Next, Leilin employed more than a dozen different methods to probe the conditions on the other side of the passage, but every single one of them ended in failure.
His spiritual power simply could not traverse such a vast expanse of space and time, and any probing wizardry was fundamentally built upon a spiritual power connection. As a result, all his plans came to nothing.
After gazing deeply at the passage one last time, Leilin reluctantly shut down the wizard formation.
Crack!
The Magic Stone crystal within the formation's energy slot automatically flew into Leilin's hand, and all the various lights faded away.
"Hmm? Nearly ten percent of the energy was consumed?" Sensing the energy depletion within the Magic Stone crystal, Leilin frowned slightly.
That single attempt had burned through the equivalent of nearly a million Magic Stones!
And that was without Leilin teleporting any living creatures — he had only used his spiritual power to probe! Otherwise, the Magic Stone crystal would likely have been drained completely in an instant!
"At this rate, I'll have to use self-operating puppets or soul servants — send them across first to scout the situation, then teleport them back!"
Leilin stroked his chin.
Without the slightest hesitation, he departed the Soul-Slaughtering Cult's secret realm. As he left, he deliberately set up the entrance to make it appear as much as possible like the last time he had been there.
Although all signs suggested that the Gegewu could not break through into the emergency passage, Leilin still had no desire to take any chances.
Under the Chip's precision control, even if the Gegewu came in person, it would not necessarily discover anything — the safety margin was greatly increased.
Once all of this was arranged, Leilin departed the area at a leisurely pace.
……
The Thorn Iron Gate was a large wizard bazaar located on the western side of the South Coast.
The place earned its name from a massive iron gate covered in thorns nearby, and behind that gate lay a mid-sized wizard secret realm!
On the South Coast, most wizard secret realms were controlled by major wizard organizations and factions, but this particular resource-rich secret realm was held by an alliance of roaming wizards — the
Under the constant oppression of both Light and Dark Wizards, whether openly or covertly, many neutral roaming wizards had endured countless indignities before finally choosing to band together in resistance!
And this Iron Crown was a faction formed by roaming Wizards!
Here, numerous roaming Wizards had banded together and taken control of the surrounding territory. They had even seized control of a mid-sized secret realm!
Although the area of a mid-sized secret realm was far smaller than a large-scale secret realm like the Four Seasons Secret Realm, for roaming Wizards, it was still an incredibly rare and precious resource!
The existence of the Iron Crown was like a torch in the darkness, attracting roaming Wizards and apprentices from all over the South Coast. And it was growing ever stronger!
But that was all it would ever be.
Because it was fundamentally a
And Black Bone Forest ranked only as a mid-tier power within the Dark Wizard Alliance!
The higher-ups of both the Dark and Light Wizards — who knew what they were thinking? Perhaps it was disdain, or perhaps they simply wanted to cordon off a patch of land to serve as a public zone. Either way, they had permitted the Iron Crown to continue existing.
And so, a massive Wizard marketplace had taken shape here!
Thanks to the roaming Wizards' neutral stance, this place had become a rare free market on the South Coast. Regardless of whether one was a Dark Wizard, a Light Wizard, or a neutral Wizard, regardless of which faction one hailed from, any Wizard could come and go freely. And under the Iron Crown's enforcement, order here was reasonably well-maintained — no major incidents had occurred. As a result, the marketplace quickly earned a sterling reputation.
Climbing to the top of a hill,
"So this is the Thorn Iron Gate? The scale is almost comparable to Evernight City…"
From his elevated vantage point, he could see a cluster of enormous buildings gathered at the far end of the plain, with countless roads spreading outward like a spider's web.
What surprised him most of all was that this marketplace had no city walls, nor were there any guards. Everywhere Leylin looked, he could see Wizards riding all manner of conveyances, converging on the market from every direction.
This kind of grandeur was something Leylin had never felt even in Evernight City.
"The Iron Crown was born from blood and fire when it was first founded. The thirteen founding Wizard sages, in order to purge the dangers here and carve out living space for roaming Wizards, had their hands stained with the blood of both Dark and Light Wizards…"
Leylin sighed, pulled his hood back on, and followed the road toward the Thorn Iron Gate.
The defining feature of this marketplace was that it had no clear boundaries. Once he had entered the range of the Thorn Iron Gate, Leylin could spot all manner of stalls lining the roadside.
These were temporary stalls set up by roaming Wizards. The stall owners included apprentices, full Wizards, and Leylin even spotted a few ordinary people!
