Ascension of The Unholy Immortal-Chapter 369: Let the games begin

As Xia’s final words lingered in the air, the pavilion itself seemed to exhale. Space rippled like disturbed water, and luminous portals bloomed into existence—each private chamber birthed a swirling vortex of silver and cobalt energy, while the ground floor became studded with larger, communal gates humming with restrained power.

The third-floor guests departed first, their exits as distinctive as their reputations.

Alchemist Song’s portal flared with emerald runes that smelled of crushed herbs and molten starsteel; he stepped through without glancing back, his robes dissolving into fractal patterns of light.

Chess Paragon’s departure was a silent affair—his chamber’s portal unfolded like an infinite chessboard, swallowing him in a cascade of black-and-white spatial tiles that clicked shut like a celestial lock.

Martial Lord laughed as his portal manifested—a jagged tear bleeding crimson light.

Below, the scramble was more pragmatic. Ground-floor cultivators funneled into the communal portals with practiced wariness, bodies tensed against potential ambush.

Lesser experts shielded their treasures with glowing hands as they crossed the thresholds, while mercenary types blurred into the portals using movement techniques—leaving afterimages that lingered like ghosts. A grizzled swordsman paused to spit on the marble floor before vanishing; his phlegm froze mid-air, incinerated by pavilion cleansing arrays in a hiss of golden flames.

In contrast, Kai remained stationary, neither entering the portal within his room nor immediately following. Instead, he calmly exited his room after a brief pause, It seems like he is awaiting for someone’s arrival.

Within minutes, the hall stood empty. Portals winked out like snuffed candles, leaving only scuffed floor tiles where

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desperate bids had been shouted.

High above in the observation spire, the Pavilion Head watched the process through a scrying pool. His fingers tapped the jade slip Shadow Exalt had given him—a rhythm that matched the dying pulse of the last portal’s echo.

"It seems your predictions were wrong this time." A graceful figure materialized beside him.

"Not wrong," he countered, shaking his head slowly. "Merely... underestimated their caution."

"Old man, consider us square now," another figure suddenly appeared on the other side. "No debts remain."

The Pavilion Head’s beard twitched. "Square? You barely lifted a finger, you scheming—"

"Do I look like a philanthropist?" Shi Tian’s eyes glinted like quicksilver in moonlight. "Our partnership is transactional—unlike your... camaraderie with the revenant." His gaze slid to the woman standing enigmatically in shadow.

Revenant Sia’s laughter rang hollow. "Must you weigh every interaction like coins on a scale, Divine Blacksmith?"

"Calculations built my path," Shi Tian retorted, thumb brushing the obsardian dagger at his belt. "And kept me breathing when corpses piled high."

The temperature plummeted. Sia’s ethereal beauty hardened into a death-mask glare. "Wu Tang was right not respecting you...." Her form began dissipating into crimson mist. "Enjoy your equations, blockhead."

In her wake, silence hung heavier than temple bells.

"You might’ve shown consideration," the Pavilion Head sighed helplessly, watching the last wisps of her essence vanish.

"Trusting revenants is like gripping a double-edged sword," Shi Tian murmured, stepping into the dawnlight. Golden rays illuminated the fractal scars crawling up his neck. "Their motives differ from ours."

The Pavilion Head opened his mouth but no sound came out, then thought better of it. "Let’s forget about this for now, have you managed to detect them?"

A predatory smile appeared on Shi Tian face. "Two mid-stage Void Return cultivators. Foreign auras— likely from the Nether Planes."

"Threats?"

"Gone." Shi Tian’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. "Redirected toward... brighter prey."

Stars died screaming as Shadow Exalt tore through the bleeding firmament. Each teleportation left necrotic scars in reality, his passage marked by collapsing wormholes that healed sluggishly.

Four hundred seventy-two jumps. Random vectors. Decoy resonance trails.

He coalesced atop a dead comet, obsidian cloak billowing in solar winds. Below, the lower domain sprawled like a wounded leviathan—continents adrift on seas of liquefied spiritual qi, their edges crumbling into the hungry void.

No pursuit. No other ripples.

After a few minutes, he exhaled a sigh of relief, "It seems like I was thinking too much, no one one is following me."

Yet his hand trembled as he raised the spatial ring. The Heaven Will Fragment within pulsed like a caged supernova, its light leaking through cracks in dimensional storage.

"This should be far enough." He muttered. Even for someone with his speed, it took him almost half a day to arrive here from the edge of the domain.

Although he is widely recognized as the fastest expert in the domain, he didn’t dare to act arrogantly while holding the such a hot potato like Heavenly Will fragment.

Constantly shifting his location, he assessed whether he was being followed. If he detected any pursuers, he would use all his skills to evade them.

As an assassin, he excelled in combat only when his opponent was unaware. He understood that many powerful experts surpassed him, reinforcing his cautious nature.

Especially those old monsters that have lived for countless of years, who knows what kind of terrifying methods they possess.

He glanced again at the spatial ring on his finger and flash of anticipation flickered in his eyes.

This trip had been a success, though not without its complications. Acquiring the Heavenly Will fragment had been surprisingly easy— He thought to himself, the pavilion head was not as demanding as he had expected.

Almost as if… he wanted it to be taken.

"Too smooth. The Pavilion Head yielded this treasure like a man discarding bones." The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

He hated being a pawn in someone else’s game, Great success often requires taking substantial risks, of course that’s when the potential rewards outweigh the possibility of failure.

For now, he needed to lie low, He would immediately recall all Heaven End Pavilion core members and suspend all current operations.

"Time to disappear." He mumbled, activating a hidden talisman tucked within his sleeve.

His form wavered, blending seamlessly with the surrounding void, effectively erasing himself from existence.

Meanwhile, far in a secluded space nestled amidst a nebula of swirling colors, two figures observed a scrying pool that rippled with the echoes of Shadow Exalt’s recent activities.

One, a man with eyes as deep and turbulent as the void itself, chuckled softly. "He thinks himself clever, the little shadow."

"Indeed," the other figure, a woman wreathed in ethereal moonlight, replied, her voice like the chiming of celestial bells. "He plays his part well."

"The bait has been swallowed," the man murmured, his gaze fixed on the swirling images in the pool. "Let the games begin."