Zapater Exhaust-All-Plots, the Wind Sanctuary Sorcerer, was not actually a sorcerer who majored in wind sorcery.
He had originally belonged to the Exhaust-All-Plots Cult, whose creed was to "fully restore the glory of the Grey Fox God Era" and pursue the ideal of "Grey Fox exhausts every plot." They were the cult most obsessed with excavating ruins and contesting legacies in the wasteland. At its height, the Exhaust-All-Plots Cult had even dared to attack the Calamitous Fire Temple to plunder their Grey Fox legacies.
Compared to the Calamitous Fire Temple, the Exhaust-All-Plots Cult possessed an even fiercer notoriety. While the Calamitous Fire Temple ran rampant only in the surrounding regions, the Exhaust-All-Plots Cult spared no effort to trek vast distances to seize legacies, spreading their dread far and wide. Yet precisely because they undertook so many long-distance missions and could not call for timely reinforcements, they were often picked off and assassinated whenever the Kill-All-Crows Cult caught them isolated.
To better make use of those legacies, the Exhaust-All-Plots Cult's sorcerous leanings naturally mirrored those of the Grey Fox God Era: Bitter Frailty, lightning sorcery, and the mind faction were their three mainstays. Although Zapater had demonstrated talent in wind sorcery very early on, whether due to religious requirements or available resources, he had no choice but to abandon his passion...
Yet his talent and fortunes were truly astonishing. Not only did he ascend to the Sanctuary realm through the mind faction, but even amidst a scarcity of resources, he stumbled his way into elevating his wind sorcery to the gold rank. Even though his god-hosting rate was a mere five percent—far below the twenty percent minimum required of a god-hoster—everyone regarded him as the cult's next bishop.
However, when the Four Pillar Cult erupted like a virus, and he emerged from seclusion only to find that the Exhaust-All-Plots Cult had already become history, Zapater felt neither anger nor resentment. Instead, he let out a heartfelt sigh of relief.
Once the god-hoster of Exhaust-All-Plots died, he led the remaining believers in surrender and pledged fealty to Mercury Trojan. Later, when he learned that Mercury Trojan hailed from the Kill-All-Crows Cult, and that Kill-All-Crows and Exhaust-All-Plots had once shared an irreconcilable enmity, he grew quite uneasy, ready to flee at a moment's notice.
Yet Mercury Trojan did nothing to him, even appointing him regional bishop to continue managing the Exhaust-All-Plots territory.
Working for the Four Pillar Cult was hardly easy, nor was Mercury Trojan a benevolent master. In the past, Zapater had only needed to focus on cultivation, but now he had to spend large amounts of time handling administrative affairs, lest he fail Mercury Trojan's assessments.
Yet Zapater felt life was growing ever more promising, bursting with unprecedented vitality as though he had been reborn.
The Four Pillar Cult naturally had its faith, but the tenets of the Four Pillar Gods were simply: no rules, only peace of mind.
If wrath boiled within you, kill until you bathed in a sea of blood; if you thirsted for knowledge, pursue it until you unearthed every dark and sinister secret; if lust stirred, indulge until you satisfied every unspeakable fetish...
Although the Exhaust-All-Plots Cult was hardly strict with rules, compared to the utterly uninhibited Four Pillar Cult, it still felt overly feudal and conservative. Zapater's compensation had not really improved much, but at least he no longer bore the gazes and expectations of others. As long as he completed Mercury Trojan's assignments, he could freely indulge himself in his spare time, seizing the pleasure of the moment.
There was no need to pursue distant grand narratives—only to ponder tonight's entertainment.
Zapater and the vast majority immediately converted to the Four Pillar Gods, becoming even more pious than before. They never viewed this as a descent into depravity, but rather as turning away from darkness toward the light.
It was during this past year that Zapater successfully elevated his wind sorcery faction to the Sanctuary tier. In the Distant Sky Realm, he had acquired wind sorcery faction legacies from other nations, and with ingenious originality, he merged and restructured wind sorcery with the mind faction.
Though he appeared to use only wind sorcery miracles, as combat wore on, his wind sorcery miracles would quietly weave a mind wind domain, directly affecting a sorcerer through sight and sound—a domain not even a Sanctuary could resist.
