Volume 7 Chapter 57 Dark Darkness

  Tanaka laughed and said, "It's hard to find an opponent, I hope you won't disappoint me." As soon as he finished speaking, the long gun in his hand shook violently, and eighteen blue lines shot towards my body's eighteen vital points. I exclaimed, "Good marksmanship!" The ink-colored sword in my hand conjured up a sword curtain in front of me, with continuous clanging sounds. While I was blocking his attacks, my right foot suddenly stomped the ground, and I burst out, charging straight at Tanaka's feet. Tanaka sensed the energy fluctuations beneath his feet and, without any hesitation, leaped upwards, drifting sideways. I let out a cold hum, and the ink-colored sword in my hand brought up a yellow blade that swept horizontally through the air towards Tanaka. Tanaka's long gun shook out nine peony-like bursts of gunfire, each with nine guns, totaling eighty-one shots that stabbed at the sword energy I released. Deep blue battle aura was continuously swallowed and spat out from his gun tip, producing a "whooshing" sound. His body borrowed momentum to move sideways, avoiding my pursuit.

  I recalled the attack of gold and silver, silently reciting an incantation. A large cluster of linked fireballs charged towards him, but Tianzhong in mid-air didn't flinch at all. His long spear pointed to the ground before leaping into the air once more, its tip bringing a cold gust of wind that dissolved each incoming fireball one by one. I let out a loud shout: "Crazy Dragon's Frenzied Dance." My body, under Mo Ming's control, shot up towards the sky like an enraged dragon baring its fangs and claws, charging straight at Tianzhong. A hint of astonishment flashed across Tianzhong's eyes as his spear merged with his body to form a conical shape that charged towards me. I, already in mid-air, felt my strength waning and knew I had to end this quickly. Using the same move I used against Silver Arrow earlier, my charging body suddenly dropped down, dodging Tianzhong's frontal attack. Tianzhong reacted swiftly as well; seeing me dodge his front, he hastily flipped his body sideways to avoid my attack from below. Not giving him a chance to catch his breath, I shouted: "Crazy Shadow's Hundred Ruptures." Countless illusory shadows materialized around Tianzhong before charging towards him.

  Tanaka grunted in discontent, using his spear to deflect my relentless attacks. However, the impact from all directions was too strong, and his spear was shattered into pieces after I struck it hundreds of times with my fierce slashes. With a few loud cracks, it disintegrated into fragments that scattered everywhere. Tanaka's body was also sent flying by my powerful aura, crashing into the defensive barrier before bouncing back to the ground. He knelt on one knee, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he let out a pained cry. I gazed at him with a hint of exhaustion, my voice cold as I said, "How about it? Are you prepared to pay 80 million now?"

  Tanaka stood up, shaking his head and smiling wryly: "You're really strong, even stronger than Rivaille was at first. Rivaille was defeated by my gun after three consecutive battles, but you were able to severely injure me. If it weren't for the 800 million yen, I wouldn't want to continue anymore. But now, I have to win."

  I exclaimed in surprise: "What? Can you still continue?"

  Tanaka nodded, clasped his hands together in reverence, and chanted: "Great God of Darkness, as your servant, I beseech you, grant me immense power with my soul as the offering, may the dark eternal amplification be bestowed upon me." His chant startled me, for this was indeed dark magic. Tanaka's use of dark magic instantly caused a commotion throughout the entire venue, and no one had expected that the long-absent dark magic would appear at the four-school tournament.

  A thick black smoke rose from Tianzhong's body, and his previous fatigue disappeared. He stood proudly in the arena with a smile on his face and said to me: "My combat power has fully recovered now, I can support you for a while, do you want to continue?"

  I sneered coldly, "Isn't it just dark magic? I can do it too." It's like Guan Gong (a legendary swordsman from ancient times) wielding a big knife in front of me, and I thought he had some special skills. But it turns out that it's actually dark magic. Since he used it, I don't need to hide anything anymore. The dark magic power rapidly circulated within my body, and thick black fog burst out from my pores. I stood up straight like a demon god, and the dense dark aura made the atmosphere on the competition stage extremely heavy.

