356: Chapter 356 Unknown Superpowers

Facing President Xia Yun's question, the conference room fell into an awkward silence.

The Daxia Supernatural Ability archives were vast as an ocean, but the bigwigs present racked their brains and still could not match this heaven-defying spatial locking ability with any known Supernatural Ability.

"Ahem..."

Just then, a low, dry cough broke the silence.

Principal Pang Ban, who had been sitting in the corner with a dark expression, slowly stood up.

His weathered old face was currently a tapestry of humiliation, anger, and deep wariness.

"President Xia, and colleagues."

Principal Pang Ban took a deep breath, pressed his hands on the tabletop, and said through gritted teeth: "Actually... this is not the first time the Faceless Man has committed such a crime."

Swish!

The gaze of everyone in the room instantly converged on Principal Pang Ban.

"Old Pang, you know him?" President Xia Yun frowned.

"More than just know him! Even if he turned to ash, I would still recognize that mask he uses to play god!"

Whenever this matter was mentioned, the evil fire in Principal Pang Ban's heart flared up, but he still suppressed his emotions and laid out all the bizarre events that had occurred in Magic City some time ago.

"Just a few months ago, on the night Magic City Martial Arts University started the semester, the Faceless Man silently infiltrated my principal's backyard!"

Principal Pang Ban's old face flushed red. Although he felt embarrassed, he bit the bullet and said: "He not only ignored the layers of defensive formations I had set up, but he also forcibly tore off the shell of my Tier 4 Profound Water Turtle!"

As soon as these words were spoken, a suppressed gasp echoed through the conference room.

Infiltrating the courtyard of a Tier 5 Grandmaster, tearing off a battle pet's shell, and getting away unscathed?

This level of stealth and concealment was simply shocking!

However, the more shocking part was yet to come.

"That's not even the end of it."

Principal Pang Ban's expression grew heavier, and his voice deepened: "Not long ago, a monster riot occurred in our Magic City Martial Arts University's exclusive S-Rank Dungeon, the Mist Swamp. When I led people in to suppress the rebellion, I witnessed the Faceless Man's terrifying combat power with my own eyes!"

"He was able to easily kill in seconds a Tier 5 Great Demon, the Bone-Eroding Venomous Python!"

"Not only that, when I and two other Tier 5 Grandmasters tried to detain him for questioning..."

"He even invoked the phenomenon of heaven and earth thunder. The pressure that erupted from him was so intense that it made the three of us feel our blood and qi churning, leaving us not daring to intervene!"

Deathly silence.

This time, there was a completely deathly silence in the conference room.

Killing a Tier 5 Great Demon in seconds?

A single burst of pressure forcing back three Tier 5 human Tier 5 Grandmasters?

These high-level officials of the Martial Arts General Administration and the various principals felt their scalps tingling.

Originally, they thought the Faceless Man was just a rogue expert skilled in spatial Supernatural Ability and petty theft, who had taken advantage of loopholes in the melee rules to pick up some benefits.

Now, listening to Principal Pang Ban's description, how could this be a mere rogue expert?

"If what Principal Pang says is true..."

A deputy director of the Martial Arts General Administration had a grim expression, his fingers tapping the table unconsciously: "To be able to achieve this level, and to unilaterally tamper with the underlying laws of Forbidden Zone No. 009... This Faceless Man is definitely not just some ordinary Tier 5."

"He is at least at the peak of Tier 5... or perhaps, very likely, a Tier 6 Grandmaster who has already touched that legendary barrier!!!"

Tier 6 Grandmaster!

As soon as these five words came out, the air in the entire conference room seemed to solidify.

Looking across the entire Daxia, the Tier 6 Grandmasters known to the public could be counted on one hand, and each one was a pillar of the nation.

Why would such a peerless expert cover his face and run into a secret realm where students were competing just to rob them?

"He is definitely not doing this for some petty profit!"

President Xia Yun slammed the table, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes: "A suspected Tier 6 Grandmaster going to such great lengths to sneak into the competition venue could never be just to rob a few students of their storage rings."

"There must be a bigger conspiracy hidden behind this!"

"President Xia is correct!"

Just then, the closed door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open.

A military general in charge of security for this event strode forward, holding a top-secret interrogation report that had just been printed and was still warm from the ink.

