"Hmm?"
Haitaer regarded the old woman with some confusion.
"I'm saying... compared to a test subject, if we had a cursed wizard of the same type as the test subject, the results should be better, right?" The old woman's face was as cold as a block of ice.
"In theory, that's correct. And if it were a formal wizard, even better..." Haitaer murmured unconsciously, then was struck with shock. "You want to use Manla?"
This was enough to shock Haitaer. Although this old woman's family had a long history, the number of formal wizards among them was not large — no more than five. This would mean sacrificing a fifth of their strength in one stroke!
"If this is what fate has arranged!" A sacred, almost reverent expression appeared on the old woman's face as she looked at Jenna sleeping in the ice coffin. "She is our generation's 'Guide.' She absolutely cannot be harmed!"
"A Guide? No wonder!" Haitaer murmured. He had heard something about this family's peculiar prophetic abilities.
"Kill him! The traitor of fate!" At that moment, Jenna, inside the ice coffin, suddenly opened her eyes, revealing nothing but whites, and spoke without any expression on her face.
"Those who offend the Guide of Fate will have their souls thrown into the bottomless Black Fire Hell, to endure endless torment... hehehe..." Suddenly, the expression on Jenna's face shifted, twisting into a sinister grin.
Then the whiteness faded from her eyes, and a pained expression appeared on her face — tears nearly forming — as she looked toward the old woman. "Grandmother..."
This expression quickly vanished. Her face shifted through several changes, and faint phantoms appeared one after another, each transforming into a different visage.
"Hsssss..." As if stimulated by this, the black, serpentine twisting runes on her pale white neck began to spread and writhe continuously.
Threads of dark, blackened veins crawled across Jenna's face in an instant.
"Not good!" Haitaer immediately stepped forward and poured a blue solution into Jenna's mouth.
Crack! Crack! Countless blue ice fragments suddenly appeared on the surface of Jenna's body, freezing her entirely.
"Sleep," Haitaer said slowly, his eyes unfocused yet carrying a faint, eerie gleam.
From his fingers, thin blue threads continuously emerged, threading their way deep into Jenna's body.
After a long while, Jenna finally fell back into sleep, and the serpentine curse returned to its original state — though it now appeared a full circle larger than before.
"Soul fission! No — soul fusion? How pitiful..."
After finishing his work, Haitaer's gaze toward Jenna had turned somewhat pitying.
As a healing wizard who had some acquaintance with this family, he knew something of their prophetic gift.
This peculiar prophetic ability had originally come from an incomplete advanced Meditation Method.
Anyone who practiced this Meditation Method would automatically gain a certain degree of premonition about the future, and with deeper practice, could even obtain fragments of future events.
Unfortunately, this incomplete advanced Meditation Method had strict eligibility requirements — only the female members of Jenna's family could practice it.
Moreover, in each generation, only one family member could ultimately succeed in the practice and obtain the prophetic ability.
Such a person was called a "Guide"!
If that were all, it would be manageable. But as the Meditation Method was passed down through the generations, an even more terrifying phenomenon emerged.
The souls of all past Guides would inexplicably be preserved and附身 upon the current Guide.
Thus, as the accumulated souls grew in number, the Guide's mental state would become increasingly unstable, as if suffering from schizophrenia.
Haitaer had even been commissioned to prepare medications and treatments for stabilizing the minds and souls of these Guides.
The Jenna of today, though she appeared to be a single person, actually harbored within her body the souls of every Guide who had come before.
And the more souls there were, the thinner her sanity and reason became. Sometimes she would have no idea what she was doing, and the souls of ancestral Guides would periodically take control of her body.
This was why she performed so many actions that seemed incomprehensible to outsiders.
Haitaer knew very well that ever since this family had gained this ability, at some point they had become rather neurotic.
They extended their influence far and wide, posing as guardians of peace, unable to tolerate the slightest criticism from outsiders, and always spouting nonsense about the arrangements of fate.
Because of these repeated incidents, several powers that had previously been on good terms with the family had distanced themselves.
After all, wizards were a rational and free bunch — no one wanted someone suddenly appearing to boss them around.
Thus, this once-glorious great family had inevitably declined, to the point that now, when seeking outside help, they had only a single, solitary healing wizard to turn to.
"How is she?" The old woman came forward with a look of deep concern, ignoring Manla entirely.
Haitaer sighed inwardly, feeling a sudden pang of pity.
"Although I've temporarily suppressed the curse eruption from just now, given Miss Jenna's unstable mental state, the curse could recur at any moment!"
