Chinese professors at the Wizarding Academy

Gu Chen gripped the rock tightly.

He gripped the stone tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

"Glug glug glug glug..."

The turbid, swift current was like countless invisible hands, frantically pulling at his body, trying to detach him from this last fulcrum. The current was so strong that for a moment he was almost unable to stand.

The icy river water slapped hard against my face, and I swallowed a mouthful of water, almost choking on it all.

Although the current was rapid, Gu Chen adapted to it after a while.

"Looks like not only am I alright, but this guy is fine too..."

"call!"

He suddenly poked his head out of the water and looked into the distance, where he saw the Spider Queen struggling not far away. Moreover, it seemed to be better at dealing with the current, its eight legs firmly gripping the riverbed.

Not far away, the Spider Queen's enormous black shadow bobbed in the churning waves. Unlike his own disheveled state, her eight long legs, covered in hard carapaces and barbs, were perfect tools in the water.

These legs take turns piercing the riverbed or hooking onto protruding rocks, firmly stabilizing its mountain-like body. It can even use the force of the water flow to move within a small area.

Gu Chen was then swept into the water by another wave.

However, through the murky water, Gu Chen could still vaguely see five green eyes, which were filled with anger and malice and were all locked on him!

He couldn't see anything in the murky water... so he tried to keep his head above water.

"We must leave immediately..."

After all, I'm not some kind of superhuman... You can't see anything in the rushing water, and if I hit some hidden reef, I might just die!

Gu Chen poked his head out of the water again and looked around.

Upon closer inspection, he found himself gazing deeply into the Spider Queen's five eyes, which hadn't yet been gouged out.

A deep purple light was gathering at the Spider Queen's hideous maw, and even the surrounding river water changed color.

It was obvious that she was gathering poisonous fog again, planning to unleash a massive attack...

And that's just one problem; water is still flowing in from upstream, and the water level here is getting higher and higher.

These water flows are constantly rotating and converging, eventually forming a whirlpool downstream.

"Depend on……"

Now, what was once a stubborn person has become a double-edged sword.

Why is it like this again?

Both ends are major problems. If he were to swim upstream now, he would either be corroded into a skeleton by the poisonous fog or skewered like a string of candied hawthorns by those eight long, thick legs.

If I stay here any longer, I don't know what I'll be facing once this vortex gets in.

It really is dangerous everywhere...

Moreover, the two sides are slippery rock walls, making it difficult to climb up.

But at that very moment, the Spider Queen had already adjusted her posture before Gu Chen. Her eight thick spider legs were perfect for maintaining stability in the water, and she began to move closer to him!

The eerie green eyes stared intently at him, and the deep purple poisonous mist appeared to have fully gathered.

There was no time to hesitate.

"Give it a shot..."

"Why do I always have a problem with water... From now on, I must stay away from rivers, the sea, and any other places with lots of water... I really have a knack for getting along with water."

Gu Chen thought to himself, "This is also a way to relax. The more critical the situation, the more important it is to stay calm."

He took a deep breath and then released his hand.

"Whoosh—!"

Once he lost his support, the raging torrent of water instantly engulfed him.

Gu Chen felt dizzy and the whole world turned into a murky yellow. He was being tossed and swirled around like a withered leaf, with only the roaring sound of water in his ears.

And a dull pain kept coming from all over my body. I didn't know what I had bumped into. Maybe it was a rock wall, maybe it was rubble, or maybe it was the corpse of those little spiders that had just rushed in.

Humans are vulnerable in the face of nature, but wizards are different; they have already entered the realm of the extraordinary and possess the power to even change the world.

That's certainly something to aspire to, but the problem is, I'm not one of them.

A low-level first-ring wizard is indeed not physically powerful... in the face of nature, he is still too fragile.

Gu Chen held his breath tightly, trying to curl up to protect his head and vital organs while desperately trying to maintain his face-up position so that he could get a precious breath of air during this rare moment.

On the other side,

The Spider Queen let out an angry hiss!

His prey was about to escape!

The Spider Queen's eight legs thrashed wildly as she moved swiftly across the riverbed, chasing after the damned human who had caused her to lose her eyes!

