Chapter 147: Unmasked
Next duel — Leo versus a disciple from the Ancient Sword Sect.
He climbed back onto the platform. Across from him stood a green-robed young man, cold and composed, gripping a long spear that hummed with spiritual energy.
The duel began.
Black smoke erupted from Leo's position — thick, blinding, swallowing the platform whole. The green-robed disciple thrust his spear into the haze and struck something solid. His weapon impaled a figure through the chest, shattering it into fragments.
A shadow clone.
In that same instant, a golden sword flashed from behind. Leo drove it straight through the disciple's back, piercing his heart.
The smoke cleared. The green-robed disciple collapsed, lifeless, to the ground.
"Junior Brother Mint!" A core disciple from the Ancient Sword Sect watched his junior fall, grief and rage twisting his face as he glared at Leo.
"Senior Brother Leo is incredible!" Outside the Teleportation Array, several Palace disciples cheered. Winnie and Frost had completely shifted their attention away from Lowell and onto Leo.
Lowell tasted bitterness in his mouth. This was exactly how Leo had beaten him back then. From start to finish, Leo had never shown any overwhelming combat technique — just like that time at Heavenly Summit Peak. The only difference was that this time, both sides had used magic artifacts. By the looks of it, this Junior Brother Mint from the Ancient Sword Sect was clearly a cut above Kazan. Yet Leo had taken him down without a scratch. Even without flashy techniques, Lowell could no longer treat Leo as an ordinary core disciple. Even with his Lightning Spear, Lowell wasn't sure he could win.
As for the hateful glares from the Ancient Sword Sect disciples, Frost and Quiver didn't pay them much mind. On that platform, it was kill or be killed. Did they expect Leo to just stand there and let himself be slaughtered?
But Leo's attention wasn't on those disciples at all. His eyes were locked on the dark mass that kept devouring the blood and flesh from the Array. Throughout several matches, he had deliberately guided attacks toward it — Kazan's, and now Junior Brother Mint's spear. The dark mass, sitting beside the Array and drinking in the blood, hadn't budged. It seemed largely unaffected by the assaults.
"What a shame, Senior Brother Leo is about to be teleported away," Frost mused. "If we make it up there, I wonder if we'll run into him. It would be nice to be in his squad."
"Maybe Senior Sister Quincy, Senior Brother Lowell, and Senior Sister Vera have a shot," Quiver said, her face darkening. "Us? We'd have to be lucky enough to get on the Array first."
Even though core disciples made up less than a tenth of the three hundred cultivators here, the rules were brutal. Out of every ten who fought, only one would be teleported away. Even if a cultivator didn't draw a core disciple as an opponent, there was no guarantee they could win several matches in a row. And if they did draw one... ten deaths out of ten.
Hearing Quiver's words, Frost, Winnie, and several other male disciples looked defeated. After all they'd been through, most of them might very well die here.
Just as the Teleportation Array began to glow faintly, ready to send Leo away like the others before him, Leo did something shocking. He stepped off the Array.
"Senior... Senior Brother Leo? He got off? Isn't he leaving?" Everyone was stunned. They couldn't understand why, after fighting so hard, Leo would suddenly step back. Even Vera muttered in disbelief.
"Anyone who wants to leave, go ahead," Leo said loudly, a slight smirk tugging at his lips. "I'm giving up my spot. Hurry — the Array is already activated. Wait too long, and it might stop working."
He had noticed something. After devouring Junior Brother Mint's blood and essence, the Array had taken a few extra breaths to activate — slower than before — because of his unexpected move.
Sure enough, the nearest cultivators rushed toward the Array. Two of them made it on, one right after the other. A few others tried to push their way on, but Leo summoned the Black Flood Dragon Shears and forced them back with a single menacing sweep.
They didn't understand what was happening. But the Array flashed, and the two who had stepped onto it vanished.
Everyone froze. The Array could teleport two people at once?
Quincy, Vera, and the other Palace disciples swarmed around Leo.
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"Junior Brother Leo," Quincy said, bursting with questions, "what's going on?"
"Junior Brother Leo," Ethan said, pushing through the crowd alongside core disciples from other sects, "did you notice something wrong?"
Ethan took the lead. No one dared crowd him.
"Don't tell me none of you sensed anything off," Leo said, still studying the Array, which had returned to normal.
"I had my suspicions," Ethan admitted with a wry smile. "But I didn't see it as clearly as you, Junior Brother Leo. You gave up a chance to leave. You must have figured out what's really going on."
"I know something's wrong," Leo said, shaking his head. "But I don't know exactly what. Anyone who still wants to leave can keep fighting. Don't let me stop you."
"Junior Brother Leo, you're going to drive me crazy!" Quincy snapped, lacking the patience of the others. "If you've got something to say, just say it. Stop beating around the bush!"
"Someone is controlling this Teleportation Array from the shadows," Leo said after a moment's thought. He had decided to lay the truth out for everyone.
"What?" The crowd erupted. "Someone's controlling the Array? Who? Is this some kind of scare tactic? We've all been watching with our own eyes — how could anyone control it without being seen?"
"If you don't believe me," Leo said with a calm smile, stepping back from the Array, "then by all means, go ahead and keep fighting. Win, and you'll be teleported away. Why waste time listening to me?"
"Shut up!" Ethan's sharp gaze swept across the crowd. "Anyone who wants to step onto the Array and fight, go ahead. But if anyone speaks out of line again, don't blame me for being rude."
No one dared meet his eyes. With Draven gone, no one here could match Ethan and his Blazing Sun Sword.
"Junior Brother Leo," Ethan said earnestly, "all of us want to leave. But if there's really something wrong with this Array, and you've found something, we should put our heads together and figure it out. Finding a way to leave safely is what matters. Don't you agree?"
