Secretly Sneaking Back
Light flashed as Leylin’s figure appeared in the central hall of the Eternal River pocket dimension.
Enormous white stone pillars stood erect across the hall, and through the circular open space at the top one could see the light from a Morning Star spell formation.
‘This expedition underground was really successful!’ Leylin looked around his surroundings. The four void assassins were still strictly adhering to his previous order. He couldn’t help but laugh before putting the void assassins and defensive spell formations away.
“Lord Leylin!”
“How’s the situation, my Lord?” Once the mechanisms outside were removed, two silhouettes rushed in. They were the highest ranks of the light and dark Magi, Nonov and Anye respectively. The impatience was clear on their faces, yet there was nothing they could do except wait outside.
“This won’t do. The seal has been badly damaged. Although I tried my best to mend it, it’s still hard to predict whether it can be delayed by a century like I said before. We might only have a few decades left, or even less time…” Leylin said with a straight face, making both Nonov and Anye turn grim.
“Is there no other way, my Lord?” Nonov asked, one last glimmer of hope in his voice, But the only reply he got was a slow shake of Leylin’s head.
……
Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and more than ten days had passed. Leylin had also concluded his investigation into the Eternal Plains pocket dimension, and returned to his hometown in the Chernobyl Islands.
Krupp had led a few of the remaining Farlier descendants there, successfully regaining control of the territory that originally belonged to the Farlier Family. Under the assistance of numerous external forces, not only had he acquired their old territory back but he’d also expanded it, preparing to build an empire that would belong entirely to the Farlier Family.
Leylin had waited outside the castle that initially belonged to the Farlier Family for days, receiving all of the descendants of the Farlier family. It was only after he put a good deal of arrangements in place that he vanished mysteriously.
What the Farlier family proclaimed to the outside world was that their ancestor had already left the south coast, and had gone to a vaster part of the Magus World.
Although they didn’t know if Leylin’s departure was true or false, and couldn’t confirm whether he would return in the future, both the dark and light Magi heaved a unanimous sigh of relief.
To them, Leylin was a representation of the realisation of a higher realm, but he was also a pair of shackles that bound them.
There was simply no room for a being of Morning Star status in the tiny south coast.
Even the historical Great Magus Serholm mysteriously disappeared after his glory days. According to speculations by Magi later on, he had gone away in search of more vast worlds.
Leylin did not leave behind any methods to break through to Morning Star, which made a few rank 3 Magi feel that it was a great pity. However, having one less contender suppressing them was like taking a burden off their shoulders.
The influential groups within the dark and light Magi cast their sights on the empty land left behind by the Spirit Slaying Sect after they were eliminated. After so many years of unrest, as well as the sudden collapse of the Spirit Slaying Sect after the Gargamel’s extermination, an exceedingly plentiful amount of space was left for the dark and light Magi.
Open rivalry and veiled strife centered around the inheritance of the Spirit Slaying Sect, which caused numerous ripples within the dark and light Magi.
The real influential powers such as the Ennea Ivory Ring Tower and the Lighthouse of the Night watched on with a detached point of view, and were even secretly pulling back their powers, preparing to move at any moment.
For these deep-rooted Magus powers, the few decades that Leylin had given them previously was not particularly sufficient for them to move. Just the search for an environment suitable for Magi to survive in outside of the south coast was enough to give them a headache.
Of course, no matter how unpredictable the changes in the south coast would be, the dark and light Magi—and even other wandering Magi— did not dare to evoke the wrath of the Farlier Family.
It was a family that was sheltered by a Morning Star Magus! Krupp, who had been promoted to a rank 2 Warlock, was not someone to be belittled, much less Leylin who might return at any moment. Besides, who knew if Sir Leylin had left some kind of trump card for his own family?
Theoretically, as long as that Magus had bestowed a few of those transparent servants to the Farlier family, they could suppress the entire south coast.
Hence, the powers within the dark and light Magi had unanimously placed the Farlier Family at the top of their lists of people they could not provoke. The entire Chernobyl Islands was even seen as out of bounds to all Magi. The Farlier Family, along with the empire that they had established, grew stronger and more prosperous with the passing of time…
A bright flame lit up in a pitch-black environment, bringing white light to its surroundings. Numerous more flames started to burn more and more vigorously, until they eventually formed an arched door.
A masked figure stepped out from the arched door, his body immediately shrouded by a layer of dense black fog.
“Disperse!” Following the voice coming from the figure, the rays of light and undulations immediately faded until they disappeared completely.
“Secret technique: Shadow Stealth!” The figure seemed to be at unease. A rune representing concealment and hiding suddenly flashed within the fog.
