"That's right! The Marsh Duchy has the same custom!" Bosayin's eyes lit up.
"Try again!"
He walked straight up to a prisoner — a child with blue hair who didn't look like he'd reached adulthood yet. "Consider yourself honored, boy! You get to make a contribution to the great
Bosayin sneered and sliced the ropes binding the boy.
"Put this on — best to place it about thirteen centimeters below your collar!" Leilin snapped off a Beta daisy and tucked it under the boy's collar.
"Everything's ready! Ros, Shaya, keep your eyes open!" Jiamen bellowed into the communicator.
"Three, two, one — release!"
Bosayin seized the boy by his hair with one arm, carried him to the edge of the cliff, watched him struggle, and a faint smile crept across his lips — then he let go!!!
Ahhhh!!!
In midair, the boy spat out the thing in his mouth and let out a piercing shriek!
Then his hands flailed wildly, like a drowning man grasping at the last straw.
"Hopefully this time it works!" At the cliff's edge, Leilin and the other two stood watching as the boy shrank to a black dot amid his screams, murmuring to themselves.
Suddenly, all three of them detected a wave of energy.
"This feeling! There's no mistaking it — it's the fluctuation of a secret realm opening, just like during the Blood Duel last time!" A faint smile tugged at the corner of Leilin's lips.
"Rustle..." The communicator crackled to life.
"He's gone! I saw that person get swallowed by a burst of light in midair — completely vanished!" Shaya's voice came through, carrying a faint trace of excitement.
"We're heading up right now!" Ros's voice came through the communicator as well.
Moments later, the five of them reconvened atop the cliff, all of them marveling at the ancient Wizards' handiwork.
"Courage and reverence! Who would have ever guessed!"
Shaya let out a cry of amazement: "No magical protection whatsoever, and you just leap off the cliff. And down below there are massive swords reinforced with Eternal Sharpness spells — even a full Wizard wouldn't dare attempt that..."
"Furthermore, you must carry a Beta Daisy, or the secret realm's entrance won't open..."
Jiamen let a hint of a smile show. "Lei Lin, well done!"
At this point, even Possain wore an approving smile, and Shaya was clapping from the side.
"Not at all! It was everyone's guidance!" Lei Lin gave a slight nod, revealing a modest smile tinged with just a bit of pride.
"The secret realm has been found — what are we waiting for?" Ross plucked a Beta Daisy and pinned the flower to her chest.
"And them!" Possain pointed at the several captives, whose faces were filled with terror.
"I'll handle it!" Jiamen extended both hands. Green vines spread outward ceaselessly.
"Wait!" Lei Lin spoke up suddenly, stopping Jiamen in his tracks.
"What's the matter — are you going to plead for them?" Possain looked at Lei Lin with an amused smile.
"No! I just think there are bound to be all sorts of traps and mechanisms inside the secret realm. They might still come in handy!"
Lei Lin offered a perfectly sound reason.
"And besides!" Lei Lin stretched a hand toward the captives. "Rock Bind!"
Grayish-white granite surged directly from the ground, forming into manacle-like shapes that wrapped around the captives and bound them all over again.
"Ordinary people can't possibly break through magical bindings. This way, there's no chance of them escaping!"
"Good! If we spend any more time inside the secret realm, they'll starve to death. Lei Lin — you truly are a Wizard!"
Possain's face broke into a grin as he grabbed a handful of Beta Daisies. "Let's go! What are we waiting for?"
"Jump!" Each of the five apprentices, carrying their Beta Daisy, leaped off the cliff!!!
Boom!!!
As they plummeted downward at breakneck speed, Lei Lin's skin was pressed inward by the violent air pressure.
His eyes turned slightly red, as though every drop of blood in his body were about to break free and shoot outward.
Was this what it felt like to jump from a building? At a moment like this, Lei Lin still had the presence of mind to let his thoughts wander.
When the five of them had fallen about halfway down, a ring of brilliant light suddenly blazed into existence on the surface of the cliff.
The glow formed a circle. The air in its center warped and distorted, revealing the scenery of a different space beyond.
"A secret realm entrance!" Pozain shouted.
Immediately after, the five of them were engulfed in blinding light, and a powerful sensation of weightlessness surged over them.
After the disorienting feeling of the world spinning around them, Lei Lin and the other four found themselves inside a dim cavern.
"A place this large must be underground! The question is where exactly. Either way, the area beneath the cliff has been probed with detection spells countless times — it can't be there!"
Lei Lin slowly rose to his feet.
"Where's that boy?" Xiaoya pushed the tangled hair back from her forehead and spoke up suddenly. "The boy who was there at the beginning — he's gone!"
"That's not all!" Ross lowered himself to the ground and dragged a finger across the surface. A smear of blood appeared, along with shreds of the boy's torn clothing.
"As expected — the secret realm may hold a legacy, but it comes with danger as well!"
A flicker of light passed through Lei Lin's eyes as he took in the scene.
After he had discovered the method of entering the secret realm, he could easily have kept it to himself and returned in secret after the group of five made it back to the academy to explore it on his own.
But he had chosen to share the discovery with the other apprentices.
