Chapter 1277 - 975: I Can...

Chapter 1277: Chapter 975: I Can...

What kind of person do you think I am?

"Obviously the kind that wants me dead!"

Huai Shi glared at the shrunken black‑hearted woman in front of him, grief‑stricken and furious: "Things have gotten to this point, and you don’t even feel a tiny bit of guilt?"

Tong Ji froze for a second, then awkwardly looked away: "Sorry, not only do I feel no guilt, I’m actually kinda thrilled..."

"Besides, it’s not like I said anything wrong."

She sounded almost aggrieved: "Logically speaking, this body of mine right now is formed from the Soloist’s Divine Nature, your incarnation, plus fragments of your Source Substance and Soul. Other than the bloodline being non‑human, everything else comes from you, okay.

In Dongxia’s Journey to the West they say the Buddha made the Peacock into the Buddha‑Mother, so wouldn’t that make you the Priest?"

"..."

"..."

In the long silence, Tong Ji gradually grew puzzled. "Was that joke not funny? I thought about it for ages, how come you’re not reacting at all..."

Huai Shi was speechless. He turned his head away, feeling like he was about to cry: "Not only are you not ashamed, you’re even using me as material for lame jokes!"

He could not go on living like this!

He’d had enough.

He wanted to run back to his mother’s house...

For some reason, a pathetic sense of being a bullied little daughter‑in‑law surged up from his heart.

This couldn’t go on!

He had to get serious.

Have a proper talk with this black‑hearted woman who didn’t know what was good for her!

Ever since she shrank, the whole vibe had practically changed. Let it go on long enough and she’d be flipping the heavens on him. He had to make this freeloader who hadn’t even paid rent understand who the real head of the household was!

Kids get unruly mostly because they’re spoiled. A beating usually fixes it.

Huai Shi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, straightened his face, and adopted a solemn expression.

He lifted his gaze, only to see a fist hovering in front of him.

Her slender fingers unfolded, revealing the chocolate inside.

"Want some candy?"

Tong Ji blinked at him, studying his expression. Without waiting for his answer, she pushed her open palm forward and stuffed the chocolate into his mouth.

"Okay, that’s your perk."

Tong Ji smiled and asked, "How’s the taste?"

Huai Shi chewed on reflex, then froze at her words and couldn’t help turning away with a cold snort: "Heh, cheap stuff..."

"Alright, alright, I was just trying to give you a surprise."

Tong Ji stepped up onto the chair, deftly lifting her arm to brace it on Huai Shi’s shoulder, sighing helplessly: "I really didn’t expect you to bring some woman from outside home... So this is all just a misunderstanding. Calm down, calm down. How about big sis takes you to see my office?"

She leaned closer, speaking generously: "It’s such a huge space, and I’m the only one using it. The office is pretty big. We can even move your console over there, and when you get tired of playing you can just crash right away, it’s fine!"

Huai Shi rolled his eyes and hadn’t even said anything yet.

He saw Tong Ji lift her hand, her slender wrist slipping out from the long shirt sleeve as she snapped her fingers.

"Let’s roll!"

Snap!

With a crisp sound, Huai Shi’s vision blurred, his footing suddenly dropped like he’d fallen several dozen centimeters. Only then did he realize he was already standing in front of a vast, sinister, shadow‑shrouded complex.

Then his body sank as something weird appeared on his shoulder...

"Let’s go, Huai Shi Beast!"

Tong Ji grabbed his hair just like she used to, excitedly pointing ahead, completely ignoring the fact that her build and weight were now nothing like they used to be.

Huai Shi, annoyed, gave a hard shake.

"Get down!"

"Nope!" Tong Ji clutched his hair tight: "I won’t! Move it, move it, let’s go already."

She was like a plant rooted in the ground, not budging an inch.

No matter how wildly Huai Shi shook and convulsed like a goat in a seizure, she sat steady on his shoulders, unmoved.

Unbelievable. So she’d called him over just because she was short a mount?!

Resigned, Huai Shi noticed the puzzled looks people around them were shooting over, and could only sigh before stepping into that patch of darkness.

