardly.

Yet at the very moment the ritual was interrupted, another sudden change occurred!

The black gem atop the skull staff in the officiant's hands suddenly erupted in a blinding light! An evil aura far deeper and more ancient than before spread violently from within it!

"Foolish insects! You have ruined the master's great work!" The officiant's voice turned hoarse and strange, as if another consciousness had possessed him. "But the ritual has not failed completely... I'll use your souls as the final offering to the master!"

He raised his staff. A condensed beam of darkness shot from the black gem, aimed not at Lin Qin but at Aileen, who had just revealed herself and let her guard down after successfully disrupting the ritual!

The beam of darkness moved impossibly fast. The evil power it contained made even Lin Qin's heart tighten!

"Aileen! Watch out!" Lin Qin's expression changed drastically, but he was already too late to save her! The beam of darkness had reached Aileen!

As she watched the beam rushing toward her, radiating the aura of death, Aileen's pupils contracted sharply. Her mind went blank, and she could not even cast the simplest defensive spell!

At the critical moment, an ocher figure appeared in front of Aileen at a speed beyond its limits!

It was Lin Qin! At the last moment, he spent a vast amount of his Saint Realm essence to forcibly cross the distance, putting his own body between Aileen and the beam of darkness!

"Thud!"

The condensed beam of darkness slammed squarely into Lin Qin's back!

"Lin Qin!!" Aileen screamed in anguish.

Lin Qin's body jolted, and a mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips. But he remained firmly in place, shielding Aileen behind him. The clothes on his back instantly turned to ash, revealing skin that gleamed with an ocher light but was covered in fine cracks. The corrosive force within the beam of darkness was wreaking havoc on his Saint Realm body and soul!

"Hmph! You don't know your own limits!" The possessed officiant sneered and raised his staff again.

But Lin Qin slowly lifted his head and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His gaze was icy as he stared at the officiant and spoke one word at a time:

"You've made me angry."