Corrupt Creations

The corruption started to spread towards everything that was in front of Seth's body. The unholy red lines of matter, invaded the Fire Walls that belonged to the dungeon, taking control over it and changing its nature to corruption.

Boom!

They exploded with Crismon Corrupted Flames, instantly making the whole sky turn blood colored. The whole soil was being covered by that energy as well, changing to a sea of crimson corruption.

Fifth Shadow saw that red energy coming towards him and tried to retreat as fast as he could, using his enhanced Shadow Walk to increase his speed, but the millions of filaments of crimson corruption spreading through the ground were way faster than him, reaching his body in just a few seconds.

They reached him, some ignoring his body and going towards the front, while other crimson filaments started climbing on his feet, invading and corrupting the structure of his skin cells.

Fifth Shadow felt like there was a massive hand grabbing on his feet, making him unable to give another step forward. At the same time, he felt a dull sensation around that area, just like his feet wasn't his own anymore.

That was in fact, the truth. When he looked downwards, he saw that instead of two feet made of flesh and bones, he had feet made of crystal shards. When he saw those shards, his fear increased further, reaching the maximum it could. Just like the fear a prey would feel before its primal predator.

Filaments of red energy kept climbing his legs, transforming the structure of anything it touched almost as if instantly. Both of his legs started to turn into red crystals as Fifth Shadow did anything he could to fight against that energy.

His heart as wildly beating and he was acting just like a desperate animal. The darkness he produced, wasn't able to stop that energy, it just served as fuel for the corruption that was climbing his body.

At that moment, Seth's body had finally moved, standing from the ground where he was. However, even though he stood up, he was still unconscious. He didn't advance or create any skills, just kept standing there until his head suddenly moved to look at Fifth Shadow. There was a wicked smile on his face, something that made a lot of chills run down Seventh Shadow's spine. He started to retreat, even though there was a lot of distance between him and Seth. The thought of helping Fifth Shadow out crossed his mind, but he tossed it aside and started to run.

Fifth Shadow felt an irresistible attraction and unconsciously turned his head to look towards Seth. When their eyes made contact, Fifth Shadow suddenly felt like he had been electrocuted.

Seth's eyes were like two bright crimson starts, the same color and intensity the crimson light inside of him had.

Fifth Shadow felt he was suddenly dragged into a world with endless corruption. All he could see was that dark red matter that covered the ground and red crystals everywhere, just like it had consumed everything, consumed even the other forms of energy and life.

It was the end.

His body started to crystalize into one of those red crystals, losing his strength bit by bit. His vision turned crimson and he turned into a red crystal statue.

Crack!

His body shattered into tiny pieces, dying in just some few seconds after looking into Seth's eyes.

Seventh Shadow was already madly sprinting to the farthest place he could go, trying to stay away from Seth. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew he would be doomed if he got caught.

Seth turned his head to look towards that distancing figure, and the Corruption felt his desires. It acted accordingly with them, moving quickly towards the place Seventh Shadow was, corrupting everything in its way.

Seventh Shadow felt a sense of crisis and realized something was following him. When he turned back to quickly look, he saw the whole world turning into a red purgatory, moving towards him and engulfing everything on the way.

That corruption was spreading in a speed even a Mana Control peak-stage like him had no chance to escape from it. Actually, only Mana Sovereign cultivators may have a chance to escape at the speed it was moving.

Boom!

Seventh Shadow aura skyrocketed, since he used everything he had, in order to escape from the incoming doom, making even the ground and air blast with the quantity of Mana he infused in his running skills.

Seventh Shadow speed increased so much, that he even surpassed the speed Third Shadow was able to create at the Profound Mana middle-stage Realm.

His body vanished from the spot it was, since he used the Second Step of his Shadow Walk many times in a quick succession.

