Chinese professors at the Wizarding Academy

Chapter 105 Convergence

The steps were long, the entire road stretched endlessly, and the darkness seemed boundless. The sounds coming from behind were gradually fading away.

Gu Chen leaned against the slippery stone wall. After absorbing the rule fragments dropped by Qiao Beike's gold coins, the chaotic vortex in his right arm had been in a dangerously active state. Every heartbeat made his whole body ache terribly.

It's like having a time bomb stuck in your right hand.

And his body was covered in injuries...

Even worse is the weakness on a spiritual level.

If it's just a simple mental battle, then there's no problem. The optimized star orbit structure can naturally absorb magic power while enhancing recovery capabilities.

But today is different. I'm just too tired. No matter how much the structure is optimized or how fuel-efficient the car is, it still needs fuel.

Gu Chen is currently in this situation. He is constantly deducing battles, controlling the energy structure in the Grip of Life and Death, guiding the chaotic vortex, and also dealing with the dark erosion on his soul. It can be said that his mental energy has been squeezed to the point of near exhaustion.

Now, every time he tries to concentrate, he gets a sharp, stabbing headache; he needs rest.

However, now is not the time to stop; Gu Chen must leave this place immediately.

The sounds of battle from the cave behind them grew fainter and fainter, and the light coming through the entrance to the passage became extremely weak.

This means that Ysera's projection is being suppressed, and he doesn't have much time left.

"Almost there..."

Finally, a ray of light appeared ahead, but it came from above.

"Thank goodness I wasn't wearing pajamas, otherwise it would have been a pajama mountain climbing competition..."

Gu Chen sighed, muttered a couple more complaints, and gave a pale, bitter smile, which was also a way of cheering himself up. Then, he gripped a protruding rock tightly with his right hand and pulled his body upwards.

My legs were so tired that I had to use my hands and feet, and as a result, the wound reopened... Warm blood mixed with cold sweat flowed into my eyes, blurring my vision.

Just then—

"Gu Chen, can you hear me?"

Ken's voice echoed in my mind again, this time much clearer than before, and seemed to be getting closer and closer.

"I'll be waiting for you at the top of the steps, but things aren't looking good."

"The people from the Seventh Observatory have caught up, along with the remnants of the Antinoya family... We're surrounded."

Gu Chen's heart sank: "Where's Jim?"

He had another question in his mind... Why did Ken know about the Seventh Observatory? Had he been eavesdropping on his thoughts the whole time?

No, that's not right... According to the contract, we can't do that...

The reality that I had finally managed to sort out has become a mess again... I can't ask questions now, I have to escape first.

"He's alright, he suffered only minor injuries. He's in a safe place now, protected by the pendant, so he's not in any serious condition."

"We must regroup as soon as possible. I have found an evacuation route, but we need to act together."

"I'm...almost there."

Gu Chen gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.

The pain was forcibly suppressed deep within his consciousness; now he had only one thought:

Climb up and meet up with Ken, then leave this hellhole.

"Click..."

As the stones at the edge were swept aside by a hand reaching out from below, a blood-soaked man climbed up.

We've finally arrived...

Having climbed up, Gu Chen used his last bit of strength to rush out of the passage.

"call……"

He knelt on the ground, breathing heavily, and his vision went black for a moment.

After a brief period of adjustment, he was able to see his surroundings clearly.

This is a relatively spacious natural cave, about half the size of a basketball court. Many clusters of luminous pale blue crystals hang from the cave ceiling, making the entire space look like a forest under the moonlight.

The ground was relatively flat, with some supply boxes piled up in the corners, which were obviously placed manually.

It contained food, water, basic medical supplies, and a few spare clothes.

In the center of the cave, a person was standing there waiting.

One is Ken.

His current appearance is completely different from the bald man with a gentle smile that Gu Chen remembered.

Ken had several fresh wounds on his face, some of which were still bleeding. His left arm was also injured, though it looked like it had been simply bandaged with torn strips of cloth, but dark red blood was still seeping out.

At this moment, he was wearing a dark green coat that was just as covered in mud as his own, and he was holding a strangely shaped short wand in his hand. The wand was pitch black, and a crystal with a constantly flowing silver-white light was embedded at the top. Gu Chen had never seen it before.

