150: Chapter 150 Sword Shatters the Startling Swan

Wang Wude's giant blade carved a crimson arc through the tent, but ultimately stopped in mid-air.

He looked at the ink-green color rapidly spreading across Zhao Yingming's back, then glanced in the direction where Dean had disappeared, his teeth grinding together with a clicking sound.

In the end, he kicked the ground fiercely: "Damn it! That traitor runs faster than a rabbit!"

"Save Teacher Zhao first!"

Zhang Wen's voice carried a sob; the Lightning Radiance on his fingertips had not yet dissipated, but he could only watch helplessly as Zhao Yingming's face grew paler and paler.

He suddenly remembered Li Feiyuan and hurriedly shouted: "Where is Teacher Li? Her Sword Cultivator spiritual energy might be able to force out the poison!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tent flap was lifted again, and Li Feiyuan rushed in carrying her longsword, blood still wet on the blade.

"I was outside dealing with the remnants of the ant swarm, and I rushed over when I heard the commotion."

She saw Zhao Yingming's wound at a glance, and her expression changed drastically. "It's 'Heart-Corroding Poison'! Who did this?"

"It was... it was Dean," Zhang Wen said, gritting his teeth.

Li Feiyuan was startled, but didn't ask further. She quickly untied the sword tassel from her waist—it was a pouch woven with silver thread—and opened it to pour out three silver needles.

"These are 'Poison-Breaking Needles', they can temporarily seal the spread of the poison, but..." Li Feiyuan's voice paused.

"It requires someone to guide it with spiritual energy, and Teacher Zhao's current state probably won't hold up."

"I'll do it!"

Zhang Wen said immediately, even though the sharp pain in his chest made him almost unable to stand. "My Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder can suppress evil poisons; perhaps it can help."

Li Feiyuan glanced at him, a flash of hesitation in her eyes, but clearly there was no better choice at the moment.

"Focus your mind and follow my Sword Qi. Do not let the Lightning Radiance run wild, or you will injure Teacher Zhao's Meridians."

Zhang Wen nodded, took a deep breath, and forcibly suppressed the surging blood and Qi within his body.

Pale golden Lightning Radiance condensed on his fingertips again, but this time it was exceptionally docile, like an obedient little snake, slowly slithering along the silver needles Li Feiyuan had inserted into Zhao Yingming's back.

Upon encountering the Lightning Radiance, the Heart-Corroding Poison immediately hissed, and the ink-green venom even bubbled with black foam.

Zhao Yingming trembled all over from the pain, his forehead covered in cold sweat, yet he gritted his teeth tightly without making a sound.

Wang Wude watched anxiously from the side, occasionally looking outside the tent, his grip on his giant blade turning white.

"Why hasn't Teacher Chen come yet? Isn't his 'Cleansing Spirit Technique' best at neutralizing this kind of evil poison?"

"He is reinforcing the defensive formation patterns on the west side and cannot get away."

Li Feiyuan explained while controlling the silver needles, "There are more damaged formation eyes than we imagined. A few stray Bone-Eroding Ants rushed over just now, so Teacher Chen cannot leave for the moment."

Sweat also seeped from Zhang Wen's forehead. Maintaining the output of Lightning Radiance was a huge burden on his damaged Meridians; every flow of spiritual energy felt like being cut by a dull blade.

He could feel his consciousness blurring bit by bit, and the System panel was flashing red in his mind—[Warning! host spiritual energy overdraft, vital signs declining again!]

Just then, Zhao Yingming suddenly grabbed his wrist, his voice weak.

Before anyone could hear clearly, he started coughing violently, spat a mouthful of black blood onto the ground, and completely passed out.

"Teacher Zhao!"

"Old Zhao!"

Zhang Wen and Wang Wude exclaimed simultaneously. Li Feiyuan quickly pulled out the silver needles, took a red Medicinal Pill from her Storage Pouch, and stuffed it into Zhao Yingming's mouth.

"He's still breathing! Stabilize him first. We must return to school as soon as possible to find Principal Gongsun; only he can neutralize this poison now!"

Wang Wude stepped forward immediately and carefully carried Zhao Yingming on his back.

"I'll go prepare. Li girl, you bring Zhang Wen and follow!"

Li Feiyuan nodded. Just as she was about to help Zhang Wen, she noticed he was staring blankly at the mouthful of black blood on the ground.

"What's wrong?"

She looked in the direction of Zhang Wen's gaze and saw that after the black blood came into contact with the Lightning Radiance on the ground, it eerily coagulated into a twisted symbol—resembling an eye without a pupil.

Zhang Wen's heart skipped a beat. He had seen this symbol before!

When Teacher Liu self-destructed, the exact same symbol was carved onto the black chain that dragged away his Soul!

