"Gravity
Leilin pressed his temples and issued the command.
Bzzzz!!!
A massive earth-yellow light array rose from the ground, tearing at the milky-white light barrier.
The White Wizard's figure froze for a moment, and the energy orb in his hand shifted trajectory slightly, allowing Leilin to dodge it.
"An ancient Wizard Array? When did he set this up?"
The White Wizard stared at the terrifying array spanning several kilometers across the ground, surprise flickering across his face.
"Now! Gravity Wizard Array!" An inverted "L" symbol blazed to life on Leilin's body, and his entire being seemed to be wrenched by a black hole. He transformed into a streak of black light and vanished from the spot.
"What an interesting little fellow! What a shame—no matter how many tricks you have, they're all useless!" The White Wizard watched calmly in the direction Leilin had fled, then smiled faintly. With a casual glance from the corner of his eye toward the elderly wizard in the distance, his body turned into a beam of light and instantly departed.
"Extreme poison?! He must be that Poison Devil King Leilin who's been making waves recently! And that Third-rank Wizard—I wonder which side he belongs to, Black or White…"
The elderly wizard muttered in a daze, failing to notice the envy gleaming in Arno's eyes beside him.
Bang! A dark figure slammed into the barrier, and the massive Gravity Wizard Array shattered instantly.
Leilin let out a long, heavy breath. "A Third-rank Wizard really isn't someone I can contend with right now…"
Back then, under the influence of his emotions, Leilin had brazenly killed the well-connected Jonana. In his fury, he hadn't even taken the slightest protective measure.
And when he killed Jonana, the
Most wizards knew this trick. For Leilin, any mark below Second-rank was completely ineffective on him, but obviously, a tracking mark planted by a Third-rank Wizard was not so easily removed.
Leilin smiled bitterly and gazed into his sea of consciousness.
Within the blood-red ocean, a speck of milky-white light was lodged there like a maggot burrowed into bone—firmly anchored, and expanding the moment Leilin let his attention slip.
To expel this mark would require expending enormous amounts of time and Spiritual Power, slowly grinding it away.
This was the best solution the Chip had offered, but Leilin was being tracked down by his opponent at regular intervals, with nowhere near enough time to deal with it.
After these successive battles, Leilin had gained a much deeper understanding of his own strength.
To those Second-rank Wizards who had barely managed to advance, he was an absolutely terrifying existence.
With a high-grade Meditation Method and having acquired a powerful bloodline, every level-up as a Warlock had brought him tremendous benefits and power amplification.
But against those Second-rank Wizards who also possessed high-grade Meditation Methods, the gap wasn't quite so pronounced.
"Right now, my strength ranks among the elite of Second-rank Wizards. But against any Third-rank Wizard, I still don't stand a chance—even escaping depends on luck!"
Leilin shook his head and walked out.
Before him lay an abandoned small town, its ground blanketed in dust, debris, and all manner of creeping vines.
"No good! The mark on me emits locating pulses at every moment. No matter where I am on the South Coast, I'll be found. I need to go somewhere extremely far away—far enough to sever the mark's signal transmission!"
Determination blazed in Leilin's eyes. And this place was none other than the desolate town where the Soul-Slaughtering Sect's secret realm was hidden!
"If nothing else works, I'll have to use the teleportation array to leave! If I'm fast enough, he won't discover this place, and I can always come back!"
If his opponent hadn't yet found this secret realm, then Leilin could simply expel the mark on the other side and swagger back to the South Coast.
But once the entrance was discovered, no matter how reluctant he was, Leilin would have to painfully abandon this place, destroy the teleportation array on the other side, and leave forever.
"I never thought I'd have to use this contingency so soon!"
With a bitter smile, Leilin passed through the array entrance of the villa and re-entered the Soul-Slaughtering Secret Realm. As he crossed the Void Array, he flicked his finger, and a streak of red light embedded itself into the wall.
"I wasn't able to get my hands on any long-range detection spells or soul servants this time. To go over there, I'll have to go in person. Although the Chip's analysis confirms the teleportation array should work without issues, this feeling of gambling really isn't pleasant…"
Leilin frowned as he made his way to the hidden chamber housing the emergency passage.
While he could confirm the teleportation array itself was fine, what the environment on the other side actually looked like, he simply couldn't be sure.
But one thing he could be certain of was that the destination was extremely far from here. As long as he escaped there and severed the connection between the arrays on both sides, he could completely shake off the Third-rank Wizard's pursuit!
"I'll go over and take a look first. If it doesn't work out, I can always come back!" Leilin reassured himself.
