Yaxiu and the others had already been very careful.
They knew the Four Pillar Cult was an enemy, so they had stayed far away from the Four Pillar Prison; they had prepared to retreat more than half an hour ahead of time; they hadn't placed absolute faith in anything the Mercury Trojan said...
Yet they never imagined that the Mercury Trojan hadn't lied to them about the operation, nor had she concealed any crucial information.
What she had deceived was the sky.
The cult camp outside had altered the heavens with a miracle, tricking everyone in the city into thinking night had not yet fallen.
Stripped down, it was nothing more than a cheap trick, yet it brought catastrophic disaster upon Yaxiu and his companions.
Reflecting on it carefully, miracles that briefly altered celestial phenomena were hardly rare. Whether in the Blood Moon, the Gospel, or Senluo, geomantic sorcerers specialized in weather modulation existed everywhere; otherwise, Senluo's primary conflict would have stemmed from resource scarcity rather than religion.
Though Senluo was a post-apocalyptic wasteland, it did not lack food. Greenhouse farmland could be seen everywhere. Even if the phantasm creations inside had failed, the seeds and the like remained. After two centuries of slow adaptation and learning, Senluo had not returned to the "boundless material abundance" of the Grey Fox God Era, but harvesting ten thousand jin per mu was no trouble at all. Otherwise, the various sects would not be vigorously purchasing infant incubators to churn out soldiers.
Conversely, with abundant food and a constant influx of new life, the fact that Senluo's sects had still failed to restore civilization and suffered no population boom only proved how brutal their perpetual warfare was.
War, legacies, the Strangling Green... Human life here was like straw, toppling when the wind blew and toppling even when it was still.
Faith was the wheel of history, and death was the grinding wear upon its axle...
Yaxiu and his companions knew full well that Senluo's prevailing rhythm was to live in the morning and die by dusk, and they knew the Mercury Trojan was ruthless and unscrupulous. Why had they fallen into the trap this time?
Because the price the Mercury Trojan paid on this occasion exceeded the limits of their imagination—four Sanctuary Sorcerers capable of god-hosting!
Even though one had exited early, three still remained on the scene!
At this point, Yaxiu and his companions naturally no longer doubted whether the Silver Lantern was inside the Three Pillar Prison. If the Mercury Trojan had gone through all this trouble purely to trap and kill Yaxiu, she would essentially be handing the fruits of her labor to the Silver Lantern, giving away her own throne as a feeler!
Running the numbers, it even seemed like a worthwhile bargain: three Sanctuary Sorcerers in exchange for the deaths of Yaxiu, the Silver Lantern, Igola, and Harvey, with Tamashi thrown in as a bonus. Three for five was practically a glorious victory.
Yet the problem was that the Mercury Trojan's enemies were not just Yaxiu and the Silver Lantern, but also the Harp Sun Alliance!
The Harp Sun Alliance comprised numerous sects whose combined strength undeniably surpassed the Four Pillar Cult. It was only because they bickered, held one another back, and acted like eighteen quarreling warlords that the Four Pillar Cult had found the room to expand and thrive.
Presently, the Four Pillar Cult possessed only eight Sanctuary Sorcerers in total, including the Mercury Trojan herself. Losing three here was equivalent to losing nearly half their top-tier military power. The Harp Sun Alliance had already been stirring with ambition; with the Four Pillar Cult grievously weakened, how could they not seize the chance to kick them while they were down?
The Mercury Trojan's move was tantamount to severing her own arms, handing the Harp Sun Alliance the confidence to unite and invade!
Yet very quickly, Yaxiu realized the flaw in his thinking: Why had he assumed the Mercury Trojan cared about the lives of her Sanctuaries, or the territory of the Four Pillar Cult?
Was it because over the past half month, she had never forced her Sanctuary Sorcerers into a direct confrontation with the Silver Lantern?
Was it because the "Extinguish the Lantern" operations she proposed consistently guaranteed the safety of participating personnel?
Was it because she had behaved so normally that everyone had nearly forgotten she was not just an ambitious rebel, but also... an evil god's feeler!
"I don't know if Tamashi ever told you, but I never lie."
Abyssal darkness flooded the city like a deluge. The Mercury Trojan deliberately flew higher than Yaxiu and the others, looking down at these pitiable souls about to be swallowed by the Dead City. "Though it isn't that I never lie—I only lie to the dead.
