The purification barrier spread roughly two streets away before it stopped expanding. Clearly, this was its limit for now, although perhaps it would expand a little more when neighboring cleansing dew points ertr reactivated. It was the first step in their mission to take back the entirety of Russet Rock City.

Li Luo looked closely at the edge of the purification barrier. Black mist continued to press up against its borders. It not only restricted the light barrier from expanding further, but was also eating away at it.

"Seems like the purification barrier shrinks as time passes... At this rate, the barrier will be negated by the illusion formation before too long," Lu Ming said with concern.

Li Luo nodded. "A most curious illusion indeed. It almost seems alive. We have constructed a cleansed area within it, and now it is trying to remove the foreign object from its midst. Still, we have only one purification barrier for now. I think that with a few more established, it won't be able to do this too effectively."

"A good start. We've put the first nail into the job!" Sun Dasheng cheered.

"What now?" Zhu Xuan asked, still a little pale.

Li Luo looked out at the raging battle nearby. "We have to wait a while. Once the squad leaders finish off the Others and regroup on us, we can continue to move."

Lu Ming turned to look out deeper into Russet Rock City. In the uncleansed areas, people walked back and forth along the street, and the normalcy was so lifelike that it was hard to doubt. And yet the contrast was all the more eerie when they looked back at the lifeless brick and battered mortar within the barrier. She shivered, afraid of what other horrors were hidden out there in the illusion.

The four of them had barely survived the encounter with the bewitching Other, which was not even a Disaster Class. Would they really be ready to handle whatever else might show up?

This was a dangerous place for Resonant Masters for sure.

That was why they needed other strong helpers to protect them on their way forward to the next anchor point to place the cleansing dew.

The four of them waited on a broken wall, where they were prominently visible to others.

But not all was well. Li Luo sensed a dangerous presence and whirled around to see a pair of Others slowly advancing upon them, oozing corruption.

And from the depth and power of their corruptive auras, they were clearly Disaster Class Others.

These two had tunneled in through the purification barrier without hesitation, though they had paid the price for it. Much of their corruption had been burned off when they entered the area, causing them great agony.

Writhing and cringing, they nevertheless pushed their way through. Each step within the purification barrier caused them great pain, but they continued to move towards the students' location with determination.

"They're coming to destroy the cleansing dew!" Lu Ming cried out. 

Sun Dasheng frowned. "The purification barrier should discourage any Others from coming in, because of the incredible disadvantage they'll suffer upon entry. Even Disaster Class Others would be more than happy to stay away."

Li Luo nodded. "Unless they were urged on by an even more undeniable force."

The students' spirits sank. Here in Russet Rock City, there was probably only one suspect—a Greater Heavenly Disaster Class.

Which meant that their first success with the cleansing dew had already been noticed.

"What should we do? Retreat? We can't handle two Disaster Class Others." Zhu Xuan sniveled. There was no fight left in him, although he could not really be faulted for advocating retreat in the face of two Disaster Class Others.

"We went through a ton of shit to get the cleansing dew down. We can't just run away like that! What a waste!" Sun Dasheng scowled. 

"They might be Disaster Class Others, but they're both weakened by the barrier. If we work together, we should be able to buy some time until our squad mates arrive to reinforce us," Lu Ming offered. Although she knew that their opponents were very dangerous, she was unwilling to give up their cleansing dew barrier without a fight.

Li Luo considered it silently for a few moments. "Prepare yourselves. We'll not engage directly, but fight a delaying battle backwards. Just don't let them destroy the point."

Lu Ming and Sun Dasheng nodded, approving heartily of his prudent yet shrewd plan.

Zhu Xuan was not very happy with this. He was the Two Star Hall student here, but no one was listening to him. These One Star Hall kids really didn't know how to respect their seniors. But then again, there was not much else that he could do. He couldn't very well break away from them and act on his own. He could only begrudgingly cooperate with their plan.

The four of them charged up their resonant powers and aimed them at the two Disaster Class Others who were hell-bent on the cleansing point.

Li Luo hefted his Onyx-Elephant Blade and drummed up power from his two resonant palaces, combining them together in a powerful blast of dual resonance power.

The two Others continued to approach.

The four students could already clearly see the outlines and details on the Others' bodies. The usual, nightmarish agglomeration of flesh and body parts, with baleful eyes staring out at them evilly.

The four of them tensed in anticipation of battle.

Swish!

The two Disaster Class Others screeched, making inhuman sounds that exuded a latent pressure against the four students. The threat of the power alone was enough to make their movements as sluggish as if they were sinking in a swamp.

Swoosh!

The two creatures increased their speed towards the four defenders.

They were close enough now that the putrid smell of decomposition was clear on the wind.

Just as the four of them were about to jump out of the way of the powerful creatures, a deafening sound came from above. In a flash of light and fire, two blazing nails came down from above, smashing into their bodies and nailing them to the ground.

“Eeee!”

The two Others struggled in vain as the fire spread from the nails to the rest of their bodies, incinerating them into puffs of harmless, black mist.

Barely a few seconds had passed since the intervention, and the Disaster Class Others had been completely eliminated.

The four students stared wide-eyed.

A moment later, a slim figure landed lightly beside them, and they turned to see a saintly girl gently drifting down, her long hair billowing lightly in the wind. Even as a girl herself, Lu Ming was awestruck by her beauty.

"Qing'e!" Li Luo exclaimed happily.

Of course, who else would it be but his guardian angel?

Jiang Qing'e's golden eyes checked him up and down, then she gave him a small smile after confirming that he was not hurt. "Well done."

She was referring to their success in getting the purification barrier up and running.

"It was all thanks to my friends, especially Senior Zhu Xuan," Li Luo said with a sardonic grin. "He decided to show us a real-life example of the dangers of being corrupted."

Zhu Xuan scowled.

"Senior Jiang, how are the other squad leaders doing?" Lu Ming asked.

"Not a problem. They should be here soon," Jiang Qing'e answered.

"If we can continue to push forward at this rate, it might be a bit slower, but I think we can continue to get cleansing points up and running," Li Luo said.

Putting up more cleansing points was their strategy to take down the grand illusion.

Jiang Qing'e inclined her head, although her elegant brow was slightly furrowed. "I'm curious as to why the Heavenly Disaster Class did not use this opportunity to attack us alongside the rest of the Others."

Li Luo nodded. It was a perplexing point. If the Heavenly Disaster Class had appeared a while ago, they would have been in serious trouble.

But in any case, they had accomplished their first bit of the mission.

The five of them continued onwards. With Jiang Qing'e protecting them, they all felt a lot safer, and the few Others that tried to stand in their way were cut down by the Three Star Hall genius in quick fashion.

Half an hour later.

The other squad members also finished off their Other opponents and hurriedly arrived at the gathering spot.

With that, their first step was well and truly complete.

Next, they just had to repeat this many more times…

...

While the group of students was pushing on, there was a crimson figure watching them from high above, unbeknownst to them. He was watching them through the many layers of illusions, and then he turned to look at the heart of Russet Rock City.

He sniggered, then laughed wickedly.

"Oh dear students of the Academic Federation, I've given you such a great opportunity. I hope you don't disappoint me."