Hua Anhe slashed down another load of revenants that had been heading directly for the Sect Leader. She fought on par with Li Feng, who was trying his best to cover the portion Madam Hua had before the 'traitor' had rammed into her and killed her on impact.
They'd used a technique that Anhe could easily narrow down to only a few people in the sect. Sect Leader Xue's closest affiliate, Huang Delan, and a handful of foreigners. She wanted to believe it was because of 'them'. Not the guy who was stuck with Rhian, but the other two who Hua Huiliang had contracted.
"Watch your left!" Li Feng scolded her, throwing one of his [Dalaznun] blades that killed one of the Shu acolytes that had been sneaking behind Hua Anhe and returned to his hand.
"This is pathetic!" she said, stabbing her spear into one of the revenants. "We have to get the traitor, or there's no telling how long this will stretch on!"
"You think I don't—"
"I know you know, Li Feng! I need to know what to do about it!" She grunted as she landed a hard kick to the side of a woman charging at her. "Otherwise, we're killing these people and that bastard necromancer is bringing them right back!"
Li Feng grumbled something. "Sect Leader!" he called to Hua Huiliang.
"You two go," the Sect Leader said momentarily, wiping blood off his cheek. "I will find Shu Meiying. You both make sure to get the traitor."
"But," Hua Anhe started.
"There's no telling if this level will end as you said! It's been over half a day since we've been ambushed. The Lu Clan is in shambles. Lu Huan is most likely dead." Hua Huiliang stared back at her, using his mana to keep away any incoming spirits while he let Li Feng take care of the humans.
"Listen to me, child," he told Hua Anhe. "Killing the traitor is one thing. But we need to get rid of the Jade Palace in Zhangwe village as well."
"Li Feng!" he added.
"Yes," Li Feng replied.
"Take care of my child," Hua Huiliang said. "Make sure she stays alive."
Hua Anhe couldn't bring herself to say anything else as she watched Hua Huiliang turn around and walk towards the incoming horde of revenants. "Trust me," he signaled to her.
"Did you see where he went?" Zane asked Rhian.
Rhian shook his head and gestured to a clearing. "He probably used some mana concealer. I can't trace his mana."
Zane frowned hard, it wasn't making enough sense. Especially given the fact there was another auxiliary level showing up in front of him.
[Auxiliary Level: Cold Jade Palace
Grade: B
Time Limit: 4 hours
Conditions: defeat the inverted spirits held within the palace and survive until the time limit is up!
Failure: spirits within the palace will be freed.
Reward: 100,000 species to majority contributors, 50,000 species to secondary contributions]
Zane turned on his footing and evaded being grabbed by a revenant. He was about to catch up with Rhian when an arrow whisked past him. He paused and turned to where it'd come from.
A woman, whom he couldn't particularly place blinked at him. Her complexion matched his, and she didn't seem to hold particular animosity, perhaps her look was almost curious.
Regardless of the reason, she clearly didn't belong to Xiaoluo. Zane followed the arrow and noted that it had struck a man wearing golden robes. She nodded at him before she moved away.
Zane had to blink a couple of times before his head wrapped around what had occurred. She had seemed familiar, oddly so, but he couldn't quite place. 'Which definitely had to do with the fact that my memory recollection is just 1.4%!'
He wanted to recheck the contract, but there was absolutely no way he could possibly reach the arbiters. Let alone the architects! He managed to dodge a sloppy attack that had been directed at him by a boy who looked barely sixteen. He was gaunt, terribly so, with greenish skin and a sunken face, with the whites of his eyes having been replaced by red.
Zane knocked him out with the back of his hilt and grabbed Rhian's shoulder. "That has to be the Fei Resurrection, right?" Zane asked.
"It has to be," Rhian muttered.
But then, he paused. Zane stopped along with him and watched as Rhian's face cycled through an array of expressions before he settled on shock.
Zane triggered his stigma by running his finger against his blade and drawing blood.
[The Stigma,
"What…?"
"You can talk without having to worry about anyone contaminated with diabolic energy," Zane said.
Rhian cleared his throat. "The Fei Resurrection… the tales say that it was originally broken into five pieces. But mythists speculated that a small piece belonging to it had been hidden away."
"You're implying," Zane prompted.
"That… That has to be the case," Rhian said. He crouched down and picked up an arrow and drew it into the ground. "The idea of the Fei Resurrection was that it's an all mighty power. It fueled the spirits by balancing good and bad. And it's also said to increase the influence and prowess of those in its possession. However," Rhian said as he drew a small piece out. "It's like the temple logic. While at mass it can be used to help sustain the Nation, it cannot be used by an individual for their greed."
"So you're saying that the revenants… The diabolic nature of this should not exist?" Zane asked.
"Precisely! The amulet is no small piece as you might be thinking. It's large, which was why it had been brought together in five pieces. And a small piece must be missing. It has to be. Otherwise, there is no reason for the power to become this corrupt."
Zane blinked. "So who is controlling them?"
