Chapter 619: Leaping into the Future

Sartapal of the Wind Sanctuary was not originally a sorcerer specializing in wind spells.

He was a member of the Wance Sect, whose doctrine was to “fully restore the glory of the Gray Fox Divine Era” by pursuing the end-all strategy known as “Wance End,” making it one of the most persistent sects in the wasteland dedicated to unearthing relics and competing for heritage. At its peak, the Wance Sect even dared to attack the Tribulation Fire Temple to steal their Gray Fox heritage.

Compared to the Tribulation Fire Temple, the Wance Sect was more notorious for its aggressiveness, as the former merely dominated the surrounding areas while the latter traveled far and wide for heritage, earning a fearsome reputation. However, this also meant the Wance Sect often undertook long-distance missions and could not call for reinforcements in time, making them vulnerable to ambushes by the Raven Annihilation Cult.

To better utilize the heritage, the Wance Sect’s spellcasting techniques were naturally similar to those of the Gray Fox Divine Era, focusing on Physical, thunder spells, and Mental as their three main streams. Although Sartapal showed an early aptitude for wind spells, both his faith and the available resources compelled him to abandon his personal interests.

Yet, his talent and fortune were remarkable. Not only did he advance to the Sanctuary level using the Mental Sect, but he also managed to elevate his wind spells to the Golden level despite limited resources. Although his Divine Hosting rate was only 5%, far below the minimum requirement of 20%, everyone still regarded him as the future Bishop of the sect.

However, when the Four Pillars Cult erupted like a virus, and Sartapal emerged from seclusion to find the Wance Sect relegated to history, he felt no anger or resentment, but rather a profound sense of relief.

After the death of the Wance Divine Hosts, he led his followers to surrender and pledged loyalty to the Mercury Trojan Horse. Later, when he learned that the Mercury Trojan Horse had originated from the Raven Annihilation Cult-a sworn enemy of the Wance End-he was quite anxious and always ready to flee.

Yet, the Mercury Trojan Horse did not mistreat him, instead appointing him as the regional Bishop to continue managing the Wance Region.

Working for the Four Pillars Cult was not easy, and the Mercury Trojan Horse was no benevolent ruler. Previously, Sartapal needed only to focus on his cultivation, but now he also had to spend a great deal of time handling affairs to meet the Mercury Trojan Horse’s assessments.

However, Sartapal felt his life becoming more hopeful, as if reborn, bursting with unprecedented vitality.

The Four Pillars Cult also had its doctrines, but the commandments of the Four Pillars were: no rules, only peace of mind.

Anger, kill until you bathe in a sea of blood; a thirst for knowledge, pursue until you uncover all the dark and eerie secrets; desire arises, indulge until you satisfy all unspeakable fetishes…

Although the Wance Sect was not a strictly rule-bound cult, it appeared overly conservative compared to the completely unrestrained Four Pillars Cult. Sartapal’s status hadn’t improved much, but at least he no longer had to bear the gaze and expectations of others. As long as he completed the tasks assigned by the Mercury Trojan Horse, he could indulge himself in his free time.

He didn’t need to pursue distant grand narratives, only to plan tonight’s entertainment,

Most people, including Sartapal, quickly converted to the Four Pillars Cult, even more devoutly than before. They did not consider this a fall from grace but a step towards enlightenment.

It was during this year that Sartapal managed to elevate his wind spell sect to the Sanctuary level. He obtained the heritage of wind spell sects from other kingdoms in the Distant Sky Domain, ingeniously integrating wind spells with the Mental Sect.

Although he only used wind spell miracles, as the battle dragged on, his wind spell miracles silently weaved a Mental Wind Domain, directly affecting sorcerers through sight and sound, which even those at the Sanctuary level couldn’t resist.

So when Mond (Sanctuary level spear sorcerer) suggested targeting Ashe and others, Sartapal immediately agreed. Compared to the elusive Silver Lantern, Ashe and his group were easier to keep in the same area, making it more convenient for his Mental Wind Domain to take effect.