Thus, when Mende, the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer, proposed taking on Yaxiu and the others, Zapater agreed immediately. Compared to the Silver Lantern, who excelled at flight and evasion, Yaxiu and his companions were clearly much easier to pin down in one area, making it simpler for his mind wind domain to take effect.
Zapater neither disliked the Silver Lantern nor hated Yaxiu; he was merely choosing the strategy with the higher probability of survival.
He could not remain trapped in a temporal cage; he had to leave the Dead City.
His new miracle, "Flee at the Wind's Scent," was almost fully developed, and he had many more ideas for compound miracles. He wanted to become a dual legend in both wind sorcery and the mind faction. This was an uncharted frontier in the history of Senluo, perhaps in all of sorcerer history, and like Meisi of the "Wheel of Time's Order" or Jina the "Dreamvoice Singer," he would leave an indelible mark on Senluo's history—
*Snap!*
The very instant after the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer Mende was torn to shreds, the Wind Sanctuary Sorcerer Zapater was also turned inside out, like a bag of potato chips ripped open with too much force, scattering everywhere.
His hot yet cool eyeball, pushed past the limit of ocular pressure, popped out along with the aqueous humor. The hands that could perceive the faintest stir of wind were dismembered joint by joint, exposing pale bone. His desires, just like his body, were utterly frozen in time at this moment.
Within the Shelter, a second fatality had occurred.
By now, everyone—including the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer—had deployed their Sanctuaries. Gwen hid inside Igola's Sanctuary as the group stared grimly at the distant Silver Lantern.
They truly could not help being tense. Even if the Silver Lantern had launched a sneak attack, her method of slaughter was simply too terrifying!
The greatest distinction between a Sanctuary Sorcerer and an ordinary sorcerer lay in their ability to raise their Sanctuary with a single thought, practically ignoring all sneak attacks and vastly elevating their personal survivability.
Although there were indeed sorcerers whose assassination speed could outpace a Sanctuary Sorcerer's reflexes—just as the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer had attempted to blitz Yaxiu moments ago—such an assassination suffered from two problems: first, the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer needed to close the distance to within three paces, the "trust distance," for his miracle's speed to outstrip Yaxiu's reaction time; second, he would only have time for a single strike at most—if Yaxiu didn't die, he could immediately erect his Sanctuary defense the next second!
The Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer was by no means weak; Yaxiu had nearly fallen prey to him. Yet compared to the Silver Lantern, the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer's tricks seemed downright childish.
The Silver Lantern was over ten paces away, yet she could instantly tear their bodies apart to a degree where resurrection was utterly impossible—and she had slain both the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer and the Wind Sanctuary Sorcerer in succession!
To be honest, Yaxiu and the others were still in a daze. The Silver Lantern's demonstration of slaughtering Sanctuaries like butchering Lalafells had truly shocked their minds. Just a moment ago they had been planning to hunt down the Silver Lantern, yet now it seemed she needed only to crook a finger to turn them into mincemeat fodder.
When the Silver Lantern shifted her gaze toward the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer, he cast aside all thoughts of having just tried to assassinate Yaxiu and the others, scurrying over to take cover beside them. After a few seconds, the Silver Lantern unfolded her gold and silver wings and departed without a word, vanishing into the motionless night.
Even though the Silver Lantern had left, no one dared lower their Sanctuary. Those two corpses on the verge of scattering were still right before their eyes.
Soon, however, Yaxiu took the initiative to dismiss his Sanctuary and said thoughtfully, "I get it."
He raised his hand, and a golden, glittering Round Cicada emerged on his arm, crawling along his skin. "I understand the secret behind the Silver Lantern's move now. The ability of her square cicada is likely just as we guessed."
Naturally, the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer couldn't make heads or tails of this, but Igola and the others caught on instantly.
The effect of Yaxiu's Round Cicada was overwriting the present with one's state from three seconds ago, which he called "Three-Second Cicada Concealment." Used well, it could avert virtually any fatal injury.
Thus, they had all surmised that the effect of the Silver Lantern's square cicada must be overwriting the present with the state from three seconds in the future!
