132: Chapter 132 Despair Within the Barrier! The Beast Mark Master, the Scorpion King, Descends!

"Boom—!!"

With a deafening boom,

the main control console collapsed with a crash right before everyone's eyes!

On Chief Examiner Li Feng's face was a look of near-manic excitement.

The veins on his neck wriggled and bulged like living creatures,

spreading across his entire body in the blink of an eye.

"Crack! Crack!"

Sharp, rapid crackling sounds of bones shifting and reorganizing erupted,

and his body began to twist and expand.

"Rip—!"

A layer of grayish-black, horn-like skin began to emerge.

His spine arched,

and the ten fingers on his hands elongated and hardened,

turning into sharp claws that glinted with a cold, metallic light.

A half-human, half-pangolin monster

thus appeared right in front of everyone.

Ignoring the sharp, angry shouts of Chu Yao and the others,

his pitch-black eyes locked onto the center of the arena,

where a dark rift was slowly widening,

his grin splitting all the way to his ears.

"Everyone, welcome to the Tongyuan Society's 'Genius Harvest Feast'!"

From all the amplification equipment in the venue,

this grim announcement echoed simultaneously.

The tens of thousands of examinees and parents who had been immersed in celebration just a second ago

had the smiles instantly freeze on their faces.

Immediately after, screams pierced the heavens!

"A monster!!"

"Run—!"

"Help!"

The crowd erupted into chaos,

surging frantically toward the exits.

At the same time,

from the pitch-black rift in the center of the arena,

a dark purple mist of light gushed out like thick, viscous blood.

A sickening, sweet stench of blood spread through the air.

A massive "pincer claw" suddenly thrust out.

The hand was covered in purple-black scales,

with five thick, short fingers like pincers,

and claws that were a full half-meter long,

gleaming with a cold, metallic luster.

It dug deep into the alloy floor,

and gripped!

"Screech—!"

The hard foundation of the arena was torn open, leaving a three-meter-wide gash!

Fear spread like a plague.

The examinees on the outermost edge were the first to break,

turning around to rush for the main entrance.

But they had only run ten steps

when an invisible ripple shimmered through the air.

Bang!

The dozen or so students at the very front were hit as if by a truck,

their bodies launched into the air as they spewed blood and flew backward,

slamming heavily against the spectator stands' railing.

Some fainted on the spot.

Others suffered broken ribs.

Miserable shrieks echoed continuously.

"No one is allowed to leave today."

A raspy voice spoke up unhurriedly.

Everyone looked over in horror.

A middle-aged man dressed in an exam administrator uniform strolled in,

his leather shoes tapping against the floor,

each step carrying a slight tremor.

"It's you!"

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's pupils contracted violently.

He had seen this person before.

It was the mysterious middle-aged man who had delivered the potion to Zhao Kuo before vanishing!

Under the gaze of tens of thousands of terrified eyes,

he reached up and grabbed the skin on the back of his neck.

"Rip—"

A layer of human skin disguise as thin as a cicada's wing was torn away,

revealing dense, dark green totems underneath.

Accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh,

his arms rapidly swelled and deformed,

his bones reorganizing,

until they finally turned into two massive, scythe-like bone blades,

their edges gleaming with an eerie, cold light.

Wings sprouted from his back,

and his entire body became covered in dark green carapace.

Compound eyes rolled in their sockets, flashing with eerie light.

Beneath the shredded clothing on his chest,

a hideous Tongyuan Society badge

deeply stung the eyes of Tie Moshan, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng, and the others.

"Tongyuan Society, Tier 5 Barrier Master..."

"Mantis King!"

Tie Moshan squeezed those words through his teeth.

The instructors and security personnel from the ordinary academies nearby

were already so terrified that their legs went weak,

and they backed away repeatedly.

Mantis King paid no heed to the crowd's terror.

His massive compound eyes swept across the entire venue, and finally

landed on Su Ming in the center of the arena,

a glint of greed flashing through them.

With a sudden leap,

his massive body landed lightly upon the highest dome of the martial arts arena.

"[Purple Pattern Spirit-Locking Array]... Open!"

