Chapter 1711: Captured
The quintet of Original Magistrates within the restrictive, isolated realm designed for Original Magistrates or lower remained consistently active as events kept unfolding despite the hectic fleeing of their allies outside.
Wei Yinan growled as she "kindly" kept Chen Minghui safe from the devastatingly violent fluctuations of mystic power from Cao Zhulian, Sui You, and Lu Xuanyu"s fight. The trio fought with the intensity of exploding stars, and killing intent permeated throughout the realm. Sui You and Cao Zhulian were at a clear disadvantage from the beginning. Lu Xuanyu"s supremacy on this battlefield was absolute.
If it was a strictly two-on-one battle, Lu Xuanyu would have slayed Sui You with a slight sacrifice before finis.h.i.+ng Cao Zhulian off. However, Wei Yinan and the aged and weakened Chen Minghui were unpredictable variables that forced Lu Xuanyu to place a portion of his attention on both of them, especially Chen Minghui. A lovestruck idiot of his background had trump cards that were sure to disrupt the expected outcome if used at a critical moment.
Moreover, Wei Yinan refused to give him any opening to slaughter this masked idiot before he could cause any trouble. She danced like a wild barbarian on the battlefield, avoiding the slightest acts of aggression that were sent her way. Not to mention, he didn"t have another pellet, so if he paid a heavy price to kill Sui You and Cao Zhulian, he couldn"t be certain Wei Yinan wouldn’t try to claim his head next.
In his eyes, this pet.i.te pirate was deliberately acting this way to force him to hold back, waiting for Chen Minghui to activate his trump cards to deal him a devastating blow before cleaning up the rest. Meanwhile, Chen Minghui"s attention was only on him and Sui You, so as long as Wei Yinan didn"t force him to a corner, genuinely protecting him, he had no reason to waste anything on her.
This irritating situation caused Lu Xuanyu to roar as he crushed Sui You"s torrential outpour of sword light and blasted Cao Zhulian a few miles away, aggressively causing him to skid to a stop by solidifying the mana beneath his feet. Smoke arose from the soles of his shoes. The arms in his gauntlets were numb.
Lu Xuanyu was disgustingly strong! Cao Zhulian cursed in his heart as he was already placed on the tiger, unable to leave easily, especially since Sui You was intent on slaying him. She was particularly vicious, holding nothing back in her offensive. It was almost as if she had a grudge or a life-or-death mission to complete.
He could only be a man and follow through despite the final call from Grand Elder Cao Jingyi alerting him of their immediate retreat with or without him. He was fully aware that they had left him high and dry, and while aggrieved, he was unaware of the full extent of the changes beyond this isolated realm. Unlike those Sages outside, he didn"t have the power to easily peer outside or into an isolated realm for obscure information, especially through a field of chaos.
He was only a Heavenly Saint, which was two full stages of cultivation beneath a True Sage. Even then, the greatest differences in cultivation were between the third and fourth stages and the sixth and seventh stages. For the Mystic Ascendant Realm, that was Demi-Mortal Lords and Earthly Saints, and Heavenly Saints and Ascended Saints.
Through gritted teeth, he decided to ride the tiger to its completion and find an opportune moment to escape this situation. Eventually, after another clash where he felt his upper arm suffer a minor fracture, he shouted at Wei Yinan:
"Why are you just waiting there? If he defeats us, he"ll certainly not spare you!"
When he spoke, Sui You"s eyes flashed as she attacked with even greater fervor. For a brief while, Lu Xuanyu was pushed into the defensive by her sword light. She was going all out. Cao Zhulian internally roared as he put aside his injuries and executed his strongest Ascension Movement Art to launch a series of seven punches to suppress Lu Xuanyu.
