"And one more thing..."
Leilin touched his face. The cold Dreamless Mask covered it, with fine golden-red lines running across its surface.
"This mask is far too conspicuous. It won't help me stay hidden at all..."
A burst of pure white light suddenly emanated from Leilin's body.
Within the brilliant radiance, dense white scales began to appear across the entire Dreamless Mask, and the bloodline aura of the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent grew steadily stronger.
In the end, the entire mask seemed to become ethereal, sinking into Leilin's skull.
A layer of fine white snake scales, however, remained directly on his cheeks.
After the light faded, Leilin's facial features appeared to have changed dramatically — his eyebrows had grown longer and more elegant, his pupils had turned scarlet with a piercing luster, and even his tongue had developed a slight fork. His teeth had become razor-sharp, radiating a bone-chilling cold.
A hazy aura of dream power began to radiate outward from him ceaselessly.
"A half-blood descendant of the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent should look something like this!" Leilin conjured a water mirror and examined his new appearance with evident satisfaction.
His skin had an eerie quality, with a large number of white scales remaining on his face, forming complex and intricate patterns that gave him a unique, almost otherworldly air.
The current look was much like a half-serpent person — a hybrid between a giant serpent creature and a humanoid race.
With the Chip's capabilities, plus the blood of the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent he had obtained, disguising himself as their half-blood descendant was an extremely simple matter for Leilin.
*Dong!* *Dong!* *Dong!* ...
The enormous bronze bell at the center of Iyas Port tolled its deep, resonant sound, and Leilin listened quietly.
The grand bell rang twelve times before falling silent. The penetrating sound seemed to linger, causing the glass windows to tremble slightly.
"This hour should be the dead of night!"
Leilin casually grabbed a black cloak and draped it over his shoulders, then vanished from the balcony without a trace.
Now that he had changed his appearance, this residence naturally had to be abandoned. And during these midnight hours, he still had much to do.
As for the port's nighttime curfew — compared to these preparations, it was nothing.
"A long night provides cover for many things!" Leilin gazed at the full moon hanging in the sky, radiating a purple halo, and let a faint smile cross his lips as his figure slowly melted into the darkness.
...
No one would ever learn what exactly happened that night — it became a permanent mystery. The only thing the residents of Iyas Port knew for certain was that come dawn, the entire port garrison had mobilized, surrounding an ordinary warehouse on all sides.
Out on the sea, patrol ships and war vessels converged in dense formation, forcibly seizing every ship flying the banner of the Yidong Trading Company.
Even the other side's colossal sea monster, Gudolik, came under siege. Deep, muffled roars and white-capped waves churned ceaselessly across the ocean's surface.
"What is the meaning of this? We are legitimate merchants! The Yidong Trading Company pays its taxes and is a lawful resident here — you can't do this!"
Facing the drawn-weapons garrison, Gaggaer had nearly collapsed, but Gagduoer was still managing to maintain a semblance of composure. One of its tentacles waved a medallion, its spiritual power fluctuating wildly: "Do you see this? This is your own deputy captain's — Eker's — medallion. We are his guests. You can't..."
"Eker?! He's already been arrested!" A cold voice came from behind. The garrison troops parted to either side, revealing a corridor through which a figure emerged — a being covered in grey feathers but otherwise roughly humanoid, carrying the commanding air of one long accustomed to authority. He wore armor made of silver scales, and on the chest plate was emblazoned a pair of spread grey wings — unmistakably the wing pattern of the Filthbird!
"There's no point waiting for reinforcements. Eker's charges are treason and embezzlement. He's as good as dead!"
The Filthbird official stared coldly at Gagduoer, undisguised killing intent filling his gaze: "You wretched Eye Clan — we opened this port to you as a great act of mercy, and yet you dare scheme to overthrow my lord's rule... The flames of nine layers of purgatory could not burn away the depth of your sins!"
"The Governor of Iyas? A favored servant of the powers of evil and chaos!"
Gagduoer's eyes turned cold, clearly realizing that their disguise had been completely seen through.
"How did you discover us?"
A blinding red light blazed from the creature's massive vertical eye, so intense that several garrison soldiers staggered in momentary daze.
"Dead men don't need answers! Kill them — leave none alive! In the name of the great Wing of Fluctuation!"
The Governor of Iyas spoke with icy finality.
The garrison soldiers beside him immediately charged forward with savage cries, brandishing their weapons, their eyes burning with fanatical zeal.
