Dead!
All her forces on Yinande were dead!
Lady Xin was incensed but she regulated her rage.
Rushing into such a clearly dangerous situation was useless.
Even so, she felt no danger.
The dangers her minions ran into were child's play to her.
She lauded the clever tactics of her enemy, but to her power, they were just toys!
The blinding light and illusions were but minor distractions as she moved through the village.
None of the sensing arrays could see her either but she saw them.
The layout was very complete but limited.
She made a note to kill the Mistress of Illusions later.
She had identified the source of the formation plates instantly as she had been given one before.
She moved deeper until she finally ca to the source of all the Qi floating along the array lines.
She would not deal with any surprises as she shattered the wooden door in the hall.
It was just paper to her strength.
She entered the large room and froze.
All her anger and frustration vanished at the gently glowing pillar at the center of the room.
The highly detailed schematic of the village and her glowing red dot was stunning.
She could not hide from that artifact!
What truly froze her, though, were the sigils on the sides of it.
They glowed with Qi that felt so familiar but alien all at once.
She examined them for a ti when a massive headache began to build.
Her mind felt like it was on fire and her insides soon joined it.
She could not figure out what trap she had triggered.
Her millions of years of experience had no answers as she watched her once gorgeous lavender skin crack and fall off!
Her blood began to leak but then she thought salvation had arrived!
[You have served us well, but things have changed.
A weaver of the First Circle cannot exist with Celestial Qi.
Lind Frey must die but you cannot kill him.
Your impurity is a weakness we can no longer afford.]
The words made no sense but she felt fear for the first ti in a very long ti.
What was happening to her?!
Lady Xin was trying to understand as her skin lted off and darkness closed in.
Her long life did not seem so worthwhile at the end but regret had had no cure.
Her life in the shadows ended where no one could see it.
The demonic flesh and blood were burnt away for what was within and the Heavens rumbled but could not find its target.
Ironically, the illusions Lind and Fey relied on to fight greater numbers now hid a monster from the sight of Heaven.
The next battle would not be as easy for Lind and Fey.
????????
Lind looked at the corpses around him.
Now that he had a larger pool of comparison, he found differences in each demon.
So were corrupted by the damage before his harmony washed over them and left pristine corpses but others, despite the very sa effect, were heavily consud.
Age was hard to determine since cultivation slowed it down naturally and then the Fiend technique extended that age beyond any hope of understanding it.
Yet, tier 5 Nightfalls on average would be close to 1000 years old.
Given that, he saw stark differences between the tier 5 corpses.
The woman was like the slim demon Lind killed earlier.
Her body was pristine but one of her fellow tier 5 comrade's corpse was much thinner.
It was as if there was part of the body missing that his harmony could not restore.
The more he looked over the corpses, the deeper his frown.
"Big Brother, are you ok?"
Fey was much more confident in his eyes.
He actually smiled as he patted her head.
She blushed and pouted at his response like she used to.
She had not done that since they reunited.
She had broken through and her foundation was stable but also reached the peak of tier 5!
He hoped all was as well as it looked.
Still, the ghost of her heart demon would always be there.
It sprang from truths and lies afterall.
"I simply think we over simplified our enemy.
I think so of these demons were used unwillingly."
Her confused look made him point to the nearly pristine demoness.
Unlike the other corpses, there was a clear smirk on her face.
Fey noticed it but did not understand.
"I fought a slim commander at the sa tier and at the end, it was like he broke free of sothing.
I don't think the technique does what we think it does.
The extension of life is a side effect, not the goal."
He then pointed to the emaciated but still unmarked demons Fey had not personally killed.
She slowly compared the others and a faint mory ca back to her.
"When I was in the midst of my enlightennt, I felt my sword cut sothing else.
It was not supposed to be there.
I have no idea how else to explain it, but I killed sothing else inside them, Big Brother."
Her amber eyes were strange for a mont but then cleared up.
Lind felt his last worry fall away.
If it was enlightennt that guided her, then the damage from the heart demon was truly gone.
He recalled the faint feeling of Heavenly pressure but it was neither tribulation nor punishnt.
She must have found her Dao.
"Truly incredible.
I like smart ants, but you 2 have gone beyond even my worst expectations for this little ball of dirt."
A gravelly voice suddenly cut through the air.
Lind went to turn around but then his harmony rebelled!
His body no longer answered his commands as it beca disjointed.
There was no pain, it was as if he told it to go right and it went up, left, and down all at once!
Fey was still in his sight and had her sword ready.
