Warlock of the Magus World

by Stayrr

What happens when a scientist from a futuristic world reincarnates in a World of Magic and Knights? An awesome MC is what happens! A scientist’s goal is to explore the secrets of the universe, and this is exactly what Leylin sets out to do when he is reincarnated. Dark, cold and calculating, he makes use of all his resources as he sets off on his adventures to meet his goal. Face?

24. 723

Read Warlock of the Magus World - Chapter 723 – Plans and Setting Foot on the Continent online free - Light Novel Full

Plans and Setting Foot on the Continent

Their final struggles taken care of, the truesouls of the many kinsmen of the marine tribes were corroded by the black flames and they all died with a loud rumble.

"You did well, annihilating so many Sacrificers of the Trial's Eye. Here's a reward!" The chaotic force of the Nefarious Filthbird was projected into Leylin's mind with a royal declaration, great amount of chaos power descending through subconscious communication.

[Beep! Discovered large amounts of the law of chaos. Absorb?]

"No! Store it all." With Leylin's command, the large amount of chaotic force turned into grey crystals that he secretly stored. The black flames gradually died out, revealing an islet that now had no other traces of life.

"Keke… so they all died just like that? I thought they'd be more fun…" Belinda laughed maniacally.

Leylin appeared behind in her in that instant, light shining in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Belinda shrieked. Immediately after, her eyes rolled back as she fell unconscious.

"Mm… The bloodline consumption was so huge that even her mind is exhausted." Leylin shook his head. She had obviously gone half crazy. If not for that, no matter how discreet he was in gathering the chaotic power she would have noticed it.

……

"Ugh…" With a light hum, Belinda slowly opened her eyes.

What entered her sights was a scene where abundant stars filled the skies, as well as the flickering firelight from a bonfire that lit up the area.

Slight crackling sounds sounded from the fire, and a few grilled fish that were skewered on tree branches were stuck in the ground beside the fire. An aroma of greasy food spread out from the fish unendingly.

"You're awake! Would you like some?" Leylin chuckled as he handed a branch with a few grilled fish on it to Belinda.

Belinda took it without thought, her eyes still filled with bewilderment. Immediately after, the betrayal of the marine tribe as well as the decision from headquarters, even the memories of the failed offering to the dignitary of trials emerged.

"Ah…" The snake girl exclaimed, the grilled fish falling to the ground.

"Was all of that real?" Belinda raised her arms, watching the little sacrificial array branded into her skin. Now, however, the rune for the Trial's Eye had completely dimmed; there were even cracks on it. She went quiet.

The frailness of her body was proof of her crazed slaughter before, and it caused a wry smile about her lips, "I'd thought my faith was strong… I didn't expect it to be so fragile."

"I think you did very well already!" Leylin smiled, passing over another portion of grilled meat, "Whatever it is, you're alive. That's the greatest blessing!"

"…" Belinda sunk into silence for a long while before she took the meat from Leylin.

"Thank you." The sound was as soft as the buzzing of a fly. If not for his exceptional senses, he wouldn't have been able to hear it.

"Why did you save me? Did you hope I'd be your mate?" Belinda asked after a silent meal. The question left Leylin stunned.

'Mate? Ah, she's of another race and even a snake at that. Her ideas of this sort of thing are a little different.' Leylin nodded without a change in expression even as such a thought coursed through his mind. "That's the smallest part of it. It's more because we are of the same species. Mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnakes are dwindling in number, and I can't just watch you die…"

"My life is very complicated, and I even betrayed the Trial's Eye. I'd bring you many troubles if we work together!" Belinda seemed to have recovered from her previous shock, once more the strong, able woman she was.

The branch in her hands snapped as she huffed, her whole body relaxing as she seemed to have come to a decision.

"Since I've already offended the Master of Order, we can only hide in the depths of the Hail Continent…" Belinda calmly analysed, "Though the Matriarch and the Trial's Eye are allies, they wouldn't send out a bounty just for this. With our bloodline, going to other continents would only lead to discrimination. My own situation is a good example!"

"It's not an issue for me. I've been travelling around the archipelago; I've been thinking about going to the Hail Continent…" Leylin was in favour of her decision.

In reality, that was his main goal. If not, why would he spend so much effort on saving her?

