The Forgotten Land was incredibly barren — a veritable wasteland for wizards.
The wizards who went there were all those who had hit dead ends in the Central Continent, each carrying a bounty on their heads.
Natasha was no exception. If her identity were discovered, it wouldn't just be her in trouble — Leilin would be dragged into serious danger as well.
"No, I was careful the entire way. I didn't leave behind any visual or aura records, and I didn't use an airship!" Natasha said.
"Good!" Leilin nodded. "My items?"
"Right here!" Natasha swept her hand across the surface, and a large black box immediately materialized on the table.
Seeing that the seals on it were still intact, a satisfied expression appeared on Leilin's face.
He opened the box. Inside was a thick layer of white down.
It was the molted feathers of the Blood Vulture King, possessing the miraculous ability to mask bloodline aura — something that had fooled Leilin before.
Once he brushed aside those white feathers, the auras of countless bloodline items surged out from within, drawing a flicker of astonishment across Natasha's face.
Bloodline crystals piled up like a small mountain, alongside all manner of bizarre bones, and fruits and plant roots infused with strange bloodline power — all jumbled together inside as though they were worthless.
But Natasha knew all too well what kind of shockwave these items would send through the Ouroboros Ring if they were ever exposed. Every single item in there could drive a high-ranking Warlock into a frenzy!
She had transported them here following Leilin's orders the whole way, but she had never once opened the box — on his explicit instruction. Only now did she see what was actually inside.
This was, of course, part of Leilin's plan.
When he'd made his enormous haul inside the secret realm, he had already been thinking about how to get past
After all, as the person who had sent the initial report, he had known Gilbert would come. How could he not have prepared?
A Morning Star-level Warlock's methods for detecting bloodline items were beyond anything Leilin could have imagined. He had absolutely no confidence in fooling such scrutiny — so he had simply chosen not to carry the items on his person.
Sure enough, even though Gilbert had examined Leilin's spatial pouch and ring, he had only found the few items Leilin had deliberately left behind. The real haul had been secretly transferred with Natasha.
It had taken real resolve to carry out this arrangement.
First, Natasha had not only sworn an oath of loyalty but had also had a sliver of her soul essence detained.
For a wizard, this kind of restraint was practically lethal. If Leilin destroyed that sliver of soul essence, Natasha would go mad even if she didn't die outright! On top of that, Leilin had deliberately cultivated her goodwill beforehand, promised to avenge her, and then given her nothing more than a simple delivery task. He had every reason to be confident!
For safety during the journey, he had not only placed sealing patterns on the black box but also used the Blood Vulture King's down as cover, masking the bloodline fluctuations of the items inside.
Now it seemed the plan had succeeded brilliantly.
Leilin gazed at the mountain of bloodline items before him, barely suppressing a laugh.
Among the myriad bloodline auras, a single phalanx bone lay there quietly, yet its presence overshadowed everything else like a sovereign among subjects.
Natasha stared at that finger bone as though facing a great enemy. "What is this thing?"
The aura emanating from the bone was clearly causing her discomfort — something utterly inconceivable for a Crystallized-rank wizard.
After all, it was obviously just a remnant. If a mere fragment's pressure could still make her this uneasy, what level of power had the original owner possessed?
Natasha fixed her gaze on Leilin. She was finding this young wizard increasingly unfathomable.
"The phalanx of an ancient Snake Woman!"
Unexpectedly, Leilin answered directly.
"Tower Spirit, put these away!" Leilin picked up the finger bone, then issued a command to a small blue sprite nearby.
"At once, my master!" The sprite bowed with hand over chest, and a pair of mechanical constructs walked over, securing the black box and carrying it off to be stored in the vault.
"Natasha, come with me! You may be useful for what comes next!"
Leilin's face carried a hint of gravity as he beckoned to Natasha.
He led her all the way down to the subterranean containment chamber before finally coming to a stop.
"Powerful Restriction Runes!" "Energy Isolation Runes!" "Corrosive Force!" "Wailing Specters!" "Gravity Runes!" ...
Natasha examined the runes covering every wall, her expression growing darker with each one. With this many binding arrays in place, even she at the Crystallized rank would find it extremely difficult to break free.
She gained a deeper understanding of just how vast Leilin's resources truly were.
"You've set up such an elaborate containment chamber — were you planning to summon a Devil Duke?" Natasha asked, a note of provocation in her voice.
"No! This is merely preparation for a rainy day. You know how it is — other worlds are always teeming with all sorts of bizarre creatures. A little extra caution never hurts!"
Leilin wore a strange smile. "But even I didn't expect that the first subject it would be used on would be… it."
