Chapter 53: Finding out Her Hidden Ident.i.ty
(TLN: Thank you to the two donors who sponsored these four extra chapters!)
Dull flights of steps were on the long stone corridor. The bright night lamps illuminated the dark pathways as several shadows were painted onto the walls. Long Shiyan was light as her steps were silent. Even in this empty, uninhabited underground corridor, one couldn"t hear a single sound.
This was the proof of her prowess.
After walking to the end of the corridor, she raised her head up and read the two words "Storage Room" on the door. No one was allowed to enter here.
This underground area was quite big as if it were a different world. The pillars supporting this underground area appeared very fragile. However, these stone pillars could completely resist the strength of a ninth-level fighter. Although it was dead silent here, Long Shiyan was able to hear several very familiar voices in the distance.
It seemed that they were also going to the same place she was.
The school"s storage room treasures must have a lot of ninth-level and Saint-level magic cores. Since they wanted to repair the martial arts halls, they decided to rush into the storage room.
It was just that…
Long Shiyan"s silent footsteps continued until she finally stepped on top of a pebble, shattering it.
This caused a lot of noise in this empty area.
“Who?!” the group questioned and soon, Long Shiyan was surrounded by more than a dozen people.
In addition to the five members of the Student Holy Spirit Group, there were also several teachers, a group of unfamiliar people, and two ninth-level fighters, who Long Shiyan had a little impression of. They used to be her seniors of the Student Holy Spirit Group but graduated already. As for right now…
Long Shiyan could sense that they were out of breath, and they were hurt. Not only were these two ninth-level fighters wounded, but the group of eighth-level fighters and magicians around them also had varying degrees of injuries. Furthermore, their breathing and mental strength were unstable.
However, their actual condition could not be easily seen on the surface.
“It"s you,” Zi Linglong and others let out bewildered voices.
“Yeah.” Long Shiyan nodded.
“Do you know who she is?” A ninth-level fighter glanced at Belinda.
“She is the ninth-level fighter who protected us today.” Belinda had a complicated expression.
Two ninth-level fighters frowned and did not relax their guards. They stared at the Long Shiyan and asked, “Who are you? Are you friend or foe?”
Long Shiyan did not answer his words and turned her head toward Belinda. “Are you all companions from the same group?”
Belinda stared at her and nodded.
Long Shiyan did not reply. Suddenly, a giant sword appeared in her hand. She then dragged the giant sword and walked ahead. A few people remained in her way; their eyes could not help but watch her giant sword attentively. They noticed that the sword she was dragging on the ground was emitting multiple visible radiant lights.
“What do you intend to do?” said one of the female ninth-level fighters.
“All of you, move just a bit away!” Long Shiyan did not reply to her words as she stood in front of the enchantment.
“Are you going to forcefully break the enchantment? This enchantment was personally created by the headmaster. You can"t imagine the degree of its st.u.r.diness. We can"t break it no matter what methods we use, so you don"t have to try so hard,” a female fighter replied.
Long Shiyan held her épée and answered slowly, “There is no time to ponder about it. The sun is about to rise, and the martial arts halls must be supplemented with energy from magic cores, otherwise, they will remain unusable. If that happens, then all of you won"t be able to hold your heads high within school anymore as all the students and teachers will be held accountable. Therefore, there is only one way to solve everything, which is for me to forcefully destroy the enchantment.”
“It"s hard to imagine how st.u.r.dy the enchantment is. Even if you consume all the Douqi you currently have, you might not be able to break it. However, if you add the strength of all of us, we might be successful. I hope you can calm down and cooperate with us. Just like us, I think you don"t want the school"s martial arts compet.i.tion to get canceled," said the ninth-level male fighter.
Long Shiyan swept her eyes across the two ninth-level fighters as her brows wrinkled into a frown. Her delicate face reminiscent of a doll tensed up. Her voice was crisp and similar to a child"s, but it was impossible to refute.