Mantis King drove his twin scythes fiercely into several inconspicuous energy nodes on the ground.

Those were the intersections of the power supply lines for the college entrance exam testing machines' Formation!

Buzz—!!

Dark green Source Energy ripples spread frantically along the ground,

burrowing into the interior of every testing machine like living things.

Then, everyone witnessed a scene that sent shivers down their spines.

All around the martial arts arena,

the twenty-odd testing machines—including the [shield-7 model], [sledgehammer-5 model], and [phantom-3 model]—

actually all lit up with an eerie, dark purple glow at this moment!

They were operating in reverse!

Frantically channeling energy into the Formation beneath the ground!

The entire martial arts arena was shaking.

An inverted dark purple barrier of light rose from the ground,

completely enveloping the entirety of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School

along with several surrounding blocks!

completely!

On the surface of the light barrier,

dense runes resembling mantis claw marks slowly writhed,

looking like living creatures.

The instant the great Formation closed!

The endless green astral winds swirling around Chu Yao's body

shook violently,

and like a candle in the wind,

began to dissipate!

"This is bad!"

Tie Moshan, Lang Qingyun,

and even Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng, who had just arrived,

all experienced a drastic change in expression!

The Source Energy inside their bodies

felt as if it had been filled with heavy mercury,

sinking deep into their Meridians,

completely immobile.

Even if they pushed with all their might,

their Tier 5 cultivation bases

could at most exert...

the power of Tier 4 Early Stage!

"Damn it! This Formation is stripping and suppressing all Source Energy within its bounds!"

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng drew the standard-issue military bayonet from his waist,

attempting to break the situation with ice-attribute Source Energy.

However, the freezing energy that could normally freeze a hundred meters

could now only form a thin, pathetic layer of white frost

on the blade of his B-grade military bayonet.

Beside him, Tie Moshan had already smashed a fist into the ground.

Bang!

It was just a normal physical impact,

without any Source Energy enhancement.

This Tier 5 Early Stage Body Cultivator expert

felt his fist be so powerless for the first time.

Lang Qingyun's voice even cracked

as he tried to execute his movement technique,

only to manage to shift a mere three feet from where he stood.

"What the hell...

At most, I can only exert the strength of Tier 3 Peak right now!"

"The barrier is complete."

Mantis King's voice carried a mocking tone.

"Distinguished guests, you may enter."

From within that pitch-black rift,

a hunched, two-point-three-meter-tall figure

slowly stepped out.

The left half of his face looked like a middle-aged man,

with sallow skin.

while the right half of his face was completely covered in hideous, purple-black scorpion carapace,

a crimson compound eye slowly rolling in its socket.

He had no scorpion tail on his back.

Instead, six massive, steel-like bony scorpion tails

pierced directly out from his shoulder blades,

the stingers at their tips glinted with an eerie blue luster.

A drop of dark green venom dripped from the tip of a tail.

"Sizzle—"

The indestructible alloy floor

was instantly corroded, leaving a charred hole that puffed white smoke.

On his left hand, the pinky finger had disappeared,

replaced by a slightly pulsing, dark purple scorpion tail crest.

On his chest,

a larger and more hideous scorpion crest

pulsed in response.

Veins bulged on Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's forehead, cold sweat rolling down.

"Tier 6 Beast Seal User... Scorpion King."

He stared at the crest, his voice dry.

"He transplanted the Bloodline of the Tier 7 Source Beast, 'Purple Prison Poison Scorpion'..."

Tier 7.

That was a terrifying existence capable of crushing everyone present.

Behind Scorpion King, more figures emerged from the rift one after another.

Two Tier 5 Wolf Kings with wolf fur standing on end.

Four Tier 4 Beastmen of various sizes.

And dozens of ordinary Blood Discipless with blood-red eyes, wielding sharp blades.

The tens of thousands of examinees in the venue

couldn't even squeeze out a scream anymore.

Some slumped to the ground.

Others trembled all over.

Some even wet their pants in sheer terror.

Despair

shrouded everyone.

Today, this martial arts arena

was destined to flow with rivers of blood!?

...