  Tanaka stared at me in utter astonishment, his face revealing an expression of incredulity. "You... you also know dark magic, and it's so powerful! I gave up the chance to become a dragon knight to cultivate dark magic, but now I can only use fourth-level spells. Looking at you, you're at least two levels higher than me. How is this possible?"

  "I said in a cold voice: 'Want to try? You're far inferior to dark magic.' Although I didn't transform, I can use up to 7th level dark magic at most. It's just that using it after transformation would be easier and more powerful. Under my strong pressure, Tanaka's eyes showed a desperate expression."

  Tanaka muttered a few words of incantation, and his body suddenly collapsed to the ground. The dark energy that had gathered earlier completely dissipated. I knew he had given up resisting. Indeed, Tanaka said helplessly: "I can't beat you, I admit defeat. Eight million will be returned to you as promised. Heaven has actually produced someone like you, and it's still a second-year student. It seems that the top of the four major academies in the lower realm will remain in Tiandu."

  I dispersed the dark fog, and my body felt a wave of weakness. I used the Ink Ming to support the weight of my body, waiting.

  The defensive barrier around us dissipated, and the Director of External Affairs walked up to us. He looked at us in astonishment and announced, "The final match is over, Tian Du Academy's Lei Xiang has won! The Four Universities Exchange Tournament has come to an end, and Tian Du Academy will continue to hold the title of First Academy of the Dragon God Empire."

  The deputy dean walked up to the stage with a smile, first nodding to the high-level officials of other colleges, then walking to my side and saying in a low voice: "Good kid, this time I'll let you off the hook for your merits, I won't punish you. I didn't expect your dark magic to have reached this level."

  Tanaka stood up with the help of his companions in the academy and said to me, "Come to the lord's mansion tonight to get it, I'll gather money for you now. Ah... my savings."

  Looking at his helpless appearance, I felt a sense of joy in my heart. The deputy dean pulled me and chuckled: "This time, using the college to win so much money, shouldn't you contribute some?" This old guy wants to extort money from me, but it doesn't matter, he has always been good to me before, I am a person who knows how to repay kindness, I nodded and said: "That's easy to say, however, you must speak more good words for me in front of Zixue, and I will donate 10 million gold coins to the college."

  The vice president smiled and said, "No problem, you really are the best student in our college, haha. Let's go, follow me back." My heart tightened, and I followed the vice president to the rest area. Zi Xue's eyes were red as she stared at me, then suddenly threw herself into my arms, completely disregarding the strange looks from others, and burst into loud sobs. I wrapped my arms around her slender waist, smelling the fragrance in her hair, feeling a sense of fullness in my heart, and whispered, "Zi Xue, I miss you so much."

  Zi Xue Meng pushed me away, Li Hua Dai Yu angrily said: "Think of me? Think of me and you've been back for so long. And not telling me anything, you..." I was afraid she would reveal my secret, hurriedly covering her small mouth, coaxed: "Good Snow, let's go back and talk about it later, okay?"

  Zi Xue's anger on her face gradually disappeared, and she rushed into my arms again. Zi Yan walked over, I knew that she also wanted to get my hug, and compared with Zi Xue, her thoughts of me were not inferior, but our relationship had not been made public yet, and there were so many people around, she could only silently gaze at me.

  I gently pushed open Zixue and softly said: "Let's go."

  Zixue nodded cleverly and pulled her sister's hand, whispering something to Ziyuan.

  I followed everyone to the temple arranged by Xi Leng, and Teacher Zhuang hit me, saying: "What have you been doing for so long? If it weren't for me and the vice president speaking up for you, you would have been expelled from the college a long time ago. Do you know that?"

  My face turned red, and I said, "Thank you, Teacher Zhuang. It's like this, at first..." I repeated what I had said to the Duke again, and except for Zi Xue and Zi Yan, everyone else believed me without a doubt.

