"Giant, when you used me to blow up the seal back then, did you ever imagine things would turn out like this?"
Leilin stepped forward slowly, an eerie gleam circling in his eyes.
He calmly raised his blood-red right hand, about to unleash another magical attack!
Whoosh! In that very instant, a figure separated from the Giant's body, its energy fluctuation unmistakably at the peak of the First Rank! It lunged toward Leilin at terrifying speed.
"Hallucination Eye!" With a cold shout, an illusory vertical eye emerged behind the figure.
The illusory eye radiated a hazy grey glow shot through with flickering colors — anyone who so much as glanced at it would feel dizzy and disoriented.
At the same time, two black magical item daggers materialized in his hands, slithering like vipers toward Leilin's vitals!
The attack was so sudden, and the opponent such a First-rank peak
Yet strangely, not only did no trace of alarm cross Leilin's face, but a hint of triumphant satisfaction appeared instead.
"So you've finally shown yourself?"
Immediately, the dark-red cross-shaped pendant beneath his neck burst into a mass of dark-red radiance, and his body was instantly covered in a layer of fine scales.
At the same time, Leilin's eyes turned into amber vertical pupils, and two beams of petrification light shot outward, piercing straight into the illusory vertical eye.
"Ahhh!!!" The grey-white petrification light sliced through the illusory eye like a sword, and rings of petrification light spread relentlessly across the shadow figure, drawing a piercing scream from its lips.
"Scarlet Hand!" Three layers of defense covered Leilin's hands — on the inside, the black Comorin's Scales; in the middle, the dark-red illusory armor of the Falling Star Pendant; and on the outermost layer, the blood-flame defense of the Scarlet Hand.
These three different layers of radiance flickered alternately across Leilin's hands.
Then his hands met the two incoming black daggers head-on.
Bang! Bang!
Though the black daggers radiated the energy fluctuation of mid-grade magical items, Leilin batted them away.
Leilin's Scarlet Hand then struck the shadow figure's chest without a moment's hesitation.
Boom!
The shadow figure's chest visibly caved in, and it was sent flying backward with a sickening crack of breaking bones.
Thud! The shadow figure crashed heavily to the ground, revealing the form of a Wizard Leilin knew all too well.
"Team Leader Xishan. Why are you here? And why appear in such a bizarre manner — would you care to explain?"
Leilin walked up to Xishan and asked coolly.
From his tone alone, it was clear he was not the least bit surprised by Xishan's appearance.
"Cough, cough..." The shadow figure that had ambushed Leilin was indeed Xishan.
But at the moment, he cut a rather sorry figure — not only was he coughing up flecks of blood continuously, his complexion deathly pale, but a ring of grey-white stony residue surrounded the third vertical eye in the center of his forehead. It was the residual effect of the Petrification Eye, and it continued to spread outward.
"You... when did you figure it out?" Xishan didn't answer Leilin's question and instead fired back with one of his own.
"I knew from the very beginning! Honestly, I'm genuinely impressed! You actually dared to practice 'Three Spirits as One' — that dangerous ancient secret technique. And you even succeeded, forcibly splitting your soul into three parts!!!"
A look of genuine admiration crossed Leilin's face.
After the Chip had deduced Xishan's trump card earlier, Leilin had rushed to study everything he could find about this ancient secret technique.
This technique, even in ancient times, belonged to the most dangerous category — hardly anyone but a madman would choose to practice it, because its effect was to forcibly split a Wizard's soul into three, each with its own independent consciousness, which could then choose to separate or merge at critical moments.
Put simply, it turned one person into three. And as long as one of them survived, the other two could be revived by expending considerable resources.
It was a truly heaven-defying technique, but the cost was a fragmented mind and personality — something even Leilin would never choose to practice.
The situation now was perfectly clear.
Xishan, the Giant, and the little boy were all different avatars formed by the same Wizard practicing "Three Spirits as One"! And Xishan was the Hand of Thousand Leaves' greatest mole and contingency planted deep within the
Leilin had felt something was off before — the Hand of Thousand Leaves' understanding of the Four Seasons Garden was far too detailed and precise. They had even managed to obtain the self-destruct ritual and defensive schematics for the sealed core consciousness.
Now, with Xishan — the Hunting Team's leader — acting as their inside man, everything made perfect sense.
Xishan gave a bitter smile. "It's far from complete. Originally, if the little boy had also reached the peak of the First Rank, I could have used the fusion effect of 'Three Spirits as One' to attempt breaking through to Second-rank Wizard! But sadly..."
As he spoke, a ring of grey-white stone skin continued spreading outward from Xishan's vertical eye on both sides, already reaching his nose.
