A fire-trailed meteor plummeted from the sky, finally crashing violently into the ocean surface and sending up enormous waves.
"Mmph!" The shock of the frigid seawater snapped Leilin Farell fully awake. A briny, fishy taste assaulted his taste buds again and again.
"This is… the ocean!"
His consciousness rapidly recovered: "I was caught in the shockwave of those Rule-level existences, but I still managed to slip through the World Membrane and release my substitute puppet! If that's the case…"
"This place… is the Purgatory World!"
Gazing at the dim, sullen glow along the horizon and the chaotic will unique to the Purgatory World, a grin split across Leilin's face, growing wider and wider. "Ha ha… ha ha… I succeeded!"
On the path of breaking through the shackles of his bloodline, Leilin had finally taken the first step. Wild elation spread across his face.
As an outsider, Leilin's traversal of the Purgatory World was bound to cause ripples in the World Membrane.
And those ripples would certainly be detected by Rule-level existences. So Leilin had anticipated the appearance of numerous phantom wills—even made preparations for them.
But what actually happened far exceeded his expectations. Not only were there far more Rule-level existences in the Purgatory World than he had anticipated, but they seemed to belong to different factions, and he even spotted several familiar faces.
"Not only the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, but the Eye of Judgment and the Filth Bird are here too? I just don't know whether their true bodies are present or whether they sent avatars…"
Leilin's body floated on the sea surface, bobbing gently with the waves. Under the Chip's observation, the injuries on his body were gradually healing, and he would soon be able to move again.
Floating on the open sea was extremely dangerous—it could attract bloodthirsty sharks or other high-energy creatures. But Leilin currently radiated not the slightest trace of spiritual fluctuation, appearing like a mere piece of driftwood, so nothing bothered him.
During this period of convalescence, Leilin's mind continued to race.
"The Eye of Judgment and the Filth Bird. An ancient pair of mortal enemies—I never expected to encounter their true forms here. Even if they're avatars, they probably carry at least half the power of their original bodies!"
The ancient Eye of Judgment was widely used by wizards in the signing of contracts. As an arbiter and protector, it had cast its authority across countless worlds.
From the Dawn Throne all the way down to apprentices, anyone signing a contract could summon the Eye of Judgment as a witness. Of course, the Eye of Judgment summoned by different wizards would be fundamentally different.
But in Leilin's view, the Eye of Judgment did not do all this for free. In truth, by protecting contracts and judging oath-breakers, it obtained tremendous benefits.
The rules it commanded were very likely related to Contract and Judgment, so through these activities, the Eye of Judgment could not only accumulate deeper insights into its own rules but also gain the attention of Astral Primal Force, strengthening its power.
The Filth Bird, by contrast, most likely comprehended rules related to Betrayal or Chaos, which was precisely why the two had become mortal enemies—the wars they ignited had once spread across several worlds.
And now, Leilin had discovered their will-projections in the Purgatory World!
This meant that a powerful avatar—possibly even the true body—of these two existences was located directly within the Purgatory World!
"What kind of secrets did the ancient Purgatory World contain? Not only the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, but the Eye of Judgment, the Filth Bird, and other existences have all turned their gaze here…"
Leilin pondered silently, weighing what variables the appearance of the Eye of Judgment and the Filth Bird might introduce to his current endeavor, and whether they might prove useful.
"Based on what I witnessed, the Eye of Judgment seems to be a protector of the rules. After seeing that I'm a blood descendant of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, it showed leniency and intervened to help. The Filth Bird, clearly an enemy of the Eye, then noticed that the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents not only wasn't protecting me but seemed intent on killing me—and immediately changed its original plan, sending me into the Purgatory World…"
Leilin's eyes gleamed with sharp light as he replayed the earlier scene in his mind over and over.
"If we must assign factions, the Eye of Judgment is very likely on the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' side—though it's also possible it was simply honoring the contract. The Filth Bird clearly despises the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, and the two share a deep grudge. As for the broken-winged beast that appeared first, it might belong to a neutral faction…"
"Of course, there could be misdirection involved. But how could Rule-level existences, with all their pride, possibly conspire to stage an act for a mere Fifth-level Warlock? The probability is so small it's virtually negligible… though I still can't afford to let my guard down entirely…"
Leilin's temples throbbed. Trying to divine the secrets of so many Rule-level existences from a mortal vantage point left him feeling that his brain simply wasn't up to the task.
