Chapter 241: A Divided Heart

And just as Jiang Jiang Qinge and Li Luo's two squads entered Purification Outpost Number Thirteen and began making all the various preparations to start the purification mission,

in a certain area near the depths of that dark cavern,

the world here was permeated with a thick, viscous black fog. The fog churned, and countless eerie whispers emanated from within the black mist; faintly, twisted shadows seemed to flash through it.

Within the black fog, the faint sound of footsteps rang out.

A figure strolled through the black mist. He wore the purple-glow mentor's robe of Shengxuan Star Academy, and that face was hardly unfamiliar—it was none other than Shen Shen Jinxiao.

He walked through the terrifying black fog with a smile on his face. He could clearly sense the gazes filled with malice within the viscous black mist, but he showed not the slightest hint of fear.

At a certain moment, his footsteps suddenly stopped, and he looked down, only to see pale arms burrowing out of the ground beneath him. Like snakes, these arms coiled around his feet.

Malicious black Qi howled up along his feet, madly drilling into his body.

Whoosh!

And the surrounding black fog also churned violently at this moment. All manner of eerie things emerged, bursting forth with venomous intent, as the viscous black Qi swept toward Shen Shen Jinxiao like a storm.

Facing the sudden attack, Shen Shen Jinxiao's expression remained unchanged. The very next instant, a surge of tremendous phase force shot straight up into the sky, directly sweeping away this entire patch of viscous black fog.

Like a hurricane sweeping through the clouds.

"Fire God Ring."

As if a whisper sounded, the next instant, an incomparably massive ring of fire erupted from within Shen Shen Jinxiao's body. The fire ring swept across, and that searing heat directly caused the temperature of this place to spike sharply.

Moreover, within the fire ring were inscribed countless wondrous fire patterns. Those fire patterns resembled coiling fire dragons, and wherever they passed, the black fog melted away on the spot. The eerie things within the black fog were also burned to nothingness at this moment.

The pale arms coiled around his feet were reduced to ash in the very first instant.

In just a few breaths, this entire region filled with viscous black fog had been swept clean.

The power of a Marquis-tier expert was plain to see.

Having cleared the malicious contamination from this area, Shen Shen Jinxiao stood on a hillside with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze deep as he stared toward the depths of the dark cavern.

There, there existed some eerie auras that even he found extremely daunting.

At the same time, he also sensed an aura that was vast and long, pressing down upon the world itself.

That was... the Dean.

And it was precisely because of the Dean's presence that the powerful eerie auras in the depths of the dark cavern made no unusual moves; the two sides had formed a standoff.

"King-tier experts are truly extraordinary." Shen Shen Jinxiao sighed softly, a look of extreme fervor flashing through his eyes. That realm—he had longed for it for a very long time.

But to attempt to break through to the King-tier was truly too difficult.

Throughout the ages, who knew how many heaven-gifted geniuses had been blocked before this very step.

"Some plans should also be pushed further now, for my... path to King." Shen Shen Jinxiao stood in place, silent for a long while, then suddenly turned his head to glance at a certain spot on the outer perimeter of the dark cavern.

"Nine-grade Light Phase, blazing great sun, a heart like crystal glass, against which no evil can intrude."

Shen Shen Jinxiao's gaze darkened as he murmured softly in his heart: "Jiang Jiang Qinge, since you value Li Luo so much, if he dies right in front of you, will a crack appear in your heart of light?"

His gaze lowered, as if glancing at some spot here, then with a sweep of his sleeve, he stepped forward.

And not long after Shen Shen Jinxiao departed, the ground here suddenly began to writhe, and faintly, it actually formed an eerie human face.

That human face, filled with malicious intent, glanced in the direction Shen Shen Jinxiao had left, then gradually sank back down, transforming into a black line that burrowed through the ground, swiftly heading toward the distant rear.

On Jiang Jiang Qinge and Li Luo's side, after half a day of preparation, they had found their lodging for the next stretch of time—a floor at the top of a stone tower.

The basic facilities inside the room were simple, but fairly complete. After each person took a room, the two squads gathered together once more.

Everyone first took out the special dried meat the academy had prepared for them. It was said to have been soaked in energy liquid, capable of accelerating the recovery of phase force within the body while also staving off hunger; a single piece could last half a day. It could be said that, for the dark cavern purification mission, the academy had done an extremely thorough job in every aspect.

Having briefly settled the matter of their stomachs, Jiang Jiang Qinge then spread out a map on top of the stone table. The map's surface was rough, and at the center of it was carved a tall tower representing an outpost, which was currently emitting a faint glow.

Clearly, this tall tower represented the purification outpost where they were currently located.

And with the outpost as the center, the surrounding regions had markers of small towers one after another, except these small towers were currently all displayed in an unsettling black.

"These small towers are the locations of the purification towers. Right now they're all displayed in black, which means they're covered by the power of malicious intent and in an unactivated state."

"Once a purification tower is activated, the marker on the map will light up as a prompt." Tian Tian pointed at the markers on the map as she spoke to Li Luo and the others.

Li Luo and the others clicked their tongues in wonder. This map that looked rough and simple didn't seem simple at all—it could actually sense changes in other purification towers in real time? This saved them an enormous amount of trouble.

