1538: Now

Now

Lyla blushed, lowering her head. It had been easy to disperse Alax's enigmatic qi because his control was so poor, but it had been far more difficult to scatter the qi in the atmosphere. Then, she forcibly took control of a comet grade formation and formed it to her will. It might have been fine if it was a normal scaled formation, but this one covered the whole of Middle Lily City, so it was easily dozens of miles across. If she said that this didn't impact her at all, she would definitely be lying.1

"And look at you." Madeleine turned her scolding to Zaire. "You gave up your lower tier rewards by climbing up here so quickly, those rewards would have been very beneficial to your big brother, but now they're gone."

Zaire, who had just been snickering, lowered his head as well. He didn't know why the normally docile Madeleine was suddenly acting like this, he could only be embarrassed.

Madeleine was very much used to playing the big sister role. For a large part of her life, she didn't like it at all. Back during her Focus Academy days, it was a façade she put up to escape the ticking time bomb that was her constitution. Once that worry was taken off her shoulders, she mellowed to the Madeleine they all knew and loved.

But, the Madeleine of now had responsibilities to undertake once more. She was the First Wife of a future Emperor and a woman destined to be the First Empress of the Mortal Empire. This didn't mention that it would be her responsibility to keep the Sacharro household in order. She had to be a little stricter now even if it conflicted with the way she normally wanted to do things.

"We understand big sister Madeleine." The three lowered their heads in shame.

"Good." Madeleine nodded in satisfaction.

"Can we still teach them a lesson though?" Zaire asked with expectant eyes.

Madeleine sighed, looking off into the distance. "What remains of the Flaming Lily Sect disciples isn't in good shape. Many of them are dejected."

"They might see a light of hope, though." Lyla smiled lightly, pointing toward Yandevere who had been trying to give the family some space. Or, maybe she was just too embarrassed to look Madeleine in the eye.

Madeleine glanced toward Yandevere silently for a moment. It was true. If Yandevere hadn't been found out by Dyon, their Sect would collapse. How would the remaining loyalists react to finding out their strongest Legatee was a traitor? There would be no hope left.

But, now that she was here, even if it wasn't entirely by choice, it would still be helpful.

After thinking for a while, Madeleine took a deep breath.

"Since all of our enemies will gather here, why not? Let's wipe them out. I don't believe that even the Golden Crow Sect can recover easily from losing a large portion of their celestials…"

**

Within the Dark Ocean's depths, Dyon's eyes had grown cold, killing intent wafted from him, making it seem as though the already dark waters could grow even darker.

The ten puppets surged forward, their sudden appearance surprising the five remaining numbered warriors, but not enough to throw their rhythm off.

The two sentinels seamlessly retreated, disappearing from the purview of Fifteen's lighting treasure as then ten puppets swept forward to replace them in an instant.

Ten's eyes narrowed. He immediately realized that these puppets were far more powerful than the last two. There were only two reasons he could think of that their attackers hadn't used them directly. Either the two sentinels had a special ability, or the costs of using these puppets was too high. There was even a small possibility that both answers were true.

'These puppets likely won't last long.'

"Fight defensively!" Ten roared.

His four companions immediately understood, closing in the distance between the five of them and protecting Fifteen in the very center.

Ten and Eleven were forced to fight three puppets each, leaving two to Thirteen and the silent Fourteen. Unfortunately, Ten soon realized that the difference between the two puppets was not small by any stretch of the imagination. These were true higher dao formation puppets. Not just that, but whatever material it was they were made out of… It seemed harder than anything Ten had ever come across in his long life.

These puppets would have already been difficult to fight at their full prowess, but with so many handicaps facing them now, it almost felt as though the world was crashing down upon them. If it wasn't for Ten's abnormal constitution, he might have already collapsed.

'If a lightning discharge comes now…' Ten grit his teeth. Though he had found a workaround for the cold qi, the neurotoxins in his system didn't seem to respond no matter what he did. In fact, bothering it only exacerbated the problem. He could only shove it to a far corner of his body, hoping it wouldn't build up anymore.

What Ten didn't know was that the King jellyfish could only discharge once an hour. Although Dyon had used them twice now, he had used them more than a day apart, not wanting his enemies to get a gauge on just how often he could. Ten seemed to understand this truth, so he hadn't lowered his guard at all.

The worst part was that if a dangerous situation occurred, he couldn't use his enigmatic qi like Twelve had for fear of the sudden appearance of the immortal puppets. To this very moment, he still had no idea how one of them had so suddenly appeared.

Dyon's breath grew steady as he pulled back a sleek black arrow. The world around him seemed to melt away.

'The most important tool to an archer are his eyes… How comical considering my eyes can't see a thing down here. However… My divine sense can.'

Dyon's eyes sharpened, his pupils concentrated into extremely fine points.

'Go now.'

pqdm.com