Corrupt Creations

Serene looked like a black and silver jade marble statue. After hearing those words, her entire being suddenly stopped. There wasn't a response even after some seconds had passed, as if she was inwardly fighting against something and it caused her entire being to stop. 

A silence suddenly took over the whole place and even Qiao Xuan furrowed his eyebrows while feeling uncomfortable. No one knew the magnitude of the dilemma happening inside Serene's mind, but everyone felt that something was off. 

Qiao Bao started to sweat in anxiety, but he didn't know how to react or what to do exactly. He was about to open his mouth and say something to convince or coerce Serene, but suddenly, a gloomy aura enveloped the whole golden hall. 

At that time, everyone inside the hall noticed through the side windows that the sky was abruptly darkening. A very odd natural phenomena to occur at that date and time. It was like an omen for bad things, but none of them initially thought it was something like that. 

Qiao Xuan wanted this day to be perfect, even more so than his own son wanted to. It was the future of his entire sect that was at play. So, instead of sitting there and doing nothing, he decided to stand up and clear that bad weather by himself. However, before he was even able to stand up properly, the ceiling suddenly cracked and a shadow abruptly dropped from up there. 

A man suddenly entered the hall through the top, causing a small commotion and ruining the golden ceiling. That man stopped at the middle of the hall and before anyone was able to recognize who he was, he threw two severed heads right before the one title as Lion King. They swiftly rolled and stopped after bumping on his shoe. 

Thud! Thud! 

Qiao Xuan looked at the heads of two of his loyal Lion Guardians lying right in front of his feet and his expression darkened. Those two heads belonged to the Seventh and Eighth Lion Guardians, the ones that were in charge of protecting the area outside. 

Feeling furious, he looked directly at the one that had just invaded the hall, completely destroyed the mood, but when he saw that face and recognized who it was, he felt a sense of loss. 

"You are... Velgor's disciple?" Qiao Xuan didn't understand why that person had appeared there, but he couldn't separate his figure from Velgor's figure, they were master and disciple after all. What was happening was kind of odd and even some wild speculations started to rise inside his mind. Unfortunately, there wasn't a way for him to know, that Seth had nothing to do with Velgor and at that moment, he was an even greater threat than Velgor himself. 

"What are you doing here?! What's the meaning of this?! You better give me a very good explanation for this, else not even Velgor will be able to save you!" Qiao Xuan was already enraged, but he still considered the Lion's Pride Golden Palace relationship with the Demonic Shadow Royal Clan. But still, his anger made his aura leak, making everyone present inside the hall stay silent. 

Even though the two severed heads on the floor in front of him, were the solid proof that Seth wasn't there for a talk, Qiao Xuan didn't want to recognize the fact that the Demonic Shadow Royal Clan might be behind it all. Because if that was really true, then they would be demoted from an allied clan, to a mortal enemy. 

However, the fact that two of his precious Lion Guardians had just died was undeniable and his pride wouldn't permit him to just stand there and do nothing. 

Seth kept standing in the middle of that golden hall, with thousands of people looking at him and ignoring everything. He didn't even look at Qiao Xuan at all, his eyes were on Serene's figure, observing the way she was behaving. When he arrived there, he noticed through their Soul Link, that she was waging a mental war against a foreign energy. He was able to realize that, feeling the distortions his Soul Link with her was suffering. 

An uncontrollable fury immediately rose inside his heart. Seth knew who was the real culprit behind that, but at that moment it didn't matter if it was Velgor or Qiao Xuan, anyone in front of him would pay with their lives, just for the fact of hurting the woman he loved. 

Both of Seth's hands shone in an obscure light and a dark crimson orb shot towards the sides of the golden hall. It didn't hit anyone, quickly finding their way towards the golden walls. 

When those blobs of corruption and darkness hit the wall, the energy coiled around it, spreading towards the whole wall and creating a huge and round energy stain there. That energy interacted with the space laws through the darkness element, creating a portal that was connected to the outside, like a tunnel. 

Seth had used a similar technique to save Huo Shihong's life once. However, this time, the portal was way bigger and had a crimson radiance to it. 

"What's that?" 

"What's happening?" 

Everyone started to get restless while observing that strange dark energy stain, not understanding what was really happening. But suddenly, a fierce beast jumped out of that portal, pouncing towards the nearest cultivator. 

"AH!" 

"What is this?!" 

Less than a second later, another beast left through that portal, attacking another individual. The cultivators suddenly started to release their energies, attacking those beasts and creating a commotion. However, that was just the beginning of what was about to happen. 

From those two portals, hundreds of beasts started to invade the hall, attacking whoever they saw. Those beasts were not even worried with their own lives and just wanted to inflict the highest damage possible in their enemies. 

Unfortunately for the guests, even a tiny scratch from them, was enough for the Essence of Corruption to invade their bodies and swiftly kill them from the inside, with many turning into crimson crystal shards. 

Qiao Xuan suddenly released his Mana Sovereign prestige and most of the beasts entering the hall were thoroughly crushed. But just as he thought his strategy would make everything end, Seth's aura expanded forwards, clashing against his aura and disrupting it. 

Qiao Xuan felt surprised and was about to concentrate on dealing with Seth, but he suddenly realized the man had already vanished from the spot he was previously standing.