"This voice... a Morning Star
Leilin's pupils contracted. If there was one Tier 3 Wizard on the Central Continent who had studied the Morning Star realm the most, it was certainly himself! Through the Chip's simulations and calculations, as well as the intelligence he had gathered previously, he already possessed a very high level of understanding regarding the Morning Star realm.
And the owner of this voice, with that tone carrying a strange power and the faint touch of laws — no Wizard below the Morning Star realm could ever replicate it.
"Grandfather! Save me!"
Up ahead, Leo's face suddenly lit up with joy, and his speed slowed considerably.
With a Morning Star Wizard present, Leilin would never be able to harm him. This was his absolute trust in both his grandfather and the power of the Morning Star realm!
"Hm?!" At that moment, Leilin noticed something different.
"Though the essence of the aura hasn't changed, the intensity is only at the peak of Tier 3 Crystallization... Could it be... a puppet or a clone or something similar?"
This was, after all, within the territory of the Ouroboros Ring. An outside Morning Star Wizard who rashly set foot here would typically be regarded as a provocation, potentially triggering a war.
However, restrictions regarding clones and such were somewhat ambiguous.
After all, it was extremely difficult for a Morning Star Wizard to create a clone of equal strength. Almost no one could succeed — most were limited to the peak of Tier 3.
With Leilin's keen eyesight, he could already see a brilliant beam of blue light shooting toward them from the distance at tremendous speed.
"Haha... you're dead!" Leo laughed heartily.
But soon, his laughter froze. The scenery on both sides shrank rapidly, then expanded. The world arced past his vision like a parabola, and the last thing he saw was a patch of earthy yellow ground.
"This is my head. My head has been cut off..." With that final thought, Leo sank completely into darkness.
Whoosh! A blue figure materialized before Leilin. Seeing Leo's headless corpse, a look of fury appeared on the newcomer's face.
"I already told you to stop!"
His voice was deep, yet carried an irresistible force — a single word spoken and it had to be obeyed.
This was the kind of authority that could only be cultivated through long years of holding supreme power and possessing absolute strength.
Leilin studied this Morning Star Wizard. Although he had never met the Blue Mountain King before, he had read plenty of records. The figure before him matched the images exactly — blue hair and a pair of eyes that shone like stars.
But right now, the fury on his face was unmistakable — a Morning Star's wrath! Enough to burn Leilin to ashes!
"My apologies! I killed him!" Leilin shrugged.
If the real thing had come in person, he would have had no recourse whatsoever. But against a clone, there was at least some hope of escape.
"Do you know who he was?"
The Blue Mountain King's eyelids lowered. Those close to him would know this was his expression when his rage reached its peak.
"The patriarch of the Oakheart family...?" Leilin shook his eyes fixed on the Blue Mountain King. "I don't care who he was. Those who intend to harm me can only atone with death!"
"Then let me tell you — the last Wizard who dared offend the Oakheart family had his ashes buried beneath the steps of Blue Mountain City!"
The light in the Blue Mountain King's eyes blazed to its limit.
Before him, a circular mirror materialized, reflecting Leilin's image.
"Deprive!" The Blue Mountain King pointed a finger lightly at Leilin's reflection in the mirror.
Bzzz! As if rejected by the entire world, Leilin immediately felt the elemental particles that had always flowed with him like water and milk suddenly drifting away. In an instant, he felt as though he had become an ordinary person.
The Morning Star Wizard's Domain of Isolation once again demonstrated its terrifying power!
"Not right!" Leilin had, after all, once experienced the domain of a true Morning Star Wizard when he encountered the Demon Hunter. He naturally recognized that this isolation was different from a true Morning Star's.
Compared to last time, things were somewhat better this round — his connection with the elemental particles was still barely maintained. As long as he spent more Spiritual Power than usual, he could still communicate with them and cast spells.
However, this was equivalent to forcibly suppressing fifty percent of his Spiritual Power.
A bitter smile tugged at Leilin's lips. Even if the opponent was merely a clone, and even if his Spiritual Power and total mana were roughly comparable to his own, the gap in their understanding of spells and the power of laws was something he simply could not bridge.
A single act of suppression had immediately thrown him into a dilemma.
After having half his strength suppressed, fight against a peak Tier 3 opponent? Leilin shook his head, feeling his earlier optimism had been far too naive.
"But then again, this is also an opportunity! A chance to directly confront a Morning Star Wizard and collect data!"
Leilin's eyes lit up. To advance to the Morning Star realm, he needed a deeper understanding of that level as well. The Chip had previously run simulations using data and experimental records, but due to the lack of actual samples, progress was still stuck at just over a dozen percent.
And right across from him stood a Morning Star Wizard's clone. He didn't need to defeat it — he just needed to engage it long enough. The data the Chip collected alone would be an enormous gain.
"I'll use this battle to let the Chip gather sufficient Morning Star data!"
