"Yes... I have been there before. It truly is a world worth yearning for, filled with all manner of marvelous rules..."
Leilin smiled, looking at the quirky girl before him. "And... I never imagined that the Shadow Girl would not have fallen, but instead made her way to the Astral Plane..."
"The power of faith—for the gods, it is both strength and a cage..."
"When the Twilight of the
"Even so, you are the only one who had the resolve to change..."
Leilin's eyes flashed as he probed carefully.
"Hehe... there's no point trying to probe further. I am the only god who crossed the Crystal Wall System to reach the Astral Plane. Once a deity is severed from faith, it is like a fish torn from water—utterly perilous. To traverse the Crystal Wall System on the verge of death requires tremendous courage and luck. I was merely one who succeeded by chance..."
A faint smile curved Shar's lips. "I've answered your questions. Now... you can accept your destruction in peace, can't you..."
In the next instant, the sweetly smiling Shar struck!
BOOM!
The entire Shadow World seemed to come alive as a massive surge of Primal Force descended, then was amplified through the Shadow
[Ding! Host's aura has been recorded by the opponent. Locating... Countdown...]
The Chip flashed blood-red warning text. Leilin knew full well that under this kind of scan, if he did nothing, it was only a matter of time before his true body was discovered.
A Tier 8 pinnacle
Moreover, as long as his clone remained here, the opponent could use the invisible connection between them to severely wound or even annihilate his true body at the moment of the avatar's destruction!
"Using the Shadow Weave to not only achieve control over transcendent power, but also to amplify the world's Primal Force... Truly worthy of the Night Lady! Your wisdom shines as brilliantly as the stars..."
Leilin himself was already a rule-level being who never lacked access to Primal Force, yet this method of utilization still felt like a breath of fresh air.
The Night Lady's command of Primal Force had long surpassed mere application—she had achieved far more refined optimization and amplification.
If the world's Primal Force were crude oil, then through the Shadow Weave, the Night Lady had already completed the deep processing of that crude oil—she could even sort it by use into diesel, gasoline, and asphalt, vastly boosting her utilization rate.
By comparison, the Primal Force weapons that Leilin had been dedicating himself to researching also fell into the same category, but each had its own strengths and weaknesses: the Night Lady's Shadow Weave boasted higher utilization and greater destructive power, yet its fatal drawback was that it could not extend beyond the Shadow World, whereas Primal Force weapons were adaptable across all worlds.
Crackling!
The Shadow Weave, surging with turbulent Primal Force, materialized from every direction like a fence of high-voltage power lines, wrapping Leilin at its center.
"If those are your last words, then I'll humbly accept your praise…"
Shar's sweet voice drifted in, utterly devoid of killing intent.
But at this moment, she had already sentenced this rule-level existence below to death!
Before ascending to the peak of the eighth tier and achieving complete fusion with the entire Shadow World, Shar still harbored weaknesses—at the very least, she could not evade a siege by other peak eighth-tier beings. Therefore, she could never allow Leilin, a Wizard who had learned her secret, to walk away!
With her keen perception, she could clearly see that Leilin's true body was at most a seventh-tier Wizard, highly likely to be caught in the crossfire and suffer devastating injuries or even death. Her killing intent only burned fiercer.
Under Shar's command, the Shadow Weave surged directly toward Leilin in a killing sweep.
Backed by the Primal Force of an entire great world, even a peak eighth-tier Wizard would meet their end under this strike!
"What a pity… Lady Shar… There was still a chance for us to negotiate…"
The light of the Chip flickered in Leilin's eyes, and he let out a sudden sigh.
Whoosh! In an instant, a torrent of green flames erupted from the voodoo doll, rapidly spreading across its entire body.
"You think you can destroy this link? Dream on!!!"
Shar let out a cold snort and waved her hand. A massive binding force crashed down.
"You think too highly of yourself…"
Swoosh!
Within the green flames, Leilin's figure abruptly transformed into a streak of light and, as though committing suicide, hurtled straight toward the encircling Weave.
Boom!
Suddenly, an extremely dangerous feeling struck Shaer's mind without warning! It was a premonition of doom! It instantly reminded her of the lethal crisis during Ragnarok! This time, the premonition was even more overwhelming than the last!
"What's going on?"
Shaer retreated sharply, countless spell-light flickering around her body as layer upon layer of Force Field wrapped around her like armor, enclosing her completely.
