Sanctuary Ambush

After Leilia left, Sean returned to his private cultivation chamber.

At this moment, he understood the nature of the crisis facing the Radiant Church, and he needed to make the necessary preparations. Sean's body was suddenly engulfed in a surge of earth-elemental energy; in an instant, he vanished from his spot, reappearing ten meters away.

This was the 8th-rank earth magic, Earth-Drilling Technique. By fusing earth-elemental energy with his own body, he could burrow into the ground. However, this spell was highly impractical because it was slow, difficult to control, and carried the risk of getting trapped deep underground. It also required a massive amount of spiritual energy. Among earth mages below the Saint level, most only knew this spell but rarely used it.

However, Sean knew that this was actually the Earth-Walking Profound Mystery, one of the six great profound mysteries of the earth element.

For over a year, Sean's seclusion had been focused not only on attempting to break through to the 9th rank but also on trying to comprehend these supreme profound mysteries. The most basic entry point was to reverse-engineer the magic spells passed down by the Main Gods.

The source of gravity magic was undoubtedly the Gravity Space, Earth Armor came from Earth Pulse, the Earth-Drilling Technique originated from the Earth-Walking Profound Mystery, and many other basic spells were derived from the Earth Element Profound Mystery. As for the remaining two—the Power Profound Mystery and the Life Profound Mystery—Sean had yet to find any corresponding magic.

The problem was that time was too short, or perhaps his soul was too weak to comprehend any profound mysteries at all. He could only rely on magic incantations to train continuously, thereby shortening his casting speed while simultaneously doing his best to increase his strength.

Three months later, Sean emerged from seclusion once again. Although he still hadn't broken through to the 9th rank, his spiritual energy had improved during these three months, and his application of magic had reached a new level. At the same time, under the training of the Gravity Space, his warrior level had reached the peak of the 8th rank.

"Good day, Mr. Sean." On the roadside, many neighbors greeted him politely.

"Good day," Sean replied courteously. Having lived in Shengyue City his entire life, he naturally knew many people, and his relationships with them were quite good.

It was just hard to imagine whether this city would be destroyed if a god-level war truly broke out.

Suddenly.

"Boom! Boom!" The ground of the entire city began to shake violently, undulating like waves. In the blink of an eye, a large number of buildings and houses collapsed, and countless people were crushed beneath the debris.

"It's an earthquake!" Many people in open areas who hadn't been hit by the first wave immediately shouted, preparing to save those trapped.

"This isn't an earthquake." Sean's expression shifted. While this world did have earthquakes, Shengyue City was the core of the Radiant Church and was protected by massive magic arrays to prevent natural disasters. Even if a major earthquake occurred nearby, the arrays would filter out most of the damage. Furthermore, he felt that the source of the energy was coming from the sky.

As he expected, the second and third "earthquakes" soon followed. All the houses around Sean collapsed. Fortunately, many people here were at least 4th or 5th-rank warriors; such warriors were generally not afraid of being crushed by falling stones, but many ordinary people and fragile mages suffered heavy injuries.

Sean hurried toward his home. There were too many injured people in the vicinity for him to save them all; earth magic was not suited for healing. All he could do was return to his home as quickly as possible.

The place where Sean lived had its own individual protective magic array, so it hadn't collapsed during the successive aftershocks. At this moment, many of his subordinates were terrified, not knowing what was happening, but clearly aware that something was wrong.

"Go to my secret chamber; it should be safe there," Sean said.

"Yes, Mr. Sean." After bowing, several subordinates quickly trotted inside.

Sean stood at his front door, and after waiting for a while, Leilia arrived as expected. Sean asked, "Did the Darkness Church arrive?"

"Yes, Father told us to leave Shengyue City immediately," Leilia said with an anxious expression. "It's not just the Darkness Church this time; the Nature Church, the Water God Sect, and the Wind God Sect have all come. They have joined forces. Right now, all the experts of the Radiant Church are just struggling to maintain the magic array, but they might not be able to hold on for much longer."

"No wonder the attack was so swift; they have formed an alliance," Sean said, frowning.

During this time, through Leilia, he had learned that the Radiant Church had at least eight god-level experts, while the Darkness Church had only three, and the other churches generally had only one or two. Under normal circumstances, the others combined were no match for the Radiant Church, and there were internal frictions between them, which was why the Radiant Church was the sole dominant power on the Zhongyuan Continent.

However, the Darkness Church had produced a Median God. One against eight might not even be a problem, but the Radiant Church certainly possessed the foundation built over countless years. Logically, that Median God from the Darkness Church should have made full preparations before coming, but if they had joined forces with the other churches, there would be no need to wait.

"The Church had long prepared an escape tunnel for us. They originally intended to send us out earlier, but we didn't expect Shengyue City to be attacked so suddenly," Leilia said. "Enough talk, let's go."

"Right, let's go." Sean didn't hesitate. He had already placed the items he needed to prepare into his spatial ring, and he had left plenty of basic living supplies in the secret chamber. As long as they weren't hit directly by an expert above the Saint level, they could hold out until the end of this god-level war, regardless of the outcome. He couldn't control what would happen to those people in the future; he had done all he could.

The two soon vanished into the streets. Before long, they arrived at a slum, where several 9th-rank experts were maintaining order.

"I never imagined the tunnel exit would be built here," Sean said in surprise.

"Only the unexpected can remain hidden. The area outside the city is already surrounded by a massive army. This tunnel is over a thousand miles long; it was dug through the cooperation of several Saint-level earth mages. It was completed in just a few months without affecting the buildings above," Leilia explained.

"Impressive." Although Sean was also an earth mage and digging a cave wasn't a problem for him, a tunnel this spacious? He truly couldn't imagine it. If he had this ability back on Earth, tunnel-boring machines would have been obsolete long ago.

After verifying their identities, Sean, Leilia, and many others followed the tunnel outward. Clearly, it wasn't just talented youths who were leaving this way; some royalty, nobles, and relatives of Saint-level experts were also evacuating through here, which was only natural.

A thousand miles wasn't very far, and in half a day, they arrived far from Shengyue City. Just as they emerged, Sean's expression tightened. He sensed massive elemental energy fluctuations in the distance, the power of which left him horrified.

"That must be the god-level experts clashing." Leilia's expression was also heavy. His father might be among them. If he encountered a Saint-level expert, he wouldn't be worried, as his father was a top-tier Saint-level expert and one of the candidates considered most likely to break through to the god level. But if he encountered a god-level expert, that would be trouble.

His father had told him that the gap between an early-stage Saint and a 9th-rank expert wasn't that large, and with numbers or a sneak attack, a reversal was possible. But the gap between a god-level expert and a peak Saint was truly like heaven and earth.

"Let's go. This is no place to linger," Sean said after a while. The safety of this tunnel was highly questionable. If the people from the Darkness Church were smart, they would search it, though that would surely happen only after they defeated the experts of the Radiant Church.

"Right." Although Leilia was still worried, he knew that staying here might only make him a burden.

"Want to leave? It's too late now. Hahaha, to think I would actually discover an exit to an underground tunnel." Suddenly, a burst of laughter echoed from all directions.

Sean's expression changed drastically. He saw several experts dressed in the attire of the Darkness Church instantly surround the dozens of people who had just emerged. What concerned him wasn't the number of people around him, but the figure hovering in the sky.

There were no wind-elemental magic fluctuations. This person was a Saint-level expert.