The shadow turned into Nelson and shocked the elder. Without wasting a single second, Nelson slashed his sword right onto the elder's neck.
*Clank!*
Surprisingly, the expected slicing sound was replaced by a clicking sound between two metals. It turned out that the Elder still managed to react. Nelson quickly used the Shadow Energy to slice through this weapon and kill the elder while activating the Black Tentacle that would seal the Spiritual Energy.
The elder also noticed the feeling. Not only he felt he was going to lose in this sword exchange, but his Spiritual Energy was also sucked by the Dark Energy. He realized how dangerous the person in front of him after this experience. Even though Nelson was only a 2-Star Martial Monarch, it would seem that in this place, he was the one who took the lead.
Not wanting to die in Nelson's hand, the elder used the force of Maxwell's swing to launch himself backward before taking out a single red pill and swallowing it without hesitation.
His heart pumped like crazy after swallowing the pill as he released all the latent potential inside of him. The pill even managed to double his Spiritual Energy, making him scarier.
"Who are you?" The elder released his domain to the fullest, alarming everyone in the inn. However, he couldn't care less about it because he found that three elders had died while the other one already felt his domain.
Nelson didn't answer him as he swiftly disappeared from the elder's eyes.
The elder gritted his teeth as he barely followed Nelson's movement. Even though he was a 3-Star Martial Monarch, he couldn't follow Nelson's movement properly, even with the help of Berserk Pill. He raised his sword to the left of his neck as Nelson appeared from that side, slicing his sword toward the elder's neck.
*Clank!*
Once again, the elder threw himself to the right by using the force before slamming himself to the wall to enter the next room where the fifth elder was.
"!!!" The fifth guy was another old man with spiky white hair. He was startled upon seeing the elder appear inside his room. "Seventh Elder, why are you releasing your Domain and Spiritual Energy? Why do I feel blood aura from you? Don't tell me you use a Berserk Pill."
The elder didn't have the time to explain it while locking at Nelson's presence to make sure he didn't ambush him again. "Whatever. You need to go back to the sect and inform the sect master that a mysterious person ambushes us. I don't know Moar's and the others' conditions… But you need to go back instead of waiting."
Hearing the statement, the fifth person released his domain to check the other elders and stunned him. "We can fight him together."
"No. Although the enemy is only a 2-Star Martial Monarch, I still can't see his movement at all. I believe he is hiding his true ability. If we lose you here, there is no one that can inform the sect about this… In other words, it's the same as abandoning the disciples here."
Little did they know, Nelson was actually sparing them. First of all, he could kill the fourth person pretty easily. In the first place, there was no need for Nelson to let the fourth person enter this room.
Nelson actually wanted to use this opportunity to alarm the fifth person and used the fourth person to say something so he could go back and bring more people. At the same time, he also gave them some time to let the fourth person explain.
After noticing how the elder had convinced the fifth person, Nelson appeared again from the side, releasing a sword strike toward them.
"Shadow Wave."
The elder noticed this black sword wave and quickly shifted his balance to intercept it.
"Bam!"
The elder managed to destroy the sword wave before shouting. "Go. You need to inform the sect about this."
The fifth person bit his lips and left through the window with great difficulty. He flew as fast as possible toward the Black Devil Sect.
At the same time, Nelson appeared in front of the elder and struck him hard.
"Kh!" The elder stopped the attack with his sword, but the force still blasted him to the wall before destroying it. He quickly destroyed the wall and flew outside the inn to get a clear area so Nelson couldn't sneak-attack him again.
Nelson only shrugged his shoulder as he flew outside the inn and stopped a few meters in front of the elder.
Before Nelson could react, the elder quickly released his Spiritual Energy and Domain to alarm the entire city. His effort was successful because a few seconds later, a shout echoed across the city.
"Who is trying to mess inside my territory?!
The fact that the elder's Spiritual Energy could be felt easily brought another group in this chaotic situation.
The two groups looked at the masked man and the elder from Black Devil Sect fighting. "He is an assassin that wants to kill me."
The elder quickly shouted after hearing the pavilion master's voice, hoping that they would help him in dealing with this masked man.
Unfortunately, before the pavilion master could react, two people appeared in front of him.
"Who are you?" The pavilion master narrowed his eyes while releasing his Spiritual Energy.
Not wanting to be outdone, Leoz also released his 5-Star Martial Monarch power, shocking the Martial Arts Pavilion's and Ancient Blue Family's people. At the same time, the elders from the other influences also rose to the sky to see what was happening before they were stunned by Leoz's power.
Leoz raised his sword and shouted, "I don't have a reason to attack you. As long as we can kill that elder, we would quickly leave this place. However, if you decide to attack us, you should be prepared for the worst outcome."
