Chapter 15: The One Who Dons The Kabuki Mask (3)
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Outside the mansion, a moment of peace abruptly ensued when Fang De’s aura stopped leaking out.
But in the next second, an enormous pillar of light exploded upwards, completely enveloping the entire mansion itself, and spreading outwards. Along with the expanding golden pillar, an ineffable aura spread out.
While some of the elders,who had hurried over from other parts of the Sacred Demon Sect ground, had managed to take all the fainted core disciples and elders to safety, there were a few unfortunate elders who had stepped too close to the mansion. Those were the ones who had stood right inside the yard before the explosion of light. But even before the energy had reached them, they had spurted out a large mouthful of blood before all their orifices began bleeding. They quickly died, being unable to withstand the new pressure --which seemed almost infinitely stronger than the previous one emitted by Great Elder Fang De!
The pillar of golden light spread outwards until Great Elder Fang De’s entire living ground, his courtyard and mansion in their entirety, was swallowed up by it. Soon, the golden pillar began to slowly dissipate along with the terrifying aura…
“Hurry! Activate our Sect’s locking formation! Do not let the culprit get away!” An elder, who seemed to possess some authority, shouted angrily.
“Right, quickly notify the other four Great Elders! Gather the other elders from all sections of the Sect as well! Quickly, go!”
“Everyone get into formation! We must defend our Sacred Demon Sect from our attackers!”
“Intruders! All elders, assemble at once! Hurry!”
Cries of alarm rang throughout the Sacred Demon Sect as several hundreds of elders gathered in the sky above the school ground. This was the first time, in nine hundred thousand years, that something so major as this had occurred in one of the Absolute Grand Sects! There had been no entities who had dared threaten their Demon Sacred Sect before.
All hundreds pair of eyes were locked on the cloudy area, which was now filled with void --the place where Great Elder Fang De’s mansion had once been.
As the billows of dust gradually settled down, a floating black-robed figure wearing a kabuki mask slowly came into view. There was not a single undulation of aura coming from the person. If not for the elders scrutinizing the entire field with care, they may not have noticed the figure hovering within the smoke!
“Who are you?! What have you done to the Great Elder Fang De?!” One of the elders shouted. However, many already knew the answer to that. Being caught up in such a horrifying explosion, perhaps not even a Great Elder would survive…
The lonely figure did not reply, instead he lifted up his head and emotionless-ly gazed at the mass of elders. Some of the elders who made eye contact with those dark shrouded eyes behind the mask suddenly felt as if they were vulnerable, as if the other person could see through their entire existence. It was an unnerving sensation.
“This is strange...I thought that there was another person in the mansion with Great Elder Fang De before, but now that person’s Qi aura has vanished.” A male elder in cyan robe suddenly said as he surveyed his surrounding using his Divine Sense.
“Is it not the aura of that person down there?” Another male elder commented. He was still far away when the pillar of light appeared and had just arrived here.
“No, this person’s aura...is very different. It’s not the same one I felt in the mansion at that time.” The cyan robed elder said solemnly.
Hearing this, all the other elders grew glum as they realized the seriousness of the situation. If there were two different auras present, that would mean that there are two intruders. Or possibly more who had infiltrated their Sect ground. To have more than one unfamiliar stranger enter their Sacred Demon Sect since its founding...this was a great humiliation to one of the great grand sects of the continent!
“What should we do with that masked person?” An elder in blue robe spoke in a raspy voice. He had noticed that while some of the elders were engaged in a short talk, the intruder had not moved from their initial spot at all. It was like the other person was saying they were not in a hurry to escape…
Looking at the elders surrounding him in the sky, Huang Xue had a relaxed smile behind his mask. He was surveying the large crops of cultivators who had gathered around the entire time. And judging by the auras that the groups gave off, many were already in the mid-stages of the Heavenly Wang realm, with a few emanating Qi levels at the late stages! To have so many top practitioners gather at one place, it was a sight that could be considered rare among the rarest!
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“Is this the general strength of the elders here? The layout of this Sect ground is pretty complex as well…” Huang Xue thought to himself as he observed the areas below him through his divine senses.
Suddenly, he picked up four strong auras that were rapidly approaching his location. Three of the auras were approaching from the northern direction. These energies were at the level of the Empyrean Hun realm. But the last Qi aura, coming from the south, that Huang Xue felt was on a whole new level.
If Huang Xue’s guess is correct, this should be a presence that belongs only to...a Divine Zhu cultivator!
“I have already imprinted the layouts of this Sacred Demon Sect in my mind as well as gotten a more decisive grasp of the level of strength it possess...it should be time to leave?” Huang Xue thought as Qi energy began revolving within his body.
He had initially wanted to attract over all the powers within the Sacred Demon Sect to see the level of competency, which was why he had used more energy than he had needed to deal with that Fang De fellow. However, it did not seem like everyone was present. Though, this still gave Huang Xue a great deal of insight into this grand sect’s might...
This was also not the time for a death match with the Sacred Demon Sect. The purpose this time for Huang Xue was merely to examine this sect’s overall strength and its surrounding geography. These were things that may later come in handy in the future.
Even if Huang Xue possessed the power to annihilate the Sacred Demon Sect, this was not his current goal and would instead bring a huge disturbance to the orders of power in this world. And if he were to die, suppose Huang Xue would finally be able to free his soul then, but he would still be left with his curse and without a body to accomplish his goal! Thus he must strive to survive at all cost, before the curse fully takes over!