“No! Only I will do it!”
“It"s better for you, injured children, to recharge your batteries. The rest of the problems will be solved by me.”
As soon as her voice fell, Long Shiyan flew up.
“Glorious Heart!”
“Zizizi!”
Long Shiyan was reflected by the enchantment.
“Glorious Heart!”
“Zizizi!”
Long Shiyan was once again bounced back by enchantment.
“Glorious Heart!”
“Boom!”
After three attacks in a row, the enchantment finally began to vibrate, but Long Shiyan had to gasp for air.
Everyone was nervously watching her.
“Sure enough!” Long Shiyan muttered under her breath, jumped in again, and used her unique skill "Glorious Heart." She did not stop and used it more than ten times in a row, shocking everyone.
“Enough!” Zi Linglong was finally unable to bear it. “Don"t break it, let"s consider other methods!”
Long Shiyan wiped her sweat away, once again raised her sword. All the power within her gathered together, the atmosphere seemed to freeze, and once again, she used the "Glorious Heart" technique.
“Rumble!”
The enchantment finally began to loosen, and everyone who was originally worried became delighted. However, their expressions soon became solemn again.
Long Shiyan clenched the giant sword, blood flowed down the blade. Because of the enchantment"s resistance, her hand would be injured in varying degrees. This was for sure. However, after repeated tests, she also discovered where the enchantment"s weak point was. As long as she could send another blow, it could be broken.
“All of you, get out of the way. This last blow may affect you all.” Long Shiyan took a deep breath and reminded everyone.
“You can do it!” The male fighter stared at her hand and frowned. Many people also noticed her anomaly as their expressions were filled with worry.
“G.o.dly Ability: Transcending One"s Spirits!”
Long Shiyan"s sword suddenly grew larger by several folds. She held the hilt and leaped forth. With a powerful momentum, she swung down onto the enchantment"s weak spot.
"Crackle!"
As if the ice crystals were broken, the enchantment finally disappeared completely as the earth shook. Everyone finally exposed a relieved expression.
Long Shiyan fell back onto the ground, revealing a relaxed smile. It was indeed enough to consume eighty percent of her power. With her high recovery speed, her body should be restored to its original state soon.
However, the blood on her hands had not stopped yet!
Long Shiyan did not rest and stood using her giant sword to support herself up. “Don"t be too happy, there might be danger inside. Don"t mind me.”
“Are you okay?” Belinda went up to her.
However, countless arrows suddenly burst out. Fortunately, Belinda quickly evaded and escaped from a fatal injury, but Long Shiyan was shot in the left arm. Despite that, she was completely fine as she pulled the arrow out and stabilized her body.
Zi Linglong ran over and squatted in front of her. Without any explanation, she pulled up Long Shiyan"s arm and examined it. However, as soon as she saw the wound, she paused. The wound had already stopped bleeding and started to recover at speeds that could be seen by the naked eye.
This was exactly the same as her sister"s body.
“My injury will recover soon, so there"s no need for treatment.” Long Shiyan lowered her head and pondered deeply. In the corner of her eye, she glanced at Zi Linglong, but Zi Linglong noticed her gaze. Long Shiyan"s eyebrows lowered as she could not confront Zi Linglong face-to-face.
“Elder Sister?” she whispered.
“Who? Who called me?”
Zi Linglong wiped away her tears and suddenly chuckled. She laughed and said, “Although your body recovers quickly, it is best not to act recklessly, otherwise, the others will worry.”
Long Shiyan"s eyes wandered. She did not answer, stood up, and led the others forward. Most of them were convinced that she was strong, so they decided to remain under her command for the time being.
She walked forward and came to a sudden halt. She jumped onto the wall, picked up a few mushrooms, and then gave them to Edgar and Belinda. She told them in a low voice, “The strength of your Student Holy Spirit Group is too weak to lead the other students. This is a mushroom that can promote people"s strength. You should let the members of the Alchemy Research Society refine them into Douqi pills, which could quickly improve your strength. Afterward, you should make proper judgments to see who should receive the pills."
