"Gravity Wizard Array — full activation, one hundred times power!"
Lei Lin pressed his temple and issued the command.
Bzzzz!!!
A massive earthy-yellow magic array rose from the ground, tearing at the milky-white Barrier of Light.
The White Wizard's body froze momentarily. The energy sphere in his hand shifted trajectory slightly, allowing Lei Lin 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, shock flickering across his face.
"Now! Gravity Wizard Array!" An inverted "l" symbol blazed to life on Lei Lin's body, and he felt himself wrenched as if by a black hole, compressing into a thin black line before vanishing from the spot.
"What an interesting little fellow! What a pity — no amount of tricks will make a difference!" The White Wizard watched the direction of Lei Lin's escape with a calm expression, then suddenly smiled faintly. His peripheral gaze casually swept over the elderly wizard in the distance, and his body dissolved into light, instantly departing.
"That poison?! He must be the recently infamous Poison Devil Lei Lin! And that Third Rank Wizard — I wonder which side he belongs to, Black or White..."
The old wizard murmured in a daze, completely unaware of the envy flickering in Arno's eyes beside him.
……
Bang! A dark shadow slammed into the array, and the massive Gravity Wizard Array shattered instantly.
Lei Lin let out a long, ragged breath. "Third Rank Wizards really aren't something I can handle right now..."
Back then, driven by his emotions, Lei Lin had brazenly killed Yochona — who had powerful backing — and in his blind fury hadn't even taken the slightest protective measure.
And when he killed Yochona, a Death Mark from a Third Rank Wizard had been left on his body.
Wizards generally knew this trick. For Lei Lin, marks from anything below a Second Rank Wizard were completely useless against him, but obviously, a tracking mark implanted by a Third Rank Wizard was not something that could be easily removed.
Lei Lin smiled bitterly as he gazed into his sea of consciousness.
In that blood-red ocean, a speck of milky-white light clung there like a maggot burrowed into bone, refusing to budge — and it would expand the moment Lei Lin's attention wavered.
Expelling this mark would require expending enormous amounts of time and Spiritual Power to gradually wear it down.
This was the optimal solution the Chip had proposed. But in Lei Lin's current situation, with the enemy tracking him down at regular intervals, he simply didn't have the time to deal with it.
After these several battles, Lei Lin had gained a far deeper understanding of his own strength.
To those Second Rank Wizards who had barely scraped by into their ranks, he was an absolutely terrifying existence.
Possessing an advanced Meditation Method and having acquired a powerful bloodline, each level-up as a Warlock brought him enormous benefits and tremendous boosts in strength.
But for those Second Rank Wizards who also possessed advanced Meditation Methods, the gap was not so obviously stark.
"My current strength is considered elite among Second Rank Wizards, but against any Third Rank Wizard, I still have no confidence — even escaping would depend on sheer luck!"
Shaking his head, Lei Lin walked out.
Before his eyes lay a desolate small town, its ground blanketed in dust, debris, and all manner of creeping vines.
"No good! The mark on me is emitting positioning fluctuations at every moment. No matter where I am on the South Coast, I can be tracked down. I need to go somewhere far away — far enough to block the mark's signal transmission!"
A resolute gleam shot from Lei Lin's eyes, and this place, unmistakably, was the deserted small town where the Soul Slaying Sect's secret realm was located!
"If it really comes to that, I'll have to leave through the teleportation array! If I act fast enough, he won't discover this place, and I can always come back!"
If the other party hadn't discovered this secret realm, Lei Lin could simply purge the mark there and then swagger back to the South Coast without a care.
But if the entrance to the secret realm was found, then no matter how reluctant Lei Lin was, he would have to painfully abandon this place, destroy the teleportation array on the other side, and leave it behind forever.
"I didn't think I'd have to use this trump card so soon!"
A bitter smile crossed Lei Lin's face as he re-entered the Soul Slaying Secret Realm through the villa's formation entrance. As he passed through the Void Formation, Lei Lin flicked his finger, and a streak of red light sank into the wall.
"An ultra-long-range detection spell and a soul servant — I couldn't get my hands on either this time. To go over there, I'll have to make the trip myself. Even though the Chip's scans have confirmed the teleportation array should have no issues, this kind of gamble still feels awful…"
Frowning, Lei Lin made his way to the hidden chamber of the emergency passage.
Though he could be certain the teleportation array was functional, what the environment on the other side actually looked like was something he simply couldn't guarantee.
The only thing he could be sure of was that the destination was extremely far from here — far enough that once he fled over and severed the formation link between the two sides, he could permanently shake off the pursuit of that Third Rank Wizard!
"I'll go over and take a look first. If it really doesn't work out, I can always come back!" Lei Lin consoled himself.
*Pfft!* Suddenly, a dazzling pillar of milky-white light erupted from Lei Lin's body, shooting straight upward as if piercing through the chamber's barrier and blasting directly into the sky.
Lei Lin clutched his head and stumbled back several steps. Within his sea of consciousness, that point of miltry-white light kept expanding outward, and no amount of spiritual power he threw against it made the slightest difference.