Chapter 367: ATTACK ON SEVERANCE ACADEMY |
-Boom!!
An explosion within the arena shook the whole area. Many of the people around the explosion died as their bodies were destroyed, flying around in pieces. The strong scent of blood and burning meat filled the air, making the whole arena eerier than it was already getting.
The waiting areas underneath the bleachers of the arena shook, and that's where the competitors for the semifinals were residing.
Most of them were petrified. Since the moment they realized that their cultivations had disappeared they knew that something was wrong. And then they heard the screams and the loud explosions coming from above, most of them decided to remain there until the whole scenario has ended.
Torn between activating her bloodline QI to break the effect of the formation on her and remain as she is, Camilla paced around a bit. 'If things get too dangerous then I'll have to use it. The only problem is the phenomenon that it will cause. I won't be able to go unnoticed anymore.' She thought.
While possessing a class-1 primordial bloodline is an advantage to her, Camilla wasn't scared of letting the people on the Lower plain realm know of her bloodline, what scared her was the possibility of her uncle finding out about her location.
Before she has sufficient strength to go against her rebellious uncle, Camilla wanted to avoid utilizing her bloodline as much as she can.
'Only use it when necessary.' She thought to herself before she stopped her pacing around and calmed down…
"This is most likely being caused by a formation, one that suppresses the cultivation of everyone within it, except for the marked ones," Gustavo concluded after giving their whole situation a thought.
"Who would activate such formation on the academy grounds when the competition is about to start, moreover, kill people wantonly on the academy grounds?" Drake questioned.
The last part of his sentence made the rest of his teammates shudder a bit as a single name came to their minds, Alexander.
Camron frowned for a second before speaking. "While Alex is quite daring and disregards a lot of things, he wouldn't go this far. His pride wouldn't let him."
Emma chuckled nervously. "We already know that, it was more of a reflexive thing for us to think of Alex after how Drake put it."
"True," Katherine said immediately.
"I think it is obvious that the school is under attack… but I wonder, by who?" Adrian thought out loud.
The atmosphere returned to its tense state after Adrian spoke. The other teams around were listening to the Seraphim team members speak. They weren't people of the Western continent and so they know little about the continent.
'Alex, where did I hear that name?' Camilla thought for a second before shaking the thought off. She had forgotten about Alexander because she was almost certain that he was dead. And even if he wasn't, she was sure that he wouldn't be able to progress quickly, at least not at the speed that could catch up to hers.
"There are only 2 groups of people that will have the courage to do such and they are the syndicate of criminals and the Kawataro family," Gustavo said.
What he said struck a nerve in them. They all knew that the Kawataro family and the syndicate of criminals were in cahoots.
"They must have lost their minds after Alex killed Duna on the school grounds!" Drake exclaimed.
"They couldn't take it anymore. We spoiled their plans one too many times and now they want our blood as payment. The only problem is that they came prepared." Camron tightened his fist as he thought about his siblings.
At that moment, his heart was beating fast as worry filled his mind. "We can't do anything without our cultivation."
'Do you want power?' Camron heard a whisper in his mind, but he didn't react to this because he felt like it was his desire for power in this situation that was making him hear things.
'I can give you unprecedented power, all I need is your permission.' The voice said in Camron's mind. Camron was about to react to this when his attention was brought back to reality by Gustavo.
"Not exactly. My immortal…" Gustavo paused and looked around him. Although his clan's name would most likely not be known by any on the lower plain realm, he didn't want to take chances. "My body doesn't rely on my cultivation." He finished.
"What!? Really?" Drake exclaimed.
In response to Drake's question, Gustavo hardened his body, making it turn metal-like. The transformation cleared any doubt that they had.
"The only difference is that I don't have my cultivation to boost other aspects that my special body doesn't possess at the moment," Gustavo added.
Other teams that have been listening in on their conversation were shocked to see that Gustavo's body wasn't obtained through a cultivation method.
'This guy… he might be more special than I give him credit for.' Camilla thought as she made a mental note to be on guard with Gustavo. She couldn't trust anyone.
Seeing that Gustavo could still use some of his abilities gave Emma an idea. She too was special amongst cultivators. She had access to pure QI that needs no refining. Her ability is command QI is unprecedented.
She closed her eyes and focused on her surroundings. It didn't happen immediately, however, Emma was still able to sense the QI around her, and what made her happy is that she could control them.
Without any hesitation, Emma gathered the QI around her, and then she started to absorb, trying to use the pure QI to return her previous cultivation.
The air around the waiting area changed due to the amount of pure QI that was being brought together. It was even possible for them to see a faint white light gathering around Emma. This faint white light is in fact the pure QI.
Like a needle going through clothing, the pure QI pierced through the restriction that was placed on Emma by the formation. In a minute, her cultivation returned.
A wide smile appeared on Emma's face when she was done. "It worked!" She giggled and clapped her hands, making little jumps as she did so.
It only took Emma a few seconds to realize that everyone's eyes were on her. When she did she stopped jumping and bent her head in embarrassment as her face turned red.
"Emma, were you able to use QI?" Camron asked.
"Y-yes… I-I was able to get my cultivation back." She replied meekly.
Out of curiosity, some other people around tried to do what Emma did, thinking that it was simply sensing and absorbing Qi. However, they weren't able to sense QI in their present state.
All of them failed woefully and after several attempts, they gave up.
Drake smirked at them knowing that they couldn't imitate Emma made him feel proud.
"Emma, do you think you can do the same on us? Guide the QI around and then we will use it to return our cultivation?" Camron questioned.
"I should be able to. There wasn't any obstruction when I was absorbing the QI." She replied.
"Good, start with Drake." Katherine pushed Drake forward. Although she sounded nice when she spoke, it was clear that Drake was the lab rat. If anything bad happens when trying to return his cultivation to its previous state, the rest of them wouldn't attempt it.
Drake wanted to refute, but he felt as if he wasn't in a position to do so. The rest of his teammates looked at him sternly.
'Why me!?' He thought before letting out a sigh. "Let's get this over with." He said and directly held Emma's hands.
Emma squeezed Drake's hands and tried to calm herself. 'This isn't the place and time to be feeling embarrassed. Calm down and find a way to help the rest.' She said to herself.
In over 10 seconds, Emma stopped blushing and was able to focus on gathering pure QI around Drake.
"I can sense QI again," Drake informed them.
"Are you able to absorb it?" Emma asked.
"No… while I can sense it, it feels as if there's a veil blocking my meridians making it impossible to absorb the QI.
"There will be no point sensing it if we are unable to absorb QI," Adrian muttered.
"Let me try sending the QI directly to your core and see if that will work," Emma mentioned.
"If you do that, then his meridians will get clogged with impurities or might even break apart due to the violent energy within the QI. His body might even explode if you're not careful. Without him being able to use his meridians to refine the QI it will be no different from suicide." John, the captain of Camilla's team spoke up.
Camron turned and looked at him, flashing a smile at him. "Thank you for the concern, but that won't happen." He said before turning his attention back to Emma and Drake.
While everyone else there was looking at the members of the Seraphim team, waiting for them to speak up, they realized that none of them looked worried, not even Drake, the person being experimented on.
"Are they out of their minds?" Someone said in surprise.
They didn't know that the QI Emma utilizes is pure QI, it didn't require refinement because the violent energy normally found in QI is absent in this one.
Emma ignored everyone else and began sending the pure QI into Drake's body…
