Inside the Temple of Beauty, at the Audience Banquet, music drifted and dances were impassioned. In this traditional Faloro court feast, the confrontation between Adele and Sandrina continued, and the entire banquet gradually reached its climax amidst the dancers' movements.
Amidst the countless spectators' entranced, dull, and wooden gazes, Adele and Sandrina were on their respective stages, performing their respective dances. Their stages were not far apart, and during their dances, they could gaze at each other with only a Caiqiong Hall between them. Both could see deep hostility in the other's eyes.
After stepping onto the second stage depicted by the fountain's water magic, Adele, with the stage's enhancement, already possessed power no less than Sandrina's. The power of both, as Extraordinary of The Path of Depravity, spread invisibly through the space, affecting everyone present. The desires within the hearts of the crowd, originally dominated by Sandrina, were challenged by Adele. Those who were previously controlled by her now stood still, unable to be freely driven by Sandrina's power.
The situation on the scene fell into a stalemate. Sandrina could no longer wantonly influence everyone. At this moment, Dorothy also decisively took action, controlling her Corpse Puppets to quickly gather at the edge of the stands, raising the pistols in their hands towards Sandrina, who was dancing on the stage below.
Currently, most of Sandrina's ability was suppressed by Adele, making it difficult for her to handle the situation by controlling the guests present. However, Sandrina was not unprepared. Under the current circumstances on the scene, several dark-skinned guards surrounding the stage stepped forward. Their expressions were blank, seemingly also a type of puppet manipulated by others.
"Bang!"
Accompanied by a fierce bang, the Corpse Puppet controlled by Dorothy pulled the trigger towards Sandrina on the stage. Bullets sprayed out from the muzzle at high speed, shooting directly towards Sandrina. Meanwhile, those guards with empty eyes directly jumped up on the spot, using their bodies to block the bullets aimed at Sandrina.
After blocking the bullets, these guards surprisingly stood up slowly on the spot, looking towards the Corpse Puppets in the stands. Then, they opened their mouths, from which a large number of flying insects gushed out in one breath. These dense flying insects buzzed as they swarmed towards Dorothy's Corpse Puppets and Adele, who was dancing on the fountain. After spraying out the flying insects, those guards directly knelt on the ground one after another, motionless as if they had lost their vitality, their entire bodies visibly thinning by a large margin.
Facing this large swarm of incoming flying insects, Dorothy's Corpse Puppets seemed to have no other countermeasure for a moment. They could only struggle continuously as they were surrounded by the insects, which invaded their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses. Upon seeing this scene, Dorothy simply waited for the flying insects to completely cover the Corpse Puppets' bodies before directly transmitting Electrification to both the Corpse Puppets and Adele.
Immediately, a series of crisp crackling sounds rang out continuously on the scene, like the sound of an electric fly swatter hitting flies, only much denser and louder. Amidst these sounds, the flying insects crawling on the Corpse Puppets and attempting to crawl on Adele all turned charred and fell to the ground one after another. The air was instantly filled with a burnt smell.
After seeing that the direct assault was ineffective, the swarming flying insects retreated one after another. Some flew back into the guards' mouths, causing them to become active again. Some began to circle and dance around Sandrina, guarding her safety. The remaining ones directly attacked Song Sang on the main guest stand.
'This is... a puppet manipulated by parasites? As expected, the Rotten side also invested in this operation...'
Facing this scene, Dorothy thought to herself. Then, she immediately sent all her Corpse Puppets on the scene to the main guest stand to use their bodies to drive away the flying insects. Among the guards who served as the flying insect nests, several also quickly climbed onto the main guest stand, engaging in a chaotic fight with Dorothy's Corpse Puppets.
The scene was in chaos due to the appearance of the flying insects, but this did not affect Adele and Sandrina's dance. Their invisible confrontation within the dance was still ongoing.
In fact, the confrontation between Adele and Sandrina was not completely balanced. Both of their The Path of Depravity powers were at the Chalk level plus a stage, which theoretically should have been equal. However, Adele was not an ordinary Chalk. She had inherited the spiritual legacy of her teacher, Dalena, and thus her ability strength was slightly stronger than that of ordinary Extraordinary of The Path of Depravity. Her situation was that of an enhanced Chalk plus a stage, giving her a greater advantage compared to Sandrina, who was an ordinary Chalk.
This advantage existed, but it was not significant. Although Adele's power subtly surpassed Sandrina's somewhat, it could not be overly reflected in actual performance. This slight advantage of hers was not enough to be the decisive factor in this confrontation, but it was very close.
