This incident was clearly a conspiracy—a massive conspiracy targeting the Ring of Ouroboros!
First, they had dangled the world coordinates to lure three Morning Star warlocks into a trap, snaring them all at once.
Then, they immediately pressed in with a massive army. First came chaos and probing attacks. If they confirmed that all three Morning Star Komoyin Giant Serpent warlocks were absent, what followed would be a war of extermination!
In this precarious situation, Leilin was only a Third-rank Crystallized—a slightly larger ant who could be crushed underfoot at any moment.
"If I don't want to be crushed, and even swim against the current! I must break free from the fate of an ant!"
After a moment of deep thought, Leilin's expression grew ever more resolute.
"Below Morning Star, all are ants. But what if I ascended to Morning Star?"
Two beams of nearly solid light shot from Leilin's eyes: "Only by ascending above Morning Star can I grasp my own fate, and not be discarded or destroyed at someone else's whim!"
"Chip, how is the data collection on the Morning Star realm progressing?"
Leilin immediately asked.
"Ding! Morning Star realm simulation: 34.5%!" The Chip responded at once.
Leilin had always been focused on this area, but due to the lack of samples, progress had stalled at a little over ten percent. Thanks to the Blue Mountain King's clone, the progress had suddenly surged upward.
Leilin recalled the key components of his planned ascension to Morning Star: "The serpent woman's finger bone has long been prepared, and the bloodline burning experiment has been simulated many times—there's absolutely no error there. All that remains is the Chip's Morning Star simulation!"
These three elements were the keys to Leilin's confidence in ascending to Morning Star.
And the Morning Star simulation provided by the Chip was a crucial piece of the puzzle: "The current progress isn't enough. I need at least fifty percent to minimize errors when constructing the quality nucleus!"
"A Morning Star clone as a sample—that's enough!!!"
A look of unwavering determination flashed through Leilin's eyes. He turned his palm over, and a stone runic tablet with a hole bored through its core materialized.
"If that still isn't enough, I'll add this..."
A wizard whose spiritual power had only just Crystallized attempting to construct a quality nucleus and ascend to Morning Star would normally need centuries of painstaking accumulation. Leilin was well aware of this, but time waited for no man. Moreover, the hidden cards he had stockpiled were more than enough to deepen his foundation—even surpassing the centuries of accumulation of other Crystallized wizards!
...
At the edge of the
Before him, numerous high-ranking warlocks and even more mundane soldiers lay in rivers of blood.
Not far away, the silhouette of a great city could be seen, its buildings ablaze with flame and dark fire, burning furiously. The wails and cries of countless residents seemed to pierce through the barrier of flames and reach his ears.
This hatred, combined with pain accumulated to its breaking point, could even trigger a qualitative transformation of energy—giving birth to terrifying beings!
Compared to Leilin's previous world, in this realm where energy was far more active, anything was possible!
But the Blue Mountain King didn't so much as furrow his brow. As if slaughtering hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—of lives was no more significant than swatting a fly or crushing a few ants, nothing that could disturb his emotions.
"Seven cities have already been destroyed. Over five million mundane casualties, and more than a dozen high-ranking warlocks have fallen..."
A cold sneer curved the Blue Mountain King's lips: "And the Ring of Ouroboros still cowers like a quail with its head tucked in. It seems
His purpose in coming this time was, of course, not merely for Leilin. More importantly, it was to probe the enemy's Morning Star wizards' response.
If they were still around, how could they possibly watch him rampage like this? With a warlock's explosive temper, they might have stormed straight into Blue Mountain City itself. But now?
The enemy's high-level forces were clearly tied down. Even the reinforcements of high-ranking warlocks were a chaotic mess—which was why they had been so easily slaughtered.
"I had originally planned to sacrifice this clone here, but now it seems I might gain even more..."
Unmistakable greed blazed in the Blue Mountain King's eyes, but he immediately touched his own face, and his expression turned dark in an instant.
"Leilin Farell~" he called the name in a low voice—the name of the man who had cost him dearly, even the life of a clan head.
"I hope you stay alive until the day I break through the Ring of Ouroboros's headquarters..."
The Blue Mountain King sneered.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed and his eyes went wide.
"This energy fluctuation?! He actually dares to show his face here?"
The Blue Mountain King's facial muscles twisted into a grimace: "Since you're seeking death, I'll grant your wish!"
BOOM! The Blue Mountain King's entire body transformed into a streak of blue radiance that instantly tore across the sky and vanished. More than half an hour later, a handful of trembling, low-ranking warlocks finally crawled out from the ocean of corpses nearby. Their faces were masks of terror, and they dared not so much as glance in the direction the Blue Mountain King had gone. Instead, they fled immediately, heads in hands. What had transpired here today would become an eternal nightmare in their lives.
