Volume 2, Chapter 29: The Breaking Point
Yuhao's head felt like a cracked bell. The ringing wouldn't stop.
Above him, Guyi's golden sword was stuck fast. The thick, ashen vines of grey decay held her blade in a death grip. The blinding light of her La marking was dying, slowly suffocated by the lifeless grey.
And down on the dirt floor, the puppets kept coming.
Why couldn't the bad guys ever hire normal guards?
Yuhao punched one puppet in the chest. He pushed the Crystalline Vessel energy into his knuckles, making his skin as hard as compressed diamond. The technician's ribcage cracked with a loud snap. But the man didn't even flinch. He just swung a heavy steel wrench at Yuhao's temple.
Yuhao ducked, swept the man's legs, and scrambled backward. He was panting hard. His muscles burned. He was only at Level 19. He didn't have the deep reserves of a high-tier soul master. He was running on fumes.
He needed to look at the wall.
He wiped the blood from his nose and forced his Third Eye to open wider. The pain spiked, stabbing deep into his brain. The dark cavern shifted into a harsh, vibrating wire-frame map.
He stared past the attacking puppets. He looked straight at the thick grey wall blocking Guyi's sword.
It wasn't solid. Nothing was truly solid. It was a weave of energy. And right there, buried beneath the overlapping vines of grey decay, was a knot. It was a central point where the lifeless grey energy tied itself together to form the barrier.
"Guyi!" Yuhao screamed. His voice was raw. "Keep pushing!"
He didn't have a weapon. He didn't have a long-range soul skill. So he used himself.
Yuhao channeled every last drop of his soul power into his right arm. The translucent sheen of his skin glowed a faint, milky white. He ran forward. He stepped onto the chest of a fallen puppet, using the heavy body as a springboard. He launched himself into the air toward the grey wall.
He aimed his fist right at the invisible knot in the energy.
And he punched the silence.
The physical force of his fist hit the exact weak point of the grey decay. At the exact same microsecond, his Third Eye sent a sharp, condensed pulse of mental energy directly into the gap.
It was a total disruption. He forced the raw physical weight of the Crystalline Vessel into the delicate, quiet pattern of Chen Feng's grass.
The Crystalline Vessel wasn't just tough skin or hard bones. It was a complete rebuilding of the body — bones turned silver-hard like compressed metal, meridians widened into stable, high-capacity channels, and muscles reinforced with layered energy so they could handle extreme pressure without tearing. Every strike carried not only soul power but the full, refined strength of a body built to withstand levels far beyond what a normal human could survive.
Crack.
The grey wall shattered like cheap glass. It broke into a thousand harmless, ashen pieces that rained down on the cavern floor.
Guyi felt the resistance vanish. She didn't hesitate. She drove her golden sword forward. The La marking flared to life again, a blinding flash of pure sunrise in the pitch-black room. The blade pierced the massive grey crystal core of the energy jammer.
The cavern went entirely white.
The machine exploded. It wasn't an explosion of fire or heat. It was a violent shockwave of pure, disrupted energy.
The lifeless grey snapped back. It whipped through the air like a physical tether and hit Yuhao square in the chest.
It felt like getting hit by a truck made of ice. The sheer cold punched the breath straight out of his lungs. His internal stream of soul power screamed as the grey decay tried to freeze his blood. His vision went completely dark.
He hit the floor hard, and everything stopped.
••••••••
When he opened his eyes, the cavern was spinning slowly.
Something warm was pressing against his chest.
Guyi was kneeling over him. Her pristine white uniform was ruined, covered in dirt, rust, and grey ash. Her hair hung loose around her face. She had both hands pressed firmly against his ribs. A soft, steady golden glow leaked from her palms, sinking deep into his skin.
"Don't move," she ordered. Her voice was incredibly shaky.
"The puppets?" Yuhao mumbled. His tongue felt thick and useless.
"They're down. The core is broken. The grey is gone." She pressed harder. The warmth flared, pushing back the freezing ache in his veins. She was using her pure light to purge the grey decay from his system, burning out the lifeless energy before it could take root.
She looked down at him. The proud, perfect mask of the Paladin was totally gone. She just looked tired. Her golden eyes were bloodshot.
