The first assassin to regain their composure shot a lightning spell at Iris from behind, and she deflected it with her whip. Using that opening, another assassin cast a gigantic fireball big enough to fill the passage and threw it at her. At the same time, projectiles from multiple directions were fired at her.
Iris was confident that she could handle all of these attacks by relying on her whip and defensive artifact, but she didn't want to stay in a passive position, so she charged towards the fireball. The assassins thought that she would use some technique to defend herself against the flames, but what her whip lashed was the hallway itself. As dust and smoke covered the area, the assassins tried to find Iris using spiritual sense, but it was as if she had disappeared.
"Did she escape?"
"Tch."
As the assassins started to consider searching for her elsewhere, a harrowing scream pierced their ears.
"There she is!"
Upon finding Iris above a fresh corpse, the assassins jointly attacked once more, but Iris vanished before any of their attacks could hit. This was the ability of her whip; it gave her near-perfect concealment when shrouded by fog, smoke or any similarly dense gas, so she was now more suited to be an assassin than her assailants.
"Stay sharp. I'll let you feel what it's like to be hunted."
While Iris was fighting the assassins, the other living target was also facing attacks and was handling them with ease. During this time, many wondered what the security personnel were doing, including the auction's management. It was a few minutes after the start of the commotion that they found the unconscious bodies of the guards. As even the backup guards had been incapacitated, it was obvious that there was an enemy hiding among them, but they didn't have time to smoke them out. With every second of inactivity that passed by, the reputation of the underground auction went down. Even if they couldn't fight off the assassins, they had to ensure that the rest of their guests were safe.
"Everyone, please be at ease and follow the staff member closest to you."
Before this announcement spread, several VIPs had already begun preparations to leave. These VIPs escaped as soon as there was trouble, while others stayed for the sudden show.
There were three particular scenes of interest that caught their attention. The fumbling audience trying to leave the amphitheatre yet somehow failing, Iris being besieged, and a prominent merchant and his guards also being attacked by assassins.
The main difference between Iris' situation and the merchant's was how lopsided the battle seemed. The merchant and his guards faced more threats compared to Iris, yet they were disposing of them easily. In terms of numbers on both sides, Iris was under more pressure, so it was hard to compare the two battles directly, but while she seemed to be struggling, the merchant's side took care of each opponent in one or two moves. In terms of cultivation, the assassins were a match for the guards, but the gap in equipment was overwhelming. Every one of the merchant's guards had spirit-rank defensive, offensive and support artifacts, allowing all of them to suppress two assassins at the same time.
Even if an assassin was able to make it past them, the merchant wore more artifacts than the number of clothing items on their body. All of the assassins coming together and attacking him with everything they had still wouldn't be enough to break his defence for quite some time.
The three scenes caught the attentions of both the lingering VIPs and the staff, albeit for different reasons. When almost everyone had moved their gaze away from the stage, Shui saw an opportunity, and his partner-in-crime, in the form of a male staff member, was the same. They rushed towards the ground stage where the auctioneer and his assistant were still standing.
The moment the staff noticed them, they immediately realised their intentions and panicked. For each section of the auction, it was necessary for someone to hold the auction items in a storage ring until it was time to reveal them, and the one with that ring was the auctioneer.
"Stop them!"
"Don't let them reach the stage!"
The staff were desperate to prevent them from accomplishing their goal, but shouting wouldn't change anything. Shui sensed a Sky Realm expert watching them, but that didn't stop him from reaching the stage. The auctioneer was in the Earth Realm, so he attacked with a powerful water spell once he saw them reach the stage. Both Shui and Fox had yet to reach the Earth Realm, but they had their means of overcoming this gap.
Shui froze the water spell while Fox vanished and suddenly reappeared behind him. The auctioneer tried to turn around, but Shui used a lightning spell to paralyse him so that Fox could take the storage ring. They only wanted one thing from it, but it was more efficient to just take everything.
He had already analysed the sealing array on the stage, so with a stomp it shattered, but right before they left the stage, the Sky Realm expert made their move.
"Fox!"
Without any time to explain, he pulled Fox into his embrace and moved as fast as he could. He couldn't use his full speed because he was controlling his body with his soul, but it was still enough to escape a Sky Realm expert's senses. Unfortunately, the true challenge still awaited them. The amphitheatre shook as the terrifying aura of a Master filled the venue. At this moment, no one below the late Sky Realm could move, so they all stood in place.
The staff breathed a sigh of relief despite their fear, while Fox panicked in Shui's arms. She suspected that there was a Master behind the auction, but she didn't think they would be in a position to react this quickly. Given the lofty status of Masters, she had predicted that it would take some time before they were alerted and could take action, but it appears she was wrong.
"We have to escape!" she told Shui, despite knowing that escaping would not be easy.
At his true strength, Shui was certain that he would be able to escape even a Master, but he couldn't shrug off the pressure of a Master with just his soul. He was starting to regret not giving up on his training, but it was too late now. After using mental control to move his body for so long, he would need time to adapt if he went back to normal. Time they obviously didn't have.
[Alia! Help me resist this pressure!]
[Make sure not to die now.]
With Alia's help, Shui regained his ability to move and immediately drew on the speed essence inside him. Like a bolt of lightning, he sped out of the venue. The Master tried to catch him, but even though his spiritual sense had covered the venue and its surroundings, Shui and his partner seemed to vanish. He could stretch his spiritual sense to cover the city, but the city's administration wouldn't be so kind as to overlook such an overbearing act.
"No! Find them!!!"
The powerful voice of the Master shook the souls of those in the audience, but they could only lower their heads. Even Iris felt cold sweat slip down her spine as she imagined her outcome if she was found to have a connection with the thieves, but there was also an unprecedented thrill.
"Damn it!!!"
Frustrated that he allowed thieves to escape, the Master turned his attention to the assassins that were still fighting Iris and the merchant. They had tried to leave once the Sky Realm expert appeared, but Iris and the merchants' guards forced them to stay. Now that they could feel his furious gaze focus on them, they became desperate to escape, but they were too late. Once the Master had the chance to focus on them, he wouldn't let them go.
"Bugs!"
With a single thought, the assassins were crushed into clumps of meat and bones. Even some cultivators who should have been used to gory sights wanted to look away from the gruesome scene as their hearts were filled with fear towards that power. The Master removed his pressure without revealing his face, but no one could forget his presence.