The foundation of a Wizard is Spiritual Power.
Starting from the apprentice stage, Wizards meditate on Will Runes, constructing their core spiritual body and sea of consciousness.
Once a Wizard reaches the first level, their Spiritual Power must be elementalized to over 80% before they can step into the boundary of the second level.
The substantive spiritual particles of the second level then pass through three major stages during the third level—gasification, liquefaction, and crystallization—before one can attempt to condense a singularity.
A singularity is the foundation of a Morning Star Wizard, the condensation of all paths and even the soul itself!
Once the ascension succeeds, the Spiritual Power within a Wizard's sea of consciousness is elevated, becoming the force of the soul!
In ancient times, this was also an unmistakable marker of power. One could say that only a Wizard capable of wielding the force of the soul truly qualified as an ancient Wizard!
And because of the terrifying suppressive effect of the soul's force, lower-level Wizards could even be stripped of their ability to communicate with elemental particles, becoming elemental isolates.
Many Morning Star Wizards liked to employ this technique within their Domains, and the suppressed Wizards had no means of resistance whatsoever. Over time, this gave rise to the tremendous prestige of Morning Star Wizards.
Since the power of the same system was completely suppressed, Leilin had no choice but to use power from a different system.
And in his possession, he happened to have a terrifying secret art from another world—Multi-Arm Power!
Just now, inside the soul light blade, it was precisely the dark-green energy defense of Multi-Arm Power that kept Leilin from falling.
BOOM!
Like a mountain collapsing or the ocean roaring, the phantom behind Leilin mirrored his own punching motion.
Invisible currents of air pressed down with such force that the ground behind the Blue Mountain King kept caving in, compressed and compacted by the airflow into something harder than granite.
POP!
The luminous membrane defense on the Blue Mountain King deformed to its limit, then burst apart under his expression of utter disbelief.
"Even a Morning Star is nothing more than this!"
Leilin, drenched in blood, laughed heartily and drove his fist into the Blue Mountain King's face.
BOOM! The Blue Mountain King went flying like a severed locomotive, carving a long furrow through the ground.
"The Morning Star's hide is really something!" Leilin shook his fist, his face devoid of any excitement.
He had clearly felt it—when his attack landed on the opponent, a layer of starlike radiance emerged from the Blue Mountain King's surface, blocking his attack entirely.
As for the Blue Mountain King himself, he had suffered at most a minor tremor—no real injury to speak of.
"The defense of the soul's force?" Leilin stared at the grim-faced Blue Mountain King as he rose to his feet again, secretly communicating with his Chip: "How's the data collection on the target?"
"Target data collection: 12.1%—Recommendation: engage the target multiple times and breach the soul force defense!" the Chip's mechanical voice sounded.
If it weren't for the sake of better collecting intelligence and data, Leilin would have to be mad to fight a Morning Star Wizard's clone to the death here.
"Still need to breach the soul force defense?"
Leilin shook his head with a bitter smile. "Run a simulation for a retreat plan!"
Seeing that things weren't going his way, he immediately had it in mind to withdraw.
But now was not a time when he could simply leave as he pleased. Across from him, the Blue Mountain King, though seemingly uninjured, had flames blazing intensely around his body.
Wisps of black smoke seeped from his seven orifices—eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. Leilin had actually infuriated him to the point of smoke pouring from every opening.
Morning Star Wizards had always been exalted beings, like emperors. And now it was as though an emperor walking down the road had been bitten by an ant!
In the Blue Mountain King's eyes, any Wizard below the Morning Star level was nothing more than an ant.
To be bitten by an ant, and even humiliated on top of it—how could such a thing be tolerated?
"You… how dare you humiliate me like this…"
The muscles on the Blue Mountain King's face twisted so much that he could barely form complete sentences.
"I've heard the whining of defeated dogs like this far too many times…" Leilin gave the opponent no chance to speak again and charged straight in.
Even comparing pure speed alone, he was definitely inferior, so he had to create delays and even inflict some damage before he could make his escape.
"I'll burn your soul for ten thousand years!"
The Blue Mountain King roared, a terrifying aura converging upon him, and the sky itself dimmed faintly, revealing scattered starlight.
The Morning Star Domain could only be fully mastered by a fourth-level Morning Star Wizard, but this was at least a clone whose strength had already reached the peak of the third level. The Domain it generated already contained a portion of a true Domain's power.
Under the shroud of the Morning Star Domain, Leilin immediately felt as though he had fallen into a quagmire—every movement became extraordinarily laborious.
"Soul Armor!" A layer of semi-transparent full-body armor materialized on the Blue Mountain King's surface. With this posture, he seemed intent on using pure physical power to kill Leilin and wash away the humiliation.
"Multi-Arm Power at maximum output! Estimated time until limit: 3 minutes 57 seconds!"
Reading the Chip's prompt, Leilin wasted no time amplifying his physical power to the absolute maximum and crashed into the Blue Mountain King.