Leilin immediately scanned the faces of those wizards.
Every single one was unfamiliar. He could guarantee that with his memory, anyone he had ever seen at the headquarters of the Four Seasons Garden would spring to mind in an instant. The only explanation for this situation was one possibility!
These wizards were all hidden forces of the Four Seasons Garden — the kind who never showed their faces outside.
It seemed the Four Seasons Garden had really gone all out for this secret realm operation.
And Xishan — the three-eyed wizard and head of the hunting group — was also nowhere to be seen. Either he was lying low, or he had been assigned some special mission.
Leilin felt a weight settle in his chest. He was still carrying an undercover assignment handed down by the Thousand Leaves hand!
Looking at things now, completing that task was going to be incredibly difficult.
Leilin recorded everything he could see with his Chip, then followed the signs along the path to find his quarters.
"Master!"
Leilin arrived in front of a wooden house in Sector D-9, and thanks to the Chip's signal, Great Knights Number Two and Number Three immediately rushed out of the house and dropped to one knee in salute.
Behind the wooden fence at the rear of the house, the venomous flying dragon Hulk also lifted his drowsy head and let out an excited roar.
"Mm." Leilin looked at the two modified subordinates and suddenly regretted letting them leave ahead of him.
Otherwise, with their strength as Branding Swordsmen, he definitely wouldn't have ended up so badly wounded.
"Still, I need to find a chance to field-test a Branding Swordsman's combat power!"
Leilin looked at Number Two and Number Three, kneeling on the ground with reverent expressions, and stroked his chin.
…
The Four Seasons Garden's efficiency was remarkable. That very evening, a clerk dressed in something resembling a black suit knocked on Leilin's door.
"Wizard Leilin! On behalf of the Four Seasons Garden, the Council of Elders requires you to report to the secret realm starting tomorrow and take over the defense of Thirteen!"
The visitor was a formal wizard himself. He spoke very slowly, but enunciated clearly. After finishing the order, he handed Leilin a stamped parchment.
Leilin reached out and took it.
The order was a dark yellow color, the paper thick, with a solid feel.
Its contents matched what the clerk had just read aloud. At the very end of the document was the Four Seasons Garden's seal and several handwritten signatures.
Leilin's fingers brushed lightly over the seal.
Hiss! A ring of four-colored light suddenly flared from the seal, dancing across the surface of the order, gradually forming a spinning four-colored ring before quickly fading away.
This confirmed that both the signatures and the seal on the order were genuine.
Leilin was silent for a moment. "I thought apothecaries were only assigned to the medical role? Nobody told me I'd be sent to the front lines!"
Although he already knew full well Xishan was behind this, Leilin still put on a show of outrage.
"I'm an apothecary! Not some combat operative! You can't judge me by the same standards as those wizards with blood on their hands! I'm lodging a formal protest!"
"I'm sorry, but this decision was passed by the upper echelon of the Four Seasons Garden. If you wish to contest it, you may file an appeal with the Council of Elders within twenty-four hours. However, until the Council issues an order rescinding this directive, you are required to report to Thirteen tomorrow. Failure to do so will be treated as desertion!"
The clerk wore a thoroughly businesslike expression, then bowed elegantly. "If you have no further matters, I'll take my leave. Mr. Leilin."
Click.
The moment the door closed, the furious look on Leilin's face vanished without a trace, replaced by one of deep thought.
Ever since arriving here, he had been mentally prepared for this kind of petty harassment and high-handed treatment. Everything just now had been nothing more than a performance for the sake of others.
After all, an apothecary who calmly accepted a transfer to the front lines would raise all sorts of suspicion.
"Still, with things this urgent, I need to start making some of the preparations I had in mind right away…"
Leilin lowered his head, and a faint dark gleam flickered in his eyes…
The colossal platinum-metal gates still stood there in silence, and it was only upon standing directly before them that Leilin realized the vision he had seen before couldn't even begin to describe a fraction of their true grandeur.
Up close this time, his impression was even deeper.
From these gates to the secret realm, he sensed not only an aura of deep antiquity, but — to his even greater surprise — a faint wave of spiritual power emanating from the entire structure.
This spiritual power belonged to none of the wizards present. It was being emitted by the gates themselves.