At the same time, a Magic Stone crystal was also tossed onto the other party's table.
Leilin put away the Ice Jade Scorpion Breath in his hand, with no intention of returning it whatsoever.
"Just for research?"
A playful smile crossed the purple-haired witch's face. The Magic Stone crystal on the table leaped of its own accord into her palm, transforming into black tassels.
Leilin met her gaze expressionlessly, as if everything he'd said was simply the truth.
"Fine!" The witch elegantly extended her fingers—their nails stained with red narcissus juice—and tucked the Magic Stone crystal away. "My name is Xiling! You can contact me later about the Ice Jade Scorpion matter! This is my secret seal imprint!"
As she spoke, she handed Leilin a purple narcissus-shaped secret seal imprint.
Leilin nodded and left. Immediately, another plump wizard stepped up to chat enthusiastically with Xiling.
"Leilin! My friend, what are you doing here?"
At that moment, Siegfried had also wandered over.
"You've arrived just in time—do you know who that purple-haired witch is?" Leilin pointed toward the woman chatting and laughing with the fat wizard, occasionally covering her mouth with a delicate giggle.
"Oh! That's Xiling! She's the successor of a small school. The school itself isn't much, but she's a well-known beauty in the Eastern Region capital! Though I hear she's extremely shrewd—many wizards with ulterior motives have gotten the short end of the stick with her. She's not someone to trifle with..."
Siegfried glanced at Leilin, a sudden smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "What? Interested?"
"No! It's just a bit of trade-related business!"
After hearing Siegfried's account, Leilin became even more certain that this witch named Xiling was no simple character. His grip on the box tightened involuntarily.
But the Ice Jade Scorpion's Breath crystal concerned his path as a Warlock—it was something he absolutely could not pass up.
"It seems I'll have to play a little game with this little fox!"
Leilin cast a glance at Witch Xiling, a faint smile appearing on his face.
……
The Eastern Region capital. Inside the villa Leilin had purchased.
After Wei Lin left without notice, the spacious villa housed only Leilin. He hadn't hired any servants, so the place felt rather deserted.
Now, beneath the villa's original basement, Leilin had excavated a hidden cave.
At the end of the cave was a spacious underground chamber. In its center stood a silvery-white metallic laboratory table, topped with various glass instruments—all procured through purchases and his original stockpiled supplies.
"What a strange substance!"
Leilin was holding a white, ice-flake-shaped piece of Ice Jade Scorpion Breath crystal with a pair of silver tweezers, a blue light flickering in his eyes.
With the assistance of the Chip's atomic-level microscope, the surface of the ice flake was magnified progressively until it revealed a pattern of hexagonal runes.
A yin-cold energy pulsed continuously from the Breath crystal as the hexagonal runes rotated.
"Ding! Ice Jade Scorpion Breath crystal composition analysis complete. Spectrum generated! Virtual model established. Bloodline experiment preparation finished!"
The Chip reported directly into Leilin's mind.
"Let's begin!" Leilin exhaled a long breath.
"Authorization received. Simulated bloodline experiment commencing!" The Chip whirred to life, and Leilin's eyes went blank as if he had stepped into another space. He saw a translucent human body model with purple-red blood flowing through it.
"Ice Jade Scorpion Breath injection!" At the Chip's command, two slender metal needles inserted into the shoulders of the body model. As the markings on the needles shifted, they injected a strange white substance into the body.
Splash! Like boiling oil hitting cold water. The moment the Ice Jade Scorpion Breath was injected into the test subject, it triggered a violent reaction.
The entire test body began to tremble. The waveforms representing the test subject's data twisted abnormally, nearly curling into a tangled knot.
"Test subject's blood flow rate accelerating, blood pressure rising, bodily stress multiplied fivefold!"
The Chip projected the latest data before Leilin's eyes at intervals.
"Begin energy particle radiation! Maintain life-system stability!" Leilin ordered.
Then, black light representing Dark System energy particles began emanating from the test body model. Under this black illumination, the test body gradually stabilized.
By the end, the test subject had fully reverted to its original state. The purple-red blood within its body flowed steadily, like wine in a transparent crystal glass.
Only the color seemed to have deepened slightly, appearing more dark and profound.
"Warlock emotional bloodline experiment successful! Estimated emotional fluctuation suppression duration for the subject: 345 days and 13 hours!" The Chip delivered its precise report.
