Chapter 353 - First Principal

The four tied a rope to the corner of the hole and slowly lowered themselves down. The demonic aura and miasma inside were thinner than at the entrance. Even without using Skills, they could barely see fifty to sixty meters ahead.

Only Leng Ning, with Frost Dragon Eyes, could peer deeper into the darkness. “There’s something 200 meters ahead. From its form... it’s a demon.”

Su Mei scanned the ground for Xue Qian’s footprints. As allies, they had established a system of information encryption using physical clues. Footprints left behind were messages for Su Mei to decrypt. Among the trail, she spotted a single footprint pointing in the opposite direction.

“He went that way,” Su Mei said, gesturing toward the demon.

Han Wu nodded and raised Dragon Shield to cover the front as they approached. Meng Qi activated all his Skills to guard the rear, while Su Mei and Leng Ning stood between them, their defenses at the ready.

They moved cautiously toward the demon, keeping as quiet as possible. When they were fifty meters away, the creature’s figure came into view: black hair floated in the still air, and dark blood dripped onto the cave floor with a chilling sound that echoed through the silence.

“Help... Help... me...” A faint whisper came from the figure. Shock rippled through them.

Meng Qi frowned. “Wait... why does that voice sound familiar?”

Su Mei ran forward and reached the figure. Her heart dropped. It wasn’t a demon—it was Xue Qian, who had volunteered to inspect the cave. He was hanging there.

“Wait, let me take you down,” she said, but her hands passed through his body. Only Xue Qian’s face remained tangible. The rest of him existed as a fragment of his original soul, somehow rendered visible.

Su Mei’s fury erupted. “Who... Who did this to you?”

Killing someone was one thing, but the culprit had gone further: they had flayed Xue Qian’s body, leaving only his facial skin hanging, and infused just enough of his soul to preserve his consciousness so the face could speak.

The method of torture was unimaginably cruel, far beyond anything Su Mei could conceive. Whoever devised it was undeniably insane—or a merciless psychopath.

Han Wu stopped her from touching Xue Qian further. “Wait. Don’t touch him. Only a tenth of his soul remains. If you handle him recklessly, even that fragment will vanish.”

“What should I do then? I shouldn’t have let him go in alone. None of this would have happened if we had entered together,” Su Mei cried, her grief deepening with the loss of another companion.

Han Wu examined the remnants of Xue Qian’s facial skin. There was no denying that he was dead. Not even Han Wu, at full strength, could have revived him. Yet the question gnawed at him.

Why flay Xue Qian, remove his facial skin, and leave only a tenth of his soul? It’s far more meticulous than simply killing him outright.

Leng Ning approached Su Mei, offering her own brand of consolation. “Stop crying. It won’t help you catch the culprit.”

Hearing the word

culprit

, Su Mei abruptly stopped crying and turned to Leng Ning with hesitant hope. “Can you help me find them?”

Leng Ning shook her head. “Since when did I claim I could?”

Meng Qi stepped forward and patted his chest proudly. “I will help you find the culprit. Don’t worry. I swear it.”

Su Mei knew Meng Qi lacked the capability, yet his words offered a sliver of comfort.

Han Wu finished examining the facial wounds. The cuts were unnaturally precise, as if Xue Qian had not resisted at all. It almost looked voluntary, but Han Wu knew he would never surrender so easily. Something else was at work. The only way to uncover the truth was to press on.

Leng Ning scouted the way ahead as the group advanced deeper into the cave. The rough, jagged stones beneath their feet gradually gave way to neat rows of bricks, and the uneven passage smoothed into a proper path.

At its end stood a massive stone gate carved with the emblem of the Violet Demon Academy. Su Mei’s eyes widened in recognition. This was the entrance to the tomb of her academy’s first principal, but why had it appeared here?

Han Wu had a suspicion, though he kept it to himself. He placed his hands against the stone and pushed. The gate groaned open, revealing the tomb within.

A lone figure sat atop a stone coffin within the tomb, clutching a blood-soaked skull and gnawing at it. The flesh was raw and wet, torn so recently it could only have come from a living body. No one here fit that fate but Xue Qian. The ghastly truth was clear—Xue Qian’s head was in the figure’s hands, and it was feeding on him.

Rage consumed Su Mei. She unleashed Succubus Descend and charged. “You killed my companion! I’ll kill you!”

The figure lifted its head with lazy indifference. Its skin was ghostly pale, its expression empty, yet bright streams of blood ran down its lips, searing the image of Xue Qian’s death into Su Mei’s mind. Her resolve hardened to vengeance.

Her strike landed with crushing force, powerful enough to shatter stone, but the figure remained unscathed. Stunned, Su Mei faltered, unable to grasp what had just happened.

Han Wu, however, understood at once. The creature with the long tongue had not been the true guardian of the passage. The figure before them was!

If his deduction was correct, this body once belonged to the Violet Demon Academy’s first principal. Now, though, it was nothing more than a puppet. The Will of the Hell Civilization had seized the corpse, broken the ancient seal, and forced open a gateway for its invasion.

With ease, the reanimated principal tossed Su Mei aside and fixed his gaze on Han Wu. The Will of the Hell Civilization sensed the familiar resonance of Han Wu’s soul. The reanimated principal’s eyes widened, and a telepathic roar filled Han Wu’s mind. “It’s you! Give me back the sliver of my own Will!”

The tomb quaked under the force of the Hell Civilization’s wrath, and the oppressive aura of a Founder pressed down on everyone within its walls.