"How is this possible? How could there possibly be a sixth-level powerhouse inside White Phosphorus City???"
An incredulous voice came from within the dark clouds. The speaker had clearly been well-informed about the forces within White Phosphorus City, and had only marched up so brazenly because they believed they held an overwhelming advantage.
But the unexpected turn of events had delivered a resounding slap to their face.
"Nothing is impossible! Old fool! Those who dare offend the interests of us Bloodline Warlocks have always met only one outcome—destruction!"
The enormous Ouroboros roared, terrifying power erupting from it as if it were eternity itself, carrying within it boundless kinetic force.
Rumble!
The earth trembled and roared. Even the void and the elements were forced away. Only White Phosphorus City remained unharmed, sheltered under its protection.
Rip! The dark clouds split apart, revealing an old man in black wizard robes.
"Impossible!!! This kind of power!!! How could it belong to a sixth-level being?" The old man's heart was now filled with regret. If given another chance, he would never have been so rash as to choose this enemy—but sadly, there were never second chances in this world.
"Go repent in the Astral Plane!"
The enormous serpentine maw swallowed the old man whole. After terrifying tremors lasting over ten minutes, everything finally fell still.
The massive phantom of the Infinite Serpent suddenly contracted, merging into the body of a dark-haired young man.
Dark hair, dark eyes—within the Ouroboros Ring, these were the most undeniable marks of pure bloodline!
"My Lord!!!" Luca, Lockede, and the others bowed in salute.
"Mm." He nodded and vanished from midair without another word.
"Captain, that was..." Lockede asked Luca in disbelief.
"If my guess is correct, that gentleman should be the true heir of the Bloodline Throne—Lord Xirei! I can't believe that in just a few short centuries, he's advanced to the sixth level! That lord's bloodline... that lord's bloodline... sigh..."
Luca looked at Lockede with some concern, clearly detecting a shade of dejection in his eyes.
"Legend has it that Lord
Lockede was indeed feeling dejected. In terms of age, he was perhaps about the same as Xirei, but the latter's achievements had already reached heights he could only look up to.
"Forget about all that. Hurry up and get these prisoners inside!"
Luca had no other option and could only bellow.
"Rest assured, Captain! With these two bloodline legacies, the Ouroboros Ring is better off for it!"
Lockede bowed solemnly, then immediately began restoring order.
Large numbers of prisoners were herded to one side, while the young prisoner who had been so arrogant at the start stood there completely stunned...
The sensation caused by this battle went without saying. Xirei flew directly into the heart of the City Lord's mansion.
"Aunt Agnes! Greetings!"
In the parlor sat a noble woman, her hair coiled in an elegant arrangement, every inch the picture of aristocratic grace.
"Little Xirei! Congratulations!"
Agnes's eyes sparkled with amazement. "To have entered the Dawn rank directly. His bloodline truly is extraordinary..."
"There's nothing to be proud of—after all, aren't my younger brothers and sisters the same?" Xirei said with a modest smile.
"Those children..." A tender warmth surfaced on Agnes's face.
"Besides, compared to Elder Brother Daniel, who advanced long ago, I still have much to improve!" Xirei's manner was impeccably courteous.
"His path was already set—so long as he followed his bloodline and kept awakening it, that was sufficient. By comparison, your efforts are far more worthy of admiration..."
Agnes, of course, knew the difference between Leylin's two bloodlines—each was beyond anything she could have imagined in its divinity and terror.
"Well then! Aunt
"No need! After their conspiracy has been shattered this time, I expect they won't dare make a move again for a long while. I'd like to return to the surface and see Father!"
Xirei declined.
"Hmph! That man! It's been a long time since I've seen him too!"
At the mention of Leylin, a note of indignation crept into Agnes's voice. As for the affairs between their elders, Xirei could only smile wryly.
……
In a void laboratory located in some unknown dimension, Leylin opened his eyes. Dark lightning seemed to flash through his pupils.
Hummm! A tremor ran across Leylin's body, shaking loose a layer of lime that crumbled and fell away from his clothes.
[Ding!
"Over sixty years... Add the previous memory extraction and other experimental preparations, and nearly three hundred years have passed just like that..."
Leylin's strikingly handsome face bore not the slightest trace of aging, as if the passage of time had completely ceased to affect him.
"Still, being able to obtain concrete data makes this period of deep work well worth it!"
