Returning To Town
The cold breeze swept past, leaving behind pieces of dried leaves swirling in the air, which danced like butterflies.
The crystal clear stream flowed silently, adding to the tranquility in this area.
A grey squirrel shook its fluffy tail and ascended the tree as fast as lightning, and rapidly gnawed on the acorn it held. From time to time, it would twist its little head to observe its surroundings.
*Ka-Cha!* A dried piece of wood was stepped on and broke. The squirrel was startled as it let go of the acorn it held and climbed even higher in the tree. It looked down in apprehension at the human figure who had broken the peace in the area.
“The last time I’ve been here was less than a year ago, wasn't it? To think that it had actually changed this much…”
Leylin exclaimed as he glanced at his surroundings.
He had returned back to the small town where the Old Devil had brought him on an expedition to the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect.
Only this town had already been reduced to ruins.
A murky green vine crept around the town’s ruins, in which the occasional figures of animals could be seen flitting past. However, there were no signs of human traces at all.
From the many visible indications, the inhabitants of this town had voluntarily chosen to forsake their homes soon after Leylin’s expedition.
“This is the fear towards Magi!” Leylin shook his head and did not feel the slightest shock regarding this turn of events.
Although Leylin and the others came here covertly and did not slay any of the inhabitants, they still put the town’s people in a deep slumber for three days. However, the residents would only associate these eerie methods with Magi!
It was known that Magi of the light Magi domain would be more friendly to regular humans on the surface.
However, who could have guaranteed that the residents would not see a dark Magus? Hence the flustered residents immediately chose to report it to the authorities.
However, during that time the Eternal Rivers secret plane had just been made public knowledge to all Magi. The strength of the light Magi had been concentrated there, so no one had the leisure to bother with a desolate little town who had suspected dark Magi activities. Furthermore, no deaths were reported!
Hence, the light Magi alliance only sent out several level 3 acolyte to investigate the matter.
Naturally, these acolytes would not be able to see past the disguise set up by an official Magus. Hence, the entrance of the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect’s secret plane was not discovered. After searching the area to no avail, the group of acolytes could only conclude and report that there were dark Magi who had long since left, apparently achieving their goals in the area.
This degree of danger would naturally not attract the attention of the light Magi alliance, and things had been dragged till this state.
Even if the light Magi did not treat it with importance, how could the residents who had been living in the town their whole lives not mind?
Afterall, under the influence of the light Magi, they had often heard of dark Magi eradicating kingdoms throughout their childhood and as they aged into adults. Although the investigators had already concluded that the dark Magi left, there was always the ‘what ifs’.
Hence, without any further support, the residents chose to leave this town.
Afterwards, several supernatural incidents in the area had caused the few elderly folks in the town, who had chosen to stay back, to disappear without a trace. These incidents had caused the town to be fully abandoned by all.
Leylin indifferently thought back to the news he had received of the town. After instructing Damien and the rest to defend his family, he had journeyed to this area and prepared to look at the ancient teleporting spell formation once again.
For the sake of advancing into a rank 2 Warlock, he had destroyed one of the gates to the secret plane and even killed two rank 2 Magi!
This animosity that was created was unusually huge! Although Leylin had confidence in his own strength, he still had to be wary of the fact that the light and dark Magi had their trumps cards: Magi who had reached rank 3!
Right now, Leylin was admittedly not a match for opponents of that level, hence he had decided not to tarry after choosing his escape route.
The dark and white Magi had already infiltrated every corner of the south coast, hence it was not possible to hide here.
Many terrifying and dangerous regions were also located on the south coast. Even for official Magi, going there would mean a 90 percent chance of death. If Leylin were to wander in those areas without any detailed information, then he would be a fool!
Moreover, even if Leylin’s luck was good and he successfully managed to traverse past those domains, he might arrive in a barren wasteland like the Chernobyl Islands. Leylin still wished to walk further down the path of a Magus, hence he would not be willing to go to such an area.
However, the ancient teleporting spell formation was different! The distance of the teleportation was vast; it would at least span a distance several times that of the south coast. There was even a possibility that it would lead to another world!
Around the Magus World, there were several mighty worlds and planes. In ancient times, the ancient Magi conquered one world after another, and analysed the unique laws in those worlds to strengthen themselves!
This ancient teleporting spell formation was very likely linked to a world or domain that the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect had once dominated.
Moreover, the place that the teleportation would lead to was definitely a place abundant with resources, at the very least on par with the south coast. Otherwise, why would the ancient Magi have the leisure to create this teleporting spell formation? The cost of creating one was not a small figure, it was enough to cripple the finances of a faction like the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect. Leylin strongly believed that its creation was not merely for the sake of having a means to escape.
