Shocking! The female protagonist unlocked her powers by killing people!

Chapter 424 Oath

"Spirit-eating insects?"

The dean looked at the others with a puzzled expression. The others had the same puzzled look on their faces; they had never heard of spirit-eating worms.

Seeing that no one knew, the dean turned to Ling Yi and asked, "Miss, could you please explain in more detail?"

Ling Yi turned his head to look at Ye Qingshuang, who then said, "Let me explain."

Everyone present looked at Ye Qingshuang upon hearing this. Under everyone's gaze, Ye Qingshuang began to speak: "The spirit-eating insects are as their name suggests. They feed on spiritual energy, but they cannot absorb natural spiritual energy. They can only absorb spiritual energy that has been refined by other beings. Therefore, their food covers all cultivation materials."

"Humans, beasts, demons, and even gods are their food," Ye Qingshuang said. "The more spiritual energy the spirit-eating insects absorb, the stronger they become, and the faster they reproduce. Therefore, once they appear, they always appear in groups, making them extremely difficult to deal with."

Upon hearing this, the dean couldn't help but say, "Such a powerful insect, yet we've never heard of it before. It's not from Haizhou, is it?"

“Indeed not.” Ye Qingshuang frowned. “Before these insects hatch, they need extremely rich spiritual energy to nourish them. The spiritual energy in Haizhou is not up to standard, so they come from places with richer spiritual energy.”

After listening, the vice dean looked at Hailing and asked, "Ah Ling, where did you get involved with this bug?"

Hai Ling hurriedly spoke up: "Vice Dean, this is what I wanted to tell you. Miss Ling said that the worms in my body appeared not long ago, and I was infected recently. The last time I had an accident was at the tower, and it is very likely that I was infected by the worms at the tower."

"How is that possible?" Upon hearing Hai Ling's words, the elder in charge of guarding the tower was the first to object: "We've guarded the tower our whole lives and haven't encountered any problems. You can't just say things like that!"

If the insect really came from the tower, and they, as the tower's guardians, failed to discover it, they would certainly be held accountable for dereliction of duty. However, the elders objected not because they were afraid of being held accountable, but because they did not want to believe that a problem had occurred in the tower without their knowledge.

Seeing the elders' objections, Hai Ling said, "But the only place I've been recently is the tower, and I fainted in the tower, so it might have been caused by the spirit-eating insects."

When Hailing brought up the matter of her falling into a coma in the tower, the elders had no way to refute it.

As a teacher at the academy, Hai Ling had access to the tower to read ancient books. Previously, Hai Ling had fainted while borrowing ancient books. Before today, they had always thought that an outsider had infiltrated the tower and injured Hai Ling, but now... it might really have been caused by that spirit-eating insect.

In the ensuing silence, the dean spoke up: "Whether it's a problem with the tower or not, we'll know once we go and take a look."

Hai Ling: "Okay."

The elders did not object. Seeing this, the dean looked at Ling Yi and his group: "Gentlemen, if the spirit-eating insects really come from the tower, do you have any ways to deal with them?"

Ling nodded: "Of course, but we don't do things for free; we need compensation."

Upon hearing this, the dean quickly replied, "The matter of payment is easy to discuss. As long as the young lady can resolve it, payment is not an issue."

Ling glanced at the dean and said, "I don't want money."

The dean was taken aback upon hearing this, and was about to ask Ling Yi what he wanted when Ling Yi said first, "Let's go see what the situation is like."

"Alright." The dean stopped hesitating and led the group toward the tower. As for the reward, they were an academy directly under the Empire; what reward couldn't they offer?

The elders of the tower led the way, accompanied by the dean and vice-dean. Even the city lord and Hai Ling, who had recently had an accident at the tower, were present. As soon as the group appeared, they attracted the attention of many students and teachers.

Seeing them head towards the tower, the teachers and students who didn't have classes followed out of curiosity.

Soon, the group arrived at the tower.

The buildings of Radiant Academy are mostly white, including the tower, which is inlaid with jewels. Under the sunlight, the jewels on the tower shimmer with dazzling light, making it very beautiful.

Ling Yi and the others glanced at it and then looked away. However, the little golden tiger sitting on Ling Yi's shoulder was very interested, its golden eyes wide open, looking like it liked it very much.

Seeing its appearance, Ye Qingshuang laughed and teased, "So you like shiny things, huh?"

Little Golden Tiger snorted upon hearing this, turned its head away from Ye Qingshuang, and looked quite arrogant.

As the human and the beast interacted, the elders opened the tower gates and went inside.

"Let's go," the dean said, and followed them inside.