However, their best efforts barely caused the young Alchemic Knight of an Exalted World-Saint to sweat. He decided to put effort into his defense as he looked at Wei Yinan with an idea. With a few swings of his spear, dissipating the planet-bustering power behind those seven punches, he calmly said to Wei Yinan:
"If you kill Chen Minghui right now and swear an oath to leave and not return, I can promise you that my Master"s Zenith Creation Tower will reward you with one thousand Mystic-World stones and select any three Mystic-World Alchemical Products of your choice, as long as it"s high-tier or lower."
"..." Sui You.
"..." Cao Zhulian.
They both felt their hearts pound with rising anxiety. If Wei Yinan took that offer, then they would have to seek a hasty retreat. Chen Minghui"s head tilted slightly in Wei Yinan"s direction.
Wei Yinan could barely contain her droll at the mention of that offer. Despite her cultivation base, occupation, and relative youthful status, the number of Mystic-World products she had refined in her entire lifetime could be counted on one’s two hands. Moreover, the majority of those were impure-quality.
However, she wasn"t someone so indecisive. She had already agreed in her heart to protect Chen Minghui. Still, her throat swallowed a wad of saliva.
"What about their minimum quality?" she asked.
Lu Xuanyu"s expression, unlike what people would expect, turned increasingly ugly. The difficulty and value of a low-quality product from an impure-quality product were excessively high, sometimes ten times or more on the market, and they were reserved for special situations. This little thief wanted to seek higher than impure-quality?! If not for his intelligence preventing him from antagonizing her, he would be cursing her openly.
Greedy!
Greedy little wench!
Wei Yinan even felt a little shameless after asking, but she could only steel herself and do so. Sui You smiled while Cao Zhulian sighed with relief in his heart. They kept the offensive going. However, Lu Xuanyu"s defensive maneuvers were exquisite, and he was chipping away at their momentum, once again attempting to regain the offensive initiative. If he was given a single moment of opportunity, he would dominate the duo again!
Chen Minghui thoughtfully looked at Wei Yinan, his thoughts inscrutable.
Wei Yinan felt his gaze and snorted dismissively.
"Have you finally woken up from your one-sided delusions? If so, we can leave right now, and I"ll bring you back to your Seeking Profound Palace, and they"ll certainly pay me a hefty fee for your life as thanks."
She was planning to leverage him for a reward!
However, unknown to everyone, an extremely bitter and reluctant smile formed beneath his mask. Unlike the others, the Seeking Profound Palace had given him an almost comprehensive development of the outside world, including their departure. They were mostly Scholarly Cultivators adept at formations, arrays, and Mental Incantations. Sending him a telepathic briefing was child"s play for the Mystic Overlord in charge.
He knew that the four unknown Sages had already claimed absolute victory over the Dark Void outside. Given their cultivation bases, they were likely observing them in amus.e.m.e.nt. He wasn"t just staying for Sui You, but because he knew their fates were no longer in their hands. Wei Yinan was wishful thinking, while he had gotten news that the Sages had seized Violet Breath"s vessel just prior to their departure.
Given that two of World-Saint Azureriver"s vessels had been destroyed and the others had fled as fast as their vessels could take them, only wis.h.i.+ng that they were faster, and there were still four Sages left behind with Violet Breath, their fates were all but decided. He didn"t have the heart to tell Sui You.
While the battle continued to rage on, just outside the Sh.e.l.l World, Chen Minghui"s fears were entirely correct; the four Sages, Wei Wuyin, Wei Si, and Ming Shufeng were calmly observing the situation within as Wei Si kept repeating his promise to Wei Wuyin about Wei Yinan to the point that his ears almost bled.
"Okay, okay." Wei Wuyin stopped Wei Si from continuing with his loud voice. He didn"t need his cousin to try to play matchmaker or constantly vouch for someone based on a few compliments that suggested that she had "good eyes". With a glance from any of them, they more or less determined the affiliation of each Original Magistrate there.
"Their foundations aren"t bad at all," Nepri commented while rubbing his chin. This was especially so for the one called Lu Xuanyu; his cultivated foundations were stellar, faintly exceeding their own at that stage of cultivation. While he mentally gauged using the adjective "faintly", the truth was that Lu Xuanyu was considerably stronger than they were at the Heavenly Saint Phase.
