Chapter 61: Deterrence
Several gray stone steps appeared ahead, cut off by a towering wall of mist that rose to the sky. A faint white fog drifted from this mist wall, and a figure sitting on the steps was half-shrouded within the white mist. All that could be seen was that he wore a long coat, a metal mask, and black gloves on his hands. These gloves looked like cloth but were very tough.
"Wearing that outfit... who are you planning to fight?"
The Saintess Seat spoke, clearly familiar with the man sitting on the steps.
"The Blade Demon will come. If he loses control, I'm responsible for clearing him out of the Empty Seat Banquet grounds."
"He's actually coming? That's rare."
The Saintess Seat was somewhat surprised. She wasn't surprised that the man in the mist could clear the Blade Demon out of the Empty Seat Banquet grounds; their combat strength was similar. If the Blade Demon's style was madness and sharpness, then the man in the mist was absolute overwhelming force. If the two fought, the Saintess Seat couldn't imagine who would win.
"He might come. He's been relatively clear-headed lately."
The man in the mist's voice was very magnetic, also giving a sense of calm unhurriedness.
"So that means he'll bring the Black Maple Tree's yield?"
The Saintess Seat's eyes lit up, and the man in the mist also smiled, clearly in a good mood.
"Bai Ye, we meet again."
The man in the mist shifted his gaze, his deep eyes under the mask fixed on Su Xiao.
"Thanks for Gulu's scroll."
"Just a small matter."
The man in the mist said nothing more, instead sitting on the steps looking into the distance, as if waiting for something.
Su Xiao also sat on the steps before the mist wall. He already knew the identity of the man in the mist. He had long heard of the other's reputation. The other was the leader of the Traveling Group, rank unknown, name unknown.
Su Xiao's first encounter with a Traveling Group member was back at the First Rank. At that time, he thought the Traveling Group was a special low-rank team. But when Su Xiao advanced to the Fourth Rank, he found that Traveling Group members were still active at the Fourth Rank.
The same was true at the Fifth and Sixth Ranks. Moreover, the Traveling Group members' rank advancement speed was mysteriously fast. Who the first four members were, Su Xiao had never heard. He only knew that Gulu was No. 6, and the gray-haired poison user was No. 5.
Within the Seventh Rank, Su Xiao hadn't encountered any Traveling Group members, but he directly met the Traveling Group's leader.
"Saintess Seat."
Su Xiao, sitting on the steps, spoke.
"Hmm?"
"Am I considered to have entered the Empty Seat Banquet grounds now?"
"Of course. Stepping on these steps counts as entering the Empty Seat Banquet grounds."
"If I die here, what happens?"
"..."
The Saintess Seat suddenly fell silent. She was no longer the lively young girl she appeared to be; her gaze turned cold.
"From the moment you enter the Empty Seat Banquet grounds, no one can kill you. Unless all members of the Starry Sky Seat die."
The Saintess Seat's aura shifted from gold to gold-red, killing intent boiling.
"So, shouldn't you pay some protection fee? Soul Crystals will do, the bigger the better."
The Saintess Seat slapped Su Xiao's shoulder. She couldn't stay serious for three seconds, that was her.
Crack, crack...
A crisp cracking sound came. A space rift dozens of meters high appeared in the distance and slowly expanded.
Wails, roars—multiple sounds came from within the space rift. Two giant hands emitting dark blue smoke reached out from the space rift, pulling the dozens-of-meters-high rift wider.
Energy bodies resembling wraiths floated out from the space rift. They evaporated upon contact with the air, yet even so, the wraiths scrambled to rush out of the space rift, numbering at least over a hundred thousand.
A figure walked out from the space rift. Compared to the dozens-of-meters-high rift, this figure didn't seem tall, but those wraiths were fleeing the space rift in panic precisely because they feared him.
Tattered long coat, disheveled black hair, and those blue eyes so deep they were chilling—the Blade Demon had arrived.
Boom, boom...
Suddenly, dark clouds gathered in the sky. The weather turned gloomy. A bolt of lightning suddenly struck down, heading straight for the Blade Demon.
Countless wraiths met the descending lightning, wailing as they dissipated within the blinding blue-white electric light. Eventually, the falling lightning bolt vanished.
"You got struck by lightning again. Except in the Black Abyss, you get struck by lightning wherever you go."
The Saintess Seat laughed with mysterious delight. The Blade Demon, who was slowly advancing, stopped and turned his gaze to the Saintess Seat.
"Leader, he's your responsibility. The Blade Demon has lost control!"
"Cutting you doesn't count as losing control."
"How can this be~"
The Saintess Seat behaved herself. She sidled up to Su Xiao, even pressing against his shoulder. In the Saintess Seat's view, the Blade Demon and the Law Destroyer shared the same origin. If she stayed closer to Su Xiao, she probably wouldn't get cut.
"Put in a good word for me. You share the same origin."
"Unfortunately, the Blade Demon has tried to kill me at least twice."
"Sorry for disturbing."
The Saintess Seat moved aside, keeping her distance from Su Xiao.
The Blade Demon looked at the Saintess Seat for a while, then turned his gaze to Su Xiao, meeting his eyes. After a moment, the Blade Demon came to the steps and sat between Su Xiao and the leader, a few meters away from both.