"Why are they upgrading their equipment...?"

What's even more striking are Ken's eyes.

Ken's eyes now looked like they were filled with two pieces of iron, gleaming with a cold, metallic light. Something seemed to be flowing deep within his pupils, resembling runes.

"Gu Chen!"

Ken called out, his voice a little hoarse, "Are you alright?"

Gu Chen, supporting himself on his knees, finally stood up slowly, managing a weak smile:

"...I won't die."

His gaze shifted to Ken, his expression complex. Ken looked back at him, as if suddenly realizing something. Neither of them spoke, and they stared at each other in silence for several seconds.

Ken spoke first, his voice still calm:

"Is Joe Bekker dead?"

Gu Chen nodded and took out the dark green crystal covered with cracks from his pocket. Under the light of the blue crystal, the light and shadow flowing inside the crystal became more obvious, emitting a heart-palpitating fluctuation.

"I'm glad you're alright... Let me check on your condition, we need to get out of here quickly."

"After we escape, I need to catch my breath... The situation was too complicated. We need to communicate with Ysera first. There's a problem with the Sealing Tower."

Gu Chen replied, his breathing now steady. He took a water bottle from the supplies piled up beside him and gulped down some water.

"Gulp, gulp..."

Ken, standing to the side, frowned after hearing Gu Chen's words:

"The Sealing Tower... that's troublesome. It's practically the most dangerous place right now. The main force of the Seventh Observatory, the remnants of the Antinoya family, and various forces attracted by the anomalies in the rules are all gathered around the tower."

He walked up to Gu Chen and carefully examined Gu Chen's injuries, especially his right arm.

"Your arm...there's a serious problem." Ken's voice turned somber.

"I can sense an extremely chaotic force stirring within. Did you absorb some of the energy from the fragment of the Chobeck Rules?"

"I had no choice," Gu Chen said with a wry smile.

"If I don't do that, I can't kill him at all."

"You're still so...crazy, very smart but also dangerous."

Ken held out his hand. "May I see it?"

Gu Chen hesitated for a moment, but still raised his right arm.

"Ken's behavior is completely different from before... I'm afraid his identity is not as simple as it seems..."

Gu Chen felt a cloud of doubt rising in his heart, but he was not worried that Ken would betray him.

I'm bound by the contract; I'll ask about the other things later.

Ken raised his wand, and the silver-white crystal began to slowly rotate. Fine strands of silver light spilled out of the crystal, seeping into Gu Chen's right arm like probes.

Gu Chen felt a chill, but then the chaotic vortex in his right arm violently resisted!

"Well!"

He groaned, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

What does this mean...? The slap in the face came so quickly? Is there a mole right next to me?

Ken immediately stopped, his expression grave:

"When we sparred before, your arms always had three layers of power structure inside: the outermost layer was soul-corroding death energy, the middle layer was necromantic magic, and the core was dark power..."

Previously, the three structures were mutually restrictive.

"But now all of these have been forcibly brought together by a vortex... The good news is that, thanks to the properties of chaos, these three forces have become stable."

"All three forces are in chaos, but you can control them with a little guidance."

"But now, fragments of the rules of 'chaos' have mixed into the vortex... This makes things more complicated."

He looked into Gu Chen's eyes: "Do you know what this means?"

"Will the balance be broken?"

"More than that." Ken shook his head. "I know where this power comes from, and I know what it is, but as you know, I can't say."

Hey, hey... how come another person who knows this has suddenly appeared? Are all the people around me ruthless?

Gu Chen is now trying to reconnect the blood-drawing chain. If they can't provide a reasonable explanation later, then he'll really have to take action...

"It was originally very stable, but you added a rule fragment with the same chaotic attribute... It will become more and more active and more and more difficult to control."

"Ultimately, it will tear your arm apart from the inside, then climb up and blow you up."

Gu Chen remained silent.

Why can this bald guy always say things that are so serious it's hard for people to stay calm...?

He was certainly aware of the danger of doing this, or rather, the danger had already struck several times already.

But once you absorb it, there's no turning back.

"Is there a way to solve this?" he asked.