"That way, there is no need to patch holes in my falsehoods afterward, nor any need to deal with the consequences of the deception," she said. "Reality has proven that my caution was well-founded. In all these years, I have slipped up only once. Though that single mistake spawned a nightmare that has haunted me day and night.
"A lie must be punctuated with death," she continued. "At last, I no longer have to dread losing the Four Pillar Gods' favor, nor will I have to listen to the sound of blades being sharpened in the dark."
Harvey wasn't about to humor her. He instantly mistified part of his body and extended a ghostly claw to seize her. The Mercury Trojan offered no resistance, a sneering smile appearing on her face as if mocking Harvey's lack of strength.
Igola glanced up at the night sky, which had turned completely black. "Do you have a way to extract your Sanctuary Sorcerers?"
"None. If I had a way, that would mean you stood a chance of survival too. I never doubt the discernment of the Four Pillar Gods. Yaxiu and the Silver Lantern are humanoid miracles capable of surviving any mortal peril and rising from the ashes." The Mercury Trojan smiled. "You may be troubled over how to dispose of me, but I am equally troubled over how to dispose of you.
"As long as I can thoroughly eliminate you and the Silver Lantern, what do I care about sacrificing a few Sanctuary Sorcerers?" she said. "The moment prophecy revealed that the Silver Lantern had infiltrated the Disasterless City, I knew this was my greatest opportunity.
"Although the Four Pillar Cult commands immense power, it isn't enough to annihilate you and the Silver Lantern, to say nothing of the fact that you might become feelers at any moment and usurp my authority.
"I truly must thank the Silver Lantern for being so cooperative." The Mercury Trojan's tone grew increasingly soft. "Perhaps she realized that although the Four Pillar Prison could persist unmanned for three minutes, it lacked a sustained foundation. She only needed a single burst of power to easily shatter it... She thought this was merely another skirmish, another probe.
"The same goes for you. You didn't believe this was the final showdown, much less that you could capture the Silver Lantern. You didn't underestimate the enemy; you simply understood their strength all too well, while placing absolute trust in your own power.
"You have been strong for far too long, and you have forgotten how the weak survive."
"Why do you speak as though you're one of the weak?" Yaxiu asked.
"I have always been weak," the Mercury Trojan replied. "The sort of weakling who cannot survive without clinging to others... That is why I became a feeler."
Her body trembled slightly, and her voice broke into halting fragments. "The Dead City is about to be sealed off completely. Even my perception cannot extend in here... And so, farewell, everyone."
She looked toward Black Crow. "Tamashi, is there anything you'd like to say to me?"
"Yes," Black Crow answered. "But I'll save it for the next time I appear before you. Ideally, with my foot planted on your face."
"Is that so..." The Mercury Trojan smiled faintly. "Then to celebrate, I'll put on a facial mask tonight to keep my skin radiant.
"Farewell, Slay All Crows."
Seconds later, the mockery and arrogance in her eyes vanished entirely, replaced by terror and panic.
Igola drew near her. Employing an unknown miracle to confirm her state, the deceiver shook his head. "The Mercury Trojan is no longer inside."
Yaxiu remained alert to their surroundings. "She said the lockdown of the Dead City prevents her perception from reaching inside... That makes sense. If anyone could observe or control those inside the Dead City from afar, sorcerers would have unlocked its secrets long ago, rather than leaving it an unsolved mystery."
"Yet she has deceived us once already. This could just as easily be another lie; we can't rule out the possibility of her descending again." Harvey used his mist claw to hand the female sorcerer over to Black Crow in a fluid, natural motion. "Here."
While the necromancer wouldn't go out of his way to indulge Tamashi's vengeance, he wasn't going to stop Black Crow from venting his fury either. Tearing apart the vessel the Mercury Trojan had inhabited was naturally an indulgence best left to Black Crow, whose hatred ran deepest.
The female sorcerer neither begged for mercy nor uttered harsh threats. She merely hung her head, staring down at her chest. Yet the faint trembling of her shoulders left Black Crow silent for three seconds.
Still, Black Crow slowly raised his hand, resting it lightly atop her skull. Everyone knew that with a single surge of internal force, Black Crow could easily obliterate all the tissues and organs in her head, leaving her body intact save for bleeding from the seven facial orifices.
"Wait."
The one who spoke was not Yaxiu, not Black Crow, and certainly not Harvey.
Igola flew before the female sorcerer, tilted her chin up, brushed aside the stray hair before her eyes, and gazed into her brown pupils. "What is your name?"