What Adele needed now was the final straw that breaks the camel's back. If her ability were just a little stronger, it could cause a huge change in the entire situation and directly defeat Sandrina.
Although Sandrina was at a disadvantage, she was not flustered, because she knew that although there were three stages in the Temple of Beauty, the first stage beneath her was the most important, much more important than Adele's second stage.
According to their long-term research on the Temple of Beauty and the documents left from the Xiaer King's era, Sandrina knew that the first stage had a situation where its power significantly increased during the twilight of the Audience Banquet. When a certain moment of twilight arrived today, the ability of the first stage beneath her would surpass the other stages. This was also the reason why the Xiaer King chose to hold the Audience Banquet at this time.
And now it was twilight. The moment of increase that Sandrina knew of was very close, about to arrive. When the time was ripe, her first stage would surpass Adele's second stage, and she would defeat Adele at that time, regaining control over the entire scene.
'Come... Come... The moment of control belonging to the Dressed King! Come... Come to me, let me become the true master of this Temple of Beauty!'
Looking at the dim light spilling from the large door ahead, Sandrina said expectantly in her heart. And her expectation was quickly answered. As the sun gradually set on the horizon, a huge colored projection slowly moved forward from the back of the stage, eventually gradually overlapping onto the circular puzzle stage. The originally chaotic colors began to piece together regular patterns at this moment.
Now, if one were to look down at the first stage from a high vantage point, they could see a blurry colored seven-petal lotus phantom currently projected onto the stage, overlapping with the seven-petal lotus that was already present in the first stage. The moment the real image and the phantom overlapped, Sandrina suddenly felt her The Path of Depravity ability surge, rising upwards at an astonishing speed, quickly catching up to Adele's strength and surpassing it.
'It's here!'
Just as Sandrina was feeling excited about the arrival of the moment, somewhere in the distance, Dorothy was looking at the sky above the Temple of Beauty. She looked at the Caiqiong Hall glass reflecting the gentle glow under the setting sun and couldn't help but murmur.
"If the Dressed King hid three stages in the Temple of Beauty, the first is the Stage of Shattering, the second is the Stage of Water Transformation, then the third must be the Stage of Halo..."
"The third stage, the Stage of Light and Shadow, and the same kind of light and shadow produced by the sun is often only expressed once a year, which is why the Audience Banquet is held annually..."
Dorothy murmured like this. She already knew where the third stage in the Temple of Beauty was located. That stage was hidden within the Caiqiong Hall, atop its bizarre, intricate glass dome.
The glass dome within the Caiqiong Hall was made up of countless stained glass pieces. These stained glass pieces were seemingly arranged in a chaotic manner on the dome, making the Caiqiong Hall below dazzle with colorful projected light halos. However, would the Dressed King, who always focused on aesthetics, allow such a chaotic phenomenon to appear in his design? Naturally, he would not, so this chaos had its meaning.
When the sun was at the right moment of the year, sunlight could pass through the glass dome of the Caiqiong Hall at a designed angle, shining on specific locations. Although these stained glass pieces seemed chaotic, as long as the angle of the light was correct, those chaotic pieces of stained glass could project a complete pattern, a complete Seven-Step Blooming Lotus.
The sun's position in the sky changes with the seasons, and the light and shadow it creates on the ground also change. The "predetermined moment" was the twilight of the annual Audience Banquet. At this time, the setting sun shone slantwise onto the dome of the Caiqiong Hall, projecting towards the east, precisely shining into the Hall of Singing on the east side of the Caiqiong Hall, and almost perfectly overlapping with the stage in the Hall of Singing. The Lotus of Light Halo and the Broken Lotus would overlap at this moment.
Therefore, at this moment, the first stage and the third stage were effectively superimposed. With the two stages overlapping, the power of the stage doubled at this moment. This caused Sandrina, who was dancing on the first stage, to experience a rapid surge in power, quickly surpassing Adele, who had once suppressed her.
"Look! Adele, this is the true legacy of the Dressed King, the true power of this Flower Temple!"
Standing on the stage, Sandrina, whose power had surged, shouted hysterically at Adele. At this moment, her power had surpassed Adele's. She concentrated her power to begin influencing her opponent, wanting to finally finish her.
And just as Sandrina felt victory was within her grasp, she did not know that at this moment, somewhere far from the Temple of Beauty, a silver-haired girl had already raised her hand towards the dim sky.
