Chapter Ninety-Six: The Unseen Assassin

Four teams, each led by a Judge, entered their own rock caves. The instant they stepped inside, every entrance collapsed at once, and the surroundings returned to blackness.

The sudden change did not rattle the four. Mou You swept his hand, and four crimson-gold lotus blossoms slowly opened, each one gifted to the other three so that their immediate surroundings were lit.

Yet the last blossom, the one nearest Dian Shao, was forced into a bloody red and then melted away in midair.

Mou You narrowed his eyes. It was not that Dian Shao had meant to show him a trick. Around Dian there was an ever-present current of cold, ruthless killing intent, seeping into Dian’s blood and rising from his pores as a thin mist-like film around him. That natural barrier had just erased the lotus that came near him.

What kind of ferocious blade-minded will was that? How many lives had he spent in slaughter to turn such intent into a habit, for it to erupt on pure instinct?

Jing Fei and An Ruxiang both glanced at Mou You. Their looks toward Dian had gone subtly hard. Mou You only gave a carefree smile and signaled them to keep calm.

Among the four, Dian was the only one without a Final-Punishment Judge. That meant even if the three of them joined forces, they were no match for Dian, whose strength was like that of a hundred men. As for why the Death Row Carnival had not placed limits on Dian, Mou You and the two others would have to discover that in time.

The three followed in single file, huddling together, gradually widening the distance from Dian. The path was grim and terrifying, the air foul and dense, clearly a place rarely visited by anyone. Yet Mou You noticed that Dian moved through it as if at home, vanishing into the darkness without a trace of discomfort from the dim, rough terrain.

“We’ve arrived.”

No one knew how long they had walked. Dian suddenly stopped, turned with confidence, and the beast-eye on his right side gave off an eerie green glow as he said in a cold voice.

The three once again felt the chill of being watched by a predator.

Mou You snapped his fingers. The red lotuses answered, their light flaring up, and the surroundings sprang bright. Before them stretched a corridor complex in a postmodern-retro style, ancient beyond words and poorly preserved, as if shattered by bombardment, with broken towers and fragmented walls everywhere.

“Let me state this clearly first,” Dian said. “Everything in the Confined Chamber of Desire is controlled by a newly ascended S-rank condemned inmate. Step into this corridor and you are in his domain. Do not in any way provoke him. If he grows displeased, I will kill you first. Don’t make me your obstacle.”

Mou You and the others fell silent, watching Dian’s back with a little more coldness in their eyes. Yet there was one advantage: it seemed Dian was also taking part in the Confined Chamber of Desire, so this terrifying, unknown instructor was, at least for now, not an enemy.

After speaking, Dian stepped forward. The instant his foot touched down, countless ghost-blue streams of light shot along the gaps between the rocks beneath him and raced outward, reaching the end of the corridor in seconds.

Mou You and the others followed close behind. The lines of light flickered on and off, merged with one another, and flowed forward. In the blink of an eye, the corridor that had been silent and lifeless became brilliant with radiant, marvelous light.

In the vast empty space, the four sets of footsteps sounded out of rhythm. Mou You motioned An Ruxiang and Jing Fei to stay alert, for after walking so long through such a vast, grand corridor, there was no echo at all.

Their footsteps seemed to be absorbed by something, or perhaps isolated from the air itself.

Dian sniffed the air and caught no scent, yet the others could all feel an unseen presence moving quickly toward them.

Jing Fei immediately dropped to one knee, both hands pressed against the ground to sense through it. An Ruxiang and Mou You took positions on either side with him at the center. Pale-blue and crimson-gold light alternated in pulses as the red lotuses and bodhi flowers unfurled into countless petals, shielding the four of them. At the same time, innumerable stone spikes burst up from the ground and encircled them—but Dian shattered them with a single punch.

All three of them gave a dull groan. Dian’s blow had nearly broken apart their protective circles.

Jing Fei opened his eyes and signaled that Mou You’s feet were safe, but when he looked at Dian, his gaze was ice-cold.

“Protect yourself.”

He had barely finished when a shallow scar appeared across Dian’s cheek, and blood slowly began to run.

Almost as Dian himself was attacked, he countered immediately. A cold gleam flashed in his right eye; both hands formed claws and lashed hard at a spot not far to his left. It looked as if he had seized something. The air rippled faintly—and then the thing slipped past.

At once, a face made of petals forced its way into their vision. The unseen thing dodged Dian’s strike and seemed to charge straight into the flower sea.

“This is no illusion,” An Ruxiang said darkly. “It truly exists. You cannot see it with bare eyes, but it can still deliver fatal blows.”

Her expression turned ominous. The pale-blue petals grew even denser. Mou You could now see three humanoid outlines, transparent, traced by the flower sea. Without a word, three casts of “Noble Flame: First Longing” struck.

The whole flower sea detonated, and petals rained down from above. What made the four of them stagger as if falling into a pit was that, in midair, those countless petals were blocked. Looking about, they saw not fewer than dozens of unseen things.

Before the petals could all descend, each was shoved aside and hurled to strike them from all four directions.

“One Thought Bloom: Chaotic Pagoda!”

A giant crimson-gold lotus enveloped Mou You, An Ruxiang, and Jing Fei, radiating an utterly commanding heat. The swirling petals that had not yet reached them were burned away at once.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The surface of the giant lotus trembled without pause as those unseen creatures charged in endless waves, smashing into the red lotus with terrifying force.

By contrast, Dian looked increasingly disheveled. His style of defending through offense failed to land on the elusive, omnipresent entities, and his body was quickly scored with fresh, bleeding wounds.

“Need help?”

Jing Fei asked.

Seeing Dian’s ragged yet increasingly exhilarated expression, Mou You still could not read him, and said in a low voice, “No. Watch how he changes.”

Little by little, Dian seemed annoyed. His bones crackled with a sharp, splintering sound. He suddenly threw back his head and roared. A majestic wave of force surged outward in all directions, tearing and crushing everything. In the endless ripples of sound, everyone could plainly see dozens of humanoid entities gradually taking shape before they were shattered by the sonic impact.

Crack. Crack.

The surface of the red lotus began to show fine fractures, growing denser and denser until it burst apart in a final blast. The three were hurled by the shockwave, thrown far across the ground.

After the roar, Dian rolled his neck. His prison tunic was torn to pieces, revealing a blood-marked torso riddled with cuts. He turned slowly, beast-eye cold and merciless, and fixed it on Mou You and the other two. He spat out two words, voice edged with ice: “Continue.”