Ken pondered for a moment: "I have something good that can temporarily suppress it, but to fundamentally solve it... we need a higher level of power to intervene, or for your own understanding of the rules of chaos to reach a certain level so that you can actively control it instead of being controlled by it."

He took out a small silver box from his pocket, opened it, and inside was a small tube of gray liquid with mysterious runes engraved on its surface.

"The Seventh Observatory's 'tranquilizer' was originally intended to deal with magical outbursts."

Ken took out the potion and handed it to Gu Chen, saying, "This can temporarily put the power in your body, including magic, into an inert state, and it can also resist the chaotic tendency of the chaotic vortex."

"But the effect only lasts for twelve hours, and there are strong side effects..."

"You will be weak for at least a day after the effects of the medicine wear off."

"What side effects?"

Gu Chen asked instinctively.

"Approximately twelve hours after taking the medicine, you will enter a period of weakness and be unable to use magic for the entire day."

There's nothing more to say. If I leave this arm unattended, it'll probably explode in an hour. And the sedative won't take twelve hours for the side effects to kick in. What choice do I have? The choice is already laid out before me.

Without further hesitation, Gu Chen drank the medicine that had been handed to him in one gulp.

The gray potion entered my mouth smoothly, then transformed into a warm current that quickly spread throughout my body.

"The energy it contains is not powerful, but wherever it passes, the restless magic is forcibly calmed down, and the chaotic fluctuations are weakened."

Inside the right arm, the rotation speed of the chaotic vortex slowed down significantly, and the throbbing also weakened considerably.

At the same time, Gu Chen felt that his thinking was also affected... He seemed to have become more rational and calm.

But... I seem to have become a bit cold, you could say I'm somewhat emotionally deficient.

For example, it's like having a transparent film in front of your eyes, shrouding everything you see in gray, making you feel only a hazy, oppressive, and emotionless feeling the moment you see it.

"One of the side effects," Ken explained, seemingly anticipating this situation:

"Sedatives temporarily enhance the user's logical thinking and suppress emotional reactions. This is beneficial for combat decision-making... well, I recommend maintaining it long-term."

Gu Chen nodded, adjusting to this strange state.

suddenly!

"boom!"

A violent explosion was heard at the entrance of the cave!

The entire cave was trembling, and many fragments of the crystal clusters on the cave ceiling were falling down with a clatter.

"They came so fast..."

Ken's face instantly darkened.

"Faster than expected, those guys at the Seventh Observatory are as persistent as ever..."

Ken glanced at the entrance, then his expression hardened. He quickly walked to one side of the cave and pressed several points on the stone wall there.

Immediately afterwards, gray runes appeared on the surface of the stone wall, then silently slid away, revealing a secret passage behind it.

The secret passage extends downwards and appears to be very deep.

"The escape route used by these observers at the Seventh Observatory leads to a hidden exit on the outskirts of Misty Valley."

Ken speaks very fast.

"But the secret passage is filled with traps and interference barriers, so someone needs to guide you."

"Luckily I'm here, you're alright, I'll take you out."

"I should be called Hanshan, and then don't cry..."

Gu Chen's urge to complain once again took over.

"The people at the Seventh Observatory won't give up easily, especially since they know you have fragments of the rules within you."

"Where is the Dark Eroder?"

Gu Chen asked.

"They should still be entangled with Teacher Ysera's projection, but it won't be long. The projection's energy is limited, and the Dark Eroder... according to the information I have, he's terrifying when he fights with all his might."

Ken stood up, a few glints flashing in his eyes, as if something had flashed within them.

"But this actually gives us an opportunity... The Dark Eroders and the Seventh Observatory both target you, but they also have conflicts with each other."

"boom!"

Another explosion, this time even closer.

"Splash, splash!"

This time, the shockwave rushed straight in, getting closer and closer. The rocks at the cave entrance were no longer just shaking, but had begun to collapse!

"Walk!"

Ken drank it down.

"On your left."

Gu Chen entered the secret passage first, followed closely by Ken. The moment Ken entered, he pressed his hand against the inside of the stone wall. The entrance to the secret passage quickly closed, the stone wall returned to its original state, and the runes on its surface dimmed, as if they had never existed.