Unfortunately, while her massive size provided the weight to resist the impact of the water, it also meant that she faced significant resistance in the water.

Back and forth, the speed of the two was actually slower than that of Gu Chen, who was being pushed forward by the water flow, and the distance between them was being rapidly increased.

Gu Chen tried his best to keep his face up and breathe, but the current was too strong and he couldn't control his direction. Moreover, he was being hit by unidentified objects in the water.

It hurts a lot, but it's not fatal.

Gu Chen used the life force of the blood he had absorbed to heal his injuries.

He felt himself descending rapidly... and as he descended, the riverbed became noticeably lower.

About two or three minutes passed, but to Gu Chen it felt like centuries. The water flow seemed to slow down, and it was no longer spinning so violently.

Gu Chen felt like he had transformed from a washing machine into a water park...

So when the impact subsided, he seized the opportunity, kicked hard, adjusted his posture, and finally managed to get his head completely above the water!

"Huff! Huff..."

Gu Chen took deep, greedy breaths!

Although my lungs were burning, the fresh air I breathed in through my nose cleared my head.

I seem to feel less drowsy now.

Gu Chen quickly wiped his face and opened his eyes in the water. Once he opened his eyes, he instantly determined the direction he was heading.

There seems to be light ahead...?

There is indeed light!

"Go there!"

Gu Chen looked closely and realized that it wasn't sunlight, but light shining through a hole in the left rock wall. The light was a deep green, very stable, and not glaring.

The entrance to the cave is slightly higher than the water surface, and the water flow below is relatively gentle, forming a small backwater.

opportunity!

Gu Chen swam towards that direction with all his might, grabbed the rocks below the cave entrance, and slowly climbed up.

Persistence pays off. Gu Chen finally escaped from the sudden vortex and arrived at what appeared to be a cave.

He collapsed onto the ground at the cave entrance, panting heavily.

I was tired and cold. The areas on my body that were almost grazed by the toxic fog felt numb and painful. Even though I didn't touch it, the near miss caused noticeable symptoms.

However, he cannot rest for too long. The Spider Queen may still be behind him, and this place may not necessarily be safe.

"Where is this?"

Gu Chen sat up and looked into the cave.

The passage was deep, and at intervals along the rock walls on both sides were pairs of glowing, eerie green crystals that illuminated the path.

The ground was paved with stone slabs, which were old but very smooth.

Faint sounds came from deep within the cave, like someone whispering, or like a rhythmic vibration.

Moreover, the Soul-Eating Death Qi in Gu Chen's right arm became unusually quiet here, unlike before when it was restless, as if it had been soothed by some power.

What place is this?

It seems I've arrived at... an underground river?

What kind of cave is in the underground river?

"There are many caves and seals beneath Misty Valley... Maybe I'll just stumble upon one?"

Gu Chen recalled what Ysera had said. Perhaps he had encountered some kind of opportunity? Had he entered some ancient cave?

However, these places may offer opportunities, but they also present a high risk of danger.

Gu Chen stood up, supporting himself against the rock wall, and carefully walked inside.

The air inside the cave was very dry, completely different from the damp underground river outside. The eerie green light made people feel a bit sinister, but strangely, Gu Chen felt a little calmer.

He walked along the path for about fifty meters, and then the path began to slope downwards.

After walking about thirty meters, the space suddenly opened up in front of us.

This is an unimaginably huge circular underground space, with a diameter estimated to be over a hundred meters. It looks like a hollowed-out mountain belly. The dome of the space is extremely high, densely inlaid with countless crystals that emit a soft white light. When Gu Chen looked up, these crystals seemed to be arranged into a complex and vast star map, but the arrangement was not yet clear. The light of these stars converged and illuminated the entire space.

At the center of the space was a gigantic magic circle that occupied nearly half of the ground area.

"can't read……"

Gu Chen frowned. He couldn't understand the design of the magic circle... He could only tell that it was composed of countless nested and interwoven runes and energy lines, with alternating dark gold and silver light flashing between the lines. Even from a distance, one could feel the vast and obscure magic contained within it.