However, even though he was running with everything he got, he never felt he was able to shake that feeling of doom. He turned around one last time, to see if he was distancing himself from death, but just as he turned, his whole body was engulfed by the Crimson Corruption, getting corrupted and instantly being swallowed by it.

He turned into crimson shards of corruption, vanishing right after.

Yuyin wanted to run to where Seth was minutes ago, however, after seeing what had just happened, she felt fear. She was only able to see his back and not his crimson red eyes, but just looking at him standing there, gave her the dreadful feeling he was the harbinger of doom.

Suddenly, the whole environment around that area stopped, the crimson corruption stopped going forwards and started to retract. The speed it came back was ten times faster than it had expanded, creating a huge flux of energy that generated a blast.

Boom!

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

Yuyin was sent flying and Huo Shihong's body flew away too.

The whole corrupted energy that had absorbed and corrupted many things entered Seth's body going directly towards that separate space. The Crimson Light lodged there, absorbed everything, just like how it did when it was still a seed.

In a matter of minutes every bit of energy was absorbed, making the whole scenery return to what it normally was inside the Fire Labyrinth.

Seth dropped down on the floor still unconscious, but the injures on his body were all healed. They fully healed in a single second.

Silence returned and peace reigned.

Only two flaming bird eyes kept trembling high above in the air, watching everything that had just happened.

An indefinite amount of time passed till some sounds were finally produced again.

"Argh..."

Seth opened his eyes, but he didn't seem to know where he was initially. Just after looking around some times, he was finally able to recall the things that happened and where he was.

He was thoroughly beaten by Fifth Shadow, losing his consciousness and wasn't able to picture everything that had happened perfectly. However, there was a blank space in his memory he wasn't able to recall at all.

"Lexi! Lexi!"

"Seth! Seth! Are you hearing me?" Lexi answered him with a question.

"I can hear you. What happened here?"

"What happened? That's what I want to know! Out of nowhere I lost the connection with all your senses and was not able to feel the world outside. I could only feel your soul, but it was just like it had been banished to somewhere far away, not having access to the world."

"What?! How's that possible? I don't remember anything that happened after I fought with Fifth Shadow..."

"..." Lexi stood silent.

"I was hoping you would be able to give me that answer, Lexi."

"There is no way I could do that. You should first go check if that girl is still alive. Those men could have knocked you out and used some methods to seal your senses. If it came to that possibility, maybe that girl could be in danger." Even though Lexi said those words, she wasn't able to believe in herself. There should be no one able to interfere with their connection.

"No! That can't be possible!" Seth panicked and started to look around. When he saw that the flame barrier had shattered, his heart started to beat faster.

Seth ran to where the door of the Phoenix Chamber was and saw Huo Shihong's body near it. When he approached him, he suddenly felt the environment getting hotter.

As the heat started to rise, the door to the Phoenix Chamber opened, from where a bird made of pure flames came by. It was a flame body controlled by the Lord Phoenix Spirit.

"Lord Phoenix Spirit! I need your help with something... Do you know where that girl that was standing behind that flame barrier is? What happened with her?"

Seth was anxious and started to ask questions, even though they had just met.

"Calm down. She is safe. This Venerable One has taken her under my asylum."

"You've taken her?"

"Her spirit may shatter if this Venerable One don't interfere with the situation. She is too young to have experienced the things she experienced today. Like her sister, this Venerable One will take care of her for now."

"So, is she physically alright? Did those men harm her in any way?"

"Don't you remember what happened...?" The Lord Phoenix Spirit eyes seemed to be slightly shaking.

"Huh? What happened? I can't remember anything after suffering a strong attack from one of those men..."

"..."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Sigh... You should not worry with that. This Venerable One interfered to resolve the situation."

"You took care of them?! Great! Thank you very much!" Seth bowed with reverence, thanking the Lord Phoenix Spirit with his heart.

"No worries. It was something this Venerable One should have done for those descendants." The Phoenix Spirit said in an unusual voice.. This was the first time it was lying.