Chapter Sixty-Six: The Tenfold Barrier! Chaos at Qingyun!

Xu Wen could hardly imagine how the mighty Qingyun Empire, with its vast resources and strength, could have been invaded by the undead army without a sound, falling into such dire straits. Even if the skeletal dragons and nether specters in the sky possessed the ability to fly, what were the powerful defenders of the imperial capital doing? The imperial court’s enshrined mages? The formidable experts from the Qingyun Academy and the Eight Great Houses? Those alone should be enough to shield the capital beneath a blue sky! Not to mention the impregnable Tenfold Barrier!

From his studies of history, Xu Wen knew much about Qingyun City’s defenses. The imperial capital was the strongest fortress the empire had ever had. Hundreds of years ago, after “that battle,” the emperor had hired tens of thousands of high-ranking magisters to inscribe countless overlapping defensive magic circles around the city. The circles were so dense that several grand magisters and a few archmages together wrought the legendary Tenfold Barrier, a defense of unmatched power, covering the entire capital!

Even if millions of troops pressed the city, it could easily hold out for months…

And yet!

This mythic fortress had been breached?

“Something must have gone wrong!”

As he ran, Xu Wen kept checking above and around him, his mind racing: The fighting didn’t seem to have lasted long. Many high-level magi and magisters from the Qingyun Academy hadn’t even left the school. Only when the undead army battered the Fivefold Barrier of the academy did they begin evacuating students. It appeared the undead had appeared with such suddenness that the Tenfold Barrier hadn’t even been activated in time.

No!

Xu Wen quickly dismissed that theory. The aura of the undead was impossible to miss. With so many powerful beings gathered near the capital, a surprise attack was out of the question—there must be another reason.

Something internal…

“Perhaps the problem started within the capital itself.”

Thinking of the legendary Tenfold Barrier, the strength of the Eight Great Houses, and the foundation of Qingyun Academy, a chill crept over him. Unless something had gone wrong from within, there was simply no reason for the capital to fall so quickly.

Lost in thought, he saw that the Fire Magic Division’s plaza was already in sight!

From a distance, the plaza was packed with students, a sea of heads as far as the eye could see.

Xu Wen had never seen so many students all at once—clearly, many who usually preferred to train in solitude had come.

“Brother Xu!”

“Xu Wen!”

The moment he reached the edge of the plaza, several familiar voices called out from the crowd; Xie Zhan, Xiang Nan, and others pushed their way through to him.

“You there, return to your places at once!”

An elder called out to the five of them from afar.

Xie Zhan reacted first, pulling Xu Wen and the girls back into the crowd.

“Brother Xu, is it true you’ve been training with Headmaster Halman?” The question instantly drew many envious glances from the surrounding students.

Xu Wen frowned, glancing up at the increasingly fierce attacks of the undead and the weakening Fivefold Barrier. He had no mind for such discussions.

Skeletal dragons were undead creatures between the sixth and seventh rank—formidable! The Fivefold Barrier was a large-scale defense jointly activated by five grand magisters of different elements. But compared to the Tenfold Barrier, its defensive power fell dreadfully short. Under the relentless bombardment from the skeletal dragons and high-level undead above, it would not hold much longer.

Suddenly!

Xu Wen’s heart skipped a beat, and he looked down.

Only then did he notice that the once smooth and clean plaza floor was now inscribed with intricate and mysterious magical patterns, radiating a faint glow.

A grand teleportation array?!

Startled, Xu Wen looked up.

“Headmaster!”

Someone shouted.

“There are still some who haven’t arrived!” Several students grew anxious, shouting towards several seven-star elders at the edge of the plaza, their bodies radiating tremendous magical power.

“Silence!” A few teachers barked from within the crowd. “The barrier can’t hold much longer! If we don’t activate the teleportation now, we’ll all die here!”

“But—”

“What but?!”

“Why can’t they come with us?”

Following the direction of their pointing fingers, Xu Wen saw, at one side of the plaza, a group of several dozen students, standing listlessly, as if struck down by frost.

“Hmph! The fall of the capital is closely tied to the Ayer and Salem families who guard the north! For everyone’s safety, they cannot be allowed to leave with the rest of you!”

This news exploded in the crowd like a bomb.

“What?!”

“They’re traitors?”

A thousand eyes turned toward that group, staring first in disbelief, then fury. Even those who had once been friends now glared at them, turning away in contempt.

Xu Wen glanced at those students and sighed inwardly. The Ayer and Salem families had dared to collude with necromancers to attack the capital. The Eight Great Houses of Qingyun would soon become six. The young ones surely knew nothing of it, but because of their family ties, they were implicated—a fate no dynasty or world could avoid. No one could wholly trust or forgive the kin of traitors.

“Where will we be sent?” Xu Wen asked those around him. Since the capital had become a battlefield of undead, their escape must be a long-distance teleportation.

“No idea!” a strange youth answered behind him. Seeing Xu Wen turn, he explained quickly, “The teleportation arrays of Qingyun Academy connect to more than twenty different cities or mountain ranges. Only the division heads know the exact destination.”

Xu Wen nodded in relief. That was good enough.

As they spoke, the Fivefold Barrier finally cracked, the sound of shattering echoing through the air.

The undead above sensed it instantly. Their roars grew deafening, their attacks more violent, a relentless pounding from above.

Damn! Xu Wen and the others tensed up at once; some even began donning their armor and readying their wands.

The combined might of thousands of Fire Magic Division students was not to be underestimated! Unless the necromancers commanding the undead were close by, there was no way they could swallow so many mage-students, whose spells were especially deadly to the undead.

Xu Wen was no exception. He watched the rapidly failing barrier, his finger lingering on his ring, rubbing it slowly—but in the end, he did not draw out the ancient, magma-bright wand he’d acquired from the Armory Pavilion. It was worth seventy thousand gold coins, an exquisite five-star wand, greatly amplifying fire spells, with a slot to insert a fire-elemental core for even greater effect.

A pity!

The wand was simply too conspicuous, out of keeping with his current status, and could invite trouble.

To summon an undead army on this scale, only the Dark Empire, sealed and isolated for centuries, could manage it. Whether through betrayal or other means, the capital would not survive the Dark Empire’s schemes intact. The empire would surely descend into chaos. At such a time, keeping a low profile was wise…

In any case, the teleportation array was already in its final phase!