Leilin's eyes blazed with a roaring fire. He unsheathed the Falling Star Sword, and a clear ring of steel sang from the blade.
At the same time, a layer of black Comoran Scales enveloped Leilin's entire body, and a massive, terrifying multi-armed phantom appeared behind him.
"Since my elemental powers are suppressed, I'll have to rely on physical strength!"
The power of the Many-Armed raced at full capacity, causing Leilin's frame to grow a full head taller. Muscles bulged everywhere as a layer of dark green luminescence shimmered across his skin.
With a low roar, the Falling Star Sword erupted with countless streaks of sharp light, like ten thousand arrows loosed at once, all aimed at the Blue Mountain King.
"You still dare to resist?" The Blue Mountain King's brow furrowed.
How many years had it been? Two hundred? Three hundred? Since his ascension to the Morning Star realm, he could not remember the last time he had faced this kind of provocation from a low-tier Wizard.
After a moment of astonishment, the flames of fury continued to rise from within the Blue Mountain King's heart.
Clang! Clang! A spherical, translucent membrane of light emerged from the Blue Mountain King's body. Though it looked like nothing more than a bubble, it deflected every last streak of black light.
"Kill!"
After the black radiance faded, Leilin's figure reappeared. He leapt forward, the Falling Star Sword cleaving through the void with a ferocious rush of wind, thrusting straight at the Blue Mountain King.
On both sides of the blade, thin streams of black energy sprayed outward, making the surrounding void seem to melt. The ground below corroded continuously, leaving behind patches of rotting decay.
Bam!
The toxin-laden blade was caught by a single aged palm. Though the hand looked ancient beyond measure — greenish veins clearly visible beneath the skin — it was as immovable as a small mountain. The skin was not even scratched.
The Blue Mountain King held up his right hand before him, a mocking smile on his face as he watched Leilin's expression shift dramatically.
"Abandoning elemental magic in favor of physical force is a reasonable method against elemental suppression. But unfortunately, these tricks are far too crude..."
"Impossible! Your physical strength can't possibly be this great!" Leilin blurted out.
"Do you know what a Singularity is? What a Morning Star truly is?"
The Blue Mountain King chuckled softly. "The power of the Singularity, the power of the Soul — these are the only true forces a Morning Star Wizard possesses! And they far transcend Spiritual Power and physical strength, achieving a terrifying qualitative transformation!"
A layer of crystalline luminescence appeared on the Blue Mountain King's palm.
His right hand gripped the Falling Star Sword, and his left hand delivered an merciless punch straight onto the blade!
Ding! The Falling Star Sword wailed as hairline cracks spread across its surface. A Morning Star Wizard's purely physical strike had actually damaged a blade whose material rivaled that of a Magical Weapon!
"I may not excel at physical attacks! But as long as I have the augmentation of Soul Power, my physical attributes can continually break through, ultimately achieving the perfect Morning Star Body!"
"Your patchwork of mixed powers and your Spiritual Power are nothing before Soul Power — they will only shatter!"
As if to confirm the Blue Mountain King's words, countless crystalline blades of light materialized before him, engulfing Leilin completely.
The power of the Singularity — also known as Soul Power — was the higher echelon of a Wizard's Spiritual Power, a domain only Morning Star Wizards could touch. For the first time, it revealed its terrifying might before Leilin.
Watching Leilin being swallowed by the Soul blades, a smile surfaced on the Blue Mountain King's face.
The blades forged from Soul Power not only carried devastating physical destructive force, they could also directly attack the soul core within a Wizard's sea of consciousness!
Wizards below the Morning Star realm, lacking Soul Power of equivalent caliber for defense, were utterly powerless against these Soul blades.
This was precisely why any Morning Star Wizard's clone was virtually invincible at the Tier 3 level — the existence of Soul Power!
The smile lingered on the Blue Mountain King's face for only an instant before it froze solid.
Through the perception of his Soul Power, he could sense that although Leilin was covered in wounds, he had survived the onslaught of the Soul blades.
Immediately after, the Blue Mountain King felt his hand go light as the Falling Star Sword slipped free of his grip and flew back into Leilin's hand.
Bam!
A dark green shadow burst out from the encirclement of Soul blades. Leilin's body was covered in terrifying scales, with dark green luminescence surging continuously.
"Many-Armed Hammer!"
Leilin abandoned the Falling Star Sword. Torrents of physical power converged in his fist as he smashed it into the Blue Mountain King's defensive membrane. Pure physical force alone made the entire void tremble.
A Morning Star Wizard's Soul Power was a qualitative transformation that transcended Spiritual Power. The massive suppression in rank rendered most of a Wizard's techniques ineffective.
But Leilin was not limited to Wizard techniques alone. In his arsenal, he also held secret arts from another world — the Power of the Many-Armed!
A colossal multi-armed phantom materialized behind Leilin and let out a heaven-shaking roar.