"This doesn't look any worse than Evernight City at all! I hope I can find what I need…"
Leylin was mulling things over in his mind. There were three reasons he had come this time. First was to gather intelligence; second was to replenish some of his commonly used materials; and the last was to try his luck, to see if he could find some kind of Wizardry template capable of ultra-long-range detection. If that didn't work out, he would have no choice but to purchase a few puppets or soul servants to send in as probes.
"Hm?"
Leylin had been wandering aimlessly when his gaze suddenly sharpened!
Along the side of a major thoroughfare, a cluster of Wizards had gathered together, watching something that resembled a bulletin board.
All manner of images and text were projected onto a massive black wall, clear enough for even Wizards hundreds of metres away to read.
The text was written in blood-red characters. Several large words proclaimed it a Most Wanted list, and behind them were row upon row of portraits and Wizard silhouettes, each marked with a danger rating and bounty.
Leylin had seen one of these back in Evernight City before. Only back then, his own portrait had been right at the very top, stamped with the words "Extremely Dangerous"!
Below that had been a summary of his life history, with special emphasis on his brutal record of slaying two Second Rank Wizards!
What surprised Leylin now, however, was that on this Most Wanted list, his portrait had shifted back by one spot, replaced by an unknown Wizard.
"Looks like something big must have happened on the South Coast during the time I was gone!"
Leylin stepped a little closer out of curiosity, studying the projected characters in detail.
On the South Coast, most of the wanted individuals were First Rank Dark Wizards who had committed atrocities such as soul harvesting, city massacres, or the annihilation of entire nations. The appearance of even a single Second Rank Wizard on the list was a sensation that made headlines across the region.
A Second Rank Wizard was a formidable powerhouse who could hold dominion over an entire territory, even on the South Coast. Cases of one being placed on a wanted list were something you might not see once in several hundred years.
The Second Rank Wizards on the Most Wanted list were always the same familiar few, and there had never been news of any of them being successfully captured.
Yet now, within the span of just a few months, two Second Rank Wizards had appeared on the list back to back. This immediately drew the attention of the vast majority of Wizards.
That was right! The one ranked above Leylin was also a Second Rank Wizard!
Leylin squeezed his way to the front row and carefully examined this Wizard's record.
"Erister Florren. Second Rank Wizard. Titles: The Lone Wolf, Slayer of the Dark Night. Crime: During an exploration mission, he killed two members of the same faction — Great Tree Guardian Aleken and Fire Spirit Juna Wizard — resulting in the annihilation of three legions of the White Wizard Alliance. He also plundered a vast quantity of resources from the Ganges Secret Realm! Danger rating: EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!! Any Wizard who provides information on his whereabouts and reports it to any nearby White Wizard Alliance member faction will immediately receive a reward of one million Magic Stones! The one who delivers the killing blow will receive one hundred million Magic Stones or an equivalent amount of resources and contribution points!"
In the image on the wall, Erister appeared as a young man with platinum-blond hair, wearing a brilliant smile. His eyes held the wisdom accumulated over the years, giving off a very peculiar personal charisma and an academic air.
Once a Wizard reached the formal rank, they could modify their appearance through partial surgical procedures. Second Rank Wizards could go even further with deeper physical modifications.
Since Erister was able to kill two Second Rank Wizards, he himself must inevitably possess Second Rank or even higher strength, and he certainly couldn't be young anymore.
After all, it wasn't as though someone like Lein — a freak of nature — could be found everywhere, capable of successfully advancing to Second Rank before the age of forty.
In truth, once news of his advancement to Second Rank spread, the entire South Coast Wizard community had already regarded him as one of those once-in-an-era Wizard geniuses.
And it was said that Black Bone Forest Academy deeply regretted their past actions.
"However, these three Second Rank Wizards all seem to be stationed Wizards of the White Wizard Alliance inside the Ganges Secret Realm. It looks like something major has happened in the Ganges Secret Realm again!"
Lein rubbed his chin. He still harbored great interest in this Ganges Secret Realm.
Just its sheer area alone, along with the unceasing flow of resources, was far beyond what any ordinary ancient Wizard organization could have constructed.
By Lein's estimation, it would have taken at least several Morning Star-level Wizards working together to establish the Ganges Secret Realm.
Furthermore, the secrets of this realm were still far from fully uncovered.
Even as to which Wizard organization had originally built it in the first place, neither the Dark Wizards nor the White Wizards had yet been able to reach a definitive answer.
"If something could drive Second Rank Wizards to turn against each other — even to the point of killing one another — and the White Wizard Alliance would post such a staggering bounty, it seems something truly extraordinary has been unearthed inside the Ganges Secret Realm…"
A smile of keen interest crept across Lein's lips. He pulled up his hood and melted back into the crowd.
After only a brief moment, having spent a sufficient number of Magic Stones, Lein obtained the intelligence he wanted.