"If the dosage is increased, can the aftereffects be completely eliminated?" Leilin asked.
"Insufficient data. Beginning speculative experiment construction..." The Chip fell into calculation once more.
This time, a full five minutes passed before it delivered its answer: "Success probability: 67%. Higher-grade Ice Jade Scorpion Breath crystal required!"
"As expected! The Ice Jade Scorpion's Breath can truly solve the Warlock emotional problem!"
Joy flashed through Leilin's eyes.
The ancient Bloodline Warlocks had possessed powerful physical bodies and casting abilities, but their own advancement had been extremely difficult.
Yet these were not even the main cause of the Warlock lineage's decline!
Having obtained the powerful ancient bloodlines, the savage, terrifying emotions of ancient predators—buried in the deepest layers of their genes—were inherited by the Warlocks completely intact.
And precisely because of this, Warlocks were typically hot-tempered and extremely prone to anger—a deficiency that was nearly fatal in the world of Wizards!
No matter how great one's power, what good was it if one couldn't even master one's own mind?
Thus, rational and composed Wizards passed their traditions down through the ages, but the Warlocks had long vanished from the South Coast and the Dark Polar Region. Perhaps only on the vast Central Continent did a few remnants still linger.
"Ice Jade Scorpion!"
Leilin quickly pulled up information on this creature.
After learning the specific name of this crystal, Leilin began extensively gathering information about the creature's habits, habitat, actual strength, and more.
"Ice Jade Scorpion. High-energy mutated creature. Adults possess strength comparable to a First-level
This was the consolidated summary of the data Leilin had collected—extremely brief.
Moreover, the resources within the Ice Caves appeared to be jointly controlled and developed by several schools. For an outsider like Leilin to gain entry would be extremely troublesome.
"However, I will have the Ice Jade Scorpion's Breath no matter what!" Flames blazed in Leilin's eyes. "Even if I must turn heaven and earth upside down, I will not rest until I have it!"
Something that could suppress Warlock bloodline emotional instability was far too rare. So many ancient Warlocks had been unable to find a simple, effective solution, forced to merely endure and suppress. Had Leilin not received the dual warnings from his Chip and his bloodline, he never would have discovered the Ice Jade Scorpion's effect so easily!
Leilin didn't think he could get this lucky again!
"However, this suppression effect of the Ice Jade Scorpion's Breath probably doesn't apply to all Bloodline Warlocks. It might not even be effective for Komoyin Giant Serpent Warlocks. It's likely a unique resource that the Chip discovered specifically for my constitution!"
Leilin's expression grew somewhat grave.
There was no specific remedy for the Warlock bloodline emotional disease. And due to differences in bloodline origins—and even the unique individual variances among wizards themselves—Leilin couldn't fully guarantee the effectiveness of the Ice Jade Scorpion's Breath.
It was entirely possible that the Ice Jade Scorpion's Breath was effective for him but completely useless for another Komoyin Giant Serpent Warlock.
One could only say that the particular trait produced by this otherworldly creature's mutation happened to have an excellent therapeutic effect on Leilin's own emotional instability!
However, the decline or prosperity of the Warlocks was none of Leilin's concern! He only needed to know one thing: this Ice Jade Scorpion Breath crystal was useful to him, and he needed to obtain more and higher-quality material. That was enough!!!
"I need to plan this carefully! I require a mind that stays calm and clear at all times!"
Leilin glanced at the ice flake on the tweezers.
"According to the Chip's analysis, while this Breath can suppress my emotional instability and keep my mind clear for nearly a year, it does carry some aftereffects that must be eliminated through potion preparation!"
This was certainly no challenge for Leilin. After spending so many years at the
The Four Seasons Garden truly lived up to its reputation as a major power centered on Apothecaries. Its collections of potion experimental data and ancient recipe insights were remarkably rich, and its experimental conditions and raw materials were quite excellent.
Leilin absorbed the Four Seasons Garden's knowledge like a sponge, greedily, while continuously preparing potions to hone his skills.
Through extensive exchanges and experiments, by the time he left the Four Seasons Garden—though Leilin had always hidden his true expertise in Potionology, never letting anyone know his actual proficiency—by his own estimation, he had far surpassed his former mentor Guofate. He had perhaps already reached the rank of Grand Apothecary!
Grand Apothecary! That was the title reserved for the most elite Apothecaries—those whose success rate in preparing high-grade potions was no less than thirty percent, and who could independently develop entirely new potions!