Haitaer gave the old woman a long, penetrating look. "Moreover, with this latest eruption, the final outbreak of the curse on Miss Jenna has inevitably been accelerated..."
...
Leilin knew nothing of what was happening here.
On the contrary, he was somewhat surprised that Jenna's family still hadn't tracked him down through any organization.
It seemed that what Jenna had said about having connections with some great White
Though Leilin had prepared contingencies and made arrangements, the feeling of having prepared for so long without any attack materializing was rather vexing.
"But! The time I set is almost up — they'll come for me in the end!"
A cold smile traced across Leilin's lips.
His curse came directly from the Crimson Grand Wizard, a Fourth-rank Dawn Star Wizard, and had been further refined and encrypted by the Chip. Across the entire South Coast, it was virtually impossible for any wizard to undo it.
If Jenna's family wanted to save those two, they would have to come begging him!
As for Jenna's mysterious prophetic ability, Leilin harbored a considerable degree of curiosity, filled with the desire to investigate it firsthand.
Whoosh...
A fierce wind roared past Leilin's ears.
"ROAR!" Hulk the Venom Wyvern let out an excited cry as it soared through the sky.
The oncoming blast of wind whipped at the hem of Leilin's robes, making them snap and flutter. Leilin squinted his eyes, looking thoroughly at ease.
"Black Bone Forest Academy! Lilliter family — it's time to settle this once and for all!"
Thinking of the intelligence he had gathered from those captured wizards, a hard gleam surfaced in Leilin's eyes.
Since he had made outstanding achievements in Spirit Research, various methods of tormenting souls came naturally to him. Leilin could even, with the aid of certain potions, perform something akin to soul-searching on newly initiated wizards.
Under Leilin's endless array of techniques, the five captured wizards had quickly sold every piece of information they knew.
It was from their mouths that Leilin obtained a detailed map of the Black Bone Forest forces' deployment across the three hunting zones.
What interested Leilin even more was that one of these outposts was led by the Lilliter family's forces!
The events from the past immediately flooded back — how he had killed Bosain in his determination to obtain the Meditation Method for the Eye of Komoyin, thereby offending the powerful Elder of the Lilliter family and being forced to flee the Academy.
This was a matter of conflicting interests, and neither side could be called right or wrong. But since a grudge had been formed, Leilin naturally intended to pull it out by the roots!
Though the Giant had agreed to mediate, no one could be relied upon but oneself. A dead enemy was the best enemy!
That metallic Elder of the Lilliter family had already reached the peak of the First-rank Wizard level. For Leilin to strike at him now would naturally be beyond his current ability.
But he could first clip the family's wings and weaken their power base!
And if that Elder happened to be at the outpost, all the better. Leilin's confidence in retreating safely from under his nose was quite high these days, and he could collect ample data, commanding the Chip to simulate and calculate the optimal killing plan!
The Venom Wyvern cut through the sky at astonishing speed. Animals or other apprentices on the ground below could at most catch a fleeting dark shadow.
"Entering hostile territory — this is an area where enemy wizards operate very frequently..."
Leilin's mind stirred, and from his sleeve he released a large quantity of grey mist that enveloped him and the Venom Wyvern entirely.
As the grey mist spread, the Venom Wyvern's massive silhouette began to blend with the blue of the sky, and even its tremendous life and thermal signatures were completely suppressed.
...
In a low-lying stretch of hilly terrain, a bulky apprentice in a grey robe was being chased by a pack of wasteland wolves.
"Faster! Faster! There's a branch outpost of the Academy just up ahead!"
The apprentice ran while cheering himself on, clutching tightly in his hand a peculiar red mineral stone.
"ROAR!" One of the wasteland wolves let out a howl, its body surrounded by a ring of pale cyan energy particles, as its speed instantly surged by fifty percent. Like a black streak, it shot straight toward the apprentice.
Green light blazed in its eyes as it opened its maw, revealing sharp, fetid fangs, lunging at the hand of the fleeing apprentice.
"Bite!" The apprentice's face hardened with resolve as he thrust his left hand forward.
Crack! The flimsy defense of the Apprentice Grey Robe was instantly torn apart by the wolf's jaws.
Then the wolf's maw clamped down on the apprentice's left forearm, producing a dull, leather-like sound.
"Ha!" The apprentice swung his left arm with tremendous force.
The wasteland wolf was flung away outright.
But immediately, more wasteland wolves surged forward.