"We will enter through the borders of the nearest continent and then traverse through the Serpent Plains to reach the Holy City. I have connections there, so they might be able to help us…" Belinda stood up, "In return for your help, I will find you a mate with a bloodline purity that does not lose to mine. Of course, if you're certain about your choice, that's not a problem!"

"Alright," Leylin touched his chin, appearing 'embarrassed'. He was actually rendered speechless at her using such a simple method to thank him.

"Beast spirit summon— Godric!" A layer of blue patterns emerged from Leylin as he stood by the coast. Their rest was done, and the figure of the quick-witted Godric appeared. It was just that the injuries from the last battle left it dull.

Healing beast spirits was a very advanced technique. Only a few high-ranked beast spirit masters in the Purgatory World could do such a thing, so even if Leylin had methods to heal his beast spirit he couldn't show them now,

The large Godric mooed as it turned into a streak of light. It spread its two large fleshy wings on the surface of the waters, its expansive back as flat as land.

"Let's go!" Leylin said while jumping on.

Belinda soon followed as well. Her scarlet pupils scanned the Godric and she shook her head, eyes full of pity, "Godrics mature to rank 4 beasts, but they're very difficult to control. Those merchants capture young creatures and then seal or even extract their souls. That's jus…"

Following that, she glanced towards Leylin, "I see that the beast spirits you have on you is meagre… don't you have a healthier beast spirit? Injuries to the soul will only grow more serious in such a state, and even healers won't be of much help…"

"I'm merely a rank 3 beast spirit master," Leylin touched his chin, slightly embarrassed. He had bought this Godric at the port, using it as a temporary substitute. He had no plans of healing it, and at most was prepared to make use of this trash once more. "I'm more proficient in innate spells and the manipulation of dreamforce."

"Mm!" Belinda nodded, evidently recalling Leylin's astounding skill at using dreamforce.

"Since we're companions for now, we should be honest with each other. Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Belinda, and I'm a rank 4 beast spirit master and rank 3 Sacrificer. Of course, my identity as a Sacrificer is of no use…"

The Godric flew along the shipping route quickly, leaving long trails of white lines. Belinda gathered her disheveled hair and smiled at him.

"A rank 4 beast spirit master? I don't think I've seen you use your beast spirit though?" In the crazed state before, she had even ignited her bloodline source and yet did not summon her own rank 4 beast spirit, which left Leylin surprised.

"My beast spirit is a little special. If possible, I won't use it in my whole life…"

She forced out a smile, her facial muscles stiff. She clearly recalled some bad memories, and Leylin tactfully did not question her further.

"My name is Nick, and I'm a rank 3 beast spirit master! I'm more proficient in physical battles as well as using the Alabaster Devilsnake's bloodline force." Leylin replied with a very sincere expression on his face.

"Which port are we going ashore at?"

"Though the Hail Continent doesn't get information from the outside that often, some ports might have long since announced for our arrest. We can probably only choose coasts with no beings around. Thankfully, we're using a beast spirit, so there won't be issues with anchoring and maintenance."

Belinda naturally knew more about the Hail Continent than Leylin. After all, no matter how hard Leylin tried to gather information, it was all theoretical. Nobody would know the place better than its inhabitants.

The Gordric's low moos continued to sound as the two gazed into the distant coastline, looking to be deep in thought.

……

Two days later, beside a wasteland.

The black rocks outside emitted a pungent smell. Leylin was bored to death, leaning on a rock while quietly in wait.

A large port showed itself in his line of sight, pure white marble carvings, lighthouses, and all sorts of noticeable buildings exuding an incomparable beauty.

The whole port was bustling with life, and large numbers of beings of other races could occasionally be seen walking the streets.

After sneaking into the Hail Continent, Leylin and Belinda had stealthily hidden themselves near a port so they could gather important information, maps, and supplies. Belinda had volunteered to make some inquiries for more information.

Knowing she was more experienced and familiar with this than he was, Leylin sensibly did not oppose her.

"Catch!" A linen pouch flew over as a loud shout sounded.

Thud!* Leylin extended his hands and caught it, "What is it?"

"A map, and some other necessities." Belinda currently wore a thick cloak, covering all her characteristics as a demisnake. She was obviously very cautious.

