"How can there be such high temperatures?"
The old man quickly pulled the black notebook from inside his robe, but at this moment the notebook was radiating intense heat, with wisps of dark energy swirling and clinging above its surface.
Bzzzt! The temperature of the notebook suddenly spiked, a flash of pain crossing the old man's face as his hands instinctively hurled it away.
After only the briefest moment of contact, a large patch of his hands had already been scalded, with dense clusters of white blisters forming across the skin.
With a Wizard's constitution and even the protection of his innate talent magic, he had still suffered such severe injury!
"Wuuu..."
"Great Beilusebabu, you are the sovereign of Hell, the darling of the Primal Force, wielder of the authority of Gluttony — all wills that partake of sustenance tremble before you..."
The phantoms grew denser still, and what sounded like chanting and hymns of praise echoed throughout the entire tomb chamber.
This was a scene Leilin had witnessed before, and he immediately grew wary. The grandfather and grandson, meanwhile, shrank to the side, unsure of what to do, their faces filled with regret.
Whoosh! A streak of dark light shot out from the notebook like an illusory afterimage, plunging directly into the stone runes carved within the coffin.
After the streak of light dissipated, the notebook seemed to have fulfilled its purpose and spontaneously combusted into a pile of black ash.
The stone runes suddenly blazed with resplendent light, threads of radiance linking to the Morning Star's corpse.
A flash of lightning-like brilliance swept across the entire tomb — the Morning Star within had already opened its eyes, returning once more to the world!
"I... I... am I Illigist? Or Grand Sorcerer Gogor??"
"No! I am Beilusebabu! Lord of Gluttony, Beilusebabu!!!"
The Wizard's eyes were initially dazed, but they immediately blazed to life as an overwhelming Morning Star domain descended, crushing the grandfather and grandson flat to the ground.
"Morning Star! It's the Morning Star ancestor!!!" Wild joy surged across the old man's face as he was about to speak, but a flash of malevolence crossed the half-risen corpse's expression.
A blood-red flash of light, and the old Wizard vanished without a trace.
"Hm! A nice supplement! Seemingly a direct descendant of this body!" The blood-red glow in the Morning Star Wizard's eyes intensified as he patted his stomach with satisfaction, then turned his gaze upon the youth.
"Ahh..." The scene that had just unfolded pushed the youth to the brink of collapse. He opened his mouth, but only faint sounds emerged, and his body could not move in the slightest.
But the Morning Star's gaze did not linger on him — it swept directly to the space behind him.
"Sigh..." With a long, faint sigh, Leilin's figure squeezed out from the shadows.
"A Morning Star Wizard?! You're that brat from last time!!!"
Words tinged with surprise carried from the corpse in the coffin, underscored by a gnashing, teeth-grinding hatred.
"That's right! It's me! Beilusebabu's projection clone!" Ralin openly admitted his identity.
He bore the other party's Gluttony Rune on his body — there was no point trying to hide it.
By now, he had mostly figured out what had happened.
In the ancient era, Beilusebabu's clone had fallen, and its remnant body had formed a vast number of Gluttony Runes. These were the coordinate seeds it would later use to attempt an invasion of the Wizard World.
Any Wizard who obtained a Gluttony Rune would, under the corruption of the Gluttony Desire, awaken an astonishing appetite while their cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. And their bodies, corrupted by the power of Gluttony, were the perfect vessels for Beilusebabu to possess!
The Wizard buried here had also been fortunate enough to obtain a fragment. Relying on it, he had broken through to the Morning Star realm. But he had apparently discovered something was wrong in the end, so he sealed himself away here, cutting off Beilusebabu's prying gaze.
Unfortunately, however, one of his personal notebooks had been corrupted over the long passage of time — a fragment of his soul had even been lodged within it.
After a vast stretch of time, his descendants, influenced by the notebook's corruption, came to open the coffin and released this clone.
"I didn't expect you had already advanced to Morning Star!"
The Wizard possessed by Beilusebabu looked extremely imposing — every movement carried the majesty of a Morning Star. Behind him, a colossal demonic phantom flickered into view, vaguely resembling that Lord of Hell.
"How do you plan to compensate me for my losses last time?"
Strangely enough, this clone wasn't pressing charges — it seemed to harbor some hope of reaching a settlement.
But Ralin's expression was even stranger. He walked straight up to the clone, his eyes boring mercilessly into the other: "Do you take me for a fool?"
The moment those words left his lips, the clone's expression changed instantly!
And Ralin's voice continued: "Right now, you're not even a clone — just a soul fragment from last time combined with the power of projection! What's more, this Morning Star Wizard's singularity has already returned to the Star Domain along with the annihilation of his soul. Although the body has been thoroughly corrupted by the power of appetite and is excellent material for a clone, relying solely on a Morning Star physique — just how much of your strength can you actually wield?"
Hum!