I Cultivate 10,000 Times Faster-Chapter 142: [140] Attacked Again, By An Elder!

The chamber was silent as the Envoys absorbed this information.

The Fourth Envoy spoke, her wind-carried voice thoughtful. "A convenient excuse. 'I struck without looking' could just as easily mean you attacked an innocent student and regretted it afterward."

"If that were not true," Levi countered, "Why would I not attempt to conceal what happened? I knew the moment it occurred that I had been manipulated, and I made ni effort to flee.."

The First Envoy nodded slowly. "The report does indicate immediate disclosure. That speaks to consciousness of the manipulation, at least."

The Third Envoy's face was like stone, his metallic eyes burning with barely suppressed rage. "Even if we accept your explanation for the first death—even if we acknowledge you were manipulated—what about the second kill?" His voice was dangerously low. "Can you justify murdering Chris with the same convenient 'self-defense' excuse?"

Levi met the Third Envoy's glare without flinching, knowing this was the crucial moment.

"It was good old-fashioned self-defense," Levi said firmly. "After the first incident, Chris didn't attempt to hide his involvement or express remorse. Instead, he openly tried to kill me, I defended my self and killed him in self defense."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"Moreover, a student who treats fellow students' lives and deaths as though they were ants isn't a good person. Such individuals would eventually bring disgrace and shame to the academy. It's better to eliminate such a person now rather than later when they've grown stronger and more dangerous."

The seventh elder's face remained impassive, but his eyes narrowed slightly. His long white beard trembled as he leaned forward in his seat, the ancient wood of his throne creaking under the shift in weight. "Even if the person is an Elder's relative?"

Those words struck Levi like a physical blow.

His face turned pale, the blood draining from his face as his thoughts ran.

Chris was related to one of the Elders? He'd killed the son or or grandchild of someone with immense power within the academy, someone who could crush him with a thought and now, that person medium dead!

He was absolutely fucked, wasn't he?

He gritted his teeth and fists clenched at his sides, fingernails digging into his palms. "I stand by my words. It was self-defense. He wanted to kill me, therefore I killed him instead. It's the rule of this world, the law that governs all cultivators. Only one with the strongest fist is right. If I was the one who was weaker, I would have died instead."

He was essentially throwing the academy's own philosophy back at them, using their teachings as his defense. If might made right, if strength determined everything, then his actions were justified simply because he'd been strong enough to survive and kill his attacker.

The assembled elders remained silent for a long moment, their expressions unreadable. Some seemed thoughtful, others angry, still others appeared almost amused by this junior's audacity.

Then the third elder suddenly smiled.

The third elder was a man who appeared to be in his late fifties, with graying hair tied back in a severe topknot and a face carved from granite. His cultivation base was so immense that reality seemed to distort slightly around him, space itself bending under the weight of his power.

"You're right, Levi," the third elder said, his voice deceptively calm and reasonable. "Only the strongest fist is right. Power determines all things in this world. The strong devour the weak, and the weak exist only to serve as stepping stones for those with talent and ambition."

The third elder rose, his movements slow. Each step he took seemed to make the very air grow heavier, more oppressive. "Therefore, you won't blame me for avenging my nephew, correct? After all, I am merely following the same philosophy you just mentioned. My fist is stronger than yours, my power is greater, so by your own logic, I have every right to crush you like the insect you are."

Before Levi could even process the third elder's words, before his mind could fully comprehend the mortal danger he was in, the elder moved.

One moment, the third elder was standing twenty meters away near his throne. The next instant, he was directly in front of Levi, having crossed the distance in less time than it took for Levi's heart to beat once. It wasn't teleportation, it was simply speed so overwhelming that Levi's eyes couldn't track the movement. This was the terrifying power of someone who had reached the Fiendgod realm and beyond.

A wrinkled finger extended toward Levi's forehead.

An intense feeling of death enveloped Levi completely, drowning him in terror. His Danger Sense skill activated at maximum intensity, screaming warnings so loud they felt like physical pain. Every instinct he possessed was telling him to move, to dodge, to do something, anything, but his body wouldn't respond. The gap in their cultivation realms was so vast that Levi's body had simply frozen, unable to even contemplate resistance against such overwhelming power.

Levi's face changed drastically as he realized he was about to die. There was no escape, no technique that could save him that fast, no hidden trump card to pull out at the last second.

The third elder's finger was descending with absolute certainty, and once it touched his forehead, Levi's skull would explode like an overripe fruit. His brain would be reduced to paste. Death would be instantaneous and absolute.

Just when Levi had given up all hope, when he'd accepted that this was how his second life would end, cut short before he could truly accomplish anything, the seventh elder suddenly moved.

The ancient cultivator, who had appeared so still and old just moments before, moved with a speed that somehow exceeded even the third elder's explosive burst. One instant he was seated on his throne, the next he was standing directly in front of Levi, positioned between the young student and the descending finger of death.

The seventh elder raised his walking stick, a gnarled piece of wood that looked like it had been carved from an ancient tree and weathered by countless centuries. The stick moved in a perfect arc to intercept the third elder's finger.

When the two forces collided, reality itself seemed to scream.

"BOOM!"

The impact created a shockwave that radiated outward with devastating force. The wall directly behind Levi, a structure built from reinforced spiritual stone designed to withstand attacks from Fiend Warriors, shattered into countless fragments. Chunks of rock the size of houses were blasted backward, creating a storm of debris that pulverized everything in its path.

But that was just the beginning.

The shockwave continued spreading, carving twin trenches into the floor on either side of Levi's position. The grooves extended outward, deepening and widening as they went, tearing through solid stone as easily as a hot knife through butter. The destruction stretched for one full kilometer before finally dissipating, creating matching scars that ran parallel to each other and faded into the distance.

If Levi had been standing even half a meter to either side of his current position, he would have been caught in one of those shockwaves. His body would have been ground into red mist, reduced to nothing more than a stain on the floor. The casual exchange between two powerful elders had nearly erased him from existence as collateral damage.

The seventh elder didn't move from his position. His back was to Levi, his walking stick still raised, trembling slightly from the force of the impact it had just absorbed. When he spoke, his voice carried an authority that made even the other elders straighten in their seats.

"We are the Elders Council. We don't get to kill students as we wish, we judge them according to the academy's laws and traditions." The seventh elder turned his head slightly, directing his words toward the third elder. His tone had become cold, carrying an edge of warning that promised consequences if this line was crossed. "Our purpose is to maintain order and fairness, not to indulge in petty revenge because our feelings are hurt."

The third elder's face twisted with rage, his eyes burning with fury at being thwarted. For a moment, it seemed as though he might attack again, consequences be damned. The air around him began to distort more severely, demonic energy leaking from his body in visible waves of crimson light. Several of the weaker elders actually leaned back in their seats, preparing defensive techniques in case a full battle erupted.

But ultimately, the third elder managed to control himself. With visible effort, he reined in his killing intent and demonic aura. He snorted contemptuously, the sound like a bull expressing its displeasure, but he vanished from his position and reappeared back on his throne in the blink of an eye. His hands gripped the armrests so tightly that the ancient wood actually cracked under the pressure.

The seventh elder glanced back at Levi, his ancient eyes meeting the young man's gaze for just a moment. In that brief exchange, Levi saw something unexpected, not pity, not sympathy, but a kind of acknowledgment. The elder's expression was unreadable, but when he spoke, his words carried weight.

"The favor I owed you has been repaid."