Most people didn"t know the usage of this mushroom, but when they heard about Douqi pellets, their eyes couldn"t help but brighten. Those were treasures that could enhance strength without any side effects! It could be used by those under the Saint-level, and the market value was one hundred million.
“If these people are your companions, then you could distribute the pellets to all of them. I hope that these companions of yours will not be impulsive and take them all for themselves without reason. There are many mushrooms, and they can all be refined.” When the others heard Long Shiyan, they started to gather those mushrooms and hand them to Belinda.
“This is called the Saint Dragon Blood Mushroom, which usually grows on Saint-level dragon bones. A dragon should have died here and was probably sealed by the headmaster using the enchantment,” Long Shiyan said before adding another sentence, “as for who should refine them into Douqi pellets, Daliana and her group should do so.”
When they heard her thoughts, Belinda and others could not help but exchange glances with her.
Long Shiyan disregarded their looks.
Long Shiyan walked ahead and said, “The issues in the school might be difficult to resolve at the moment, but if there is any danger, I will appear. So don"t be confused, don"t be afraid, your efforts will not be in vain. For more than four thousand years, the Holy Spirit Magic School has stood, and it won"t perish easily. The disappearance of the Saints is not a problem. There are strong ninth-level fighters in our school. These strong ninth-level fighters can still shock the Continent. They will sooner or later breakthrough into Saint realm, and those insurgents, who took advantage of the turmoil caused by the disappearance of the Saints, will be destroyed.”
Everyone stopped in their tracks and watched her in shock.
“I want to know how many factions has the school divided into. The areas under the jurisdiction of the Student Holy Spirit Group are included. How many insurgents have risen in the school?” Long Shiyan continued to ask.
Several people exchanged glances with each other as Belinda replied, “Ever since the Holy Spirit Group collapsed, the remaining members of the Holy Spirit Group had divided into several forces, some of which had left the school. Some had remained neutral, and the rest had fought each other. In the end, it ended with mutual defeat. After our Student Holy Spirit Group came into power, some of the neutral members of the Holy Spirit Group and teachers came to help us. The rest of the members of the Holy Spirit Group remained independent and the rest of the teachers also remained neutral. They only wish for the school to recover, and every day, they would pray that the headmaster would come back soon.”
“Those self-reliant Holy Spirit Group members are powerful, but their numbers are too small to seize any power. However, we cannot stop whatever they wish to do. What they decided to do this time was to destroy the school"s property, the martial arts halls. The magic core"s energy being exhausted is exactly because of them.”
“Originally, only the magic core in the first martial arts hall was exhausted, but then they destroyed the other halls.”
“Vandalism of the martial arts halls?” Long Shiyan frowned and asked, “What is the purpose of damaging the martial arts halls?”
“Their purpose is the school"s storage room,” the ninth-level male fighter said, “the school"s storage room has many treasures, but the enchantment is very strong. Before, they planned to start destroying and capturing the school"s property. However, they soon suffered from our opposition, leading to a large battle. Because we have been seriously injured, we didn"t dare to try breaking into the storage room, for fear of benefitting the others.”
“They destroyed the martial arts halls to force us to break the enchantment of the storage room. When we lost strength, they will take advantage of us.”
“So, we are currently under their surveillance?” The clever Long Shiyan soon discovered the true reason for the problem. No wonder when she appeared here, they became extremely nervous and tightly surrounded themselves. There were rebels near them, waiting for them to crack the enchantment and then rush in to steal the goods.
“That should be right. They might be outside or have already begun to move. But they never thought that it would be you who broke the enchantment. Now that we have preserved our strength, there should be no problem with protecting the school"s property,” the male fighter said.
Long Shiyan suddenly halted her footsteps.
“What"s wrong?” asked the male fighter.