Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

"It's really unlucky. I don't know which bastard dared to seduce the Duke. You know, the little Duke is only nine years old! How could he do that?"

Outside the gilded gate of the Duke's mansion, a group of maids in colorful dresses were holding their own bags, gathering in groups of three or four and whispering.

As the minister in charge of the empire's finances, the Duke was generous in dismissing these servants and gave each of them a generous severance pay.

After all, once these gossips leave the mansion, if you don't give them money, who knows what kind of unpleasant rumors they will make up in the market.

"I heard that shameless thing took the opportunity to deliver snacks to the young duke and dared to secretly touch his face." A maid in a pink skirt lowered her voice, tightly twisting her handkerchief with her nail-painted fingers, with contempt written all over her face, "Why don't you take a mirror to see what lowly status you have, and how dare you covet the future duke?"

The woman in the green dress next to her curled her lips, weighed the purse in her hand, and sneered, "Oh, now you've been kicked out of the mansion and don't even have a place to stay. You deserve it, I think!"

These deliberately suppressed discussions were still heard clearly by the old butler who was passing by.

A trace of displeasure flashed across the old man's wrinkled face, and he coughed heavily.

The group of maids were immediately like frightened birds. They fell silent in a hurry, lowered their heads and quickly dispersed, leaving behind only scattered gossips on the ground.

With a heavy creaking sound, the gilded door of the Duke's mansion, which was carved with the family crest, slowly closed, isolating all the unbearable rumors outside the high walls.

However, the atmosphere inside the mansion was more solemn and depressing than outside the gate.

Heavy velvet curtains blocked out the sunlight, leaving only the candlelight to cast flickering shadows on the walls.

"Have you found out?" the Finance Minister asked coldly.

The captain of the guard knelt on one knee, and his armor made a slight clinking sound.

He lowered his head, his voice respectful but tense, "Sir, after interrogation, I found that the maid did not act on her own will, but was under some kind of mental control. I suspect that this is most likely a conspiracy by some forces to harm Your Excellency the Duke."

Hearing what the captain of the guard said, the Minister of Finance immediately thought of what the young duke had told him before.

Now the young duke and his party have voluntarily withdrawn from the competition for the throne and temporarily formed an alliance of interests with Su Xiao's faction.

Before supporting Dai Beila to take the position, all forces tacitly maintained superficial peace.

However, the Minister of Finance did not expect that the power behind the scenes was hiding here. Did he think that the young duke was easy to bully?
"Go and deal with all those people who were dismissed today. Don't leave any of them alive."

"Yes!"

The captain of the guards accepted the order without hesitation and didn't even look up to ask any more questions.

As an important official in charge of the empire's financial power, this gentleman's apparent gentleness and elegance is nothing more than a carefully maintained illusion.

Being able to stand in the vortex of power for so many years, the blood on his hands is probably more than the gold coins in the national treasury.

At the east market, a horse-drawn carriage loaded with goods suddenly lost control and ran rampant through the crowd.

The driver pulled hard on the reins, but to no avail.

Accompanied by shrill screams, the three maids were unable to dodge and were ruthlessly crushed by the heavy wheels, and blood flowed on the bluestone slabs.

Someone slipped and fell by the moat, and the cold river water quickly swallowed up the struggling figure.

The strange incident in Xicheng District was even more creepy - seven pedestrians stumbled one after another on the flat street, as if they were pushed by an invisible force.

The back of their heads hit the boundary stones on the side of the road accurately, and they were killed on the spot.

Witnesses described in horror that the people fell in strange postures like puppets.

The captain of the guard stood high up in the tower, receiving messages from all over with an expressionless face.

Suddenly, an urgent secret report caught his attention - Lena, the head maid in charge of the Duke's kitchen, was found unconscious when she was tracked to a dark alley in the slums.

"Sir, the situation is different." A guard knelt on one knee and handed over the secret report, "Although Lena is alive, she is completely unconscious, as if... her memory was deliberately erased."

The captain of the guard narrowed his eyes. He certainly understood what this meant - Lena was obviously a chess piece planted by the enemy in the Duke's Mansion, and now, someone had taken the lead and turned her into a useless person.

He walked quickly through the corridor and returned to the Chancellor's study, kneeling on one knee to report: "My Lord, Lena is not dead, but she is useless - someone got there first and destroyed her sanity."

The Chancellor paused with the quill in his hand, and the ink spread a dark mark on the paper.