Sartapal neither liked Silver Lantern nor disliked Ashe; he simply chose the survival strategy with the highest probability.

He could not be trapped in the Temporal Cage; he had to leave the Dead City.

His new miracle, “Hearing the Wind and Fleeing,” was almost ready, and he had many ideas for composite miracles. He wanted to become a dual legend in both wind spells and the Mental Sect. This was a new field in the history of Senlo and sorcerers, and he would leave an indelible mark like ‘Wheel of Time’ Mess and ‘Dreaming Songstress’ Kina-

Snap!

In the next instant after the spear sorcerer Mond was torn apart, the Wind Sanctuary’s Sartapal was also unravelled from the inside out, like a bag of chips bursting open from being opened too forcefully.

His hot and calm eyeball, due to excessive eyeball pressure, was squeezed out along with the vitreous body. His hands, sensitive to the slightest movement of air, were dismembered, exposing the white bones. His desires, like his body, were completely frozen in time at that moment.

In the “Sanctuary,” a second death occurred.

At that moment, everyone, including the fire spell Sanctuary, opened their sanctuaries; Gwen hid within Igor’s Sanctuary, and they all looked sternly at the distant Silver Lantern.

They couldn’t help but be nervous-even though Silver Lantern was attacking by surprise, her method of killing was too terrifying!

The biggest difference between sanctuary sorcerers and ordinary sorcerers lies in their ability to instantly activate their sanctuaries, almost completely ignoring all surprise attacks, significantly enhancing their security.

Although there are sorcerers whose assassination speed can catch sanctuary sorcerers off guard, like the spear spell Sanctuary just trying to kill Ashe, there are two problems with such assassinations: 1) The spear spell Sanctuary needs to close the distance to a “trust distance” of three steps for his miracle speed to possibly catch Ashe off-guard; 2) He only has time for one strike, and if Ashe doesn’t die, he can raise his sanctuary defense the next second!

The spear spell Sanctuary was certainly no weakling, and Ashe was almost successful. However, compared to Silver Lantern, the tricks of the spear spell Sanctuary seemed so childish.

Silver Lantern was more than ten steps away from them but could instantly tear their bodies apart to an extent that made resurrection impossible, and moreover, she killed both the spear spell Sanctuary and the wind spell Sanctuary in succession!

Honestly, Ashe and others were still stunned. Silver Lantern’s demonstration of slaughtering sanctuaries like slaughtering Lala Fatty had indeed shocked their minds-they had just planned to hunt Silver Lantern, but now it seemed that Silver Lantern could turn them into minced meat just by beckoning.

When Silver Lantern turned her gaze to the fire spell Sanctuary, he, regardless of his previous attempt to assassinate Ashe and others, quickly hid beside Ashe and the others. A few seconds later, Silver Lantern unfolded her golden and silver Twin Wings and left without a word, blending into the still night.

Even though Silver Lantern had already left, no one dared to disperse their sanctuaries, with the two about-to-disperse corpses still in front of them.

However, Ashe soon voluntarily dispersed his sanctuary and thoughtfully said, “I understand now.”

He raised his hand, and a golden, glowing Round Cicada emerged on his arm, crawling up and down: “I understand the secret of Silver Lantern’s move now; her Square Cicada ability must be just as we speculated.”

The fire spell Sanctuary naturally didn’t understand this, but Igor and the others immediately realized.

Ashe’s Round Cicada effect was to overwrite the status from three seconds ago to the present, which he called “Three-Second Cicada Lurk.” Used well, it could almost evade all fatal injuries.

So they all guessed that Silver Lantern’s Square Cicada effect must be to overwrite the status from three seconds in the future to the present!

The reason she could instantly kill two sanctuary sorcerers is that neither had raised their sanctuaries, so in the timeline observed by Square Cicada, Silver Lantern could tear them apart in three seconds, then overwrite that future to the present, hence their bodies were completely shattered!