Soon after, the entire cloud of fog shook and became completely transparent, blending in with the surroundings.
Under the cover of the fog, the entire silhouette seemed to have penetrated into the shadows in the cracks, making its way through the ruins at lightning speed and avoiding a large number of Warlocks from the Lyers family.
Even a few of the Morning Star elders did not discover the silhouette’s aura, allowing him to escape successfully.
After he was far away from the Thunderbird Holy Land, the dense fog transformed into a black ray of light, and streaked across the horizon like a meteor. It was only after fleeing for a few hours that the silhouette finally revealed himself.
The man wore golden robes and had a black mask over his face. There was an air of elegance about him, giving him a sense of mystery.
“It doesn’t seem like I’ll be tracked down here,” Leylin exhaled gently. The preparations that the Lyers family had put in place to guard against him were not what he had expected. They weren’t too strict, instead too relaxed.
‘It makes sense anyway. With Eam’s haughty temperament, he must have been certain that even if I could access the passage, I would still have to go through him to interact with the subterranean world, or even dump my goods and establish commercial trade here. Thus, he must have felt secure with the knowledge that he has the upper hand. What a pity that he had the wrong idea from the start…’
Leylin stroked his chin. Entering the subterranean world was a decision that he had made after careful deliberation.
He needed the Purgatory World’s coordinates to travel to it. There were far too many highly-ranked Magi in the central continent, and Leylin could not be at ease at all. Furthermore, not only were the Twilight Zone and the south coast both small in size, the density of elemental particles was too low.
Initially, Leylin was prepared to find a random spot in the endless ocean to build the astral gate and attempt to search for the Purgatory World. But after seeing the Eternal Plains pocket dimension, he instantly saw a better alternative.
What was different from the worlds above ground was that the first subterranean level was very covert. Even if Magi came chasing after Leylin specifically and followed his footsteps, they might not be able to discover this place.
Besides, the rest of the subterranean world wasn’t like the Twilight Zone from before. Even though it was the first level, the area of all the land added together was about the same as the entire central continent. If those Magi wanted to find Leylin here, it would be no different from finding a needle in a haystack.
“Everything has been settled. What’s left is the Allsnake Curse…” Leylin inhaled deeply, and his entire being transformed into a ray of light than disappeared into the horizon.
More than ten days later, in a mountain range. This was a desolate mountain commonly seen underground. As it lacked plants and the radiance from a sunstone, the entire mountain was bare. Only a few fungi and vines that didn’t require sunlight continued to grow sporadically.
Vast quantities of black rocks and bare soil lay exposed outside the place. There weren’t any large organisms on the entire mountain, and even the smaller darkness creatures were basically extinct.
A few rooms had been opened up temporarily in the belly of this place. Remnants of clay made from mud and the radiance from everlasting spell effects were left on the walls. It was obvious that it hadn’t been long since the work here was finished.
Some of the rooms here had been remodelled into bedrooms and study rooms, while the one in the center had been transformed into a gigantic laboratory. A starry blue radiance illuminated the place, but was obstructed by the energy absorption rune on the wall.
In the heart of the laboratory was a simple and unadorned door made of stone. Blue gems studded the door, just like stars.
Leylin looked at the A.I. Chip’s report and the energy composition chart, and couldn’t help but exhale a deep breath, “Phew… Finally done. I was running out of materials…”
In front of him was an astral gate which had undergone several transformations by the A.I. Chip, one which Leylin had invested a great amount of his life and family possessions in. It was his hope of breaking through his bloodline shackles!
Upon the thought of his bloodline shackles, Leylin’s expression became somewhat gloomy.
“How much time do I have left?” Leylin’s voice seemed rather hoarse.
[Beep! According to the current condition of the host body, the countdown to the activation of the Allsnake Curse is 2 years, 4 months, 13 days, 8h 55min 43s.]
The A.I. Chip projected a series of numbers. From the years to the seconds, the numbers were all arranged clearly, and the ‘second’ counter was constantly adjusting itself, making Leylin’s eyelids palpitate.
“I still have two years…” Leylin stroked his chin and started to mutter irresolutely to himself.
The Allsnake Curse was a curse belonging to the Snake Dowager, and was also the nightmare of all Serpent Warlocks. Apart from the Snake Dowager herself personally freeing the person, one could only rely on the help of a rank 9 being or break through the bloodline shackles oneself to escape it.
But to Leylin, the Snake Dowager and rank 9 beings both represented a dead end. It was only through actually breaking the chains on his own bloodline that he could free himself from the Allsnake Curse and completely regain freedom.
And the hope to smashing his bloodline shackles lay in the Purgatory World!
Hence, no matter how much danger the Purgatory World contained, he had to go there…