"That's right, Senior Brother Leo," Vera added. "If we can get out of here without fighting to the death, that would be best."
Even with her magic artifacts, she wasn't confident she could survive the bloody battles and walk away alive.
"Fine. I'll spell it out," Leo said. "Someone is definitely controlling the Array. The method is quite clever. The biggest problem is the stone tablet. Take a close look — it was carved recently."
Now that he pointed it out, everyone saw it. The lines were crisp and sharp. The tablet was clearly new.
But the Bloody Battlefield had been sealed for thousands of years. No one had entered — not even Nascent Soul cultivators* had lifespans that long. If the tablet were really thousands of years old, the carvings would have eroded, or at least gathered dust. How could it be so clean and clear?
No one here was stupid. They understood immediately. The tablet was new.
And with that realization came a creeping chill. What kind of being could have lived that long?
None of them even knew how they had stumbled into this godforsaken place. How could any of them possibly know about this Teleportation Array?
"Wait," said Kane, a core disciple from the Demonic Sun Sect, his face draining of color, "why carve this tablet? The Array can teleport two people at once — why does the tablet say only one out of ten can leave?"
Many others turned pale as well. If this was true, the one who set up this tablet was malicious beyond imagination.
"Maybe it's not a person," Leo added coldly. "Maybe it's some kind of blood-drinking demon or ghost. We've killed quite a few Bloodshadow Lizards already. This could be something similar — a demon with very high intelligence."
A collective gasp swept through the crowd. Quiver and the others, already timid, were terrified. They unconsciously edged closer to Leo.
"A blood-drinking demon or ghost," someone muttered. "That's possible. A human cultivator couldn't have survived thousands of years in the forbidden land. But if Bloodshadow Lizards can live here, other demons could too. Still... for a demon to come up with a scheme like this... that's terrifying."
"Exactly! What kind of demon has that kind of intelligence? Who could devise such an insidious plan?"
"It must be some thousand-year-old demon. Or a ghost that's cultivated for millennia!"
The more they talked, the more frightened they became. Whatever had lived this long in the Bloody Battlefield certainly wasn't human. And if it had this level of intelligence, even the Bloodshadow Lizards were nothing compared to it.
"Senior... Senior Brother Leo," Winnie stammered, her face pale as paper, "is the hidden hand really that powerful?"
Even though they were cultivators, the young women were especially afraid of demons and ghosts — especially one lurking in the shadows.
"Junior Brother Leo," Ethan said, his eyes glinting — not with fear, but with curiosity — "what do you make of this hidden demon?"
"This demon is as intelligent as any human — probably more cunning," Leo said. "Judging by the Bloodshadow Lizards we've seen, anything that survives in this brutal environment must be strong. Probably much stronger than the lizards we faced. Much harder to deal with. The purpose of setting up this tablet is obvious: to make us kill each other so it can feast on our blood and essence without lifting a finger. If this demon were strong enough to crush us all, would it go through all this trouble? And think about this — the Array is under its control. Where it teleports people isn't up to us. It's up to the demon. Right now, with all of us together, it might be hesitant. But once we're scattered, once it's drunk its fill of blood and grown strong enough — who can say they'd stand a chance against it?"
Leo was genuinely worried. The ability to control the Teleportation Array without being noticed by several hundred pairs of eyes — that alone was terrifying. Alone, or even in a small group — even with Quincy and the others — he might not be able to win against this thing. That was why he was willing to risk drawing suspicion by speaking out.
"Of course," Leo added with a shrug, "this is just my guess. I didn't want to be teleported away blindly, only to escape one trap and fall into another. If any of you still want to keep fighting and leave, go right ahead."
"After what you just said, how can we?" Lowell admitted. Despite his lingering wariness of Leo, he had to acknowledge the man's sharp mind. Even Lowell wouldn't choose to step onto the Array and fight now. Not that he was afraid — as long as he didn't draw Ethan or someone as freakishly strong as Quincy, he was confident he could take anyone else.
"That's right!" Solon and the other ordinary disciples, who had almost no hope of winning their matches anyway, suddenly saw a new path forward. "We're not going up there! We'll follow Senior Brother Leo! Even if we can't get out and die here of old age, that's better than being butchered by some demon!"
"Exactly! Screw it! Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we'll find that demon and kill it! Once it's dead, we can use the Array. If it's not dead, who knows where we'll end up?"
"Fine by me. I'm not going either." The crowd's emotions ran high.
"Junior Brother Leo," Ethan asked, cutting to the heart of the matter, "are you confident we can find this demon?"
"Not confident," Leo admitted. "But we have to try. Fair warning, though — maybe only this demon can control the Array. Maybe we find it, kill it, and still can't get out. If that happens, don't blame me." He shrugged. "Otherwise, everyone can just do what they want."
Leo said this, but his gaze swept across the faces of the core disciples gathered around him. As for the ordinary cultivators — he didn't discount them entirely. Against the Bloodshadow Lizards, their contributions had been limited. And whatever demon lurked in the shadows was likely far more dangerous. Still, he knew where the real weight would have to come from. The core disciples from each sect — they were the ones who would have to carry the fight. Their attitude was what truly mattered.
"In that case," a delicate-looking female disciple from the Ancient Sword Sect said angrily, "why did you kill our sect's Senior Brother Mint?"
"I regret his death," Leo replied, meeting her gaze. "But after he died, I timed it. From the moment I stepped off the Array, the activation took two or three breaths longer than before. The demon was nearby, and my unexpected move caught it off guard. That's when I knew for sure. If I hadn't realized someone was watching the whole time, I would have been teleported away already."
Light dawned on the crowd. And as they looked at Leo, respect mingled with the shock in their eyes.