He slowly raised his eyes, his voice chilling: "It seems that our 'friend' is very cautious."

Walking to the fireplace, the Chancellor threw the report into the dancing flames.

The parchment quickly curled up and turned black under the licking of the flames, turning into a few pieces of ashes that floated away.

The flickering firelight reflected on his stern profile, and the shadow was like a dormant poisonous snake.

"Continue investigating." The Finance Minister said calmly, "Since they dare to take action, they should be prepared to have their claws chopped off."

The chief guard hesitated for a moment: "What about Lena...?"

"Keep it." The finance minister raised his lips, "Sometimes a fool is more useful than a dead person."

"Inform the young Duke of this matter. It is time for him to understand the cruelty of the world."

When this message reached the ears of Duke Silver Feather and Princess Sayeto through the encrypted channel, both ends of the communicator fell into a long silence.

This silence was more terrifying than any roar - it was the dead silence before the storm.

Lin Yi and Su Xiao were hostile to them because they were all heirs to the throne. Even if they drew their swords against each other in the council hall, it was an internal dispute within the royal family with the same blood - just like the fight between cubs in a lion group, they would not tolerate hyenas coveting them.

This hidden force dared to interfere with Wang's selection, which was really a stunt for everyone.

Of course, the drama on the stage still has to go on.

Bloomer was furious when he returned to the Senate. He swept the documents on the table to the floor, angrily scolded his incompetent subordinates, and then secretly continued to contact the alien assassins.

Duke Silver Feather sat in his study, tapping the tabletop with his fingertips. Three of his close associates, covered in blood, knelt in front of him.

"Your Excellency the Duke...we really don't know!" The man on the far left said in a hoarse voice, with his forehead resting on the ground, not daring to look up.

Duke Silver Feather smiled slightly, but his eyes were as cold as ice: "It doesn't matter, you will remember it soon."

He raised his hand and several figures emerged from the shadows and dragged the three people away. According to his investigation, these three bastards were traitors and a lot of information in the mansion was leaked by these three people.

Sayetto leaned on the couch, stroking the crystal ball with his fingertips. The ball reflected the execution scene in the square.

The executioner raised his long knife high, a cold light flashed, and another head rolled down.

Blood splattered, staining the stone steps red.

At this moment, several people showed that they had suffered great losses at the hands of Su Xiao, and everyone thought that they were cleaning out the traitors.

Deep in the dark alley, Violator Irene took off her hood, and her pale and delicate face was looming in the darkness.

She had been lurking in the Duke's mansion, planning to approach the young Duke through a maid and wait for an opportunity to possess him.

Just when her plan was about to succeed, an accident occurred - whether he noticed some clues or had other considerations, the Chancellor of Finance ordered the dismissal of all the maids, causing her plan to fail.

"What a bad luck..."

The violator Irene now has a general understanding of the situation inside the holy city.

She originally thought that her identity had been exposed, but now it seemed that she was simply accidentally injured by the Chancellor of the Exchequer's thundering means.

"It seems we can't delay this any longer. The hunters in Samsara Paradise are all crazy. If we continue to delay this, I'm afraid there will be another sudden disturbance."

The violator Irene understands the power of her own talent, but anyone who can become a hunter in the Samsara Paradise is not a ruthless person.

It was entirely because these hunters took advantage of Irene's talent. However, this time, Lin Yi and Su Xiao joined forces with the entire Wang Xuan force, which resulted in the entire empire becoming the backing of Lin Yi and Su Xiao. At this time, no matter which force Irene jumped to, death was waiting for her.

But Irene would not be so foolish as to rush to Lin Yi and Su Xiao's men, as that would simply be delivering food to them. This time, Irene planned to find some powerful assassins to muddy the deep waters.

Only chaos can create a glimmer of hope.

Bloomer sent someone to bring the Moon Queen to the old charlatan's mansion.

A carriage was almost completely filled with a huge rectangular fish tank, the water in the tank was clear and the surface of the water was shaking slightly.

A mermaid floated quietly on the upper layer, with a blood-stained cloth wrapped around her upper body. The dark red blood slowly spread in the water like wisps of dissipating smoke.

Boom, boom, boom.

Su Xiao knocked on the giant fish tank, but the mermaid inside showed no reaction, as if she had been played with.

"She's missing part of her brain."

The old charlatan tapped his chest lightly, drawing an inverted triangle.

"Bloomer did it?"

"It's unlikely. Your Majesty has... done something similar before."