"Don't underestimate this map. Its function is very significant, no less than the 'Green Wood Heart-Protecting Token.'" Jiang Jiang Qinge said.

Li Luo curiously touched it, and that rough texture made his heart stir. He tentatively said: "This is refined from the bark of the phase force tree?"

Tian Tian and Senior Qiu Bai glanced at him with some surprise, then nodded.

Li Luo smacked his lips. At this point he finally understood just what that towering phase force tree represented to Shengxuan Star Academy. Students needed it for cultivation, to suppress the dark cavern, to open portals, to teleport students...

It seemed every aspect of Shengxuan Star Academy was inseparable from this phase force tree. One could say without exaggeration that if that phase force tree were gone, Shengxuan Star Academy would probably collapse outright.

"The darkness intensity of these small towers seems to vary a bit... is it because the strength of the malicious contamination around them differs?" Bai Bai Mengmeng suddenly asked softly.

Jiang Jiang Qinge glanced at her with some surprise and smiled: "You observe very carefully."

Being praised by Jiang Jiang Qinge, a blush immediately rose on Bai Bai Mengmeng's innocent little face; she was a bit shy.

"Indeed, just as classmate Bai Mengmeng said, the contamination around these purification towers varies in strength, and the academy has graded the purification towers around the outpost accordingly, distinguishing them with simple tiers of one, two, and three."

Jiang Jiang Qinge's slender jade finger pointed at a black small-tower marker relatively close to the outpost and said: "Generally speaking, purification towers close to the outpost are all tier one. The difficulty of activating this kind of purification tower won't be too great, but as you gradually move farther from the outpost, the malicious contamination begins to grow heavier, and the purification towers there are upgraded to tier two..."

Her fingertip moved toward the outermost area of the map. The small-tower markers here were indeed darker and more profound than those in the innermost ring from before.

Li Luo nodded slightly, then his gaze shifted to the outermost area of the outpost map, where he saw two small-tower markers.

These two small towers were so dark they resembled two eyes without whites; just looking at them sent a chill through one's heart.

"These... are two tier-three purification towers?" Li Luo asked slowly.

Jiang Jiang Qinge nodded, and her gaze fixed on those two tier-three purification towers also grew more solemn. She said: "These two tier-three purification towers are the two most difficult points in our region, and also the final objectives of this purification mission."

"The contamination there is the most severe, and the aberrations that appear will become especially powerful. It's a tough bone to gnaw, but one that ultimately must be gnawed."

Li Luo's expression also grew somewhat grave. Even though he was unfamiliar with these so-called tier-three purification towers, that didn't prevent him from guessing the degree of danger they possessed.

Senior Qiu Bai beside him laughed and cut in: "But high risk also comes with high reward. Once a tier-three purification tower is successfully activated, you can obtain ten thousand academy points."

Li Luo looked up, shocked, and blurted out: "Ten thousand academy points?!"

They had fought tooth and nail for first place in the ranking battle and barely scraped together five thousand points, yet here, just activating a single third-tier purification tower would earn them ten thousand academy points?

Jiang Qing'e tilted her chin slightly and said, "That's right. According to the academy's rules, activating a third-tier purification tower is worth ten thousand points, a second-tier one is four thousand points, and a first-tier one is fifteen hundred points."

Li Luo, Bai Bai Mengmeng, and Student Xin Fu exchanged glances. They had struggled to claim first place in the ranking battle for only five thousand points, yet here, merely activating one purification tower would yield several thousand academy points?

One had to remember that, glancing roughly at the map, there seemed to be dozens of purification towers, didn't there?

How many would that add up to in total?

At the thought of that number, Li Luo's heart began to pound. So this was the fastest way to earn points in the Sacred Profound Star Academy... No wonder Jiang Qing'e had gone to such lengths to bring him along.

If they pulled this off a few more times, a hundred thousand points wouldn't seem so far off, would it?

"Besides activating purification towers counting as academy points, actually eliminating Aberrants also yields points."

Tian Tian supplemented from the side, "White Erosion-class Aberrants are five hundred points each, Red Erosion-class Aberrants are eight hundred points each. Calamity-class Aberrants are divided into Earth Calamity and Heavenly Calamity. The probability of a Heavenly Calamity Aberrant appearing in our outer perimeter region isn't high, so we only need to watch out for Earth Calamity Aberrants."

"Earth Calamity is also graded for distinction, though it's quite simple—divided into Greater Earth Calamity and Lesser Earth Calamity. A Greater Earth Calamity is equivalent to the strength of a late Earth Fiend realm, belonging to the top tier of Earth Calamity-class, worth four thousand points; a Lesser Earth Calamity is two thousand points."

She chuckled, "Clearly marked prices, no deception of old or young."

Li Luo swallowed hard, and for a moment, the wariness and fear he had felt toward Aberrants seemed to weaken considerably.

"When do we set out?"

Tian Tian and Senior Qiu Bai glanced at Li Luo, who had suddenly become so eager and impatient, and felt a bit puzzled. This Li Luo certainly had no shortage of nerve.

Only Jiang Qing'e's golden eyes carried a hint of a smile as she casually rolled up the map.

"Let's get ready to set out now."

She paused, her gaze turning toward Li Luo and the others, her voice drifting over with a faintly eerie quality.

"Also, welcome... to experiencing the terror of the Dark Cave."