  The knock on the door came, and Zixue ran to open it. It was a young student from Xilun Academy, who said respectfully: "Greetings, teachers and seniors. Our principal invites you to have lunch in the VIP hall of our academy."

  "Alright, we'll go right away," said the deputy director.

  ……

  Apart from Feng Wen who was still unconscious, everyone else attended the luncheon. I didn't want to come at first, but the deputy dean said that I performed exceptionally well in the competition, defeating four strong opponents from Feng Xue alone, and it would be impolite not to go. I had no choice, so I went, hoping that he could put in a good word for me in front of Zi Xue.

  The VIP dining hall of Xilun Academy was very luxurious, with a red carpet on the floor and more than a dozen large round tables arranged inside, yet it didn't feel crowded at all. As soon as we entered the dining hall, the headmaster of Jian Sheng Institute immediately came to greet us. He took a deep look at me and said to the deputy headmaster, "Hehe, you old fellow, you're proud again, aren't you? I didn't expect that you'd actually come up with a secret weapon. At first, I thought our academy was unjustly defeated, but after seeing this young man's performance, I have nothing to say. You really can hide your true strength, you old rascal."

  The deputy dean smiled and said, "That's right, Lei Xiang is one of our college's key cultivation objects. How about it? Are you envious?"

  "Envy is useless, can you let him go to me? Come on in."

  We students sat at one table, the vice president, Mr. Zhuang and several other teachers from different colleges sat at another table. The lunch was sumptuous, with all kinds of local delicacies from Longshan on display here.

  Matsuno Academy's Fudou walked up to me, smiling and saying: "Rai brother, you're really impressive today, avenging our academy, I didn't expect that you would be a student of Tendo Academy."

  I smiled slightly and stood up, saying politely: "At first it was because I had to keep it a secret, so I didn't tell you, I'm really sorry."

  Feng Duo said in a low voice, "It's nothing, you guys can defeat the undefeated Feng Xue, I'm thrilled. Come sit with us later when you have time."

  I nodded in agreement.

  The girl with purple hair sitting next to me asked in a soft voice: "How do you know people from Shoujo Academy?"

  I smiled slightly and whispered into her adorable little ear, "I met them on the way here, they're not bad to me." The warmth of my breath made Yuki's small face blush, and she leaned away, whispering, "Hate you, why are you so close to me?"

  I smiled and said: "It's been so long since we last met, I really miss you."

  Zixue pouted and said, "Stop deceiving me. If you really love me, why didn't you tell me those secrets?" As soon as I thought of how I had deceived her earlier, Zixue's beautiful big eyes instantly turned red.

  On the other side, Ziyan saw that Zixue was unhappy and pinched my thigh hard, it hurt so much that I gritted my teeth, but didn't dare to make a sound.

  Zi Xue saw my expression and glanced at Zi Yan, then burst out laughing and said: "Serves you right."

  I put on an innocent expression and said in a low voice, "At that time, I really couldn't say anything. The dishes are all ready, let's eat quickly. It's all my fault, thinking about me has made you lose so much weight."

  Zi Xue said with a bad temper: "Who thought of you, stop being so smug." Although she said that, she still picked up her chopsticks and reached for the nearby dishes.

  Due to my outstanding performance in the competition, many students from other colleges came to toast me, of course including those who were my opponents. My drinking capacity is average, so I just took a sip.

  A calm voice sounded in my ear, "Can you tell me how you broke through my Ice Spirit Seal?"

  I turned my head to look, and it was the water element innate user Yun Xiao. I nodded at her and replied: "Actually, your seal is very clever, you should have also seen my last match with Tianzhong. My dark magic has been cultivated to the point where I can release seventh-level magic, while your sealing magic is sixth-level. Although you are an innate element user, you are one level behind, so naturally you cannot succeed. If it weren't for my recent breakthrough, the loser today would definitely be me."

