The foundation of a
From the very start of their apprenticeship, wizards would meditate on
Upon reaching the first tier of Wizard, one's Spiritual Power had to be elementalized to over 80% before one could cross the threshold into the second tier.
The substantialized spiritual particles of the second tier then passed through the three great stages of the third tier—vaporization, liquefaction, and crystallization—before one could finally attempt to condense an Essence Point.
The Essence Point was the very foundation of a Morning Star Wizard, the crystallization of all their paths and even their very soul!
Once one successfully ascended, the Spiritual Power within a wizard's Sea of Consciousness would undergo sublimation, transforming into Soul Force!
In the ancient era, this was an unmistakable marker of true power. It could be said that only a wizard who could wield Soul Force had truly crossed the threshold into the ranks of the ancient wizards!
And due to the terrifying suppressive effect of Soul Force, lower-tier wizards would even be stripped of their ability to commune with elemental particles, reduced to Elemental Isolation Entities.
Many Morning Star Wizards loved employing this technique within their domains, and the suppressed wizards had absolutely no means of resistance. Over time, this had given rise to the fearsome reputation of Morning Star Wizards.
Since the power of his own system was completely suppressed, Lei Lin had no choice but to draw upon a different system's power.
And in his arsenal, he just happened to possess a terrifying secret art from another world—the Power of Many Arms!
Just moments ago, inside the Soul Light Blade, it had been the dark green energy defense of the Power of Many Arms that prevented Lei Lin from perishing.
BOOM!
Like a mountain collapsing or the roar of the ocean, the phantom silhouette behind Lei Lin mirrored his exact motion, throwing the same devastating punch.
The invisible torrent of air pressure forced the ground behind the Blue Mountain King to cave in continuously, compacted and compressed by the relentless force into something harder than granite.
POP!
The light-film defense enveloping the Blue Mountain King first warped to its absolute limit, then shattered in a thunderous explosion amid his expression of utter disbelief.
"So this is all a Morning Star Wizard amounts to!"
Lei Lin stood drenched in blood. Laughing heartily, he drove another fist crashing into the Blue Mountain King's face.
Bang! The Blue Mountain King was sent flying sideways like a runaway locomotive, carving a long trail across the ground.
"A Morning Star sure has thick skin!" Lei Lin shook his fist, not a trace of excitement on his face.
He had clearly felt it just now — the moment his attack landed on the opponent, a layer of starlight had shimmered into view across the Blue Mountain King's surface, completely negating his blow.
As for the Blue Mountain King himself, he had taken at most a faint tremor of impact. Not a scratch.
"Soul force defense?" Lei Lin stared at the Blue Mountain King, whose grim expression had settled back into place as he rose to his feet again, and silently communicated with the Chip. "How's the data collection on the target?"
"Target data collection: 12.1%! Multiple contact with the target is recommended. Additionally, the soul force defense must be broken through!" the Chip's mechanical voice reported.
If it weren't for the need to gather better intelligence and data, Lei Lin would have to be a fool to stay here and fight a Morning Star Wizard's clone to the death.
"Still need to break through the soul force?"
Lei Lin shook his head with a wry smile. "Run a simulation — calculate a retreat plan!"
Seeing that the situation was untenable, he immediately formed the intention to withdraw.
But now was not a time when he could simply leave when he pleased. Across from him, the Blue Mountain King bore no visible injuries, yet a massive conflagration of flames had already erupted and was roaring fiercely around his body.
Wisps of black smoke curled from his seven orifices — eyes, ears, nose, and mouth — as though Lei Lin had truly enraged him to the point of literal smoke pouring from every opening.
Morning Star Wizards had always been lofty, untouchable beings, emperors in their own right. And now here was an emperor walking down the road, bitten by an ant!
In the Blue Mountain King's eyes, every wizard who had not reached the Morning Star tier was nothing more than an insect.
To be bitten by an ant — and humiliated to boot — how could that possibly be tolerated?
"You… you dare… insult me… like this…"
The muscles on the Blue Mountain King's face twisted so violently that he could barely form complete sentences.
"I've heard the howling of beaten dogs like you far too many times…" Lei Lin gave the opponent no chance to speak again and charged straight in.
Even if they purely compared speed, he was certainly no match for the other side, so he had to buy time — or even inflict a measure of damage — before he could make a clean escape.
"I will burn your soul for ten thousand years!"
The Blue Mountain King roared. Terrifying pressure coalesced around his body, and even the sky seemed to dim slightly, revealing scattered pinpricks of starlight.
The Morning Star Domain could only be fully mastered by a fourth-tier Morning Star Wizard, but he was at least a clone. His own strength had already reached the peak of the third tier, and the domain he had formed already possessed a portion of the true domain's power.
Under the shroud of the Morning Star Domain, Lei Lin suddenly felt as though he had sunk into a swamp—every movement required tremendous effort.
"Soul Battle Armor!" A layer of translucent full-body armor materialized over the Blue Mountain King's surface. From the way he was posturing, it seemed he intended to kill Lei Lin with nothing but raw physical force and wash away the humiliation from moments ago.
"Multi-Arm Power activated. Estimated maximum duration: 3 minutes 57 seconds!"