'Shadow of the Sun, transform into a Blooming Lotus... Generally speaking, the sun is the most brilliant object in the sky; neither the stars nor the bright moon can contend with it, except for the... momentary might under certain circumstances.'
Looking at the dim sky, Dorothy thought to herself like this. Then, she swung her raised arm downwards from top to bottom. A power that had been accumulating for a long time above the sky suddenly erupted with her action.
"Boom!!"
Lightning! A massive, winding bolt of lightning split the curtain between heaven and earth, descending from the peak of the sky to the mortal realm, tearing a dazzling rift across the canvas of the horizon and momentarily illuminating the entire area around the Temple of Beauty with blinding white light.
Dorothy triggered a prepared bolt of thunder, striking towards the direction of the Temple of Beauty. However, this lightning bolt did not strike the main building of the Temple of Beauty but instead hit the uninhabited wilderness on the eastern edge of the Temple of Beauty. This lightning bolt of hers was not meant to kill enemies but to challenge the sun's brilliance!
At this moment, the setting sun no longer had the midday brilliance that illuminated the earth. In this corner of the Temple of Beauty, when that pale, dazzling light descended, the dim glow of the setting sun, like an old man in his twilight years, was immediately overshadowed. In this instant, the light dominating this place was this majestic lightning.
The lightning struck somewhere on the eastern side of the Temple of Beauty. After overpowering the western sunlight, it rewrote and projected the light and shadow of the area. The colored dome of the Caiqiong Hall, upon receiving the dazzling light from the east, instead projected new halos towards the west. Dorothy's lightning passed through the colorful dome glass, transforming into a new halo that traveled westward. After passing through the open, tall archway, it was projected onto the gushing Liming Fountain. That halo merged with the Water Lotus on the fountain stage, transforming into a new Lotus of Light Halo.
At the moment the lightning struck, successfully contending with the sun's brilliance, the halo on the first stage beneath Sandrina instantly dimmed to the point of being almost invisible. The entire stage returned to its ordinary form, and the power she had gained through the third stage instantly plummeted back to its original state. Meanwhile, the second stage where Adele was located received the favor of the lightning, overlapping with the redirected third stage in that brief instant. At this moment, Adele also possessed two stages.
The lightning lasted only an instant, but this single instant was enough for Adele. She was already at an advantage in her confrontation with Sandrina, only lacking that final bit of power to completely overwhelm her opponent. Now, the momentary boost from the third stage allowed her to make up for this power. In contrast, Sandrina's power plummeted after losing the third stage.
'The outcome is decided!'
"What..."
Seizing this opportunity, Adele concentrated all her power and applied it to Sandrina. In an instant, Sandrina was subjected to extremely powerful interference from the Path of Depravity's abilities. Adele, who controlled two stages and the legacy of Dalena, directly broke through the desire protection Sandrina had imposed on herself in one go, completely controlling the desires in her heart.
"Adele... I'm going to kill you right now!"
At this moment, Adele completely ignited and amplified the killing desire Sandrina held for her. The surging desire in her heart instantly broke through Sandrina's reason. She opened her mouth wide, her eyes spitting fire as she glared at Adele, attempting to immediately tear her into pieces.
Driven by rage, the irrational Sandrina directly rushed off her stage and charged towards Adele on the fountain stage ahead, seemingly wanting to tear her apart using the most primitive method.
Facing Sandrina who was charging towards her like a madwoman, Adele gently waved her hand amidst her dance, rewriting the target of the desire in Sandrina's heart, redirecting it onto herself. Although the lightning had passed and Adele no longer had the overlapping enhancement from the third stage, Sandrina now had no stage at all. She was completely unable to contend with Adele.
Sandrina, whose desire target had been rewritten, suddenly stopped in her tracks, halting in the center of the Caiqiong Hall. She widened her eyes, slowly raising her slightly trembling arms to grab her head. Although her eyes were still filled with madness at this moment, the only remaining trace of rationality within them also released hints of fear. She finally smiled and opened her mouth, speaking fearful words in a frenzied tone.
"No... don't... please save me... Mistress... my Mistress..."
After saying her final words, Sandrina twisted her hands forcefully. With a crack, she broke her own neck, then slowly fell down, lying quietly on the floor tiles of the Caiqiong Hall.
And Adele, who had finally dealt with her enemy, slowly began to stop her dance. With a complex expression, she looked at Sandrina lying on the ground not far away and murmured.
"Mistress..."
"Among the high-ranking members of the Taiyi Three Teachings... is there such a title?"