Chapter 91: Escape I
'No… I don't…' The Flower-picking Yin Demon Sect Elder's thoughts faded into oblivion as his body fell out of the sky, smashing onto the streets below with a sickening thud.
The entire battlefield froze. A chilling and oppressive silence descended upon it with the weight of a mountain range. The minds of the practitioners observing the battlefield reeled from the sheer might of the Spell.
Especially the participants of the battle. Their eyes were wide and trembling, reflecting the terror that had gripped their hearts.
If such a powerful attack were levelled against them… The mere thought sent chills down their spines and their hearts clenched in terror. That old man was an extremely powerful veteran Cultivator at the absolute peak of the 8th Disaster Stage, you know? Yet, he was destroyed so easily and cleanly - like slaughtering a chicken. He had been unable to muster even the slightest resistance!
On the other side, Xiao Hong was utterly flabbergasted. Her eyes almost acted like the typical Xianxia Protagonist: heartlessly leaving behind their Jade Beauties and ascending to the Upper Realm to pursue higher levels of shock - er, Cultivation!
She stared at Rialda, dumbstruck. What, what, what? An enemy she could barely match was one-shotted? How come she didn't know her teammate was such a badass?! Even if she used all her Qi for Heavenly Convergence, she would not be able to match that destructive power! Perhaps only when the Heavenly Convergence had been cultivated to a higher level and she could merge her physical prowess into her Qi could she perform an attack at this level.
She gulped lightly, making a mental note to not offend Rialda.
The main culprit behind their shock, though, was feeling a bit peaky. 'That might have been a tad excessive…' The sweat beading Rialda's forehead slid down her cheek. Her chest heaved in exhaustion and her lungs burned, demanding the sweet, sweet air.
Gathering such immense Mana in the few moments Xiao Hong had bought her had left body and mind highly stressed.
Her brows furrowed deeply. Apparently unbothered by the fact that everyone on the battlefield was staring at her like she was some circus freak, she focused inwardly, trying to assess how much Magical Potential she had left. She dug deep, trying to squeeze out her 'Magical Potential' and, to her utter bafflement, it answered her call, instantaneously converting into a surge of Mana.
Where she'd been expecting some sort of drain or even exhaustion of her 'Magical Potential', she found instead that she had not even scratched its surface. But at the same time, here she was, panting away like she had run a marathon and then some more.
It was incredibly weird!
To use an analogy, it was as if she had been pulling bucket after bucket of water from the sea and had tired herself out without the slightest visible change to the sea itself. But the problem was that this 'sea' was within her, and was an integral part of her very being.
This was unscientific and illogical. Her instincts told her so. How could she get tired of drawing upon her own power?
Unfortunately, she did not have the luxury of pondering such things.
"She's exhausted from that Technique earlier! Surround and eliminate her first!" The roar of the Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect thundered across the battlefield, jolting the remaining attackers out of their shock and fear. Indeed. From her current pale complexion and her heavy breathing, it was obvious that she was exhausted. Even common sense said it was simply improbable that she would be able to muster a move of that level anytime soon.
Therefore, they immediately exploded into action, intent on grabbing this opportunity.
The Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect pressed his lips together in grim determination. At first, he'd thought that the red-eyed girl was the biggest threat, being able to muster such a powerful pillar of black flames with the apparent Cultivation Base of Divine Sea mid-stage. Clearly, she was hiding her Cultivation Base somehow. And that made him extremely wary.
However, he'd never expected that the other one was actually the more dangerous one! He had just managed to pull himself together to rejoin the fight when he saw a scene that shook his heart. A terrifying, overwhelming pillar of destructive power descending upon the Elder of the Flower-picking Yin Demon Sect like divine punishment. It was a colossal, blinding column of pure energy that ignited the very atmosphere from merely the radiated energy.
The pillar struck the Elder with a force that could shatter the earth, vaporising half his chest in an instant, carbonising another third into charcoal, leaving him utterly no chance of survival.
The Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect did not think he was special - he knew he wouldn't be able to survive an attack of that level. Furthermore, the sheer speed of that attack - it was almost impossible for him to dodge at his current level of Cultivation.
Now, she was weakened. She was vulnerable. And he would not let this golden opportunity slip away - he would neutralise her. It was absolutely necessary!
At the same time, Xiao Hong also snapped out of her shocked reverie and hurriedly shook off the remaining chains. Circulating her Qi in the rhythm of her Movement Art, she disappeared in a burst of shimmering starlight.
Rialda's eyes narrowed slightly as the purple aura cloaking her figure blazed with a newfound intensity.
