In the afternoon, Lux was allowed to rest in a simple room inside the fortress. But sleep was impossible. His mind was filled with the complex formations he had seen on the map.
"You nervous, worm?" Mobius asked in his mind.
"Of course," Lux replied. "I'm just an eleven-year-old kid about to infiltrate the middle of an enemy base guarded by Nascent Soul cultivators."
"But you're also the only one who can see reality as you see it. That gives you an advantage that no one else has."
Lux sighed. "What should I do, Mobius? How do I disrupt a formation that big?"
"Don't think about destroying it. Think about... persuading it. Like you did with your training formations. Find the weakest point, then give it a small, precise nudge like you used to."
"A small nudge?"
"Use your distortion ability. But this time, very subtly. Change the reality coefficient at the critical points by only 0.00001. That's enough to create a chain reaction of instability, but not enough to be directly detected."
The idea was brilliant. Instead of trying to destroy the formation which would surely be immediately detected Lux only needed to make it inefficient, creating gaps that Bram and Raiden's forces could exploit.
As night fell, Lux, Ming, and Kyle gathered again. This time, they wore special camouflage robes provided by Nera robes that could conceal their auras even from Nascent Soul level sensors.
"Remember," Ming instructed before they left. "We go in, you do what you have to do, then we get out. No heroics."
Lux nodded, his heart pounding.
Kyle once again activated his camouflage formation, and this time, Ming did not use teleportation. They would move physically through the buffer zone between the lines of defense a dangerous area filled with traps, enemy patrols, and remnants of battle energy.
The journey through the buffer zone was a tense experience for Lux. They moved like ghosts, avoiding Shadow Viper patrols moving in the shadows, passing through almost invisible poison traps, and infiltrating through gaps in the enemy's detection formations.
Several times, they were almost detected. A group of Hugo Clan assassins almost noticed their presence, but Kyle's camouflage ability managed to fool them. On another occasion, an energy formation trap almost locked onto them, but Ming gently "persuaded" the energy to flow around them.
After an exhausting journey of hours, they finally arrived at their destination a cliff overlooking the eastern canyon, where the enemy's strongest defensive formation was located.
From the top of the cliff, Lux could see a stunning and terrifying sight. The entire canyon was shrouded in a complex layer of multi-colored energy dark green Shadow Viper poison, gray Hugo Clan illusions, brown Red Lotus earth, and blue GaleFord wind. The formation swirled and pulsed like a living organism, radiating almost unimaginable power.
"We're here," Kyle whispered, his face pale from maintaining the camouflage formation near such power. "You have ten minutes, Lux. No more."
Lux nodded, then sat cross-legged. He closed his eyes, and for the first time since arriving at the front lines, he fully activated his measurement ability.
The world around him changed. What he saw now was not a canyon with an energy formation, but a complex network of interconnected reality coefficients. Each energy line, each formation node, had its own coefficient, fluctuating in an almost musical pattern.
"Start scan," Mobius ordered in his mind.
Lux ran his measurement, analyzing every inch of the formation in front of them. He searched for points where the reality coefficient was unstable, where the connections between the different elements of the formation were weakest.
Five minutes passed. Kyle began to sweat. "Hurry, Lux. I feel something scanning this area."
Lux did not answer. His concentration was focused on one specific area in the formation a point where Shadow Viper poison energy met GaleFord wind energy. These two energies had very different reality coefficients, and the connection between them was fragile.
"I found it," Lux whispered.
"Good," said Mobius. "Now, choose three critical points. We'll give a micro-distortion to all three simultaneously."
Lux stretched out his hands, his fingers dancing delicately in the air. From his fingertips, three thin, almost invisible strands of gray energy shot towards the enemy formation. These strands did not carry destructive power, only subtle "suggestions" to alter reality.
ΔCoR 0.00001 at the first point.
ΔCoR 0.00001 at the second point.
ΔCoR 0.00001 at the third point.
The effect was not immediately visible. The giant formation continued to swirl as usual. But for Lux with his measurement, he could see small changes beginning to ripple through the energy network.
"It's done," Lux said, opening his eyes. "Let's go."
But just as they were about to move, something unexpected happened. A figure suddenly appeared in the air directly above the canyon a woman with dark green robes and eyes that radiated deep hatred.
Elder Morathi of the Shadow Viper Sect. A soul poison expert at the 7th stage of the Nascent Soul.
She observed the formation with a suspicious gaze, as if sensing something was wrong.
Ming immediately pulled Lux back. "Quiet," he whispered.
