While Leilin was calculating the progression of the Abomination.
The spirits within the magical array had finally been burned to nothing, and the violet flames gradually died down.
Poof! The entire spell formation's glow shattered into pieces.
Leilin walked inside.
A charred smell hit him head-on, accompanied by an extremely nauseating stench.
"This smell — it's like the scent of directly burning sewage waste!" Leilin frowned as he made his way to the very center.
The ordinary corpses within had long since been reduced to ash by the flames.
On the ground, in the scorched and sunken center of the formation, a few specks of luminescence caught Leilin's attention.
They were small green crystals, like glittering, brilliant crushed diamonds, lying quietly at the bottom of the pit.
Leilin covered his hand in a layer of scales and snatched up the green crystals directly.
"Very light! But extremely hard!" His hand clenched tighter and tighter, joints cracking with the effort, but his strength of 7.1 couldn't so much as budge the crystals.
"..." Suddenly, a gentle whisper drilled into Leilin's ears, the sound seeming to emanate from the green crystals themselves.
With curiosity on his face, Leilin brought the crystals close to his ear.
"Thank you! Young man!"
In an instant! Brilliant white light seemed to illuminate the entire garden. Within the light, Leilin saw tens of thousands of human phantoms.
These phantoms' faces looked faintly familiar — they were the spirits from before, but their forms had returned to those of normal people.
The phantoms included both men and women, even a few dressed as Wizards and apprentices. At this moment, they all wore gentle smiles on their faces, gradually dissolving into the white light.
"Mm!" Leilin looked around. With the death of the vengeful spirit Abomination, the green soul plague had retreated, revealing the garden's surface once more.
The spirits from before had completely vanished, as if it had all been a dream.
But Leilin knew he absolutely hadn't been hallucinating.
The Chip's voice rang out at that moment.
"Scan complete! This item is a Soul Crystal! It is the refined essence left after a massive quantity of spirits have been burned! In ancient texts, it is one of the most favored currencies among powerful beings from other planes!"
"Soul Crystal!" A look of understanding flickered through Leilin's eyes.
He had heard of such things before. However, this kind of object seemed to only be of practical use to high-level Wizards.
With the ability of a First-level
"No matter what, this will definitely come in handy later!" Leilin gathered every last bit of the green soul crystals from the ground and placed them reverently into a small pouch. He sealed it with gold thread before carefully tucking it into his inner pocket.
By now, the green soul plague had completely dissipated. On the black stone wall at the far end of the garden, cracks spread across the surface like climbing lizards, covering the entire wall.
Leilin walked up to the cracked wall and gave it a light tap with his right hand!
Crash!
Countless stone fragments tumbled down, kicking up clouds of white dust. Behind the wall, a deep, dark tunnel opening glimmered with pitch-black light.
A flicker of darkness passed through Leilin's eyes.
He then plucked a single long hair from his head and murmured several strange incantations.
The black hair twisted as it fell to the ground, swelling and writhing until it took the shape of a small black snake.
The snake had fine, dense scales and a pair of tiny red eyes set in a body that looked almost jade-like. It was exceedingly miniature — not at all fearsome, but rather somewhat cute.
The little snake circled Leilin once, flicked out its slender tongue to lick his boot, and then slithered into the pitch-black passage with a swaying motion.
Leilin closed his eyes. A wisp of spiritual power maintained its connection with the small snake, and images and sounds began to appear before Leilin's consciousness.
The surroundings were dimly lit, but that was no problem for the little black snake.
Through the snake's eyes, Leilin could see what appeared to be an earthen mine shaft, its walls covered in a thick network of plant roots.
The roots crisscrossed like a web, clinging to the walls of the shaft like a fisherman's net.
As the snake slithered deeper — after roughly a thousand meters — a wall of earth-yellow tree roots blocked its path, standing like a barrier.
"This is... a Mist Tree Root! An ancient security mechanism!"
Leilin's heart leaped with joy. The appearance of this device meant he was very close to the heart of the laboratory.
"Whoever enters, answer my question, or you shall be torn to shreds!" An elderly face suddenly materialized on the massive root. The old man stared into the snake's eyes, seeming to peer through them at Leilin beyond.
"Ask away!" Leilin projected a wave of spiritual energy through the black snake.
"What has a face like a jewel, eyes like a pearl, and every winter, the Creator grants it a chance at rebirth?"
"That's..." Leilin lowered his head in a show of deep thought, while secretly issuing a command: "Chip! Search the database!"
