The demonic wings behind Belusebabu unfurled, and the bone wings sheathed in black membrane crashed into the walls, unleashing blinding arcs of crimson lightning. Blood and white smoke billowed outward, and Leilin's expression turned utterly cold.
Then, from among the multitude of Belusebabu's compound eyes, a strange gleam emerged. "How could a mortal ever comprehend the thoughts of a god?"
"A god?!" Leilin's heart skipped a beat, but a cold smile spread across his face. "In my eyes, you are nothing more than prey! That is all! So farewell,
Leilin pressed a hand to his chest and performed an elegant noble's bow—his form flawless, impeccable in every detail. But the instant the motion was complete, crimson lightning swallowed the entire summoning chamber whole.
"Fifth-level Serpent Emperor Talent—Devouring!" Though the phantom of the Comoin Serpent Emperor behind him had shrunk several times over, its form had become far more solid and condensed. Despite the thorned iron chains still binding it, not a trace of weariness showed. Instead, a terrifying black void coalesced before Leilin.
Crack! Crack! Blinding bolts of lightning hammered down relentlessly, tearing the flesh from Belusebabu's body piece by piece.
Massive chunks of flesh were drawn into the black void, ultimately condensed into a terrifying mass of crimson Life Energy.
Leilin's face flushed slightly, but he did not absorb all of the energy. Instead, through his Devouring talent, he continuously refined Belusebabu's energy essence, distilling it until only a small half-vial of dark red viscous liquid remained.
"Damnable mortal! Hateful
Within the cage of crimson lightning, Belusebabu's voice and struggling grew fainter and fainter, until at last they vanished entirely.
However, once Belusebabu was utterly destroyed, the entire pentagram formation and the powerful binding runes carved into the surrounding walls collapsed in an instant. Deep bite marks marred every surface, as though some terrifying creature had rampaged through.
"The Rule of Gluttony, was it?" Leilin rubbed his chin. "A formidable rule indeed! If this were not merely a clone, and if I had not already begun to grasp a trace of the Rule of Flame's operation, dealing with Belusebabu's clone would have been quite troublesome…"
Even a clone of a rule-level existence was no easy foe.
But Leilin stood upon the Wizard World, and could harness the power of the entire world to suppress his opponent, firmly holding the advantage of terrain. Through the formation and binding runes, he had continuously weakened the enemy's strength, until what he finally faced was a Gluttony clone that had been diminished time and again.
In the original history of the Central Continent, even with Belusebabu's clones running rampant, they had ultimately been suppressed—their very bodies shattered into fragments. That was how these Gluttony Runes came to be left behind.
And with Leilin's current strength, even in the ancient era he would have been considered a formidable powerhouse. Dealing with a weakened clone was no trouble at all.
Only after Belusebabu's voice had completely disappeared from the chamber, and the Rule of Gluttony had fully dissipated, did Leilin rub his chin, a trace of a smile curling at the corner of his lips. "A god, you say? Now that is a rather interesting notion…"
Having already guessed at the being's origins, Leilin paid no heed to its warnings or curses. Instead, he gazed at the dark red viscous liquid in his hand.
The dark red fluid, concentrated to the extreme, had even begun to crystallize. Waves of sinister Negative Energy radiated endlessly around the test tube, making for a truly horrifying sight.
[Ding! Unknown energy entity! Extremely high purity! Contains potent rule-level power. Highly corrosive in nature. Recommended that the host refrain from direct use!]The Chip completed its scan and immediately relayed its feedback.
"As expected. The energy from this clone—even after being refined and stripped through my Devouring talent—still carries the most fundamental genetic and energy particle information of the original," Leilin mused, rubbing his chin.
A being at the rule level could imprint their mark upon any part of the soul, the body, the flesh, or even the energy itself. Even within a projection clone, that mark was thoroughly embedded. Like the Bronze Giant of the Frost World, even a single drop of blood, after traversing worlds, could awaken intelligence and give birth to an entirely new life.
If Leilin were to use this energy essence, he might reap tremendous short-term benefits—even comprehend part of the Rule of Gluttony. But in the end, just as had happened to many Wizards throughout history, and to
All too aware of the dangers involved, Leilin would never be so reckless.
Seal after seal materialized around the test tube, encasing the dark red energy within. Only after completing all of this did Leilin safely store the vial away.
"The final preparations are complete!"
Having finished everything, Leilin did not immediately launch into his desperate final attempt. Quite the opposite—he returned to his bedroom and settled into a peaceful, undisturbed sleep.