She clearly wanted to attack the fire spell Sanctuary just now, but since the fire spell Sanctuary had already raised his sanctuary, and Silver Lantern couldn’t break the sanctuary in three seconds, Square Cicada couldn’t observe that timeline, so she had to give up and turn away.

Back to the point, leaping into the future!

Compared to Round Cicada, Square Cicada’s effect seems even more absurd, but it also depends on who uses it. Like Round Cicada in Ashe’s hands can only save people, but in Silver Lantern’s hands, it might become some kind of self-destructing weapon restoration device.

Moreover, Silver Lantern’s move is not unstoppable-just make sure she can’t kill you within three seconds.

She had a reason for hiding this move until now. If she had revealed it early, then both Ashe and the Four Pillars Cult would have armed themselves with triggered miracles, that is, delayed miracles activated upon being hit, so that Square Cicada couldn’t observe their deaths three seconds later!

Normally, such delayed miracle defenses aren’t good, and they have instantly raised sanctuaries, so they naturally wouldn’t spend time on this. But facing the threat of Silver Lantern, no matter how troublesome, everyone would set up defensive traps for themselves before getting out of bed in the morning.

However, they now couldn’t escape the Dead City, so naturally, they couldn’t find help!

Silver Lantern also saw this point, so she confidently displayed her new trump card. Unless they constantly maintain their sanctuaries, Silver Lantern could take their lives at any time!

Except for one person.

Ashe and Igor exchanged glances, a strange light flashing in their eyes.

He was the one protected by delayed miracles.

Just a few days ago, while chatting with them, Igor suddenly raised a question: “Three-Second Cicada Lurk” is very strong, but what if you, Ashe, die first?

Although Ashe didn’t think he would be such a drag, for safety’s sake, he cuddled and hugged the Round Cicada for several days, and to his surprise, the Round Cicada vaguely agreed-if Ashe entered a state of death, it would activate “Three-Second Cicada Lurk” on its own to bring Ashe back!

Therefore, the spear spell Sanctuary’s assassination was doomed from the start.

Ashe might be killed once, but he has three lives.

And with these three lives, Ashe could use them himself or give them to others!

From this point, Round Cicada is no less than Square Cicada-Ashe can not only use Round Cicada to protect himself but also protect others!

If he had to choose again, Ashe would still want the Round Cicada, just like Silver Lantern would probably still prefer the Square Cicada.

Moreover, Silver Lantern’s relationship with Square Cicada should also be a semi-master state, just like Round Cicada only gives Ashe three chances a day, Silver Lantern should be similar. And she has already used it twice now, while Ashe hasn’t used it once!

Thus, Ashe doesn’t need to fear Silver Lantern’s surprise attacks!

However… Ashe looked at the Round Cicada, thinking that it was also pulled into the “Sanctuary.” It’s not really his spirit, more like a stray cat living on the steps outside his door. Does this mean that “Sanctuary” targets the soul?

He retracted the Round Cicada and looked at the fire spell Sanctuary, surrounded by Igor, Harvey, and Raven.

In the blink of an eye, his companions were almost completely wiped out, leaving him alone facing three Sanctuaries and a Raven. The ups and downs of life were truly thrilling.

Moreover, running away was useless-Silver Lantern’s glance at him was enough to indicate her attitude. If he hid alone in the Dead City, he would just be waiting to follow in his companions’ footsteps, found by Silver Lantern, and then turned into fragments frozen in time.

Although he could evade death by constantly maintaining his sanctuary, deploying a sanctuary itself consumes spellforce. Now that their spellforce recovery rate was 1/31,536,000 of the original, the fire spell Sanctuary would eventually run out of spellforce and become a helpless Lala Fatty waiting to be slaughtered.

The fire spell Sanctuary also realized that he was on a dead end no matter what and very straightforwardly dispersed his sanctuary, pulling out a piece of paper from his bosom and passing it over: “I actually vaguely felt that there’s a hidden space in the Dead City. I can take you there.”