'It seems fully I've drawn the aggression from these Immortal Cultivators. I need to be careful.' She mused. Her current state was quite vulnerable, even if she could feel her body recovering rapidly. The exhaustion from her previous attack was still evident, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
Yet, the urgency of her own survival felt somewhat trivial next to the other idea that was swiftly spreading through her mind.
A light smirk played across her lips.
What a perfect opportunity to gather data! Her eyes blazed with an intense - borderline manic - thirst for knowledge. She stared at the Cultivators swarm towards her, cloaked in various coloured auras as they employed their Spell Arts and Battle Techniques. The smirk on her lips twisted into a full-blown grin.
Each attack, each defence, and each movement held a treasure trove of information. The patterns of their Qi flow, the intricacies of their hand seals, the chinks in their defences, the rhythm of the auras. Her mind raced, analysing and cataloguing the wealth of information thrown at her.
This was a battlefield, a place where the true nature of power was revealed, and knowledge was distributed freely - for those who wished to learn, of course. And Rialda, with her insatiable curiosity and keen intellect, was determined to learn as much as she could. She was a dry sponge, soaking up every drop of information, every nuance of the battle.
Even the strange situation with her own Magic was swept to the back of her mind.
'Though, I must say,' her eyes darted around searchingly, before settling on an aura so vibrantly red, it felt impossible for it to be more so, disappearing and reappearing with bursts of starlight as she made her way towards Rialda. 'This girl, Xiao Hong, is far more interesting than these ordinary Cultivators.'
Be it her abnormally potent 'Spell Art' or her insane physical prowess that belied her delicate and feminine stature - they were far beyond Rialda's expectations. Her lips quirked up a bit more. She was especially interested in her current state, where her 'Qi' seemed to have diminished greatly, yet her battle prowess somehow increased instead. She found this very, very intriguing!
'As expected. My decision to stick with her is the right one,' she gave herself a mental pat on the back.
But soon, she forcibly suppressed her desire. Now was not the time. She had more than enough on her mind. She needed to get the basics down before she could delve into the mysteries that surrounded this divinely beautiful young woman.
She let out a light breath and raised her hand. 'Currently, my advantage lies in a possibly near-infinite source of Mana. However, it seems that I cannot gather too much Mana at once, since the process heavily burdens me. But I can make it a continuous output seeing how quickly I recover.' She analysed her advantages and disadvantages in a mere few moments and just as quickly, formulated a plan before conveying her thoughts to her only ally, who paused for a moment before agreeing.
Another immense ring of purple Mana bloomed into existence, tracing intricate geometric patterns and runes inwards and finally forming a ball of deep purple energy that pulsated. The Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth surged and sank like the sea in a thunderstorm.
To everyone other than the caster herself, the Spell looked exactly like the one just a short while ago. It looked like she was going to cast that terrible spell yet again! A wave of fear washed over the battlefield as the cultivators braced themselves for another devastating attack, employing their Movement Arts to escape in other directions.
The Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect, who was preparing another Technique nearly jumped out of his skin. His hands, gathering a great quantity of Lightning Qi, trembled violently. A stray lightning bolt struck his dense white beard, almost igniting it!
'What in the Holy Martial Emperor's sweaty undies?! Is she going to use that terrible Spell Art-like Technique again?!' Fear overtook his mind for a second, and he reabsorbed the Qi into his body and forced it into the circulation route of his Movement Technique. He completely ignored the backlash which left him feeling like someone had injected a gallon of lava into his veins. Turning into a bolt of lightning, he directly shot to the side, too fast to follow.
What else could he do, really? He was directly in her line of sight, okay? He did not have any intention of losing his life here. That nonsensically powerful Spell Art was simply too terrifying. Even if it was a bluff, he was more willing to fall for it than be reduced to a puff of smoke.
Rialda smirked. Perfecto!
At this moment, dozens of small spheres shot out from the ball of energy, bolting towards the cultivators, forcing them to pull out their strongest defensive measures.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Unexpectedly, the terrible impact they were expecting never came.
Instead, the Cultivators were greeted by a series of small explosions that did not even dent their defences. Following that was a thick mist that spread with astonishing speed. In seconds, the Cultivators of the Golden Star Sea Port City found themselves surrounded by a dense fog, their senses impaired greatly. Their usually sharp eyes, which could see farther than the birds of prey like eagles, were now rendered useless. Everything beyond two arms' length seemed blurry and obscured. Even their Divine Senses seemed restricted as if trapped in a sensory prison.
'They intend to impair our senses using this strange Spell Art,' the Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect thought as his eyes narrowed. 'However, such a thing is ultimately futile in a battle at our level.'
Gathering up his Qi, he guided it through his arms and pushed out his palm with a deep bellow, "Hah!" A powerful gust of wind tore through the curtain of mist, causing it to ripple violently.
