When a maniacal grin spread across Qiu Bai's face, everyone besides Jiang Qing'e stepped back inadvertently.
Bai Mengmeng was white as a sheet, horror in her eyes.
Li Luo was feeling a little weak in the legs himself. Qiu Bai was probably facing the mad grin within the corrupting illusion realm right now, but his greenwood comforter was not effective enough.
He was being held in the throes of madness.
There was a sick feeling in his stomach. Qiu Bai wouldn't be easy to deal with. He was one of the elites of Three Star Hall, and he was an Earth Fiend General as well. Although far from Jiang Qing'e, he was an experienced opponent.
Even so, he had fallen into the trap?
How strong could the Other that created this be?
“Pssss!”
Qiu Bai hissed at them. His resonant power surged forth with the power of a violent tornado, aimed directly at Li Luo.
Li Luo flicked a Waterlight Bullet in response, even as he turned to flee.
No way was he going to be able to stand up against Qiu Bai. Retreat was his only option.
The Waterlight Bullet blinded Qiu Bai completely, but he did not claw at his eyes in pain as other victims did. He continued forward, a zombie of smiling insanity. A fiery spear appeared in his hands.
Dang!
A green rapier knocked it midair, and the two weapons were locked in a long stalemate before they disengaged.
"Thanks, Senior!" Li Luo yelled as he continued running.
Jiang Qing'e stepped in now, her light resonant energy manifesting in the shape of an arrow that came from above. It shrouded Qiu Bai completely.
Rumble!
The fire spear in his hands moved upwards in a fountain, until it was a flowing veil of lucent fire, shading him from the light arrow.
It was not enough, and the light arrow crushed its way through relentlessly.
The disparity in power was obvious.
Qiu Bai sensed this, and was already turning to flee.
Shoop!
A lasso of light encircled him and tightened. Soon, he was trussed up and completely immobilized.
Qiu Bai struggled violently, but the light stretched and contracted on him like a second skin.
Tian Tian breathed out with relief.
Bai Mengmeng and Xin Fu huddled up with Li Luo. "Leader, what's going on?"
"Did you two see the grinning face on the wall?"
They both shook their heads. Jiang Qing'e had shattered the illusion for both of them before they got that far.
"You're lucky, then," Jiang Qing'e said grimly as she walked over. "The illusion you were trapped in is a corrupting illusion realm. Only Disaster Class Others can fashion such a thing.
"We encountered such a thing before, but…" She looked back warily at the wall she had smashed. "This is the first time I've seen that leaving a simple smile mark on the wall can unleash such power. Even someone as strong as Qiu Bai fell. Something so strong, I suspect it's a Heavenly Disaster Class Other.
"Such an abomination should not appear here."
Li Luo's squad swallowed hard. The Disaster Class was divided into Earthly and Heavenly. Heavenly Disaster Class equaled Heavenly Dipper General. How could something so strong be here?
Hadn't the mentors already swept through?
And there were supposed to be Four Star Hall students forming a defensive perimeter deeper in…
"There are always those who slip the net. It's not unheard of," Tian Tian said calmly. "We were unlucky."
"Then all the Others here…" Li Luo's voice trailed off.
"Yes, probably eaten by the Heavenly Disaster Class." Jiang Qing'e nodded. "Bad news. It's only going to get stronger."
The first years were reeling. They were still struggling with Eroding Class Others. This was way out of their league.
Again, the sheer horror that was the Others was imprinted deeply upon them.
They looked at the trussed up Qiu Bai, still drooling from the side of his lunatic smile. The sides of his mouth had been ripped apart, and the flesh shone red and bloody.
If even an Earth Fiend like Qiu Bai could fall, what chance did they stand?
Li Luo absently touched the sides of his mouth. He suddenly didn't feel like smiling at all.
"What are we going to do about Senior Qiu Bai?" Bai Mengmeng asked.
"His condition is fine," Jiang Qing'e replied. "The seed of corruption has been exposed. We just need to bring him back under the influence of the purification tower, and he should recover in a bit.
"What's even more horrifying are the hidden seeds of corruption. They might suddenly come to life like an ambush from within. No one knows if their teammates have been affected. And suddenly, in the crucial moment in battle…
"Like a cold knife in the back."
Li Luo and the other two paled. Seeds of corruption were terrifying to think about.
"Senior Jiang, can you sense them?" Xin Fu asked in a shaky voice. "You managed to hold Senior Qiu Bai after all."
"His corruption is not severe, so my ninth-grade light resonance has some effect. But once the seed of corruption takes hold deep in a person's heart, not even I can sense it," she said.
They looked at each other with uncertainty.
"Let's get Qiu Bai purified first."
Jiang Qing'e flicked a finger, and her heavy sword scooped up the end of the lasso that Qiu Bai hung from. It flew ahead to the purification tower.
With each purifying pulse of energy from the tower, the madness faded from Qiu Bai's face little by little.
A few minutes later, his eyes returned to normal.
He looked around at his situation and grimaced with understanding.
He twisted himself free of the sword and landed on his feet.
"Sorry about that, Li Luo," he said with a wry smile in apology.
Li Luo didn't reply. "Is he really himself again?" he whispered to Jiang Qing'e instead.
She nodded.
Satisfied, he smiled tentatively at Qiu Bai, then sent him a jolt of healing power for his mouth wounds. It made him look like a freak.
Qiu Bai smiled gratefully at him.
"Er, don't…. smile," Li Luo said uneasily. He wasn't over it yet.
Qiu Bai composed himself.
"Qiu Bai, you're a disgrace to our squad. An Earth Fiend falling prey? Even the newbies are fine." Tian Tian chided him.
He hung his head. "Sorry, I got careless. I didn't expect a corrupting illusion realm here at a level two purification tower.
"Leader, we have a huge problem now, don't we?" he said to Jiang Qing'e. "What do we do?"
She looked out into the distance, lost in thought for a while. Finally, she reached out a slim hand, and her gigantic sword came flying back obediently.
"Mission's canceled. We're returning to the purified spot immediately. The school must be informed of this."