Chapter 1119: The Lantern Exploded

The instant the lantern in Zhou Yao's hand went out, over a dozen grotesque monster crabs came roaring in, and on their shells, twisted, hideous faces spewed out rolling waves of evil-thought Qi, spreading directly toward the squad.

Feng Lingyuan's gaze turned fierce as surging phase force exploded forth.

But just as she was about to strike, a figure strode over from the side, and under Zhou Yao's stunned gaze, he shoved her aside, then raised the lantern in his hand, whose flame was not particularly bright.

"Li Luo?!" Zhou Yao cried out in alarm, hurriedly saying, "Your bit of firelight won't hold! Get out of the way!"

Feng Lingyuan, Duanmu, Li Hongyou and the others were also somewhat stunned. Even Zhou Yao, who possessed a Lower Eighth-Grade Light Phase and whose strength had reached the True Seal tier, hadn't held out for long, so what use could Li Luo's Light Phase force, driven by an auxiliary phase, possibly be?

Li Luo paid no heed to the crowd's astonishment. He stared at the rolling evil-thought Qi rushing over, and behind it, countless monster-crab aberrations, like a ghastly white flood trying to swallow their squad whole.

All of his focus was poured into the incomplete mysterious golden wheel deep within his body.

Because at this moment, the three phase palaces hummed and trembled, and mighty phase force poured out in torrents, continuously falling into it.

The mysterious golden wheel seemed to slowly begin turning at this moment.

The surging phase force that fell into it vanished almost in an instant.

And the moment that phase force disappeared, it seemed a bright point of light slowly rose from within the golden wheel, and as it kept rising, endless resplendent radiance burst forth from it, like a dazzling star.

Within that point of light, Li Luo did not feel any especially overwhelming phase force, but he did sense an extremely pure holy and purifying fluctuation.

It felt as if all the phase force poured in earlier had been refined entirely into the holy and purifying properties of Light Phase force.

Li Luo could not understand how this was done, but at this moment, inspiration struck him, and he directly controlled that extraordinarily dazzling point of light, guiding it out from his fingertip, then letting it fall into the human-skin lantern in his hand.

In that instant, the twisted face on the human-skin lantern immediately let out an extremely shrill shriek, and then the human-skin lantern began to rapidly swell, the dazzling brilliant light within bursting out beyond concealment.

In a brief moment, the lantern had become like a taut, bulging ball.

"It's going to blow!"

Li Luo stared at the scene, his eyelid twitching despite himself. He hadn't expected that after all his fussing, he would end up pushing this human-skin lantern past its limit.

Feng Lingyuan and the others nearby were also full of shock.

But there was no time for any words now, because the human-skin lantern had completely reached the limit of what it could bear. The next instant, accompanied by a thunderous boom, the lantern utterly exploded.

When the lantern burst, boundless, endless brilliant holy light swept outward, like a blazing sun slowly rising from the Black Marsh.

The holy light directly covered an area of ten thousand zhang in every direction.

Wherever it passed, countless monster-crab aberrations instantly dissolved, and even the thick white fog hanging over the Black Marsh developed a massive void at this moment, while the black lake water in this area also became clear.

It felt as if all the evil-thought Qi in this region had been thoroughly purified.

The originally clamorous surroundings instantly fell silent.

The lake surface was calm—no white fog, no aberrations.

And whether it was the Tianyuan Ancient Academy's squad or the Holy Light Ancient Academy's side, both fell into brief stupefaction at this moment.

No one had expected such a sudden turn of events.

What was that intense holy light just now? So dazzling it directly swept away all the evil-thought Qi in this region?!

Even Yin Yue Zhiyu's pretty face was filled with shock; for that instant, she had almost believed it was Jiang Qing'e who had acted.

Such pure holy, purifying Qi.

Even more potent than her own Lower Ninth-Grade Light Phase!

But this clearly was not Jiang Qing'e's doing.

Yin Yue Zhiyu's shocked gaze looked toward the Tianyuan Ancient Academy's squad. At their head was Li Luo, and the human-skin lantern in his hand had already exploded.

Clearly, that turn of events just now had been Li Luo's doing.

But how had he done it?! With his Light auxiliary phase? How could that be possible?!

Wei Zhonglou also stared fixedly at Li Luo. This kid was actually hiding such a trick.

As for those many shocked gazes, Li Luo quickly came to his senses. He forcefully suppressed the turmoil within and said rapidly, "Quick, quick, while we can!"

Feng Lingyuan snapped awake. The aberrations around them had been swept away, and even the white fog had been dispelled—this was the perfect chance to cross the water. Otherwise, once the white fog rolled back in, they would once again be besieged by countless aberrations.

So she gave the order, and everyone in the squad immediately broke into a run, darting out, stepping across the water surface, racing at extreme speed toward the water city deep within the Black Marsh.

Seeing this, the squad from the Holy Light Ancient Academy also hurriedly charged out.

The two squads took advantage of this brief window to cross the water rapidly.

And as the two squads sped away, none of them noticed that in the lake far behind them, another group of people were also watching their figures with shock.

It was that group of Ghost-Slaying Sect cultivators.

The leading Blood Coffin man's face was full of shock. After a moment, he said, "What terrifying light purification."

The earlier aberration rampage had been his doing; he had originally intended to use it to inflict casualties on the two academy squads, but he hadn't expected it to ultimately draw out such an event.

Fortunately they had been far away, otherwise they likely would have been caught up in it too. Although they wouldn't have been directly melted like those aberrations, it would have exposed their tracks.

"It seems to be that Tian Zhu Jing kid who caused it," a Black Coffin man said.

"This level of purity in holy and purifying power doesn't seem like something a Tian Zhu Jing cultivator could produce."

"Could it be some kind of consumable light-type treasure?"

Listening to his subordinates' discussion, the Blood Coffin man was silent for a moment, then said, "Follow them for now. This water city is where the 'Ten Thousand Skin Evil Heart Pillar' stands. That Demon King of Living Beings must have preparations here. Let them probe the depths first and wear themselves down fighting the Evil Guai Sect."

"This place is one of the spirit cavities of 'Minor Chen Heaven.' Beneath the 'Evil Heart Pillar,' there must be an extremely rare treasure. According to my lord's orders, we need to take it."

Listening to the Blood Coffin man's words, the other Black Coffin men all nodded, and then they set off, skirting the purified area ahead, and stealthily passing through those other pitch-black regions.

Thus, for the next stretch of time, the two large squads from the ancient academies were no longer attacked, and unimpeded, they finally arrived at the location of the Black Marsh water city.