But it was too late. Morathi's sharp eyes stopped on the cliff where they were hiding. A terrible smile spread across her lips.
"There are rats infiltrating," she said, her voice like a snake's hiss.
The infiltration mission that was supposed to be quick and silent, suddenly turned into a nightmare.
POV (Lux)
Time seemed to freeze. Elder Morathi's snake-like eyes locked right onto their position, even though Kyle's disguise formation was still active. Lux's blood stopped flowing in his veins. They were caught.
"Run!" Kyle shouted, his voice cracking under the pressure.
But Protector Ming didn't panic. With a terrifying calm, he pushed Lux behind Kyle. "Take him away. I'll deal with Morathi."
"But Protector...."
"Do it now!" Ming's voice for the first time contained weight, an order that couldn't be refused.
Kyle didn't waste time. He grabbed Lux's arm and pulled him back, struggling to maintain his disguise formation. However, the pressure of Morathi's Nascent Soul stage 7 aura began to tear apart the layers of their disguise.
"Just leaving like that, Ming?" Morathi's voice echoed, piercing the ears. "After sneaking in like a rat?"
She raised her hand, and a dark green soul poison mist spread with impossible speed, turning the air around them into a deadly poison that directly attacked consciousness.
Ming sighed, as if slightly annoyed. He didn't make any spectacular movements. He simply raised his palm, and the poison mist stopped ten meters away from them, as if hitting an invisible glass wall.
"Lux, close your spiritual meridians!" Kyle ordered, pulling Lux faster. "The poison attacks the soul directly!"
Lux immediately obeyed, but even with his meridians closed, he could feel the cold edges of the energy trying to infiltrate his mind. It felt like a nightmare trying to become real.
"Spiritual art of the Eternal Peace Garden," Ming murmured.
A field of calm golden energy spread from Ming's body, pushing back Morathi's poison mist. Inside Ming's Spiritual art, the air felt clear and peaceful, a stark contrast to the chaos outside. Flowers of energy bloomed in the air, and the sound of gentle bells rang.
Morathi hissed, her face distorted by hatred. "You think your false peace can defeat true suffering?" She waved her hand, and thousands of spiritual poison needles invisible to the eye but deadly to the soul shot towards Ming.
Meanwhile, Kyle managed to pull Lux far enough away. "We have to get out of here now!" he shouted. But as he prepared to open an escape portal, a shadow appeared in front of them.
Not an ordinary shadow, but a figure made of pure darkness. "The Shade," the legendary assassin of the Hugo Clan, had arrived.
"Where do you think you're going, rats?" his voice resonated directly inside their heads, cold and emotionless.
Kyle cursed and immediately changed direction, pulling Lux into a nearby rock crevice. "We're trapped," he whispered, his face pale. "Two high-level Nascent Souls. I can't get us out with both of them in the way."
Lux, with his heart pounding, suddenly felt something through his connection with Mobius. The distortions he made in the enemy formation were beginning to show effect.
"Wait," Lux whispered. "Their formation... it's starting to become unstable."
He was right. In the distance, the giant defense formation in the eastern canyon began to flicker. Its previously harmonious colors were now clashing with each other. Poison energy collided with wind energy, creating a vortex of wild energy. The reality coefficient throughout the formation fluctuated wildly, from 0.99990 down to 0.99970 at some points a small decrease but enough to make the formation unstable.
Morathi and The Shade also felt it. They glanced towards the canyon, their faces showing surprise and anger.
"What are you doing, Ming?" Morathi growled.
Ming himself looked a little surprised, but he quickly hid it. "It seems your formation isn't as strong as you thought, Morathi."
This was an opportunity. As the attention of the two enemy Nascent Souls was diverted, Kyle saw an opening. "Now!" he pushed Lux forward, opening a small path through his collapsing disguise formation.
But The Shade was too fast. He reappeared in front of them, a dagger of darkness in his hand aiming for Lux's heart.
"Star Child," The Shade whispered. "You are more valuable than this entire mine."
Time seemed to slow down. Lux could see the tip of the dagger approaching, tearing through the layers of reality around it. He knew he couldn't dodge. The level difference was too great.
Suddenly, a flash of lightning struck from the sky, hitting right where The Shade was standing. The earth shook, and the assassin was thrown back with blackened skin.
"Don't touch the kid!" Raiden Voltaris' voice echoed from above. The Young Master of the Lightning Roar Sect stood in the air, surrounded by lightning, his face looking at the shade with a contemptuous look.