"Who do you think you are? You might be a 5-Star Martial Monarch, but there is no way you can fight these many monarchs by yourself." The Pavilion Master became the leader of the pack and threatened Leoz back.
"You can try." Leoz raised his sword and summoned his lightning. Jeanne flew toward the Martial Monarchs from the Ancient Blue Family.
"Hmph. Empty words. Do you think I am afraid of you?" The Pavilion Master snorted.
"That's right. We should lend help, so the Martial Arts Pavilion to solve this problem." The elder from the Ancient Blue Family shouted.
It sounded righteous in everyone's ears, except the spirits. Jeanne laughed out loud, "Gahahaha. You are very funny."
The elder obviously didn't take this lightly because a brat just laughed at him.
Without waiting for him to say anything, Jeanne shouted loud enough for others to hear. "Lend help to the Martial Arts Pavilion? You are just flowering your world. Why don't you be more honest and say you want to help Black Devil Sect instead of Martial Arts Pavilion? After all, you have an agreement with Black Devil Sect, right?"
"!!!" All the people were stunned as they looked at the people from the Ancient Blue Family. It was something like an unwritten rule on this continent that no influences could make an alliance with each other. The reason was simple. Their alliance would make the other three influences unrest and might force the three to band together to attack their alliance. Even the Ancient Blue Family didn't want this matter to be found out. But… to think they were exposed here.
"I am the third elder of the Ancient Blue Family, Johan. I can guarantee you we don't have such a relationship with the Black Devil Sect. We are only planning to help the Martial Arts Pavilion to settle this matter. Brat, you better speak carefully so as to not say anything that would invite misunderstanding." Johan exclaimed.
"Yeah Yeah. You said that, but how about the agreement where you help the Black Devil Sect to spread to the Heavenly Continent in exchange for their Berserk Pills? Old man, you shouldn't tell a lie. I am just a brat to you, and a brat can't lie." Jeanne shrugged. "Do you think why do we suddenly reveal ourselves? It's to bring back the balance between five influences."
Jeanne revealed this matter to bring unrest to those people from other influences. If they started doubting the Ancient Blue Family, Nelson would have enough time to kill the elder, and they could just escape. As for whether they would start investigating the Black Devil Sect and Ancient Blue Family after this incident or not, it wasn't their problem.
"What do you mean by this Ancient Blue Family?" The first person who reacted was the Tyrant Clan. After all, the closest influence from these two influences was Tyrant Clan. In other words, if they decided to attack, the Tyrant Clan would be the first target.
Whether it was the truth or an empty threat, the Tyrant Clan needed to check about it first. The mysterious identity of these masked people also piqued his interest, but it could wait.
"Don't be swayed by her words. I can assure you as the third elder of the Ancient Blue Family that we don't have such a relationship with Black Devil Sect. Do you think we like how they conduct by killing many people?" Johan exclaimed to quell them.
"Come on. You tell them. If you investigate more carefully, it's easy to see whether the Ancient Blue Family has some sort of deal with the Black Devil Sect. They might be able to hide it from you, but they can't escape from our eyes. Of course, we can't attack Ancient Blue Family because of the protection from its parents. The only one that we can strike to balance the power again is to attack Black Devil Sect." Jeanne kept throwing more and more words that would invite misunderstanding to the elders. She didn't tell any lies though.
"You Brat!" Johan was frustrated, but another fight had come to an end when they talked like this.
…
"Shadow Strikes!" A few black slashes appeared out of nowhere, injuring the elder from Black Devil Sect heavily.
Nelson looked at the elder with fierce killing intent and attacked him a few more times. The blood pill effect had worn off, and the elder would die at any moment.
*Pant!* *Pant!*
The elder looked at Nelson even though his vision had become red because blood from the wound on his forehead ran through his eyes. He never thought that a person like him would be hidden from everyone's knowledge. Luckily, he managed to buy some time for his friend. He could bring reinforcement to this place after reporting this matter to the sect. Although the disciples might suffer a little bit, as long as they waited patiently inside this city, they should be fine because the Martial Arts Pavilion would protect them for a while. Yeah, as long as they waited for a month...
"Time? Wait! This is not right." The elder suddenly noticed something off on his deathbed. All the things that could kill him but not appear in this battle resurfaced on his mind, including the conversation with the fifth person. He trembled before looking at Nelson with a pale face. "You… You want to split our forces and destroy them… All of this is your plan!"
Despite being filled with so much rage, the elder couldn't move an inch of his body due to the injuries and blood loss. He never thought that the masked man's real aim wasn't him but the whole sect itself. His body trembled furiously.
A smile appeared behind the mask as Nelson raised his sword.
"Long Live Spirit King." As he muttered that to himself, he beheaded the elder's head.