She suddenly dodged and the clang of tal was heard.
A vague shape ca into view but then vanished again.
It was only a shadow but Lind felt revulsion on every level of his being.
"Impressive.
You have indeed comprehended a troubleso Dao.
If we were in the Heaven Realm, I could kill you easily, but in this restrictive cell, it is hard."
Blood suddenly spurted from Fey's shoulder as if it was a delayed reaction!
"Not impossible, however."
Lind's body refused to move or obey.
His Sky Core felt restrained and his ridians were spasmodically sending Qi everywhere without rhy or reason.
What was wrong with him?
"I often wondered what would happen if you t us in reality, Lind Frey.
As we suspected, 6 elentals are a troubleso bunch.
You were no threat as failures but your Moebius Sect has changed things."
The voice had no direction and Fey was guarding Lind.
He could still think but his damned body was not answering.
"Big Brother, they are strong!
A tier 8 at least!"
Lind felt his heart still at those words.
Fey could maybe deflect attacks but their deaths were assured.
"Ha ha!
Very good!
Your skills are excellent!
A pity, we could have used one such as you to infiltrate the Maidens more."
Lind suddenly realized what he was talking to.
The references and the strange effects on the demons.
"Transformation!
They were trying to infiltrate our realm!"
A strange pressure washed over them both but it seed unintentional.
"As I said, smart ants.
Troubleso, but smart.
The technique does indeed transform the user.
You see, it is a conduit to us.
We get a large portion of food and the user gets a longer life.
Of course there are drawbacks."
Lind recalled the large demon winnowing away to almost nothing.
He could counteract them, so why was his body failing now?
"I do not have ti to dawdle, but it has been instructive.
We will focus on eradicating your sect.
The 6 elentals cannot be allowed to flourish!"
Lind felt it before the attack ca.
Fey's sword was suddenly between him and death!
A sword as black as midnight was held by a scaly hand.
It was putrid skin that seed to be dying and regenerating constantly.
The body was too supple to be a man but it had no womanly attributes either.
"A Fiend!"
Lind looked at the twisted face that had no resemblance to any lifeform he had encountered.
Even an aether beast bent on killing soone had more life than that!
"As close as you have ever been, mortal!"
Fey's arm was suddenly broken as she yanked Lind out of the way.
She did not even scream as her left arm beca dead weight but the sword arm was still moving!
"You will never kill my Big Brother!"
Lind narrowed his eyes.
That was right, as long as Fey drew breath, she would fight, but the creature clearly could kill her, yet did not.
It was more interested in distraction and debilitating her.
Why?
Why wouldn't it kill Fey?
The mory of the 3 demons ca back as Lind understood!
It was not that it did not want to kill Fey, but that if it did, Heaven would know!
It would kill him before it could reach Lind at all.
It seed Fey had already worked that out.
Lind tried to stand but his legs were noodles at best at the mont.
He could do nothing physically and Fey was far superior to him in combat.
He hoped she could hold out as he tried to focus on whatever was causing the issue with his body.
The sounds of battle fell away as Lind focused on his interior but there was nothing wrong.
His organs and flesh were fine.
His dantian and ridians were not being damaged, they just would not respond like he wanted.
His soul was also fighting but it could not seem to overco whatever the issue was.
As he looked farther down he noticed an oddity.
The silvery ring around the inner third of his Sky Core had a sickly yellow glow around it!
Where had that co from?!
He had felt no attack nor any other issue.
As his Eyes focused, he was stunned.
Sigils, strange sigils unlike any he had ever seen were floating in the yellow restraint.
How was it affecting the rest of him though?
It only covered the silvery restriction?
It should not affect the rest of his body like that unless…
The sound of battle returned as dark green eyes calmly opened.
Lind looked up to see Fey bleeding from a shallow head wound and her skirt torn to a deep wound on her right leg.
She was still moving but ti was running out.
He understood.
By all creation, he understood.
He smiled and the Fiend construct froze at that smile.
Why
was Lind Frey smiling at him?
"Thank you for showing
the lock."
After those words were spoken, Lind's body transford!
The pressure of Heaven returned but it was solely focused on Lind.
The Fiend hastily retreated as it dared not be noticed.
What was going on?!
Both combatants were locked onto the scene as a silvery glow enveloped Lind and began to pick him up off the ground.
Fey was confused but the Fiend was in shock.
It could not be!
He had not completed the First Circle so how?!
They could only watch as the world changed once more and Lind Frey was at the heart of it.
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