In the hidden void from before, on the crystal screen positioned opposite the owner of the blood-red eyes, every scene following Saebel's death was being played back.
Once the singularity was seized by the dark hand, a small cell immediately floated up on the side of the screen where the energy bar was displayed.
"......"
The glow within the blood-red eyes flared bright for an instant, then quickly dimmed back to silence.
The entire secret chamber sank once more into deathly silence. The dark figure sat mechanically in its seat, not emitting any trace of aura.
Meanwhile, the news of Saebel's death swept through the entire ruin like a storm.
"This feeling?"
The instant Saebel perished and the Astral Plane opened automatically, Lei Lin's expression changed drastically as he instantly sensed the fluctuations of both the Astral Plane and the singularity.
He had experienced this exact scenario once before when he killed the hunter Ganliel — he would never mistake it.
"A Morning Star has fallen? The singularity is returning to the Astral Plane?" Lei Lin murmured to himself in disbelief.
Then he let out a long sigh. "As I suspected — the ancient ruins are never this simple. Even this core control room is probably nothing more than a facade. There must be a hidden core somewhere, and that is the true control hub!"
Lei Lin had harbored some suspicions before — even if the old man hadn't obtained core control authorization, the defenses here were still far too thin. Now it seemed his suspicions were correct. This was merely a surface-level control room, capable of managing only the most basic wizard formations and the like.
The truly terrifying wizard formations — ones powerful enough to restrain a Morning Star Wizard, or even cause one to fall — were all hidden in some concealed location in the shadows.
At this thought, he couldn't help but glance down at the old man on the floor with a trace of pity.
His ancestor clearly hadn't been an important figure during the Crimson Arc Moon — to not have received even a whisper of intelligence about something like this.
"But none of that concerns me. I've gotten what matters most — it's time to leave..."
Lei Lin smiled and opened the pale yellow notebook in his hands.
Though the old man's ancestor hadn't been anyone of importance, he had been remarkably thorough in his preparations for his descendants — the notebook even recorded a hidden passage that led directly out of the Crimson Arc Moon ruin, eliminating the need to retrace the dangerous route back and drastically reducing the chances of Lei Lin encountering peril.
"If that's the case, then this trip has gone perfectly!"
Lei Lin stroked his chin. "Others only know that I was the first to enter the ruins. They have no idea what I actually obtained — there's plenty of room to maneuver there."
Moreover, hidden in his heart was a plan to break through the bloodline shackles — a gift from the Ancient Tree of Wisdom. For a Bloodline Warlock, this was absolutely priceless intelligence.
And precisely because of this, Lei Lin needed to keep it tightly secret. Otherwise, he would likely face the resistance — even persecution — of the entire Bloodline Warlock community.
"As it happens, I know that Saebel has already fallen. But the other Morning Stars don't know yet — I can pin the blame on him!"
Lei Lin recalled the images he had seen in the core control room earlier, and a cold smile crept across the corner of his lips.
Other Morning Star Wizards did not have the magic formations to scan the entire ruins or the core surveillance — at most, they would only know that a Morning Star had fallen, without knowing who it was.
In that case, disguising as Saebel became entirely possible. After all, a dead man wouldn't come back to speak.
"Mimicry Spell! Shadow Projection Secret Technique!" The moment this thought crossed his mind, the aura emanating from Lei Lin's body immediately shifted, becoming somewhat similar to Saebel's from before.
But this was far from enough. If any Morning Star Wizard probed with soul force, they would instantly detect the flaws.
"To think that what I'd prepared solely for research or sale would need to be used right now!"
Lei Lin flipped his palm, and a translucent test tube immediately appeared above it, containing a drop of blood that radiated a deep blue glow.
This was the blood he had obtained from Saebel during their earlier clash.
"Bloodline concealment! Eliminate all radiance, repel all detection..." Lei Lin spoke in a tone somewhere between a lament and a chant.
These were several secret arts that the Chip had compiled after he inherited the ancient bloodline memories.
They could utilize the bloodline of a target to mask one's own aura, even replicate the target's original energy fluctuations — invisible even to soul force scans.
Moreover, this was a long-lost bloodline secret art that only Lei Lin had seen when he awakened his own Comoin bloodline inheritance. No other wizard would ever think to look in this direction.
As Lei Lin chanted, echoing through the incantation, the mouth of the test tube opened of its own accord. The blue blood floated out, transforming into a hazy veil of light that enveloped Lei Lin's entire body.
In but an instant, he seemed to become an entirely different person — not only did his appearance become identical to Saebel's, but the aura of the Sea Clan also manifested upon him.
Even the domain fluctuations distinctive to an ordinary Morning Star Wizard, utterly different from those of a Morning Star Warlock, slowly radiated from his body as well.
In this state, even the Level Five Radiant Moon Grand Wizard of Jupiter's Thunder would likely misidentify him if he came in person.
"M-...Milord?"
The old man on the ground watched as Lei Lin transformed into an entirely different person, and couldn't help but stammer out the address.