"You dare attack me with just a clone?"
"Hsss..." The Great Komuo Serpent hissed, its colossal tail lashing out at the giantess like a steel whip!
Boom! The giantess's body was blasted apart, snowflakes scattering wildly across the sky.
The shockwaves from the impact rippled down into the Ice Castle below, leaving enormous cracks across the city walls.
Crash!
After the blizzard subsided, an eerie silence fell over the entire land.
The ground was blanketed in white powder — the remains of Ice race members whose Life Energy and ice energy had been entirely depleted — along with scattered fragments of armor and weapons, lending the scene an eerie emptiness.
"Ahh..." Leylin let out a long sigh and retrieved a purple test tube from his spatial pouch.
The seal on the test tube opened automatically, and drops of purple liquid fell onto the ground, quickly spreading outward.
The massive quantities of white powder dissolved in the liquid, forming huge pools that radiated outward. Bubbles constantly formed on the surface, instantly transforming the surroundings of the Ice Castle into something resembling a purple swamp.
The purple swamp not only spread laterally but also began to delve downward.
"Based on the Chip's earlier calculations and the potion crafted from Alvin's memories and flesh, I hope this works!"
Leylin already had certain suspicions about the origins of the Ice and Snow Empress, and his mood was somewhat heavy — he even wished his conjecture was wrong.
Unfortunately, what he had just witnessed only further confirmed his theory.
Countless purple bubbles continued to surface, and even the original Ice Castle was being corroded, the entire structure slowly sinking.
Hummm! A wave of pure and formidable Spiritual Power surged outward, merging with the surrounding environment.
In the blink of an eye, Leylin found himself in a completely different, wondrous setting.
The sky was no longer filled with ice and earth, but with luminous moons and stars. As far as the eye could see, a vast white continent extended ceaselessly into the ocean.
Creatures like Iceberg Dragons and Frost Giants roared ceaselessly, many of them even surpassing the Morning Star threshold.
"This is... the true Frost World!"
Leylin murmured. As someone who possessed the ancient Scorpion Man's memories, he was naturally somewhat familiar with this place.
"Yes! The true Frost World — and my homeland! Foreign
Amid the gentle voice, an empress wearing a crown and draped in a platinum royal robe appeared beside Leylin. Her face bore a faint resemblance to the frost giantess from before.
"The Frost Empress?" Leylin's pupils contracted as he surveyed his surroundings. "An impressive illusion!"
"No matter how beautiful an illusion may be, it is not reality. Even that imitation of the Frost World out there does not compare to even a ten-thousandth of the true Frost World..."
The Frost Empress sighed, a hint of sorrow in her voice that stirred a twinge of sympathy in Leylin — enough to make him want to speak up and help resolve her plight.
"As long as you are willing to help me, you shall be the sole ruler of the entire Frost World!"
Seeming to sense Leylin's wavering, the Frost Empress placed another chip on the table.
"Quite the offer! What a pity — I don't see the slightest bit of sincerity. Someone who resorts to illusions to manipulate even their allies could never be trusted to keep their word."
Leylin shook his head, and the words he spoke caused the Frost Empress's expression to change.
Bang! A layer of blood-red flames ignited on Leylin's hand, and without the slightest courtesy, he slashed forward — the flames beginning to spread from the Frost Empress's legs upward.
"You will regret this!" The Frost Empress, engulfed in flames, wavered and flickered like a paper figure, speaking with a blank, expressionless face.
"Had I agreed to your terms, I would have regretted it far more!"
Leylin still felt a lingering sense of fear. When it came to illusions and such, he believed his resistance was already extremely formidable. Yet he had been so easily dragged into an illusory realm, nearly losing his sanity in the process.
If not for the Chip's timely reminder, and the many secret techniques of psychic warriors he had previously obtained from
After all, who could have imagined that the ruler of the Frost World would also be adept at mental suggestions like illusions?
"You will regret this!" "You will regret this!"
The cold woman's voice echoed back and forth throughout the entire illusory realm, sending chills down one's spine.
Paper puppets resembling the Frost Empress materialized one after another. The entire frozen world collapsed with a thunderous crash — the stars in the sky, the continent, and all the creatures upon it transformed into manifestations of the Frost Empress, their eerie gazes fixed on Lei Lin.
"Ding! Mainframe brain region subjected to unidentified interference! Diagnosis: illusion!" The Chip's voice rang out.
"Of course I know this is all an illusion! But my connection to the real world hasn't been severed — damn it! If I die here, my true body out there will probably perish as well…"
The power of the Dawn Star surged, wisps of soul energy coiling around Lei Lin's body and layering him in protective shields.