The old charlatan sighed. He had been planning to help Queen Moon to be free, but was stopped by Su Xiao. Bloomer took such a big risk to hide Queen Moon, saying that there was no secret, but Su Xiao would never believe it.

"What unusual reaction did she have?"

"She didn't eat, but her vitality hasn't diminished at all." The old charlatan frowned, "It's like... something is sustaining her life."

"Keep observing." Su Xiao turned around and said coldly to the three people behind him, "Zos, you stay here. Anyone who comes close will be killed without mercy."

"Yes!"

Hearing Su Xiao's words, the three-member team of Zos immediately stood guard beside the Moon Queen. Just as Su Xiao was about to leave, Lin Yi raised his head.

"Something's wrong. They're coming."

Lin Yi could feel a cold breath approaching, and then Su Xiao stopped and looked around, as if looking for something.

Zos also sensed that some danger was approaching, and three dark blue crows swooped down and circled around Su Xiao and Lin Yi to prevent a sneak attack from the enemy.

Seeing this scene, Dai Mao Wang was a little confused, and the old charlatan who was walking side by side with her stopped.

斯～
The metal book in his hand suddenly turned red, and the sound of burning and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

He seemed unaware, but instead held the book tighter, allowing the scorching metal to burn into his palms.

Bang bang...

The pages of the book turned automatically without wind, and stopped abruptly at one-third of the way through.

The red pages were covered with twisted black runes, and in the center was a strange human-shaped pattern - with twisted limbs and a mouth stretched to the ears, as if crawling out of the pages.

"So soon? Everyone, don't move. They are coming."

"Who's here?"

King Dai Mao tightly grasped the hilt of the sword at her waist, her whole body tensed. She felt terrible now, as if she was thrown into a pool full of mucus. The mucus was slippery, cold, and kept squirming.

The disgusting feeling made Dai Mao Wang feel physically uncomfortable and she was about to vomit.

Even when she was in the extremely cold Black Abyss and had to drill into the stinking belly of the giant lizard in order to survive, she had never felt such a strong physical rejection.

The biting cold wind blew, and white cotton wool flew on the street.

chug chu...

Zos's teeth chattered, and the crows he summoned exploded with a few bangs.

Click, click.

Zheng——

The sharp sound of the long sword being unsheathed tore through the dead silence. The sharp blade of the sword drew a cold light in the dimness, like the only dawn of light in the endless darkness.

“Very close.”

Su Xiao's muscles tensed, and his intuition was fully activated. He felt a dense stinging sensation on the surface of his skin, as if countless steel needles were pressing against his flesh and blood - this long-lost omen of death made his blood surge uncontrollably.

The blood spread uncontrollably around Su Xiao. Zos, who was behind him, saw this scene and was filled with disbelief.

He pierced his palm with his nails, and the pain made his body stop shaking.

The old charlatan's nose twitched and he looked at Zos in astonishment.

"Zos, hold your hands tightly, don't let go, and don't look back."

He almost wanted to rush over and slap the idiot. The smell of blood at this time was like lighting a lamp to guide the things in the darkness.

"I...I feel something behind me."

Zos's throat tightened and the sound seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

It was not an illusion - he could clearly feel something pressing against his back, and cold breath brushing the back of his neck.

Click, click.
The sound of bones shifting was very close.

A head wrapped in a black linen hood slowly emerged from behind Zos's shoulder. Broken threads hung from the edge of the rotten cloth, which was caked with years of dirt and hardened like corpse wax that would shatter at the touch.

Cold sweat trickled down Zos's temple.

suddenly--

A rotten and withered face suddenly appeared in front of him!

The tips of their noses were almost touching, and the stench of corpse mixed with the smell of mildew hit them in the face.

If it weren't for the support of the extraordinary person's will, Zos would have screamed out by now.

"Troublesome guy."

Lin Yi raised his head, and the power of the abyss began to spread around him.

Almost in an instant, wherever the power of the abyss spread to, the erosion of the Dead City melted away like ice and snow meeting the sun.

The two forces restrain each other, forming a distinct situation of one rising while the other falls.

Su Xiao tried to release the power of Blue Steel Shadow, but unfortunately, although Blue Steel Shadow could erode the power of death in Su Xiao's body, its effect was obviously inferior to Lin Yi's power of the abyss.

[1 unit of Abyssal Power ≈ 20-30 units of Dead Energy]

[3 units of Blue Steel Shadow's power ≈ 1 unit of Deathly Silence Energy]

This gap is not due to the inherent weakness of Shen, but rather to the insufficient purity of Su Xiao's current energy.

