Wooo…
Following the howling cries, faint points of milky-white and dark-crimson light flickered to life across the battlefield.
These lights were very bright, and some even bore faint human faces within them. The surrounding Wizards cried out in alarm, for they saw their own relatives and friends reflected in the glow!
"Souls! This is a Magical Array specifically targeting the souls of the fallen!"
A
These milky-white and dark-crimson points of light seemed to be drawn by an immense force, streaming towards the blood-colored light barrier at the center of the array.
Sizzle!
The instant the soul lights touched the blood-colored barrier, they dissolved into it as if water merging with milk.
The blood-colored barrier accepted all comers. Whether it was the soul of an Apprentice or a Wizard, Black or White, it absorbed the torrential stream of soul lights without discrimination.
As more and more souls were absorbed, the blood-colored film gradually darkened. In the end, it transformed into a grand defensive Magical Array of a dark-crimson hue.
"Targeting souls! This is a forbidden art explicitly banned by the White Wizard Alliance! And they dare to collect the souls of Wizards! This is the greatest blasphemy!!!"
A white-bearded Wizard's eyes were red. Just moments ago, he had witnessed the soul of his beloved absorbed by that sinister barrier. Even without thinking hard, he knew Leilin was up to no good by collecting these souls.
"Destroy it quickly!"
The sinister black Magical Array sent a chill down the spine of every Wizard on the battlefield, Black or White alike. None wished for their souls to be extracted and exploited after death.
Various ice arrows, fireballs, eerie soul Arts, and sacred Light-system spells bombarded the rune-covered structure like explosions.
Rumble!
Under the Wizards' assault, the structure was quickly reduced to ash, but the black runes, like brands, remained deeply inscribed in the void. Not even the residual turbulence from the clash between two Second-Rank Wizards could destroy these runes.
"I remember now! It's the Myriad Spirits Grand Array:
"This is an array even the ancients considered taboo! It can absorb the soul energy of all who die within its range. Thanks to a sliver of Hades' protection, it cannot be destroyed before the array's duration expires…"
"I've heard of this array too! But I thought its knowledge was lost forever?"
The surrounding Wizards ceased their attacks, staring at the dark-crimson barrier at the center of the
The massive black Magical Array continued to roar, drawing in a torrent of souls and funneling them into the barrier. Such a spectacle made even the mutated creatures outside hesitate and shrink back.
The entire battlefield fell silent. Black Wizards, White Wizards, and even the two Second-Rank Wizards engaged in combat diverted a sliver of their attention to watch the blood-red barrier's every move.
Inside the blood-red barrier…
Leilin gazed at the white-gold flames in his hand, a smile playing on his lips.
"Power!" he whispered gently.
He had never intended to honor the Judgment Eye contract with Kebin from the very beginning. Everything he had done was for this item in his hand!
The promise to secure entry into the Black Night Lighthouse was mere smoke. Relying on the protection of another power could never compare to the exhilaration and freedom of relying solely on oneself.
As for the Judgment Eye's contract? In Leilin's eyes, it was a joke!
Using the Filth Bird's feather solution, he had easily erased every trace of the contract from his body!
Although he only had one dose of the Filth Bird's feather solution, Leilin still possessed plenty of the Illusory Void Flower!
This flower possessed a very peculiar trait: through simple processing, it could simulate the composition of various complex substances! It was precisely because of this that it was an indispensable primary ingredient in many ancient potions!
After the Giant had eagerly delivered the Filth Bird's feather solution to him, Leilin didn't use it immediately. Instead, he had leveraged the Chip's capabilities to meticulously record the solution's composition!
Subsequently, through repeated experiments and with the aid of the Chip's atomic microscope, Leilin had successfully used the Illusory Void Flower's properties to simulate the composition of the Filth Bird's feather solution!
What followed was only natural.
With the seventh-star authority of the Array Spirit, Leilin had secretly inscribed the runes for the Myriad Spirits Grand Array on various structures throughout the city, preparing for this very day.
The knowledge for inscribing the Myriad Spirits Grand Array's runes and arranging its energy points had come from the Book of the Giant Serpent.
According to the记载s of the Komoin Eye, for Leilin to break through to become a Second-Rank Warlock, he had to burn a massive amount of spiritual power to stimulate the breakthrough of a high-tier Meditation Method, thereby driving his own advancement.
This method could be accomplished either through slow personal accumulation or by using a large quantity of ownerless spiritual power!
For a Wizard, spiritual power was as precious as their own blood. Burning a large amount of their own spiritual power at once would inevitably cause severe consequences. Even if they succeeded in advancing, it would take a great deal of time to recover from such a loss.
