Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Four: The Ancient Soul-Slaughtering Cult Leilin had conducted numerous experiments in order to obtain more ancient creature bloodlines, but unfortunately, none of them had succeeded.
The best result was the same as what Leilin already had on hand — an essence carrying the aura of some ancient creature's bloodline.
Such a thing might be considered a priceless treasure for ordinary Wizards, but in Leilin's eyes, it was far from sufficient.
"Ding! After 124 actual experiments and 9,718 simulation experiment comparisons, the hypothesis is that the base bloodline concentration of the source organisms is insufficient for in-depth purification. Recommend seeking the blood of organisms at or above the strength of a Third-rank
The Chip quickly provided its answer.
"Just as I expected..." Leilin had already harbored certain suspicions about this result, and now it appeared to align closely with the Chip's conclusion.
After an immense stretch of time, the ancient bloodlines carried by the miraculous species still surviving on the South Coast had thinned to a negligible degree. If not for the Chip's formidable capabilities, Leilin wouldn't even have been able to purify this much impure bloodline that merely carried traces of the aura.
To obtain pure ancient bloodlines, he would need to conduct experiments using the blood of far more powerful creatures.
And for this threshold of strength, the Chip determined that Third-rank was optimal.
In other words, only by obtaining a large quantity of blood from creatures comparable to a Third-rank Wizard would the Chip have any chance of extracting a perfect ancient creature bloodline from it.
"But... powerful creatures comparable to a Third-rank Wizard?" A bitter smile tugged at the corner of Leilin's mouth. "One breath from them would probably kill me. Getting my hands on a Holar Black Snake that had originally been Third-rank or above but had happened to devolve to Apprentice level, like last time — that was far too rare an opportunity. It was practically a blessing dropped from the heavens!"
The Giant Serpent of Komoyn bloodline coursing through Leilin's body had been purified from that Holar Black Snake found in Dylan's Garden.
And the Holar Black Snake — that was a fearsome creature capable of reaching Third-rank Wizard strength upon maturity!
That particular Holar Black Snake had, by Leilin's observation, already reached adulthood. But due to the sealing of the secret realm, it had gone without food for an extended period, and perhaps there had been other measures deployed by the Crimson Grand Wizard as well — all of which caused the snake to progressively devolve through repeated dormant states until it was ultimately and tragically slaughtered by a group of Third-rank Apprentices.
This was clearly a gift left behind by the Crimson Grand Wizard for future generations — a deliberate, artificial arrangement, not some coincidence.
And the Crimson Grand Wizard was a powerful Bloodline Warlock who had reached the Fourth rank. Compared to Leilin, who was currently only a First-rank Warlock, the difference was like that between the sun and a firefly.
"Such things are purely a matter of luck. At most, I can keep an eye out for opportunities down the road. No point dwelling on it for now!"
Leilin instinctively glanced at his status panel.
"Leilin? Farrell. First-rank Warlock. Bloodline: Comosha Giant Serpent. Strength: 7.1. Agility: 6.7. Constitution: 8.5. Spiritual Power: 58.9. Mana: 58 (Mana is synchronously determined by Spiritual Power). Spiritual Elementalization Progress: 70%. Status: Healthy."
For over a year now, he had maintained his dealings with the old witch, exchanging the processed souls he obtained from her for large quantities of ancient Spiritual Power potions —
Under the powerful boost of those ancient potions, Leilin's Spiritual Power had soared at an astonishing rate.
Although he had spent considerable time in the
But after comparing them, he found that all of these potions fell far short of the ancient potions in terms of effectiveness.
With the help of the ancient potions, Leilin's Spiritual Power broke through at a terrifying, almost shocking pace. It was as if there were no bottlenecks at all.
But by now, he had no choice but to use the Mimicry Spell every single day to mask the massive fluctuations in his Spiritual Power, while also keeping a low profile and avoiding the locations of a few Second-rank Wizards, so as not to let anyone catch on.
And even now, the Mimicry Spell — refined multiple times by the Chip — was barely enough to conceal everything.
Leilin had taken to fleeing back to Nightless City to hide whenever he had time off, declining social engagements and invitations whenever possible.
Furthermore, once his Spiritual Power had reached a certain level, Leilin once again used the dark elemental energy crystals he had stockpiled, pushing his elementalization progress all the way up to 70%!
However, after his Spiritual Power elementalization reached 70%, the Chip issued a notification: his body and mind had developed a resistance to those crystals. From now on, unless he could find even more precious resources to further increase his elementalization, he would have to rely on meditation and time to slowly grind his way forward.
"Ancient potions truly deserve to be the signature creations of ancient Wizards!"
Leilin's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "I can't let the deal with the old witch fall through. And finding a new way to conceal my Spiritual Power has become the most pressing priority…"
Speaking of which, collecting souls was something best done by one's own people, and ideally by servants bound with Soul Imprints who could keep the secret most effectively.