Seeing the Chip's notification, Lei Lin held nothing back, amplifying his physical strength to its absolute limit as he collided with the Blue Mountain King.
Boom! Boom! Bang! Bang!
A dark green figure and a translucent figure tinged with faint blue radiance smashed into each other again and again.
Every punch, every kick, seemed capable of tearing the sky apart, sending the earth into ceaseless tremors.
Piercing, shrill blasts of explosive air constantly erupted from the point where the two clashed, and whenever the shockwaves leaked outward, entire swaths of the surrounding area simply ceased to exist.
Bang! A fist sheathed in translucent armor hammered into Lei Lin's chest, sending scales flying in every direction as dark green light flared violently.
Lei Lin's face flushed red, and a point of black light suddenly appeared on one of his hands.
"Finger of
As if the Grim Reaper himself had descended, a terrifying ray of death erupted in a blinding flash! The distance was so short that the Blue Mountain King barely had time to dodge.
Despite being under elemental suppression, the opponent was ultimately just a clone—not the original body—so if Lei Lin was willing to expend a massive amount of Spiritual Power, he could still forcibly break through the other's soul force suppression and gather elemental particles.
Lei Lin had been saving this as his trump card for two reasons: first, because opportunities were scarce and he could only cast a handful of Tier 3 spells, and second, because he wanted to lure the Blue Mountain King into a trap.
He still hadn't given up on obtaining the other's data and records.
'You're not playing by the rules!' Lei Lin could clearly read that meaning from the Blue Mountain King's expression, but he didn't care in the slightest—he had never agreed beforehand to settle things with purely physical force, and besides, the other party was a Morning Star Wizard who had come after him of his own volition. In a life-and-death struggle, what rules were there to follow?
And by maintaining the illusion all along that he relied on physical strength, Lei Lin had successfully led the Blue Mountain King straight into a trap.
The most terrifying aspect of a Morning Star Wizard was the sorcery they could wield through the power of their soul! That was the very foundation of what made a Wizard.
And when Lei Lin saw the Blue Mountain King flustered and gearing up to contest him in a clash of pure force, he nearly laughed out loud.
The Death Ray arrived before the Blue Mountain King in the blink of an eye, colliding head-on with his translucent armor.
"Ahhh..." the Blue Mountain King howled. The starry void behind him trembled violently as torrents of blue radiance cascaded downward, converging onto his armor.
"Bang!" "Bang!"
"The Multi-Arm power, full release!!!" How could Lei Lin possibly let this opportunity slip? He roared and unleashed every last ounce of the Multi-Arm power's reserve.
Feeling the near-endless surge of strength coursing through his body, Lei Lin hammered ferociously against the Blue Mountain King's defenses.
Massive iron fists pummeled the armor without mercy, sending the transparent light membrane rippling and shuddering.
Crack! Crack!
Amidst the utter disbelief on the Blue Mountain King's face, his armor burst apart with a thunderous explosion. The black Death Ray tore straight through his chest and erupted out his back in a gartering spray of blood.
"Target's Soul Defense Field breached. Commencing data collection!" The Chip seized the moment instantly—massive volumes of data were recorded, and even samples of the opponent's blood and other bodily tissues were quietly gathered by Lei Lin without the other party noticing.
"Shadow Cage! Mist Barrier!"
Watching the Blue Mountain King retreat in disarray, Lei Lin triggered one contingency after another in rapid succession.
Dark mist billowed forth ceaselessly, engulfing the Blue Mountain King entirely. The ground cracked open as rows of yellow gemstone bars thrust upward, forming a colossal prison that sealed the black fog—and the Blue Mountain King—within.
"Double Mist Formula, reinforced with a Secret Lock structure—at least three minutes of containment!"
Lei Lin wasted not a single heartbeat. He turned and withdrew immediately.
The wound from the Finger of Death would not be severe enough to cripple the opponent, and this was merely an avatar of a Morning Star Wizard—it was virtually certain to be hiding some trump card. Having been enraged twice over, it was liable to erupt in a frenzied berserk outburst, and Lei Lin had no intention of fighting such an opponent head-on.
His figure dissolved into a streak of black shadow and vanished from the battlefield in an instant.
Rumble!
Two minutes later, an enormous blue greatsword ripped through the top of the prison and came sweeping down horizontally, like a mountain range toppling to the earth.
Countless chunks of earth and rock flew in all directions as the mist cleared, revealing the Blue Mountain King with bloodshot eyes.
"Lei Lin! Lei Lin! Lei Lin!!! I'm going to kill you!"
He roared hoarsely, but upon seeing no trace of his enemy anywhere nearby, he erupted into a frenzied howl.
With his piercing shriek, the enormous blue greatsword swept across the land, wreaking havoc on everything around it.
Earth and stone tumbled, the ground cracked open — a scene straight out of the apocalypse…
None of that had anything to do with Lei Lin anymore.
After fleeing a considerable distance, he immediately changed course and began ordering the Chip to scrub all traces from his body.
After several rounds of purification, Lei Lin finally arrived at another makeshift cave that had been hollowed out in the rock.
"Master!"
In the dim glow, a voluptuous beauty curtsied to Lei Lin, with Pike and the others following behind her.
"Good! It looks like you managed to rescue them all — well done!"