  Yun Miao nodded and said, "Next time at the college exchange match, I will definitely defeat you."

  I exclaimed in surprise: "So you're a student below third grade."

  Yun Miao replied: "I am a second-year magic student at Fengyue Academy." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left.

  Ziyan said: "She's really competitive, Leixiang, you'd better work hard, otherwise, next time she might really beat you."

  I smiled and shook my head: "No way, because I won't participate in the next competition at all."

  "Zi Yan furrowed her brow and said: 'Why? Are you going to leave again this time you're back?'"

  I let out a sigh and carefully released a soundproof barrier, making sure that only Ziyuan and Zixue could hear my words. "Do you still remember the three-year promise I made to you? The reason I came back early this time is not because everything has been taken care of, but because there's something important I need to tell you both. After telling you, I'll have to take care of some other matters and won't be returning to Tiandu again. This time, let it count as my final contribution to Tiandu."

  "Are you going to leave? No way, I won't let you go."

  My face sank, and I said, "I have to go. My mother is still over there. She's human, and I need to bring her back to our own country. And what I want to tell you is very important. If you can't forgive me... perhaps..."

  Ziyan felt the seriousness of the situation and asked: "What needs our forgiveness?"

  I glanced at each of the sisters and said, "Let's talk about it after dinner, I don't want to ruin the atmosphere here. All I can tell you is that I did something wrong, something that will make me regret for the rest of my life." I closed my eyes in agony, a sharp pain stabbing at my heart.

  After hearing what I said, Ziyan and Zixue exchanged a glance, fell silent and no longer spoke. From my tone, they understood that the matter I wanted to talk about must be of great importance.

  A delicious meal in a harmonious atmosphere made everyone very happy, and the vice president was even drunk with a red face. When it was about to end, I went to the table of Songzhī Academy and found that except for Liànlù who was still cold to me, others were very respectful to me, and Tiān Xíng even exchanged some questions with me about the use of Dou Qi.

  After lunch, people from the four colleges returned to their respective residences. Although the exchange competition has ended, for the purpose of exchange, the other three colleges will stay here for a few more days.

  Back to the nunnery, everyone else went back to rest, while Ziyan and Zixue followed me back to the room arranged for me in Xilun. Both of them were very silent, I knew they were waiting for me to tell them the truth.

  It seems that it's time to say something. I took a deep breath, sorted out my thoughts, and let the two sisters of the Zi family into the room. They sat on the sofa and bed respectively, staring at me fixedly. I felt as if there was a huge stone pressing on my heart, and I couldn't breathe.

  Ziyan said: "Now it's just the three of us, you can say it."

  "I..."

  Look at me wanting to speak but hesitating, Zi Yan encouraged: "Speak up, no matter what it is, it's better to say it out loud."

  I nodded heavily, mustering up my courage, and said: "Ever since we parted ways at Struwelpeter Fortress last time..."

  Knock, knock, knock. The knocking sound came, and I could feel myself letting out a sigh of relief. Ziyan and Zixue's tense nerves also relaxed. I walked over to open the door, and it was an unfamiliar middle-aged man. From his appearance, it seemed that he should be a servant from some noble family.

  "Is anything wrong?"

  The other party politely said: "Hello, are you Mr. Lei Xiang?"

  I nodded and said: "I am."

  The middle-aged man smiled and said: "That's right, I'm a servant of the city master's house. The second young master asked me to find you, please go get some things."

  What's up? Ah, it's a gamble. Didn't we say tonight? Now it's still afternoon. Never mind, let's drag it out for another moment.

  "I know, wait a minute, I'll be right out." I turned around and went back to the room, saying to them: "I'm going out for a trip, taking those winnings from last time, and then we can continue talking when I get back, okay?"

  Ziyan gave me a white look and said, "We're going too."

  "I said in a low voice: 'Never mind, I'll go alone, and be back soon.'"