"This is... the mark of the Soul Devouring Hall."

Li Feiyuan's voice carried a chill. "It is said that only core members can use this type of poison. Dean's status in the Soul Devouring Hall is higher than we imagined."

Zhang Wen didn't speak, he just took off the cracked concealment ring.

Inside the ring, besides the words "Soul Devouring Hall", a smaller line of text was engraved—"Shadow Department · Number Seven".

Shadow Department? Number Seven? What does this mean? If Dean is only codenamed Number Seven, does that mean there are six before him? Or even more?

[System Prompt: Key clue 'Shadow Department · Number Seven' detected. Hidden quest 'Thunder Origin Tracing' progress updated to 30%. Reward: 10,000 points.]

The System prompt perked Zhang Wen up. 10,000 points! Enough for him to temporarily repair his Meridians! He immediately chanted in his heart: "Repair!"

A warm current instantly surged throughout his body, and the sharp pain in his chest eased significantly. Although he was still weak, he could at least stand steadily.

"Are you okay?" Li Feiyuan noticed his change and was a bit surprised.

"I'm fine, I just tapped into some potential."

Zhang Wen replied vaguely, stuffing the concealment ring into his clothes. "Let's go quickly, it will be too late if we are any later."

Li Feiyuan didn't ask further and helped him walk out of the tent.

The camp was busy at the moment; Cultivators were cleaning up the corpses of the ant swarm and reinforcing the damaged tents, while the air was filled with a mixture of burnt and bloody smells.

A few students responsible for guarding saw them and immediately came up: "Teacher Li, do you need help?"

"No need, we must return to school immediately."

Li Feiyuan said, "Tell Teacher Chen that this place is left to you."

The students nodded in agreement, but one of them suddenly pointed behind Zhang Wen, his face turning pale: "Teacher Li... what is that?"

Zhang Wen and Li Feiyuan turned around at the same time, only to see a dark, oppressive cloud layer appearing in the sky on the east side of the camp, without them knowing when.

Faint electrical light flickered within the clouds, but it wasn't natural lightning; it was purple-black Lightning Radiance carrying a thick, evil, malevolent aura!

What was even more hair-raising was that the cloud layer was pressing down on the camp at a speed visible to the naked eye; wherever it passed, the spiritual energy in the air became abnormally violent.

"It's the 'Evil Thunder Formation'!"

Li Feiyuan's expression changed completely. "Dean didn't run! He set up a killing formation outside!"

Wang Wude had just placed Zhao Yingming on the spirit vehicle. Hearing this, he immediately rushed out. Seeing the black clouds, he couldn't help but curse: "That son of a bitch! He wants to wipe us all out in one go!"

Zhang Wen's heart sank to the bottom.

He had seen the Evil Thunder Formation in ancient books; it was one of the top ten evil formations, requiring a large amount of essence blood to activate, and its power was enough to destroy a mountain.

Since Dean dared to set up this formation, it meant he had no intention of leaving anyone alive.

"Get in the vehicle!"

Li Feiyuan made a decisive decision and pushed Zhang Wen onto the spirit vehicle. "Teacher Wang, you protect Teacher Zhao and leave first; I will cover the rear!"

"No!"

Wang Wude said immediately, "How can you alone block the Evil Thunder Formation? If we leave, we leave together!"

"There's no time to argue!"

Li Feiyuan drew her sword, the cold light of the blade exceptionally piercing under the gloomy sky.

"The formation eye of this formation must be on the cliff wall to the east. I will go destroy it; you take the chance to charge out!"

"Remember, tell Principal Gongsun that people from the Shadow Department have already infiltrated!"

After saying this, without waiting for the two to react, her figure turned into a white rainbow and streaked toward the eastern cliff wall.

Wherever the sword light passed, a gap was actually cleaved through the evil, malevolent aura in the air.

"Teacher Li!"

Zhang Wen leaned on the car window, watching the shrinking white figure, his eyes instantly turning red.

Wang Wude gritted his teeth and slammed his hand on the spirit vehicle's console: "Hold on tight!"

The spirit vehicle let out a roar, and pale cyan spiritual energy sprayed from under the tires, rushing out of the canyon like an arrow leaving the bow.

Wang Wude looked back and saw Li Feiyuan's sword light had already collided with the black clouds.

The purple-black evil thunder and the silvery-white Sword Qi exploded in the air, forming a gorgeous yet deadly sea of light.

He knew that Li Feiyuan's departure this time was a narrow escape from death.

And they had to escape with Zhao Yingming and the news about the "Shadow Department".

The moment the spirit vehicle rushed out of the canyon, Zhang Wen seemed to hear an earth-shattering roar from behind, followed by the sound of a sword shattering.

He slammed his eyes shut, not daring to look back again.