"How is it? What kind of information did you get?" Leylin asked impatiently.

"So, are you finally scared?" Belinda, on the other hand, teased him.

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Port and Mount

"Of course I'm afraid!" Leylin seemed to be very confident, "After all we destroyed a port belonging to the Master of Chaos and even massacred a branch belonging to the Master of Order! Oh, mighty dignitary, the Matriarch! I hope they don't join together and put a bounty on us, else we really will become famous!"

Leylin's performance was a huge success, and the look of suffering on his face caused Belinda to mock him.

"Hmph! A port? Port Elias was only an illegal private port that their governor established himself. He didn't get any permission from the Hail Continent, and even amongst the high ranking Sacrificers of the Nefarious Filthbird, very few acknowledge it… In a colony like this, it's merely an attempt on the Filthbird's end. It would be great if it went well, but even if it were to fail, there aren't any major losses…

"Besides, this is the the territory of the the Eye of Order's ally, the Matriarch! The Master of Chaos and the Eye of Order are arch enemies, which is why they'll at most pursue us on the sly but won't do anything too drastic… the only thing I'm worried about is the organisations belonging to the Eye of Order."

Belinda was clearly worried, "I've already looked through the announcements at the port. Unfortunately, I seem to be wanted by the Eye of Order, and news will spread very quickly…"

Immediately after, she looked towards Leylin, with eyes full of reservation, "While you did murder most of them, no news about you has spread. If you want to leave now, there's still time!"

Leylin was quiet. He obviously knew that this wasn't just because he'd silenced them, but because of the cover of chaos power. That was why the his traces had been reduced to the bare minimum.

However, watching Belinda, who was slightly nervous, Leylin merely smiled, "Did you think I would leave you for my own safety?"

"Why not? News of me being wanted by Trial's Eye will spread through the Hail Continent!" Belinda laughed coldly, "When the time comes, you and I will be pursued till the ends of the earth because we're working together!"

"Oh. That seems rather interesting." Leylin stroked his chin apathetically.

"You—" Belinda was so furious that her whole body began to shake, and she appeared rather agitated.

Leylin astutely noticed the change in her mood. Laughing inside, he still looked serious, "Where do we go next? Can the Holy City at the heart of the Hail Continent still take us in?"

"You're… you're really a fool," Belinda's eyes filled with tenderness. She stared hard at Leylin for a while, but she still ended up explaining, "Don't worry, the Holy City is a sacred land for all descendants of the Matriarch. With my connections, there shouldn't be any problem…"

"That's good!" Leylin patted his chest, looking slightly afraid.

"You…" Belinda was so frustrated that she laughed instead, finding herself unable to speak while Leylin spread out the parchment paper in his hands.

"This map is… so vague! Are we now at the port of the Andersus Union?" This map that was yellowed at the ages was very crude, with only the names of a few places on it. Furthermore, this was only the map of a region.

Leylin understood the reason for this. In this age, a complete map that had very high precision of the continent was so expensive that perhaps most Magi would need to spend their whole fortune on it. Belinda being able to get a hold of this was mostly thanks to them being at a trading port.

While commanding the A.I. Chip to record the information, Leylin recalled the the resources he had gathered, and the general appearance of the Hail Continent slowly emerged in his mind.

The Hail Continent was one of the seven continents of the Purgatory World, ruled by the Snake Dowager. Its lands were extensive with many undeveloped regions. Barbaric beings who ate raw meat and fowl, and even prehistoric giant beasts were common there.

The main inhabitants of the continent were all descendants of the Snake Dowager. All sorts of pure-blooded giant snakes, mixed-bloods with characteristics of giant snakes, and other species of snakes who were very distant relatives took up about two-thirds of its populations.

The remaining races, such as Beholders, Purgatory Pygmies, energy lifeforms, elementals and even humans were spread out across the continent. Of course, compared to descendants of the Snake Dowager, they were insignificant. They had tribes and clans, and existed between the cracks of two large cities or organisations.

Something worthy of note was that the ruling structure of the Hail Continent was a system of city states governed by clans. War among various city states were common, whether between two different races or amongst the same race.

