Lei Lin had chosen this place as his battlefield for two reasons. First, he had confidence in his own control. Second, he didn't want to venture too far — if the ruins appeared and he wasn't nearby to detect it immediately, that would be an utter tragedy.
There was also one other tempting idea he'd been harboring, and he planned to test it out at the same time.
Across from him, the ocean giant Saber clearly interpreted Lei Lin's attitude as a provocation.
He fixed Lei Lin with a long, penetrating stare, and the vast power of his Domain erupted from his body.
Only after ascending to the Morning Star level would a Domain be truly perfected — achieving terrifying amplification and suppression effects, with a range that expanded dramatically, far beyond the pseudo-Domains of the Rank Three stage.
Surging! Vast! Boundless!
White spray and blue oceanic expanse combined to form a scene as terrifying as an entire ocean going berserk at once.
Deep beneath the surface, the violent churning of the waves had already tinted the seawater slightly black, giving off an ominous premonition.
"This is my Domain — the Ocean!"
Waves of white foam engulfed Saber, concealing his entire body beneath the raging torrent, yet his voice transmitted through clearly, without the slightest distortion.
In virtually an instant, the ocean swallowed the entire area. The towering mountains that had stood before and every trace of Philip's spellwork had all vanished without a trace.
Only the vast blue ocean remained, pouring its fury upon Lei Lin!
"A true Morning Star Domain… governed by the Water Element rules!" A flicker of luminous blue light crossed Lei Lin's eyes as he recorded all of this data and the Domain's power field fluctuations.
Within the ocean, Saber's aura surged dramatically, causing Lei Lin's expression to shift slightly.
"So you're a Sea Clan member — no wonder you chose to construct this kind of Domain and alter the battlefield." Lei Lin's voice was faint, yet it somehow transmitted clearly all the way down to the depths of the ten-thousand-fathom sea. Saber, however, offered no reply.
The Sea Clan. Naturally another non-human race, yet like humanity, they were indigenous to the Wizard World. One had claimed the land, the other had claimed the sea, and for the most part they had maintained a rough peace — though wars still broke out from time to time.
On the South Coast, there had always been legends and records of the Crimson Great Wizard leading all the wizards to repel the menace that emerged from the depths of the ocean.
Among the Sea Clan, there were certainly wizards of various ranks, but those capable of advancing to Morning Star were exceedingly rare — rarer even than among humans.
Encountering a Morning Star-level Sea Clan member here, and one who belonged to the Thunder of Jupiter at that, genuinely caught Lei Lin off guard. But after a moment, he came to understand.
Though the Thunder of Jupiter had a Radiant Moon Wizard presiding over it and was considered a top-tier force across the entire Central Continent, cultivating a Morning Star was still an enormously difficult task.
The bottleneck to Morning Star advancement was no longer merely a matter of competing resources and accumulated foundations — luck played an equally vital role.
Given the exalted status of Morning Star Wizards across the entire Central Continent, amassing more than ten of them as the Thunder of Jupiter had done clearly couldn't be achieved through self-cultivation alone. Recruiting and welcoming external wizards was a crucial part of the equation.
The earlier bow-hunter and this ocean giant — neither had possessed a particularly pure aura. Lei Lin had been somewhat puzzled at the time, but now it all made sense. They were either non-humans or half-blood wizards!
Crash! Crash!
Gigantic waves surged, tens of thousands of tons of seawater flying into the air, only to instantly condense into two massive hands of dark blue crystal, grasping toward Lei Lin!
The wind pressure alone generated chaotic currents that seemed to cleave through space itself, causing the very fabric of this region to shudder and warp.
"Ding! All Ocean Domain data has been successfully recorded!" At that moment, the Chip's mechanical voice transmission reached him, prompting a faint smile to appear on Lei Lin's lips.
"Corrosion!" He softly uttered an ancient Byronian rune.
Hiss! Hiss! Immediately, dense black spots appeared upon the dark blue hands, rapidly corroding downward. In the blink of an eye, the colossal ocean arms were honeycombed with holes, pitted and ruined.
Crack! Crack! The structurally compromised giant hands could no longer hold together. They snapped in mid-air and plummeted downward, swiftly dissolving into a multitude of water droplets that merged back into the ocean.
"With the glory of the Warlock, my bloodline is my power!"
Chanting as if in incantation and declaration, Lei Lin's voice rang out, and a circle of blood-red light burst forth from his body.
"Bloodline Devouring!" Blood-red lightning flashed in his eyes, seeming to pierce the deep darkness of the ocean, revealing all that lay hidden within. Simultaneously, he thrust his right hand forward, grabbing viciously toward a specific point!
Whoosh! An invisible current of pulling force materialized, and an enormous vortex immediately formed in the sea.
"Awooo..." Faint, enraged groans mixed with pain echoed from within the vortex.
"As long as you possess a bloodline, you will be subject to my Blood Manipulation. Come out!" Lei Lin said calmly. The blood-colored radiance on his hand surged violently, and with a single motion, he heaved upward!