Harvey let Alice take the paper, glanced at it, and immediately showed a strange expression, passing it to Igor.

Igor also raised his eyebrows in surprise: “Senlo shouldn’t have this kind of pact paper, right?”

“Obtained from the dream phantom.”

“Why didn’t you use this paper to enslave others, but instead wrote it as your own indenture available for saving your life at any time?”

Yes, what the fire spell Sanctuary took out was indeed a contract of his own indenture, already signed and marked by him. The terms could be summarized as two points: the fire spell Sanctuary would obey the commands of his master; the master cannot intentionally send the fire spell Sanctuary to his death.

A sanctuary sorcerer actually carrying such a thing made one wonder if he had some special inclination.

The fire spell Sanctuary’s expression was also a bit gloomy as he looked at Raven: “Did you recognize me?”

Raven said, “I have a bit of an impression, but I’m not sure, did you wear a helmet before?”

The fire spell Sanctuary nodded and explained to them: “There was a team of Raven Annihilation chasing me within the range of the Temple, so I took action and drove them away…”

“That time you almost burned Tanomoo to death. She was severely burned all over her body and took almost half a year to recover.” Raven said indifferently, “I was very angry back then, now I just feel it’s a pity.”

Igor twirled the contract paper, a smile playing on his lips: “So you originally intended to hand this contract over to the Mercury Trojan Horse in exchange for a way to live?”

Now Ashe and the others finally realized, the plot of the Mercury Trojan Horse was simply a revenge drama route. The Raven Annihilation Cult was clearly unwelcome among other cults in Senlo, and because of this identity, the Mercury Trojan Horse also faced many dangers. Now, as the Tactile Sense of the Four Pillars Cult, she had destroyed those cults that had once offended her along the way, and those once invincible strong ones could only beg her for forgiveness meekly.

Ashe then asked, “Were those two people also previously involved with the Mercury Trojan Horse, or the Raven Annihilation Cult?”

The fire spell Sanctuary was startled, then his complexion became extremely ugly, grinding his teeth and saying, “That one Sanctuary sorcerer who left early, was the one who had never had any dealings with the Raven Annihilation…”

Raven wasn’t surprised at all: “Tanomoo is very vengeful.”

A sanctuary-level combat power picked up for nothing, don’t take it for nothing, not to mention he was originally the Four Pillars Cult’s regional Bishop. If he could leave the Dead City, he could definitely be squeezed for more value.

Igor and the others exchanged glances, and Ashe was the first to shake his head, his eyes showing deep disdain-because of the twisted relationship with Annan, he felt extremely disgusted with such relationships.

Raven was interested, but he was despised by the Virtual Realm, so he couldn’t become the master of the contract miracle.

Igor was actually a bit interested, but seeing how much Ashe despised it, he didn’t have much idea either.

But Harvey suddenly thought of something, took the contract paper over. The fire spell Sanctuary watched wide-eyed as Harvey handed the contract paper to Alice, teaching the Necromancy to sign the contract by hand.

As the contract paper turned into light smoke and solidified in the air, Harvey said, “Alright, from now on, you’re Alice’s pallbearer. From now on, you’ll be responsible for Alice’s coffin. I actually didn’t want Alice to always lie in the Spatial Card.”

Everyone had no objections-fire spell Sanctuary was originally an enemy, and he had just tried to assassinate Ashe, so it was more than reasonable for Harvey to kill his prestige.

The fire spell Sanctuary got angry: “I, the former Bishop of the Tribulation Fire Temple and the regional Bishop of the Four Pillars Cult, a Sanctuary level fire sorcerer, actually have to be a pallbearer for a corpse? And you clearly have better transportation methods, just for the sake of a better living experience for the Necromancy, you let me do such a lowly job?”

“Good, worthy of being the master of my new master!” He stood tall and proud as he went over to lift the coffin, his face showing pride.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay