Chapter 789 The Dragon-Sigil Trap
By this point, Kael had already traveled nearly a light-hour from Sunlance Academy, yet he still hadn’t escaped the region saturated with the academy’s spiritual energy.
Piercing alarms suddenly erupted from the asteroids scattered throughout the surrounding space.
The puppet had clearly reached the central teleportation array and discovered the four dead guards.
Valerius had raised the alarm.
A jolt of alarm shot through Kael.
His speed increased tenfold.
Bang!
Without warning, an enormous golden shield covered in dragon sigils materialized directly ahead of him.
Kael was moving so fast that even his Spiritual Sense couldn’t keep pace with his body.
He slammed straight into the shield.
The impact hurled him backward nearly a thousand yards. His head rang violently, leaving him unable to tell which direction he was facing for several moments.
Had his physical body not been more than ten times stronger than those of other cultivators at the same realm, the collision alone would have destroyed it.
Figures began appearing behind the dragon-sigil shield.
Valerius stood among them.
Beside him was another cultivator whose aura had reached Eternal Tier 8.
There was no need to guess his identity.
He was the Dean of Sunlance Academy.
Five more figures appeared behind Kael.
Every one of them had reached the Eternal Realm.
They were clearly Sunlance Academy’s remaining Vice Deans.
It took Kael nearly ten seconds to recover from the collision.
His body immediately began expanding.
Larger.
Larger still.
Within moments, he completed Stage Twenty of the Fiendgod Transformation.
At the same time, the Grand Celestial Manifestation rose behind him, filling nearly the entire expanse of space around them.
“Heh...”
Valerius stared at Kael with undisguised excitement, as though he were gazing upon an incomparable treasure—or a peerless beauty without equal in the universe.
“I knew you would come back. It seems you really do feel responsible for humanity.”
“Valerius, don’t frighten our young friend.”
The mysterious Dean of Sunlance Academy finally spoke.
A layer of black mist concealed his face, preventing Kael from seeing his features.
Kael suspected there was a simple reason for that.
The Dean’s face was probably already covered in petrified patches, and he was unwilling to reveal them.
“Kael, I admire you greatly,” the Dean said calmly. “Refine Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid for me for one thousand years, and I will allow you to leave. Humanity will also receive preferential treatment within Sunlance Academy.”
Kael did not answer immediately.
His Spiritual Sense spread in every direction.
Enormous dragon-sigil shields had appeared all around him.
The Dean had clearly activated an extraordinarily powerful Restriction the moment Kael was trapped.
It might even be one of the Golden Dragon Race’s ultimate formations.
No...
Kael abruptly looked up.
Three enormous golden talismans floated high above them.
Golden runes flowed across their surfaces, radiating overwhelming pressure.
These talismans were Sunlance Academy’s true trump card.
“You dare ignore the Dean?”
“Do you still not understand the situation you’re in?”
“Look at the Dragon-Sigil Shield Formation surrounding you. It is one of Sunlance Academy’s strongest formations. Even a Real Deity would have no hope of escaping once trapped inside!”
One of the Vice Deans issued the threat.
Kael’s voice rumbled from within his enormous Fiendgod body.
“Hah. You say that as though you’ve ever seen a Real Deity.”
The Vice Dean immediately fell silent.
He had indeed exaggerated.
Forget him—even the Dean had never personally encountered a Real Deity.
The Eternal Realm might be only one major realm below the Real Deity Realm, but a Real Deity was the supreme existence of an entire galaxy.
People like them had no opportunity to meet one.
“Kael, do you see the three talismans above you?”
Valerius pointed toward the enormous golden talismans overhead.
“Those are Thunder God Talismans.”
“Thunder God Talismans?”
For the first time, Kael was genuinely shaken.
Of course he had heard of them.
The Thunder God Talisman was a terrifying divine ability mentioned alongside the Tribulation Hymn of the Myriad Gods.