They were native inhabitants of the continent ruled by the Filthbird, and their reverence for the supreme being was beyond compare. The Eye Clan's actions, in their eyes, were nothing less than an unforgivable insult to the great Filthbird!
"Evil King's True Eye —
A death ray far more terrifying than the previous one erupted from Gagduoer's eye, and several sea lion giants who had been closing in collapsed on the spot, their soul fluctuations utterly annihilated.
But this time, after using the Death Ray, Gagduoer did not collapse. Several gray-white tentacles extended from its body, each one clutching an unidentifiable animal eyeball at its tip.
"Great and Just Sovereign! Guardian of Covenants! Selfless Arbiter! The transcendent supreme who spans the past, the present, and shall surely endure into the future — Eye of Judgment! Please accept this humble being's offering to you!"
A peculiar wave of spiritual power emanated from Gagduoer, causing subtle ripples in the void as a mass of light formed directly into a small magical array.
A sphere of crimson flame appeared above the array and swiftly enveloped the animal eyeball clutched in Gagduoer's tentacle.
*Sizzle...* The phantom image of the Eye of Judgment materialized instantly behind Gagduoer, its expression carrying what seemed like a hint of approval.
Threads of pure, powerful energy surged from the phantom and poured down into Gagduoer below.
"Ahhh..." Bolstered by this infusion of power, Gagduoer's entire body swelled to several times its original size, and a savage, violent aura radiated from it — the weakness from before had completely vanished.
*Whoosh! Whoosh!* Numerous tentacles, now turned pure white, shot out and seized a bull-headed garrison soldier, dragging him into the air. Amid the creature's screaming and shrieking, the tentacles slowly tightened. Gore and bone fragments leaked through the gaps, dripping onto the ground.
"A third-rank Sacrificer! Truly a big catch!"
The Governor of Iyas's expression had grown grave as he watched the increasingly frenzied Gagduoer.
This Gagduoer had clearly supplemented its racial abilities by cultivating the Path of Sacrifice to a profound level, reaching the third rank.
The Path of Sacrifice might seem simple — one merely needed to find the right things to offer — but advancing one's own rank within it was an exceedingly difficult matter.
After all, from the perspective of a supreme being, very few things were worthy of attention.
A third-rank Sacrificer had not only selected a unique supreme being to worship but had deeply internalized that being's path — or in other words, had been thoroughly brainwashed.
To the Eye of Judgment, such a being was essentially a devout believer. Whenever a third-rank Sacrificer on the Path of Sacrifice issued a prayer, the response would come swiftly.
And such a Sacrificer, obviously, would not be welcomed anywhere except on the continent where the supreme being they worshipped held sway.
Therefore, when the Iron-Spined Iron Whale had appeared earlier, Gagduoer had concealed its identity as a Sacrificer.
After all, once this power was used, it would immediately become obvious that it was a fanatic of the Eye of Judgment — an identity that a free port like Iyas would never accept.
Moreover, outside the continent of the Eye of Judgment, Sacrificers of this rank would be subjected to strict surveillance and restriction on any other land.
"A third-rank Sacrificer can channel a supreme being's power to enhance itself, reducing fatigue and restoring spiritual energy! And the highest-rank Sacrificers are even rumored to directly borrow a supreme being's power of law..."
The Governor of Iyas murmured, watching the now berserk Gagduoer. "That Giant Eye certainly had no good intentions — placing someone like this right under our noses, even infiltrating from the inside..."
At this thought, the Governor's expression darkened, and he slammed his fist against his own chest.
"ROOOAR...!!!" Accompanied by a tremendous roar, the spectral image of a massive bear — over ten meters tall — erupted from his chest.
The bear was covered in tough brown fur, with thick, powerful paws bearing dark, hardened claws. On its chest, white fur had gathered to form a strange, rune-like symbol.
"Beast Soul Technique — Summon Flash Thunder Bear!!!"
*Crackle! Crackle!* The white lightning symbol on the bear's chest flickered as layers of sparks appeared, concentrating on its massive paws to form terrifying gauntlets of crackling electricity.
"ROAR!" The thunder bear roared and brought its lightning-infused claws crashing down.
*Rumble! BOOM!* The entire warehouse roof was blown clean off. A massive cloud of dust billowed upward while earthquake-like shockwaves rippled outward in all directions.
When the dust settled, a deep crater had appeared where the warehouse stood, with scorched black marks scarring the surrounding earth.
"ROAR!"
The Flash Thunder Bear was still roaring, and with a sweep of its arm, a red figure was sent hurtling through the air.