Enormous flakes of Destruction Snow drifted through the air.
With three Calamity Lords gathered together, the Destruction Snow they attracted was obviously far more terrifying.
Countless flakes of white snow carrying the power of annihilation floated lazily downward, dissolving everything they touched, but the three Lords seemed utterly unfazed, continuing to discuss their own affairs.
"It's hard to be certain…"
The enormous wheel blinked its many eyes, clearly hesitating.
"A secret treasure powerful enough to make a seventh-level being resist us—there are barely a handful even in the ancient age of Wizards and the Divine World… I lean more toward this being the disguise of a peak eighth-level or even a limit eighth-level existence! For such a being, deceiving a Dream Demon's perception would be trivial…"
For seventh-level Rule Existences—even two of them—to so easily dispatch a Calamity Lord would be truly inconceivable.
Moreover, if a limit eighth-level being wished to conceal their true nature, even a Dream Demon, renowned for its soul perception, would struggle to distinguish truth from falsehood.
"If that figure truly was a disguise, then does all the intelligence we previously gathered need to be discarded?"
The human face on the three-headed monster asked.
"That's probably the best-case scenario!" the Emissary of the Eye added coldly. "A killing born of personal grudges that led to the fall of Celusius—that would be the best-case scenario!"
"Then what's the worst-case scenario?" the Thunder Giantess asked.
"Don't you find this situation familiar? Especially the intervention of the Dream World's
As the Emissary of the Eye spoke, a bolt of black annihilation lightning suddenly tore across the sky.
"You mean… that bloodline we collectively cursed?"
The three-headed monster hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"That's impossible!!!" The Thunder Giantess's eyes churned violently, sparks rippling across her body, revealing her deep agitation.
"Don't you realize what it cost us? We sacrificed the combined souls of seven great worlds, and in the end, even the Lord of Despair had to sacrifice himself—all to trigger the previous Nightmare King's despair and plant the thought of ending his own life!"
"If their mind and true spirit hadn't happened to have a fatal flaw, our plan would never have succeeded!"
"And the Nightmare King ultimately chose to use the barrier of the Divine World to end his life there, severing the lineage of the Nightmare Constitution…"
The Thunder Giantess roared: "But now you're telling me the Nightmare King has returned! Did he claw his way back from the Divine World?!"
The giantess grew more agitated as she spoke, her voice trembling ever so slightly, revealing her boundless terror of the previous Nightmare King.
After all, that being had once slain over a dozen Calamity Lords and temporarily advanced to the limit of the eighth level—a truly terrifying existence…
"It's only a guess…"
The Emissary of the Eye's massive body shuddered. Clearly, it had no desire to revisit those painful memories.
"However, there are other ways to move the Dream World's Will. Any limit eighth-level existence could easily convince it to keep their secret…"
The Emissary of the Eye added at last: "So it's nothing more than a possible guess!"
"In any case… that figure has already left the Dream World. We'll have to wait until the World Origin Force is unsealed and the Dream Power is restored before we can leave the Dream World to investigate!"
The black goat's head on the three-headed monster said: "And until then… to prevent anything like this from happening again, why don't we pool our sealed domains together?"
"Boundless Dissolution Power, the Black Goat's Egg rotting in decay… your proposal is quite good, but unfortunately, I don't trust you…"
The Thunder Giantess glanced at the three-headed monster beside her: "I have other allies. Even if I were to form an alliance, it wouldn't be with you! Give up on that idea…"
"Oh… no! Mengliana, I'm so infatuated with you…"
The three-headed monster wailed, the human face in the middle looking as though it were about to burst into tears.
"This is a sound proposal. Send it to all the Calamity Lords. Let them choose for themselves!"
The many eyes on the enormous wheel shut in unison. It seemed unwilling to stay any longer and departed swiftly.
"Give up right now… I'd sooner go find Celusius than ever like you!"
The Thunder Giantess transformed into a bolt of lightning and vanished beyond the horizon, leaving only the three-headed monster still howling endlessly: "Aaaargh… damn you, Celusius, I'll kill you! Even if you come back to life, I'll kill you again!!!"
…
As time shifted, Leilin had already returned to the
The arrangement on the workbench hadn't changed at all; the Everburning Flames along the edges still slowly radiated light and warmth. It was as though Leilin had only been gone for an instant.
Yet in that single instant, a Calamity Lord had died at his hands—an event that would shake countless worlds if it ever became public. Leilin's name would surely spread throughout the Astral Plane, but the Wizard World would then face the retaliation of those Calamity Lords.
