"Yes, through the Morning Star
"Yes, if I'd had the Morning Star Space coordinates last time, I wouldn't have gone through so much trouble..." Leilin sighed with a somewhat helpless expression.
"Haha... it's not too late to know now!" The steel puppet's hand seemed to reach for Leilin's shoulder, but passed straight through the shadow.
As if to cover the awkwardness, Paul immediately laughed and said, "Oh! By the way, all of our bloodline warlock organizations provide remote teleportation services to one another. Of course, there's a fee, and the relationship between both sides needs to be at least cordial!"
"Bloodline warlocks really are united..."
A sharp gleam flashed through Leilin's eyes as he immediately grasped the significance of this function.
Even the Sky Throne's Airship Network required at least a year's worth of travel to cross the Central Continent from one end to the other, and who knew how many dangerous zones one would have to pass through along the way. Even for a Morning Star, it was an enormous hassle.
Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, other warlocks simply stayed within their own territories, rarely undertaking extremely long-distance travel.
But once Morning Star Space teleportation was used, reaching any location on the Central Continent was virtually instantaneous—as long as a Morning Star-level warlock organization existed there.
Of course, since the teleportation array was an Astral Gate, arriving meant appearing within the other party's headquarters or even inside their wizard tower.
This posed a certain threat to the teleporting warlock, and the warlock assisting with the teleportation wouldn't casually expose the secrets of their own lair to another warlock.
This meant that Morning Star warlocks on both sides needed to have at least a baseline of trust—and unity.
However, Leilin believed that under the immense pressure from outside warlocks and the coordination of several Brilliant Moon warlocks within, this shouldn't be a problem for now.
"The space here is vast, with plenty of unclaimed territory. As long as you stake a claim, it's yours—you can do whatever you want, as long as you don't encroach on the public areas!"
Paul continued, "I have a castle outside, but be careful. There are still some vengeful spirits and restless souls left over from the previous plane lingering in those unclaimed areas. Getting hurt would be quite troublesome—it's accumulated malice from an entire plane, after all..."
Leilin nodded with a grave expression and prudently refrained from asking what had become of the original inhabitants of this plane.
"Speaking of... where is that trading hall?"
Leilin looked around casually. After leaving the previous plaza, the streets on both sides were sparsely lined with shops of various kinds, each manned by a puppet or a clone. They sold personal items, and some shops had their doors shut entirely, only accepting members.
But just the glow from the display counters left Leilin somewhat dazed. The Astral Stones he had searched so desperately for when he was Third-rank seemed to be practically free here—they were in almost every shop.
At a Morning Star-level trading venue, there was no shortage of good things. Leilin even spotted several mid-grade Magical Items.
However, what puzzled Leilin was that the trading hall he had been so eager to visit was nowhere to be found. Even after touring nearly the entire trading venue, he still couldn't locate any such building.
"Well... Lord Leilin, my castle isn't far ahead. How about we go there first, sit down, and enjoy some Rainbow Juice and Gemstone Meat from the Food World?"
Paul gave an awkward laugh.
Leilin's face went cold, a hint of displeasure showing. This Paul clearly feared that after Leilin saw the trading hall and got a proper estimate of his resources' value, there would be no room for Paul to get a bargain.
"Hee hee... Big Octopus, you're trying to swindle newcomers again?"
Before Leilin could react, a massive flower resembling a rose burst into laughter from nearby.
The rose was as tall as an ordinary person, its roots intertwined below to form something resembling a pair of human legs. A little girl's face peeked out from the center of the bloom.
"Hey! Newcomer, the public trading point is right above your head. Look up and you'll see it. You're welcome..."
The enormous humanoid rose hopped away singing a tune. Paul's face flushed red—fortunately, he was operating a puppet, so nothing could be seen on the surface.
"Above my head?!"
Leilin raised his head in astonishment, gazing at the vast, universe-like starry sky above. Especially that enormous celestial body in the center that looked as though it were about to crash down, surrounded by rings of light forming magnificent, ritual-like patterns of color.
"Could it be?!"
Leilin's mind stirred, and his soul force immediately extended toward the satellite.
BOOM!
Like the Big Bang, countless streams of information surged through Leilin's consciousness. Had he not already ascended to Morning Star and had some prior experience, his mind would have been instantly overwhelmed by the data.
"Selling 5,632 grams of Astral Stone! Accepting equivalent item exchanges!"
