"The atmosphere in the Holy City today seems a bit... turbulent!"
Leilin glanced up at the sky overhead, where sharp alarms rang out at irregular intervals, but paid them no mind and continued watering the flower beds with his spray bottle.
"At the rate I set things in motion, those colossal serpents corrupted by the Primordial Greed of Gluttony should have spread close to here by now! It looks like the city guards have noticed something too..."
Leilin continued his work in a calm, unhurried manner.
In truth, after the initial period of incubation, the contamination of Gluttony's desire had already permeated every layer of the Myriad Serpent Plain. Unless the entire plain was obliterated, the catastrophe would never disappear.
This was the confidence Leilin had in his own handiwork!
Moreover, with the push he had given it, the Primordial Force of Gluttony across the entire Myriad Serpent Plain had already reached an unstoppable level.
The terrifying Primordial Force that allowed one to continuously break through bottlenecks simply by consuming vast quantities, combined with the Myriad Serpent Plain's rich biological environment and the sheer number of high-energy colossal serpents — the compounded effect was so horrifying that it even exceeded Leilin's own expectations.
"At this rate, I'm afraid even those fifth-tier and sixth-tier colossal serpents won't escape the contamination of Gluttony's power..."
A smile played at the corner of Leilin's lips. Even the sixth-tier serpent packs roaming the Myriad Serpent Plain — faced with a catastrophe of this all-encompassing magnitude, they had no path but to either migrate outright, willingly submit to the control of Gluttony's desire, or become food! There was no other road to walk!
And as for the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents?
Although she was an eighth-tier existence of incomparable might, the supreme ruler who held dominion over the entire Heil Continent, the Gluttony King Beelzebub was not someone to be trifled with either.
As one who had grasped the Rule of Gluttony, he too was an eighth-tier existence — and particularly now that he had discovered the Infernal World and even corrupted the entirety of the Myriad Serpent Plain with Gluttony's power, even if Beelzebub wished to call a truce with the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, it was probably no longer possible.
As an invader, how could he possibly relinquish such a vast stretch of the Heil Continent's most vital plain?
By the same logic, unless the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents were to abandon the entire Holy City and hand over the Myriad Serpent Plain on a silver platter, there was simply no way she could reach any kind of peace agreement with Beelzebub.
And to choose compromise — to abandon the Myriad Serpent Plain — would be tantamount to inviting the other party to share dominion over the entire Heil Continent. For the Serpent Mother, that would be nothing but slow suicide, utterly unthinkable!
Therefore, the escalation of conflict between the two sides was an inevitability.
"Rumble!" With violent tremors, the small stones on the ground began to bounce and dance.
A phantom serpent-orb resembling a distant star began to materialize above the entire Holy City.
"It's the Sovereign Mother!" "Our great Holy Mother!" In an instant, the residents throughout the Holy City fell to their knees in prayer.
Leilin outwardly did the same, though in secret he had already mobilized every last layer of his defenses.
Boom! As though a volcano had erupted, or the sky had cracked and the earth split apart, or the ocean itself had roared — a wave of willpower terrifying beyond measure began to radiate outward in all directions, centered on the great statue at the heart of the Holy City.
From this terrifying tide of willpower, Leilin could vividly feel the fury of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents! The other free citizens could only press their bodies flat against the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
"The Rules that the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents commands — are they 'Bloodline' and 'Serpents'? Or is it 'Progeny'?"
Leilin outwardly appeared identical to the surrounding residents, his expression even more humble than theirs, but inwardly he was attempting to trace the origin of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' rules through the waves of willpower she radiated.
"It seems to be a blend of several! And there's a shadow-like sensation woven in…"
His astonishing knowledge, combined with the Chip's vast repository of data, ultimately allowed Leilin to make out at least a sliver of what he was sensing.
"Terrifying! This Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents! She's likely mastered more than a single Rule — she's already begun to refine and fuse her own comprehension, using [Shadow] as a binding agent to construct an entirely new Rule…"
The eighth-level realm was naturally far more powerful than the seventh level, where one had only mastered a single Rule, and from her fluctuating aura, Leilin had caught a faint glimpse of what the road ahead might look like.
"Seventh-level Wizards must completely master a particular Rule. And the eighth-level realm — it requires mastering several Rules and attempting to fuse them together?"
Leilin stroked his chin. "Then what about ninth-level Wizards? The legendary supreme realm? Could it be that one must contain every Rule within oneself and give birth to an even greater power?"
A dim, instinctive insight began to surface in Leilin's mind.
Though the path the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents walked was not necessarily the correct one, compared to Leilin — who was stumbling forward completely blind — her living example still provided him with tremendous inspiration.
"Never mind all that for now. The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents has made this move because she must have detected the contamination from the Power of Gluttony. The real question is how Beilusebabu's side will react…"
Deep in the shadows, Leilin kept his gaze fixed on the battlefield.