novelraw Chapter 586 - 585 - Broken Power
Chapter 586 - 585 - Broken Power
Xing was staring in shock at the broken candle. It was a distinction that a life candle was used for the leaders of the Soulmancers. It was due to their special status and it also was a double edged sword.
A life candle could potentially support a cultivator in their last moments to hold on and recover. It was used up at that moment but that was what it was for. Conversely, if the person watching over the candles had sufficient strength, they could snuff out the candle and instantly kill the connected cultivator.
Neither scenario occurred in front of her.
Her normally bland appearance was pulled away to reveal a darkly beautiful woman. Her ash gray skin was clear to all about what she was but she simply stood alone among a pile of corpses.
She had vibrant white curls flowing down her back and her body was vivacious. The mask of Xing was just that, a mask. One of her thralls that had been useful at a key moment let her survive.
"This was unexpected. The enemy is a 6th Circle weaver but should be pure. I did not want to invoke the Law Binding three times due to the cost but you leave me no choice." Her long black nails clicked a pedestal made of bones.
It lit up and her vision filled once more with a top down view of the recovering city. It was stunning in how high quality it was but she noticed a few traitors from the army were being herded somewhere while the Soulless had disappeared.
Their controllers seemed to be turned into toothpicks for the aether beasts.
A dark smile spread at the carnage but she also prepared to wipe it all off the face of the world.
Energy was about to gather when a chill went down her spine.
She slowly swiveled to a mountain mired in swamp. It was healthier than the bog but still a dour place yet a pair of pure azure eyes looked right at Xing.
[I will interfere if you attack again. You have been warned.]
A voice boomed in her skull and caused Xing to cough up dark blood. The weaving display shattered instantly.
Immortal Realm!
"That damned snake is still alive!" She knew divine bloodlines extended life but dragons were annoying in that they lived second longest at the most power. Only the black shelled tortoise could out live them yet their strength was defense, not attack.
If an Immortal stepped in, the Law Binding would be pathetic. Further, she really could not afford another discharge. It would take a century to recover the reserves used already.
"Fine, I am patient. Besides, you are trapped here as much as the rest of us." Xing turned slowly to see a man of skin and bones chained to a dark corner of the underground complex.
The Core Hall was key to the Law Binding but the true core was its creator. The mind of an Immortal was what gave a Law Binding power.
"You look a little tired. I will get you filled up later. I have a lot of work for you soon…Suzen." Xing donned her bland look before leaving the very Immortal that trapped 6 empires inside.
Xing quietly ascended from the darkness until she reached the plush carpets and sunlight streaming into the wide halls of the surface of the Core Hall.
She had never left the hall in over a million years since she took over the leadership of the Soulmancers. It had been careful work at first to get rid of the LIfemancers and the Blessed Creators.
The derivative professions were dangerous to her plans so they had to go. She also killed the original Soulmancer leaders when they got too curious about her activities.
She was the sole Fiend that survived Immortal Suzen's drastic action after the cataclysm. It had been a slim hope to survive but the thrall technique was flawless.
Still, it left her trapped in the damned building because the Law Binding would strike her dead the moment she stepped outside.
That fact had led to her breaking the original setup Suzen had left behind. The Immortal had been watching over the namesake of the Core Hall. The Law Core was created like a seed of an Immortal's understanding to create a Binding or any other related works.
Xing had taken it all under Suzen's nose because he was arrogant and thought himself safe, but the fool still wanted to live forever.
The corruption of the Soulmancers was his work, not hers, she simply tweaked his pathetic engravings to switch how the flow of souls went.
Xing walked carefully until she found her toy where she left him. Linghu stared in hatred at her but she only smiled.
"Good news, Marsh is dead! I now know where our enemy is but we need at least 100,000 souls at the Sun Tier to kill them. Aren't you happy?" The boy could not move but he knew what she was.
He was the only one as she often forgot about him and stripped away her mask when she wanted to feed directly on some sacrifices.
"Ah, you think your sister is safe for longer so surely you must be happy!" Xing enjoyed the rage and impotence of the boy. He was over 300,000 years old but not by choice. He had been a gifted Soulmancer and she needed his power.
