Hearing this, Flender was startled as well.
A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to his scalp, crawling up his spine and making him shudder violently.
The air around him seemed to turn cold in that instant.
The faint scent of sandalwood from before vanished completely, replaced by a nauseating stench like long-rotted meat mixed with sewer sludge.
"Gurgle..."
Another bubble popped.
Flender watched helplessly as the crack on the lotus pedestal beneath the armless Buddha statue—the one he had lightly touched with the tip of his dagger—spread outward at a visible rate.
The golden paint peeled away like dried tree bark, flaking off piece by piece.
Every flake of gold paint that fell onto the jade floor made a crisp "pat" sound.
Deep within the crack, the blackish-red mist grew thicker and thicker, squeezing out through the fissure as if it were alive.
The mist churned around the pedestal, gradually condensing into hairlike strands that spread across the hall floor in every direction.
Cold sweat trickled down Flender's cheeks drop by drop, splashing onto his collar.
No matter how much he loved money or how stingy he was, he understood now.
How was this some treasure that would make him rich?
This was clearly a seal!
A seal meant to suppress some terrifying monster!
And that stab of his had happened to poke a hole in this seal, which had endured countless years and was already becoming fragile.
"Run..."
That was the only thought left in Flender's mind.
He gritted his teeth and desperately tried to move his legs.
But the oppressive aura radiating from that crack was simply too terrifying.
Meanwhile, beyond the Sky Screen.
On Shrek Academy's training ground.
The smiles of those who had just been delighted that their dean had found shelter froze instantly.
A cold breeze swept across the field, rustling the leaves in the trees.
Yet not a single sound came from the crowd.
Ma Hongjun stood there with his mouth hanging open, the fat on his face twitching twice before he stammered out.
"Wh-what's going on?"
"Why is black smoke coming out from under that stone pedestal?"
Zhao Wuji rubbed his eyes hard with his huge hand, his brows furrowing deeply.
"That old fool Flender is usually shrewd as hell. Why did he lose his mind today?"
"That place is connected to the night of the Great Ruins. Was it something he could just touch however he pleased?"
Yu Xiaogang, standing at the very front, had gone pale as paper.
The little notebook in his hand fell onto the grass with a smack, and he did not even glance at it.
"That's a seal..."
Yu Xiaogang's lips trembled slightly, his voice filled with undisguised terror.
"The golden paint on that Buddha statue isn't decoration at all. They're sealing runes used to suppress evil creatures beneath the ground!"
"Qin Mu said the statue's light could ward off the monsters in the night."
"So those lights aren't merely keeping the things outside at bay. They're also suppressing the things inside!"
Hearing the master's words, Tang San sharply sucked in a breath.
A layer of violet light surfaced in his eyes as he pushed his Purple Demon Eye to its limit.
Through the light screen, Tang San stared fixedly at the blackish-red mist.
After watching for a while, Tang San's expression became even worse than Yu Xiaogang's.
"Teacher, the energy within that mist... is extremely evil."
Tang San lowered his voice, his tone grave.
"That aura is a hundred times more sinister than any poison I've ever encountered."
"If Dean Flender doesn't leave immediately, the consequences will be unimaginable if even a little of it touches him."
Spirit City, Pope Palace.
Bibi Dong sat upright upon her throne, her beautiful eyes slightly narrowed, her gaze unfathomably deep.
"Great Thunderclap Temple, Buddha statues, seals..."
Bibi Dong's slender pale fingers lightly stroked her scepter.
"The foundations of the Great Ruins are truly unfathomable."
"Even a random abandoned temple suppresses evil creatures so terrifying that even a Titled Douluo would feel chills just from looking at them."
"And judging by this, beneath each of the dozen or so enormous Buddha statues in this ruined temple, there is likely something equally horrifying."
At that thought, Bibi Dong's breathing grew heavier.
If Spirit Hall could control creatures of this level, unifying the entire continent would be as easy as turning a hand.
But that was only if they lived long enough to control them.
Just as all of Douluo Continent was holding its breath for Flender.
Within the Sky Screen.
