Paragon Of Sin

Chapter 1760: Chaos (1)

A screeching, eardrum-shattering boom thundered into the hall. The intensity distorted the air, causing vision to become hazy and bodies to tremble. Cries of agony and pain erupted from the lower-level cultivators as some outright went unconscious, suffering severe cranial damage with their ears and nose bleeding profusely.

Pakhet and Imentet acted decisively; the latter had no time to bring out her Heavenly Treasure, relying on her quick-to-execute Hidden Desert Art—Khamsinʼs Veil—to unleash a limited-range sandstorm of black and white to engulf those of Wei Wuyinʼs entourage, including the Sages and Wei Wuyin himself, while the former relied on her Mystic Aura, projecting a spherical mystic ward to serve as a primary defense. Imentet was skilled in all things defense, but Pakhet was offensive-oriented, and her best instantaneous defense was her Mystic Aura condensed into a ward.

The golden ward experienced tens of thousands of rapid ripples that were as chaotically dispersed as raindrops in a lake. The ward was being dissolved at an unexpectedly fast rate! Pakhetʼs eyes narrowed sharply as she poured additional mystic power to resist.

Meanwhile, those in the sandstorm were all powerful in their right and brought out treasures or arts that further protected themselves. Unfortunately, the others not protected by Sages didnʼt have such luxury. The guests suffered, almost as if their bodies and spirits were continuously forced to become the epicenter of devastating earthquakes.

There were thousands of servants in the Mortal Realms that outright exploded into bloody mist, even their bones were crushed into nothingness, and their spirits were ripped asunder by this assault. Each drop of their colorful blood and bone dust hovered in the air as if frozen in time.

It all happened so fast that Shang Liu, a Mystic Overlord, hadnʼt been able to react properly. Fortunately for him, he had erected an invisible shield layered stealthily between atmospheric layers due to Wei Wuyinʼs earlier warning or the attack might have been a direct impact. The destruction and death then might have been…

The other Sages reacted, however. Sage Painted Star used his finger as a brush and painted a turtle shell, conjuring a shell-like barrier that encapsulated the remaining crowd, layering over Pakhetʼs mystic ward. He inwardly cursed that he had been careless and his art wasnʼt easy to execute, causing mortals and some of the cultivators present to suffer disastrous fates.

Sage Moonrise protected Alchemic Saint Azure Rain and only Alchemic Saint Azure Rain.

Sage Avenging Heart didnʼt guard. He readied to retaliate as his eyes roared to colorful life with a blood-red radiance, perceiving the outside for the threat. What he saw startled him. There was nothing! All he could see were raindrop-like bits of dust crashing down with profound spiritual power.

Nepit defended herself. Nepri, however, executed an ocular spell, and as a Spiritual Cultivator, he immediately traced the origins, exclaiming as he readied himself for whatever was to come from outside: ”It was an asteroid! Itʼs broken up into tens of trillions of pieces.”

His shout answered many questions.

Wei Wuyin knew that the asteroid belonged to those three Mystic Overlords. He was slightly confused, however. The previous location of the asteroid and its speed was far too slow by his estimation to arrive when it did. With his Temporal Eye combined with his Celestial Eyes, all things were revealed: the asteroid had been propelled by a slingshot formation tethered to two dead flat continental earths that were easily seen as spatial debris. The continents were destroyed entirely into fine dust afterward.

This was an extensive plot, well-planned and executed. If not for Shang Liuʼs last-minute safety measure, the assault would have yielded much greater results. Even then, it pretty much severely injured all those at the Earthly Saint Phase and below unprotected by Sages or Mystic Overlords.

”WATCH OUT!!!” Nepri shouted fearfully as he grabbed Nepit into his embrace with little hesitation, brought out his Heavenly Treasure, and projected multiple layers of defense as quickly as possible.

