Before the strange gatekeeper could react, Lu Chen slammed a heavy hand onto its shoulder and sneered, “Well, what are you waiting for? It’s my first time here—you show me the way!”
The gatekeeper clearly hadn’t expected this. Its chewing came to an abrupt halt.
Its crimson eyes rolled a few times, sizing Lu Chen up from head to toe. Then it cracked a hideous grin. “Alright, alright, alright! I’ll take you, I’ll take you! Let’s go!”
It casually tossed aside the bloody chunk of raw meat it had been holding, and its oddly compressed, disproportionate body began shuffling along, leading the way with a pronounced limp.
Lu Chen followed closely. As they passed the guard booth, he casually glanced inside.
There sat another gatekeeper. When it noticed Lu Chen looking, it mechanically raised a hand in greeting.
But its grin stretched all the way to the back of its ears!
Lu Chen narrowed his eyes, looked away, and continued following the guide gatekeeper.
The entire campus was deserted, save for the eerie black mist that slithered about like living things.
Above, a blood-red moon hung in the sky, making this lifeless place all the more terrifying and sinister.
Soon, the pair entered the teaching building.
“Up these stairs, second floor, Classroom 4.”
The gatekeeper stopped at the stairwell and twisted its head to an impossible angle. “Hurry up, kid. You’re going to be late… and the consequences of being late are very serious!”
As it spoke, a putrid stench washed over Lu Chen.
Lu Chen silently channeled his magic, holding 【Absolute Clear Water】 and 【Turbid Waves Scorch the Heavens】 at the ready.
If this old ghoul dared to come any closer, he wouldn’t hesitate to send it straight to its grave.
Fortunately, the gatekeeper only took a deep whiff of the air, let out a series of “hehehe” cackles, and turned to leave.
“So fragrant, so fragrant~”
“Lucky you. I’ll let you live a little longer.” Lu Chen sneered inwardly.
Though he looked down on this Reincarnation Academy strategically, tactically, he didn’t let his guard down for a moment.
He quickly scanned his surroundings, then climbed the stairs to the second floor.
The yin energy on this floor was noticeably thicker, almost tangible.
Lu Chen looked to his left. Classrooms lined both sides of the hallway, numbered just like in any ordinary school.
Classroom 1,
Classroom 2…
And Classroom 4 was at the very end of the corridor.
Lu Chen strode forward.
His footsteps echoed through the empty hallway, unnervingly loud.
As he passed Classroom 1, he suddenly felt countless gazes boring into him.
He turned his head. Even with his mental preparations, he couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine.
The “students” inside the classroom were all twisting their necks at grotesque angles, their hollow eye sockets fixed on him in unison, wearing identical, eerie smiles.
Lu Chen quickened his pace. He passed Classroom 2, then Classroom 3.
Without exception, every time he passed a classroom, the “students” inside would all turn their heads in perfect sync, watching him with those vacant stares.
Finally, he reached the door of Class 4.
Knock, knock, knock.
Lu Chen rapped on the door.
“Come in…”
A grating, teeth-grinding voice called from inside.
Lu Chen took a deep breath.
The next second.
He suddenly swung his leg and kicked the door open!
“BAM!!”
The door panel flew off its hinges. The thunderous crash stunned the demons inside the classroom.
The demon teacher, who had been planning to follow the usual routine and say, “So you’ve arrived~,” now just stared at Lu Chen with its hollow eye sockets, “bewildered.”
Clearly, it had never encountered this before.
“What the hell are you looking at?! Never seen a handsome guy show up late before?!”
Lu Chen strode into the classroom with his hands in his pockets, face full of contempt.
When he saw the evil spirit in the front row still frozen in its seat, Lu Chen’s anger flared. He raised his leg and kicked over the nearest desk.
This kick carried the power of 【Absolute Clear Water】 and 【Turbid Waves Scorch the Heavens】. As the force spread, the evil spirit let out a piercing shriek before dissolving into black smoke.
“I’m here now, and you still think you deserve the front row?!”
Lu Chen snorted coldly, his sharp gaze sweeping the room.
All the vicious spirits in the classroom were stunned. For a moment, not a single one dared to approach.
The commotion was massive enough to alert the entire building.
On the hallway outside, every evil spirit from the neighboring classrooms poured in, crowding the doors and windows, sealing off the outside. Pairs of bloodthirsty eyes glinted through the black mist.
Lu Chen snorted again. Without a word, he grabbed a bench and hurled it at them.
“CRASH!”
The window shattered.
With his divine powers enhancing the throw, the flying bench sent several more evil spirits screaming into black smoke.
“SCREEEECH!!!”
It was only then that the evil spirits realized something was terribly wrong. Led by the demon teacher, they all unleashed a synchronized, piercing shriek attack.