The reason she was able to instantaneously kill two Sanctuary Sorcerers was precisely because neither had erected their Sanctuary. In the timeline observed by the square cicada, the Silver Lantern could tear them to shreds within three seconds, and then overwrite the present with that future. Thus, their bodies broke apart into shattered pieces!
She had clearly intended to move against the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer just now, but he had already raised his Sanctuary. The Silver Lantern could not possibly break through a Sanctuary in three seconds, and the square cicada could not observe such a timeline, leaving her no choice but to abandon the attack and turn away.
Returning to the past; leaping into the future!
Compared to the Round Cicada, the square cicada's effect seemed even more outrageous, though much depended on who wielded it. In Yaxiu's hands, the Round Cicada could only save lives, whereas in the Silver Lantern's hands, it might well become a reset mechanism for suicide weapons.
Furthermore, this move of the Silver Lantern wasn't impossible to counter—one simply had to ensure she couldn't kill them within three seconds.
There was a reason she had kept this move hidden until now. Had she revealed it early on, Yaxiu, his allies, and the Four Pillar Cult would have armed themselves in advance with triggered miracles—delay miracles that activated upon taking a hit—preventing the square cicada from observing a future where they died within three seconds!
Normally, the defensive effect of such delay miracles wasn't great, and since Sanctuary Sorcerers possessed Sanctuaries they could raise in a single thought, they naturally wouldn't waste time on them. But faced with the threat of the Silver Lantern, no matter how troublesome it was, everyone would set up defensive traps upon themselves before daring to get out of bed in the morning.
Yet right now, they couldn't escape the Dead City, nor could they seek outside help!
The Silver Lantern had recognized this, which was why she felt secure displaying her new trump card. Unless they maintained their Sanctuaries around the clock, she could reap their lives at any moment!
Except for one person.
Yaxiu exchanged glances with Igola and the others, a strange gleam flashing in their eyes.
He was the one protected by a delayed miracle.
Just days ago, while Yaxiu was chatting with them, Igola had suddenly raised a question: "Three-Second Cicada Concealment" was powerful, but what if Yaxiu was the first to die?
Although Yaxiu didn't think he would be such a liability, to be on the safe side, he had spent several days cozying up to the Round Cicada, petting and hugging it. To his surprise, he had actually won it over—it vaguely indicated that if Yaxiu entered a death state, it would activate "Three-Second Cicada Concealment" on its own to bring him back!
Therefore, the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer's assassination had been doomed from the start.
Yaxiu might have been killed once, but he had three lives.
And these three lives could be used by Yaxiu himself or granted to others!
In this respect, the Round Cicada was not in the least inferior to the square cicada—Yaxiu could use it not only to protect himself, but also to protect others!
Given the choice again, Yaxiu would still choose the Round Cicada, just as the Silver Lantern would most likely prefer the square cicada.
Moreover, the Silver Lantern's bond with the square cicada was likely a semi-master state as well. Just as the Round Cicada only granted Yaxiu three chances per day, the Silver Lantern was probably under a similar constraint. And she had already used two uses, while Yaxiu hadn't used a single one!
So Yaxiu had no need to fear a surprise attack from the Silver Lantern!
Still... Yaxiu looked at the Round Cicada, wondering how it had been drawn into the Shelter as well. It wasn't strictly his sorcery spirit; at most, it clung to his soul, like a stray cat living on the doorstep. In other words, did the Shelter target souls?
He retracted the Round Cicada and looked toward the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer, who was surrounded by Igola, Harvey, and Black Crow.
In the blink of an eye, all his companions were dead, leaving him alone to face three Sanctuaries and one Black Crow. Life's dramatic ups and downs were truly dizzying.
And running away was useless. That single glance the Silver Lantern had given him was more than enough to state her attitude. If he hid alone in the Dead City, he could only wait to follow in his companions' footsteps—tracked down by the Silver Lantern and turned into shattered fragments frozen in time.
Although keeping his Sanctuary maintained continuously could stave off death, sustaining a Sanctuary naturally consumed sorcery power. Right now, their sorcery power recovery rate was a mere 1/31,536,000 of normal. If the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer tried to stay on guard for a thousand days, he would eventually deplete his sorcery power and become a Lalafell waiting for the slaughter.
