Chapter 197: Challenging Zobek
Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Challenging Zobek
Chapter 197: Challenging Zobek
"Arrest them."
The moment the ruthless command left Instructor Zobek’s lips, Liana’s face turned ghastly pale.
"Instructor, we are being wrongly accused!" Liana frantically stepped forward, her silver eyes wide with desperation. "We didn’t attack anyone! We are wrongly accused."
"Instructor Zobek, Liana is speaking truth!" Sylvan protested desperately, his face pale beneath the crushing pressure. "Those three are Braxton’s dogs! They orchestrated this entire farce to frame us!"
"Please, Instructor, you must believe us!" one of the other disciples cried out, "We never left this courtyard today! How could we have attacked anyone?"
"SILENCE!"
Zobek’s cold voice cut through their protests like a blade.
BOOM!
His Level 9 Core Formation Realm pressure crashed down once more, forcefully sealing the lips of the Outer Palace disciples.
Several of the weaker youths were driven to their knees, gasping for air under the suffocating weight
"Whether your claims are true or not is not for you to decide," Zobek sneered coldly, his hawkish eyes gleaming with feigned impartiality. "That is precisely what a formal investigation is for. Until the truth is established, all accused parties will be detained in the disciplinary holding chambers. This is standard Academy procedure. Any resistance will only be treated as an admission of guilt."
He waved his hand dismissively toward his subordinates.
"Enough talk. Carry out the arrest."
The two Core Formation guards stepped forward, their oppressive auras pressing down on the terrified Outer Palace disciples.
Liana’s body trembled with fear. She knew exactly what those "holding chambers" meant.
Once inside, no one would ever hear the truth.
Zobek would twist the investigation however he pleased, and by the time it concluded, they would have already been forced to submit to Braxton’s demands.
But before the guards could take another step—
A figure moved.
Rhain stepped forward, placing himself directly between Instructor Zobek and Liana’s group.
Zobek’s eyes narrowed sharply.
"Boy," Zobek spoke chillingly. "Do not think that just because you wear a Gold Badge, you are above the Academy’s laws. Interfering with an Instructor’s official disciplinary duties is a severe offense!"
Zobek immediately unleashed his Level 9 Core Formation pressure, directing the full, crushing weight of his aura onto Rhain’s shoulders, intending to force the arrogant youth to his knees.
But Rhain didn’t even flinch.
He stood perfectly straight, his dark grey eyes calm and unbothered, as if the crushing spiritual pressure of a Level 9 Core Formation expert were nothing more than a gentle spring breeze.
With his Abyssal Sovereign Physique and a spiritual sea that infinitely approached the Domain Master Realm, a mere Core Formation expert’s pressure was nothing but a joke to him.
Rhain simply tilted his head, his dark grey eyes staring at Zobek with undisguised mockery.
"Do you have any shame left in your bones, Instructor Zobek?" Rhain asked coldly.
Zobek’s expression stiffened.
"An Academy Instructor," Rhain continued, his gaze pinning Zobek in place, "a Level 9 Core Formation expert entrusted with the authority to protect and guide the Outer Palace disciples. And yet here you are, acting as the lapdog of a single Inner Palace student. Fabricating charges, oppressing the weak, and abusing the very authority the Academy placed in your hands."
Each word landed like a hammer strike.
"Tell me, Instructor Zobek. When you accepted your position, did you swear to serve the Astral Alliance, or the Academy?"
The Outer Palace disciples stared at Rhain with horrified faces.
He had just called a peak Core Formation Instructor a lapdog to his face!
Zobek’s face turned ugly crimson.
Never in his years as an Instructor had any disciple dared to speak to him with such open contempt.
And to shrug off his suppressive aura as though it were nothing?
The humiliation was unbearable.
"Insolent brat!" Zobek roared, his Level 9 aura erupting violently. "Since you dare to defy an Academy Instructor and obstruct justice, I will personally teach you how to respect your superiors!"
His hand rose, essence gathering in his palm as he prepared to seize Rhain by force and drag him away alongside the others.
"Instructor Zobek."
A clear, melodious voice rang out.
Seris stepped forward, standing beside her husband.
Her pale purple eyes flashed with an anger that was entirely foreign to her usually gentle demeanor.
With a swift motion, she reached into her spatial ring.
A crystalline jade token materialized in her snow-white palm.
It radiated an incredibly profound, high-tier spiritual signature that clearly belonged to a Domain Master.
It was the special access token given to her by Myrielle.
"I advise you to reconsider your actions," Seris said coldly, "I am a Core Palace disciple, and the sole personal disciple of Vice Dean Myrielle. This token was personally granted to me by her."
