Chapter 717: Welcome Ceremony and Coerced Action

Just as he stepped out of the reception hall, Xia Duo felt himself surrounded by a wave of intense noise; the outside seemed to be packed with people.

At this very moment, a man who looked like a butler trotted over to greet him—it was Lali, whom Xia Duo had just met not long ago. At this time, he had almost completely forgotten the experience of being beaten just moments before, and he still bowed quite respectfully:

"My Lord, the welcome ceremony is already prepared. Please, my Lord and guest, move to the South Tower Plaza!"

Upon hearing this, Xia Duo could not help but glance at Aozikaer; it was exactly as he had anticipated—those people had chosen the South Tower Plaza as the assassination site.

Of course, it could also be on the way to the South Tower Plaza, and Xia Duo would not slacken in the slightest.

"Good!"

Aozikaer regained the enthusiasm he had when they first met and gestured to Xia Duo, "Lord Xia Duo, please!"

This was, of course, not to walk hand-in-hand, but an invitation for Xia Duo to walk alongside him. Only then did Xia Duo personally experience what a welcome ceremony in the Inner Land was like—

The roadsides were filled with cheering crowds. The side closest to the road was actually lined entirely with young girls holding flower baskets. Every time Xia Duo and Aozikaer passed by, they would toss out flower petals a few seconds in advance, paving a path of petals for the two of them.

Now that it was deep autumn, it would be almost impossible to achieve such a scene without Magic. Even with Magic, creating so many petals in a short time was no small expense.

Of course, the other side of etiquette could also be understood as a display of strength.

However, for Xia Duo, who was always on guard, these petals were undoubtedly a nuisance. Who knew if an assassin or some Magic might suddenly spring out from among these petals? In the world of Magic, this was not impossible to achieve.

The Bloodline Ability 【Qi Control】 could play its proper role at this time. Xia Duo constantly controlled the airspace within a three-foot radius around his body.

And within a range of nearly one foot, any petal that entered this area would rapidly lose its lateral velocity, as if it had struck an invisible barrier.

Aozikaer saw these changes happening around Xia Duo but did not show it, only secretly offering a reminder: "Watch out for the band behind us!"

"The band?"

Xia Duo was startled, almost subconsciously wanting to turn around and look, but he held back. Wouldn't turning his head now reveal that he already knew about the assassination?

This might prompt the other party to change their plan, or even abandon it, which would not align with his "being assassinated" mission.

Xia Duo communicated using only the faint light fluctuation of a 0 Ring 【Message】, quickly exchanging some information:

"Lord Rodney, is there a problem with the band?"

"The organ sound is failing to keep up with the rhythm of the other instruments; perhaps the organist has been replaced!"

"..."

Xia Duo listened carefully but did not hear anything wrong with the organ sound; he could not even distinguish the organ sound itself.

However, he still agreed with Aozikaer's judgment. After all, when it came to familiarity with the band, Aozikaer, as the lord, was certainly more familiar.

Furthermore, it was better to believe it than not, especially when it concerned his own life. Xia Duo still cautiously cast an extra bit of attention behind him.

The distance from Aozikaer's Waterside Manor to the South Tower Plaza was not far, but during the ceremony, it was impossible to move fast even if one wanted to.

Or rather, Xia Duo would rather encounter an assassination on this road than step into an assassination site that might have already been prepared for him.

Of course, the assassination site might just be set up on the way to the South Tower Plaza.

Aozikaer speculated that those people would very likely use a Magic Item to carry out the assassination. After all, wanting to assassinate another Arcanist in front of a Senior Arcanist would be impossible without some special ability.

As Xia Duo walked along, besides focusing on the people he had listed as suspects, his main focus was on the Magic Aura that might appear on the sides of the road.

This was hard to avoid. Even if the Magic Item itself had its aura hidden, the moment it was used, it would still trigger a Magic Aura.

It was like trying to attack a target underwater; even if the bullet were invisible, the refractive index of the water around the bullet would change as it penetrated the water, thereby revealing its form.

In this world, the Magic Net was almost everywhere; wanting to bypass the Magic Net to attack was almost impossible.

Even for an Arcanist, deploying their own Arcane Fire and launching an attack through their own Micro Magic Net would still trigger a reaction in the external Magic Net environment.

Unless it was a purely physical attack like swinging a sword or shooting an arrow, but that level of assassination might be feasible for an ordinary person, but not for an Arcanist.

Seeing that they were about to enter the South Tower Plaza, Xia Duo's heart was almost in his throat. He still hadn't found any useful clues, which was truly unsettling.

Under these circumstances, he had no choice but to once again shift more of his attention to the band behind him.

Although he was facing away from the band and could not see the Magic Aura, Xia Duo's Perception of the Magic Net had not weakened much. If they wanted to assassinate him simply by sneaking up from behind, that would be an insult to a Spellcaster.

Where exactly was the assassin hiding!

Just then, the music suddenly stopped. Xia Duo and Aozikaer stepped into the South Tower Plaza almost at the same time. There were quite a few people in the plaza, but one small group stood out particularly.

They were all Spellcasters, and their identities were somewhat special. Aozikaer immediately abandoned Xia Duo, walked over quickly, and scolded them with a hostile tone:

"Do you all have nothing to do? Why are you piling up here?"

At the same time, Keersi, who was mingling among the ordinary people in the plaza, suddenly heard a voice in his consciousness, "My Lord, the target is confirmed. Shall we act now?"

"Wait a bit longer, wait for that side to first—no, act, act immediately!"

When he saw those Spellcasters all collapse to the ground at Aozikaer's command, Keersi immediately realized that the situation had changed.

The correct course of action would have been to abandon the operation, but it was already too late. Lali had already taken out a Magic Scroll covered in silver patterns and was about to activate it.

Seeing this scene, Keersi felt like dying; how could his master let such an idiot be his leader!

Before the operation, he had personally seen Lali hand that Magic Scroll to one of Aozikaer's sons. He never expected Lali to have taken that scroll back; it was simply stupid to the extreme.

But since Lali had already shown signs of acting, Keersi had no choice but to cooperate with him. Now, they were gambling on whether Aozikaer had the guts to turn against their master.

If they won the gamble, everything would remain as it was, and Aozikaer might even lose the will to resist; if they lost the gamble, the consequences would be more than they could bear.

Regardless of what changes occurred on Aozikaer's side, as long as the assassination was carried out, Aozikaer could not distance himself from it, and they would be considered to have won the gamble; everything could return to its original state.

In a flash, Keersi had sorted out all the pros and cons and explained them to the others via Mind Link.

Mind communication was incredibly swift. It wasn't until Keersi made his decision and, together with his subordinates, performed a Joint Casting to seal the teleportation around the plaza, that Lali's Magic Scroll was just being activated.