At the summit of the White Bone Mountain, at the place where Gegewu had been sealed, Lei Lin had used his Chip to record a map.
Only later did he learn that this was the main map of the entire Soul-Slaughtering Secret Realm, and that this map had proven enormously useful in his eventual escape.
And now what he needed to do was compare the previous map with the areas he had explored.
As time trickled by, the state of the entire secret realm gradually revealed itself before Lei Lin's eyes.
The Soul-Slaughtering Secret Realm had been completely ravaged — not only had all the various traps and mechanisms been rendered useless, but Lei Lin hadn't even found a single intact building.
It seemed that Gegewu, who had been sealed here long ago, had harbored extremely deep resentment.
Moreover, the massive White Bone Mountain and the resources within the numerous laboratories had all vanished — even the filing cabinets and such had been completely emptied. It was obvious that Gegewu had ransacked the place.
Lei Lin's consciousness then guided the small black snake into the silver emergency passageway.
The metal here seemed to possess some extremely powerful suppressive effect against spiritual bodies, which was why it had been so well preserved — though massive boulders that had been thrown in still blocked the path.
The small black snake slipped effortlessly through the gaps between the boulders and arrived at the spot where Lei Lin had previously discovered the hidden chamber.
Rumble! After pressing the switch, one side of the wall slowly swung open, revealing a small secret chamber.
The chamber was very small. In its center stood a black
Hiss!
After circling around the Wizard Formation, the small black snake suddenly raised its head and let out a sharp hissing cry.
Then, from the surface of its scales, thin wisps of black flame began to ignite.
The flames grew larger and larger, eventually coalescing into the shape of a portal, with extraordinarily profound spatial runes inscribed upon the door frame.
"This is the place!"
Lei Lin stepped through the portal of black flames and looked upon the teleportation Wizard Formation, which was obviously undamaged, a look of satisfaction crossing his face.
"Chip! Scan the teleportation Wizard Formation!" Lei Lin pressed his fingertips to his temples, and a beam of blue light — visible only to him — continuously swept across the entire formation.
"Beep! Scan complete! Wizard Formation integrity at 98.7%, energy slot empty!"
The Chip responded almost instantly.
"Compared to last time's 98.8, it's degraded a bit more. Looks like that Gegewu's destructive range was truly massive — it even reached this place."
Lei Lin stroked his chin, then issued his command: "Based on the teleportation formation data I obtained last time, begin a simulated repair trial..."
During his previous expedition, Lei Lin had also recovered a notebook from the remains here that documented knowledge about this teleportation formation. With supplementary materials acquired afterward, he'd obtained complete ancient teleportation Wizard Formation deployment techniques. Patching up these minor deficiencies now would be trivial.
Although, according to the Chip's calculations, any teleportation Wizard Formation with an integrity above 97 could still operate, there would still be a certain margin of error!
Lei Lin had no intention of letting something go wrong during an ultra-long-range teleportation! Whether it was encountering spatial turbulence or a spatial particle burst, any of those could kill him so thoroughly that not even his bones would remain.
He had no desire to die such a pathetic death from some random accident.
"Beep! Scan of damaged areas complete. Initiating simulated repair operation..."
Accompanied by the Chip's voice, Lei Lin felt as though he had been transported directly in front of the teleportation Wizard Formation. His fingers glided like the most precise surgical scalpels, modifying the entire formation's circuitry.
The runes inscribed across the entire teleportation Wizard Formation were incredibly dense and complex, each one ten times finer than a strand of hair. Even Lei Lin himself had no absolute confidence he could execute the process flawlessly step by step, but under the Chip's guided assistance, every movement he made was filled with fluid grace. In less than an hour, he had repaired all the deficient sections.
Hummm! The blue light faded, and Lei Lin came back to himself. That sensation from moments ago lingered in his mind, impossible to forget.
Before him, the black teleportation Wizard Formation remained exactly as it had been, without the slightest change.
"The Chip's simulation exercises are getting more and more vivid!"
Lei Lin's hands flickered alternately, his fingers forming different rune gestures — these were the very incantation sequences he had just used during the formation repair. A vast array of complex, arcane hand seals reproduced themselves over and over on his hands, as if they had been practiced tens of thousands of times. "This wondrous feeling... my body has already memorized it..."
Watching the runes — which he had used only once during the simulation — flow from his hands as naturally as if he had been practicing them for over a decade, a look of astonishment flickered across Lei Lin's face.
He immediately thought of how this ability could be applied in other areas. For instance: learning Tier 2 spells! Previously, although he could use the Chip to memorize spell templates and cast Wizard Arts quickly, his movements had been stiff and mechanical — just like many novice Wizards.