But unfortunately, the preliminary steps in producing Maria's Tears required someone with at least the strength of a First-rank Wizard who also had knowledge of the soul. Only such a person could carry out the process.
With Leilin's current level of expertise in Spiritual Power and the soul, Soul Imprints could at best control servants up to the Third-level Adept stage. Enslaving an official Wizard was completely out of the question.
Besides, the old witch had sworn an oath under the Eye of Judgment and could be trusted for the time being.
"Still, the old witch has been providing fewer and fewer spiritual bodies lately, and during the last few trades she seemed distracted. She hasn't even been attending some of the Dark Wizard organization's activities. It's as if something extremely important has come up. I should go check on her tomorrow and make sure nothing goes wrong…"
The recent abnormal behavior of this ally had Leilin worried.
"My Lord! Dinner is ready!"
While Leilin was enjoying the maid's service and lost in thought, Damian's soft whisper reached his ears.
"All right! I'm coming right away!"
Leilin opened his eyes, the darkness within them even deeper than before…
The next day, after a full night of rest and recreation, Leilin was brimming with energy. Wrapped in a black robe that concealed even his face, he paid a visit to the old witch's sundry shop.
"What happened to you?"
The moment Leilin laid eyes on the old witch's condition, his brow furrowed.
The old witch had always looked like something akin to a corpse, but now the aura of death and decay about her was far more pronounced. She looked like a mummy that had just crawled out of an ancient tomb, and even her Spiritual Power fluctuations were weakening by imperceptible degrees.
This state immediately put Leilin on high alert.
For a Wizard, injuries to the physical body were trivial matters, but if Spiritual Power fluctuations began to decline, it meant an outright drop in strength.
The old witch was still Leilin's ally, and he had no intention of letting his source of goods suddenly dry up.
"Nothing! A recent experiment has reached its most critical stage!" The old witch's body had deteriorated to its absolute limit — she had to catch her breath several times just to finish a sentence — yet the light in her eyes burned brighter than ever, as though it might ignite at any moment.
Leilin had only ever seen that kind of fanatical look in madmen and lunatics during his previous life.
"You'd better not keep me in the dark. Remember, we're allies, and hasn't our cooperation over the past year or so been quite pleasant?"
Leilin naturally wasn't going to buy the old witch's brush-off.
"When the time comes, I'll be sure to tell you…"
A mysterious smile spread across the old witch's face. "Also, that hidden Spiritual Power concealment technique you asked me to look for last time — I've found it…"
"Oh? Really?" This was an unexpected piece of good news, and a hint of a smile surfaced on Leilin's face.
He had been covertly searching for information on this subject for some time, even attending a few Dark Wizard bazaars and organization exchange meets, but had come up empty every time.
Asking the old witch for help had been nothing more than a long shot, so he hadn't actually expected a pleasant surprise.
"This is a set of materials regarding Spiritual Power compression — take a look!" The old witch handed Leilin a green leaf.
Leilin reached out and took the leaf, placing it against his forehead.
A cool, refreshing sensation kept emanating from the leaf, seeping through Leilin's skull and penetrating straight into the depths of his mind.
"Spiritual Power data interface detected. Accept?" A message box popped up from the Chip.
"Accept!" At Leilin's command, a massive stream of information plunged directly into his mind, while the Chip continuously recorded and analyzed it.
"In broad terms, Spiritual Power compression involves repeatedly layering one's Spiritual Power to produce different frequencies and fluctuations, thereby achieving the goal of concealing one's own Spiritual Power..."
After skimming through the general outline, Leilin nodded with a satisfied expression.
"This material is very useful to me, but it seems like only half is here. Where's the rest? Bring it out! What do you want in exchange? Magic Stones? Potions? Resources? Name your price!"
Leilin was putting on a show of being flush with wealth.
"Heh heh heh... The first half of this material alone is enough to hide you from the detection of all Rank One Wizards. And once the second half is added, even Rank Two Wizards are very likely unable to detect your Spiritual Power fluctuations... Although you can definitely afford it, I'd like to propose a different arrangement for the trade..." The old witch cackled, producing a sound like a screech owl.
"What kind of arrangement?" Leilin furrowed his brow, a sense of trouble stirring inside him.
"I'll give you the first half of the material for free! Consider it a gift between allies!" The old witch was being generous. "But for the remaining portion, I need you to do one thing for me!"
It was obvious that the old witch was using the second half of the material as bait to get Leilin to help her accomplish something.
"I need to know the specifics!"
Leilin neither refused nor agreed rashly.
"Heh heh... Don't worry, I won't be asking you to fight a Rank Two Wizard or anything like that. I just want you to accompany me to explore some ruins..."
The old witch finally revealed her true purpose.
"Explore ruins? What ruins?" Leilin asked with some curiosity.
"The ruins of the ancient Soul Slaughter Cult!"