Chapter 18 – Escape!

“What! How…How is this possible?”The remaining guardian, who was currently fighting against Tang Xiong, was left aghast.

After killing the protector Liang Yong, the three guardians had complete confidence in dealing with the remaining three Silver Moon Knights and a considerably weaker Si Bai Rong.

However, the moment this black-clothed youngster took out his spear, the situation turned against them.

“Die!” Tang Xiong shouted. Utilizing the moment when the guardian was distracted, the guardian couldn’t hope to match up to the 160 year old Tang Xiong’s attack. The opposing guardian panicked at the wrong moment. ‘Slash~~~’A red dot appeared right above the guardian’s eyebrows and within moments, he fell, with his eyes wide open in shock.

“Brother Xue Ying, that was an amazing spear technique!”Tang Xiong laughed. “Such clean and crisp movements, it’s been awhile since I last saw something like that.”

Yu Jing Qiu was also a little amazed at Xue Ying’s capabilities.

“It’s a pity that Liang Yong was overwhelmed in such a short amount of time. I wasn’t able to reach him in time.” Xue Ying shook his head.

“Humph.”

Si Bai Rong stood behind the group with a gloomy face. His protector was dead and just moments ago, he had touched the veils of death. Yet even after all this, he could not believe that this Xue Ying, who was from the countryside Water Rites Town, could be so strong.

He then walked towards protector Liang Yong to take the armband left from the fight before.

Xue Ying, Jing Qiu and Tang Xiong were all looking at him.

“This old Liang is my protector. I’ll need to bring his belongings back to his family,” Bai Rong said. “As for his body, I’ll leave it here for now until the end of the mission. Afterwards, someone from the Dragon Mountain Manor will collect it.”

“Ai…Who knows if this Bai Rong would even take the items within Liang Yong’s storage treasure back to his family…” Tang Xiong murmured.

He had seen too much, experienced too many things.

The Si Clan was a big clan. Considering its hundred-year-old history, there were definitely many descendants in the family, with many different characters. Concerning Si Bai Rong, despite his innate talent being quite good, nothing good could be said about his character. However, Tang Xiong did not want to get entangled up with such a person. After all, it was said that this type of character was sometimes the hardest to deal with.

“Ka ka ka.” Yu Jing Qiu walked ahead. Utilizing her ability to control cold energy, she brought upon Liang Yong’s body, covering it with a layer of ice.

“These three guardians don’t actually have any treasure.” Tang Xiong scavenged their bodies. “This is so weird. From what I know, most Silver Moon Knights would at least have a few treasures. En. There weren’t even that many gold notes on them.Young master Bai Rong, do you want them?”

Si Bai Rong glanced over at the notes. He was not thick-skinned enough to want a piece of share from the battle when he had not participated in it. “I haven’t killed any of the guardians.”

“You can split it with Xue Ying.”Jing Qiu added.

“Haha. I will take one part, and you take two.” Tang Xiong split the fifty thousand gold notes with Xue Ying. Xue Ying, too, accepted it without hesitation.

“Let’s go.” Jing Qiu continued.

“Let’s continue.”

From this moment on, Xue Ying was the one leading the group of four, with Tang Xiong and Jing Qiu following behind him. As for the young master Bai Rong, he was actually right at the back of the group! After facing the battle before, he felt kind of afraid of what to expect after this, even more so considering that his protector wasn’t by his side anymore.

The mission continued peacefully thereafter, with no immensely powerful array formation that could trap the group of four. After searching through the eight Great Halls of the castle, Xue Ying and the others continued on with what they decided earlier on – to scour the basement.

Following the stairs heading downwards, they soon reached a huge gate.

“Fellow experts, please be careful. I can feel some sort of demonic Qi coming from within,”Jing Qiu warned.

“En.” Ultimately, the most dangerous factor of this mission was actually the Demon God’s Emissary present within the holy grounds of Azure River County.

The gate opened.

Jing Qiu’s ice-elemental snakes went through the gates as the vanguard, followed by Xue Ying and the others.

“Such an enormous hall!” All of them were amazed.

The basement beneath the castle actually contained such a big hall. But the most striking part of the hall that captured everyone’s attention was the sculpture of a Demonic God. Even though it was just a sculpture, Demonic Qi could be felt from it, causing Xue Ying and the other experts to feel uneasy.

At the end of the Great Hall was actually a throne.

Currently, a monster-looking man was sitting right on it. Beside him, there was another person adorned with respect towards the man. Without a doubt, Xue Ying and the rest could recognize him as the main target of their mission – Lu Huai Ru.

“I didn’t expect those three guardians to be this useless. Even with the help of my array formations, they only managed to kill one of you,” Lu Huai Ru said with a smile. “If it was any other day, I’d have tried to utilize the current opportunity to escape! However, my chances of escaping from the surveillance of the Dragon Mountain Manor are actually quite small. Even so, today is not any other day. There’s no need for me to escape at all.”

Jing Qiu, Bai Rong and Tang Xiong narrowed their eyes towards the monster-looking man sitting on the throne.

They could feel an intense killing intent coming from this man.