"Advanced Meditation Method—Ethereal Phantom Body, five layers total, flawless and complete. Only..."
"High-price purchase of ancient creature bloodlines, remains, or even artifacts. Generous pricing. Add me immediately!" Beside the text was an Arcane Mark symbol.
"Mid-grade Magical Item exchange! I need one defensive Magical Item. Price difference will be compensated, plus a hundred Star Gems as bonus!"
"Living creatures for sale—Wastebone Wolf pack, including one peak Third-rank Wolf King!"
"Spatial secret technique for sale, plus an incomplete spatial coordinates! Interested parties act fast..."
A blue light flickered through Leilin's eyes as the Chip rapidly processed the data, immediately collecting and organizing all of the information into a massive price table and sales curve.
Leilin smiled. The rarity and specific pricing of various items were now crystal clear to him.
"Haha... what lovely weather today!" Paul chuckled dryly. "Lord Leilin! Look, all that information up there is too dense and chaotic. I just thought you might want to rest first..."
Paul was spouting words even he didn't believe—did soul force need rest?
But to his surprise, Leilin immediately agreed: "Lord Paul! Please lead the way!"
"What... what? You still want to go to the castle? Oh, no! No! I mean... wouldn't you like to check out the trading market first?"
Paul was momentarily stunned, even flustered, barely able to form words.
"Haha! The Psychic Circle is an ally of our Ouroboros Ring! Of course I trust you! Besides, I'm quite curious about the Rainbow Juice and Gemstone Meat!"
Leilin threw his head back and laughed, looking completely unconcerned, which immediately moved Paul.
But what Paul didn't notice was the trace of cold light at the bottom of Leilin's eyes in that brief instant of laughter.
After leaving the public area, the surroundings immediately grew desolate.
The Morning Star Space was a plane after all. No matter how thoroughly the Brilliant Moon warlocks had cleaned it, there were always places they couldn't reach.
Even the public area, with only Morning Star warlocks as customers, appeared sparsely populated—vast and empty, with personal land occupancy pushed to its absolute limit.
The situation outside was even worse. Apart from the area near the public zone, which had a few castles and similar structures, the rest was nothing but wasteland.
The malevolent spirits formed from a plane's accumulated resentment and malice were incredibly stubborn and difficult to purge.
Until they were completely "purified," even Brilliant Moon warlocks had no good solution—they could only let the land sit abandoned, unable to make full use of it.
They arrived at Paul's castle.
Calling it a castle was generous—given that psychic warlocks had tastes and aesthetics quite different from ordinary people's, what appeared before Leilin was several enormous spheres suspended in midair, connected to the ground only by a single cylindrical column at the base.
"Look! This is the castle I designed myself. What beautiful curves! And that sense of flawless perfection—oh, I feel like composing a poem..."
Paul was clearly in high spirits, but Leilin politely declined to share his enthusiasm.
On the ground was a device resembling an elevator. The intelligent butler immediately recognized Paul's aura and transported him and Leilin into the castle's interior.
"Haha... it's rather simple in here—just a few alchemical servants. Don't mind that..."
Paul led Leilin into an oddly shaped sitting room. Almost immediately, an intelligent servant brought over a tray.
Inside was fragrant juice and roasted meat.
The juice was in a transparent glass, yet it radiated seven-colored light like a rainbow. The surface of the roasted meat shimmered with a jewel-like luster.
Both were delicacies from another world—extremely difficult for even a Morning Star to obtain, with a taste that was absolutely sublime. Though Paul usually couldn't bear to enjoy them himself, he brought them out today to impress Leilin.
"Not a problem at all!" Leilin smiled and shook his head, understanding that while migration to other planes was theoretically possible, the incomplete purification meant that any warlock below Morning Star would likely be corrupted—let alone ordinary humans.
Moreover... the Alliance had probably already attempted such experiments, only to fail in the end.
Leilin stopped dwelling on it, picked up his knife and fork with practiced ease, and elegantly sliced off a piece of Gemstone Meat.
"Mmm!" The moment the meat touched his tongue, savory juices burst forth along with a unique aroma, assaulting his taste buds and making every cell in his body sing with delight.
"Truly delicious! Then I won't hold back!"
With a touch of vindictive pleasure, Leilin dug in heartily. Watching Paul's barely concealed wince gave him a distinct sense of satisfaction. (...)