Chapter 350 - 48: Stunning Performance, Requesting an Additional Award for Mo Ning

Chapter 350: Chapter 48: Stunning Performance, Requesting an Additional Award for Mo Ning

The instant the Leopard Shadow appeared, a chain of shocking events was set in motion.

A voice descended, imbued with infinite majesty, and thundered through the tumultuous mess hall.

And yet, Mo Ning understood its meaning.

"Ye are guilty!"

Those three words smashed down like a great hammer.

All three of them, Mo Ning included, felt a bone-chilling paralysis spread from the depths of their souls. Their bodies felt as if they’d been filled with molten lead; even bending a single pinky finger was an impossible luxury.

The color drained from Finch and Bet’s faces.

It felt as if a mountain were crushing them. Their mouths seemed sealed with molten iron, preventing them from uttering even the simplest syllable of a Curse. Their hands felt bound by iron chains, making even the slightest casting gesture impossible.

To an Apprentice, this was the most terrifying predicament imaginable.

You were still alive, yet could only watch helplessly as death crept closer, inch by agonizing inch.

Perhaps because the Leopard Shadow absorbed some of the pressure, Mo Ning felt a sliver of relief.

But it was just that—a sliver. He could barely twitch his fingertips, the movement pitifully small. His body remained pinned in place.

Just then.

Outside the water wall, a suffocatingly massive shadow whipped several terrifyingly thick tentacles and smashed them violently against the barrier, which was already covered in spiderweb-like cracks.

The water wall groaned under the immense strain as the cracks spread wildly.

At this rate, the wall would completely collapse after one or two more impacts, allowing the horrifying tentacles to pour inside.

A look of ashen despair clouded both Finch’s and Bet’s eyes.

In the nick of time, the Leopard Shadow moved.

It opened its mouth and let out a silent roar. In that instant, the Electric Snakes coiling around its body surged, growing tenfold. Its form rapidly expanded, swelling from its original three meters to five.

The Leopard Shadow kicked powerfully off the ground, its massive body soaring high into the air. It became a flash of lightning tearing through the gloom, pouncing toward the empty space in the center of the mess hall.

It was as if it were pouncing on some "non-existent thing" in the void.

The next instant.

CRACK—!

A clap of thunder exploded.

Countless tiny Electric Snakes poured from the Leopard Shadow’s body like a flash flood, instantly sweeping across most of the mess hall.

Amidst the flashing lightning, a hazy, indistinct phantom appeared before everyone’s eyes, as if it had been forcibly "dragged" out of the void by the current.

The phantom’s face was blurry, as if seen through a curtain of water.

But Mo Ning recognized the face with a single glance.

Kanda.

The very same Kanda who had died in the Steel Bamboo Forest months ago.

’How is this possible?!’

The shock lasted only an instant before a flash of insight cut through the fog in Mo Ning’s mind.

’I get it! This is a Soul Parasite! The same Soul Parasite documented in the Arbitration Court’s internal files!’

His mind raced at an unprecedented speed, countless fragments piecing themselves together into a complete and clear chain of logic in a flash.

’A Dark Wizard, to achieve some ulterior motive, had a sliver of the Will of the Evil God become a parasite deep within Kanda’s soul, thereby perfectly bypassing the academy’s inspections.’

’The moment Kanda first stepped into the newcomers’ mess hall, the Will of the Evil God detached from his soul and began lurking here in secret.’

’A Soul Parasite inevitably causes a minor fusion of souls. Therefore, when the Will of the Evil God detached, it sliced away a small piece of Kanda’s soul.’

’No wonder the character analysis model captured expressions of nervousness and fear on Kanda’s face back then.’

’In the instant of their separation, Kanda must have seen the Evil God’s true form through his soul’s ’True Vision’.’

’The soul perceives essence—the undisguised true form of the Evil God. It is a terrifying form, enough to shatter a mortal’s sanity. That’s why he was terrified; that was the source of his fear.’

’He must have guessed what was happening, vaguely understanding that a Dark Wizard was planning a conspiracy within the academy. That’s why he was so nervous.’

’Yes, that’s it! It all fits together!’

His thoughts delved deeper, and Mo Ning understood even more of the cause and effect:

’To rashly witness an unnamable entity without having reached a certain level of power is to invite a fatal doom. This is an unshakable, ironclad law.’

’From that moment on, the invisible hand of fate had already pushed Kanda into an abyss of eternal damnation.’

’The day the Steel Bamboo Forest opened, I was walking behind Kanda on the Secluded Path when he suddenly raised a hand to fix his hair.’

’That wasn’t a random gesture. It was a sign deliberately arranged for me by fate, allowing me to catch a glimpse of the Evil God Emblem hidden on his wrist.’

’Then, I had Anya report Kanda on the spot in the forest, and he ultimately died at the hands of Anya’s Qi and Blood Fist.’

Though this chain of deduction was complex, in reality, it all flashed through his mind in a single instant.

It was an instinctive burst of thought from Mo Ning under extreme pressure, a flash so quick that time itself couldn’t keep up.

Afterward.

The Leopard Shadow closed in on Kanda’s phantom—or rather, the sliver of the Will of the Evil God—and bit down hard.

"Ant!"

Kanda’s lips seemed to twitch, and once again, the majestic, suffocating voice thundered through the mess hall.

Then, with a motion too fast to be seen, "he" raised a finger and casually pointed it at the Leopard Shadow from a distance.

’An opportunity!’

Mo Ning’s will struck like a falling blade, and he instantly issued a command.