Corrupt Creations

"What the fuck is this?" Qiao Bao felt thoroughly lost, not understanding anything at all. He was about to touch Serene and drag her towards another place, but he suddenly heard the exasperated warning voice of one of the Lion Guardians. 

"Young Master! Watch out!" 

A Shadow suddenly materialized right before Qiao Bao and a fist enveloped in a layer of a dark red energy, struck right in the middle of his chest armor. 

Bang! 

The golden armor he was wearing, was one of the ancient treasures left behind by the ancestors of the Lion's Pride Golden Palace. It was able to absorb energies coming from very strong impacts and it could be repaired while absorbing Qiao Bao's Mana. However, before that simple fist strike, the golden armor shattered like it was made of glass. 

Crack! 

The armor pieces flew everywhere and Qiao Bao's body was sent flying towards the Lion Guardians that were desperately trying to reach him. He impacted against two of them and after a bit of difficulty, they were able to perfectly hold him, stopping his momentum. 

However, when they looked towards their Young Master, they saw a crimson mark carved in the middle of his chest, from where a lot of blood was coming out. Impressively, Qiao Bao was still conscious and living, and apart from that injury, he was relatively alright. That was at least what the Lion Guardians initially thought. 

"My Son!" Qiao Bao's mother suddenly charged towards him, ignoring the whole situation, even the enemy. 

However, while all that turmoil was happening, that dark shadow had already reached Serene. Seth had used Qiao Bao to diverge the attention of everyone, allowing him to do as he pleased. 

He appeared right beside the bride, looking into her purple muddy eyes. He was able to see that inside them, there was an unchanging blue light and feel that there was a voice from her soul, trying to transmit him that there was lot to be conveyed. 

Seth knew Serene was in a dire condition and the place they were in, wasn't the ideal location to treat her, so he held her hand and started to channel a lot of Mana in his next technique. 

"What are you all doing?! Get him!" Qiao Xuan screamed to his subordinates and at the same time he decided to act again. 

Boom! 

His robust Mana pool was activated and he disappeared from where he was in a flash of golden light, appearing right behind Seth. His speed was so high, that he resembled a golden lightning while moving. 

With all his fury, Qiao Xuan used his golden fist to strike at the enemy, but right when his hand was about to hit Seth, it actually passed through him, undoing a Specter of Darkness that Seth had left behind. 

His fist impacted against the ground, partially destroying the golden floor, but his enemy's real body wasn't hit. 

Seth had just finished channeling his Mana into the Second Step of the Shadow Walk technique, creating a dark tunnel sub-space to teleport his body and Serene's body outside that hall. 

Qiao Xuan felt humiliated that a junior was able to escape from that place right under his nose and his aura expanded to the maximum, in an attempt to locate Velgor's disciple. After a few seconds searching, he finally identified Seth's position some kilometers away from there. 

"AAAHHH!!! Damn it! I'll fucking kill you!" The Lion King bellowed and his body turned into a golden lightning, flashing past everyone to follow his enemy. 

At that moment, the Lion Guardian ranked as second, Qiao Shan, suddenly turned to his colleagues and said: "I'll follow the Lion King together with Duhe, the rest of you, make sure to stay and purge this plague out of the castle!" 

Qiao Duhe was the fourth Lion Guardian. He nodded and followed Qiao Shan outside. It was only natural that they were slower than the Lion King and were only going to serve as a support. 

The rest of the Lion Guardians stood behind to kill the beasts that were still coming out of those two huge portals and wreaking havoc on the golden hall. One of them, the Third Lion Guardian, stood beside Young Master Bao, infusing Mana inside his body and healing his wounds. 

He felt fortunate that the wound on Qiao Bao's chest area, was closing relatively fast and that there wasn't a risk he would lose his life because of that injury. The bodies of the members of the Lion's Pride Golden palace, were very resilient and an injury like that were nothing to them. 

However, the Lion Knight Qiao Bao suddenly started to squirm around. 

"Argh!" 

"Son! What is happening? Son!" 

As he twisted his limbs, many red lines started to appear at the surface of Qiao Bao's skin, quickly moving to every part of his body. The Third Lion Guardian increased the quantity of Mana he was infusing inside his Young Master's body, but it didn't change anything. It was like his Mana was totally ineffective against whatever was poisoning Qiao Bao. 

"Oh my god! Do something! Help my son!" 

"ARGH!" 

Suddenly, Qiao Bao's limbs started to crystalize. The corruption was trying to transform him into something greater, invading his body cells and his mind at the same time. Unfortunately, he wasn't compactible and instead of changing to a superior being, his condition started to deteriorate. His wound opened up once again, but it was the least of his problems, because the crystallization process had already started. 

It was such an aggressive process, that the Lion Knight Qiao Bao didn't even have the time to say his last words, before his body started to crack and shatter into red crystal chunks. 

At that moment, the chaos happening inside the hall didn't even matter for the Lion Guardians and Qiao Bao's mother anymore. They were so shocked by what had just happened, that even the fact that there were two huge beasts invading the hall through the portal at that exact moment, passed unnoticed for them. 

Unfortunately, Qiao Bao's mother didn't even have the time to grieve over her son's death, since just after those two huge beasts entered the golden hall, their Profound Mana initial-stage aura suppressed everyone with a weaker cultivation than them. Only the Lion Guardians were able to move. 

But even though they were still able to move, they could not believe Profound Mana beasts were invading their sect. They suddenly realized that this battle would encompass the whole area and it would be impossible to protect the guests in a battle like that.