A flash of light, and Leilin's figure materialized in the central hall of the Ganges Secret Realm.
Enormous white stone pillars surrounded him on all sides, and through the circular ceiling above, he could glimpse the luminous barrier of the Stellar Wizard Formation outside.
"This underground trip went quite smoothly!"
Leilin looked around. The four Void Assassins were still strictly carrying out his earlier orders, and he couldn't help but smile before dismissing them along with the defensive wizard formations.
"Lord Leilin!"
"My Lord, how did it go?" Once the outer defenses were withdrawn, two figures rushed in — Nonov and Dark Flame, the supreme leaders of the Black and White Warlocks. Judging by the state of these two warlocks, they had clearly been growing anxious about the situation here but had no better option than to keep waiting outside.
"No good! The seal has been damaged far too extensively. Although I've done my best to repair it, whether it can hold for the one hundred years we originally discussed is anyone's guess. We might only have several decades — or even less…"
Leilin said this with a "grave" expression, causing the faces of both Nonov and Dark Flame to turn ashen.
"My Lord! Isn't there any other way?" Nonov asked, clinging to one last glimmer of hope.
But the only answer he received was Leilin slowly shaking his head.
…
Time passed imperceptibly over the next ten-odd days, and Leilin concluded his inspection and visitation of the Ganges Secret Realm, returning to his homeland — the Keli Archipelago.
There, Krupp, leading some of the remaining Farell Family bloodline descendants and with the assistance of numerous outside forces, had not only successfully reclaimed every territory that once belonged to the Farell Family, but was even continuing to expand outward, preparing to establish an empire entirely belonging to the Farell Family!
Leilin stayed for several days in the castle that had once belonged to the Farell Family, received an audience with every one of the Farell Family's bloodline descendants, and made numerous arrangements before mysteriously vanishing.
The Farell Family's announcement to the outside world was that this ancestor had already left the South Coast and departed for the far vaster world of warlocks.
Although no one could tell whether Leilin's departure was genuine or feigned, and they couldn't determine whether he would ever return, the Black and White Warlocks all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
For them, Leilin represented both the promise of reaching higher realms and, at the same time, a shackle bound upon them.
A mere small South Coast simply could not accommodate an existence that had surpassed the Morning Star level.
Even the Crimson Grand Wizard of ages past had fallen into mysterious disappearance following his heyday — according to later warlocks' speculation, he had gone out to seek vaster horizons.
Although Leylin had not left behind any method for breaking through to the Morning Star realm, which left some Third-rank Wizards feeling deeply regretful, having one fewer powerful figure looming over them was also a tremendous relief.
The forces of both the Black and White Wizards once again turned their gaze in unison to the vacuum left after the eradication of the Soul-Slaughtering Cult. After so many years of upheaval, and with the Soul-Slaughtering Cult's spectacular collapse following the fall of Gegewu, an enormous amount of room had opened up for both Black and White Wizards alike.
The open and covert struggles over the Soul-Slaughtering Cult's legacy had already begun sending ripples through the ranks of both the Black and White Wizard factions.
As for the truly great powers like the Nine-Ring White Tower and the Darknight Lighthouse, they watched from the sidelines with cold indifference, even secretly consolidating their strength and preparing to relocate at a moment's notice.
The few decades of time Leylin had mentioned earlier were not particularly sufficient for these deeply entrenched Wizard factions to relocate — simply finding an environment outside the South Coast suitable for Wizards to survive in was enough to keep Nounov and the Dark Flame at their wit's end.
Of course, no matter how turbulent the South Coast had become, neither the Black nor White Wizards, nor even the wandering Wizards, dared to provoke the Farrell family again.
This was a family under the protection of a Morning Star Wizard! Setting aside Leylin, who could return at any time, even Krupp — who had already advanced to Second-rank Warlock — was already a force that could not be taken lightly. And who knew what trump cards that lord might have left for his family?
In theory, if that Wizard had bestowed just a few of those transparent servants upon the Farrell family, it would be enough to suppress the entire South Coast.
Therefore, the forces of both the Black and White Wizards unanimously placed the Farrell family at the very top of their list of entities never to provoke. The entire Keli Archipelago had even become a forbidden zone for Wizards.
And the Farrell family along with the empire they had established grew ever more powerful and prosperous with the passage of time…
In the midst of the darkness, a brilliant flame suddenly blazed to life, casting pure white light across its surroundings.
More and more flames blazed up, growing ever brighter, until they eventually formed an archway.
A masked shadow emerged through the archway and was immediately enveloped in a layer of black mist.
"Disperse!" At the shadow's command, the light and fluctuations instantly weakened, fading away until they vanished entirely.
"Secret Technique — Shadow!" The shadow seemed to feel this was still not sufficient, and a rune representing concealment and hiding suddenly flashed into existence within the mist.
Then the entire mass of mist shuddered, becoming completely transparent and blending seamlessly into the surrounding environment.