  Zi Xue said: "No way, we must go with you. Otherwise, if you run away again, what should I do? I don't want to wait foolishly for your return anymore."

  Looking at her tearful appearance, I couldn't refuse and had no choice but to nod in agreement.

  We three followed the middle-aged servant to the city master's mansion, walked into the hall, and unexpectedly found that the decoration here was very simple. The floor was paved with cheap green bricks, and everything was set up for practical use.

  Tanaka came forward, looking rather exhausted, as if he hadn't recovered from the morning's exertions. He glanced at the two sisters and said, "Welcome, I didn't expect you to bring two beauties along, it really brightens up my humble abode, please sit down."

  "I said coldly: 'No need for politeness, I'll take what's mine and leave immediately. There are many things waiting for me to deal with.'"

  Tanaka smiled slightly and said, "Well, if that's the case, then okay, please." He turned around and walked towards the inner room.

  He led us into the inner room, and in a somewhat embarrassed low voice said: "It's like this, although my brother is the master of the city, he doesn't have that many gold coins, you see..."

  "You don't need to say more, I think this time Tian's victory also made your outside gambler earn a lot, don't cry poor to me. Who let you be greedy and accept my gambling bet in the first place?"

  Tanaka saw no room for negotiation, and sighed: "Alright then, although we did make a lot this time, it's really not enough to compensate you. How about this? I have over 30 million in cash here, and as for the rest, you can go to our family's treasure vault and pick out a few precious items to make up for it, okay?"

  Treasures? If I pick a few good things to delight Zixue and the others, perhaps tonight's matter will be easier for them to accept. Thinking of this, I said: "Okay."

  Tian Zhongdao: "Since that's the case, I'll give this to you first." He said, taking out four cards and a note from his pocket. Among the four cards, one was green, while the others were blue.

  "What is this?" I asked.

  Tanaka looked at me with some surprise and said, "This is the most popular savings card on the mainland. The blue one is the highest level, with a limit of 10 million gold coins. The green one has a limit of 5 million. All four cards here are fully loaded. These cards were made by magic masters of the Magic Guide level and each has its own special usage method. This paper has the activation method written on it. As long as you have these cards, no matter where you are in the Dragon God's domain, you can withdraw gold coins. There is an ATM at the mansion, I'll take you there later to confirm the amount."

  I took the magic card and paper strip, saying: "No need, I trust you."

  Tanaka's eyes flashed with a hint of resentment, and he said, "Well, follow me to the storage room then. To be honest, if it weren't for owing you so much money, I really wouldn't want to show you those treasures. Because of this matter, my brother even scolded me severely, but for the sake of the Tan family's reputation, I have no choice." After finishing speaking, he turned and walked into the inner room.

  Inside was an ordinary study, with several large bookshelves arranged around the room, and a few ordinary calligraphic paintings hanging on the walls. Tanaka pulled out a book from the top shelf of the leftmost bookcase, and suddenly three of the paintings on the wall rolled up automatically, revealing the stone wall behind them. Behind each of the three paintings was an irregular recess. Tanaka took out three metal blocks from his pocket and inserted them into the different recesses, and there was a clicking sound, but nothing changed in the study.

  Tanaka pushed the book back in, half of it sticking out, and let it drop as if nothing had happened.

  "Follow me." He turned around and left the study. We followed him, out of the hall, from the side to the back yard, Tanaka walked quickly, winding us into the garden of the castle lord's mansion. In the center of the garden was a water tank, when we reached the edge of the water tank, he stopped. He stretched his hand into the nearby thicket and searched for something, using all his strength, as if pulling something. A slight vibration sounded, and bubbles suddenly emerged from the center of the water tank. Gradually, a stone platform about 10 square meters in size rose up. In the center of the stone platform was a black tunnel leading underground.

  "Goodness gracious, what a clever device."

