Bang!
A cyan hurricane suddenly surged in front of Jenna, raising a cyan shield to block before her.
Leilin's right hand, wreathed in flames, collided with the shield, producing a thunderous crash.
"Un... Uncle Manla!" A smile broke across Jenna's face.
Accompanied by a tremendous roar of wind, a burly blond man appeared before Leilin.
"Manla?" Leilin also recognized this wizard, whom he had briefly met once before.
"After receiving your message, I rushed here immediately. Fortunately, I made it in time!" Manla stepped directly in front of Jenna, glaring at Leilin with hostile eyes.
"How dare you hurt my niece like this! My family will definitely not—"
BOOM! Before Manla could finish speaking, Leilin launched countless black fireballs directly at him.
In Leilin's view, since they were already enemies, he should eliminate them immediately—what was the use of more words?
"Uncle Manla, be careful! He's very strong—he's already surpassed Semi-Elementalization..."
Before Jenna's shout even stopped, Leilin had already directed the Shadow Fireballs to crash into Manla's green hurricane.
Under the assault of fireballs reaching fifty-one degrees, Manla was forced to retreat step by step.
"Incredible!" A look of sheer horror appeared on Manla's face.
In the next instant, Leilin materialized before him like a phantom, a claw wreathed in blood-red flames already slashing viciously toward his face.
CRACK! A sound like soap bubbles bursting rang out. The wizard's defensive barrier on Manla's body was torn apart as easily as paper before Leilin's Scarlet Hand.
Leilin's hand didn't stop, plunging directly into the man's chest.
CRUNCH! A large chunk of flesh was torn away from around the man's chest, bloodied, the surrounding skin singed black.
"No good! The gap in strength is too vast—if I stay here any longer, I'm dead!"
Manla immediately grabbed Jenna from the ground, turned, and fled!
In fairness, Manla had reached Semi-Elementalization, making him an elite among the wizards of the entire South Coast. Unfortunately, he had encountered the far more monstrous Leilin, who not only completely dominated him in Spiritual Power and elementalization but also outmatched him in physical combat.
"Teus—Farelion!"
In the instant of fleeing, Manla hurled a silver spell scroll.
Nine green tornadoes rose like walls, blocking Leilin's pursuit.
"You think you can run?"
A flash of deep darkness flickered in Leilin's eyes. He muttered a few tongue-twisting incantations and pointed his right hand forward.
Black mist instantly coalesced into a black serpent that surged after the pair.
The black serpent seemed entirely phantasmal, passing through the green tornadoes as if they weren't there. In an instant it was before Manla, its scarlet eyes locked on Jenna, and it lunged to bite.
"What the hell is that?"
Manla launched a green hurricane directly at it.
WHOOSH! The black serpent passed unimpeded through the heart of the hurricane. Then it opened its fangs and bit down hard on Jenna's neck!
Two black puncture marks instantly appeared on Jenna's snow-white neck, gradually forming a twisted and bizarre magical rune.
"Jenna?"
Manla's hand was cloaked in white light as he tried to brush the serpent away.
But the black serpent's tail whipped around, and it turned back to bite Manla's arm, branding the same symbol.
After completing these two attacks, the black serpent hissed, dissolved into a cloud of black mist, and burrowed into the bodies of both Manla and Jenna.
"This situation! It seems to be a curse? This is bad!"
Manla's expression darkened. The brand had brought no physical sensation, yet he instinctively felt that serious trouble had befallen him.
"Jenna! Hang on!" Manla roared, the green hurricane around his body expanding continuously until he himself transformed into a gale and vanished into the jungle.
"..." Leilin watched the direction Manla had fled, motionless for a long while.
Then the surface of his body cracked like porcelain, and a torrent of blood surged out.
"The injuries are too severe. Can't hold on any longer?" Leilin knelt on one knee, his head spinning, his vision blurring before his eyes.
If it were possible, he would certainly have preferred to pursue and kill Manla and that Jenna. Unfortunately, in his current physical condition, he could no longer sustain prolonged combat.
"However! The curse I laid down at the end was... hehe... cough cough..."
Leilin let out a sinister laugh, then suddenly began coughing violently, spitting out large clots of black blood.
"Light-System wizards truly deserve their reputation as the eternal nemesis of Dark-System wizards. This Energy Particle Light Pillar Cage alone was enough to wound me this badly..."