Su Xiao stopped activating the return authority. Temporarily safe.
"Why isn't the Black Smoke Man here yet? If he doesn't open the door, we can't get in at all. An old geezer who can't keep time."
The Saintess Seat seemed very bored. She suddenly turned her head, looking at Bubu Wang crouching on the steps, her smile gradually turning mischievous.
Bubu Wang immediately sensed a 'crisis.' Just as it tried to run, an arm had already wrapped around its neck.
"Woof howl (Don't touch me!)"
Before long, the Saintess Seat and Bubu Wang were getting along, as the restless Bubu Wang was also bored waiting.
About a few minutes passed, then a rumbling sound came. Dust surged from the distance as ten thousand beasts charged over, each with extremely powerful auras. Among the ten thousand beasts, a four-horned giant beast was covered in fire patterns. Fire elements actively gathered around it. Its body was very large, dozens of meters high even with all four hooves on the ground.
After reaching the mist wall, the ten thousand beasts stopped, lining up in rows and prostrating themselves, using their bodies to form steps.
A sturdy figure walked down from the beast steps. He wore animal skins, with a black beast skull cap on his head, topped with two ox horns. The sturdy man, over five meters tall, gave off an unimaginable oppressive aura, like the king of ten thousand beasts.
"White Bull, you're the latest this time."
The Saintess Seat waved with a smile, fully cementing her role as the Starry Sky Seat's mascot.
"I ran into the Feather Race on the way. We've been hostile with them lately, so it delayed me a bit."
As White Bull's words fell, the ten thousand beasts behind him scattered, galloping into the distance.
On White Bull's little finger was a black ring with the Void text '4'—the Starry Sky Ring.
Before long, White Bull also sat on the steps before the mist wall. One more Starry Sky Seat member was needed to complete the group.
Looking around at the few sitting on the steps, one would notice that the Blade Demon wore the Starry Sky Ring on his collar, with the Void number 1.
The leader wore the Starry Sky Ring on his right ring finger, the Void number 2.
The owner of Starry Sky Ring (3) had not yet arrived.
White Bull wore the Starry Sky Ring on his left little finger, the Void number 4.
Su Xiao wore the Starry Sky Ring on his right index finger, with the Void number 5.
The Saintess Seat wore the Starry Sky Ring on her left ear, with the Void number 6.
"Just one left. That old geezer hasn't come again. He used to be the earliest. They say he can live forever, but I suspect he's already died of old age."
The Saintess Seat leaned against the mist wall, raising her left hand to check if her nail polish was perfect.
Of the six Starry Sky Seat members, five had arrived. One probably wouldn't come, at least not this time.
The participants of this Empty Seat Banquet had all arrived, but the Black Mist Figure, as the host of this banquet, hadn't shown up yet. Being late was somewhat inexcusable, but this old immortal had ties with Mawen Hua'erzi, so his unscrupulousness could be imagined.
Just as the five were waiting, multiple sounds of wind breaking came from ahead, followed by close-range spatial teleportation.
"Only this area is left. All other areas have been searched."
"Even if we have to annihilate this dead star, we must find that Spellcaster. He can't escape; he must still be somewhere on this dead star."
Shouts and spatial fluctuations appeared simultaneously. When the spatial fluctuations subsided, over a thousand Spellcasters appeared, all at Eighth Rank combat power. This was the pursuit of Arcane Eternal Star—either they didn't act, or when they did, they left Su Xiao no chance at all.
At the front of the Spellcasters was a female Spellcaster in a white robe with a hood. Only the lower half of her face was visible: fair skin, thin lips slightly pursed, expression icy cold. Mage Sage Seraphilia had arrived.
In an instant, Seraphilia sensed Su Xiao's aura. The aura of a Law Destroyer was something she would never forget.
"Found you, Law Destroyer."
A Spellcaster behind Seraphilia spoke, but as his words fell, he noticed that Seraphilia in front of him was actually turning to leave.
"Hey, little miss over there."
White Bull stood up from the steps, his eyes turning into brown-yellow vertical pupils. Hearing this, Seraphilia stopped in her tracks, her fists clenched inside her sleeves.
"For that person's sake, 5 seconds. Get out of my sight within 5 seconds. Go back and tell that person: I don't care about the grudges between Arcane Eternal Star and the Law Destroyers. But this is the Starry Sky Seat. So, get lost!"
White Bull's voice grew louder, finally shaking the mountains and earth.
Seraphilia walked forward in silence, her teeth grinding audibly. Frustration filled her heart. This was the closest she had ever been to eliminating a Law Destroyer. But if she dared to make a move, including herself, all the Spellcasters present would die here.
Seraphilia knew that three of those four were people who acted without considering consequences. As for surrounding and killing them, the cost was too high. This wasn't a decision Seraphilia could make.
White Bull and the Saintess Seat alone were troublesome enough. White Bull had his own power; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was the ruler of the dark forces in the Void. Over 65% of the Void's underground industries were connected to him. The Saintess Seat was the young miss of some major power, the apple of many old immortals' eyes. And besides these two, there were the even more troublesome leader and the Blade Demon.