The originally hundred-thousand-meter-long Kemoyn Snake Emperor suddenly shrank tens of thousands of times, becoming a giant serpent over ten meters long.
On its body, the original scales erupted with terrifying radiance.
The giant serpent's two eyes fixed on
"You've had enough! But I haven't!"
From within the giant serpent, Leilin's voice rang out: "As agreed, I've come to collect my reward!"
As Leilin spoke, the massive serpent suddenly opened its jaws, and within them, a dark vortex slowly formed.
"Innate Ability — Devour!"
"No...!" Amid Melinda's cries of pain, Leilin's Kemoyn Snake Emperor form bit off one of the Flame Throne's arms, then unhesitatingly tore open space and fled.
Humming! Blinding brilliance flickered across the serpent's scales, tinged with threads of blood-red.
Leilin had clearly activated some secret technique, vanishing from Melinda's perception almost instantly.
Splash! Golden blood sprayed from the severed arm, droplets falling into the void, forming a massive golden flame in the blink of an eye.
Only then did Melinda let out a hysterical scream.
As a sixth-rank Moonlight
The pain of having her law comprehension stolen and her soul torn nearly made Melinda believe she had returned to that moment when she had first split her own soul. Even the will of the Flame Throne, which had been suppressed earlier, suddenly resurfaced, launching a fierce counterattack.
"Damn it! DAMN IT!!!"
Melinda roared, terrifying golden flames spreading outward in all directions.
The other losses were tolerable. But the disappearance of her law comprehension, coupled with the damage to her bloodline, might even cause her realm to regress. And now, with the Flame Throne's will launching its counterattack, she had no time to pursue her attacker, and could only roar in frustration while redirecting her energy back to the struggle against the Flame Throne.
The golden-red flames gradually filled the entire area, burning away even the finest dust. Only at the very center, a massive golden cocoon continued to pulse rhythmically, as if a phoenix awaited its rebirth through fire.
"Chip!"
In a world engulfed by flames, the void parted like a curtain, revealing Leilin's figure. He took one brief look at his surroundings and issued his command without hesitation.
[Ding! Initiating retrieval protocol! Astral Gate activating!]
Accompanied by the Chip's voice, a grand gate of blue luminous flame slowly materialized before Leilin.
Leilin stepped through without hesitation. After one step, the world spun. When he surveyed his surroundings again, he had arrived in the Astral Plane Laboratory in Duze City.
Faint sounds of roars and screams drifted in from outside — the chaotic scenes of Duze City. But outside the laboratory, forces formerly loyal to Jupiter's Thunder and Joanna stood guard, lending the area an air of calm. In the midst of such chaos, the contrast was especially striking.
Occasionally, some civilians and others came to request aid, but were all turned away without mercy. Several corpses lying on the ground, still radiating powerful auras, effectively deterred the surrounding opportunists.
As for the previous bio-beasts and the like? Having witnessed the terror of Leilin's group, they had long since fled as far as possible. Whether they caused disasters elsewhere was no longer Leilin's concern.
"My Lord!"
Several Morning Star Wizards standing guard saw the Astral Gate open, with only Leilin emerging, and their expressions shifted.
"Mm." Leilin nodded faintly, then his entire body dissolved into a streak of black flame and scattered. In just a few flickers, he vanished from the horizon.
The Morning Star Wizards from the other factions stared in the direction Leilin had disappeared, exchanging uneasy glances.
At most, they were only at the Morning Star rank. Forcibly attempting to stop Leilin was completely out of the question. And having witnessed his ruthlessness firsthand, they dared not do anything to provoke him.
……
High in the sky, blood still trickled from the corner of Leilin's mouth, yet his face was filled with excitement.
"Those Morning Star Wizards were at least sensible enough — no need for me to take action!"
"Chip! Filter out useless memories! Emotions!"
At that moment, layer upon layer of dense flesh-and-blood energy surged from Leilin's body, carrying scorching fire laws — the Devour ability was digesting the Flame Throne's arm.
Following Leilin's command, the Chip operated rapidly, filtering out all the useless memories and emotions it had acquired, while archiving and processing the useful information separately. And of course, there was the most critical element — the Flame Throne's law comprehension, which the Chip carefully extracted and stored in a dedicated database.
"The most important part — the law comprehension — is in my hands!"
Leilin's face was bright with excitement. For him, no matter how rich the Flame Throne's collection might be, it was beneath his notice. The only thing that interested him now was the pursuit of higher realms, and the power of laws was the key focus.