  Tanaka gazed at her with a hint of infatuation and said, "This place holds the treasures accumulated by our ancestors over dozens of generations. It's extremely secretive, and if I hadn't triggered the mechanism earlier, this place wouldn't have risen up. Outsiders can't possibly obtain our three keys, even if they did, they won't easily find this place or discover the entrance. I hope you can choose something and then forget about what happened here, and not mention it to anyone, okay?"

  "I will."

  Tanaka smiled and said, "I believe in Ray's and the two duchesses' integrity."

  "Zi Xue said in surprise: 'Do you know our identities?'"

  Tian Zhong Dao said, "My brother has the title of hereditary earl and is also the lord of this castle. He will naturally know more than ordinary people. Let's go down." After finishing speaking, he lightly jumped up and floated over.

  I wrapped my arms around Ziyan and Zixue's slender waists and followed them.

  Tanaka muttered a few incantations, and a small flame appeared in his hand. He turned around and said, "Follow my footsteps closely, don't take a wrong step, there are traps everywhere inside." After that, he led the way down.

  I said to Ziyan and Zixue: "Be careful." Then I followed the footprints in the field.

  Ziyan released a light system illumination technique, instantly illuminating the tunnel much brighter, and followed behind with Zixue walking down the tunnel.

  After we all got out of the tunnel, I don't know where Tanaka pressed something, and the entrance to the tunnel closed, causing the entire tunnel to shake. I knew that this entrance had sunk back into the water tank again.

  The tunnel twisted and turned, with uneven stone blocks on both sides. Tanaka walked slowly and carefully, and thanks to his warning, we all followed cautiously behind him. After walking for about the time it takes to eat a meal, the front suddenly opened up, and the narrow tunnel gradually became wider. Tanaka turned back and said with relief, "Alright, you can relax now, there are no more traps ahead." As he spoke, he quickened his pace and walked forward.

  After turning two corners, a huge iron gate appeared in front of us.

  Tian Zhongdao said, "The surrounding area is all hard granite for several miles. In order to excavate this treasure room, my ancestors don't know how much effort they put in. This iron gate was cast from white iron produced from the deep sea and is one zhang thick. If you don't know the way to open it, even if several dragon riders join hands, they can't break it."

  I said with some skepticism: "The combined strength of several Dragon Riders is enough to destroy the heavens and earth, how can they not open this iron gate?"

  Tanaka Michi said, "Perhaps their strength can indeed shatter the iron gate, but at the same time it will also shake the mechanism. Under our feet are several thousand kilograms of explosives, and above us are tens of thousands of tons of massive rocks. If this place collapses, I'm afraid even a god would not survive."

  Zi Xue shrank her body in fear and said: "Is it necessary to make it so terrifying?"

  Tanaka said with a smile, "Of course, the treasures accumulated by our ancestors are not what you can imagine. They might be even more magnificent than the imperial palace. The cheapest items inside are worth over 100,000 gold coins, and the best ones are priceless treasures. Lei brother, let's do it this way: after we go in, I won't say a word or introduce anything. You can choose five items on your own, and let's see how lucky you are."

  Ziyan frowned and said: "Five pieces, you're too stingy, can five pieces be worth 45 million gold coins?"

  "I stopped Ziyuan and said, 'Forget it, one can't be too excessive in life. After all, it's just a bet, and Tian has already paid a lot. Let's open the door and choose five items instead.'"

  Tanaka looked at me with some gratitude and said, "Thank you, Lei brother, for understanding my difficulties. The key to this iron gate is a kind of gemstone whose name I don't know. My ancestors had cast a blood curse on it, so only those with our family's bloodline plus the key can open it. You all wait for a moment."

  As he spoke, he pulled out a white stone from his bosom and walked over to stand in front of the stone gate. He seemed to be praying for something, with an extremely respectful expression. After a while, he stopped praying, bit his middle finger, and used the fresh blood to dye the white object red. Then, he pressed it onto the iron door without any seams. The blood-red key seemed to have no physical form as it seeped in.

  The kind Death God will start updating at a speed that catches up with the starting point of the public version from today.