Lei Lin gazed at the World Tree before him, a look of wonder surfacing on his face.
According to legend, it was the origin of all life. And once the world gained life, all thoughts converged together to form the World
But now,
The difficulty of this feat was such that even if Lei Lin himself attempted it, he could not have done better than Shar.
And without a doubt, that Fruit of the World represented a complete World Will. The moment Shar devoured it, she would instantly ascend to the eighth-level peak and sweep aside all opposition!
This ran completely counter to Lei Lin's interests, and the two had been enemies from the very beginning, so Lei Lin stepped forward without a moment's hesitation.
"I'm sorry… in the end, we've become enemies after all. I had hoped you would make a more rational choice!"
It was clear that Shar was genuinely disappointed.
"I'm sorry…"
Lei Lin's expression didn't change at all as he moved to stand beside the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents.
"Then I have no choice but to see you fall!"
Shar's face turned ice-cold in an instant, and she thrust a finger toward Lei Lin from afar!
Boom!
Terrifying! Vast! As though endless, the world's primordial force bore down, carrying the full weight of the entire Shadow World—it seemed that in the next instant, Lei Lin would be crushed to dust.
Shar didn't spare Lei Lin another glance. Instead, she turned to the World Tree. Amid ripples of brilliant life-light, the Fruit of the World had ripened to its absolute limit and could drop at any moment.
Shar knew perfectly well that what mattered most right now was obtaining the complete World Will.
Once she devoured it, she would fear no trial. Even if Lei Lin publicized her existence and led other eighth-level peak Wizards to besiege her, so long as they were within the Shadow World, Shar could send every last one of them retreating in defeat.
Compared to this ultimate goal, what did the lives or deaths of a few Law Wizards matter?
After ascending to the eighth-level peak, she would have all the time in the world to deal with Lei Lin.
"A very wise choice," she said.
Facing the terrifying pressure of the world's power, Lei Lin let out a helpless sigh.
"If you've got any cards left, now's the time to play them!" The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents glanced at Lei Lin, every inch of her radiating captivating charm.
"You really think too highly of me!" Lei Lin replied with a bitter smile, rubbing his chin.
"If you don't have enough to turn the tables, your only option right now is to run as far as you can!"
The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents had an unexpectedly great deal of confidence in Lei Lin—even more than she had in herself.
"Fair enough…" Lei Lin glanced at his Chip. At the very top of the task list, one entry shone conspicuously: [Ding! Shadow Weave analysis for Levels 0–9: 100% complete!]
"Twisted Shadow… let me see just what it is you've been hiding…"
Lightning flickered through Lei Lin's eyes, and the aura around him turned eerie and terrifying.
The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents watched in astonishment as Lei Lin's body involuntarily retreated a considerable distance.
"Haaaah…" Lei Lin growled in a low voice. Terrifying Law power surged as he channeled a massive amount of energy into the Spell Template.
This template was extraordinarily unique, carrying an alien, unsettling quality—it was none other than the twelfth-level Arcana obtained from the Twisted Shadow, one that had never existed before and would never exist again: [Karsus's Avatar]!
[Ding! Subject is a Grand
[Ding! Charging complete. Arcana Template activated!]
[Twelfth-level Arcana—Karsus's Avatar—initiate!!!]
The sky plummeted into darkness, and the entire world froze in that single instant.
"This feeling! A deadly threat!!!"
Shar's expression changed violently. Her gaze locked onto Lei Lin's position, not missing a single one of his movements, while her hands snatched toward the Fruit of the World.
Crack! Crack!
Inside the palace of the Sea of Primordial Force, cracks spread rapidly across the crystal surface. The girl sealed within opened her eyes, a flicker of panic crossing her face!
"Shar! Your greatest mistake was merging the World Tree with the Weave!!!"
Lei Lin's body shot high into the sky in an instant, a brilliant Arcana already taking shape in his hands.
"Target selected—Shadow Weave! Karsus's Avatar—activate!!!"
Boom!!!
In that instant, Shar's expression twisted wildly. Her body lurched to a halt, becoming translucent and hazy, clearly having suffered a devastating blow.
"Aaah!!!" She clutched her head, letting out a piercing shriek: "My Weave… you've actually stripped my Weave away…"
Even though Shar knew Lei Lin had held a killer trump card, she had never connected it to the Shadow Weave. After all, the ability to instantly deprive someone of their Weave authority was simply too monstrous to comprehend.
