A day later, Leilin once again met with the old woman of the Portley family.
But this time, her condition was far worse. Her face was pale, and she looked as though she hadn't gotten any proper rest.
The moment she saw Leilin, a glimmer of light flashed through her eyes. She spoke immediately, her voice low and hoarse: "I can give you the advanced Meditation Method records passed down through our family. But I need to make one thing clear — this Meditation Method is incomplete, and it also places very strict restrictions on practitioners. If one forces the cultivation process, there will be certain aftereffects…"
"That's all my concern. Hand over the Meditation Method, and I'll give you the key to lift the curse. Simple as that!" Leilin leaned back in his soft recliner, interlacing his fingers, and spoke with an air of calm indifference.
"Agreed! But we must sign a contract with the Eye of Judgment!" The old woman straightened her back.
"Of course! Otherwise I wouldn't trust you either!" Leilin nodded. "Let's begin…"
A short while later, the old woman left with what she had come for. Leilin sat in his chair, toying with a pale golden crystal ball, a playful expression on his face.
"Quite the interesting Meditation Method!"
He had just skimmed through the contents of the Meditation Method the old woman had provided. Thanks to the contract with the Eye of Judgment, she wouldn't dare to forge the core content — but Leilin had noticed that the old woman had still pulled a few tricks.
For example, she had exaggerated certain facts while downplaying others.
According to Haitar's testimony the day before, every male wizard in the Portley family who had attempted to forcibly cultivate this advanced Meditation Method had ultimately gone insane and died. But the document merely stated there would be "some spiritual side effects."
Furthermore, the old woman had inflated the effects of the Meditation Method, changing what was originally described as occasionally catching a few vague fragments of the future into a blanket claim of being able to foresee the future outright.
Any ordinary wizard, upon seeing the extraordinary effects of an advanced Meditation Method — complete with prophetic abilities — would eagerly leap at the chance to practice it, and thereby fall right into the old woman's trap!
"A bit of cleverness! But that's all it is!" Leilin remarked flatly, turning the crystal ball that held the Meditation Method records over in his hands.
Because the Meditation Method itself was genuine, it fully complied with the terms of the Eye of Judgment contract. The minor alterations to its effects and side effects were not enough to trigger the Eye of Judgment's backlash.
But in Leilin's eyes, no matter what she had done, it was nothing more than a joke!
"However, the ability to prophesy — truly remarkable. To actually be able to sense fragments of the future through some ethereal extension of Spiritual Power…"
Leilin stroked his chin. He had given the Meditation Method a rough look-over. Its core principle was to have the wizard cultivate a highly unique form of Spiritual Power through a specialized meditation technique. By extending this Spiritual Power, one could obtain certain pieces of information and images from the future.
All in all, the effects were genuinely astonishing — the only pity was that it was incomplete.
"Chip! How's the scanning and recording going?"
Leilin asked silently in his mind.
The Chip faithfully reported back.
"After scanning and comparison, this Meditation Method contains massive gaps — the damage level exceeds 79.52%! Forced cultivation of this Meditation Method would cause severe mental deterioration in the host, with a 98% probability of split personality disorder!"
"98%! That means I'm guaranteed to run into problems the moment I start cultivating!" Leilin sighed, then asked, "Chip! Can you complete this advanced Meditation Method?"
He suspected that the strict restrictions on physique and bloodline, as well as the terrifying side effects, might all stem from the Meditation Method's incompleteness. If those gaps could be filled, a large part of the problems should be resolved.
"Ding! Due to insufficient advanced Meditation Method data, this Meditation Method cannot be completed!"
As expected, the Chip gave him this reply.
Leilin felt somewhat helpless. Advanced Meditation Methods were matters of life and death for wizard families and organizations. Even with his current standing, he had only managed to get his hands on two — one was his own Eye of Komoin, and the other was this incomplete Sacred Light Candlefire!
According to his speculation, the Chip would likely need a large number of samples for analysis and comparison before it could parse and perfect the Sacred Light Candlefire.
The samples required would amount to at least ten sets of advanced Meditation Method data!!! And they had to be complete — no missing parts allowed.
Ten advanced Meditation Methods? Leilin let out a long sigh. Whether there were even that many advanced Meditation Methods to be found across the entire South Coast was highly uncertain — there was absolutely no way he could get his hands on them in his current position.
"Regardless! This is still an advanced Meditation Method! Something priceless — no market could buy it!"
Leilin caressed the golden crystal ball in his hand. Suddenly, a wisp of black mist flashed through his fingers. Crack! Crack! One fissure after another spread across the crystal ball's surface, and then the entire sphere crumbled into a pile of powder under Leilin's gaze.
All the information about the Sacred Light Candlefire had already been recorded by the Chip and would never be lost. There was no longer any point keeping the crystal ball around. Moreover, Leilin harbored an instinctive distrust toward things left behind by that old woman — it was better to destroy it.