Even under broad daylight, the dazzling sunlight couldn’t penetrate the layer of gloom covering the complex. Thin mist surged faintly, sealing countless deposits of Hell within, isolating this campus sector that was closest to Hell’s essence from the rest of the school.

As Huai Shi walked forward, his figure was quietly swallowed by the roiling mist and dimness.

Very soon, he merged into the countless flickering silhouettes and vanished from sight.

Only at the main gate did the two withered old trees shed another tattered yellow leaf.

.

As above, so below, and by this, Taiyi’s Miracle is fulfilled.

This is one of the essences of Alchemy.

The last time Huai Shi came to Taiyi Academy was to borrow a place and perform a Mystic Ritual to forge Grudge Ugly.

As a key institution in the Ivory Tower and a gathering place for Alchemists, it also bears the function of regulating the campus’ depth balance and conducting all sorts of secret experiments.

Any of those things alone means it will constantly produce large amounts of Hell’s sediment.

And the by‑products of Miracles: Disaster.

With just a bit of carelessness, you end up with all kinds of bizarre phenomena or nightmares, or they simply latch onto the lab mice and turn into all sorts of freakish monsters.

It’s like a fish tank you’ve used to raise fish for too long—no matter how much you clean it, that Hellish stench won’t wash out.

After the last Golden Dawn attack, the internal load of Taiyi Academy had practically reached a breaking point. To clear out the Hell residue in the school, they simply piled it all here. Which couldn’t be neutralized in the short term and directly triggered localized Hellification.

Aside from a handful of people in charge, you basically couldn’t see a single living soul.

Well, you could still see who knows how many ghostly silhouettes.

Huai Shi was of course included among them.

By precedent, the solution is actually simple—come midterms, just dump this entire mess on the students and call it a day.

And while they’re at it, they can host some big strategy‑dungeon competition or something.

It’s like selling soon‑to‑graduate college kids off to some black‑hearted factory to work, and using that as performance metrics... With Luo Su’s blackened heart, aside from tossing out a few token rewards, he probably wouldn’t spare a single extra hair. Meanwhile, students whose brains have been fried by exams, contests, and trials will be raring to charge in and go 007.

However, from the looks of it now, the whole complex didn’t seem to be in some sealed, tranquil state.

On the contrary, it was like everything had started boiling.

Countless dark shadows kept writhing in the thin mist, and those stray Disaster auras and Hell sediment actually began condensing at high speed.

Someone was deliberately aggravating it!

Huai Shi couldn’t help but frown, his expression turning gloomy.

Such intense fluctuations could only mean someone was making moves deep inside Taiyi Academy... could it be that someone saw the new dean of Taiyi Academy taking office and decided to lay a trap?

A whole string of guesses kept surfacing in his mind.

His fingers rubbed together unconsciously, and he felt an itch in his hands. Whoever was trying to stir up trouble, he had no intention of letting them get away with it.

Just then, a hideous screech suddenly came out of the fog.

The pitch‑black shadow swelled abruptly, rising, taking on a squirming outline, and amid the violent shaking of the earth, it charged straight toward them, madly galloping!

Painful howls...

Huai Shi lifted his hand without emotion, but before that shadow could pounce onto his face, he saw the charging monster freeze mid‑air, then get yanked back into the mist by an outstretched hand.

What followed was a series of scalp‑tingling tearing sounds and wails; after that, only the thick gurgle of blood, and a muffled, hoarse muttering.

"Trash, useless... just a pile of eyesores..."

And in the end, all sound vanished.

Only a heavy, low footstep came.

A blood‑soaked silhouette slowly emerged before Huai Shi’s eyes, the plastic coat drenched crimson. One hand gripped a pitch‑black iron shovel, while the other cradled a round sphere.

His face was hidden beneath a mask, leaving only a pair of bloodshot eyes, which turned back toward them.

Then, he froze on the spot.

"Ah, Mr. Huai Shi? And, Huai, Huai, Lady Huai Yuan!"

The old man stammered out, then came rushing over like he’d won the lottery, both hands waving excitedly: "Welcome! Welcome! Why didn’t you say you were coming? We could’ve made proper preparations!"

