Leilin froze at the words and looked up.
Without realizing it, their group had already reached the summit of White Bone Mountain.
The peak was barren and empty — nothing stood here except a white altar in the very center.
Looking more closely, one could see that the altar was constructed entirely from white bones. The fluctuations emanating from these bones surpassed those of the First-rank Wizards below; their aura alone was enough to make Leilin feel suffocated.
On some of the wider bone surfaces, strange symbols had been inscribed in fresh blood.
The strokes of these symbols were extraordinarily complex, almost like three-dimensional images — none of what Leilin had ever seen before.
What caught his attention the most was that despite having existed for over five thousand years, the blood on these symbols was still vivid and bright, as though it could drip down at any moment.
Moreover, certain runes had been arranged in peculiar patterns that resembled a map.
Leilin studied them carefully and soon spotted several places he had personally experienced within the secret realm. His heart surged with excitement, and he immediately ordered the Chip to record everything.
At the very center of the altar, an unusual white skull was enshrined.
The skull resembled a human cranium in appearance, except that two black, curved horns jutted from the top, like the horns of a goat.
Between the two horns, there was also a small circular hole whose purpose was unknown.
"So this is the Soul Altar you've been searching for all along?"
Leilin glanced toward the old witch, but she was now staring fixedly at the altar, muttering words he couldn't understand, as though everyone else in the world had ceased to exist.
What surprised Leilin even more was Jaye beside him. Even beneath the black cloak, Leilin could sense her body trembling underneath.
This discovery filled Leilin with concern, and the unease in his heart began to escalate rapidly.
"This is it… this is it, my dear… I'll soon be able to let you…"
The old witch kept murmuring, then pulled out something that looked like a fragment of parchment and tossed it onto the altar.
At the same moment, the trembling Jaye suddenly struck!!!
Dense, pale-blue semi-transparent threads descended from above like a vast net, hurtling toward Leilin. The surrounding air let out a faint, piercing whistling, and even the void itself seemed to ripple.
"What are you doing?!" Leilin roared, though his face betrayed little real emotion.
Clearly, he had anticipated something like this and had made preparations in advance.
BOOM!!!
Leilin's hair erupted outward. Countless black strands came alive, writhing as they surged up to meet the incoming blue net.
Tssss!
The instant the blue semi-transparent net tangled with the black strands, thick white vapor billowed out, accompanied by the crackling sounds of something being corroded, exploding repeatedly in the air.
Using his hair as a shield, Leilin's figure flickered, and he was already over a dozen meters away from his original position.
"The Madori Defensive Formation!" Jaye inside the dark cloak knew full well that Leilin's strength far exceeded hers — her earlier attack had been nothing more than a bid to buy time.
While Leilin had been entangled with the net, Jaye had been circling the Soul Altar, laying down a ring of defensive arrays!
"Activate!" With Jaye's command, a semi-transparent black barrier rose around the Soul Altar, shielding the entire altar along with Jaye and the old witch inside.
"Shadow Fireball!" Black light flashed in Leilin's eyes, and countless black fireballs burst into existence from every shadow, slamming into the black barrier!
BOOM!!!
The black fireballs merged together, their volume suddenly swelling tenfold or more. Bolstered by Leilin's seventy-percent spiritual elementalization, their power reached truly terrifying levels.
An ordinary Wizard's innate defensive enchantment would likely be completely shattered within seconds under such an assault!
The black flames spread across the barrier. Inside, Jaye was doing her utmost to hold it together, but the defensive formation trembled continuously, as though it would collapse at any moment.
Yet Jaye inside showed no panic. She appeared to chant a few lines of incantation.
Hummmm!!! From the base of the altar, a ring of black radiance blazed to life, pouring energy into the defensive formation.
BOOM!!!
With that infusion, the defensive formation's glow erupted violently, turning so deeply black that the figures inside were nearly invisible.
The Shadow Fireballs outside continued to burn fiercely against the barrier for another dozen seconds or so.
But under the formation's now far more tenacious defenses, they ultimately dissipated.
"This…"