Recalling the moment when he had used the Devour ability to absorb the law comprehension from within the Flame Throne's body, Leilin still felt a rush of uncontrollable excitement. That exhilaration and thrill had nearly pushed him past the limits he had set for himself, greedily drinking in everything from his target. Fortunately, at the last moment, he had forced control over his body with an iron will and escaped from the world of flames.
The reason he hadn't simply killed the Flame Throne outright was fear of its counterattack. Whether it was Melinda or the original Flame Throne, they were ultimately the same person. When faced with a serious threat to their very existence, joining forces was entirely possible!
In fact, according to the Chip's calculations, Leilin's odds of killing them directly while the two souls were locked in combat were less than ten percent. In all other scenarios, the two souls would simply merge under the immense pressure, leaving Leilin with nothing — or worse, costing him his life.
Under such circumstances, Leilin naturally chose the course of action most in his own interest — seize the greatest benefit and leave. If he couldn't kill the Flame Throne, making it suffer a devastating loss was still worthwhile.
And when he had been extracting the Flame Throne's bloodline and laws, Leilin had nearly lost himself in the process, reaching the Chip's critical threshold. Another fraction closer and he would have directly threatened the Flame Throne's life, completely overturning the situation.
Fortunately, everything had proceeded according to Leilin's plan. Although his final strike had caused the Flame Throne devastating losses, it had not exceeded Melinda's psychological threshold. Therefore, she still chose not to compromise with the original will, instead continuing to suppress her greatest enemy — allowing Leilin to escape successfully.
As for Melinda's earlier invitation for Leilin to help directly, he had scoffed at the very notion. His spiritual power was formidable, but that depended on what he was comparing it to. Against the Flame Throne's Solar-tier soul power, his spiritual strength was utterly insignificant. Even if he joined the fray, he would be nothing more than a foot soldier, unable to control even his own soul force, with his life and death entirely in the other's hands.
Most critically, after all the fighting, what he would receive would depend entirely on whether the other party honored their promise and their mood. Leilin would never do something so foolish.
"However, I didn't expect that the energy contained in just the Flame Throne's arm alone would be so violent. And the memories of flame law comprehension seem to contain some hidden mysteries..."
Leilin felt his body seemed to have expanded slightly — an illusion caused by the excessive energy within him. Reflecting on how his previous transformations into the Kemoyn Snake Emperor, devouring everything in the void, had never produced such terrifying energy feedback, a wry smile appeared at the corner of Leilin's mouth.
"Fortunately, I only chose to devour one arm of the Flame Throne. If I had tried to devour the entire thing, even without resistance, this power would have burst me apart!"
Leilin's eyes flickered thoughtfully. He suddenly changed direction, his entire figure becoming ethereal.
This was an ability granted by the power of dream modification — it not only enhanced his resistance to illusion magic, but also allowed him to generate an illusory field, highly effective for concealment. The spoils of this battle were far too rich. Even Leilin needed to find a place to properly digest everything.
……
What Leilin hadn't expected was that what he had assumed would be a simple digestion process ended up lasting nearly several months. The Flame Throne's fire and energy, branded with its own imprint, along with their highly concentrated characteristics, gave Leilin an enormous headache.
In a range of rolling mountains, white mist wound between the peaks, combining with the lush green forests to create a dreamlike scene straight out of a fairy tale. Squirrels leaped back and forth, clutching pinecones and the like in their paws, their two buckteeth gnawing away at rapid speed.
Beneath an enormous tree, countless roots formed a natural barrier, enclosing a surprisingly spacious interior. Black fog filled this entire space, carrying both concealment and isolation effects.
And at the very center of the fog, Leilin slowly exhaled and opened his eyes.
"The energy structure of a sixth-rank Wizard, and this level of concentration — truly terrifying!" Thinking of this, Leilin still felt a lingering sense of dread.
The Flame Throne's flesh and blood were composed almost entirely of rule-flame condensed to its utmost extreme. Merely digesting it had cost Leilin an enormous amount of effort. In truth, without the Kemoyn Snake Emperor's Devour ability, breaking down the arm would have been a massive problem.
But now, after all this time, it was finally resolved. Just moments ago, Leilin had not only devoured the very last trace of the Flame Throne's bloodline energy, but had also finished sorting through the memory fragments, making the Flame Throne's law comprehension entirely his own.