The Chip responded instantly.
"A gem sea star!" The little snake before the Mist Tree Root answered.
"Correct!" The Mist Tree Root let out a deafening roar and pulled its roots from the earth as if plucking radishes, revealing a hidden passage behind it.
"As your reward, you may pass through here!" The old face on the tree root broke into a smile.
"A reward? I don't think so!"
The little snake shook its head and slithered toward the passage.
Snap! In an instant, a massive root whipped forward like a giant hand, directly blocking the snake's path.
"The Wizard behind you is permitted to pass — not you, this magical construct!" A flicker of anger appeared on the old root's face.
"Young Wizard, are you mocking me?"
"It is a part of me, and I consider it qualified to enter!" The little snake raised its head and met the enormous tree-face's gaze.
"No! You must come yourself!" The old tree root was quite obstinate on this point.
"Then fine!" The small black snake lowered its head, as if thinking.
Then its body sprang like lightning, shooting straight into the passage.
Crack!
The previously calm passage suddenly erupted with countless black bolts of lightning, each one seemingly alive as they lunged toward the snake.
Amid a shower of sparks, the small snake was torn to charred fragments.
"A trap, as expected! Black Prison Wild Thunder at five-star rank or above, and in such quantities — they truly spared no expense..."
At the garden entrance behind him, Leilin stared at the earthen tunnel and allowed a mocking smile to cross his face.
The Mist Tree Root had been nothing but a trap! Even if the intruder answered correctly, it would only lead them into danger.
Unfortunately, after so many years, the Mist Tree Root's intelligence seemed to have developed a few problems. It was far too eager, and Leilin had sensed something was off.
No matter how clever the trap, once it was seen through, it was nothing but a joke.
At that moment, a violent tremor rumbled from the mine shaft before Leilin, accompanied by an aged voice: "Kill you! I'll kill you! Invader!"
It seemed the walls of the entire mine shaft were supported by tree roots, and now that the whole organism was struggling to break free, a chain reaction set in across the entire structure.
"This creature — its constitution and strength are probably even greater than that Abomination from before. And since it's a plant-type, its life force is extremely tenacious, with strong resistance to spiritual attacks. It's even more difficult to deal with than the vengeful spirit Abomination. In this mine shaft, it's fighting on home turf — if it wants to, it could bury me alive at any moment!"
Leilin lowered his head in thought for a moment, then suddenly looked up, a strange smile curving at the corner of his lips.
"Too bad! Your plant type happens to be perfectly countered by one of my recent experimental products! Let's release it right here!"
Leilin reached into the leather satchel behind him and produced a nitrogen-crystal test tube. Inside the tube, there was no potion — only a tiny black dot at the bottom, something that looked like an arthropod, equipped with a pair of transparent wings.
Upon seeing this thing, Leilin's expression became extremely grave.
"I still don't know whether releasing this thing is a good idea or a bad one... but it's worth trying..."
Leilin murmured to himself.
This was the product of an accidental experiment.
The thing inside the test tube was a termite from the Wizard World, one Leilin had discovered during the Four Seasons Secret Realm when he was dealing with a pest infestation.
Because this particular specimen's genetic sequence was different from the other termites — it was notably more robust — the Leilin of that time had casually captured it. It was only later that he had discovered its secret!
A truly bizarre genetic fragment had parasitized this termite, causing its vitality and reproductive capacity to explode to extraordinary levels.
The rate of growth had far surpassed the normal laws of nature. In Leilin's view, this thing was a hybrid of an extraplanar virus and cancer cells.
After multiple failed attempts to extract the fragment, Leilin had no choice but to take the termite itself and, using the Chip's atomic surgery, further amplify its already monstrous abilities — transforming it into a single-use weapon designed specifically to attack plant-type organisms!
Now, it seemed, was exactly the right time to use it.
"Come! Let's see what kind of power is released when you combine a Wizard World's bizarre organism with the peak of modern scientific technology!"
"The host is about to deploy Life Form Number One! Per the prior programming parameters, please set the self-destruct timer!"
The Chip's prompt sounded once again.
"Five minutes!"
Leilin extended a thread of spiritual power into the test tube and then dripped several drops of red fluid inside, as if performing final adjustments.
Then he looked at the still-raging passage, where the Mist Tree Root continued to writhe and shudder.
"Enjoy your death!"
Leilin sneered, uncapped the test tube, and dropped the termite into the earthen hole.