"How can the temperature be this high?"
The old man quickly pulled the black notebook from inside his robe, but the notebook was now radiating scorching heat, wisps of dark energy gathering around it and refusing to disperse.
Bzzzt! The notebook's temperature spiked in an instant, and a flash of pain crossed the old man's face. His hands reflexively hurled the notebook away.
After only the briefest contact, a large patch of his hands had been burned, and dense white blisters were already rising to the surface.
With his
"Wooo… wooo…"
"Great
The phantoms grew denser, and voices that sounded like chanting, singing hymns of praise, echoed through the entire burial chamber.
Leilin had seen this scene before. He immediately grew wary, while the grandfather and grandson huddled to one side, at a total loss, their faces wracked with regret.
Swish! A streak of dark light shot from the notebook—like an intangible afterimage—and plunged straight into the stone runes carved on the coffin.
Once the dark light dissipated, the notebook seemed to have fulfilled its purpose, spontaneously combusting into a pile of black ash.
The stone runes blazed to life with dazzling brilliance, threads of light connecting to the Morning Star's corpse.
A bolt-like flash of light swept across the entire tomb. The Morning Star within had opened its eyes, returning to the world once more!
"I… I… Am I Iligist? Or Guoguolishi??"
"No! I am Beelzebub! Lord of Gluttony—Beelzebub!!!"
The Wizard's eyes were dazed at first, then immediately blazed with fierce light. A tremendous Morning Star Domain descended, forcing the grandfather and grandson flat against the ground.
"Morning Star! A Morning Star ancestor!!!" Ecstasy flooded the old man's face and he was about to speak, but the half-risen corpse's expression twisted with malice.
A flash of blood-red light swept past, and the old Wizard vanished without a trace.
"Hmm! A fine supplement! And a direct-line descendant of this body, it seems!" The blood-red light intensified within the Morning Star Wizard's eyes. He rubbed his stomach with satisfaction, then turned his gaze onto the youth.
"Ah…" The scene that had just unfolded pushed the youth to the edge of a breakdown. He opened his mouth but could only produce faint sounds, unable to move a single muscle.
But the Morning Star's gaze did not linger on him. It swept straight past to what lay behind.
Ssss…
With a long, spectral sigh, Leilin's figure squeezed out from a gap in the shadows.
"A Morning Star Wizard?! You're that kid from last time!!!"
Words laced with surprise—and gnashing hatred—issued from the corpse in the coffin.
"That's right! It's me! Beelzebub's projection clone!" Leilin admitted his identity openly.
He bore the other party's Gluttony Rune on his body; concealing it was impossible.
By now, he had more or less pieced together what had happened.
In ancient times, Beelzebub's clone had perished, its remnants forming numerous Gluttony Runes—coordinate seeds for its future invasion of the Wizard World.
Wizards who obtained a Gluttony Rune would awaken astonishing appetites under the corruption of gluttonous desire. Their cultivation would surge forward at a breathtaking pace, and their bodies, tainted by the power of Gluttony, would become perfect vessels for Beelzebub to possess!
The Wizard buried here had been fortunate enough to obtain a fragment. He had relied on it to break through to the Morning Star realm, but he had apparently sensed something was wrong in the end and sealed himself away, cutting himself off from Beelzebub's prying gaze.
But unfortunately, one of his personal notebooks had been contaminated over the long ages—even infused with a portion of his soul fragment.
After countless years, his descendants, lured by the notebook's temptation, had come to open the coffin and release this clone.
"I didn't expect you'd already advanced to the Morning Star rank!"
The Wizard possessed by Beelzebub radiated an imposing presence. Every movement carried the majesty of a Morning Star, and behind him loomed a colossal demon phantom—vaguely resembling the Lord of Hell himself.
"How do you plan to make up for the losses you caused me last time?"
Strangely, the clone not only didn't press the matter, but seemed somewhat inclined toward negotiation.
But Leilin's expression grew even stranger. He strode right up to the clone and fixed it with an unyielding stare. "Do you take me for a fool?"
The moment those words left his mouth, the clone's expression changed!
And Leilin's voice continued without pause: "Right now, you're not even a clone—just a soul fragment from last time combined with the power of a projection! Moreover, this Morning Star Wizard's singularity has already returned to the Star Realm along with the annihilation of his soul. True, this body was thoroughly contaminated by the power of Gluttony and makes excellent clone material, but with only the Morning Star's physical shell to work with, how much of your power can you actually wield?"
Hummm!