Against high-level illusions like this, a Wizard's Spiritual Power was completely useless — but the soul force of a Dawn Star could still be wielded freely, and its effect was surprisingly effective.
The only problem was that this was the opponent's domain. If he let his soul energy run dry, the outcome wouldn't be pretty.
"Chip! Scan the illusion's structure — find the ternary nodes and the Voros space!" Lei Lin issued the command in a calm voice.
The old Chip would have had no better way to handle an environment like this, but now, with the Soul Database in its possession, its analytical capability had undergone a qualitative leap.
"You can't escape!" Beneath a galaxy-spanning canopy of light, countless Frost Empresses merged into several three-dimensional figures. Their clones — like reflections in a multitude of mirrors — manifested blades in their hands and launched coordinated attacks against Lei Lin.
Clang! Soul force condensed, forming a blood-red Cross Sword in Lei Lin's grip.
Lei Lin lunged forward a step. The Cross Sword deflected a barrage of ice blades aside, even erupting with blinding radiance.
"Cross Slash!" A cross-shaped flash of light tore through the air, and over a dozen paper puppets shattered into fragments that scattered across the void.
"Pointless. This is my mental realm! No matter how many times you kill me, you can't drain even a fraction of my power. But what about you? How much longer can your soul force hold out?"
Accompanied by that icy voice, the paper fragments Lei Lin had slashed apart swirled through the air and reassembled, reforming into the shape of the Frost Empress.
"Cease this meaningless resistance. We could—"
Pfft! Before the Frost Empress could finish, her head was lopped off once more by Lei Lin's blade.
The paper-flat head hit the ground and still chattered on: "Your only option now is to serve me! Surrender your soul origin and become my servant — do that, and I might still let you live!"
Boom! A streak of crimson flame swept across the floor, incinerating the paper to ash.
A cold sneer played across Lei Lin's face. "I'd have to be a fool to let you control me!"
"Kill him!" The Frost Empress seemed to be enraged now. A swarm of flat paper-puppet clones lunged forward.
"Cross Slash!" Lei Lin's expression turned cold as he unleashed Cross Slash after Cross Slash. Countless tiny paper fragments danced through the air like butterflies, sticking to his clothes, his Cross Sword, and even the tips of his hair.
"I told you — you can't escape!"
The paper clinging to Lei Lin's body suddenly grew as heavy as lead. Several pieces fused together, forming the face of the Frost Empress.
Lei Lin's body faltered as a blade cut across his chest. The fine Comorin scales had failed to offer any resistance whatsoever, opening a gash from which blood gushed like a spring.
"I told you — this is my Spiritual Power world. No matter how formidable your defenses are out there, in here, I am the ruler!"
A paper puppet standing before Lei Lin spoke slowly.
"Is that so?" Lei Lin's face went white, clearly indicating his physical body outside had also suffered real damage.
"If that were true, you would have killed me long ago. Why would you still be here spouting all this nonsense?"
"Nonsense?" The Frost Empress's eyebrows shot up — whether provoked at some sensitive point or not, no one could tell — and she waved her hand abruptly.
The number of phantoms surged explosively. In nearly an instant, the void was filled with paper puppets of every color.
"Since you want to die, then I'll grant your wish!" A multitude of Frost Empresses lunged toward him.
But at that moment, a faint smile crept across Lei Lin's lips: "Found it!"
He lunged forward. The soul power within his body rippled outward, concentrating entirely on the Cross Sword and causing a flare of light several meters long to erupt from its tip.
"Cross Slash!" A cross-shaped blade of light slashed down into a specific point in the void.
Crack! Crack! As if a mirror were shattering, it revealed a scene beyond the void — countless glowing tadpole-like shapes swirling about.
"No! Impossible! How did you discover it?"
The Frost Empress's voice rose to a sharp, piercing shriek.
"Haha..." Lei Lin laughed wildly, paying no heed to the Frost Empress's fury behind him, and dove straight into the sea of tadpoles.
"Chip! Proceed with the plan — begin the destruction..."
A mass of dark lines appeared in Lei Lin's hands and quickly spread outward, shattering even more mirror-like surfaces.
Bang!
A slight tremor emanated from Lei Lin's body. The focus in his pupils instantly sharpened. He looked down at the Frost Palace and the purple marsh below, along with the cut mark across his chest, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "Finally, I'm out!"
"Screech~~~"
And just at that moment, a shrill, frenzied cry suddenly rang out from beneath the castle grounds.
"The enemy's illusion magic is far too powerful — I need to avoid it for now!"
Before, Lei Lin had been lucky and had the Chip's computational power to find a loophole. This time, it would be hard to say whether he could manage the same. And even if he could find one, whether he could successfully break through was another question entirely.
So Lei Lin's eyes flickered, and he instantly retreated a considerable distance.