Under duress, every department had no choice but to swallow their pride and give in to at least some of Leilin's demands. But his reputation was utterly ruined now — his name had been added to every department's list of the least welcome individuals.
To be honest, when he first received the news, Leilin was mildly surprised, and then found it amusing.
In the Wizard world, strength reigned supreme. Reputation wasn't entirely useless, but it only mattered when backed by equivalent power.
As long as he kept progressing, the day he advanced to Second-rank Wizard would come, and when it did, these same people would likely crawl back to him like dogs, terrified that they hadn't buttered him up enough back when he'd been squeezing them dry.
"Wizard Leilin! The greedy dragon! Lord Leono will receive you tomorrow evening at seven o'clock. Be prepared…"
Xishan delivered this announcement in front of Leilin with a completely expressionless face, then turned and left.
"A bit earlier than expected. Looks like I've finally managed to enrage everyone beyond endurance?" Leilin shrugged with a carefree smile.
He'd known from the start that the position of Inspector was no easy seat to fill. Combine that with how recklessly he'd been acting — inviting the collective hostility and opposition of all the Witches of the Four Seasons Garden — and it was hardly surprising.
If he went unprepared, he was dead for certain!!!
This was absolutely guaranteed. First and foremost, Leilin's own hands weren't clean. He couldn't survive a proper investigation.
On top of that, the inheritance of the Crimson Archmage on his person would inevitably draw the covetous eyes of Second-rank or higher Wizards!
In the Wizard world, all manner of lie-detection and soul-probing spells existed!
The reason they hadn't been used before was that everyone was a White Wizard, and procedures had to be followed. But this was wartime! Extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary measures!!! And Leilin had plenty of things he couldn't explain.
Once they put a few spells on him, he probably wouldn't even have room to argue!
In truth, Leilin had long suspected that the Four Seasons Garden had already discovered his secret dealings with Black Wizards — or at least caught wind of it, even if they lacked hard evidence.
Otherwise, how could a high-ranking Apothecary so young and gifted be shipped off to the front lines to fight and die? Any other faction would have treasured someone like him.
"But it's already enough…"
A faint smile curled at the corner of Leilin's lips.
He had long since made peace with the possibility of being discovered. After all, Wizards possessed far too many bizarre and unfathomable means of detection — there was simply no way to guard against all of them.
Managing to buy nearly two years — long enough to complete his bloodline transmutation and accumulate a vast stockpile of knowledge and resources — left Leilin thoroughly satisfied.
"It seems the time has come to burn the bridge!"
His expression turned calm and indifferent. Truth be told, he owed the Four Seasons Garden a degree of guilt on this matter. But for his own sake! For his own interests! For the pursuit of his loftier dreams! He would not hesitate!!!
"Perfect — time to use this!" Leilin flipped his right hand, and a carefully preserved test tube materialized in his palm.
Inside the tube swirled a mass of grey solution. The grey was deeply nauseating to look at — merely glancing at it was enough to make one's head spin.
"The Filth Bird feather solution! Every experiment has already been conducted. From here on, I'll have to sever ties with the Four Seasons Garden and even become their enemy. I must break the contract restriction of the Eye of Judgment on my body!"
Leilin stared at the test tube in his hand, his eyes gleaming with an odd, almost feverish light.
He snapped his fingers, and a thin layer of pale yellow light immediately enveloped the entire room. Then, gently, Leilin opened the mouth of the test tube.
Ssss! A plume of grey gas drifted directly from the tube's opening. The Filth Bird feather solution within, upon contact with the air, erupted into a mass of fine, dense bubbles and began to evaporate violently.
"Ugh!" Leilin clamped a hand hard over his nose. "That stench is horrific!"
He had only caught the faintest whiff, and it nearly knocked him unconscious. It was simply too foul! With his current constitution exceeding twenty points, he still found it almost unbearable.
The Filth Bird was, after all, the very embodiment of all filth in the world, and its feathers carried a trace of the creature's innate defilement properties.
In fact, this feather solution didn't even use the Filth Bird's actual feathers — it used a projection of a sliver of the creature's power onto this plane.
The ancient Filth Bird had been the archenemy of the Eye of Judgment! Their war had extended far beyond the Wizard world, spilling over into several other major planes as well.
In the legends and myths of countless worlds, traces of their conflict could be found.
"Filth… Chaos… How exactly did these properties come into being, and how do they operate?"
Unconcealed curiosity burned in Leilin's eyes. Whether it was the Filth Bird's chaotic nature or the Eye of Judgment's principles of justice and adjudication, these were fundamentally different from any spell in the Wizard world. They resembled some kind of extraordinary natural law instead — and that stirred a powerful desire to explore and understand.
Wizards were always drawn to studying all manner of strange phenomena and forces, and they constantly attempted to convert those forces into power of their own.
In this pursuit of truth, Wizards bore a striking resemblance to the researchers and scientists of Leilin's previous world.
"A pity! Something like this is probably only accessible to Morning Star Wizards or above!"
Both the Eye of Judgment and the Filth Bird were terrifying entities capable of traversing worlds and dominating major planes. Their very existence had transcended the realm of living creatures, entering a level that the current Leilin could neither reach nor comprehend.
Compared to them, the present Leilin wasn't even an ant — less significant than a speck of dust.
Even if he attempted to invoke or summon them, all he could receive was an impotent phantom projection, let alone conduct any deeper research.