"..."

Huai Shi frowned, craning his head to scrutinize him for a long moment before finally recognizing the man who had once helped him forge his Grudge: "Mr. Ping?"

"Yes, yes, that’s this Old man exactly!"

Usually Degree lowered his mask, and his wrinkle‑covered old face broke into a warm smile: "How may I serve you?"

"Uh..."

Huai Shi looked around, completely baffled: "What are you even doing?"

"Why, a b‑b‑b‑big clean‑up, of course!"

Usually Degree threw his hands up: "Mr. Isaac informed me that a Great Grandmaster, Lady Huai Yuan, was coming to take charge of Taiyi Academy! We all thought we should put together a proper welcoming ceremony! So we decided to clean house..."

As he spoke, he lifted the spherical spray bottle in his hand and spritzed twice to the side.

Two blood‑curdling screams rang out.

Having mixed together Detergent, Degreasing Agent, Fragrance agent, and a whole bunch of odds and ends, the ultra‑concentrated Holy Water promptly erased several shattered aberrant Souls on the spot!

"..."

So this is how you guys "clean"? This hardcore?

Why does it look like a damn horror movie!

"Lady Huai Yuan is here?"

"Lady Huai Yuan, please take a Seat!"

"Great Grandmaster, please wait a moment, I’ll go brew tea!"

"Great Grandmaster, this way please..."

With Usually Degree’s words, one hideous figure after another emerged from the mist. Those blood‑spattered "Executioners," upon seeing the guests, all simultaneously revealed expressions filled with sincerity and delight.

They lined up, clapped, and began applauding in welcome...

All that was missing was a trumpet and a song‑and‑dance routine.

Huai Shi’s eye twitched uncontrollably as he glanced back at Tong Ji on his shoulder.

"Great Grandmaster?"

"Yep."

Tong Ji propped her chin on her palm, studying the scene below: "What? It’s just a Great Grandmaster, do you think your big sis isn’t worthy? It’s only because those old fossils in the Stone Pot Society have monopolized things for so many years that we can’t make it public yet. Let everyone have some fun knowing it internally, that’s enough."

Great Grandmaster might be a terrifying title, but at least it was still easier to digest than "True God," the kind of name that would make the Current Circumstances quake three times with every breath.

"Besides, in my current state, even if I said I was a God, no one would believe me."

Tong Ji casually wiggled her fingers, glancing around, not bothering to hide her disdain: "That guy Luo Su actually stuck me with a garbage dump... No wonder he was being so generous."

Saying that, she lowered her head to look at Usually Degree, who was rubbing his hands and gazing up devoutly: "So you’re my subordinate, then?"

Usually Degree nodded so hard it looked like his head might come off.

But Tong Ji showed no attempt to soften her tone: "Forget it, you’re too old... How about you just retire? I’ll super‑double your pension, how’s that?"

"Uh..."

Usually Degree was stunned for a moment, then suddenly saw the light. He tossed aside the shovel and spray bottle, rifled through his pockets for a bit, finally dug out a vial of Potion, and gulped it down. Instantly, a white mist surged off his decrepit frame.

In a flash, his hunched body straightened, the wrinkles on his face stretched and smoothed, rapidly reverting to youth. The cloudiness in his eyes vanished, replaced by cold gleams of chilling light.

Like a Snake.

Yet now, the Snake bowed his head in reverence, Listen­ing for orders.

Practically wagging his tail like a dog!

"Ew!"

Tong Ji scooted back a bit, shaking her head in disgust: "Too bad, still Ugly."

Usually Degree didn’t falter in the slightest. "I can get plastic surgery!"

Tong Ji remained unmoved: "Forget it, even if you got prettier, could you compare to my Huai Shi?"

"No problem!"

Usually Degree was still burning with zeal: "I can even change sex..."

In an instant, all the bizarre, ancient Alchemists around them lit up, raising both hands high.

The troupe of old geezers started enthusiastically volunteering, terrified they’d miss their chance:

"We can all change sex!!!"