Chapter – 141 - Shadow Assassins

The sixteen groups, under the leadership of one Challenger each, were currently at various stages of progression within the Mystic Lands. The spectators on the outside were far more clearer of the situation than the Challengers themselves. Rihanna, Ye Luo and Artreya were watching the different groups moving along the lands, sometimes zooming in to watch the fights taking place with the various beasts, sometimes watching the overall scenario.

Both, the Challengers, and the teams of cultivators, could only carry a single set of armor, weapons and defense shields. And only the basic medicine for injuries and energy replenishing were allowed. No tools, raw resources, elixirs and pills, or other instruments were allowed to be carried inside the realm.

Instead there were 12 chests filled with a random combination of high-grade tools, armors, weapons, medicine-making furnace, inscription ink and stones, array stones, advanced pills and elixirs, high-grade herbs and medicinal plants, high grade ores and stones, and other resources buried inside the Mystic Lands. It was one of the tasks the Challengers had to face - search and confiscate these chests. Once you claimed stake, everything within it became yours.

However, it was completely okay for other teams to steal or rob your resources, and what you gained did not necessarily mean that it would remain as yours. Over the birds-eye-view of the lands, they could see the various groups either getting into temporary alliances to take down others, or planning ambushes for the other groups, or remaining hidden in deeper parts of the lands, and trying to wait out the first wave of looting and snatching.

Surprisingly, there was also a second task. Apparently there were two entries to the same realm, one which opened on the arena, and the other which opened on the top-most level of the tower connected to this Mystic Lands. And through that opening, 8 important people from the four clans had been brought into the Mystic Lands.

All of these people were in a state of willing-unconsciousness, and had been separated and placed in the most precarious or most dangerous places within the entire region. The Challengers also had to find these people and rescue them. Each Challenger Team only needed to bring one person out. However, there was no demerits for rescuing more people. So many of the teams were bound to go searching for as many people as they could rescue within the stipulated time, since that would lead to more teams failing the tasks. And this would directly reduce the stress for the next level of the Conquest. Who didn't want to face less pressure during such a highly stressful challenge!

The Challengers were being shown in Purple, whereas their team-members were being displayed in yellow. As you zoomed out, only the colors would tell you the placing of each team. Only when you zoomed in would you be able to make out the various people, their individual weapons and fighting styles.

"What are those small groups of yellow moving about?"

"They are the tracker groups from the different teams. These are the sensory groups of every team, and their task is only to check out the location of the other teams."

"...And apparently they can get killed by the other team members....."

Rihanna was merely stating this, as she witnessed an entire Tracker Group being annihilated on the screen before them. Thinking of something, she focused back on the screen, checking every tracker group in detail. When she didn't find either of her two Uncles in any of the Tracker Groups, she released the breath she had been unconsciously holding back.

"How come the tracker teams are moving in only the directions where the other teams are? Do they have some sort of a tracking tool?"

"Oh, that! The Champions are all in the mid to upper stage of Sprouting. Once you are nearer to the threshold of Sea Of Consciousness, your senses become enhanced manifold times. Even if they do not know the exact locations, they can tell the general direction by sensing the energy vibrations."

"But Sprouting stage can also hide their energies!"

"Yes....but those in Foundation Level cannot. And most of the cultivators in the teams are from Upper-stage Foundation Level. That's how they are sensing the trackers as well."

Rihanna zoomed-in again. Uncle He and Uncle Daogi were both with a Challenger from Zenoba Major Clan. The team itself was caught in a triangle between three other teams, two from Whamei, and one from Kshugenu. And their tracker teams were not faring very well either. Though they had not yet been annihilated, one member was dead, and two more seemed heavily injured. And being chased by the tracker team from Kshugenu, they were staying low inside an ice cave, trying to hide their aura.

In the meantime, another Tracker Group from Ye, which was nowhere in their vicinity, had somehow managed to make their way to these four teams, and were currently lying in ambush around heavy snow-mounds, waiting for the returning Tracker Group of Whamei.

"This ice makes it very difficult to hide. You can't use too much fire energy to keep warm, or melt the ice, or the energy waves will be read by the other teams."

"So right now every team is trying to map out the location of the other teams on their Sensory Maps?"

"Hmmm. You can't move if you don't know where the danger is going to come from."

"What is that black energy those people from the Ye Clan are using?"

The Tracker Group from Ye were releasing a strange dark gray energy, which weaved around the snow-mounds and the vegetation and trees and crevices.....basically all over the nearby terrain. As they watched, the terrain seemed to shift, almost like an illusion.