But regardless, it had happened! The Weave that Shar had painstakingly crafted and manipulated was now seized outright by an outsider! This earth-shaking reversal left even the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents completely stunned.
If Shar had been the Weave Goddess
Shar's situation was dire, but Lei Lin was faring no better at that moment.
"Eighth-level! This Karsus's Avatar is absolutely an eighth-level spell!!!"
Lei Lin's face flushed red. His Chip whirred at maximum speed, receiving information from the Shadow Weave. Massive, terrifying quantities of data streamed through his mind. If he hadn't already possessed a Law body and had prior experience in this area, the only outcome would have been his brain exploding!
"That Twisted Shadow bastard never had good intentions!"
Lei Lin was now completely certain of this.
The Arcana itself was flawless—the problem lay in what came after replacing the original Weave controller.
The moment the Shadow Weave lost Shar's control, it had gone berserk. To Lei Lin, it felt like a high-voltage电网—a live wire of immense power.
And now he had to calm this high-voltage grid with his own bare hands!
"Outside of the Weave's original controller, no one can master the Weave in an instant. Whether a Grand Arcanist or a being of Law, attempting to forcibly control it results in mutual annihilation with the Weave—not even the option of sacrificing a limb to survive…"
Lei Lin had once believed that with his own body's advantages and the Chip's assistance, he could barely manage to replace the Weave Goddess's divine seat without issue. Now he knew his assumptions had been spectacularly wrong!
A single Shadow Weave had already reduced him to this state—the true Weave spanning the entire
With his current strength, rashly activating this Arcana would likely leave nothing behind but ashes, serving as nothing more than a stepping stone for the likes of the Twisted Shadow!
"As expected of an ancient eighth-level
Cold sweat streamed down Lei Lin's face. If not for the Shadow Weave serving as a live test, he would have gotten himself killed when he eventually used this in the World of Gods.
Sacrificing himself to benefit others—that was not Lei Lin's style.
"However… now that I have this data, the previous errors can be corrected…"
The Shadow Weave was still inferior to the true Weave, and after undergoing this terrifying transformation, Lei Lin finally managed to regain a degree of mobility.
"Come here!"
The Shadow Weave was now under his control, and the World Tree, built upon the Shadow Weave as its foundation, naturally followed suit.
Almost in the same instant, the World Tree abandoned Shar and teleported to Lei Lin's side.
Shar, having lost most of her power and suffering devastating injuries, had no way to stop it.
"The final step!"
Lei Lin pulled with both hands through the void, and the entire Shadow World's foundational Weave materialized before them.
"As an offering to the Shadow Weave—ripen!"
Boom!
If one were watching from the Astral Plane, they would have seen a pair of primordial hands reach into the world, seize a sheet of purple-gold Shadow Weave, crush it into a ball, and merge it into the World Tree.
Lei Lin felt no regret whatsoever about sacrificing the Shadow Weave. In fact, this was the perfect opportunity to free himself from that high-voltage grid.
With the Weave absorbed, the World Tree finally achieved full growth. Its dense branches and terrifying web-like root system spread throughout the world, replacing the position the Weave had once held.
"So this was the true final implantation plan…" Lei Lin murmured with a sigh, approaching the Fruit of the World. The fruit had now turned a complete, churning grey of chaos, carrying the authority of an entire world.
"Condensed to the utmost extreme—fully materialized World Will!"
A mysterious light gleamed in Lei Lin's eyes. He extended his hand gently and placed the Fruit of the World within his embrace.
"Holding it feels like holding an entire world…"
This sensation of grasping a world in his hands left even Lei Lin somewhat intoxicated.
Moreover, this fruit, painstakingly cultivated by Shar, represented tremendous benefits!
If Lei Lin devoured it, he could instantly become an eighth-level peak existence and gain control over the entire Shadow World, becoming its World Lord!
Upon merging with the Shadow World, a Wizard would also gain an incredibly long lifespan—so long as the Shadow World itself was not destroyed, they would never perish!
And the Shadow World was a large-scale world. Short of a catastrophe that even the Astral Plane couldn't escape, nothing would threaten it.
In other words, if Lei Lin was willing, he could instantly obtain terrifying power and near-immortal life—lifespan equal to the Astral Plane itself! It had to be said, for any Wizard, this was an immense temptation. After all, that was what most of them pursued in the end.