208: Chapter 209 The Ancient Blood Sacrifice Altar Appears, the Stage for Desperation is Complete!

Lin Qi walked all the way down along the newly opened fissure in the ground.

The passage was extremely narrow, with the rocks on both sides rubbing against his shoulders.

The air was as thick as a pot of overcooked porridge; every breath required effort to suck oxygen into his lungs.

Inside the highest authority monitoring room of Longya Academy.

Ear-piercing alarms rang incessantly, and red lights flashed continuously on the walls.

Elder Mo crouched in front of the main console, clutching his head with his withered fingers as he gripped his hair tightly.

"Something's wrong! This data is completely wrong!" Elder Mo shouted, pointing at the screen.

Instructor Su Qing slammed her palm onto the metal tabletop, causing the coffee cup to clatter loudly.

"Old man, explain yourself clearly! Don't just make a fuss!" Instructor Su Qing's brows were knitted into a tight knot.

Elder Mo hurriedly tapped on the keyboard, bringing up a red and green chart.

"Look at this gravity field curve. The gravity at the bottom of the Dragon Tomb has undergone a distortion. In the area Lin Qi just entered, the gravity is twenty times that of the outside world. Even the air density is comparable to mercury. Ordinary Professionals would be crushed into a pulp if they went in," Elder Mo said, swallowing hard.

Instructor Su Qing's expression became extremely grim.

"What about that assassin? Is he still following?" Instructor Su Qing pointed at the shadow frequency band on the radar.

Elder Mo nodded, then shook his head.

"He's still following. But look at his movement trajectory; the number of pauses has clearly increased. This indicates that twenty times gravity is causing significant suppression of the Void Walker's spatial skills. This gravity has already affected the spatial Law."

Instructor Su Qing grabbed the communication microphone and roared into it.

"Lin Qi! Stop! Don't go any further! The gravity in that place is off the charts! Your body won't be able to handle it!"

Only the sizzle of static came from the microphone.

There was no response.

Lin Qi, of course, could not hear it.

After walking for several hundred meters, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

This was a brand-new underground space.

The area was much smaller than the bone pit outside, but the sense of oppression had skyrocketed.

Twenty times gravity pressed down heavily on his shoulders.

Lin Qi moved his neck, and his bones let out a series of crisp, crackling sounds.

"This place is really exhilarating," Lin Qi said, breaking into a grin.

The Prototype Golden Body was cheering; this high-pressure environment was practically a natural forging furnace.

Several hundred meters behind him.

A figure squeezed out from a mass of dark red mist.

Ying Wan supported himself against the rock wall with one hand, panting heavily.

"What the hell is going on," Ying Wan cursed under his breath.

He pressed the miniature communicator hidden in his ear and began to report.

"Calling headquarters. Target has entered an unknown high-pressure zone. Gravity is estimated to reach twenty times. My space folding skill is severely lagging; the distance of each jump has been reduced by eighty percent."

A raspy male voice came from the other end of the communicator.

"The Li Family just tripled the bounty, dead or alive. Do you need to cancel the mission?"

Ying Wan bit the tip of his tongue, forcing himself to stay alert.

"Don't cancel. Continue following. That kid is made of flesh and blood too. Moving under this gravity, his stamina consumption will be an astronomical figure. I'll wait until he's exhausted, then I can finish him with one strike. I'm definitely earning the Li Family's money."

The raspy male voice paused for two seconds.

"Stay safe. There are ancient Formations left behind deep within the Dragon Tomb; don't get yourself killed. The Guild doesn't want to lose an S-rank talent." Headquarters cut the signal.

Ying Wan stared at the deep footprints in the ground.

He once again merged his body into the mist, though this time his concealment movements were much slower.

On the upper level of the rift valley.

Xiao Kuangyun was using all four limbs, scrambling and crawling upward.

Han Qianchi was below, death-gripping his pant leg.

"Brother Yun! Give me a hand! I have no strength left!" Han Qianchi shouted with a mournful face.

Xiao Kuangyun turned back and kicked Han Qianchi in the shoulder.

"Get lost! Don't pull me! I'm about to fall down myself!" Xiao Kuangyun cursed loudly.

The female Prodigy was slumped on a protruding rock below, her face covered in tears and snot.

"What on earth is down there? I feel like the earth's crust is shaking. It's too terrifying!" the female Prodigy shouted until her voice was hoarse.

Xiao Kuangyun gritted his teeth and continued to climb up.

"Who cares what's down there, it has nothing to do with us anymore! That Lin Qi isn't human at all! He's a freak! thunder-fire orbs exploded at his feet and he didn't even break the skin! Let's hurry back to the surface and signal for help!"

Han Qianchi barely managed to stabilize himself, panting heavily.

"The Li Family really kicked a steel plate this time. Dozens of elites disappeared without even a splash. After we get out, we must never provoke that kid, no matter what."

Xiao Kuangyun spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"Provoke him? If I see him in the future, I'll walk three blocks around him! Stop talking and hurry up and climb!"

Deep within the underground space.

Lin Qi walked with steady steps, his hands in his pockets.

With every step he took, a deep footprint was stamped into the black rock beneath his feet.

The range of his Martial Intent Insight had been compressed significantly by the high-density air.

But this didn't affect his ability to lock onto the little tail behind him at all.

"Your steps are getting heavy," Lin Qi said to the air, his voice neither too loud nor too soft.

He knew the assassin behind him could hear him perfectly.

"Do you need me to stop and wait for you a bit?" Lin Qi mocked.