But this level of sonic assault was like a feather duster against Lu Chen, who possessed the powers of 【River and Lake Dragon King】 and 【Weihe River Dragon King】.
It didn’t cause a scratch.
Annoyed by the noise, Lu Chen suddenly spun around, lunged forward, and clamped his five fingers like iron pincers around the demon teacher’s neck, lifting it clean off the ground.
The moment the demon teacher’s shrieking stopped, the other evil spirits fell silent too.
“Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.”
Black smoke kept billowing from where the demon teacher’s neck met Lu Chen’s palm.
【Absolute Clear Water】 was like holy water to these kinds of evil spirits—devastatingly effective.
“Alright, enough with the act.” Lu Chen’s voice was ice-cold, and he tightened his grip. “You’re all nothing but dead things that can’t die any further. What’s with this ‘teacher-student’ drama? Call out your Red-Clad ghost now! You small fry aren’t worth wasting my time!”
The demon teacher thrashed wildly, its withered claws pointing to its “burnt” neck, signaling it couldn’t speak.
“Clap, clap, clap!”
Suddenly, clear applause rang out from outside the door!
It was slow and deliberate, yet carried a heart-stopping pressure.
All the vicious spirits, upon hearing that applause, instantly prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling violently like leaves in a storm, as if mice had seen… a tiger!
The fierce ghost hadn’t even arrived yet, but crimson light was already flooding into the classroom like a tide, dyeing everything red.
The next moment, the red light condensed into a figure clad in a crisp red suit and gold-rimmed glasses.
But that refined outfit sat on a face so ugly and crude it was almost painful to look at.
“BAM!”
With the main act now on stage, Lu Chen squeezed his hand and crushed the demon teacher into a wisp of black smoke. It didn’t even have time to scream.
“This student,” the Red-Clad fierce ghost pushed up its gold-rimmed glasses, a smirk playing on its lips, “you show such disrespect to your teacher and harm your classmates so cruelly. This is a serious violation of school rules. You will face severe punishment, you know.”
Its tone was dripping with provocation, as if it couldn’t care less about Lu Chen’s earlier display.
“Oh?” Lu Chen crossed his arms and sneered. “Then tell me, what punishment will I face?”
“Very simple.” The Red-Clad ghost grinned, revealing a mouthful of jagged, uneven fangs. “First, your flesh will be sent to the cafeteria to be made into a delicious meal for everyone. Second, your soul will be branded with the mark of Reincarnation Academy, and you’ll never be able to leave.
And no matter how strong you were in life, here, you’ll be nothing but the lowest class of spirit.”
Its blood-red aura suddenly intensified. The wails of ghosts and howls of demons filled the air, and even the entire teaching building began to tremble.
Some of the weaker spirits couldn’t withstand the pressure and exploded into black smoke on the spot.
The Red-Clad ghost’s form swelled to twice its size, growing even more twisted and terrifying. “I was going to let you be an ordinary student, but…”
It opened its gaping maw, its voice echoing: “You’ve gone too far! Even a fourth-rank initial stage spirit cultivator becomes my meal, let alone a second-rank like you!
Among all the students who’ve joined Reincarnation Academy, plenty have been stronger than you. But you! You are the most arrogant one I’ve ever seen!
You must be severely—”
Before the word “severely” had even finished echoing through the air—
“BOOM!!!!!”
“BOOM!!!!!”
“BOOM!!!!!”
“BOOM!!!!!”
In the next instant, four terrifying black tornadoes descended upon the classroom. Gales howled, and ghostly energy soared to the heavens!
The Red-Clad ghost’s pupils suddenly contracted.
Before it, the arrogant young man was now completely enveloped in an intensely dense and pure yin aura.
His jet-black hair grew at a visible speed, whipping wildly in the windless air!
“Fourth-rank?”
Lu Chen grinned savagely, snapping open a pair of eyes that were purer, redder, and more terrifying than the Red-Clad ghost’s own.
“WHOOOOOSH—!!!”
A bone-chilling, horrifying aura swept through the room like a tsunami, engulfing the entire classroom, the entire building, the entire Reincarnation Academy!
“Sorry, but I’ve got four more just like you!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the four underworld emissaries materialized.
Fan Rusong brandished the Soul-Locking Chain, its cold gleam sharp as ice;
Xie Qingyi swung the Mourning Staff, summoning gusts of yin wind;
Ox-Head’s giant axe loomed menacingly; Horse-Face’s long whip cracked through the air.
Four ghost domains unfolded simultaneously. The Reincarnation Academy’s own domain shattered like brittle glass, piece by piece!
“Underworld Emissaries?!”
For the first time, sheer terror flashed across the Red-Clad ghost’s face.
Lu Chen personally tolled its death knell:
—”You! Can die now!”