"Gwen," she said, her voice shaking. "Gwen Morningstar... but now, just Gwen."
Those who left a sect naturally could no longer keep their sectarian surname. In theory, devotees of the Four Pillar Cult ought to take the Four Pillar Gods as their surname, though the deities showed little inclination for fatherhood.
"What was your position in the cult?" Igola asked.
"Vicar," she said. "A direct subordinate agency under Her Eminence, tasked with supervising regional administration and... serving as the vessel for Her Eminence's will to descend."
"In other words, you know many of the Four Pillar Cult's internal secrets?"
She did not answer, nor did she deny it. Straightening up, Igola said, "Harvey, release her. Since we've broken ties with the Mercury Trojan, we ought to gather intelligence on our enemy... I will be responsible for prying every secret from her."
Yaxiu blinked, then suddenly put on a vicious tone. "No way! What if the Mercury Trojan descends into her again? There's no reason to drag around a ticking time bomb—kill her now and be done with it!"
"I am her jailer, and she is my prisoner. If the Mercury Trojan descends again, I will take responsibility for killing her," Igola said calmly. "I can tell whether she is Gwen or the Mercury Trojan."
"Extracting secrets doesn't require an intact person, does it?" Harvey chimed in. "At the very least, keeping her limbs seems unnecessary. Her eyes and nose are rather superfluous too, aren't they?"
"Exactly, exactly," Yaxiu chimed in supportively. "It's not as if we lack healing methods. Why not cripple all her abilities first and heal her after we escape? Besides, Four Pillar cultists are a bunch of lunatics—if we don't let them taste real agony, how will they ever cough up their secrets?"
*You two are really enjoying yourselves, aren't you...* Igola felt a slight headache coming on. Too lazy to indulge their banter, he glared directly at the mist claw. A sharp hum of sword resonance tore through the air, shearing Harvey's claw into wisps. Hooking an arm around Gwen's waist, Igola said, "You are now a captive. Understood?"
Gwen nodded silently, unfurling her gold-and-silver wings to trail behind Igola.
Naturally, Igola had no real intention of interrogating her for intelligence. The trio simply saw that Black Crow could not bring himself to harm a temporary vessel after the Mercury Trojan had departed.
If the Mercury Trojan were still present, Black Crow would not have hesitated for an instant. But with her gone, he faltered.
If he truly wished to kill her, he would have shattered Gwen's brain tissues immediately, rather than raising his hand with the sluggish hesitation of a fairy-tale villain.
Yet Black Crow could not let Gwen go of his own accord—not only because of the principle that "the Black Crow heralds death," but also because he could not let the Mercury Trojan discover he possessed a soft heart.
Only a cruel, tyrannical Black Crow would keep the Mercury Trojan wary; a soft-hearted Black Crow would make her laugh in her sleep.
Since that was the case, the burden of playing the good guys fell to Yaxiu and his companions, and Igola using "interrogation for intelligence" served as the most fitting excuse. Dreadful as their threats sounded—promising to snap her legs if she dared flee—it was all merely to give Black Crow a reason to stay his hand.
In truth, as long as Gwen slipped away quietly without disturbing anyone, they would all deliberately turn a blind eye.
At that moment, the Three Pillar Prison nearby finally collapsed. Three Sanctuary Sorcerers vaulted into the air, charging toward Yaxiu and his companions the moment they spotted them.
"Your Eminence! Didn't you say there was still over half an hour before nightfall?!"
When they drew near and saw Gwen, they realized at once that the Mercury Trojan was gone. In panic, they asked, "Envoy, did Her Eminence leave any instructions? Don't worry, we'll rescue you right away!"
"You are Sanctuary Sorcerers; stop lying to yourselves," Igola sneered. "Your Exalted Mercury Trojan decided to bury the three of you alongside us and the Silver Lantern just to eliminate us once and for all. Don't you feel honored? You get to serve as the stepping stones for her glorious enterprise. When her name goes down in history—or infamy—she certainly won't forget your contribution!"
The Sanctuary Sorcerers shuddered. None of them were fools; deep down, they had already deduced the truth.
Rushing over to find the Mercury Trojan had merely been a desperate plea for an impossible miracle.
Only one roared in fury, "You lie! She definitely has a way out of the Dead City! Hand her over!"
As he spoke, he raised a grand law shaped like a fox, clearly preparing to host the deity and transform. Yaxiu instantly revealed his transformation belt and slotted in the Transcendent Prison Grand Law card, prepared to fight them to the death!