Ling Yi and the others followed. After entering the tower, the elders led everyone to the floor where Hai Ling had the accident.

The tower has nine floors. Hai Ling's accident happened on the eighth floor. The eighth floor contains many rare cultivation techniques and secret manuals. Students and ordinary teachers cannot go up there; only some teachers with special status can.

Hai Ling was able to reach the eighth floor because she was a teacher and also because she was the daughter of the City Lord of Yunhai City.

Upon reaching the eighth floor, just as the elders were about to invite Ling Yi and the others inside, they heard Ling Yi say, "Not this floor."

The elders were taken aback and looked at Ling Yidao: "But Hai Ling's accident happened on this floor."

Upon hearing this, Ling Yi looked at Hai Ling. Seeing Ling Yi looking at her, Hai Ling gestured for Ling Yi to cooperate with her eyes: "It is indeed on this floor."

After receiving the answer, Ling Yi looked at the elder: "She is unconscious and may not know where the accident happened."

The elders looked at Ling Yi: "Hai Ling can only go up to the eighth floor, so where else could it be but here?"

Ling Yi didn't speak, but looked up at the sky.

Seeing Ling look up, the vice dean frowned and said, "It can't be up there. No one except the dean and me can go up to the ninth floor."

Including the elders who were in charge of guarding the tower!

Ling Yi replied coldly, "Whether it is or not, we'll know once we go up and see for ourselves."

"This..." The ninth floor of the tower houses the most unique magical artifacts of the Holy Yuan Empire. The vice dean could not make a decision and could only look to the dean.

The dean remained silent for a moment.

Ye Qingshuang saw their expressions and said, "Although the spirit-eating insects absorb spiritual energy, every inch of a cultivator's body has spiritual energy flowing through it, so they don't mind when they eat it."

The vice dean's expression darkened upon hearing this: "What do you mean?"

Ye Qingshuang said, "They eat meat."

"They eat both humans and beasts," Ye Qingshuang said, looking at Hai Ling. "There are quite a few spirit-eating insects inside Hai Ling. If they are allowed to come out, Guangyao Academy and Yunhai City will both suffer."

Upon hearing this, the dean, vice dean, and several elders all changed their expressions.

They had never heard of spirit-eating worms, nor did they know they were so powerful, but...

The dean looked at Ling Yi and said, "These are all your side of the story. The ninth floor of the tower houses the Empire's most precious treasures. I cannot let you go up just because of your side of the story. You must swear an oath to prove that what you said is true."

"Swear an oath?" Ling Yi sneered. "It's you who are afraid of spirit-eating insects, not us."

“Since the dean doesn’t believe us, we can leave.” Ling Yi said, “We can come back when the spirit-eating insects come out.” With that, Ling Yi turned and left.

Seeing this, Ye Qingshuang and the others followed without the slightest hesitation.

"Miss Ling!"

Seeing that the group was about to leave, Hai Ling quickly stepped forward to stop them: "Dean, what Miss Ling said is true, please let them go up."

“Ah Ling…” the dean sighed, “This concerns the empire’s most precious treasure; we cannot make a hasty decision, otherwise…”

"Dean!" Hai Ling said, "We can't delay any longer, or it will be too late."

Upon hearing this, the dean was about to say something when a commotion suddenly came from upstairs.

Only the dean and vice dean are allowed to go to the ninth floor of the tower. Now that both of them are here, where did the commotion upstairs come from?

The dean and the vice dean exchanged a glance, both seeing unease in each other's eyes.

"Dean, I'll go up and take a look." After saying that, the vice dean turned to leave.

Hai Ling was extremely helpless when she saw that they wouldn't let Ling Yi go up. Just as she was about to swear an oath, the commotion upstairs grew louder and louder, and even the eighth floor started to shake.

"What happened?" The elders were all uneasy, as this was the first time they had seen any disturbance on the ninth floor, especially at such a critical time when spirit-eating insects were appearing.

Hai Ling said, "Dean, we can't delay any longer. Let Miss Ling and the others go and take a look!"

The dean was still hesitant. How come problems arose as soon as Ling Yi and his group arrived?

But Ling Yi stayed with them after arriving, and none of them made a move. The commotion on the ninth floor couldn't have been caused by them; it could only be a coincidence.

The dean disliked the coincidence, but there was really no other way at the moment, so he finally agreed.

"Let's go," the dean said, heading towards the ninth floor.

Before going up, considering that there were several of them, the dean looked at the elders and said, "You should come along too."

If you want to go up, go up. If there's anything wrong, it's easier to stop people if there are many of you.