Moreover, his death would most likely later cause the Godly Supreme Hall to perish immediately --taking along with him millions of lives. While those lives that may be lost would be cultivators and therefore would not affect his Karma, it’s the idea that people’s lives were unnecessarily extinguished because of him, that did not sit well with Huang Xue.
If he had a problem, he would solve it himself without using other people. Of course, unless they were willing to give up their lives for him --but who would wish to do that for an elder, ancestor or not, whom those young cultivators barely even knew?
Now that Huang Xue had achieved his temporary goal, his body suddenly glowed with a golden light. The elders who were watching all cried out in alarm:
“Watch out! He’s going to use his Dao energy!”
“Prepare yourself! Do not underestimate him!”
*Whoosh!* *Voosh!*
The air immediately began vibrating with all sorts of Dao energy as it lit up with hundreds of different glows. Flames, water, darkness, wind, thunder and other elements enshrouded the sky in dazzling colors.
However, amidst the unleash of the Qi energies, Huang Xue did not give them time to completely prepare as his figure blurred from where he was standing. Before the elders could react, a large sound rang high above them.
*BOOM!*
Startled, everyone looked up to see a 5 meters wide hole appear in the glowing, purple sealing formation above them. A look of utter shock and disbelief flitted across the face of each elders in the group.
“The...the Heavenly Demon Seal Formation has been broken!”
“W-what?! How could this be…?”
The Heavenly Demon Seal Formation was top-level spiritual art of Array Spiritualists. It possessed the ability to trap any humans or objects within, and had the unique trait greatly suppressing anyone who did not have the Sacred Demon Sect crest. Dimensional movements within the formation is useless. The attacks are only effective when one is five feet away from the formation itself, but normal martial arts attacks are useless. Not to mention, the formation itself takes pride in its terrifying defense. Even a normal, peak Divine Zhu practitioner, once trapped, would not be able to break free!
“Everyone, quickly after the intruder! We must not let him escape!” One of the elders woke from her daze and shouted. Apparently she was still unable to carefully consider the entire situation yet.
Just as the elders were about to give chase, a solemn voice suddenly filled with void sounded out in the air, causing everyone to come to a halt.
“Do not pursue the person.”
The hundreds of elders turned to see a middle-aged man in a purple dragon robe hovering the air. No one had noticed when this person appeared. But the moment the elders laid eyes on him, they all kneeled in the sky and gave a respectful salute.
“””We pay our respect to the Sacred Demon Monarch!”””
In the Sacred Demon Sect, the Sect Master was often referred to as the ‘Sacred Demon Monarch’, rather than the Sect Master. The word ‘Monarch’ is taken from the cultivation realm of Divine Zhu. Meaning, only individuals at the Divine Zhu realm would be able to become a Sect Master at the Sacred Demon Sect…
In each of the Three Absolute Grand Sects, the sect masters all had their own unique sect title to address by! It was a way to differentiate their superiority from the normal Sect Masters.
The middle-aged man gave a slight nod and lifted his head to look at the large hole in the formation. His face was expressionless and cold, like an uncut ice. But even at his age, there was a handsome charm to his looks and his dark blue eyes radiated an aura that was hard to resist. The man’s graying hair blew gently behind him, fluttering almost in rhythm to his robe.
While the Demon Monarch was observing the destruction, a male elder in green robe respectfully spoke out:
“Great Demon Monarch, please excuse this servant for questioning, but should not give chase to that intruder? If words of this were to get out that our grand sect was infiltrated this easily, then I’m afraid…”
This person was a diehard supporter of the Sacred Demon Sect, so for him to see his beloved ‘home’ being invaded had caused him to feel extremely agitated, almost crossing his own line of authority…
The Demon Monarch did not turn to look at the elder. Instead, continuing to gaze the gaping hole in the formation, he replied in a monotonous voice:
“If you all believe you can capture a Saint Overlord-level cultivator, then you may continue your pursuit.”
Hearing this, all the elders instantly became alarmed. When it came to their current Demon Monarch, they knew he was a being whom jokes eluded. Whatever he said, they would firmly believe him. This time was no exception either, as each elder became nervous and endlessly shocked.
The Demon Monarch continued: “Even without me being near to feel that person’s aura, to be able to break our Heavenly Demon Seal Formation, one would at least have to be in the Saint Overlord realm. This was a design created by our very own Ancestor. And that person did not escape by breaking through the formation, but by ripping a dimension in it...I have seen our Ancestor use such ability before.”
Slowly turning to look at the green robed elder, the purple dragon robed man added: “So if you still wish to die, then you may go by yourself, but do not waste the time of everyone in our Sect by having them chase their death..”
The green robed elder lowered his head in shame and fear, while the other sect elders felt a creeping dread in their hearts. To think that they were trying to capture a Saint Overlord eccentric with their measly strength...just thinking about that made their face turn pale.
One has to know that compared to a Saint Overlord, even if a hundred Heavenly Wang cultivators attacked at once, they would still be hard pressed to even leave a scratch on the former’s body! To reach a Saint Overlord kind of existence, was akin to trying to cross to a different world.
They were simply not on the same level at all.