"What....was that?"

"That's dark grey energy. It is a mixture of Shadow and Mind element. And shadow is just the opposite of light. This Tracker Group has Shadow Assassins amongst them. These are specialised cultivators who can control the shadows - modulating the shape and size of shadows, blending in with the shadows, creating lethal attacks emerge from these random shadows. They are like master shadow controllers.....of course, these ones are not that good, but still, fairly proficient."

"So the terrain change is an illusion? They have changed the shadows, which makes the terrain look different from what it normally is....."

"They are deflecting light. They also use certain specially created materials which are high absorbers of light, making the place seem darker. And since they completely merge in with the surrounding, the victims will not be able to sense the difference unless they are very familiar with the terrain. Or they are very powerful."

As they were speaking, the Tracker Group from Whamei had entered into the area reformed by the Ye Group. Initially everything was peaceful. It was only when the leader of the group had almost reached the middle of the area, that a sharp blade pierced through the shadows at the back, sharply slashing through the backs of the last two people in the group. Loud screams could be heard as both of them fell to their knees, blood rushing out of their large gaping wounds.

Rihanna zoomed in to see the movements of each attack and defense clearly. There was no better learning classes than these kinds of live fights. Though by now she had accumulated a lot of theoretical knowledge of skills and techniques, her practical experience was rather limited, even after counting her days in the dimension. Clearly there were many ways of merging the various elemental abilities together. And the more she knew, the more she found herself lacking.

The initial shock and panic of the Whamei Group passed, and the remaining immediately formed a tight and vigilant circle. One of the two attacked was grievously injured, hard to tell if he would be able to make it through. The other had managed to twist her body, and though the injury was not shallow, it had missed hitting organs or nerves. She took out an elixir and poured in over the wound, taking a couple of pills along with it. The bleeding stopped, allowing her to pull through for the time being. The group placed them in the middle.

But this put them in a stagnant situation. Moreover, the terrain was in someone else's hand. Furthermore, there was no place to hide inside the ice. If they wanted to live, they would have to take down their opponents before they ran out of energy. Or before other groups were attracted and came over to split the spoils after both sides were exhausted.

The shadows started shifting randomly. This was an illusory attack, making it hard for the Whamei group to tell which ones were the original shadows, and which ones were being created. Moreover, the continuous movement was creating a sense of dizziness and blurred vision, making it more difficult for them to concentrate.

This moment of distraction was what the Ye group was looking for. Sensing the perfect timing, a string of various metal barbed vines, rotating metal claws, exploding poison beads erupted everywhere around the Whamei Group. Though they were trying their best to evade or deflect the incoming attacks, the sheer number of weapons were overwhelming them.

"How come they have so many weapons?"

"They don't really have so many weapons. Look more closely. The vines and poison beads are part of their elemental attacks. Sort of like Pseudo-Guiding Weapon, but not yet a Guiding Weapon since they have not merged with the users own spiritual sense."

Rihanna frowned. What in the world was a Pseudo Guiding Weapon?! Artreya looked at the confusion lining her face, and suddenly felt smug. At times she allowed him to feel the more knowledgeable one!

"Pseudo Guiding Weapons are also created from your spiritual elemental attribute, and they can be quite powerful. But they are not truly connected to your spiritual consciousness. And they cannot evolve with your own spiritual growth. But they are much easier to comprehend and take far lesser spiritual energy to create and control. So they are known as Pseudo Guiding Weapons."

"But doesn't that make the path to creating your own Guiding Weapon difficult?"

"Oh, indeed. Not because you cannot comprehend both. But because those who have once comprehended a Pseudo Guiding Weapon, start feeling complacent, believing that if they have understood one, they are not far from the other. And that is the most dangerous and mistaken thought for a cultivator. For the Pseudo Guiding Weapon is nothing like a Guiding Weapon. So many cultivators are unable to reach a Guiding Weapon once they comprehend a Pseudo Guiding Weapon."

"Hmmm.....so a short-term gain, but a loss for the long-term...."

Rihanna didn't say that even she had been attracted to the power behind these Pseudo Guiding Weapons and had indeed been considering trying to develop one for herself. However....she couldn't take the risk of comprehending one and becoming stagnant after that. She hadn't set any goals for herself. She only knew that she wanted to grow her cultivation as far as she could grow. Not until her body, mind and soul were all screaming to let go, would she really stop. Definitely couldn't make a pit-stop for a Guiding Weapon that wasn't even real.