Inside the ruined main hall of the Great Thunderclap Temple.
The blackish-red mist had already spread to Flender's feet.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."
The moment the mist touched the soles of Flender's shoes, his specially made leather boots began smoking as though they had been thrown into a pot of boiling oil.
A sharp burnt stench wafted out.
The searing pain from beneath his feet finally jolted Flender awake from the rigid state brought on by that overwhelming pressure.
"Holy shit!"
Flender let out a strange cry and sprang backward two or three meters like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
The dagger in his hand flew from his grasp as well.
The dagger fell into the blackish-red mist with a "pat."
Then, before the horrified eyes of viewers across the continent.
That incomparably sharp dagger, forged with refined steel, did not even last half a breath.
It turned directly into a pool of foul-smelling black molten iron, seeping into the cracks between the jade floor tiles.
At the sight, Flender's scalp nearly exploded.
What the fuck kind of monster was this?!
It could corrode refined steel instantly. If it touched a person, not even bone fragments would remain!
"Run! Run now!"
Flender's mind screamed frantically.
He pushed off with his feet, turned around, and charged toward the hall entrance.
He remembered that when he had entered, it had been dark outside, but at least there had not been this poisonous mist capable of melting someone instantly.
But just as he reached the entrance and was about to step over the worn threshold.
Flender stopped dead.
His body swayed violently, and he nearly toppled headfirst beyond the threshold.
Outside lay an endless, viscous darkness.
Within that darkness without even a trace of light.
Flender clearly heard wave after wave of teeth-grinding chewing.
"Crunch, crunch..."
Along with the chewing came heavy breathing and the sound of viscous liquid dripping, enough to make one's hair stand on end.
Flender slowly raised his head and, by the weak Buddha light inside the hall, glanced into the darkness outside.
With that single glance, every storm and hardship he had endured in his life became a joke.
Less than a meter from the threshold, countless enormous eyes emitting ghostly green light were packed tightly together.
Those eyes were as large as lanterns, greedily staring at Flender inside the hall.
The instant he dared take even half a step beyond the threshold, he would be torn to pieces.
Before him was the endless night that devoured people.
Behind him was an unknown evil creature about to break free of its seal.
Flender stood at the edge of the threshold, unable to advance or retreat.
For the first time in his life, he understood that despair could be so tangible.
Heaven Dou Imperial City.
Countless nobles and commoners watched the scene in the Sky Screen and unconsciously held their breath.
"It's over. Dean Flender is really doomed this time."
A minor noble wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered to himself.
"This is simply a dead end."
"Outside are those dark monsters that can instantly kill even ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts. Inside is poisonous mist that can melt refined steel in an instant."
"So this is the Great Ruins? Even after finding shelter, one wrong step means eternal damnation."
At Shrek Academy.
Ma Hongjun had already closed his eyes, too afraid to keep watching.
Zhao Wuji sighed as well, lowering his hands weakly.
Meanwhile, within the Sky Screen.
Inside the main hall of the Great Thunderclap Temple.
Flender retreated two steps, returning to the area covered by Buddha light.
He panted heavily, his chest heaving violently.
"I'm the dean of Shrek Academy, damn it. Killing me won't be that easy!"
Flender gritted his teeth, a savage glint flashing across his face.
He understood that if he wanted to live today, he could only gamble everything.
"Four-Eyed Cat-Eagle, possess me!"
Flender roared and slammed his hands together before his chest.
Accompanied by a piercing eagle cry, a powerful surge of Soul Power erupted from within him.
His eyes turned a deep amber, his pupils becoming vertical slits.
The clothing on his back tore apart, and a pair of broad dark-green wings instantly unfurled, lifting him into the air within the hall.
Seven Soul Rings rose beneath his feet in succession.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black!
The seven Soul Rings representing half a lifetime of cultivation pulsed around his body, radiating the pressure of a high-level Soul Master.
Yet that pressure seemed so insignificant amid the vast ruins of the Great Thunderclap Temple.
Even the light emitted by the Buddha statues was far brighter than his Soul Rings.
Flender hovered in midair, warily staring at the cracked pedestal beneath the Buddha statue.
