Great Deacon of Huzhen Mu He

"Black Vatican."

The voice was clear and distinct.

Mu He, clad in blue robes, advanced with his Gray-robed Clerics in tow, closing in on the three of them.

"That's a Blue-robed Deacon of the Black Vatican!" Lin Yuxin's pupils shrank, her face a mask of disbelief.

A Blue-robed Deacon was already a figure of immense importance within the Black Vatican's hierarchy.

How could he be here?!

"What are you saying—Mu He is Black Vatican?"

Mo Fan's jaw dropped: "I always said this old bastard was no good. Honestly, it makes perfect sense he's scum from the Black Vatican."

At this point, Mo Fan still didn't know what the Black Vatican had done to Bocheng, so he lacked that burning, unyielding hatred for them.

"Ha, you don't know your place."

Mu He looked at Mo Fan with cold indifference: "Don't think winning a duel is some great feat, and don't think having Innate Dual Elements makes you special."

"Before you've grown strong, you're just a bug by the roadside—I can crush you with a flick of my finger."

Suddenly.

Mu He's tone shifted sharply as he barked: "Seize all three of them, break their limbs, turn them into human stumps, and feed them to the Blood-patterned Giant Demon Rat!"

"You vicious old bastard!" Mo Fan cursed, his Star Track connecting at lightning speed as he faced the oncoming Gray-robed Clerics.

Lin Yuxin seized the chance to dash to the Sacred Spring, triggering the mechanism to collect all of it into a small vial.

Then, as she opened the secret passage, she turned back and shouted to Mo Fan: "Get over here, quick!"

"Earth Wave—Sink!"

Seeing this, Mu He stomped his right foot hard, and the ground rippled like surging tides.

Lin Yuxin, already gravely wounded, stumbled and fell, her body slowly sinking into the undulating floor.

The small vial containing the Sacred Spring dropped to the side.

"Mo Fan, hold off these Gray-robes. I'll deal with Mu He!" Jiang Yuan said, stepping between Lin Yuxin and Mu He.

"No, there's too many. I'll take Mu He—you're stronger than me, better suited to block these Gray-robes!" Mo Fan shook his head frantically at that.

Fighting a group versus fighting one person.

He figured he could still judge that difficulty.

The burden of taking on the strongest went to his bro Jiang Yuan.

"Fine!" Jiang Yuan didn't hesitate, swiftly swapping positions with Mo Fan.

"Raging Waves—Torrential Roll!" The moment he switched, Jiang Yuan unleashed his Water element magic.

A surging tide crashed forward.

As the low-ranking members of the Black Vatican, the Gray-robed Clerics were all Beginner level mages, unable to withstand a third-tier Intermediate level spell.

In the blink of an eye, they were swallowed by the massive waves, each one losing consciousness.

"Damn it, Mu He, you old bastard—Jiang Yuan, save my sorry ass!!!!"

Just then, a miserable scream rang out behind Jiang Yuan.

Turning his head, he saw Mo Fan being beaten into a panicked scramble by Mu He, on the verge of meeting his end.

Mo Fan wailed: "Bro, how come you didn't tell me this old geezer's a High level mage!"

He thought he'd picked a soft target to squeeze.

Instead, he'd chosen the toughest fighter in the whole group.

As the Blue-robed Great Deacon of Huzhen, Mu He's true strength wasn't the Intermediate level mage he appeared to be—he was a three-element High level mage who had awakened Ice, Earth, and Wind!

"You picked this yourself—can't blame me."

"Enough, enough, I was wrong! Bro, I can't hold out!"

"Don't panic, I'll help you."

With those words, Jiang Yuan unleashed Raging Waves—Torrential Roll again, a rolling torrent flooding the hall.

Mu He raised a hand, sending a blast of frigid air.

The flood was eroded by the cold, freezing into crystalline ice, frozen in place.

"You're the student who took first place in the Annual Assessment, aren't you?" Mu He eyed Jiang Yuan with interest.

"Breaking through to Intermediate level and awakening the Ice element in such a short time—that talent is rare even at the Imperial Capital Academy."

"And you, Mo Fan, your talent is equally unheard of..."

As he spoke, Mu He's icy gaze fell on Jiang Yuan and Mo Fan.

It sent a chill down their spines!

"It just so happens Yu Ang is short on Cursed Livestock—I'll use the two of you to make some!"

"Ice Coffin!"

The massive Ice Coffin filled the entire hall above, its overwhelming chill cascading downward. Even the air crystallized into frost under such frigid temperatures.

To craft the Cursed Livestock, Mu He chose not to drop the coffin directly but instead aimed to seal the two with this icy breath.

Jiang Yuan looked up calmly.

"Mo Fan, unleash your Fire element magic with everything you've got—help me melt this ice."

Mo Fan was shivering under the cold at that moment. Hearing Jiang Yuan call out, he instinctively glanced over.

He wouldn't have looked if he hadn't, but what he saw were ribbons of scalding steam coiling around Jiang Yuan's body, like divine auras wrapping around his limbs and torso.

