"How could this be?" Cyrus clearly hadn't expected both people he controlled today to turn around and try to kill him. That had never happened before.
Still, he wasn't worried about Sean's attack. He'd been injured earlier because that kid had an artifact, but now he was on guard. Even if this purple sword was also an artifact, he wouldn't get hurt again.
He only regretted that his understanding of Death Magic was still too shallow. He could use it to control people's souls, but couldn't tell whether it had worked. He could only control them by giving verbal orders, not communicate with them through the power of their souls.
Just then, the purple longsword began to radiate a strange aura. Cyrus felt as if he'd suddenly fallen into the bloodiest of battlefields, and terror welled up from the depths of his soul.
"Ah!" The pain in his soul made him cry out. He realized that the purple longsword before him was extraordinary—it had to be an even more powerful artifact.
Was the Radiant Church really so extravagant? Even two level-eight fighters had artifacts, and each one was more powerful than the last.
Now that he knew how dangerous it was, Cyrus naturally didn't dare take the blow head-on. While he still had a moment of clarity, he immediately retreated. Once he'd put enough distance between them, he could easily deal with Sean and the others. He was in such a desperate situation only because they were so close, and he hadn't expected the people he controlled to turn on him. Otherwise, no matter what, he wouldn't have been so careless. Besides, this artifact was too strange.
Seeing that his enemy was trying to retreat, Sean immediately activated sixteenfold Earth Magic gravity. Only a level-nine mage could normally cast the sixteenfold gravity spell of the Earth Element, but now, in the midst of extreme danger, Sean had somehow managed to cast it successfully.
The Death Saint Magus's retreat was immediately halted for a moment by the sixteenfold gravity.
Under normal circumstances, even a Saint-level mage with a frail body wouldn't care about sixteenfold gravity. But Cyrus had already been injured, and the mysterious aura of the Purple Divine Sword had wounded his soul. That brief pause was enough to prove fatal.
The sword, wreathed in purple light, easily passed through the defensive barrier the Saint-level Magus had conjured before him. In front of the Purple Divine Sword, the barrier might as well not have existed. The sword flashed like lightning and pierced the Death Saint-level Magus's head.
"Ah! You're going to die too!" The Death Saint Magus looked terrified. Realizing he couldn't escape, he unleashed one final soul attack. It was a special ability of Saint-level Magi. Although he had only just become a Saint and hadn't perfected this move, it was still more than enough to deal with a level-eight warrior. He'd only been too careless. If he'd used a soul attack earlier, both of them would already be dead.
But he had no more chances. Soul attacks were extremely fast, yet after striking Sean, this one had no effect. As Cyrus stared in disbelief, Sean's battle-qi traveled along the Violet Blood Soft Sword and completely shattered the inside of his head.
Sean wondered whether the Saint's soul could still enter the Netherworld after being struck in the head by a Highgod Artifact.
"He killed a Saint?" At the horrified looks of everyone present, dozens of experts dressed in black—including three level-eight fighters—immediately fled at lightning speed, no longer caring about what had happened. No one dared gamble with their life.
"How could you...?" Leilia was utterly stunned. Sean had not only resisted the Death Saint Magus's soul control and soul attack, he had also easily killed him.
"Let's go. No time to talk." Sean hurriedly helped the badly injured Leilia to her feet, then bounded away. He couldn't worry about the other members of the Radiant Church who had come out of the secret passage with them.
Sean had been able to kill the Death Saint Magus because the Violet Blood Soft Sword contained a great deal of the baleful aura of Destruction Law. This attacking artifact had been used for billions of years by the peak Seven-Star Violet Blood Fiend. It definitely couldn't compare to a Sovereign Artifact or a Godhead Weapon, but it was still far more powerful than an ordinary Highgod Artifact. The baleful aura within it was terrifying even to a Saint.
In the original story, Linley had used this baleful aura to attack a powerful Saint-level expert, one far stronger than the Saint Magus before him, and it had still worked quite well.
The Saint he'd just killed was probably only an ordinary one. Otherwise, even with an attacking Highgod Artifact, Sean wouldn't have been able to unleash its full power and would probably have died.
If another Saint showed up and took precautions against his weapon, Sean would be doomed. No one knew whether there were any other Saints nearby, so he had to run as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, he had a Soul-Protecting Sovereign Artifact to block the soul attack. Otherwise, he would still have been doomed. In the original story, Linley had relied on the Coiling Dragon Ring to block the soul attack from the Radiant Church's pope on Yulan Continent. Sean had just experienced the same thing: he hadn't done anything, and the Coiling Dragon Ring had blocked it on its own.