However, if one used external, ownerless spiritual power, this problem disappeared. Moreover, if this spiritual power was sufficiently vast and pure in quality, it could even nourish the Wizard, laying a solid foundation for their future progress!
Having learned this, Leilin immediately set his sights on the Core Consciousness Entity.
Such Core Consciousness Entities were formed over millennia, possessing immense spiritual reserves but extremely weak willpower, often weaker than a three-year-old child. This was precisely why they could be easily captured and sealed by Wizards.
Furthermore, the spiritual power needed to stimulate a Meditation Method breakthrough required even deeper purification and refinement.
Therefore, Leilin chose the Myriad Spirits Grand Array from the Book of the Giant Serpent—a powerful forbidden Magical Array designed specifically to harvest soul force.
This array required a battlefield and the deaths of many Wizards with strong spiritual power. This was why Leilin had chosen to activate it now.
Outside, a large number of both Black and White Wizards had already fallen. The souls of these Wizards and Apprentices, and even the mutated creatures, would become the fuel for Leilin's advancement!
"I must hurry! Begin!"
With a thought from Leilin, countless milky-white and blood-red soul lights, like moths drawn to a flame, surged towards the white-gold point of light in his palm.
At that moment, Leilin could even feel the enraged roar of a will imprisoned within the heart of the white-gold flame.
The soul lights from the Wizards were numerous but chaotic, while the spiritual power within the Core Consciousness Entity of the metal gate was vast, yet its self-awareness was utterly frail.
The moment these two forces collided, they reacted violently, like boiling water meeting oil.
Under the powerful influence of the Myriad Spirits Grand Array: Hades' Ritual, both forces followed the script Leilin had prepared in advance.
The originally pea-sized white-gold flame suddenly erupted, burning with brilliant white-gold fire. Countless soul lights were incinerated to ash within it.
Yet the soul lights seemed endless. Even as the ones ahead were burned to nothing, those behind charged into the flames without hesitation. Especially the soul lights belonging to formal Wizards, which could endure the flames for a long time, nearly extinguishing the white-gold fire.
Gradually, the consciousness within the white-gold flame grew weaker and weaker. The soul lights that had been consumed, stripped of their impurities and devoid of any consciousness, became extraordinarily pure.
A stream of extremely pure, ownerless spiritual power began to emanate from the heart of the flame.
…
Leilin didn't know how much time had passed when he stared at the silvery flame before him, his eyes gleaming with undisguised delight.
This was the spiritual power crystallization he had refined, fusing the spiritual power accumulated by the metal gate over countless years with the spiritual essence of all the Wizards who had died in battle.
"The effect is even better than I anticipated! The total volume of spiritual power has increased by 22%."
Leilin murmured softly, then looked to a spot beside the silvery flame. There, a white-gold sphere of light, about the size of a ping-pong ball, floated quietly, emanating a spiritual fluctuation so faint Leilin could almost ignore it.
Yet this spiritual fluctuation was subtly connected to the silvery flame, possessing an almost desperate desire to return to it.
This was the Core Consciousness Entity of the metal gate, separated from the main mass. After battling against so many souls, it had become incredibly fragile—so much so that a single breath from Leilin could destroy it.
But as long as it persisted for even a moment, the crystallized spiritual power flame in Leilin's hand could never be considered truly pure.
"My apologies."
Leilin whispered softly toward the white-gold sphere, then blew upon it gently.
Poof!
Like a soap bubble bursting, the sphere shattered completely, instantly annihilating into the air.
As the Core Consciousness Entity was destroyed, the silver-white flame in Leilin's hand instantly crystallized. It was translucent and resplendent, resembling a flame totem carved from crystal, radiating an aura of absolute purity.
This was the true, unadulterated form of spiritual power, stripped of all consciousness!
"Massive spiritual power crystallization. Purity: 100%," the Chip provided its conclusion.
"One hundred percent?" Leilin shook his head.
He knew very well that even achieving this state, his own means were insufficient to detect the impurities within the spiritual power, far from perfection.
The soul was a profoundly wondrous thing. Even the current Chip could not fully analyze it. The fact that his tools couldn't detect impurities did not mean Fourth-Rank or Fifth-Rank Arch-Wizards couldn't.
Within the Book of the Giant Serpent, the admonition of the Crimson Arch-Wizard was recorded: spiritual power that appeared this pure still harbored faint, residual spiritual imprints within the void. Under no circumstances should it be absorbed! Doing so would create tremendous obstacles on the path ahead, or even directly cause spiritual aftershocks!