Paragon Of Sin

Chapter 1761: Chaos (2)

The vast majority of cultivators had a preternatural form of instinct towards omens, dangers, and opportunities. Their perception of dangers was borderline precognitive, capable of sensing the looming arrival of calamity, death, destruction, and failure. This instinct of theirs worked as a double-edged blade, both assisting them in surviving spontaneous lethal situations and simultaneously instilling shaky confidence when challenging the path of cultivation.

A living example of this was none other than Pavilion Master Shang Liu, who had been stuck in the Ascended Saint Phase of the Mystic Ascendant Realm for over 170,000 years, and that was largely because any resolve and strength that he managed to gather would collapse by the sensation of impending and catastrophic failure.

Sage Moonrise was a Sage, and she had a highly developed instinctual alarm for incoming danger. Currently, this internal alarm of hers was blaringly loud, perhaps the loudest she had ever felt since becoming a Sage!

The Main Hall was quite large, capable of housing tens of thousands of cultivators comfortably with room to spare for the center stage designed to host a competition, and various works of ambience-elevating art. Yet to the Sages present, this space was a little too small. This benefited her in a few ways as she tried to locate the source of the incoming danger, forcefully expanding her Spiritual Sense in the double-layered distorted space, using overpowering tactics to bypass the restrictions.

She made two mistakes.

The first mistake was the most critical; Sage Moonrise felt the incoming danger and didnʼt take evasive maneuvers immediately, disregarding any damage to her foundation and prioritizing her safety.

The second mistake was the most damning; Sage Moonrise tried to go against environmental disadvantages that she hadnʼt yet fully understood. For example, while the restriction born from the mountain explosion wasnʼt too impactful when she released her Spiritual Sense, it seemed to trigger the hidden formation in an instant as if attracted to her brand of spiritual energy.

The formation condensed entirely on her as if it were locked onto her spiritual aura. Her attempt at wading through the restrictions was met with her body, which was blazing through the Main Hall at absurd speeds, to be surrounded by an intricate formation of hundreds of thousands of advanced Mystic Runes. Each Mystic Rune had characteristics of anti-lunar energy, water energy, and spiritual energy, clearly designed to target Sage Moonriseʼs cultivation base!

”What?!” Her Mystic Soul and Sea of Consciousness, for just a brief period, were the target, and she was viciously suppressed for a single microsecond. Just a single microsecond.

The second disguised Sageʼs eyes carried a sharp glint of lethal maliciousness and sinister chill as he held a single hand-seal, his aura no longer restrained, bringing a shock to all who could still perceive the ongoing events. From beneath feet, a thousand-foot radius formation was revealed, with him as the epicenter. The hidden formation was exposed, and as the formation lines reached throughout the hall and even the walls and ceiling, this all but confirmed an inside job!

Meanwhile, the attack launched against the exposed Sage after Shang Wanqing, intending to kill both of them, continued going forth. But the exposed Sage was mightily swift as he ignored Shang Wanqing and flicked both his wrists with a distance between them. A bow and arrow formed, one in both hands.

The bow was a scaly green and sandy purple, releasing a terrifyingly poisonous aura as the upper limb that was painted green was etched with a purple snake, and the lower limb that was painted purple was etched with a green scorpion. The arrow was black as death and tiny skulls hung from golden rings across the length of its shaft.

The bow wasnʼt a Heavenly Treasure, only a Mystic-World graded armament, but the arrow… THE ARROW WAS A HEAVENLY TREASURE!

The first exposed Sage coldly, calmly, and mercilessly nocked his arrow until the crystalline string and body of the bow formed a full moon. Smoky black mist corroded their hands as flesh fell and their Sage blood turned into viscous droplets.

The rampant surge of poisonous mystic power seemed to carry a toxic will, seeking to leave the arrow, claiming all the lives in the Main Hall, yet by the strength of the first exposed Sageʼs Spiritual Aura, it was all condensed back into the arrow!

Wei Wuyin watched all this within the timespan of a microsecond. He could see how the entire ruse of going after Shang Liuʼs daughter was only to lead Sage Moonrise into a trap! The target? The actual target? The arrow tip pointed at Sage Moonrise!!