A few elite experts made mistakes here, including Nepri. They tried to Spatial Shift away using various arts, leaving the venue and hopefully out of danger with their disciples, family members, or fellow students, yet they found themselves experiencing harsh feedback as they were pushed out as if struck by lightning. Sounds of bones being crushed and shrieks of terror and pains thundered out, sending shivers down spines and turning hearts cold. As for Nepri, he miscalculated the dangerʼs trajectory in his haste.

”Donʼt try to use spatial—” Just as Sage Painted Star was about to instruct the others with his rapidly disseminated spiritual transmission, it wasnʼt fast enough to complete before what was to come…came!

Wei Wuyin looked up.

MOUNTAIN!

A FREAKING MOUNTAIN!!

A large, sharp-tipped mountain torpedoed at a speed faster than the asteroid! If not for them being on guard already, the Sages might not even have noticed anything incoming until after impact, like a sniperʼs lethal round. Backing this speed was a stockpile of Sage-level Mystic Power! Moreover, it was of exceedingly high quality, faintly exceeding Pakhet, Imentet, and Nepri. A sign of an elite Sage!

There was no sound except when it made contact with the barrier, aiming not for the continent, but Planet Blessed Knight! The barrier was powerful, but it offered no more resistance than freshly baked bread against a hot knife.

”Stop it!” Sage Painted Star screamed. The raindrops were still being unleashed. Fortunately, it was aiming for the planet and not the continent, otherwise…they really would have no time to react.

Wei Wuyin was about to take action when Sage Avenging Heart screamed, ”I got it!” He was fast, kicking off and piercing through multiple buildingʼs walls to avoid any Spatial Shift like an unstoppable rhino, and while this delayed him slightly, when he reached outside, he was roughly a few miles away while the mountain was only a few hundred feet away from the surface of the planet.

With a thunderous shout, Sage Avenging Heart pressed both hands down and yanked them towards himself, trying to manipulate all the essence, energy, and mana to delay the mountainʼs descent, while simultaneously stimulating his refined True Breath to the maximum and conjuring a gigantic pair of hands to grab the descending mountain.

And without any suspense, he succeeded! As a Sage, if he couldnʼt stop a descending mountain, he might as well abolish his cultivation right then and there. With a hearty smile of triumph, he pulled the mountain back.

But something changed.

The mountain…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Within the hall, rumbling from beneath them grew disastrously intense as if acting as the herald for a cataclysm of destruction. Shang Liuʼs expression violently paled.

Sage Painted Star was too occupied to assist, and sensing the destruction, he knew something had gone wrong. He was still trying to reduce the number of losses, acting as the protector of the crowd against the continuous rain of asteroid pellets, but Sage Avenging Heart had failed in his mission.

Sage Moonrise looked at Alchemic Saint Azure Rain. They communicated rapidly via spiritual transmission.

Sage Painted Star cursed Sage Moonrise for not assisting Sage Avenging Heart or lessening the losses from whatever happened below them.

Azure Rainʼs expression was rather conflicted, but Sage Moonrise suggested they separate and leave post-haste. This was a coordinated strike, and she was determined to protect her. There was a hidden formation established to limit Spatial Arts, restricted Spiritual Sense, an assault on not just the continent but the planet, and they lacked a clear idea of their objectives or goals!

More importantly! The hidden formation was a sign of an inside job!!

Shang Liu coughed violently as blood splashed across the table. He suffered a vicious backlash. The shock in his eyes grew pronounced. ”They destroyed the core of the Essence Soulsword & Knightguard Array!” He hoarsely announced, causing each of the Sages and high-ranking members of the Knightly Dao Pavilion to experience great facial changes that were as ugly as could be.

The Essence Soulsword & Knightguard Array was the Knightly Dao Pavilionʼs greatest defense and offense for their starfield against enemies, capable of resisting two Sages with some difficulty. The mountainʼs attack was extremely precise because the core wasnʼt on the planet, but beneath the Continent of the First Knight!