Yet nothing happened.
Yaxiu did not transform into the Transcendent Prison Mad Dragon Knight, nor did his opponent host a Four Pillar God. The faces of the other two cultists changed drastically as they frantically pulled out their own grand laws, only to find them completely unresponsive, lying as limp and lifeless as dolls.
*The Dead City's nighttime mechanics seal away grand laws?*
However, their sorcery power and sorcery spirits functioned normally. Merely sealing their grand laws did not severely handicap them.
"Hand her over, or you still—" The cult sorcerer burst into raging flames all over. "—cannot escape your doom!"
He reached out and made a grasping motion. A massive, spiraling greatsword of black flames erupted from his grip, tearing through the night sky! His fire was not genuinely black, but by blending space and fire sorcery, he allowed every tongue of flame to continuously scorch space itself, to the point where the light of the fire could not escape the spatial rifts!
Without a doubt, if those black flames touched flesh, they could never be extinguished; they would consume any enemy just as they burned through space! Even against a Sanctuary, the black flames could cling to the barrier's exterior, steadily draining sorcery power—and if the sorcerer moved, the power drain would be even greater!
Miracle: Void Calamity Fire!
The other two Sanctuary Sorcerers struck simultaneously, coordinating with the fire sorcerer to assault Yaxiu and his companions!
One raised cupped hands to his mouth and blew gently, exhaling chaotic gales and pale grey vapors. The moment the gales struck a Sanctuary, they would raise countless ripples to accelerate sorcery power consumption; the moment the grey vapors made contact, they would cling to the exterior to obstruct vision!
Miracle: Sinister Gale and Evil Miasma!
The final Sanctuary held a longspear. Without the flamboyant flair of the other two, he simply thrust forward in silence.
With that single thrust, ten million bloody blossoms and spear phantoms burst forth, blanketing Yaxiu and his allies like a barrage!
Miracle: Blooming Flower Bloodscape!
It was clear that these three cultists were battle-hardened combat sorcerers. Each possessed miracles tailored against Sanctuaries, explicitly designed to exhaust, hinder, and bind an opposing domain!
The formidable strength of a Sanctuary lay in its flawless conversion of sorcery power into health; until that power was depleted, a sorcerer was virtually immune to all harm. Whoever could drain the opponent's sorcery power first would claim ultimate victory!
Faced with the fierce onslaught of black flames, gale-borne miasma, and spear phantoms, Yaxiu rapidly climbed in altitude to evade while simultaneously tossing a short sword toward the ground. He summoned his Heart Sword and sketched a swift circle before them, leaving a ring of sword marks in the air!
The next instant, a warm yellow circular barrier materialized abruptly before them. Though instantly shredded by the onslaught, it rapidly regenerated to seal the breaches, blunting the three Sanctuaries' offensive intensity by ninety percent!
This was the new miracle Yaxiu had forged under the Sword Princess's guidance by combining "Heart Pen," "Sword Body Barrier," and "Singular Devotion: Beloved Sword"—the "wall of the heart"!
Whatever pattern he drew served as a medium for Sword Body Barrier to erect a defensive wall, while Beloved Sword's enhancement effect functioned on tangible miracles as well—a discovery he had stumbled upon only after accidentally casting Beloved Sword on his substitute. Bolstered by iridescent sorcery power, all his sorcery spirits could unleash three-winged potency. The wall of the heart surpassed a standard Sanctuary in durability while consuming less power, and it regenerated rapidly—making it an absolute bargain for defense!
As Yaxiu held the line, the counterattacks from the deceiver and the necromancer followed immediately.
Igola fixed his gaze on the three opposing Sanctuaries. A sharp screech of sword resonance tore through the air, carving ripples across their domains!
Miracle: Visualization Superposition!
Within Igola's field of vision, the space around the cult Sanctuaries was not empty; rather, thousands of "Yaxius" were assaulting them. That was the source of the sword resonance, and the reason their Sanctuaries rippled under the onslaught.
Such was the attack method of Visualization Superposition: through everyday visualization, the deceiver prepared a pre-set template of "Yaxiu attacking." When needed, he superimposed it directly onto real-world enemies, transforming visualization into reality to manifest the effect of countless Yaxius assailing the foe.
One might wonder: if he were relying on imagination anyway, why not visualize a far more powerful template?