The so-called Holy City was established with the joint decision of the descendants of the Snake Dowager. In theory, this was the core government of the Hail Continent, and was said to be the place the Snake Dowager favoured.

The Hail Continent would have to listen to the commands from the Holy City, though in actuality it depended on the individual masters of the various city states.

"From here all the way to the Holy City, it'll take us more than year even if we hurry there with all our strength…" Belinda unhurriedly pointed at a marking of a port on the map. At this moment, all sorts of emotions flitted past her face until she eventually grew resolved, "But I found a very special route here. As long as we pass a certain region, we can make use of a teleportation spell formation and reach the Serpent Plains, which will save us a lot of time…"

"Is that so? Then let's do as you say!" Time was of essence for Leylin, and the more convenient things were, the better for him. As for whether she would find him suspicious, he had nothing to fear with his current strength.

He, who had regained much of his strength and had a boost as a rank 4 Sacrificer, felt like he could contend against even a rank 6 Breaking Dawn Monarch.

Breaking Dawn Monarchs, rank 6 Magi, had all grasped part of the power of laws. They were exceptionally more powerful than most other rank 6 beings. Of course, being able to contend against them did not mean he could defeat them. Leylin believed he was only comparable to a weak rank 6 at this point.

However, in the Purgatory World, it was said that there were a total of seven beings at rank 7 or above, and a small number of rank 6s. WIth Leylin's current strength, if not for his fear for the Snake Dowager he would be free to do as he liked in the Hail Continent. Belinda currently had strength at the Morning Star realm at best. What could she do?

'Seeing her expression right now, she seems to be prepared to cut off her past. Could she be planning to settle some disputes within her family?' Leylin wondered while stroking his chin.

'Adult Alabaster Devilsnakes can only reach rank 5, which won't be a huge issue. I really want to gather a pure bloodline. After all, high-energy beings which can use dreamforce and connect with Dreamscape are very rare…' Though the Alabaster Devilsnake was a descendant of the Snake Dowager and was well taken care of, it was because they were right under her nose that she would definitely not allow the appearance of a Serpent Emperor amongst them.

Even a rank 6 Alabaster Devilsnake Emperor would not have a community of its own. For Leylin as he was now, it was like a dish served on a platter.

'I just need to be careful while operating in the Hail Continent. If the Snake Dowager discovers me, perhaps the Feather of Chaos could be helpful…' Leylin's palm subconsciously touched the area at his chest, where a grey Nefarious Filthbird feather emanated a hazy glow.

The Nefarious Filthbird's law of chaos had the effects of concealment and misleading others. With the boost from the power of chaos, Leylin now had more confidence in hiding his tracks. If not, Leylin wouldn't be confident in sneaking into this nest of the Snake Dowager where there were so many Sacrificers.

Compared to his previous infiltration attempt which had been very difficult, he was now much more assured in his success. In spite of the slight restrictions, the deal with the Nefarious Filthbird was worth it.

'But I still need to defend against the bird. If it were to betray me at the last moment, I might just turn into a gift for the Snake Dowager to improve their relationship instead…' Leylin's eyes shone with blue light, the Nefarious Filthbird energy in his body under strict surveillance.

Leylin did not have to worry about the same with the Trial's Eye, the Nefarious Filthbird was arch-enemies with it and their rivalry extended across numerous worlds. That was perhaps something that extended to the current day from primordial times, an irreconcilable hate. But things were different with the Snake Dowager. She was merely an ally of the Trial's Eye, which might not even mean that much to her. If it could pay a price and and entice the Snake Dowager to join its side, he was sure that the Filthbird would be very willing to do so.

Though this was a tiny possibility, Leylin had to prepare for it. Such was the sorrow of the weak; Leylin was currently walking on thin ice, a small misstep causing irreparable harm.

"Oh, right, I bought this too!" With Belinda's voice sounded, the roars of two large beings travelled to Leylin's ear.

At this moment, Leylin saw her pulling the reins, and the two beings' silhouettes gradually emerged from the shadows. What appeared in front of him were two large earth-yellow lizard-like creatures. There were even man-made seats fixed atop their backs.

"Since we are going to traverse through rather special environments, this sort of mount is essential."

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Dreamscape Forest

Under the radiant light of a purple moon, two dirt-yellow figures were galloping across the fields at a fast speed.