"Chip! How are the environmental analysis and world-rule scan progressing?"
Leilin closed his eyes, letting his body drift on the waves, and silently contacted the Chip.
[Ding! Surrounding environment scan complete. Elemental spectrum under construction!]The Chip quickly projected an elemental composition chart before Leilin's eyes.
"Hmm! Water elemental particle concentration is very high—which makes sense given the ocean environment. There's also dark-system energy particles and fire-system energy particles. Truly worthy of being the Purgatory World!"
Leilin studied the environmental analysis chart and nodded approvingly. The elemental concentration here was only marginally lower than the Central Continent—nearly on par, in fact. Worthy indeed of being one of the great ancient worlds.
[Ding! Subject's approximate location determined!]At the same time, the Chip projected a map before Leilin—the same view of the Purgatory World he had seen from outside the World Membrane. Vague continent outlines and a vast ocean stretched across the image, with Leilin marked as a bright red dot in the sea near one of the continents.
"Knowing my approximate position in the Purgatory World is one thing, but I have no idea which continent I should head toward…"
Leilin let out a bitter inward laugh. Moreover, the map the Chip was using was from that brief glimpse he had caught earlier—far too crude. Given the Purgatory World's staggering size, the margin of error could be terrifyingly large.
"Chip, check my status!" Setting aside that problem, Leilin issued another command.
[Ding! Task established. Scanning initiated. Collecting subject data!]The Chip quickly returned its results: [Leilin Farell — Warlock, Fifth Level. Bloodline: Comoin Serpent Emperor (Mature Form). Strength: 32 (76). Agility: 35 (62). Constitution: 59 (176.9). Spirit: 875 (2003.5). Mana: 875 (Mana determined by Spiritual Power). Soul Force: 88 (200). Condition: Cursed and weakened—stats across the board have dropped. Currently in critical-injury state, recovering slowly. Estimated time to full recovery: 56 hours, 26 minutes, 18 seconds!]
Just a clash between a few titanic wills had been enough to inflict collateral damage on Leilin, nearly annihilating him outright.
The terror of Rule-level existences was something he still could not face.
"Because of the Ten Thousand Serpents Curse Mark, my stats have dropped yet again. And this critical-injury state—with my previous Constitution, I'd probably recover in a few hours. Now it's going to take over two days…"
Leilin gazed at the beautiful starry sky and let out a slow breath.
At the same time, he could feel his body acting like a sponge, absorbing dark-system energy particles and even moonlight from the air into his cells, slowly restoring his Life Energy.
"Is this… the devouring talent of the Comoin Serpent Emperor? Or a natural phenomenon of the Purgatory World?" Either way, the discovery astonished him. The Purgatory World truly was one of the worlds most suited to the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' lineage. Without that wretched chaotic will of the Purgatory World causing the bloodline disease, it might even rival the former Shadow World.
[Ding! World-rule analysis at 2.16%! Assessment: No significant hostile reaction toward foreign organisms or souls!]
At this point, the Chip placed its latest finding before Leilin.
"So the Purgatory World doesn't reject foreign powerhouses? No wonder the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, the Eye of Judgment—they all chose this place!"
Leilin suddenly understood.
The subconscious of most worlds was deeply xenophobic. Any foreign powerhouse who entered would feel overwhelming hostility and even be suppressed by the world's own power, dropping in rank.
This phenomenon was most pronounced in the
But the Purgatory World was clearly an outlier. It embraced all outsiders, its openness exceeded only by the Dream World. In fact, when Leilin had first entered, he had barely felt any oppressive force from the world at all.
Once he had fully calibrated his aura and soul fluctuations to match the Purgatory World, he felt just like a native—no more sense of oppression, no more feeling of being watched with malice.
"What an extraordinary world! Then again, the Purgatory World's will has always been thoroughly chaotic—so this makes perfect sense!"
Leilin nodded. For a world's will, foreign powerhouses were like locusts, consuming its precious Source Power. Naturally, most worlds were extremely hostile—even imposing shackles on their own natives, forcibly ejecting them once their strength exceeded a certain threshold.
Only a chaotic will like the Purgatory World's could tolerate Rule-level existences such as the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents.
"Even so, the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents and the others probably can't freely drain the world's Source Power either. Otherwise, no matter how chaotic the Purgatory World's will might be, it would mount fierce resistance. That could be my opportunity…"
One plan after another began forming in Leilin's mind.