# 553
Chapter 554 – The Ultimate Weapon
Whoosh—!
Chen Han’s body shot hundreds of meters through the air and plummeted toward the city below.
The instant before he hit the ground, the invisible threads binding him snapped free. He twisted mid-air, kicked off a nearby wall, and landed in a steady crouch.
Lu Yu, who had watched him being thrown out, ran over in surprise. “Senior Chen Han, why are you back?”
Chen Han’s face stiffened.
Realizing the question was awkward, Lu Yu cleared his throat and re-phrased. “Who are they?”
Chen Han sighed. “The Fifth Special Squad.”
“The Fifth Special Squad? The students Sword Saint mentioned?” Lu Yu exclaimed. “Weren’t they not coming?”
“They came anyway.”
Lu Yu turned and watched the seven figures leap beyond the city limits, awe shining in his eyes.
“The fifth special squad… I wonder if I’ll ever qualify to join one…”
He suddenly remembered something. “Oh right, Senior Chen Han, what’s the Fifth Special Squad called?”
“Called?”
“Yeah, every special squad has a name, right?”
Chen Han stared blankly for a moment, then shook his head.
“I don’t know…”
……
Whooooosh—!!
Howling wind tore past their ears.
Lin Qiye glanced at the teammates jumping without hesitation and smiled.
This feeling was familiar.
Last time, they’d leapt from the Purification Chamber’s outer wall the same way.
Only then there had been four of them; now there were seven.
Then, freedom and sunrise had waited below; now, an abyss yawned beneath them.
Then, they’d been escaped prisoners; now… they were the Fifth Special Squad, carrying promises and the duty to protect.
Some things had changed; others never would—like trust, and the boiling blood in their chests.
The silver medals hanging from their necks on cords glimmered, pushing back the surrounding fog.
Beneath them, beasts roared!
Lin Qiye stared at the onrushing tide of “mysteries” and raised White Slash. One sweep—
A space-ignoring blade cut lightly through the air. Three “Pool”-level mysteries at the front were sliced in half; their blood splashed over a hound-shaped monster behind them, dyeing it savage crimson.
Roar—!!
The beast had just bared fang tips glowing cold when a thick golden beam vaporized it mid-air.
Jialan, in her deep-blue hanfu, gripped Celestial Gate. Her face was still pale, but her eyes were resolute.
“Jialan, don’t strain yourself—stay behind me,” Lin Qiye said.
A flush crept across Jialan’s pale cheeks. After a brief hesitation she obediently slipped behind him, life suddenly sparkling in her again.
“Cao Yuan, take point.” Lin Qiye turned.
Cao Yuan nodded. His Straight Blade flashed from its sheath!
Clang—!
Black bale-fire surged, weaving into a cloak around him. His eyes turned blood-red, murderous aura billowing.
With a low roar he stepped forward, a black crescent of bale-qi shredding two mysteries, then charged ahead, blade alone carving a bloody path through the tide.
Baili Pangpang slapped his pocket; twelve forbidden artifacts floated behind him. Jade-green armor spread over his body, tattered cape fluttering. One hand gripped a ram’s horn, the other a treasure vase, rainbow light blazing.
He tore open the left flank beside the berserk Cao Yuan.
On the right, Lin Qiye’s White Slash danced, reaping lives. With every step, a patch of soft grass sprouted beneath him; buds bloomed on the mysteries, draining spirit and life to feed him back.
Jialan guarded the rear, Celestial Gate sweeping wide, each thrust clearing a swath.
In the center Shen Qingzhu pinched a cigarette, flicked his fingers; sparks whirled around him like a meteor shower into the beast-horde.
“Can you do me a favor?” An Qingyu asked.
Shen Qingzhu raised an eyebrow. “What?”
An Qingyu produced a skull with half a tongue, held it in his left hand, then unclipped an MP3 from his belt and set the two together.
“Jiang Er, tune the frequency,” he said calmly.
The ghost Jiang Er appeared beside him. The MP3’s volume jumped to max, crackling as she adjusted its output frequency.
“Why does this look familiar?” Shen Qingzhu wondered.
“Spoils of war—Baili clan’s trump card, ultra-high-risk forbidden artifact: Elegy,” An Qingyu explained. “In a moment this skull will sing. Anything hearing it turns to sand. I’m having Jiang Er max the MP3 and match the skull’s frequency so the song floods the battlefield.
Problem: it’s indiscriminate, so…”
“You want me to vacuum-wrap us like before?” Shen Qingzhu caught on.
An Qingyu nodded. “Not total vacuum—just a thin cone around the skull, shaped like a horn, so the sound blasts outward without touching us.”
“Easy.”
Shen Qingzhu snapped his fingers; two thin vacuum walls encased the skull.
An Qingyu pushed his glasses, channeling mental energy into the skull. He pried its jaws open; crimson light flared in the sockets like waking blood-eyes.
The mouth gaped; within the fleshless cavity the half-tongue quivered.
A faint song drifted through the air.
“Crzzzz…”
Jiang Er mimicked the frequency, syncing MP3 to skull. Moments later the ghostly song amplified dozens of times, echoing through the fog!
Straight ahead of the vacuum horn, mysteries crumbled into sand and vanished.
In barely a minute over forty mysteries died to the upgraded Elegy—including three “Boundless”-level and one “Klein”-level that lost half its body evading.
The unprecedented attack born from An Qingyu, Jiang Er, and Shen Qingzhu became the nightmare of the mystery tide.