While the Rule Wizards beneath the surface had the ability to resist, the surface world did not. Besides, Leilin doubted the Mother of the Earth's Core would be kind enough to wage war against a horde of Calamity Lords just to protect him. It was better to keep a low profile.
"How long was I gone?"
Leilin walked to the corner of the laboratory and looked at a black half-serpent statue.
Crack! Crack!
The moment he spoke, two red flames ignited in the sculpture's eyes, and its smooth, perfect physique began to move.
Boom! In an instant, the statue came to life, transforming into a half-serpent golem guardian, and bowed respectfully to Leilin: "Sir! Seven days and nine magical hours have passed since your last departure. During that time, Lady Fulei came looking for you and left a brief message…"
"I see…" Leilin waved his hand, causing the statue to return to its position and petrify once more, though a thoughtful gleam flickered in his eyes.
"My adventures in the Dream World lasted far longer than seven days. The time dilation ratio between the two worlds has increased again—is this the effect of the Dream World's self-sealing?"
Moving to a nearby bookshelf, Leilin found the documents on the Dream World's time flow rate and recorded his findings.
Red ink left vivid marks on the pale yellow parchment, the complex, ornamental letterforms carrying a strange, rule-infused power.
Although Leilin could use the Chip to record everything instantly, he still insisted on maintaining these paper backups after certain experiments.
For his family and his forces, these documents were invaluable—they also contained the insights of a Rule Existence, making them treasures worthy of being passed down through generations.
After finishing these tasks, Leilin began organizing the gains from his Dream World expedition.
"First is this…"
A golden dragon-head ring materialized in Leilin's hand, bearing three dragon rune marks.
This was, of course, the item left behind by Bodach's one-eyed dragon. After Leilin helped it remove its curse, the dragon had reciprocated by swearing an oath of perpetual secrecy on Leilin's behalf and pledging to do three things for Leilin with all its might. This dragon rune ring was the proof!
Leilin had never been delusional enough to think he could subjugate a Rule Existence—Wizards above the seventh level all possessed their own dignity, and achieving this outcome was already quite excellent.
"However… a seventh-level one-eyed dragon's promise is rather useless to me now. I'm afraid I'll have to leave it for the family…"
Leilin sighed, then stored the dragon rune ring away.
For him in his current state, a seventh-level existence truly counted for nothing, but for any family, having a connection to such a being was an immense stroke of fortune. Three opportunities for intervention? That was practically being struck by a pie falling from the sky!
It was almost comical—this was originally a dispute between Bodach and Celusius, and Bodach was clearly in the wrong, yet after Leilin's involvement, the situation had changed dramatically.
Because of his own bloodline, Leilin had not only become mortal enemies with all the Calamity Lords but had also caused Celusius to meet a tragic end there.
And the cause of it all was nothing more than a stolen Solari Gem!
Surely if Celusius were alive at this moment, even he would feel he had been treated most unjustly?
"Chip! Pull up the Dream World's Origin Force analysis chart!"
Leilin shook his head, then turned his attention to his other gains.
[Ding! Task established. Compiling...]
The Chip faithfully executed Leilin's command. Vast oceans of data flashed before Leilin's eyes as, drawing on its formidable computational and analytical capabilities, the Chip presented its analysis of the Dream Origin Force in data form.
With Leilin's Rule-Body cognitive abilities and the accumulated knowledge from his previous life, he could understand and absorb it all with relative ease.
Having obtained Celusius and the Dream Demon's organizations, and having received authorization from the Dream World's Will, his current understanding of the Dream World was unmatched by anyone.
The completion of the Origin Force chart, in particular, had given Leilin far greater confidence in using Dream Power to refine his own rules.
"What belongs to others will always belong to others. Although I can currently manipulate Dream Power through the Dream World's authority and keep it at its peak, once I lose that authorization…"
Leilin always planned thoroughly, considering defeat before victory—how could he leave himself such a glaring vulnerability?
His analysis and research into Dream Power had been ongoing, and upon obtaining the Dream Origin Force chart, numerous mysteries were immediately unlocked, accelerating his progress by leaps and bounds.
"It won't take much longer before I can control the decay cycle of Dream Power on my own, without needing the Dream World's assistance…"
Flames burned in Leilin's eyes. The most crucial cornerstone for his path beyond the eighth level had been laid!