Yet, after a mere few moments of clarity, the persistent fog converged, once again covering his vision and restricting his Divine Sense.
'It's too persistent.' He realised. 'Without just me, it will be impossible to clear up this fog, I need the help of-'
"Aaaargh!"
Just as he was preparing to shout out to the others to help in blowing the fog away, a blood-curdling scream of pain resounded in his ears.
His eyes widened in realisation before his jaw clenched. He cursed inwardly, 'Dammit! These bitches are taking advantage of our weakened perception to take us out one at a time.'
Yet, simultaneously, he couldn't help but tense up, casting his Defensive Techniques hastily. He was sure now that the strange woman could not use that Spell Art again, but that did not mean she was now harmless. Moreover, the red-eyed girl was not weak either.
Only after he had stacked up several layers of turtle-like Qi shields did he dare to send a Qi transmission broadcast. "{Everyone! These criminals have used this distraction technique to divide us and take us out one by one. However, it is very easy to counter this technique: just use directional wind-attribute techniques to blow towards the ground.}" As long as everyone cooperated and directed their techniques in the same direction, it would be more than enough to disperse this mist.
As veteran Cultivators, they instantly understood the Thunder Saint Sect Elder's intentions. Without hesitation, they activated their wind-attribute Spell Arts and Battle Techniques. Their hands, legs and whatnot glowed as they unleashed powerful gusts of wind that tore through the mist like a scythe cutting through wheat.
Under the combined efforts of so many coordinated Cultivators, the Spell was torn apart in a few seconds. The Cultivators threw up their strongest defences and prepared their most potent Spell Arts and Battle Techniques - they would not give their opponents another chance to fool them like this.
What greeted their sights, however, was a scene that caused their hearts to sink down to the bottom of the sea of regret: their targets were nowhere in the surroundings, having already turned into tiny dots in the distance.
"Shit, they got away!" The Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect cursed vehemently. His face contorted with anger and frustration. Without a second thought, he transformed into a streak of light, his speed rivalling that of a meteor, as he pursued his fleeing targets.
'I absolutely cannot let them get away!' He gritted his teeth, pushing great quantities of Qi through his meridians, driving his Movement Art to its full potential. If he let these two escape, he would have to face consequences he might not be able to bear. The wind howled around him as he raced through the air, a blur of lightning-fast motion.
An 8th Disaster Stage Cultivator had fallen. If he let the two of them run away with nary a scratch, those scratches might fall on him instead!
The Elder who had barely travelled a few hundred metres suddenly halted in the air, his face now deathly pale. He turned around. His hands trembled violently as he cupped his fists and bowed so deeply, he was practically kowtowing. A voice trembling under the weight of fear escaped his mouth, "This humble one has seen the Emissary!"
"Mh." A distinctly masculine hum sounded. The air rippled as a man appeared out of thin air. Donning black robes patterned with blood-red clouds and wearing a stern expression, he exuded a mysterious yet formidable aura - even though his cultivation seemed to be non-existent.
He casually gave the Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect a once over before speaking, "The targets have escaped?"
The Elder's heart clenched like the devil had grasped it. "Y-yes, Your Excellency. They employed cunning tactics-"
"Is that so?" the man's indifferent voice sounded. He continued, "From my perspective, however, it is simply incompetence. What do you say?"
The Elder's body shook like a leaf in a thunderstorm, the devil clenching his heart digging in his claws as well.
"Those two women are not simple! I implore Your Excellency, the Emissary of the Flowing Cloud Sect, to understand my predicament…!" The Elder's head bowed even lower as he pleaded.
The Emissary of the Flowing Cloud Sect was not a part of the Sect itself but was rather a sort of intermediary between the Flowing Cloud Sect and their subordinate Sects. The one in front of him was assigned to the Flower-picking Yin Demon Sect.
Losing an 8th Disaster Stage Cultivator reflected badly on him and lowered his standing among the other Sects' Emissaries.
"Hm. That remains to be seen." He said noncommittally before turning his attention to the distance in the direction Xiao Hong and Rialda had fled. "I will decide how to deal with you once I capture the criminals."
His yellow eyes smouldered. "The territory of the Flowing Cloud Sect is not one that any random insect can step on and leave."
With that, he turned into a bolt of yellow light and chased after his targets.
The Elder of the Thunder Saint Sect sighed in relief, the burst of aura released by the Emissary when he chased after the criminals shook him to the core. A veteran Nirvana-stage being was truly a terrifying force of nature.
The Elder shook his head, grabbing the inside of his sleeves to dry his sweaty palms.
"How in the Nine Hells is the Nirvana stage still considered a part of the Divine Sea Stage" he muttered to himself, his voice filled with disbelief. "It's like comparing a raging inferno to a mere bonfire."