"You lured us out here deliberately? What for?"
Xishan asked from his half-reclined position on the ground, not bothering to raise even a sliver of defense. He knew perfectly well that under Leilin's hand, he stood absolutely no chance — there was no point in humiliating himself further.
"Smart! I have a proposition! I hope—"
"No! Don't listen to him! Kill him! I want him dead!" The severely wounded Giant immediately roared from the side.
Leilin sighed and rubbed his temples. "Looks like I'll have to remove the nuisance first."
He had already realized that among the three bodies Xishan had split into, only Xishan himself — the original — possessed any real rationality. The Giant and the little boy were both somewhat unhinged, possibly a side effect of "Three Spirits as One."
And the little boy's madness had seemed even worse than the Giant's. After the boy's death, that unstable mental factor had transferred to the Giant.
Of everyone present, only Xishan might accept his proposal — the Giant was nothing but an obstacle!
At this thought, killing intent surged in Leilin's eyes, and he prepared to strike!!!
After all, even if the Giant and the little boy died, as long as Xishan survived, they could be revived by expending vast resources — it would just take more time.
And right now, both Xishan and the Giant were severely wounded, utterly incapable of resistance.
"Young man, won't you stop?"
Just as Leilin stepped forward to deliver the final blow to the Giant, an aged voice suddenly echoed in his ear.
Then, a ring of silver Spiritual Power descended upon the scene.
This Spiritual Power was so malevolent and powerful that even the void rippled faintly in response. The silver Spiritual Power coalesced into a giant hand and swept the Giant up.
The silver Spiritual Power hand seemed incredibly resilient — Leilin's blood-flame from the Scarlet Hand burned against it relentlessly, yet seemed to have absolutely no effect.
Particles of materialized Spiritual Power surged forward one after another, and the blood-red flames on the Giant's legs gradually died out.
"Materialized Spiritual Power!!!"
Staring at this ring of solid silver Spiritual Power, Leilin suddenly recalled the Gegewu he had encountered before.
That malice entity had also possessed Second-rank Wizard strength — and at the time, Leilin had been completely powerless against it.
"A Second-rank Dark Wizard of the Hand of Thousand Leaves?"
Leilin halted his pursuit.
The silver hand carried the grievously wounded Giant back to a Wizard clad entirely in black robes.
This Wizard was tall and gaunt, yet a terrifying Spiritual Power that made even Leilin's heart skip a beat constantly coiled around him. A pair of emerald-green eyes glowed from his face, and anyone who looked at him would be seized by a deep, instinctive sense of dread and evil.
"Father! Father! After killing the boy, he actually tried to kill me too!! Your only bloodline!!! You must make him pay in blood!!!"
The Giant curled up beside the Dark Wizard, crying out like a child.
Meanwhile, Xishan on the other side called out "Father" with an ashen face.
"So this Dark Wizard is actually Xishan's father!" Leilin's understanding dawned, but then something the Second-rank Dark Wizard tossed toward him from across the field made his heart clench in an instant.
It was a Wizard's head — hair streaked with grey, face covered in wrinkles, features Leilin knew with startling familiarity, having seen them only recently.
"Leon!!!! You actually killed him!!!!" Leilin's pupils contracted sharply.
This Second-rank Dark Wizard was even more powerful than Leilin had imagined — to have directly beheaded Leon, a fellow Second-rank Wizard!!!
Snap! Just then, the petrification on Xishan's face had spread to his neck. His expression froze in place, like a stone statue.
Boom!
A green flame erupted, and the Dark Wizard crossed through space in an instant, arriving before Xishan.
"Ancient Petrification Technique?" His voice was exceedingly raspy, like two pieces of metal scraping against each other.
"Good child, don't be afraid." The Dark Wizard extended a pair of gaunt hands still dusted with green plant spores, gently stroking Xishan's stony head.
Hummm! A ring of milky-white light instantly spread downward from the top of Xishan's head.
Within the light, flakes of grey-white stone skin peeled away one by one, revealing Xishan's original skin beneath.
"Father! Thank you! And also, he..." Xishan whispered into the Dark Wizard's ear, and the Dark Wizard nodded repeatedly.
Nearby, the Giant watched this scene with fury blazing in his eyes, like a child whose candy had been snatched away. His gaze toward Xishan even carried a trace of venomous resentment.
"Aren't you all the same person? Jealous of yourselves?"
Leilin was left utterly speechless.
By this time, Xishan had finished his whispered report, and the Second-rank Dark Wizard turned his gaze toward Leilin.
An overwhelming wave of Spiritual Power locked onto Leilin instantly, making him feel as though he were standing stark naked in a field of snow.