The general's expression was extremely grave. He walked quickly to President Xia Yun and handed over the report: "Principals, just now while we were locking down the competition center, our team captured over thirty thugs disguised as staff and spectators at the formation hub on the perimeter of the spectator stands!"

"After an emergency interrogation, we have confirmed the true identities of these people."

The general took a deep breath, looked around the room, and dropped a bombshell, enunciating every word: "They are all believers of the Wusheng Divine Sect!"

"Wusheng Divine Sect?!"

The expressions of the bigwigs present changed drastically.

This notorious organization was known for its cruel methods and attempts to subvert the entire martial arts world.

They were like rats hiding in the sewers, usually extremely difficult to catch. How could they appear in such large numbers at the scene of the Hundred Schools League today?

"What is the purpose of this group of cultists? Could it be just to strike at the Dao hearts of our schools' prodigies?" President Xia Yun flipped through the interrogation report in his hand, his brows locked tight.

"Reporting to President Xia."

The general's expression became unprecedentedly serious, his voice low: "We learned from them that the true ultimate goal of the Wusheng Divine Sect is that new S-Rank Dungeon that is about to open, which contains endless ancient opportunities—"

"The S-Rank Dungeon, Dragon Fall Abyss!!!"

The general's resounding three words were like a heavy hammer, smashing fiercely into the center of the long conference table in the room.

The high-level officials who had been whispering were instantly as if their throats had been gripped.

The entire top-secret conference room was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard, and even the sound of breathing became oppressive.

"So that's it..."

President Xia Yun slowly leaned back in his chair, his brows locked into a deep " river" shape.

He reached out to rub his throbbing temples, his voice filled with bone-chilling coldness: "Making a feint to the east while attacking in the west, casting a stone to ask the way."

"These lunatics don't care at all about a so-called selection tournament. They caused such a huge commotion by tampering with the laws and forcibly locking the map just to test our Martial Arts General Administration's speed in breaking formations and intervening."

"When the day comes for Dragon Fall Abyss to truly open, I fear they will use these locking tactics directly to seize the ancient opportunities!"

Principal Pang Ban slapped the table, gritting his teeth: "These rats in the gutter certainly have a big appetite!"

"That is to say, that Faceless Man who is wantonly robbing and toying with the various prodigies in the secret realm is definitely a Supreme Elder-level figure sent by the Wusheng Divine Sect to scout the path!"

The bigwigs present nodded one after another. Following this logic chain, the identity and motive of the Faceless Man seemed to be set in stone.

However, just when everyone was equating the Faceless Man with the cult's high-ranking members.

Sitting at the very end of the conference table, a technical supervisor in charge of intelligence analysis stood up.

He pushed up the rimless glasses on the bridge of his nose, his expression filled with deep confusion and unease.

"President Xia, Principal Pang, leaders."

The technical supervisor connected the tablet in his hand to the central projector and called up a set of complex data charts.

"Just now, our technical department extracted all keywords regarding the Faceless Man's fighting style based on the victims' accounts: black mist, devouring living people, ignoring absolute defense shields, one-way spatial transfer, blocking light and sound..."

The technical supervisor took a deep breath and opened Daxia's official Supernatural Ability database: "We input these characteristics into Daxia's official Supernatural Ability archives for cross-referencing."

"The result is... zero matches."

"What do you mean?" The principal of the Northern Border Military Academy frowned. "Zero matches? Did the Daxia database miss some rare dark-element or spatial-element Supernatural Ability?"

"No, it wasn't missed."

The technical supervisor shook his head, his tone astringent: "Everyone, there are over ten thousand types of Supernatural Abilities recorded."

"Even those spatial-element, shadow-element, or even rare curse-element abilities that are seen once in a hundred years—as long as they have appeared, even just once, there would be residual records in the database."

"But the methods the Faceless Man displayed simply do not conform to any existing set of Supernatural Ability theories."

"That black mist of his can not only ignore the spatial jade plate shields refined by Tier 5 Grandmasters, but can even directly melt and tamper with the underlying code of an S-Rank Dungeon!"

"This is no longer simple Supernatural Ability usage; this is a forced rewriting of the rules!"

After hearing the technical supervisor's report, the air in the conference room seemed to solidify into ice.

It wasn't dark-element, it wasn't spatial-element, and there was even no precedent for it.

An unknown ability that completely jumped outside the human known Supernatural Ability system?