Once a Thunder God Talisman locked onto its target, hiding inside an Inner Cosmos would not save them. The manifested Thunder God would pursue its victim inside and continue the attack.
Some stories even claimed that if the victim escaped into a black hole, the Thunder God would follow them and strike again.
There was only one reliable way to survive.
Endure the talisman’s power with one’s true body.
Those who withstood it lived.
Those who couldn’t died.
“Dean, you certainly think highly of me.”
Blue light flickered within Kael’s right eye.
“If I had to guess, only one of those three Thunder God Talismans is genuine.”
“Hmph.”
The Dean’s voice cooled.
“I didn’t expect your ocular divine ability to have reached such a level.”
He paused.
“But what does it matter if only one is genuine? Do you think a Thunder God Talisman is some ordinary scrap of paper? A single genuine talisman is more than enough to kill you.”
Several seconds passed before his voice softened again, taking on a remarkably sincere quality.
“But none of this needs to happen. Refine Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid for me for a thousand years, and these formations and talismans will never need to be activated. You will also receive enormous benefits.
“Tell me what materials you require. I will mobilize Sunlance Academy and have the entire galaxy searched for them.
“I imagine your remaining stock of ingredients is already running low.
“And I will offer you one more concession. Of all the Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid you refine, you may keep half. I will take only the other half.”
The Dean sounded so sincere that his words seemed instinctively trustworthy.
Kael abruptly shook his head.
“That’s an impressive soul-bewitching art. For a moment, I almost believed you.”
Any trace of uncertainty vanished from his features.
At the same time, his Spiritual Sense continued scanning the surrounding space for a possible escape route.
“How about this instead? I return to my own territory and refine the Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid there. You provide the materials.
“For every hundred sets of ingredients you give me, I’ll return one drop of Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid.”
Kael continued negotiating to buy himself time, but his attention remained fixed on the gaps between the enormous dragon-sigil shields.
The instant an opportunity appeared, he would escape.
“Kael, you aren’t showing the slightest sincerity. Do you take me for a fool?”
The Dean shook his head.
“You expect me to believe you can maintain a one-percent success rate when refining Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid?
“If that were true, experts from other star regions would have seized you long ago.”
He refused to believe Kael could achieve such an absurd success rate.
Sunlance Academy’s former chief alchemist had spent countless years refining his craft, yet even at his peak, his success rate had only been one in ten thousand.
Ten thousand sets of ingredients for a single drop of Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid.
What the Dean didn’t know was that Kael’s true success rate had already reached fifty percent.
Buzz!
Kael suddenly moved.
His enormous body shot toward a gap between two dragon-sigil shields.
In the next instant, the shields slammed together.
CLANG!
The impact sent a violent tremor through Kael’s entire body.
His vision nearly went black.
“Kael!”
For the first time, genuine anger entered the Dean’s voice.
“Are you truly going to force me to drag you into my Inner Cosmos?”
Across countless ages, he had rarely treated anyone with so much patience.
Yet Kael continued to reject every concession.
Kael thrust both arms outward.
Behind him, the Grand Celestial Manifestation mirrored the movement.
Their combined strength forced the two enormous shields apart, freeing him from the crushing pressure.
“I already gave you my answer.”
Kael’s breathing had grown heavy.
“I’ll refine Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid in my own territory. You provide the ingredients. One hundred sets of materials for one drop of Lesser Immortal Spirit Liquid.”
The two shields were terrifyingly powerful.
Worse, the dragon sigils engraved across their surfaces seemed almost alive.
During the brief contact, traces of their power had burrowed into Kael’s soul and begun damaging it from within.
Sunlance Academy’s ultimate formation truly deserved its reputation.
“Dean, why waste any more words on him?”
Valerius’s patience had run out.
“Activate the Thunder God Talisman.”
The Dean fell silent for a moment.
“At this point, it seems I have no other choice.”
He slowly raised one finger.
“Kael, I will give you one final opportunity.
“Either I activate the Thunder God Talisman...
“Or you suppress your aura and enter my Inner Cosmos willingly.”