“Who is he?” Xue Ying, too, felt a huge danger coming from this man. ‘Isn’t the leader of the cult representing the area of Azure River County Lu Huai Ru? Yet now, he is standing by the sides, giving unadorned respect towards the man on the throne. This man with a physique stronger than my uncle Tong, who exactly is he?’

“A Silver Moon Mage.”

The monster-looking man suddenly said, his words echoing with power throughout the hall from. Touching his beard, he stared at Jing Qiu with glimmering eyes. “Such a young and beautiful female Mage… How valuable! Haha… I like this beautiful Mage. The younger they are, the better. It’s said that female mages are all extremely intelligent. I could even envision myself savaging such a beauty now… Makes me tingle with excitement.”

“You are…!” Tang Xiong frowned as he tried to recall where he had seen this person before.

Right at this moment, a person came to his mind.

A fierce and brutal person who had been missing for over 80 years.

“Run!” Tang Xiong unhesitatingly ran from the scene, turning into a stream of light while continuing to shout out, “Faster! Run for your life!”

“What!?”Bai Rong and Jing Qiu were shocked. Why did Tang Xiong run away when they hadn’t even engaged the enemies yet? This action of his made them palpitate with nervousness.

“You wish to escape?”

The deep and powerful voice resounded within the Great Hall. Suddenly, the whole hall fell into darkness, an invisible force enveloping it wholly, as if a huge palm was pressing down on the hall. The escaping Tang Xiong was suppressed by this invisible force and his speed decreased by a huge margin. Even the air around him and the surrounding space were twisted with distortion.

“One with the World!” Bai Rong was so afraid of what he saw that he almost peed in his pants.

Jing Qiu also panicked seeing their current situation.

The monster-looking man took off a piece of metal from the throne and threw it at them.

Xiu!

Just like a stream of light, the metal piece flew at speed akin to lightning. Tang Xiong, who was escaping with his back to the throne, did not see the piece of metal. Even if he had been able to see it, everything happened too fast for him to react. Pu! That metal piece entered and penetrated the head of Tang Xiong so quickly that he didn’t even feel anything. Just like that, he died with his eyes wide open, not knowing what hit him.

“Drop.” Standing beside the throne, Lu Huai Ru lightly pressed on a button to activate the traps.

Hong! Hong! Hong!

Three huge gates fell right at the entrance, sealing the group within the Great Hall underneath the castle.

“A Legend ranker… Why is there a Legend ranker…?” Bai Rong was in turmoil at the scene he was witnessing. “A branch of the Cult of Demon God within such a small area of the Azure River County, why… why would there be a Legend ranker!?”

“This…” The perpetually calm Jing Qiu began panicking. A Legend ranker? With his control over the forces of nature, there would be nothing she could do against him with her arsenal of powerful magic spells, as they both drew their energy from the surroundings. If utilising the magic within her body, its power would be a thousand times smaller than that of the mana gathered from nature. Casting it towards a Legend ranker? It would merely scratch him.

“This beautiful mage, don’t struggle anymore. Who would have thought that before I leave this area, I would still be able to savor the taste of a Silver Moon mage, and at such a young age too… Tut Tut… I am so lucky! This female mage, just be obedient and stay behind. I’ll definitely pamper you.” The monster-looking man said. “I believe with your wisdom, you’d know what’s best for you.”

“As for the other two men over there, they are of no use to me.”He said while grabbing another piece of metal.

“Mercy!”

Bai Rong plopped onto the ground, begging for mercy. “Great master, please spare my life. This Jing Qiu mage is just 25 years old. She is one of the most beautiful girls within our Azure River County. I believe that she will definitely listen to you, great master. This small one is Si Bai Rong, from the Si Clan. I beg you to spare my life, great master!”

Bai Rong turned towards Jing Qiu and shouted anxiously, “Jing Qiu, I think you should know what’s best for you. Following such a Legend ranker is actually not a bad decision after all. But if we decided to rebel, you will die. We all will die. The only choice now is for us to live on. After all, the moment we die, there will be nothing left for us…!”

“Humph.”

Jing Qiu coldly looked towards Bai Rong, before looked up towards the monster-looking man on the throne.

“After accepting the mission from the Dragon Mountain Manor, everyone knows that there is certainly a risk of dying. I’ve already prepared myself for such a situation. There’s no one I could blame after all, other than my luck. But if you were to tell me to follow your instructions, then I can only tell you this. Dream on.”Jing Qiu said as she steeled herself for what was going to happen afterwards.

Just that Jing Qiu had a little regret.

Having put in so much efforts in discovering the laws of nature, she knew that her chances of ascending to a Legend mage was quite high. Yet just because of one little wrong decision on her end, her efforts would all be put to waste.

“You disappoint me. However, even after you die, I will still keep your body for my own collection.” The monster-looking man said.

Si Bai Rong was kneeling down while Yu Jing Qiu tightly grasped onto her staff and stared at her opponent with a heart full of despair.

“This is totally out of my expectations. Initially, it was just going to be a BlackIron level mission for me to accumulate some experience and merit points. Yet who would have known that there is actually a Legend ranker.”

Xue Ying suddenly said loudly.