“Speaking of which, I wonder how that Gargamel, Old Devil, and Jaye are?”
Leylin stroked his chin.
Although he had already advanced into a rank 2 Warlock, he still had fear towards the Gargamel which had been borne through the fusion of countless vengeful spirits!
Afterall, it had been sealed for God knows how many years by the sect, and actually had the strength of a rank 2 Magus immediately upon its return!
One must know that the Black Horrall Snake back in the Dylan Gardens had regressed from a rank 3 Magus into an acolyte’s level after such a long sealing period!
According to Leylin’s estimation, the Gargamel inside the secret plane had at least reached the strength of a rank 4 Magus before it was sealed!
In ancient times, Magi of these levels had another term coined after them—Morning Star Magi!
According to the description of the Book of Giant Serpent by the Great Magus Serholm, after a Magus enters rank 3, their body will undergo a very long bottleneck period. For a rank 3 Magus to advance into a rank 4 Magus, the difficulty will surpass every prior advancement. It could even be likened to the fact that the difficulty of a regular human into a rank 3 Magus was far simpler than that of from a rank 3 Magus to a rank 4 Magus!
Even in ancient times, rank 4 Magi were rulers of their regions. As for their title, it was Morning Star!
What was a Morning Star? High above in the sky! Unparalleled! Eternal!
Magus who were able to advance in rank 4 were worthy of such a title! Moreover, their lifespan would be lengthened by a massive amount. Even living to a thousand years old was just child’s play! To regular humans or even lowly ranked Magi, this was already reaching the realm of being immortal!
At this level, Magi would really be able to control the devastating powers of flipping mountains and burning seas! It was ineffective to use a sea of people to fight against such power! Just one of them would rival the existence of an army of lower leveled Magi!
It was a totally different idea from the Lightning Corps. Magus armies back in ancient times had at least tens of thousands of official Magi, including several tens of rank 2 Magi! As for captains and vice captains, rank 3 Magi were definitely the ones who held these posts!
If the Lightning Corps was of a standard like this, Leylin would have long since been dead.
However, a Morning Star Magus could obliterate the forces of the ancient Magus army!
The Gargamel which Leylin had seen before had already undergone a long sealing period. However, upon its return, it had the strength of a rank 2 Magus! The strength it had before must have at least been that of a Morning Star Magus!
To put it bluntly, such an existence could kill Leylin with just a finger.
If not for several sources of information which had confirmed the departure of the Gargamel from this area, Leylin would have never dared step foot in here again.
In an area close to the Nightless City, Leylin had given several of his spiritually bonded slaves missions before infiltrating the city.
With his methods now as a rank 2 Warlock, he could even avoid detection from a fellow rank 2 Magus, not to mention regular guards, by using the spiritual force compression technique.
After spending some of his magic crystals, he then easily obtained the information he needed.
All of the attention in the south coast was still on the Eternal River Plains’ secret plane. As for the latest and hottest news, it was the birth of a newly advanced rank 2 Magus, Leylin!
As someone who had destroyed a gate to the secret plane and killed two rank 2 Magus, Leylin had already been put in the crosshairs of the dark and light Magi alliances. Even the danger level attributed to him was of the highest level!
In the south coast, a rank 2 Magus was already a force to be reckoned with like Chairman Siley of Abyssal Bone Forest Academy. If Leylin was still in the academy, he could even participate in the turmoil for the Chairman’s successor.
Although Leylin was listed as ‘wanted’ on the surface, many organisations had secretly offered him a position and even promised abundant benefits.
However, Leylin only chuckled at such ideas.
The resources he had pilfered were enough for him as a rank 2 Magus. Moreover, it was not easy to come out from this mess, he did not wish to be embroiled in such troublesome issues once again.
Apart from his information, the other news which had piqued his interest was the spirit plague in the western part of the south coast.
In several regular human kingdoms, there had been a very odd disease spreading!
People who had caught this disease would not suffer from any illness. Only that several tiny black spots would appear on their face and waist areas, where they would slowly be thinned down.
After seven days when the black spots became extremely huge, the diseased would then die without a sound.
After the light Magi’s investigation, the spirits of the afflicted had disappeared without a trace. As for such methods, they were very similar to the spirit plague released by the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect!
This disease had a high contamination rate, which had already amounted to a casualty number of over a hundred thousand regular humans.
Even the light Magi alliance, who had their sights set on the Eternal River Plains’ secret plane, sent a rank 2 Magus as the investigation head for this matter.
The most useful piece of information they had acquired was that in areas where the contamination rate was the highest, they had discovered the traces of the devout from the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect. As for their leader, it was none other than the Gargamel!