The situation was developing far too rapidly, with all of this happening in what amounted to under a second.

As all of it was unfolding, Wei Wuyin remained passive as he felt there was something off here. This seemed like a coordinated strike from the timing and execution, but the objective here was quite suspicious. Moreover, the explosion of the mountain added another Spiritual Sense restrictive region that affected even the hall. It didnʼt seem as powerful, but it was disorientating like experiencing intense vibrations to the temple. It felt like an unnecessary layer.

He also sensed the brief confusion and increased vigilance from the two disguised Sages. They werenʼt part of this plan. But did a Sage and three Mystic Overlords think that they were going to achieve something just because they brought down the array?

The Knightly Dao Pavilion still had three Sages.

No, wait—two.

Sage Moonrise prioritized Azure Rain. She left behind an Incarnation to assist with a thought and grabbed Azure Rain before flying upwards, intending to enter the Dark Void. Her Spiritual Sense was doubly restrained, so she prematurely conjured a mystic ward around the two. The Incarnation was hastily made, but it would still have the strength of a peak World Emperor or if used with a special art, it could unleash a single attack as if from her.

BOOSH!

One of the disguised Sages shattered their concealment as their auras rose rapidly, reaching the heights of a True Sage expert! Without hesitation, he unleashed a casual attack at Sage Moonrise and Sage Painted Star made of pure mystic power to waste no time, and blitzed toward Shang Wanqing!

Shang Liu roared immediately. Despite suffering a backlash, 85% of his attention was on his daughter, so he reacted fast, but there was a nearly insurmountable difference between a Sage and a Mystic Overlord. This moment…truly exemplified that point.

Shang Liu unleashed a defensive art to protect Shang Wanqing, sending a blast of pristine white mystic power toward her, but it wasnʼt even able to reach her halfway before the Sage unleashed two casual attacks and arrived directly in front of her. Shang Wanqing was essentially a frozen statue. In fact, besides Original Magistrates and higher, or those using sensory amplification treasures like Azure Rain, they couldnʼt even perceive anything happening during this period!

Sage Moonrise lifted her hand and pressed down, unleashing a wave of watery light to disperse the attack, her expression changing as she heard the enraged roar of Shang Liu.

Sage Painted Star took the blow directly. He simply wasnʼt expecting it. There was too much happening, and his thoughts were jumbled. He was blasted across the room. While it seemed like a casual attack, that single attack focused entirely on him was enough to, if detonated, destroy an entire starfield hundreds of times over. That was equivalent to the power to snuff thousands of stars and planets!

He slammed through several consecutive walls and vanished out into the Dark Void, pushed millions of miles away!

The exposed Sage moved swiftly. The short-haired attendant and those around Shang Wanqing were killed with a single gaze, their heads exploding like crushed watermelons, splattering in the air, yet oddly frozen as the Sages and Mystic Overlords continued to move at absurd speeds. He reached Shang Wanqing with an ugly, perverted laughter. It was clear what his intentions were!

Azure Rain owed Shang Liu a great favor, so she refused to let his favorite daughter suffer like Xi Ning and sent orders out. ”Sui Yuan! Stop him!” She simultaneously brought out a defensive talisman, activating it and conjuring a watery spherical shield with the strength of a Sage.

Sage Moonrise didnʼt hesitate; she flew forward as two jets of water expelled from her slender legs and her back grew watery wings, executing two movement-type Ascension Arts. The surrounding restricted space loosened around her as her wings released faint ripples, and her speed exploded as the jets propelled her forward at top speed within an instant.

Her Incarnation transformed into a thick stream of watery light, piercing toward the exposed Sage and Shang Wanqing! Even if Shang Wanqing was killed in the confrontation, that was better than her being taken captive. Temporal Reversion could bring her back with a hefty cost, but if she was kidnapped, then her fate was up to her kidnappers!

Suddenly, she felt a bad premonition!