If it were a Blue Steel Shadow of Marvin Waltz's level, he would probably be able to clear the deadly erosion in this area with a wave of his hand.

"My king! This time, you found two monsters."

Seeing that Lin Yi and Su Xiao were able to dispel the erosion of the power of death through their own means, the old charlatan showed a smile on his face.

There is only one way to deal with the Dead Silence City: fight violence with violence.

As if sensing the change in the power of death around him, the humanoid monster gave up on Zos and turned his gaze towards Lin Yi and Su Xiao.

The humanoid monster seemed to have sensed the change in the surrounding dead power and slowly let go of Zos. Its gray eyes moved and finally locked onto Lin Yi and Su Xiao.

Its eyes met Su Xiao's briefly, and then it stared at the arm guard on his left arm.

In an instant——

Air blast!

The humanoid monster suddenly disappeared, Su Xiao's pupils shrank suddenly, and he almost instinctively blocked in front of him with the Dragon Slash.

Boom——! !

The moment the dry palm collided with the blade, a terrifying shock wave exploded.

The ground beneath Su Xiao's feet began to crack, with gravel flying like bullets. Cracks spread across the exterior walls of the buildings in the half block behind him, and countless panes of glass were blown into powder at the same time.

A dozen hideous cracks in the ground burst out from behind his feet, like the claw marks of a giant beast, tearing the entire street into pieces.

Almost instantly, the halo under Lin Yi's feet lit up, and everyone around him felt their bodies shake.

The old charlatan also felt the power of Lin Yi's aura for the first time. He looked at Lin Yi and then began to flip through the book in his hand.

"Wow (unknown language)."

The old charlatan chanted the words on the metal book in a low voice. The humanoid monster, who was covered with rotten linen clothes and whose origin was unknown, turned his head. Without any movement, he appeared beside the old charlatan and stared at the metal book in his hand.

The old charlatan clicked his fingers, and the pages of the metal book popped up. A hand covered with black spots and as dry as a chicken claw reached out and grabbed the metal page in mid-air. The movement was stiff but extremely fast.

The old charlatan used some unknown method to control the monster for a few seconds, but it was enough for Lin Yi.

The black and white rose pierced the monster's skin, but after piercing the opponent's body, Lin Yi only felt like he had pierced a thick piece of cowhide. Even the black and white rose with a strengthening of up to +13 could not pierce the opponent's body.

The monster's rotten body froze. It slowly turned its head, and a strange light flashed in its cloudy eyes, locking its eyes on Lin Yi.

The "cluck, cluck" sound coming from the throat was like the turning of rusty gears, or the remnant of some ancient language.

When the hoarse syllables finally took shape, Lin Yi's hair stood on end: "Dead silence."

The monster's withered body suddenly began to wriggle unnaturally, and the air around the blade began to distort.

Lin Yi exerted force, but found that the black and white rose seemed to be trapped in some kind of sticky force field. Countless black threads as thin as hair were pulled out between the sword and the monster's wound.

The rotten claws had torn through the air and went straight to Lin Yi's crown!

Clang——!
A bright knife light suddenly cut into the battle, and the Dragon Slashing Flash slashed the monster's wrist with a sharp sound of breaking through the air. The blade penetrated three inches into the flesh and could not go any further - the withered limb was actually harder than steel.

Su Xiao's pupils shrank slightly, and the recoil from the blade made his wrist numb.

Even with Lin Yi's aura, their attacks could only barely break through the defense.

A fifth-level versus a sixth-level is like a child challenging a giant, and every strike is like dancing on the edge of a knife.

Although Dai Mao Wang had a negative impression of Su Xiao, she knew that she could not watch the show now. When she was about to step forward with the sword, the old charlatan raised his hand to block her.

"If you don't want to die, don't get close to Chila. You don't have the protection of the Black King, and you will definitely die if you get close."

The old charlatan was not joking. The Dead City was not a place that nurtured monsters, but a huge "cage". The residents inside would not be weakened after leaving the Dead City, but would affect the activity of other creatures.

Take Zos for example. He had just had a close contact with the prisoner Chila and now his face was pale and he was so weak that he couldn't even stand steadily.

The reason why Lin Yi and Su Xiao were able to resist was because they were the heirs chosen by the Black King, and the energy in their bodies was resistant to the power of Death Silence, so they were able to resist the power of Death Silence City. (End of this chapter)