By then, the crack had widened to the width of a finger.
Blackish-red mist poured from it without end, gathering into a small puddle on the hall floor and continuing to spread outward.
"Clatter, clatter..."
The sound of chains scraping grew louder and louder.
It was as if something enormous was struggling to crawl up from beneath the earth.
"I can't let it come out!"
Flender hardened his resolve. He knew that once this thing completely broke free of its seal, he would have no chance of survival.
The fifth black Soul Ring on his body suddenly lit up with a blinding glow.
"Fifth Soul Skill! Cat-Eagle Storm!"
Flender's wings beat fiercely, and a violent gale immediately swept through the hall.
Countless wind blades condensed from azure Soul Power interwove densely, forming a tornado with astonishing destructive force.
Carrying the momentum to tear apart everything in its path, the tornado blasted directly toward the cracked lotus pedestal below.
"Rumble!"
The storm slammed into the pedestal with a deafening roar.
Dust throughout the hall was swept into the air.
Seeing this, the Shrek Academy students beyond the light screen reignited with a glimmer of hope in their eyes.
"The dean is showing his power!"
"The fifth Soul Skill is incredibly powerful. Even a defense-type Soul Sage wouldn't dare take it head-on. Maybe it can reinforce the seal!"
Yet Yu Xiaogang's expression did not improve in the slightest.
He shook his head, his voice somewhat bitter.
"It's useless..."
"Soul Power, as a form of energy, is far too fragile before the laws of the Great Ruins."
As if to confirm Yu Xiaogang's words.
On the Sky Screen, after the dust filling the air had dispersed.
Flender hovered in midair, his Cat-Eagle eyes fixed intently below, his face filled with disbelief.
The lotus pedestal he had struck head-on with his fifth soul skill had not been damaged in the slightest.
Even the gold paint that had fallen onto it had not been swept away by the wind blades.
And the black-red mist that had poured out.
As if it had just devoured a feast, not only had it not been scattered by the storm, it had instead grown even denser.
The mist churned, slowly rising in the direction from which the storm had come, like a massive mouth trying to swallow Flender in midair.
"The taste is a little strange..."
That eerie voice rang out in Flender's mind once more.
This time, the voice was much clearer.
It carried a dizzying magic, as though countless insects were gnawing at Flender's brain nerves.
"Too weak. This kind of energy isn't even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth..."
The voice was full of disgust and mockery.
As those words fell, a hand suddenly reached out from the crack.
It was a shriveled hand with nothing left but skin stretched over bone.
Its skin was an eerie purplish-black, and its fingers were terrifyingly long.
The hand gripped the edge of the lotus pedestal and pressed down hard.
Crack, crack...
The cracks in the pedestal instantly widened, and even more black-red mist burst forth.
The temperature in the hall plummeted, and even every breath exhaled turned into white frost.
Under Flender's horrified gaze, a thin, elongated figure shrouded entirely in black-red mist slowly squeezed out from inside the pedestal.
Its body was somewhat twisted.
Its head was abnormally huge and hairless.
On its face, there was only a huge mouth split all the way to its ears and a vertical eye that occupied half its forehead.
The moment the thing emerged, the soft golden light emitted by the surrounding Buddha statues instantly dimmed.
It was as if even the spirituality of those Buddha statues feared this thing.
"So this is... the monster that was sealed away..."
Flender swallowed hard, feeling as though his throat was so dry it was about to catch fire.
The monster stood atop the pedestal. Its enormous vertical eye slowly turned before finally locking onto Flender in midair.
"Fresh... flesh and blood..."
The monster opened its huge mouth, extending a crimson tongue covered in barbs to lick its purplish lips.
The next second, the monster's figure abruptly vanished from where it stood.
Flender had not even seen how it moved.
He only felt his vision blur as a nauseatingly foul wind rushed straight at him.
"Not good!"
An experienced fighter, Flender instinctively folded his wings together before him as a shield.
At the same time, the seventh Soul Ring on his body shone brilliantly as he prepared to unleash his Martial Soul Avatar.
Before you continue