"They've gone crazy with the diabolic power," Rhian murmured. "The recent auxiliary! It pertains to a jade palace. And jade palaces work on the principle of simple things. Life or death. For it to have become a level… "
"Someone must've entered it," Zane finished.
"And that someone has to be Shu Meiying. No one other than him would think as to why the hell Zhangwe village would have a Jade Palace without inauguration. With that said, I believe his control has been infected. He might be corrupted by a 'watcher'."
'Damn, he really did read the contract well', Zane thought. Watchers could choose to exert physical control over the players through three different mediums. One was a skill, for example the skill Zane possessed,
The second way was if they sponsored you, usually if you came close to death or if you were running low on mana, the watcher could guide you to safety by temporarily gracing your body with their presence.
The third one was… unethical. It often occurred with non-registered players or with players without a sponsor. Sometimes, the watchers who were deemed as 'evil' were always on the lookout for people with equally nasty thoughts and ideas. Thus, when said people were close to their deaths or were weak-willed, the watchers could possess them or use them as puppets. The accurate word that Zane could use was use them as their incarnations.
It could explain the reason as to why the majority of those belonging to the Shu clan had become infested with more diabolic energy and how the count of revenants kept increasing.
Shu Meiying must've cursed them with the power of the amulet, not knowing that it was missing a piece, which led to the initial corruption. Then, he must've entered the Jade Palace expecting to come across riches, only to find it was an auxiliary level. There, he must've gotten close to his death, and thus, Rhian's thesis.
"It's probable," Zane replied finally.
"What should we do now?"
"What time suggests," Zane replied, opening the panel that led to the current auxiliary levels.
[Auxiliary Level: Traitor
Grade: B+
Time Limit: 20 minutes
Conditions: Find the Shu Helper among you
Failure: Inevitable death
Reward: the level will be truncated]
He turned the window to face Rhian. "We don't have to participate, do we?"
"We don't, but the failure does suggest inevitable death," Zane replied. "And we know who the traitor is—"
A sudden light rose off in the distance, and Rhian's eyes widened at that. Zane's eyes fell to Rhian's neck. "The fetter," he began.
The ruby was glowing faintly, as though responding to the light in the distance. "So he finally used the Circe, huh?" Rhian mumbled, clasping the necklace. "We can't slack off either."
[The Stigma
Zane glanced at his finger. He had barely gotten a prick, which he supposed made sense as to why the stigma was ending.
[
[
[The Stigma
The little sheen of protection around them burst, and Rhian triggered the Hymn of the Apostle next to him. Shortly, most of the incoming revenants were infected with the poison emitted by the skull. Zane was about to trigger Ember's first attribute when his eye caught something.
He immediately yanked Rhian to the side. 'Shit. Why are they here?!'
He had caught sight of Rynn and Adrian near the river. "What is it?!" Rhian demanded, pushing Zane's hand off him.
"The people who had imprisoned you are there, they're probably partaking in the level but their outcome is to find us," Zane said. "We have to get out of here—"
"Xiaoshi!"
Both of them turned to see Hua Anhe staring back at them. She paused for a moment before her eyes gazed over them. "What do you know?" she asked
Zane wondered if Rhian had any tells to him.
"Huang Delan," Rhian said quickly, although Zane was sure to catch the subtle sullen look in his eyes, as though saying it as fast did take Rhian some energy.
Hua Anhe blinked. She didn't seem particularly surprised, and Zane could only assume that she'd narrowed down the list herself. "Xiaoshi," she said quietly. "Thank you for telling me."
Zane couldn't help but wonder, yet again, what was the pretense of Rhian and Huang Delan's relationship. They didn't seem particularly like brothers or like mentor-student. In fact, he'd seen the looks Huang Delan had gotten.
Rhian was the only one who looked up to him. The others only acknowledged his presence. There was nothing 'special' about it, rather, it was a bother.
Hua Anhe patted Rhian's shoulder. "I'll take care of it," she promised.
Before she could move, however, Rhian caught her hand. "Leave the body be," he said.
Hua Anhe hesitated, then she nodded. "Okay."
Zane had long since wondered what exactly were Huang Delan's actions were for him to be deemed a traitor. Surely, the single incident of them being ambushed while heading to Zhangwe village couldn't be the only thing.
Zane was tempted to use peek to look into Rhian's mind, but he ultimately decided against it. Instead he nudged Rhian's shoulder. "She'll handle the traitor," he said. "We need to focus on the main level."
"What do you want to do?"
"The rewards for killing the instigator of the war are quite flashy."
Rhian blinked at Zane. "You want to go after Shu Meiying?"
"I thought that was obvious."
Rhian raised his brows and then touched the fetter. "Do you know how to get this to work?" he asked.
Zane remembered the details quite vaguely. When Caue had earned the Circe in the 17th Temple, he had gotten a particular message through his fetter.
The bracelet, in his case, had turned scalding when the Circe was near, or rather, when it was being 'made'. Considering the faint glow of Rhian's fetter, it seemed safe to say that the Circe was either being made or was being channeled through the
[
Zane blinked. The creator of Circe!