These two yellow figures were naturally the two yellowish-brown earth lizards. The two figures sitting on their backs had their entire bodies tightly wrapped up, only exposing their scarlet pupils which flashed coldly from time to time.

"This earth lizard is a rather good way of getting around!" Leylin looked at the lower limbs of his mount. Above the lizard's barbed feet was a translucent membrane, rich in energy particles which converged around its surface. With this, it could very easily traverse jungles, swamps and other complex terrain.

"When we cross the Dreamscape Forest, we will arrive at the Whiteriver Valley. That's where my family is…" Belinda's voice did not carry a single trace of joy.

"Dreamscape Forest? Why the name…" Leylin had some misgivings, and soon looked all around him. Their surroundings were all grasslands, and there was nothing like a forest nearby.

"Dreamscape Forest, Dreamscape! You mean…" Leylin's pupils constricted slightly. His thoughts drifted to the Alabaster Devilsnake's bloodline skill and he thought of a possibility.

[Beep! Spatial undulations detected ahead, determined to be Dreamscape access points.] The A.I. Chip's mechanical voice transmitted over as well.

"That's right. We're also known as the Alabaster Devils, my clan stays in the cracks leading to Dreamscape, and we often lure travellers in to prey on them." Belinda's voice was cold.

Leylin's thoughts, however, drifted to the A.I. Chip's introduction of Alabaster Devilsnakes, 'They enjoy tormenting their prey within Dreamscape before eating their meal!'

Traces of dark red fog appeared, making the surrounding area foggy and hazy. By the time they had passed through this fog, a strange forest immediately appeared in front of Leylin. The black branches and tree leaves criss-crossed, and there were many giant trees without a single leaf showing their bare form, like a grotesque withered arm waving about without stopping.

[Beep! Host has entered a Dreamscape zone!] the A.I. Chip transmitted in reminder.

'Dreamscape zone… This isn't actually dreamscape, nor is it the Hail Continent. It's instead an intersection of the two places, resulting in a myriad of strange events… And now I've entered using my real body!' There was a strange expression in Leylin's eyes. Rather than his most recent experiences in Dreamscape, he was thrown back to his first time researching this world, with his real body fully entering it.

Even though he was physically protected and dreamforce should have less of an effect on his truesoul now, if something were to happen then it would be very difficult to escape.

"The bloodline of the Alabaster Devilsnake will temporarily protect us from the attacking Nightmare Creatures. Follow me closely!" Belinda shouted as she advanced forwards in front of Leylin.

'The Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline!' Leylin allowed a layer of white scales to cover the surface of his body. As expected, after entering the Dreamscape zone, these scales became even more brilliant. They seemed to come to life, breathing in the dark red dreamforce. It was like a traveller had returned home, and there was not the slightest sense of unfamiliarity.

The earlier oppressive feeling that Leylin had felt from the Dreamscape Forest also disappeared without a trace.

'Alabaster Devilsnakes are darlings of Dreamscape. As expected, they are direct descendants who inherited a part of the Snake Dowager's ability with Dreamscape.' There was an admiring look in Leylin's eyes, 'A.I. Chip! Scan the entire area and establish task: Probe the Alabaster Devilsnake's ability to travel to and from Dreamscape!'

[Beep: Task established, beginning data collection!] The A.I. Chip faithfully implemented Leylin's command.

A pure-blooded Alabaster Devilsnake could travel through Dreamscape to the outside world; this was how one had originally attacked Leylin. A mixed-blood like Belinda only inherited a weakened form of this ability, and could merely communicate with Dreamscape and draw upon the strength of dreamforce.

Although Leylin did not belong to the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline, he possessed the blood of a rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake, and was even in such a good environment to use it. Using the A.I. Chip to find a way for a real body to travel through Dreamscape would be very beneficial for him.

'If I grasp this technique, I'll be able to enter and leave Dreamscape anytime I want, anywhere I want. Perhaps…' There seemed to be fires blazing in Leylin's eyes.

Freely entering and leaving Dreamscape would require a huge amount of dreamforce as well as the resources of an enormous world. But the important thing was that he could use the infinite space of Dreamscape to travel to different worlds!