Even within the original Force Field ocean, inside the palace, the girl within the crystal had opened her eyes, an unmistakable trace of terror surfacing on her face!
Hum hum...
Turbulent! Immense! A will that had been dormant suddenly awakened and descended upon this place with solemn grandeur!
Clatter! The Shadow Weave unfurled directly, allowing that speck of green light to break free from the encirclement, tracing a brilliant arc across the sky before vanishing entirely.
Shaer knew that the Wizard had completely destroyed every trace of the puppet. There would be no way to track him through it anymore.
But at this moment, her attention was no longer on that at all.
"What's going on? This tremendous crisis between life and death? And the World
Shaer closed her eyes, seemingly communing with the vast Shadow Will. A long time passed before she opened them again.
"I sensed a dangerous aura on him — one sufficient to put me to death?"
Shaer bit her lip, her expression grave beyond measure.
The more powerful a being was, the more they feared death. Having barely escaped Ragnarok, she was all the more so!
"What is it exactly? An Archmage's **
Possibility after possibility flickered through Shaer's mind.
Then her gaze fell upon a certain region of the Empire. Even though she had not pinpointed his exact location, the general information had not escaped Shaer's eyes.
"Ten Thousand Snakes... you really found yourself a fine helper this time..."
Shaer sighed, her entire body dissolving into the shadows. And in secret, following her command, a terrifying great net was steadily closing in on the area where Leilin was, surging through the darkness...
……
In the bedroom of the villa in Myriad Bears City,
In the unseen darkness, some of the tracking threads that had been trailing him were severed, then swallowed and dissolved by the shadows…
Only after completing this did Leylin stand up and recall the events of his meeting with Shar today.
"I can feel that the other's divine immortal essence has already been more than half converted…"
Leylin let out a regretful sigh. This was the most critical point!
Because the rule-force of a deity could be completely devoured by a Wizard and instantly utilized, causing a massive surge in power — but a Wizard's could not!
Shar, who had essentially completed her class change, was no longer a deity. So even if Leylin devoured her, obtaining twenty percent of the Shadow Rule would already be considered quite good.
Moreover, through their clash via avatars, Leylin had also confirmed the other party's strength — peak Eighth-Level Wizard! Just a hair's breadth away from the ultimate Eighth-Level limit!
That level of power was subtly even superior to the Mother of Ten Thousand Snakes.
If the other party still had similar rule-level allies, even Leylin would have to consider whether he should retreat first.
Just like the great-power wars of his previous world, confrontations between rule-level existences in the Starry Sky were all about profit! If killing the other party yielded little benefit and came with injuries or even a curse to bear, then no existence would do such a thing.
"It's just… too clean… The entire Shadow World seems to have no other Seventh-Level existences besides the Lady of Night, Shar…"
Leylin felt a deep, cold chill.
During the Age of Ten Thousand Snakes, there had been several such existences. They even had some rapport with the Mother of Ten Thousand Snakes, giving the latter confidence that they would stand aside. But now, within the entire Shadow World, there were no other traces of rule-level auras!
"Shar is, after all, an existence from the
Leylin sighed. He had a vague premonition that the fates of those existences were probably not going to be pleasant.
"The Mother of Ten Thousand Snakes should have realized this by now as well, right?"
He pulled back the curtain, his gaze seeming to pierce through the endless starry sky to the other side of the Empire.
……
Beyond the brightly lit city, atop a nearby hill, stood an ancient castle.
This kind of medieval architecture was exceedingly rare nowadays — what few remained served only as tourist attractions.
A lady holding a black-handled umbrella walked slowly along the tree-lined path.
She wore a mink coat, and her black high heels struck the ground with a sharp, precise sound. Black silk gloves adorned her hands, lending her an air of elegance and nobility.
Beneath her hood was the face of a middle-aged woman — narrow, elongated eyes and lips painted a vivid crimson, carrying a hint of bewitching allure.
The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents had clearly learned from her previous encounters. She had retracted the vast majority of her charm field. Her current form was certainly attractive, yet it fell far short of the kind of beauty that could bring ruin upon a kingdom.
Raindrops pattered in rhythm along the roadside, and the yellow earth had turned to mud, yet not a single drop had touched her high heels — an eerie sight.
However, there happened to be no passersby around, so no one witnessed this unsettling scene.