"You took a direct hit," she said. "The backlash from that lifeless energy should have stopped your heart."
"I have hard bones," Yuhao coughed. It tasted like copper.
Guyi let out a sound that was half-scoff, half-laugh. She sat back on her heels, wiping sweat from her forehead with a dirty glove. She looked at the wrecked machine, then back at him.
"You have a good eye, Outsider," she said softly. "I couldn't have cut that wall without you."
Yuhao tried to nod. He wanted to say something cool back. But his brain decided it had done enough work for one night. It shut down entirely, and he passed out on the dirty stone floor.
••••••••••••••
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Yuhao groaned. The sound was right next to his ear. It sounded like someone was chewing on gravel.
He blinked his eyes open. The bright, sterile sunlight of the academy infirmary made him wince. The ceiling was clean and white. He was lying in a very stiff, uncomfortable bed. The sheets smelled like bleach.
Crunch.
He turned his head slowly. His neck was incredibly stiff.
Professor Lakas was sitting in a cheap plastic visitor's chair. He had his boots propped up on the edge of Yuhao's mattress. He was holding a greasy, clear plastic bag.
"Oh, you're alive," Lakan said casually. He reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of chicharon — deep-fried pork rinds. He tossed one into his mouth and bit down hard.
Crunch.
"Professor," Yuhao rasped. His throat was painfully dry.
"Want one?" Lakan offered the bag. "They're from a street vendor near the east gate. A little too salty, and they're definitely terrible for your health, but they hit the spot."
Yuhao just stared at him. "How long was I out?"
"About twenty-four hours," Lakan said. He brushed some crumbs off his shirt, not caring that they fell onto the clean hospital floor. "You missed a very boring faculty meeting. Dean Yan is furious. Someone left a massive pile of broken Sun-Moon metal in the basement. He thinks the cleaning staff is slacking off."
Yuhao tried to sit up. A sharp, burning pain shot through his chest. He fell back against the pillows with a gasp.
"I wouldn't do that," Lakan advised. He finally took his feet off the bed. "You took a direct hit from a concentrated grey decay backlash. Your Crystalline Vessel held up, mostly. But your internal stream of soul power is a mess. You need to stay flat."
Lakan looked out the window. His playful smirk faded for just a second.
"You found a piece of his work," Lakan said quietly.
"Chen Feng," Yuhao said, staring at the ceiling. "He built a machine down there. It was pure lifelessness. He used people to build it."
"Yeah. The kid is busy." Lakan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, neatly folded piece of paper. He tossed it onto Yuhao's chest. "Captain Ye stopped by earlier. She couldn't stay. Paladin duties and all that. But she left this."
Yuhao picked up the paper with a shaking hand. He unfolded it slowly.
It was a hand-drawn map of the arena's lower levels. Several areas were marked with a small golden sunburst in yellow ink. The safe zones.
"She said to tell you the cleaning crew is on standby," Lakan said, leaning back in his chair. "Seems you made a friend in high places, kid."
"She just needed my eyes," Yuhao muttered, folding the map back up.
"Maybe." Lakan stood up. He crumpled the greasy plastic bag into a ball. "But a proud Leaf of the Angel doesn't usually share her maps with the dirt. You did good down there, Yuhao. You proved that raw power isn't everything. Sometimes, you just need to know exactly where to punch."
Lakan walked toward the door, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
"Get some sleep. You have a match tomorrow. Anito is up against the Star Luo Royal Academy. They hit hard, and Xiaotao is going to need you to steer."
"Professor," Yuhao called out before Lakan could leave.
Lakan paused in the doorway. He looked back over his shoulder.
"Why didn't you stop the machine?" Yuhao asked. He frowned. "You're the strongest guy in this school. You knew it was down there, didn't you?"
Lakan just smiled. It was a lazy, knowing smile.
"Because if I fix every broken pipe in this city, you kids will never learn how to use a wrench."
He gave a small wave, tossed the last piece of chicharon into his mouth, and walked out.
Crunch.
Yuhao sighed. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the lingering ache in his bones. The grey decay was gone, but the real tournament was just beginning. And he had a lot of work to do.
End of Volume 2, Chapter 29