His right hand flashed, and the Snake Woman's phalanx was instantly deposited at the center of the binding array with lightning speed. A reinforced steel glass gate slammed shut in an instant, and the multitude of runes blazed to life.
The Snake Woman's finger bone lay there motionless, like a lifeless object.
Natasha held her breath. She knew Leilin was about to show her something extraordinary.
"Tower Spirit! Begin first-level containment operations!"
At Leilin's command, every array inside the containment chamber flared to life. Invisible forces lifted the finger bone into midair.
"Purification commencing!" Following the Tower Spirit's emotionless announcement, two small storm clouds formed above the bone. Slender arcs of crystalline lightning lanced down onto it, crackling and snapping.
"I know you're still in there. No need to pretend — come out!"
The white bone showed no reaction whatsoever under the barrage of lightning, but Leilin's expression remained unchanged, his gaze as cold as a slab of ice.
Several seconds passed, and still nothing happened. Leilin let out a deep sigh.
"Proceed to deeper purification protocol!"
"Authorization confirmed. Energy input!" The moment the Tower Spirit's voice fell, the two storm clouds underwent a dramatic transformation.
The dark clouds expanded violently, and the lightning took on a faint reddish tint. Thick bolts of lightning swept mercilessly across the bone, leaving fine cracks on its surface.
"If you keep this up, you'll destroy the bone!" Natasha watched Leilin, but his expression didn't shift in the slightest — he showed no intention of stopping.
Under lightning dozens of times more intense, the finger bone began to tremble, as though it might shatter into powder at any moment.
Ching!
Just as Natasha was certain the bone would explode, a sudden change erupted!
A ring of green light burst violently from within the bone. A tremendous wave of radiation instantly tore the dark clouds apart.
"Hsss!"
A streak of green light emerged and coalesced into the phantom of a green-haired girl, lunging toward Leilin.
But compared to what Leilin had seen before, this apparition was far more ethereal. Its face was covered in an intricate pattern of diamond-shaped scales, its eyes blazed with an emerald glow, and its pupils had become vertical slits.
The moment the Snake Woman phantom's slit-pupiled gaze swept over him, Leilin froze, his mind momentarily blank.
"Restraint — activate!"
At that instant, the Tower Spirit reacted with lightning speed and issued the command.
Boom! The girl's phantom slammed into the transparent reinforced glass. Runes across the surface erupted in a blinding flash, and a tremendous crash echoed through the chamber.
Then, massive gravitational force descended, crushing the girl's phantom to the ground.
Crack! Crack!
One after another, illusory rune chains materialized, binding the green-haired Snake Woman phantom tightly.
"That was close!"
When Leilin finally came back to his senses, he let out a long, shuddering breath, his body drenched in cold sweat.
Even though he had deliberately overestimated his opponent, that terrifying feeling of having his mind seized in an instant still left him deeply shaken.
This was the absolute suppression of a superior bloodline over an inferior one! In the face of such an enormous gap in rank, no amount of effort could bridge it.
"You dare resist me? Mother will never forgive you — you traitor to your bloodline!"
The green Snake Woman phantom's tongue had split into a fork, flickering as she spoke.
"My apologies! I don't have the habit of obediently marching to my death!" Leilin's lips said the words, but there wasn't a trace of apology on his face.
"The Kemon python is a fourth-tier creature. It must obey the higher Snake Woman bloodline — this is branded into the deepest reaches of the bloodline and cannot be changed!" The Snake Woman phantom's eyes locked onto Leilin. "How did you break free?"
"How should I know?" Leilin spread his hands.
In truth, he suspected it had to do with his bloodline. Not only was the concentration of his Kemon python bloodline extremely high, but it had very likely been refined by the Chip — making it subtly different from the original.
"What is this thing?" Natasha stared at the Snake Woman, curiosity blooming on her face.
"Nothing more than a fragment of the bone's owner — an incomplete and unwilling remnant of a shattered memory projection." Leilin's voice dripped with contempt.
"When did you figure it out?" Seeing Leilin's attitude, the Snake Woman's phantom calmed down as well.
"From the very beginning," Leilin said evenly.
"I've never believed in getting something for nothing. I only trust what I earn with my own hands. When you so generously offered yourself up, I couldn't help but be cautious."
Truth be told, Leilin had largely believed the part about being weary of staying in the Blood Vulture King's nest. But the claim of being so bored and desperate that she wanted to die? He hadn't believed that for a second.
Ancient Warlocks possessed ironclad willpower, and on top of that, she had been a transcendent Warlock. How could she possibly be defeated by the loneliness of ages?
Her real plan had most likely been to use Leilin as a way out — or to seize his body entirely.
No matter how you looked at it, a Kemon python Warlock who happened to be perfectly countered by the ancient Snake Woman bloodline made for an ideal target.