Chapter 688: Marquis Realm Domain

"Boom!"

Accompanying Vice Dean Suxin's sharp shout, a barrage of astonishing phase arts attacks also arrived. Every single phase art carried terrifying might. The Marquis-level powerhouses led by Vice Dean Suxin locked onto the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man the very instant they reached the academy.

Then, without the slightest mercy, they launched their attack.

One after another, powerful Marquis-level arts descended like heavenly thunder, slamming straight into the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man.

At the same time, Vice Dean Suxin clearly noticed the black fire lotus drifting toward the Phase Force Tree. Immediately, a rare fury surged in her eyes. This villain is truly insane—does he really mean to destroy the Phase Force Tree?!

This high-grade Phase Force Tree is the academy's foundation. Once it is destroyed, not only will the Dark Cavern be released, but the Holy Shimmer Star Academy will also fall from the ranks of the holy academies. Its former glory will become history.

For this academy, Vice Dean Suxin had poured in a lifetime's worth of effort. Especially in these years when Dean Pang could not appear, nearly every major and minor matter within the academy was personally managed by her. So in Vice Dean Suxin's heart, the existence of Holy Shimmer Star Academy was almost more important than her own life.

And now, this villain actually wants to destroy it!

One after another, Marquis-level arts whistled down like meteorites. Shen Shen Jinxiao took another step back, standing behind the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man.

So many furious Marquis-level powerhouses' attacks—he, Shen Shen Jinxiao, could not withstand them.

But the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man's expression remained unruffled. He extended his palm and unhurriedly formed a hand seal.

A point of spiritual light was seen slowly rising from the crown of his head, then the spiritual light expanded, ultimately forming what seemed to be an indescribable special domain. The domain covered a range of several dozen zhang around the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man's body, immediately causing the space here to twist and blur.

As if within this domain, an independent space had been created.

Boom, boom!

One after another, powerful Marquis-level arts crashed down, striking directly onto this domain. Ripples immediately stirred across the domain's surface, yet for some unknown reason, once those Marquis-level arts entered the domain, they eerily vanished without a trace.

They failed to harm the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man within at all.

This scene, falling into the eyes of the Marquis-level powerhouses who had rushed over, immediately caused looks of horror to appear on their faces.

"Marquis Realm Domain?!" Vice Dean Suxin's expression also turned extremely ugly as she ground out each word through clenched teeth.

"This man is an Upper Marquis!" Yu Yu Hongxi's coldly beautiful face was also filled with solemnity as she said in a low voice.

"Upper Marquis?!" The other Marquis-level powerhouses' hearts jolted upon hearing this.

The Marquis Realm has nine ranks, and the nine ranks are also divided into the upper, middle, and lower three ranks. The so-called Upper Marquis refers to those Marquis-level powerhouses whose strength has stepped into the Seventh Rank Marquis and above!

In other words, the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man before them was at the very least a Seventh Rank Marquis!

And it is said that powerhouses who reach the Seventh Rank Marquis will develop a special divine ability, known as the Marquis Realm Domain.

The Marquis Realm concept does have some connection to the secular practice of bestowing titles and marquisates. Among secular marquisates, the highest marquis can be granted land and borders—in simple terms, be enfeoffed with a territory, within which he himself is the supreme ruler.

And upon stepping into the Marquis Realm and ranking as an Upper Marquis, one can also open up a "territory" of one's own—this is the so-called "Marquis Realm Domain."

However, this "territory" is not actual land in reality, but rather a small world opened up and evolved within one's own body. This small world is unfathomably mysterious, possessing the power to protect oneself, as well as many marvelous abilities. It can be said that this "Marquis Realm Domain" is the hallmark of stepping into the Upper Marquis.

And right now, the mysterious domain released by the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man was his own "Marquis Realm Domain." It was precisely by relying on this that he easily withstood the joint attack from Vice Dean Suxin, Yu Yu Hongxi, and the many other Marquis-level powerhouses.

Vice Dean Suxin's eyes, brimming with fury, stared fixedly at the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man as she said coldly, "Who exactly are you, sir? Why do you wish to destroy our academy's Phase Force Tree? By doing this, you are making an enemy of every power in Great Xia!"

"Releasing the Other-kind is something the entire human race will not tolerate!"

The gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man smiled slightly, his hands forming seals and coming together before his chest, his eyes slightly lowered: "Light and darkness share the same source; good and evil return to the one."

Hearing these words, Vice Dean Suxin and Yu Yu Hongxi's pupils contracted sharply almost simultaneously.

"You are... the Return-to-One Society?!"

As the academy's Vice Dean and the president of the Golden Dragon Treasury's Great Xia headquarters, what Suxin and Yu Yu Hongxi knew in terms of secrets was clearly far more than some of the other local powers—and among those secrets was this so-called Return-to-One Society.

This was a true super-power in this world.

Its foundation and strength were in no way inferior to the Academy Alliance or the Golden Dragon Treasury headquarters.