The bow-wielding Sage gave a low, deep, and thunderous roar laced with pain as they released the arrow with a pulse of mystic power! Ripples spread across the Main Hall as mana, air, light, and essence were pushed back, those that were a light heartier and didnʼt were corroded into a black mush of rotted material that lingered in the air and slowly dripped from wherever like a blackened paste of corpses.

Wei Wuyin could sense that the arrow was a Heavenly Treasure connected to the Law of Decay, and it had the power to kill a Sage and penetrate their Soulguard! This was an assassination!

ʼHowever…ʼ As his thoughts realized this, he observed Shang Wanqing as the region between her bosom began to glow with a sinister black and gorgeous golden light that erupted like a supernova as Sage Moonriseʼs Incarnation-turned-attack impacted the light, causing the Main Hall to tremble and crumble apart. But the young woman remained unharmed, engulfed by the shocking radiance.

ʼA soul-imbued protection? And not just one?ʼ He was intrigued, especially since this Shang Wanqing had three distinct soul auras within her, and two of those souls had protection that only an Enlightened Sage or Resonant Soul Realm expert could construct and etch into her without great external assistance.

He searched for the three Mystic Overlords out of curiosity, and it took him no time to find them. They had struck and hid away within the Continent of the First Knight, working with frantic frenzy and several Mystic-World graded tools. ʼOh? Theyʼre trying to extract the incomplete World Soul…ʼ

The three Mystic Overlords seemed to have launched that asteroid rain attack to silently infiltrate the Continent of the First Knight while hopefully distracting the others enough to not notice and focus on protecting the people in the hall. Their plan to extract the incomplete World Soul seemed to be working without a hitch, gone entirely unnoticed. But it wasnʼt solely because of their own efforts.

The two Sage assassins were unknowingly assisting their efforts while the third Sage that hid in the mountain and launched that attack which destroyed the core of the Knightly Dao Pavilionʼs array had allowed them to skirt by unnoticed. Still, they were experienced in these tactics as, despite such a short time having passed, they were more than 30% of the way done. They were professional thieves.

What about the third Sage?

Wei Wuyinʼs gaze lifted to notice that his figure was flying toward the Continent of the First Knight that lacked protection with overt intentions. He was coming here! He was already halfway here!!

Was this another assassin or did they want to steal the World Soul as well? Or perhaps…it was something else altogether.

Wei Wuyin did feel that despite the timely execution of their actions, this was an unintended result as each plan had its own chances of independently succeeding if not for the others, which instead turned this event in the Knightly Dao Pavilion into an inescapable calamity.

Furthermore, without Sage Painted Starʼs protection, the asteroid rain was causing numerous deaths amongst the crowd.

”Eiiiiiiiieeeekk!!” A strange shriek resounded across the Main Hall and the entire Essence Sword Starfield as Sage Moonrise regained her strength, only to receive an arrow to her chest, center mass. The arrow brought with it death and death was what it would give.

Sage Moonriseʼs Sage Physique was powerful, but they did not have a Minor Authority nor was she able to bring out her very own Heavenly Treasure in time to block, so her strength was at its lowest. The assassins acted with great timing, and understanding of their target and even Azure Rain, and used very simple tactics in terms of overall strategy.

Sage Moonriseʼs body was sent back at startling speeds until she was nailed to the corner between the ceiling and wall, her hands that were covered in black tainted veins and arteries gripping at the arrowʼs shaft with all her strength, her delicate hands experienced rapid decay of flesh and blood and her bloodshot eyes were filled with struggle. Despite all her attempts, she couldnʼt move the arrow an inch as her clothes turned into blackened dust and crumbled away, her beautiful complexion withered and she grew noticeably skinnier and darker as her blood turned as black as night.

Her Soulguard was penetrated. The desperation and despair within her gaze was growing with each failing attempt, even trying to ignite her Mystic Soul was ineffective, only accelerating the permeation of the decaying power and poison within her.

The two Sage assassins didnʼt stop there; the formation-holding Sage executed a few hand-seals as the Mystic Runes and formation line began to change, slowly encapsulating Sage Moonrise in a defensive shell that was backed by his power. She vanished from view instantly. The bow-wielding Sage was breathing heavily, yet he clenched his fist, and slammed it into the Main Hallʼs floor as misty mystic power broke through the ceiling and rose to the sky!