At the core of the magic circle stands a stone tablet.

The stone tablet was over three meters tall, entirely black, and its material was neither stone nor jade. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, clearly reflecting the starry sky above the dome. Beneath the mirror-like surface of the stone tablet, a dark purple energy flowed slowly and cyclically.

Around the base of the stone tablet, many things were scattered.

It is human bone.

There were more than one, probably more than twenty, human skeletons lying around the stone tablet in various poses. All the bones had one thing in common: their heads were facing the stone tablet, as if they were looking at it in their last moments before death.

These bones are very well preserved, with a jade-like luster on their surface, and some even show traces of flowing magic.

"When these people were alive...they were at least third-ring wizards or higher?"

Gu Chen was shocked by just this one thing!

The mere residual magical power on these bones sent a shiver down his spine!

A casual glance around revealed a sense of oppression emanating from the skeletons on the ground, just like Ysera's...

Moreover, judging from their postures, it seems as if they died suddenly during some kind of ritual.

His gaze shifted to the stone tablet.

Dark purple energy flowed slowly like smoke on the black stone tablet.

The death energy within the stone tablet was simply more immense, purer, and more ancient.

Just as Gu Chen was gazing at the stone tablet, a deep, hoarse voice echoed in his mind:

"You've arrived."

The voice was very clear, like someone speaking right next to your ear.

Gu Chen turned around abruptly, but there was nothing behind him.

"Who?"

"No need to look," the voice said. "I'm right here."

Gu Chen's gaze slowly returned to the stone tablet.

The black surface of the monument rippled in concentric circles, like pebbles being thrown into water.

Although there was nothing there, Gu Chen could feel that the stone tablet was watching him...

"Who are you?"

Gu Chen asked in a low voice.

"You can... call me the gravedigger."

The voice emanating from the stone tablet was extremely deep.

"They are also people imprisoned here," the voice came from the stone tablet. "They guard this 'cemetery' and have been locked up here for who knows how many years."

"Where is this place?" Gu Chen asked.

"root."

The tomb keeper said,

"Or rather, it's one of the core seals used by a group of people when they founded Gray Tower Academy to suppress something. The bones you see... are those of the original guardians, who came here at the end of their lives to reinforce the seal with everything they had."

Gu Chen was shocked. Something was being suppressed beneath the gray tower? And it required so many powerful wizards sacrificing their lives to maintain the seal?

But then, another question arose in my mind.

"Hello, gravedigger."

"You said this is a seal used by Gray Tower Academy to suppress something? And that the original guardians risked their lives to reinforce the seal?"

"But based on what I've seen and heard at Grey Tower Academy... I don't think they're capable of doing something so selfless."

Gu Chen looked at the stone tablet and asked, "Does selflessness and such really have anything to do with Gray Tower Academy...?"

"...I know, young man, the Gray Tower has changed."

"Please listen to me, okay?"

"Okay, but I'd like to ask, what is being sealed?"

The tomb keeper did not answer Gu Chen's question. His voice remained low and calm, as if he was not surprised by Gu Chen's question, as if he had foreseen it.

"It's too early to tell you now."

"You don't know me, nor do you know what happened back then... so I'll offer some information to make you believe me, such as Jobeck Antinoya, such as Calcosa, such as... the Dark Eroder."

"...What are you talking about?"

As the words emanating from the stone tablet reached his ears, Gu Chen's expression grew increasingly cold.

No, how come everyone knows about these things?

How many people actually know this?

Why does it seem like I know nothing?

"No need to play dumb."

"Not only do I know these things, I can also tell you that the Antinoya family and some people from the Gray Tower Academy are trying to break this seal..."

"...This doesn't prove anything. Perhaps this place is just a trap. I may not have much strength, but some information I do know might be very important."

Although the words spoken by the stone tablet in front of us seem very convincing, it doesn't mean we can easily believe them...

"And the bloodline of the Lorian royal family is one of the keys."

The stone tablet ignored Gu Chen's words and simply uttered this sentence, which made Gu Chen's pupils widen instantly!