Shi, his sister, had been very helpful in applying his current state. Sibling love could be such a weakness.
The 2 siblings had watched in horror as their entire family and friends were sacrificed to remove all connections to the outside world for them.
"Xing! There is open rebellion in Dar and Karridan!" Xing sighed as Shi came running in.
"I am hardly surprised but it is not the first time. They always get their heads full of ideas every few millennia." Xing calmly pulled out Suzen's Seal. Unlike the one Marsh took made of stone, this one was crystal.
She touched 6 symbols on it and saw each light up before flaring and going dark. She repeated that process 4 times as the siblings looked on.
"There we go. That should get the message across." Xing then put away the seal and saw the confused looks on the siblings faces. "Oh right, you have no idea about that feature."
Xing then pulled up the projections of each throne room as if it was nothing. In truth, nothing could hide from the Law Binding if she knew where it was.
The siblings looked on in horror as they saw the current leaders, ancestors, spouses, and finally children were all dead! The entire royal families had been wiped out in all 6 empires at the same time!
"Honestly, they are slow learners. Every few generations they get it into their heads they can rebel." Xing then narrowed her eyes as her thoughts trailed back to the newest city in the HInterlands.
The Law Binding had no effect there. Even now, knowing where they were, she could only visually look down at it. The weaving of the intruder was perfectly able to disrupt intrusions.
She also had seen the shocking ineffectiveness of the brand there as well. How was that possible? The old snake could not do it. She was forbidden unless certain conditions were met.
Xing wished she could leave as taking care of an overgrown handbag was quite easy for her yet she was trapped by the very thing that gave her power.
"H-how can you be so cruel?" Shi was stunningly naive at that moment. Xing always found it amusing how hypocritical humans could be. Shi had easily consumed many commoner souls and not blinked but always thought nobles were beyond such concerns unless they turned traitor.
"They would all turn eventually, better to nip it in the bud." Xing hummed in a much better mood and left them both behind to watch chaos unfold. Xing had enjoyed it the first 2 or 3 times but it became a bit rote after that.
The ministers or whatever they called themselves now would panic and then messengers would arrive to reveal all 6 empires had been struck at the same time. It would not take long from some bright, well passably intelligent person to realize they were all punished for something the others did.
There would be back biting, some skirmishes but then she would simply kill a few more key figures and it would finally sink in.
The Soulmancers were angry and they wanted only obedience.
If she ever escaped, Xing had developed many ideas for the Fiends to use in the future. The Law Binding was a bit much but it was truly a work of cowardice and art.
"Ah Suzen, you knew we were coming for you but you tried to hide. Now all your toys are broken or mine. Once I am free, you will truly know despair." Xing was in a much better mood as she nearly skipped down the sunny hall as she imagined shaving the bones of Suzen over the course of several million years.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
The Mountain of Death was quiet. No noises, not even of padded feet, spread on the air there. It was known as a no man's land for good reason as the master of that place preferred isolation.
Even the most rowdy mountain cat would have simply bowed from afar and moved on to other mountains for a home.
In the murky waters and vine filled trees, an azure scaled flood dragon continued to stare at a certain point of her cage.
She had almost hoped the controller would try to attack as she could finally do something. Yet, they fell back after her warning.
It had been nearly a million years since that pathetic human sealed them all inside his vile creation. If she had reacted a little faster, she might have escaped but the Law Binding solidified and grew to full power before anyone could really react.
"A Divine Progenitor and an ascender? If they got in, perhaps the end is near at last." A powerful voice shook the vines as the large body slowly submerged back into the dark waters. She hoped the little dragon would not take too long.
She had been stuck for far too long in that place and yearned for freedom. She wanted to feel the wind on her scales one more time before death came. She also wanted vengeance. She wanted to wipe Suzen's legacy from the Heaven Realm forever.
Forces began to move and were shattered but the power of the Soulmancers was beginning to break. The stage shifts and the players can no longer hide. War begins again.
End of A New World Arc