There were two reasons. First, if a sorcerer lacked sufficient understanding of the template, the resulting damage dropped drastically—Igola could easily imagine a dragon breathing fire, but the actual potency would barely roast a Lalafell. Second, if the template in reality grew stronger, the effect of Visualization Superposition scaled accordingly; as Yaxiu's combat strength rose, Igola's miracle became increasingly lethal.
Yaxiu was the only person Igola knew who was willing to flaunt his strength without holding back, and Yaxiu's rate of progression was absurd enough to rival Tamashi's combat prowess. Using him as a template was both the only choice and the best choice.
While Igola unleashed his power, Harvey had silently merged with Alice, transforming into a Ghost King poised between life and death.
*Though this form is cold flowing fire, it still longs for the hour it burns away.*
His right arm mistified into a massive skeletal dragon head, then spewed forward, unleashing a surging tide of dark-green decay mist!
Dracolich Partial Manifestation!
Although Harvey had not fully unlocked the penultimate troop type of the Ghost King Shackles—the dracolich—he could already apply partial grafting in combat. A dracolich was a Sanctuary-grade entity; its Breath of Decay rivaled the waters of the Flowing Gold River, capable of rapidly aging all things!
Forced to endure the strikes of Igola and Harvey with their Sanctuaries, the cult sorcerers wore grim expressions. Yaxiu handled defense while Igola and Harvey mounted the offense, meaning each of them expended only a single share of power. Meanwhile, the cultists had to both attack and defend with their Sanctuaries, expending twice as much.
Though battles were rarely decided by simple arithmetic—after all, Yaxiu's trio had only recently advanced to Sanctuary and possessed limited reserves—everyone recognized that continuing the fight offered no advantage.
Simultaneously, both sides fell back to a safe distance. Exchanging glances, the fire Sanctuary said, "Return the envoy to us."
He said "return," not "hand over." That single choice of word signaled their desire to negotiate with reason rather than fists.
Igola was almost ready to agree. After all, they had no real use for Gwen and had already been looking for a chance to cast her aside. Now that the fire Sanctuary offered an easy way out, they could rid themselves of this newly acquired burden—a win-win proposition.
Yet Gwen remained hidden behind Igola, her hand tightly gripping his sleeve. Though she said nothing, she raised her head this time, fixing her eyes on the deceiver. Her gaze reminded Igola of filthy stray cats and dogs.
*I don't like pets...* Subconsciously, Igola glanced toward Yaxiu, only to find Yaxiu watching him quietly.
Diplomatic matters had always been entrusted to Igola; Yaxiu deferred to him in such affairs.
*No,* Igola thought. The moment he hesitated and looked toward Yaxiu instead of deciding immediately, he was merely seeking the cult leader's backing so he could deflect the blame.
*So... this is all Yaxiu's fault.*
Under Gwen's anxious gaze, Igola grasped her arm and spoke sharply to the fire Sanctuary: "She is our captive and our source of intelligence. We can hardly return her just like that—the moment the Mercury Trojan broke ties with us, we became hostile factions. Do you truly expect to snatch our spoils of war?"
The fire Sanctuary was short-tempered and looked ready to clash again at these words, but the wind Sanctuary restrained him. "If we must fight, let us leave the Dead City first. So much time has passed without any new stirrings from the city; perhaps there is still a chance to escape..."
"The stirrings have already begun," Harvey said. "The Shelter's effect has vanished."
The crowd froze, realizing only now that despite the battle that had just erupted, the time-dilation effect of the Shelter had failed to trigger.
Although mortal danger had not struck immediately, unease coiled around everyone's hearts. Yaxiu and his companions took to the air, flying toward the outskirts, while the three cult Sanctuaries exchanged glances and trailed far behind.
Before long, they reached the edge of the Dead City and slammed into an invisible barrier of air—no matter how they flew, they could not breach the perimeter.
Unwilling to accept defeat, the Sanctuary Sorcerers unleashed miracle after miracle in an attempt to pierce the barrier. Even Black Crow tested it with his Grey Fox blade, but to no avail.
Yaxiu touched the wall of air, finding that it was not hard, but "slippery." When they flew against it, they did not slam into glass like mosquitoes; rather, it felt like hitting a frictionless slope that slid them right back.
This sensation reminded Yaxiu of the slope at the terminus of the Flowing Gold Riverbed beneath Nightfall...
"Wait," he realized abruptly. "Where is the Silver Lantern?"
Chapter 614