Realizing that death awaited him either way, the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer took the loss in stride and dismissed his Sanctuary. Reaching into his robes, he produced a sheet of paper and offered it over. "Actually, I vaguely sense that there's a hidden space in the Dead City. I can take you there."
Harvey had Alice take the paper. After glancing at it, a peculiar expression crept over his face, and he passed it to Igola.
Igola raised an eyebrow as well, asking in surprise, "Senluo shouldn't have this sort of contract paper, should it?"
"I got it from Phantasmagoric Foam."
"Why didn't you use this paper to enslave someone else, but instead wrote it as your own indenture contract, kept on hand to save your life?"
Yes, what the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer had produced was unmistakably an indenture deed selling himself into servitude, complete with his signature and imprint. The terms could be summarized in two clauses: the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer would obey the master's orders; the master could not deliberately send the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer to his death.
For a Sanctuary Sorcerer to carry such a thing on him made one wonder if he had some peculiar proclivity.
The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer looked rather glum. He turned to Black Crow. "Did you recognize me?"
Black Crow said, "I have some vague impression, but I wasn't sure. Did you use to wear a helmet?"
The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer nodded and explained, "Back then, a squad from Kill-All-Crows was hunting down my people within temple territory, so I stepped in and drove them back..."
"That time, you nearly burned Tanomu to death. She suffered severe full-body burns and spent over half a year recovering," Black Crow said flatly. "I was furious back then, but now I only find it a bit of a pity."
Igola pinched the contract paper between two fingers, a faint, mocking smile playing on his lips. "So you originally intended to present this contract to Mercury Trojan in exchange for your life?"
Only now did Yaxiu and the others realize that Mercury Trojan's story was practically a revenge drama. The Kill-All-Crows Cult was clearly unpopular among the other cults in Senluo, and Mercury Trojan had faced numerous perils because of that identity. Now that she had become a feeler of the Four Pillar Cult, she had destroyed the cults that had once crossed her along her path, forcing those once-haughty powerhouses to grovel and beg for her mercy.
Yaxiu then asked, "Did those other two have past grudges with Mercury Trojan or the Kill-All-Crows Cult as well?"
The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer froze, his expression instantly darkening into something hideous as he gritted his teeth. "The only Sanctuary Sorcerer who left early was the one who had never crossed paths with Kill-All-Crows..."
Black Crow wasn't surprised in the least. "Tanomu holds grudges."
Free Sanctuary-level combat power was too good to pass up, to say nothing of the fact that he was a former bishop of the Four Pillar Cult. If they could leave the Dead City, they could certainly squeeze even more value out of him.
Igola exchanged glances with the others. Yaxiu was the first to shake his head, deep revulsion showing in his eyes—having endured such a twisted relationship with Annan, he utterly loathed this kind of dynamic.
Black Crow was interested, but being forsaken by the Void Realm, he could not serve as the subject of a contract miracle.
Igola was actually somewhat tempted, but seeing Yaxiu's intense disgust, he lost interest as well.
However, Harvey suddenly thought of something and asked for the contract paper. The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer's eyes went wide as he watched Harvey place the paper into Alice's hands, guiding the undead girl step-by-step through signing the contract.
When the contract paper dissolved into light smoke that solidified in the air, Harvey said, "All right. From now on, you are Alice's pallbearer. You will be responsible for Alice's coffin from now on. I've actually hated having Alice lie in a spatial card all the time."
No one had any objections to this. The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer was an enemy to begin with and had just tried to assassinate Yaxiu; having Harvey take him down a peg couldn't be more fitting.
The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer flared with rage. "I am a former bishop of the Calamitous Fire Temple, a regional bishop of the Four Pillar Cult, a Sanctuary Sorcerer of the fire faction—and I have to be a pallbearer for an undead corpse?! What's more, you clearly have a better mode of transport, yet just to give an undead a better living experience, you make me do such menial labor?!"
"Magnificent! Truly worthy of being my new master's master!" He thrust out his chest, strode over with his head held high to shoulder the coffin, looking thoroughly proud to share in the honor.
Chapter 618