Mo Fan froze. The next moment, an unprecedented clarity flooded his mind, as if no external factor could disturb his thoughts.

He had no clue what was happening, but Jiang Yuan spoke again.

"Now, release your Fire element magic!"

"Alright, Fire Seed—Explosion!"

The moment Mo Fan's thought stirred, the star track completed its connection in an instant.

One thought star track formed!

Explosive flames erupted, shattering and melting the ice under the searing heat.

"Holy crap, I can do a one-thought star track too?"

In his shock, another one-thought star track blazed forth, fire roaring.

"Keep casting magic, don't stop." Jiang Yuan directed, while subtly releasing a Mind Magic.

Mo Fan was now in an Overclock Resonance state, able to fully unleash his strength and form star tracks in a single thought.

This was one use of the overclock state!

As Mo Fan kept unleashing magic, Jiang Yuan moved as well. The steam swirling around him spread throughout the entire hall.

The hall turned hazy and foggy, obscuring everything.

This was Jiang Yuan's unique variant of the intermediate Water element magic—Boiling Steam!

Under the overclock state's boost, the magic's power doubled.

In this sustained high-temperature environment, using Ice element magic was extremely difficult for Mu He. Even if he managed it, its power would be reduced by thirty to forty percent.

Not to mention Mo Fan was constantly heating things up with his Fire magic.

On top of that, Mu He hadn't seized the icy environment early on. By the time he realized the steam was restricting him, he was already deep within it.

"What kind of magic is this?" Mu He's face darkened as he stared at the steam hot enough to scald skin. An inexplicable fury stirred within him.

A cyan glow bloomed in his hand as he attempted to use Wind element magic to blow the steam away.

But the hall was nearly sealed off, and the vast steam had already seeped into every corner.

Wind couldn't drive it out!

Mu He hadn't thought to use Ice magic to cool things down—his mind seemed muddled.

Time for a quick resolution!

Jiang Yuan clenched his right hand, and a powerful lightning force burst forth.

Using the fog as cover, he slipped behind Mu He.

He casually tossed out a bolt of lightning.

"Crack!" Thunder roared, morphing into a lightning serpent that lunged at Mu He.

Lightning element magic was already formidable, and now it carried a fourfold base power boost.

A single strike pierced through Mu He's intermediate defensive magic, then slammed into him with a dull explosion.

Blood oozed from flesh turned to charcoal, flowing without stop.

Mu He trembled as he looked down. The scorching blood drained his life away with it.

Blood gushed out in pulses like a heartbeat—it seemed an artery had been hit.

How was this possible?

He, a dignified Blue-robed Deacon of the Black Vatican, a figure feared by countless factions, had suffered such a loss at the hands of a student?!!!

"Lightning. Lightning element magic!" Mu He jerked his head up, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"You have three magic elements—you're a High-level Mage too!!"

His mind had long been scrambled by Jiang Yuan's Mind Magic, "Spirit Ripple—Rage," leaving him incapable of rational thought.

He instinctively assumed Jiang Yuan was a High-level Mage.

"Pity I didn't hit a vital spot, but it's close enough." Jiang Yuan sighed lightly, raising his hand for another burst of lightning.

"Bastard, you bastard!!!"

"I was just careless—do you really think you can beat me?!!"

Mu He's hysterical curses erupted as his formidable ice element burst forth violently.

Feeling the immense pressure, Jiang Yuan's heart tightened.

A high-level mage's strength far surpassed that of a mid-level mage.

Especially in such a confined space, a mid-level mage found it even harder to contend with a high-level one.

Jiang Yuan had yet to obtain an Elemental Seed or elevate his magic to a higher tier.

The power boost from his talent wasn't enough to close the gap with a high-level mage.

The fact that he had gravely wounded Mu He was purely because Mu He had been too careless from the start.

If he ran into any other high-level mage, it wouldn't be so easy.

"Still want to continue?" Jiang Yuan asked, his expression unchanged, his voice cold.

"Pfft—! Cough, cough!" Mu He spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes fixed on Jiang Yuan with a terrifying darkness, as if searing that face into the deepest recesses of his memory.

Without another word, he turned and vanished from sight.

He could unleash his full power to kill both Mo Fan and Jiang Yuan, but it would also put him in a perilous position.

If he stayed any longer, he might bleed out completely.

Jiang Yuan watched Mu He leave and didn't push his luck by giving chase.

Though it was like letting a tiger return to the mountains, stopping Mu He was far too risky.

He didn't think he could survive a full-force Ice Coffin.

But it didn't matter. With the failure of the Bocheng Disaster, Salang wouldn't let Mu He off easy, and his next stop would inevitably be the Ancient Capital.

Because the Ancient Capital was Salang's grand ceremony, and Salang wouldn't allow Mu He to go anywhere else.

The next time they met, the gap in strength might still be vast.

But by then, it wouldn't be Mu He who held the upper hand!

Once this disaster subsided, Jiang Yuan planned to use the chance to evade the Black Vatican and venture into the wilderness to claim his own magical fortune, transforming his strength at its core!