336: Chapter 336 The Strange Dark Space

Facing the skepticism of the group, Chu Tiankuo did not take the easy way out.

He released Xiao Ru's hand and walked to the spot where Captain Ji Xiaoyun had just been standing.

There were no signs of struggle on the ground, no traces of spiritual power discharge, and even the distribution of fallen leaves looked perfectly natural.

It was too clean.

It was so clean that it felt as if Captain Ji Xiaoyun had been forcibly erased from this world by an eraser.

Chu Tiankuo slowly straightened his body, and the memory of Gu Changfeng's eerie death-immunity shield flashed through his mind.

The failed teleportation white light.

The fourth-rank mid-stage captain who disappeared into thin air.

One incident might be a coincidence, but with two incidents linked together, even if Chu Tiankuo were slow-witted, he could still smell the hair-raising scent of a conspiracy.

The rules of this secret realm must have gone horribly wrong!

"She was right. Captain Ji Xiaoyun is truly gone."

Chu Tiankuo turned around abruptly; the playfulness and ease he had shown while surrounding Magic City Martial Arts University were completely gone from his eyes.

He drew the blunt heavy sword from his waist, carving a deep trench into the ground with its tip, and shouted loudly:

"Everyone! Form up immediately! Back-to-back defensive formation!"

"Maintain the highest level of vigilance! There is an enemy nearby!"

Seeing Chu Tiankuo looking as if he were facing a formidable enemy, the prodigies from the various schools, who had previously been somewhat nonchalant, were now truly panicked.

Chu Tiankuo was no novice who hadn't seen the world; for the Nanhai Academy chief to be this nervous, the guy hiding in the shadows was definitely a ruthless character.

"Captain Chu, don't try to scare us in broad daylight. Is it someone from Magic City Martial Arts University, or a high-rank demonic beast from this secret realm?"

Someone asked with a strained voice, their grip on their weapon unconsciously slick with sweat.

"I don't know!"

Chu Tiankuo stared intently at the surrounding dark woods and the strange-shaped boulders, gritting his teeth as he said: "But I am certain that this is a very terrifying enemy! More terrifying than any opponent we have ever encountered!"

With these words, the atmosphere of the initially aggressive crusade army instantly dropped to freezing point.

Over fifty people quickly gathered into a circular formation.

Everyone stood back-to-back, their vigilant eyes constantly scanning every dark corner around them.

The "rustling" sound of the wind blowing through the leaves now felt to their ears like the approaching footsteps of the Grim Reaper.

A slight panic welled up in everyone's hearts.

They weren't afraid of head-on battles; they were afraid of this kind of unknown fear that they couldn't see or touch, which could make the person beside them disappear at any moment.

"Who is it? Come out! Stop playing god and ghost!" Captain Shen Xiuan swung a blood-red blade aura in a rage, chopping down a large tree over ten meters away, but there was no response other than rising dust.

Meanwhile, in the very center of the encirclement.

Gu Changfeng, sitting inside the white light shield, watched the group of top prodigies outside who had just been arrogant and overbearing, shouting about clearing out Magic City Martial Arts University.

They were now all huddled in a defensive formation like frightened quails, with cold sweat even breaking out on their foreheads.

Gu Changfeng shifted into a more comfortable sitting position.

He reached out and tapped on the indestructible transparent barrier in front of him, the corners of his mouth unable to stop from curling up wildly.

"Although I don't know what kind of weird stuff is happening outside..."

Gu Changfeng thought happily to himself: "But I have to say, sitting in this VIP exclusive turtle shell that can't be broken no matter how they attack, watching this bunch of people freak out... the experience of spectating is simply top-notch."

Outside, Chu Tiankuo and the others were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, forming a defensive formation as if facing a major enemy.

Meanwhile, in another completely unknown space...

Time reversed to one minute ago.

Captain Ji Xiaoyun was holding a short sword, cautiously following behind her teammate Xiao Ru, searching forward along the gravel road on the edge of the canyon.

As the second-in-command of Nanhai Academy, second only to Chu Tiankuo in strength, although Captain Ji Xiaoyun was a girl, she had extensive combat experience, and her fourth-rank mid-stage realm gave her keen perception of any movement around her.

However, despite all her calculations, the one thing she didn't guard against was her own feet.

The moment she stepped out with her right foot, the originally hard rocky ground had, without anyone knowing when, silently turned into a pool of thick, ink-like black gas cloud.

This black cloud had no spiritual power fluctuations; it was just like an ordinary shadow, perfectly blending into the dim environment of the canyon.

Captain Ji Xiaoyun stepped onto it, but the expected feeling of solid ground did not come.

"Hum!"

The ground beneath her feet suddenly vanished!

That feeling was just like walking on flat ground and suddenly falling into a bottomless abyss.

An intense sense of weightlessness instantly enveloped her entire body.

"Ah—!"

Captain Ji Xiaoyun only had time to let out a short, terrified scream before she, like prey swallowed by a swamp, instantly fell into that ink-black space.

The black cloud on the ground rolled up and vanished without a trace in an instant, as if nothing had ever happened.

...

"Thump!"

Captain Ji Xiaoyun felt like she had been spun a dozen times in a tumble dryer, finally landing heavily on a cold, hard surface.

She didn't have time to worry about the pain in her body; relying on her martial artist instincts, she performed a clean kip-up to stand, instantly holding her short sword across her chest and adopting the most rigorous defensive stance.

"Who is it? Come out!"

Captain Ji Xiaoyun shouted sharply, while her eyes rapidly scanned the surroundings.

At this look, her heart skipped a beat.

Black.

Boundless, suffocatingly pure darkness.

It felt like an independent space completely stripped from the real world; there was no light source, no sense of direction, and even the flow of air had completely stopped.

Even with her amazing eyesight as a fourth-rank mid-stage martial artist, she could barely see less than ten meters in front of her here.

"A spatial formation? Or some kind of rare domain-type Supernatural Ability?"

Captain Ji Xiaoyun was full of shock and confusion.

To be able to forcibly drag her into such an independent space right under the noses of over fifty top prodigies without anyone noticing, the caster's strength was absolutely extraordinary!

But fortunately, as a core member of a top academy, her mental fortitude was excellent.

Although terrified in her heart, she did not completely panic; her left hand had already quietly reached into her bosom.

That was where the life-saving jade token issued by the officials was kept.

"As long as the jade token is still here, if I encounter fatal danger, it will automatically activate a shield and teleport me out. At worst, I'll be eliminated, but my life will definitely be saved!" Captain Ji Xiaoyun secretly encouraged herself in her heart, and the hand holding the short sword steadied slightly.

Just when she was fully focused on guarding against a sneak attack.

In the endless darkness ahead, a ripple suddenly appeared.

A thick black mist slowly gathered, and finally, less than five meters away from her, it condensed into a slender figure.

Captain Ji Xiaoyun's breath hitched as she stared intently at the guy who had suddenly appeared.

It was a man wearing a wide black hooded trench coat.

His entire face was completely covered by a pale Faceless Man mask, leaving only two narrow slits for the eyes, exuding an eerie and sinister pressure.

What was even more eye-catching was something the man was holding in his hand.

It was a bamboo stick that was purple all over, with fine purple lightning constantly slithering and flashing on its surface like spiritual snakes, occasionally emitting "crackle" popping sounds that seemed exceptionally piercing in this silent darkness.