But how could Nepri, an awe-inspiring Sage who grasped a Law, admit that so bluntly?
Imentet rolled her eyes. If Lu Xuanyu"s foundations were just "not bad", then what were theirs? Trash? Hot garbage? p.i.s.s on the side of the road?
Sensing the judging and extremely disgruntled gaze of Imentet beside him, Nepri coughed lightly with a purposefully ignorant and unaware expression.
"He"s an Alchemic Knight for an Exalted World-Saint?" Nepit asked for confirmation, mostly out of sheer disbelief by the difference. Prior to coming here, those from Violet Breath still alive were interrogated by Nepri in his Internal World to get a grasp of the situation. Few could resist his spiritual influence on their minds. While it wasn"t as absolute as scouring memories, it was the main mode of learning details.
They knew that Lu Xuanyu was an Exalted Worldly Saint Alchemist"s latest project to develop a stellar Alchemic Knight, and from the scene before them, he was making great and successful strides to develop a true elite of his generation. Instinctively, the four Sages turned their focus on Wei Wuyin.
As a highly skilled Worldly Saint Alchemist, he should have a better grasp of the upper limits of an Alchemic Knight or Dao Protector"s development by an alchemist of that level. However, Wei Wuyin was not as experienced as they had a.s.sumed.
Ming Shufeng sent via transmission, "I don"t sense any strong blessings on them." Her words were deliberately vague, but she was honestly conveying that none of those here were Blessed with an indirect yet emphasized sentence.
Wei Wuyin could already tell given his familiarity with the aura of Blessed, so he only gave her a faint nod to acknowledge her efforts. Moreover, these young cultivators might be lucky, but their fortune was gained through circ.u.mstance or personal struggle, not any arbitrary blessings.
Wei Wuyin looked at Pakhet, who returned his gaze.
"Capture them."
Two words, and Wei Wuyin was able to seal the fate of five talented geniuses of their generation.
Pakhet contemplated for a bit before leaping toward the restricted Sh.e.l.l World. Using a claw wreathed in Mystic Power infused with the Law of Metal, she tore open the restriction as easily as a giant ripping cardboard.
They all watched as her descent startled the five, and then panic and fear overwhelmed them as they no longer bothered with each other. They were smart and unyielding, unhesitatingly using their various life-saving trump cards to either escape or hold Pakhet back. She easily dealt with each of them with a casual stride; her physical aura alone deflected almost all their efforts.
Only Lu Xuanyu"s Howling Sword Talisman had cut her arm slightly. It contained the power of a Sage, but only the tiniest amount. Against a Mystic Overlord, this would be able to severely injure if not outright kill them when used properly, but Pakhet was not an ordinary Sage; she was a Martial Sage! Her physical body was abnormally strong, and her golden Mystic Aura surged with the Law of Metal.
It was only able to deliver a tiny scratch. While Chen Minghui used a talisman as well, it was defensively oriented and could either have it defend against a Sage"s attack or temporarily restrain a cultivator within a cage. If used on a Mystic Overlord, they might be trapped for days, and if used against an offensive talisman like Lu Xuanyu used, it could deflect or defend against it.
This was also why Lu Xuanyu didn"t recklessly use his Sword Talisman to slay the others. He expected their trump cards to counter his own to some extent, but if they had clashed earlier, it would be like rock versus paper, and he would certainly waste his Howling Sword Talisman.
They were rounded up shortly after. With their cultivation bases sealed, their Spiritual Sense and physical senses blocked, and their bodies restrained by golden chains, Wei Yinan squirmed and cursed despite her hopeless situation while the others could only hide their rapidly beating hearts under a false facade of calm.
Wei Wuyin thought for a moment. Then, he decided to bring out someone to ask a question!
Those on board the Minor Elysium curiously watched as Wei Wuyin withdrew a young girl from his spatial ring!