Chapter 225 | The Demonic Cult’s Trap

Chapter 225: 225 | The Demonic Cult’s Trap

Night descended over the Southern Maple Compound in a quiet veil of mist and drifting maple leaves.

For the first time in over twenty years, a representative of the Crimson Nimbus Sect had fought his way into the Grand Final of the Regional Tournament.

Even Zhou Kai and Gao Chen, resting side by side in the recovery hall, had drunk a cup of mild herbal broth with Fang Yu and Chen Hao to celebrate before turning in for the night.

Up in the Eastern Private Pavilion, however, every lamp was dimmed behind an isolation array.

Inside the sealed inner hall, Elder Liu and Elder Bai sat across from each other at the low sandalwood table, while Instructor Qing stood two paces behind them in her crimson martial uniform.

Having spent the previous night in Lin Tian’s lap, Qing met his gaze for a brief second before her eyelashes fluttered and she looked quickly down at the teacup on the table, a faint warmth touching her ears at the memory of how she had clung to his bare chest in the Western Pavilion.

"Sit down, Lin Tian," Elder Liu said, her voice warm with unconcealed pride as she gestured to the cushion beside her. " With both Mo Yan and Zhao Lie crippled, the Black-Sun Sect has already lost their claim to the two disputed southern veins regardless of tomorrow’s final."

Lin Tian walked to the table, but instead of taking a sip of the spirit tea, he reached into his sleeve and placed a jagged, two-inch shard of dark-crimson metal onto the polished wood between the two Elders.

It was a broken fragment from Mo Yan’s Blood-Sun Saber, which he picked up from the crater Mo Yan had made during the battle.

Even severed from the weapon, the jagged metal shard gave off a faint, foul stench of scorched marrow and rotten blood that lingered nearby.

The warm smile on Elder Liu’s face faded at once, replaced by concern.

Beside her, Elder Bai leaned forward slightly, her cool, analytical eyes fixing onto the dark-crimson fragment on the table, her expression unreadable.

"This is from the core of Mo Yan’s saber?" Elder Bai asked quietly, without looking away.

"It is," Lin Tian said, sitting down and keeping his voice steady inside the sealed hall. "Yesterday in the pavilion, I mentioned that Zhao Lie’s heavy cleaver had a core of corrupted blood-iron welded down its center. Today, when my blade broke Mo Yan’s Blood-Sun Saber, I got a clear look at what was hidden inside both weapons."

Lin Tian tapped a finger half an inch beside the dark-crimson shard, speaking with the precise, unshakeable clarity of a master Artifact Refiner.

"In orthodox weapon refining, the internal rune grooves are carved inward, towards the hilt so the wielder’s spiritual Qi stays locked inside the metal," Lin Tian explained. "Look at the grain and the groove direction on this fragment."

Elder Liu and Instructor Qing both leaned closer, while Elder Bai picked up the shard with a pair of jade tongs and held it near the spirit lamp.

Carved into the inner surface of the dark-red metal were tiny, spiral channels that pointed exclusively toward the tip of the blade—and the metal itself was porous, dark, and greasy, forged and quenched repeatedly in condensed human blood.

"Refined Blood-Bone Iron," Elder Liu whispered, a cold chill flashing through her dark eyes. "Only the Blood-Bone Demonic Cult in the northern wastes refines artifact cores in blood furnaces like this! And these inverted grooves aren’t meant to hold Qi inside the blade—they’re designed to drain blood-essence!"

"Drain it to where?" Instructor Qing asked sharply, her hand tightening on her sword hilt.

"Into the floor of the Heavenly Colosseum," Lin Tian answered calmly.

All three women stiffened at once, their eyes snapping straight to his face.

"During my match against Zhao Lie yesterday, and today, I traced where the blood-essence from these cores went when the metal shattered," Lin Tian continued evenly. "It didn’t scatter into the air. Beneath the four stages, someone has driven four six-foot-long spikes of Demonic Blood-Iron straight into the main underground spirit-iron conduits of the colosseum."

Dead silence fell over the Eastern Private Pavilion.

Elder Bai’s hand holding the jade tongs stopped in mid-air, her pale brows drawing together as the entire picture clicked into place in her sharp mind.