Moreover, they also knew that this eerie, colossal power had been raising calamities throughout the world. The rules it believed in were incompatible with the human race, so it was said that in the Inner Shenzhou, the Return-to-One Society was a power that other super-powers were extremely wary of and hostile toward.

But even though all the super-powers were hostile toward it, the Return-to-One Society had revealed terrifyingly bizarre strength. So over the countless years, no matter how other powers targeted it, it continued to stir up trouble.

However, in the past, the Return-to-One Society's traces were mostly found within Inner Shenzhou. After all, compared to the prosperity of Inner Shenzhou, Outer Shenzhou was indeed like a barren wasteland, and a colossal power like the Return-to-One Society would not even give it a second glance.

But now... have they finally come?

Perhaps Holy Shimmer Star Academy was not the first.

Vice Dean Suxin recalled the discussions among the high-level members of the various academies during the Holy Cup War. Behind the fall of the Black Wind Empire, there seemed to be traces of the "Return-to-One Society"... And after the Black Wind Empire, have they now extended their dark hand toward Great Xia?

Do they want Great Xia to become the second Black Wind Empire?

"Everyone, the Other-kind are born from the evil thoughts of the human race; they are in fact the other face of humanity. Therefore, mere separation is not the true solution. Only by releasing them, so that good and evil return to one place, will the Other-kind completely vanish. At that time, the human race will also welcome true transformation and evolution." The gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man's face was devout as he began to preach to the crowd, spreading the doctrines of their Return-to-One Society.

"Madmen!" However, in response to his words, all the Great Xia Marquis-level powerhouses present showed horrified fury. Was that even something a human should say? How terrifying the Other-kind are—and they want to actively release them? Do they really think not enough people have died?

They had not only heard of the scenes after some Other-disasters occurred—some had even witnessed them. It was a true hell on earth.

So, in their eyes, this gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man was truly no different from a madman.

"Vice Dean, it was Shen Shen Jinxiao who led this man here. He betrayed the academy and became the 'Fish Fiend King's' medium. Over the years, he has been secretly spreading seeds of evil thoughts within the academy. Now, several Purple-Glory mentors have been triggered into evil-thought backlash by him!" At this moment, a Purple-Glory mentor who was currently fighting shouted sharply.

Vice Dean Suxin heard this, and her knife-like gaze immediately shot toward Shen Shen Jinxiao behind the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man. Her entire body trembled slightly from rage: "Shen Shen Jinxiao, the academy has treated you well. Why would you do this?!"

Facing the furious Vice Dean Suxin, Shen Shen Jinxiao was briefly silent, then smiled helplessly: "Vice Dean, this is my choice. You don't need to question me. What I want, the academy cannot give me, so I chose the Fish Fiend King."

"You can also say that the Fish Fiend King found the flaw in my heart, but I do not resist this."

Vice Dean Suxin stared fixedly at Shen Shen Jinxiao, her gaze carrying a somewhat terrifying, man-eating quality, but the latter did not care. Instead, he reminded her: "Vice Dean, compared to me, what you should actually be more concerned about right now is the Phase Force Tree."

"I don't need you to remind me."

Vice Dean Suxin's voice was so icy it could freeze the air, and the killing intent within was almost overflowing.

Whoosh!

A stream of light shot up from the crown of Vice Dean Suxin's head, transforming into a small blue umbrella. The blue umbrella appeared above the Phase Force Tree, slowly opening, and immediately blue light streamed down, like a veil of mysterious gossamer, protecting the Phase Force Tree within.

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The black fire lotus drifted over and made contact with the light-streaming gossamer. The latter immediately began to burn, but then continuous blue light cascaded down, slowing the black lotus's rate of burning.

"Everyone, attack with me and slay this beast!"

Seeing the black fire lotus being slightly blocked, Vice Dean Suxin did not dare to be careless. With a light cry, she pointed her spearhead at the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man. Her blue gauze umbrella was a top-grade Purple-Eye treasure bestowed by the Dean, yet even so, it could hardly withstand that eerie black lotus's burning. Therefore, at present, they still had to deal with the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man first.

Marquis-level powerhouses from Great Xia like Yu Yu Hongxi immediately responded upon hearing this, then went all out. One after another, terrifying phase arts were unleashed without reservation, all pouring toward the gold-and-silver heterochromatic-eyed man.

Such a magnificent, overwhelming strike caused the very heavens and earth to seem to tremble.

But even with their numbers and momentum, deep within Vice Dean Suxin's eyes there still rose a shade of worry, for she understood all too well the strength of the Guiyi Society; since the Guiyi Society dared to act today, they must certainly have sufficient means.

And right now, if they wished to endure this calamity, relying on these Marquis-rank powerhouses alone would likely not be enough.

Unless...

Vice Dean Suxin glanced toward the direction of the Mutual-Love Tree.

Dean, how is it going over on your end?