"That sword of yours..." Leilia said uneasily, looking at the sword as Sean carried him over his shoulder.
"A god-level expert gave it to me. I'd rather not say who," Sean said, making up an excuse.
Back when Shengyue City had been attacked, Sean had secretly manifested the Purple Blood God Sword. A Highgod Artifact was very useful when fleeing for his life.
"I understand." Leilia didn't press him further. Sean had great talent, and it was perfectly normal for a god-level expert from the Church to take a liking to him and accept him as a disciple.
Besides, they were both the Church's most talented young experts. Who didn't have a few secrets of their own?
After that, the two tacitly stopped asking each other questions. Several days later, they had traveled thousands of miles. Sean found a cave in a desolate mountain range, drove out the bear living inside, then used Earth Magic to seal the entrance, leaving only a few small holes for ventilation.
Once they were inside the cave, Sean used Earth Magic again, gradually flattening the uneven ground.
Feeling the earth beneath him slowly change, Leilia said enviously, "Your Earth Magic is really useful. It's so smooth—I almost feel like you shouldn't be only level eight."
"Just a basic application. Most Earth Element mages simply don't need to use magic this way," Sean said with a smile. Although he hadn't reached level nine, he'd become much more proficient at applying magic over the past two years. Changing the shape and structure of the earth was one of the most basic applications of Earth Element.
"True. Not many level-eight or level-nine mages have to flee for their lives like we do," Leilia said. "What should we do now?"
"Let's hide here for a while. After fighting that Saint-level mage, I felt like I was on the verge of a breakthrough. If I can reach level nine, we'll be much safer," Sean said. Though Death Law had little to do with Earth Laws, the life-or-death crisis had greatly improved his mental strength, and he'd even managed to cast the beginnings of a level-nine spell.
Before reaching the Saint level, a breakthrough depended on accumulating energy, not comprehending laws. But either way, people were more likely to break through after experiencing battles and life-or-death crises.
It seemed to be a restriction imposed by the Laws of Heaven and Earth: to break through, one had to fight. The many challenges in the Divine Planes had the same underlying reason. Otherwise, after reaching the Saint level, people would have infinite lifespans and could improve simply by cultivating in seclusion. There'd be no way for the world to use up all its experts.
"Level nine? That'd be good." Leilia nodded. They'd only been able to kill the Saint because he'd apparently just reached that level, they'd broken free of his soul control, and they'd caught him off guard with an artifact. It had taken several factors coming together. Otherwise, the two of them would have been the ones to die.
"Then we'll stay here for a while." As he spoke, Sean took various household items from his Spatial Ring: tables, chairs, beds, and plenty of food. That way, they wouldn't have to risk going out to buy food or hunt.
As long as they stayed in the cave, they would be fairly safe. The spiritual power of those above the Saint level could easily penetrate the mountain, but no Saint would bother to probe every mountain they passed with their spiritual power. They'd be exhausted in no time.
Besides, the Darkness Church surely had plenty of Saint-level experts, but considering how vast the Zhongyuan Continent was, they wouldn't waste resources sending Saints out to search aimlessly. As long as Sean didn't go outside or get spotted by the endless stream of ordinary enemy scouts, they'd be fine.
"That works. I'll recover from my injuries first." With that, Leilia took a pill from his Spatial Ring and swallowed it. A gentle energy soon began to ripple around him.
"Life Magic." Sean's thoughts stirred. The god-level expert behind Leilia's father from the Radiant Church must have cultivated Life Law. That was probably why Leilia had been able to resist the Death Saint Magus's soul control.
Still, they both tacitly avoided asking too much. Clearly, each of them had their own secrets, especially when it came to god-level experts. That suited Sean just fine.
Afterward, Sean went to his room and went into seclusion.
As spring passed and autumn came, a year went by. Sean opened his eyes. He had finally reached level nine.
Without another thought, he immediately returned his soul power to the Coiling Dragon book in his mind. He could finally check the story after Linley reached level nine. He turned to Volume Eight, Chapter 52.
In this chapter, Bebe broke through to the Saint level, and his name turned yellow.
Sure enough, I can manifest a Divine Beast Bloodline once I reach the Saint level. Sean was overjoyed. He immediately used his soul power to connect with the Coiling Dragon book and manifest Bebe's God-Eater Rat bloodline.
PS: Please vote with your monthly tickets!
Before you continue