The surroundings darkened. As though piercing through the soil to the outside world, silver radiance cascaded down from above, stars filling the entire sky.
The true Morning Star Domain descended! And the moment Beelzebub's clone domain made contact with Leilin's domain, it began to crumble—completely unable to withstand the pressure.
Seeing this, the clone's expression turned ugly, while Leilin quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
His earlier deductions had all been correct.
He could have stopped the old man at the time, but that wouldn't have resolved the Wizard sealed inside. Letting the crisis fully erupt and then dealing with it was more in keeping with his style.
Either way, he had already incurred the wrath of this Lord last time. There was no way he could let the entity develop unchecked.
Even though this was merely a projection clone, if it got out and devoured massive amounts of energy to replenish itself, given enough time it would inevitably grow into a threat too great to suppress!
Leilin naturally couldn't allow that. But ignoring the clone wasn't an option either. The only choice was to strike while the entity was at its weakest and destroy it completely.
"You…" Beelzebub's clone's hair fell loose and every strand stood straight on end—testament to the depth of its rage.
"Die!" Ignoring the entity's fury, Leilin struck without hesitation. Terror energy gathered in his hands, forming blood-red flames that twisted into a colossal fire serpent and coiled around the target.
Crackling! Under the horrifying heat, the stone coffin instantly crumbled to ash, but Leilin's expression didn't change as he watched the heart of the flames.
A point of black light emerged, slowly expanding, and then the flames were drawn into it like streams of water.
Once the fire had fully dissipated, it became clear that Beelzebub had opened its maw and swallowed every last lick of flame.
What was even more bizarre was that after consuming the fire, Beelzebub's aura had noticeably intensified.
"An Energy-Devouring Constitution! Your understanding of the Power of Gluttony has already reached the level of Laws!"
Leilin applauded, but there was no trace of shock on his face. At the level of the entity's true body, this was child's play.
"It's just a shame—your foundation is far too poor. How much more energy can you actually absorb?"
Leilin's next words made Beelzebub's expression change drastically.
Any absorptive power had a definite upper limit. Having lost the Morning Star Wizard's unique singularity, that ceiling was already far lower than it should be. Leilin seized on this point and attacked relentlessly.
If the entity's power wasn't crippled now, there would never be such a good opportunity again.
Boom! Surging flames engulfed the target like ocean waves. Beelzebub's face showed open wariness—it dared not try to devour any more. Instead, countless black tentacles burst from its body, wrapping around itself in a cocoon.
The moment the black tentacles met the blood-red flames, they hissed and melted, canceling each other out. Both sides' attacks gradually weakened.
"Devouring Fangs!"
Black fangs that seemed to melt in and out of the void materialized around Leilin's body, but a red shield—engraved with the image of a Komoin Giant Serpent—deflected them all.
"Indeed. How many more attacks like that can you manage?"
The massive black fangs scraped across the shield's surface, carving deep gouges and sending up great showers of sparks, while Leilin looked increasingly composed.
"You…"
Beelzebub, wrapped in its cocoon of black tentacles, managed a single word before being engulfed once more by even more blood-red flames…
"What… is happening?"
The boy, lying prostrate on the ground, watched what seemed like a battle from some ancient myth. In the end, the black-haired Wizard who had appeared out of nowhere stood amid the starlit sky like a god descending, commanding blood-red flames to swallow the monster in the coffin whole.
After a long while, the brilliant starlight finally faded, and the black-haired Wizard appeared before him. His face was weary, but a smile played on his lips.
"Is your name Bulu?"
After sealing away another Gluttony Rune and putting it safely away, Leilin wore a look of satisfaction.
He naturally wouldn't leave the entity's consciousness intact. If he dealt with a rank-seven-or-higher being this way, he'd inevitably be overwhelmed by its endless tricks—the subtle, ever-present radiation contamination alone would be more than enough to cause serious trouble, as the old Wizard and their ancestor had demonstrated all too well.
But this Gluttony Rune was extremely valuable for research—it was even a materialization of Laws!
The power of Laws! It was the threshold distinguishing rank six from rank seven. Only by thoroughly mastering the power of one Law could one hope to advance beyond the Dawn Sun rank. Leilin therefore had no qualms about keeping the Gluttony Rune for careful study.
Although at his current level it still seemed somewhat premature, the day would come when he would need to grapple with it.
"Yes! I'm Bulu, my lord!"
Young Bulu bowed respectfully. A Morning Star Wizard—an existence the entire Central Continent had to revere!