There was no movement within the mist.

Lin Qi curled his lip.

"How boring. Why be an assassin if you're so cowardly? You might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes."

He turned his gaze straight ahead.

A massive structure stood at the end of his line of sight.

It was a high platform built from unknown black rock, nearly ten meters tall.

The platform had an ancient design, its surface covered in dense patterns.

These patterns were completely different from the System magic arrays currently used throughout the Federation; they exuded a primitive, coarse, and primeval feel.

Lin Qi's eyes lit up.

He walked quickly to the base of the platform and tilted his head back to look up.

An extremely domineering scent wafted down from the top of the platform.

It was the scent of blood.

But it was definitely not ordinary animal blood.

Lin Qi's nostrils twitched twice.

"Such a pure scent of energy," Lin Qi said, licking his dry lips.

He bent his knees slightly, intending to jump directly up.

*Thump.*

He had barely left the ground by half a meter when he was slammed back down by the invisible high pressure.

The rock beneath his feet was crushed into a large crater, and stone fragments flew everywhere.

"Flight restriction?" Lin Qi patted the dust off his pant legs.

He turned to look at the stone steps beside him.

The steps were very wide, each half a meter high.

Lin Qi raised his right foot and stepped firmly onto the first step.

*Hum.*

A pressure twice as strong as on the level ground pressed directly onto his head.

Lin Qi's shoulders sank slightly.

Instead of retreating, he actually laughed out loud.

"To think there's such a good thing."

This kind of layered pressure was perfect for helping him squeeze all the Impurities out of his body.

He strode forward, walking up step by step.

With every level he ascended, the gold leaf attached to the surface of his bones flashed once.

In the monitoring room.

Elder Mo clutched his head again, his voice trembling.

"My God! That's the True Dragon Blood Sacrifice Altar! How can something recorded in ancient books actually exist!"

Instructor Su Qing grabbed Elder Mo's collar and lifted the old man up.

"What Blood Sacrifice Altar? Explain it to me clearly!" Instructor Su Qing was so anxious she was sweating profusely.

Elder Mo coughed twice and broke free.

"In ancient times, it was a Formation used by Abyss Creatures for sacrifice and purifying high-dimensional Bloodlines! The patterns on it aren't magic arrays at all; it's a giant juicer! Any living creature that goes up will have its essence blood sucked dry!"

Instructor Su Qing's face turned deathly pale, devoid of any color.

"What is Lin Qi going up there for? Is he seeking death! What on earth is attracting him up there?"

Elder Mo was so anxious he stomped his feet and paced in circles.

"He must have smelled the scent of the true dragon relic blood remaining up there! That stuff is indeed a priceless treasure, but it's also toxic! Without the filtering mechanism of the System panel, a normal person's Meridians would be burned to Ashes by a single drop! He's practically playing with fire!"

Instructor Su Qing turned and stared intently at the red dot on the screen.

The light dot representing Lin Qi was climbing along the silhouette of the Blood Sacrifice Altar.

And at the edge of the Blood Sacrifice Altar, the black dot representing the assassin had completely stopped.

"The assassin doesn't dare go up," Elder Mo said, pointing at the screen.

Instructor Su Qing gritted her teeth, her fists clenched tightly.

"With twenty times gravity plus the pressure of the Blood Sacrifice Altar, a Void Walker's fragile body simply can't handle it. He can only wait at the base of the altar."

Elder Mo let out a long sigh and slumped into his chair.

"If Lin Qi is burst by the energy up there, the assassin won't even need to draw his blade. This is a complete dead end."

At the bottom of the Dragon Tomb.

Lin Qi was still climbing the stairs.

Seventh step.

Tenth step.

Fifteenth step.

The sweat that had just appeared on his forehead was instantly evaporated into white steam by his body's high temperature.

The Qi and blood in his body were like a train traveling at full speed, letting out a low, rumbling sound.

This sound could even be heard by Ying Wan at the base of the steps.

Ying Wan hid in the shadows, staring intently at the back of the figure climbing upward.

"Climb on. The higher you climb, the faster you die," Ying Wan sneered in his heart.

He indeed couldn't go up; that kind of pressure would directly crush his internal organs.

But he wasn't in a hurry at all; he had plenty of patience.

He could slowly enjoy watching his prey be choked to death by its own greed from below; that was the most perfect art of assassination.

Lin Qi finally stepped onto the last step.

He stood up straight and exhaled a mouthful of turbid breath.

The top of the ten-meter-high Blood Sacrifice Altar was very flat.

A giant groove was carved into the ground.

A very thin layer of liquid flowed within the groove.

It was dark gold, exuding a lethal temptation.

This was not something those previous Qi and blood Ores could even be compared to; this was the true essence, the remnant drops of true dragon relic blood left behind after the purification and accumulation of eternal ages.

Every pore on Lin Qi's body dilated.

The Prototype Golden Body felt an unprecedented sense of hunger, like a beast that had been starving for ten days to half a month smelling the scent of meat.

He didn't rush forward to absorb it.

Instead, he slowly turned around and walked to the edge of the Blood Sacrifice Altar.

He looked down from his high vantage point at the empty darkness below.

A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Is it comfortable hiding in that rat hole?" Lin Qi's voice echoed in the cavernous underground.

There was no response from below, only dead silence.

Lin Qi pointed behind him at the dark gold liquid.

"See this good stuff? I'm going to drink it all now."

He paused, his gaze becoming extremely cold.

"This Fatal Stage... is big enough, isn't it?"