A contemplative look flickered in Leylin's eyes.
When he had devoured Belushebab, the intensity of emotions and the turbulence of the power of rules had caused vast portions of the latter's memories to shatter and become muddled.
Belushebab had clearly been one of those ancient monsters who had lived for untold ages, and the information contained within his memories was nothing short of all-encompassing. There were also many secrets pertaining to the Gods World that Leylin could hardly bear to discard, so he had ordered Chip to record every last one of them—this too had consumed a great deal of his time.
"But everything is always worth it. Now, I can finally begin the actual attempt!"
A faint trace of excitement surfaced on Leylin's face as he approached an Astral Gate.
This Astral Gate was not only enormous in size, but had been inscribed with many peculiar symbols—markings of Leylin's own understanding of the power of rules.
"Gods!"
A mote of ancient, distant starlight shot from Leylin's hand and sank into the massive stone gate.
Hummm! The entire Astral Gate shuddered violently, sending tremors of energy rippling through the entire laboratory.
Leylin's powerful soul force instantly connected with the entirety of the Astral Plane.
The vast, boundless sea of stars, carrying the weight of ancient history, relentlessly washed against Leylin's soul force. Unlike his previous attempts, had Leylin not already reached the half-seventh-level tier with his extraordinarily resilient soul force, he would have been utterly annihilated by the power of the Astral Plane.
A resplendent river of stars endlessly expanded and contracted within Leylin's field of vision. Numerous star-rings twisted and warped, as if Leylin himself were an enormous black hole, ceaselessly devouring the scenery around him.
"Ultra-long-range Astral projection is an immense test of the
Leylin's expression did not change. His soul force was like the hardest bedrock, sitting impassive as the river of stars flowed ceaselessly through his vision.
Finally, after what seemed like a century, Leylin's expression shifted—he had finally glimpsed the end of the stellar river.
"This feeling..."
Just this premonition alone filled Leylin with indescribable emotion. "The Wizard World and the Gods World are like two oceans at opposite ends of the stellar river... No wonder those ancient Wizards were so unable to forget this world..."
When the strange sensation finally dissipated, even Leylin with all his experience could not help but marvel at the sight before him: Densely packed crystal planes shimmered with a luster like crystal, arranged with the precision of the most intricate honeycomb, stretching across the Astral Plane. Their sheer scale was immeasurable, extending beyond any detectable boundary.
And within the crystal planes, everything was suffused with a radiance—the glory of the Gods!
"Mmm..." Leylin's body shifted, and the phantom of the Targaryen Winged Serpent materialized, its vertical pupils brimming with longing and recognition.
"The Gods World! The primal power of such a powerful otherworld—its pull on me is truly extraordinary. Let alone the fact that my own Devouring Rule actually originates from this very world..."
Leylin's expression remained calm. Though every cell in his body was transmitting that overwhelming desire, his heart was as cold as ice, anchored by unwavering resolve.
"Crystal Planes!"
Leylin's soul force hovered outside the vast crystal planes, probing the unfathomable power within.
"The condensation of the World Force, with the will of the Gods woven within!"
The more he probed, the grimmer Leylin's expression became. "It stubbornly repels all foreign presences, and even seals itself off from outside observation—as impenetrable as a wall of iron!"
With just a brief probe, Leylin understood perfectly: this kind of crystal plane barrier, even if the Mother of the Earth who had already forged her own path were to come, absolutely could not breach it.
"Forcefully breaking through the crystal planes is nothing but a dream. The only way is to use Belushebab's method to slip through clandestinely..."
Leylin was certain of this.
"But Belushebab moved from the inside out and was a native of the Gods World, making his task far easier than mine. That is why I needed three hundred years of calculation to find a truly safe and reliable method..."
"Mandehock's Disc!"
Numerous luminous, ethereal lines converged in Leylin's hand, ultimately coalescing into the shape of a disc.
The disc was adorned with all manner of strange patterns, and notably, a large chunk was missing from its edge, as though something had bitten it away.
In Belushebab's memories, this was the very artifact that had allowed him to smuggle himself through the crystal planes!
"The material plane of the Gods World also possesses an extremely strong isolating force—even the Gods themselves find it difficult to directly channel their divine power. Belushebab, who was situated in the Nine-layered Hell, was no exception..."
Leylin recalled the contents that Chip had compiled.