No meditation, no scheming, no burdens of any kind—his sleep washed away every last trace of tension, allowing both body and mind to relax to the fullest.
Afterward, he found a quiet chamber and sank into slow, deliberate recollection.
From his birth in his previous life, through his growth, to the failed antimatter experiment that brought him here—from the Keli Archipelago to his apprentice days at the Black Bone Forest Academy, Trijoness City, the Dark Polar Region, the Central Continent.
Vivid memories surfaced one after another, along with countless faces—friends and enemies alike. By carefully sorting through these memories, Leilin felt the half-moon-stage True Spirit within his Quality Point grow purer and clearer, trending toward a transformation into a full moon stage.
This quiet contemplation lasted for five or six days. The aura emanating from Leilin's body grew weaker and weaker, until at last he seemed no different from an ordinary person—except that the light in his eyes grew ever brighter, like the stars, then slowly softened, becoming calm and still as an ancient, undisturbed well.
By the end, not a shred of nervousness or uncertainty remained in Leilin's heart—only an unwavering resolve to press forward!
He rose abruptly and strode into the Astral Laboratory.
The ancient Astral Gate blazed with dazzling radiance. Brilliant blue flames formed a circular archway, and at its center—a silver spatial mirror—swirled a complex black vortex. Beyond it lay a resplendent river of stars, stretching toward destinations unknown.
Beside the Astral Gate stood a massive, intricate magical array. Every rune upon it was exquisitely precise and minute, radiating an almost aesthetic beauty. Over a hundred thousand runes shifted and flowed like tadpoles, ceaselessly emanating waves of profound mystery.
At the very heart of the array lay a circular depression, its purpose seemingly designed to hold some specific object.
[Ding! Fortune Magical Array deployment complete! Estimated power amplification: 107.6%!]The Chip's feedback arrived promptly.
This was an amplification formation Leilin had developed by adapting an ancient Thunder Rune amplification formula, augmented with the Chip's terrifying computational and simulation capabilities. By abandoning universality and focusing exclusively on boosting a single arcane artifact's power, the amplification had surpassed 100%—an unexpected bonus for Leilin.
"Let's begin!" Determination blazed in Leilin's eyes. This expedition meant one of two things: success would mean breaking free of the Bloodline Shackles entirely, soaring to new heights; failure meant eternal destruction. He had made every possible preparation, and now he would fight with everything he had for his own future!
[Ding! Astral Gate activated. Input search parameters!]
At the Chip's command, the brilliant river of light within the silver mirror was drawn closer and closer. When a nebula resembling a vast vortex came into view, the image froze.
This was the Anxuan Nebula—the location of the Purgatory World. But even with the records left by predecessors and the Chip's ceaseless calculations, progress had stalled at this point.
Within the Anxuan Nebula, worlds numbered in the tens of thousands, and countless demiplanes, extradimensional spaces, and fractured territories filled the void—numbers as numerous as stars in the sky. Locating the Purgatory World among all those possible coordinates was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
Even with the Chip, this task would require an enormous amount of time.
And time was precisely what Leilin lacked most.
"At this stage, the Chip and the data have been exhausted. All I can do now is rely on luck and search gradually!"
Leilin sighed softly. A golden flash, and an ancient gold coin materialized in his hand.
The coin was strikingly archaic in design. A ring of dark golden light encircled its edge. One side bore the image of a skull, and the other depicted a bird of fortune—but several cracks now ran across its surface, nearly splitting it apart.
This was the arcane artifact known as the
Even in astral experimentation, the power of Destiny could yield terrifying results. Leilin had managed to locate the Black Rain World and obtain the Multi-Armed Power thanks to Destiny's influence.
Ever since that day, Leilin had sealed the Coin of Destiny away completely, refraining from using it through multiple crises—saving it for the moment when its power would matter most.
Now was that moment!
"Go!" A golden arc flashed through the air as the Coin of Destiny traced a bright trajectory, then settled perfectly into the depression at the center of the Fortune Magical Array—a flawless fit, as though the two had always been one.
Hummm! A cascade of light erupted from the array. Threads of golden energy radiated outward along the ritual channels and flowed into the Coin of Destiny, intensifying its dark golden glow until it blazed with breathtaking brilliance.
"The Coin of Destiny is limited by its materials—it can only divine targets below the Morning Star level. The moment anything involving Morning Star-level power is involved, the backlash will be catastrophic!"
Leilin watched as the Coin of Destiny's dark golden radiance grew ever more intense, and a strange, flickering gleam passed through his eyes.