But now things were different. If he underwent more of the Chip's casting simulations, his spell manipulation ability was bound to climb to an entirely new level.
Although he had only gone through a single brief simulation, Lei Lin now possessed a thorough understanding of the entire teleportation formation. While he might not necessarily be able to deploy one from scratch, routine maintenance and similar tasks posed absolutely no challenge to him anymore.
Lei Lin stepped forward and approached the Wizard Formation.
"Wizard! Thank you for your teleportation formation!" He first went to the spot where the wizard's skeleton had lain and gave a slight bow toward the bones. Then a massive black hand descended, countless tendrils sprouting from its palm as it lifted the entire skeleton.
Boom! The black hand dug a deep pit in the nearby ground, and the skeleton was laid inside. Soil and rock crumbled down around it, and before long a modest burial mound had taken shape.
"The place is humble, but this is all I can do to lay you to rest!"
Lei Lin sighed, then walked around to the front of the wizard formation.
"Lance Type Three Hand Seal!" Lei Lin formed the gesture, and from his fingertips a dense spray of silver threads shot forth, instantly wrapping around the surface of the wizard formation…
Two hours later, the original teleportation wizard formation looked entirely renewed. Not only had minor damages been repaired, but even the original runes had been improved by the Chip.
Lei Lin gazed at the pristine surface of the formation, his breathing growing slightly heavier.
"The next step is the most critical — testing whether the formation on the other end is functional…"
The leather pouch at his waist opened on its own, and from within flew a black crystal that dropped straight into the energy slot of the teleportation formation.
Inside the crystal was a realm of pure darkness, with faintly flickering transparent flames twisting through it — this was the essence of Magic Stone that Lei Lin had refined! It had consumed over a thousand Magic Stone crystal cards! Worth more than ten million Magic Stones!
Although an ancient teleportation formation could transport a Wizard across vast distances, the energy required was equally terrifying.
If Lei Lin hadn't made a few lucrative hauls recently, he never would have been able to scrape together this much.
Boom! Once the Magic Stone crystal dropped into the energy slot, the entire teleportation formation roared to life.
One by one, mysterious wizard runes lit up in succession, flooding every corner of the formation with radiant light.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Threads of pure Magic Stone energy were drawn from the formation by the energy slot and continuously injected into the ancient wizard array.
At the base of the four stone pillars surrounding the formation, rings of light flared to life one after another, spreading upward. Eventually, the tops of the pillars split open with a thunderous crack, revealing openings at their crowns.
Blinding light erupted from the centers of the pillars, forming four luminous orbs of different colors that hovered above the pillar tops.
Earthy yellow, fiery red, azure blue, and indigo — the four glowing spheres floated silently above the columns of light.
"Hmm? This power!" From within those four orbs, Lei Lin sensed a familiar energy particle signature.
"Is this… Earth, Fire, Wind, Water?" Lei Lin froze for a moment, then quickly recognized the attributes represented by the four orbs of energy.
He stroked his chin and sank into thought.
In certain ancient Wizard schools, there had once been a theory and perspective circulating — that the four great elements of Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water formed the very foundation of the world!
Now it seemed clear that the ancient Soul-Slaying Sect had also been a follower of this viewpoint.
"Open!" Lei Lin called out loudly, using a language he had never employed before, one filled with a sense of arcane mystery and primordial age.
This was the ancient Turing language! The common tongue of the Soul-Slaying Sect! After the Chip's memory infusion, Lei Lin had learned this language effortlessly.
Hummm!
The four orbs of energy pulsed and fluctuated continuously. Then, several beams of different colors extended from the spheres, converging above the teleportation formation at the very center.
Crack!
As if space itself had split open, or as if lightning had struck down, a massive spatial distortion warped into a deep, dark void that materialized before Lei Lin's eyes.
"It can teleport!" Seeing this development, Lei Lin's heart settled with reassurance. Whether or not he would ever need this teleportation formation in the future, it was at least one more escape route!
"Should I go through first?" A highly tempting notion suddenly arose in Lei Lin's mind, only to be ruthlessly suppressed by him.
According to some spatial theory Lei Lin had studied and the Chip's calculations, a teleportation formation in this state wouldn't consume much of the Magic Stone crystal's energy. But once a physical object or even a living creature passed through, the energy required in that single instant would drain the Magic Stone crystal completely dry!
Lei Lin still couldn't determine what lay on the other side, so he naturally couldn't take such a risk. Besides, the amount of Magic Stones required for a round trip would make even Lei Lin's heart ache.
Moreover, without first seeing the teleportation formation on the other side, Lei Lin truly couldn't confirm whether he could return safely. What if this formation was only one-way?
"Hmm! Spiritual Power can't penetrate through, and detection spells are useless — I'll have to use some other method…"1152