Void Veins: The Forbidden Ascension

Chapter 19. The Crack in the Perfect Mask

The air in the room turned instantly frigid. Valerius’s smile vanished, replaced by a flat, vacant expression far more terrifying than any rage. He did not strike at once. He merely observed Lin Ye, as though studying an insect that had suddenly learned to speak.

“What a pity,” Valerius murmured. “I had hoped you would be more rational than your predecessors.”

He made a slight motion with his index finger. The floor beneath Lin Ye’s feet turned fluid — not water, but thick, clinging solid shadow. Lin Ye tried to leap, yet his legs were trapped. The darkness rose swiftly, coiling around his ankles, then his waist, dragging him downward.

Lin Ye swung the Nullification Sword, shearing through the shadow-bindings. The iron blade severed part of it, but the shadow knitted itself together again, stronger than before. This was no ordinary elemental magic. This was high-order reality manipulation.

“Cute toy,” Valerius remarked, drawing nearer once more. “Mortal iron against cosmic essence. Do you truly believe you can wound me with that?”

Lin Ye did not answer. He focused, channeling Abyssal energy from the black jade into his blade. Instead of merely cutting the shadow physically, he flooded the sword with pure Void essence. The weapon pulsed, shifting from iron-grey to an absolute black that swallowed all surrounding light.

As the shadow reached his chest, Lin Ye drove the blade deep into the mass beneath his feet.

SSSHHH!

A searing hiss — like boiling water poured onto ice. The shadow recoiled, burned away by the very emptiness it was made of. Lin Ye seized the moment to tear free, rolling aside to put distance between himself and Valerius.

Valerius raised an eyebrow, faintly impressed. “Oh? You have learned to wield the jade’s parasitic nature? Intriguing. Yet you forget one thing.”

Valerius clapped his hands. From the corners of the room, four gargoyle statues — long mistaken for mere ornamentation — shattered their stone shells. Creatures emerged within — not rock, but flesh golems stitched together from the parts of beasts, woven with violet magical thread. Their eyes burned red; their jaws gaped, lined with rows of jagged teeth.

“My personal guard,” Valerius said, unconcerned. “They are famished. And you look… delicious.”

All four golems lunged at once. Lin Ye could not evade them all. One claw raked his left shoulder, tearing robe and flesh alike. Blood spilled. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he invoked the newly mastered Void Step.

His form flickered, vanishing for an instant, and reappeared directly behind one golem. He struck at its neck — the head fell away, yet the creature did not die. A new one sprouted swiftly, flesh writhing and reknitting.

“Void regeneration,” Lin Ye breathed. He saw the truth. So long as Valerius fed them power, these things could not be slain by ordinary means.

He must sever the source. He must strike Valerius himself.

But how does one breach the defenses of a Nascent Soul master?

Lin Ye’s gaze darted to Shen Kui, slumped weak against the far wall. His mentor met his eyes — warning, yes, but also a quiet, deliberate hint. Shen Kui pointed upward, toward the ceiling, directly above Valerius.

There hung a great crystal, turning slowly, laced with glowing conduits that fed streams of azure liquid into Valerius’s body. That was his power source. The Heart of the Academy.

Lin Ye understood. Valerius was not self-sustaining. He was tethered to the Academy itself. Sever that connection — if only for a moment — and even he would falter.

“The golems are merely a distraction,” Lin Ye realized. “The true target is the crystal above.”

He let himself appear overwhelmed, retreating step by step as though cornered. Valerius watched, satisfied, certain his prey was trapped.

But Lin Ye was not watching Valerius. His eyes were locked on the crystal overhead. He gathered every last reserve of strength — not for a strike, but for the greatest leap of his life.