That was certainly not because Lei Lin had undergone some sudden change of character.
It was fear! Fear of the dangers hidden within the ruins!
The Crimson Grand Wizard was a legendary Wizard whose rank had reached at least that of a fourth-tier Wizard.
With a person of that caliber setting up a legacy, Lei Lin felt there were bound to be countless traps and trials designed to test the strength of whoever came after.
And Lei Lin, no matter how you looked at it, was still only a third-tier apprentice — not even a proper first-level Wizard! The place was far too dangerous for him!
Within the Jiamen squad, Posain was every bit Lei Lin's equal, and the other three each had their own unique strengths.
Lei Lin was well aware of his own capabilities — there was no way he could solo the entire secret realm's challenges and claim the inheritance. Even if he kept Jiamen and the others in the dark, assembling an elite squad composed entirely of third-tier apprentices was simply impossible.
Besides. Even if he assembled his own squad, once they discovered it was an inheritance left behind by the Crimson Grand Wizard, Lei Lin could be certain the group would inevitably descend into infighting!!!
For an apprentice, the Crimson Grand Wizard was nothing short of a legendary mythic figure! His inheritance would be the deadliest temptation for any Wizard Apprentice!!!
In the end, everyone was going to turn on each other anyway — so what difference did it make who he turned on!!!
Lei Lin asked himself — if it came down to trump cards, he was definitely the one with the most hidden up his sleeve. The one laughing last would absolutely be him!!!
"Looks like they were attacked by some kind of dangerous creature!"
Jiamen pulled out the green enchanted badge and held it firmly in his hand.
The surrounding light was extremely dim and visibility was very low — Lei Lin and the others couldn't make out any details of the distant surroundings.
The five apprentices naturally formed a circle to brace against outside attacks.
"Look at this!" Ross crouched down, pointing at a ring of hemispherical tracks on the ground.
Lei Lin looked in the direction he was pointing. The hemispherical tracks were quite deep and extended far off into the distance. Around the boy's remains, these marks appeared most frequently.
"It's a snake trail!!!" Lei Lin reached into one of the tracks and pulled out a diamond-shaped scale the size of an adult's palm, blurting out involuntarily.
"A snake trail? So that means there's a serpent-type dangerous creature lurking nearby!"
The muscles on Ross's right arm swelled, ripping through his clothes.
Whoosh! Pale, flesh-colored tentacles shot out one after another, forming a ring of defense around him.
Hssss! Hssss!
The sound of snakes flicking their tongues echoed from all around.
"Looks like the Crimson Grand Wizard had a particular fondness for serpent creatures!" Lei Lin thought of the Manxter giant python he had seen in the laboratory's incubation area last time, and couldn't help letting his thoughts drift.
"But what does this actually mean?"
Records of the Crimson Grand Wizard only appeared in the form of poetry and travel journals.
Lei Lin had yet to find a single book that detailed the Crimson Grand Wizard's deeds. By his guess, such works should be content restricted to official Wizards only.
"Looks like a big one!" Bosain licked his lips. Silver metal flowed across his entire body, encasing him in a gleaming white suit of full plate armor.
Boom!!!
A massive, elongated black shadow burst through the darkness, charging straight at the apprentices.
"Hssss!" Countless tentacles shot out, wrapping around the black silhouette.
Ross burst into laughter: "Got you!"
"Light Orb!" A brilliant sphere of light materialized in Shaya's hand, which she promptly hurled into the air.
The orb detonated midair, flooding the cavern with radiance like the sun itself.
Lei Lin narrowed his eyes, studying the creature Ross had ensnared— A colossal serpent, dozens of meters long, entirely black and covered in the diamond-shaped scales Lei Lin had spotted earlier. A single red stripe ran along its back, stretching from head to tail.
Right in the center of its head sat a small black horn that pulsed with an incredibly powerful wave of energy.
Beneath the horn, a pair of inverted triangular pupils—bright amber eyes—stared directly at Lei Lin and the others.
The great serpent's body was bound tight by a ring of pale, flesh-colored tentacles, pinning it in place.
Compared to the enormous snake, Ross looked like a tiny speck—the scene was almost comical.
"Chip! Scan this creature!" Lei Lin silently issued the command.
"Scanning!"
"Horalar Black Snake—98.7% similarity! Neporak Black Mamba—75%! Manxter Giant Serpent—34.6%!"
The Chip reported back faithfully.
"Horalar Black Snake? Pull up the detailed records!" Lei Lin's brow furrowed.
"Horalar Black Snake — a dangerous-class species, carrying a trace of the bloodline of the legendary ancient creature, the Komoin Giant Serpent, possessing extremely formidable power and astonishing life force!"
"Source: Ancient Creatures Compendium, Dangerous Species Assessment Table."
ps: Thanks to all my readers for your support! Honestly, Wenchao never expected Warlock to do this well — a deep bow!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alright, keeping my promise — if June's numbers stay above a thousand subscriptions, then Wenchao will post three chapters a day throughout June. The first update will still be at 6 AM, the second at 3 PM, and the third will go up after 9 PM. I hope everyone continues to support Wenchao!!!!!!!!