"The main defensive barrier of the Heavenly Colosseum is powered by the Sky-Pillar Sword Sect’s underground spirit-stone veins, which flow through those four central conduits," Elder Bai said slowly, her voice dropping an octave. "If four spikes have been driven directly into the conduits beneath the stages... any array master couldn’t detect them from above because the spikes are disguised as part of the stage’s structural framing."

She looked directly into Lin Tian’s eyes.

"How full are the four spikes below the stages?"

"The three spikes beneath Stages Two, Three, and Four were already filled by the blood shed during the opening rounds," Lin Tian said. "Today, when Mo Yan burned his heart-blood and I accidentally shattered his saber at last, the main central spike drank the backlash and was almost full."

Instructor Qing’s breath caught softly. "Almost full... That means Elder Mo knew Mo Yan had no chance of winning the tournament against Jian Wuchen’s Early Core Formation!"

"He never intended to win the tournament by the rules," Elder Liu said, her face frost-white with cold fury as she stood up beside the table. "The Core Formation blood-cultivator who ambushed our ship on the northern route was from the Demonic Cult. We thought Elder Mo merely paid them to cripple our ship—in truth, the entire Black-Sun Sect has sold itself to the demonic cult!"

"And tomorrow is the Grand Final," Lin Tian said calmly, finishing the thought. "Tomorrow morning, the Elders, and top geniuses of all twelve northern righteous sects will be seated inside the colosseum’s main dome to watch my match with Jian Wuchen. The moment Jian Wuchen and I clash with Core-level force on Stage One, the vibration will be the final push."

"Once all four spikes reach full capacity inside the spirit-iron conduits," Elder Bai said coldly, setting the jade tongs down with a crisp click, "the colosseum’s protective barrier will convert into a Blood-Sealing Slaughter Cage—cutting off everyone inside from the nine dragon pillars of the city while the Black-Sun Sect and the hidden Blood-Bone Cult experts slaughter the weakened delegations from within."

A heavy, chilling silence hung in the lamp-lit room.

For a long moment, both Elder Liu and Instructor Qing stared at Lin Tian in quiet shock.

Elder Bai rose smoothly from her place.

For the first time since they had boarded the ship days ago, the distant, untouchable detachment in her clear eyes melted away as she looked at Lin Tian, replaced by a deep, unmistakable weight of recognition and quiet reliance.

"Because you identified the exact metal structure and the four conduit junctions beneath the stages, we do not need to alarm the city and scare Elder Mo into detonating the spikes early," Elder Bai said softly, her gaze holding Lin Tian’s. "The underground spirit-vein are controlled by the Sky-Pillar Sword Sect. And Elder Su of Frost-Moon Valley has been a friend of our sect for years."

"We will go to the Sky-Pillar Sword Sect’s inner residence and Frost-Moon Valley’s pavilion right now under cover of night," Elder Liu agreed decisively, reaching for her outer cloak. "With Bai-er knowing the exact location of the spikes inside the conduits, she and the host sect’s Grand Elders can quietly sever the lower blood-reversal links from beneath the earth before dawn—without altering the surface on Stage One!"

Elder Bai walked past the table toward the door, then paused half a step beside Lin Tian’s shoulder.

"Without you, I couldn’t find the difference until the barrier had already turned red," Elder Bai said in a low, clear voice meant only for him. "Tomorrow in the ring, focus entirely on Jian Wuchen’s sword. When Elder Mo crushes his talisman after the match, the cage he activates will backfire."

[Target 6 (Elder Bai) Obsession Level: 25% → 30% (Deep Respect for Host’s Refiner Insight & Quiet Trust)]

Lin Tian met her calm eyes and gave a slight nod. "Be careful tonight, Elder Bai."

Elder Bai inclined her head faintly, she and Elder Liu slipped out into the dark courtyard mist.

Inside the quiet hall, Instructor Qing lingered for three breaths after the two Elders departed.

Stepping up beside Lin Tian, she looked down at the dark-crimson metal on the table, then up and said

"Tomorrow morning, after you defeat Jian Wuchen and the Blood-Bone Cult dogs jump out of the shadows..." Qing murmured softly, her fingers brushing lightly against the back of his hand at his side before she pulled back with a faint flush on her cheeks, "...save one of their demonic cultivators for my sword."

Lin Tian smiled faintly, his thumb catching her fingertips for a brief, warm second.

"As the Head Referee commands," he said