West Sea Great Canyon.
This was a Third-rank danger zone within the Boruning territory. From the deep rifts and chasms, terrifying annihilation storms could erupt at any moment. Any creature below the Fourth rank had no hope of survival within an annihilation storm.
And at this moment, Leilin stood right at the edge of the cliff. Wild winds howled, sending the hem of his robes snapping and flapping.
*Shoo!* A sharp sonic boom echoed from the distance.
The mere fluctuation of energy triggered a chain reaction like a tsunami. Massive volumes of air were displaced, creating a momentary vacuum domain.
*Bang!* The Blue Mountain King's body landed firmly on the ground. His brows bristled as he stared fixedly at Leilin before him, as though afraid that the slightest lapse in attention would allow this cunning wizard to escape once again.
"You actually dare appear before me? Should I applaud your courage?"
A sweep of his soul power confirmed there were no Morning Star-level ambushes nearby. The Blue Mountain King touched his own face. Although every trace of Leilin's earlier attack had long since faded, the feeling of humiliation still lingered in his heart.
This humiliation could only be washed clean with Leilin's blood!
"Why wouldn't I dare come?" Leilin chuckled softly. "You're nothing but a clone—you can't break through the Morning Star barrier. And besides, I am the enforcement officer of this territory. The crimes you've committed must be judged by me!"
Leilin certainly couldn't reveal that all three of the Ring of Ouroboros's elder warlocks had gone missing. So, he had cleverly used his identity to create a false impression.
As the enforcement officer of this territory, until he himself determined that he couldn't complete the mission, reinforcements from headquarters could be held at bay.
This might not necessarily fool the enemy—the Blue Mountain King was no fool—but as long as it planted seeds of doubt, that was success enough.
As long as there remained even the possibility of a Morning Star wizard within the Ring of Ouroboros's headquarters, the enemy wouldn't dare go too far.
The destructive power of a Morning Star ultimate technique was guaranteed mutual devastation. If their own Morning Star was pushed to the brink and tore the peace agreement to shreds, unleashing Morning Star techniques without restraint, the resulting destruction would be something even a Radiance Moon wizard wouldn't dare risk.
In other words, even if they broke through the Ring of Ouroboros this time, the gains might not offset the losses brought by Morning Star techniques.
Wizards weren't fools. If a war couldn't bring profit and might even cost them everything, only an idiot would fight such a battle!
Under this very threat, powers possessing Morning Star wizards were able to coexist on the Central Continent with an outward veneer of peace, with almost no major conflicts.
In Leilin's understanding, Morning Star wizards were equivalent to the nuclear weapons of his previous world. Nations with nuclear weapons had the power to drag other nations to hell along with them. That mutual deterrent maintained the surface-level peace.
But now? If outsiders learned that the Ring of Ouroboros's nuclear weapons had all vanished, catastrophe wouldn't be far behind.
So before the Blue Mountain King, Leilin had played the part of a stubbornly prideful official.
Before he determined that he couldn't handle the situation here, he hadn't requested aid from headquarters—and that could barely explain why his Morning Star combat power hadn't responded.
This was the act he put on. What the enemy's reaction would be, Leilin couldn't control. He was only making one final effort.
Sure enough, the Blue Mountain King's expression held only a moment of surprise before shifting to a mocking smile.
"You think I'd buy your nonsense?"
"Believe it or not—it's all the same to you!" Leilin shrugged. "But today, you will fall here!"
BOOM!!!
As if to prove his words, the West Sea Great Canyon, which had been silent behind Leilin, suddenly roared to life.
As a high-ranking noble of the Ring of Ouroboros, Leilin naturally had access to a great deal of information. The geographical features of the West Sea Great Canyon were no secret and had long since been entered into the Chip's database.
Having resolved to keep the Blue Mountain King's clone here, Leilin had immediately thought of the canyon's unique environment and the power of the annihilation storm.
The gap between them was far too great—he had to harness external forces!
After conducting an on-site survey, using the Chip to simulate the canyon's eruption process and calculate the precise timing was merely a matter of burning through some processing cycles.
Then came choosing the right moment to lure the Blue Mountain King here.
Leilin was confident that given the enemy's hatred for him, the moment he detected Leilin's energy fluctuations, he wouldn't be able to resist coming.
Sure enough, everything unfolded according to his script.
*Whoosh whoosh!* The savage annihilation storm howled like a black dragon, roaring toward the sky and unleashing its fury.
And Leilin, standing before that fury, was as heroic as an ancient knight riding upon a dragon.