"Pfft!" Suddenly, a blinding pillar of milky-white light erupted from Leilin's body, shooting straight upward as if piercing through the chamber's walls and rocketing into the sky.
Leilin staggered back several steps, clutching his head. Within his sea of consciousness, that speck of milky-white light kept expanding outward, and no amount of Spiritual Power he threw against it made any difference.
Spanning the barrier of space, Leilin seemed to glimpse a Third-rank Wizard with platinum-white hair, rushing toward this location at breakneck speed.
"The tracking interval has shortened again—he's already found this place!"
Leilin's expression turned utterly grim. "I have to use the final plan—completely abandon this place!"
Moreover, this teleportation Wizard Array had to be completely destroyed as well. Otherwise, his opponent could simply follow through the array, and with the tracking mark, Leilin would have nowhere to hide.
Hissing sounds erupted as thick black smoke billowed from Leilin's body. Meanwhile, in his sea of consciousness, massive waves of blood-red light surged forward, enveloping the milky-white Spiritual Power and temporarily isolating its influence on the outside world.
BOOM!
The entire secret realm shook violently, as if some colossal entity were assaulting it from outside.
"It's Aivic forcing his way into the secret realm!" Leilin gritted his teeth, and a blood-red ring on his hand shattered.
The sensing Wizard Array that Gegewu had previously installed on the walls had first been disabled by Leilin, but under the influence of the red light he had launched earlier, it began operating once more. A concealed thread of Spiritual Power radiated outward through a special channel.
Rumble!!!
On the outskirts of the town, soil covered with turf and weeds split open, and a bizarre "corpse" crawled out!
The corpse was withered and diminutive, resembling an old woman, yet it appeared grotesquely deformed—it had two extra legs and two extra hands, plus a youthful face growing on the back of the old woman's head.
It looked like two people sharing a single body.
"The master's early warning system has been activated! The only one who could find this place is Leilin!!!"
Green light shot from the old woman's eyes. "It must be him!!!"
"Leilin? That escaped sacrifice?" The young woman on the back of the old woman's head also opened her eyes.
"Yes! If it weren't for him, you would have already regained your own body long ago. How else would we have ended up like this?"
Old Ghost gnashed her teeth, hatred etched deep in her gaze.
She was Old Ghost—the witch from the City of Eternal Night who had previously struck a secret deal with Leilin, hoping to use him as a sacrifice to offer to Gegewu within the secret realm, thereby allowing her daughter Jay to regain a physical body.
But unfortunately, Leilin's escape had led her wish to be fulfilled in another, far more grotesque way.
No one knew what method Gegewu had used, but it had forcibly grown an additional half-body onto the old woman, allowing Jay's soul to inhabit it.
It could be said that Leilin bore a significant portion of the responsibility for why these two had become this way.
"I'm going to kill him!!!"
Old Ghost roared.
"Have you forgotten our master's orders? He is our master's sacrifice—only our master is worthy of consuming him!" Jay, perched on the back of Old Ghost's head, suddenly went vacant-eyed and murmured.
"No! I wouldn't dare offend Lord Gegewu!" The old witch hastily prostrated herself in apology.
"Then pray quickly! Report the situation here to the great Lord Gegewu!"
After speaking, Jay's face suddenly closed its eyes. When they opened again, she seemed like an entirely different person. "Mother! My symptoms seem to be getting worse…"
When implanting the soul, Gegewu had mixed considerable things into Jay's soul, creating a simple consciousness entity that served as a sort of overseer.
And with her daughter held in check, Old Ghost had no choice but to obey Gegewu's commands.
"Great Soul Harbor Gegewu! You are the end of all things, and the sovereign of all! Please hear your servant's prayer…"
The old witch produced an object resembling a communication device and began murmuring a lengthy prayer scripture.
Bzzzz!!!
After briefly relaying the situation, the entire communication device began to vibrate.
"It's Lord Gegewu! He's going to possess this body!"
Fear appeared on the old witch's face, but her body involuntarily dropped to its knees—after the modifications, this body no longer belonged to her.
A wave of powerful, muddled souls seemingly brimming with resentment poured endlessly through the communication device in a strange manner, then possessed the old witch's body.
The old witch's body trembled violently, her eyes rolled back white, and foam spilled from her mouth.
Finally, her entire body was enveloped by a layer of black spiritual matter, transforming into a massive dark silhouette.
And over the silhouette's face was a demonic skull mask sprouting horns, looking extraordinarily terrifying.
Screech!
The possessed Gegewu let out a howl and lunged toward the secret realm.