Chapter 1157: Everyone’s Stupefied Faces

　　Fire Peak’s mountain spirit…

　　No one knew exactly what happened. As the spell caster, Xia Ming was frozen with stupefaction. The mountain spirit of Fire Peak was a super level one creature of nature, and was much stronger than spirit beasts! Xia Ming never thought that he would actually summon the mountain spirit with the most basic Spirit Summoning Technique!

　　At that moment, every single person at the foot of the mountain was staring at this giant lava hand with stupefied faces; they were utterly frozen with shock.

　　“What the heck is that thing?”

　　“Mountain spirit?”

　　“How can a Foundation Establishment student summon a mountain spirit?! Even if he’s Grandpa Lu[1] reborn, this cheat is too crazy!”

　　“Retreat! Retreat! Everyone, keep your distance from it!”

　　Nan Yixiu majored in perception-type magic. He had been observing the movements on the mountaintop all this time, and when the mountain spirit came out, his brain just flatlined and collapsed!

　　…

　　At the same time, numerous screens in the command center were flashing. Looking at the scene on the screens, the headmasters rose to their feet one by one in alarm.

　　“This is… the mountain spirit?”

　　“Can the Spirit Summoning Technique summon a mountain spirit?”

　　“It can in theory, but the chances are low. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to summon one – is this a freak accident?”

　　“Who cares – right now, our priority is to save the students! What do we do?!” a headmaster cried out, and his words woke everyone up from their reverie. The mountain spirit had appeared, and the power which this one hand contained was like the wrath of nature; it was far from anything that Foundation Establishment cultivators could contend with.

　　Although these creatures of nature would stir at particular times of the year, they usually would never reveal their true forms. Actually, a lot of times when natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides happened, they were signs of a mountain spirit stirring, and they were roused when human activity disrupted the serenity of nature. It went without saying how powerful they were; turning over or a yawn could sometimes cause great destruction.

　　This was also called the force of nature.

　　At the same time, mountain spirits were shy creatures which seldom revealed their true forms to human cultivators. Some of them slept for hundreds of years or over a thousand years, and they were more used to lying dormant and hidden in the dark.

　　Thus, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the mountain spirit of Fire Peak waking up at this moment, and even stretching out one hand, was an anomaly.

　　“Organize to have people sent over at once.” Old Huang was instantly on the alert.

　　The inopportune appearance of this mountain spirit reminded him all of a sudden of a very rare possibility…

　　“Does teacher suspect that this is the work of some evil force?” Director Qi instantly understood. Only human malice could disturb the slumber of nature spirits like the mountain spirit. It was very unlikely that a Foundation Establishment student could rouse a mountain spirit with the Spirit Summoning Technique, unless there was an even more sinister presence nearby! Hence, the moment Student Xia Ming summoned a spirit, evil power surged into the channel which was opened up by the Spirit Summoning Technique, instantly waking up the mountain spirit.

　　If one were to describe this feeling, it was like being woken up from a sound sleep with a fierce slap to the face.

　　…

　　Very quickly, Wang Ling saw the red robes of the special forces in the distance as they hurried over from the station, each of them holding a Code of Nature book. It was clear that they had already prepared for a crisis like this. While the chances of the mountain spirit waking up was very slim, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen.

　　Code of Nature was a pure, musical bible that had been compiled by Almighty-level cultivators. When a particular sound wave spell was sung in unison, it could placate nature spirits.

　　But the current situation was a lot worse than anyone could have imagined.

　　The evil power which had possessed Xia Ming had boosted his strength. Summoning the soul of a level one or level two spirit beast actually wouldn’t be unusual, but summoning a mountain spirit was a huge problem.

　　And the catalyst for the mountain spirit’s awakening was Human Devil, who had been following and observing them from the shadows the entire time.

　　“I can’t wait anymore.”

　　Wang Ling sighed inwardly.

　　He liked peace and quiet.

　　And what he hated most was when people bothered him.

　　He didn’t want to be in this national competition.

　　He wanted the peace being disrupted even less.

　　Unless the problem was destroyed at its root, it would be very hard to coax the mountain spirit back to sleep just by singing Code of Nature.

　　Wang Ling fixed his eyes on the shadow which had been following him for a long time in the dark.

　　Human Devil Xia Lixing was the cause of this disaster.

　　…

　　At that moment, Xia Lixing exulted when he saw the mountain spirit appear in its true form. His Holy Devil Imprisonment Technique could devour all living things; if he could devour the mountain spirit, he would become three times stronger than when he had been at his peak!

　　But just as Xia Lixing was about to take action in the next breath, he felt eyes on him…

　　A large pair of eyes was fixed on his back like the sun, which made Xia Lixing instantly doubt his entire existence. He sensed that an immense power had locked onto him, like he was nothing more than a small meteorite that had been marked and would be swallowed up at any time.

　　What was going on?

　　Who on earth was it…

　　Two big questions sprung up in Xia Lixing’s mind.

　　Then, he heard the sound of footsteps in the dark.

　　It was one of No. 60 High’s Foundation Establishment youngsters, walking toward him.

　　Xia Lixing: “?”

　　Was it this person?

　　Xia Lixing could feel his three views collapsing.

　　He had wondered earlier if his presence had been detected…

　　Wang Ling’s movements now answered his question perfectly.

　　As Wang Ling’s slightly small and thin figure gradually approached Xia Lixing –

　　Xia Lixing’s mood fluctuated wildly.

　　He was surprised, then shocked, and finally, he was deeply afraid.

　　Wang Ling reached out one hand and simply suppressed him with the Great Purification Spell.

　　The spirits of the living creatures which Xia Lixing had devoured recently instantly poured out of his body, which was like a black hole!

　　It was just a split second.

　　In the forbidden zone where General Bai and the three-person Mahjong Squad had been earlier, the withered spirit plants and dead spirit beasts were miraculously revived.

　　This frantic outpouring left Xia Lixing weak all over.

　　The power of Wang Ling”s Great Purification Spell was far beyond Xia Lixing’s imagination – it actually had the powerful effect of turning the rotten into the miraculous.

　　“Who on earth are you…” Xia Lixing was terrified.

　　Wang Ling faced him.

　　He didn’t want to say a single word.

　　This guy was too weak.

　　He was weaker than anyone in the three-person Mahjong Squad.

　　He had devoured too many souls, but hadn’t digested them properly, so his strength hadn’t increased at its core.

　　He was thus directly reduced to his original form by the Great Purification Spell.

　　Furthermore, using the King’s Eye and the power of Fate Dao together, Wang Ling could see that the Human Devil in front of him was someone who had already died before.

　　Since he was already dead –

　　Just let him sleep forever.

　　So, there was no need for superfluous words.

　　Wang Ling stretched out one hand and placed it on Xia Lixing’s forehead as he used the Great Salvation Spell.

　　[1] Refers to Lu Benwei, the Chinese live stream gamer who is infamous for cheating.