Her clear voice rang out with authority, "Order your guards to back off immediately! If you dare to touch my husband, I will personally report your blatant corruption to my Master!"
A ripple of shock passed through the courtyard.
Core Palace disciple.
Disciple of the Vice Dean.
The Outer Palace disciples stared at the gentle silver-haired girl they had assumed was merely a beautiful visitor, their jaws hanging open in stunned disbelief.
Even Sylvan’s eyes went wide.
The moment the words "Core Palace disciple" and "Vice Dean Myrielle" came, Zobek’s surging essence stuttered.
His hawkish eyes widened in momentary shock.
A Core Palace disciple? Vice Dean’s personal student?
If that were true, offending her meant certain death.
Not even his position as an Instructor could save him from the wrath of a Domain Master.
Zobek instinctively swept his Spiritual Sense over the beautiful silver-haired girl.
But when his perception registered her aura, his momentary panic vanished, instantly replaced by a mocking, ugly sneer.
"Fifth level of the Spirit Manifestation Realm?" Zobek laughed out loud contemptuously.
He looked at Seris as if she were the most foolish child in the world.
"Little girl, if you are going to lie to save your friends, you should at least learn the Academy’s foundational rules first! The minimum standard to even be considered for the Core Palace is the eighth level of the Spirit Manifestation Realm before the age of twenty!"
Zobek didn’t even bother to glance closely at the crystalline jade token in her hand.
"Furthermore, if Vice Dean Myrielle had accepted a personal disciple, it would be a monumental event! The entire Academy would have been notified instantly! You think I would not possess that knowledge?"
Zobek’s expression turned ruthless.
"Impersonating a Core Palace disciple and forging a high-tier elder’s token! That is an unforgivable crime!" Zobek barked, pointing a finger directly at Seris. "Guards! Arrest this lying wench as well!"
"Yes, Instructor!"
The two Core Formation guards sneered maliciously, their auras rising as they surged forward, ready to carry out the brutal order.
Rhain’s dark grey eyes instantly turned chillingly cold.
If these dogs dared to take another step toward his wife, he would incinerate them into ash right here and now.
But just as Rhain was about to unleash the Red Tribulations Heavenly Flame—
Swish!
A red blur streaked through the air from above with uncanny precision.
Smack!
A dull thud echoed in the courtyard as the red projectile accurately struck the back of Instructor Zobek’s head.
The impact wasn’t heavy enough to injure him, but it still forced him to stagger forward a half-step, his commanding presence shattering into stunned bewilderment.
"WHO DARES???"
Zobek roared, spinning around furiously
He looked down at the ground to see what had just struck him.
It was an apple.
Specifically, a half-eaten apple.
Someone had actually thrown a half eaten apple at the back of his head.
Zobek eyes burned with humiliation, but then he looked closely at the apple, and his eyes widened.
The half-eaten fruit lying in the dirt was radiating an overwhelmingly pure, intoxicating spiritual fragrance.
It was an Epic-Grade spirit fruit!
Someone had just casually thrown a priceless, half-eaten Epic-Grade treasure at the back of his head like it was a piece of garbage!
Everyone in the courtyard, including Rhain and Seris, instinctively looked up toward the trajectory of the thrown fruit.
At some point—no one had seen when or how—a woman had appeared, lounging comfortably atop the courtyard’s outer wall.
She looked astonishingly youthful, appearing no older than her early twenties, with a strikingly beautiful face.
She wore flowing robes of vivid red, and her legs swung idly over the edge of the wall with a delightfully playful and carefree demeanor.
"My, my," the woman in red giggled, her voice melodious and carrying a strange, mesmerizing sound. "I step out for a short seclusion, and my Academy’s Instructors are already out here bullying my sister’s precious little disciple? How audacious."
Rhain’s dark grey eyes narrowed sharply.
His Spiritual Sense, which could normally see through any disguise or cultivation realm, swept over the woman in red.
Nothing.
Just like High Preceptor Aldren, she felt like an empty void, completely blended into the natural laws of the world itself.
But the pressure radiating from her casual presence was way deeper and more terrifying than Aldren’s.
Zobek looked up at the woman sitting on the wall.
The blood instantly drained from his face, leaving his skin the color of pale ash.
The Level 9 Core Formation Instructor, who had moments ago been suppressing an entire courtyard with his overwhelming aura, dropped to his knees so fast that his kneecaps cracked against the stone tiles.
His entire body trembled violently, cold sweat pouring down his face as he pressed his forehead toward the ground.
"D-D-Dean!" Zobek’s voice came out like a pathetic whimper. "This subordinate... this subordinate greets the Dean! I did not know you had arrived! Please forgive my—my ignorance!"