Leilin gave a bitter smile, then his figure dissolved into countless wisps of black smoke and vanished into the jungle.
He urgently needed to find a place to treat his injuries.
Although he had told George and the other apprentices to wait for him, Leilin could barely take care of himself now, let alone concern himself with them. He naturally cast them to the back of his mind.
……
Several hours later, inside a makeshift tent.
A dim oil lamp flickered with a sallow glow. A thick layer of dry straw covered the ground, and atop it Leilin sat cross-legged, holding a large potion vial in his right hand, steadily pouring its contents onto the wound on his left arm.
The vial was remarkably thick, and within the semi-transparent liquid, a root shaped like a baby's face could be seen soaking inside, continuously emitting tiny bubbles.
Sizzle!
As the liquid dripped into the wound, a large volume of white vapor rose, accompanied by the sound of something corroding.
"Ugh!" An excruciating jolt of pain struck Leilin's nerve endings. His entire body convulsed as if struck by lightning, his muscles twitching involuntarily.
Leilin clenched his teeth, cold sweat dripping from his forehead in large beads.
After the intense pain subsided, an overwhelming tingling, itchy sensation rose from the wound.
The sensation was so intense it felt as though tens of thousands of ants were crawling and gnawing inside his very marrow. Leilin's previously pale face flushed red, and sharp hisses escaped through his clenched teeth.
Along with the tingling, blood vessels and muscles around the wound on Leilin's left arm began to slowly grow back, writhing like earthworms.
First, all the cracks in the bone healed over. Then a thick layer of muscle and blood vessels covered it. After a few minutes, Leilin flexed his left hand.
The injuries on his left arm had fully recovered. The entire limb was long and fair, with explosive power hidden beneath its elegant lines.
There was no trace that this arm had been on the verge of being severed just minutes ago.
Leilin made a few routine movements with his left hand again, a satisfied expression crossing his face.
"Thankfully, I still have some Regeneration Flower solution left from before! Otherwise, the injuries to this arm would have been truly troublesome..."
The Regeneration Flower was the most important material wizards used for limb-regeneration surgery.
Regardless of what functional damage the body had suffered, with a sufficient amount of the Regeneration Flower, there was a good chance of full recovery.
This Regeneration Flower in Leilin's possession was a remnant from his apprentice days. He had already used part of it previously to trade with Instructor
Apart from the arm injury, Leilin had already applied various healing potions to treat most of his other wounds. His mobility was largely unimpaired, and he could even engage in low-intensity combat without issue.
"Looks like the recovery is going well!
Leilin was an extremely cautious person. The current Ganges Secret Realm was practically a meat grinder for wizards, extraordinarily dangerous! Let alone the fact that he had accepted an undercover mission for the Thousand-Leaf Hand—once discovered, he would undoubtedly be hunted to death!
Under these circumstances, if he were still injured, Leilin knew he had absolutely no confidence in his ability to survive, let alone playing both sides and reaping rewards.
If his injuries couldn't be healed, Leilin had already begun considering whether to simply abandon everything and flee far away.
After all, he valued his own life far more than any potential gains.
However, things seemed manageable now. Though he had gained a new enemy that appeared to be a high-ranking wizard family with the strange ability of prophecy, they hadn't caused him too much trouble.
"Surely! The other side must be suffering just as badly right now, yes? My curse isn't so easily broken..."
A cold smile tugged at the corner of Leilin's lips.
As the ones responsible for all his injuries, even though he had failed to kill them, Leilin had successfully planted a curse uniquely his own on both Jenna and Manla.
The original form of this curse came from the Great Crimson
With his own added techniques, the curse had been transformed beyond recognition. Even if the Great Crimson Wizard came in person, he might not be able to break it.
The curse was incredibly complex and bizarre, like a password.
If someone other than the intended target tried to force it open, they would only end up destroying the container itself.
And both Jenna and Manla appeared to be core figures within that family—there was no way they would be abandoned.
Next, he would use the power of the curse to begin probing his enemies' secrets.
Being hunted down over a nonsensical prophecy had left Leilin deeply irritated.
However, with a whole family backing them, he didn't want to completely burn his bridges until he had thoroughly investigated the situation.
This was one of the reasons Leilin had chosen not to pursue them further and instead merely left a mark on the two of them.