After all, limits such as distance and time were simply a joke in Dreamscape.

'It seems like the transport array was a lie. Belinda wants to use Dreamscape as a springboard to travel directly to the Serpent Plains…' Leylin concluded in secret.

Of course, using Dreamscape as transit wasn't easy either. Forget the monsters and dangers that lurked there, just the extremely indefinite nature of Dreamscape gave Magi a great headache. It was likely that Belinda's ancestors spend countless painstaking hours to explore the region and find this passageway.

The Dreamscape's drop point was just a hair's breadth away, but it could completely defeat their purpose. If the hadn't possessed the Alabaster Devilsnake's Dreamscape ability, they wouldn't have dared to experiment so boldly.

Leylin sped up his earth lizard and moved to Belinda's side, "Belinda! Is it possible to enter this Dreamscape Forest at any time?"

"Of course not! Although the Dreamscape Forest has always been in the wilderness plains, only those with the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline and the special opening ceremony can make the Forest appear. Otherwise they could travel the entire wilderness and only see the grasslands and sand…" Belinda hadn't even turned to give him this immediate answer, "This is how…"

A spiritual force message immediately entered Leylin's mind, full of information about incantations and signalling runes as well as special refining techniques. Seeing this, Leylin immediately realised how much Belinda's clan had sacrificed to open up this safe pathway. And now he'd gone so far as to give this huge secret to him?

Leylin remained silent for a while, then asked, "Aren't you afraid that I will sell this secret to other Alabaster Devilsnake clans?"

There were definitely other Alabaster Devilsnake clans in the Hail Continent. There were ten noble Alabaster Devilsnake clans, each varying in size, and these clans also had their respective branches and extended relatives.

Because of their open-minded nature, there was a large number of mixed-bloods and illegitimate children. This led to a huge number of bloodlines draining out, and it was only because of this that Leylin dared to impersonate a mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnake.

According to what Belinda said, her family was only a branch of a pure blooded clan, and only her father, the head of the family, was a pure-blooded Alabaster Devilsnake. The rest were all mixed bloods or young children.

"Do as you wish! I've already given the information to you anyway, so it belongs to you." Belinda seemed very casual, and her attitude shocked Leylin deeply.

'It looks as if Belinda's preparation to break off her relations with her clan will not be some easy matter. However, does this really concern me?' A sly smile slowly curved at the edge of Leylin's mouth.

'This could be my chance. Not just for a bloodline, but also for research materials on Dreamscape, and even beast spirits and sacrifices among other things…'

"Haha……" At this moment, a yellow figure flashed in front of Leylin's eyes.

Although the earth lizard's speed in the forest was already very fast, the yellow figure clearly effortlessly surpassed them, flashing past them like a phantom.

"What is that thing?" Leylin asked in shock.

After a startlingly brief glimpse, he had seen the full view of the yellow figure from earlier. Wearing an outfit of ridiculously wide-fitting trousers, with clothes that were brightly coloured strips of cloth, this being had a face painted with oil colours. It looked like a clown from a play, but it managed to run at lightning quick in spite of cumbersome wooden shoes.

No! He couldn't call it running. This clown was actually kind of floating, leaving many afterimages in its wake.

"Nightmare Creatures! They are a special patrol of the Dreamscape Forest.They don't normally appear," Belinda looked very imposing, "But if they drag us into the real Dreamscape even if we're mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnakes it will be hard for us to escape. After all, we're not purebloods and don't have the ability to freely traverse it…"

'Nightmare Creatures?! Are they after me?' Leylin was shocked, and an idea flashed in his head.

After all, he didn't have a true Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline, and even his ability to to link together with dreamforce came through consuming the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline. As a result, this anomaly of being discovered by the Nightmare Creatures could be understood.

"Haha… Haha……" They continued to advance towards Leylin, and the yellow clown appeared more and more frequently.

"Go away!" Belinda's face was very impatient and she suddenly roared, scarlet ripples loudly exploding forwards, splashing on the trees and grass.

By the time the explosion had passed, the forest across them had been cleared into a bare pathway. The yellow clown that had been there had vanished without a trace.

"Coo coo……" The sound of fluttering bird wings could be heard, and soon after a gigantic black tree next to Belinda came to life,

"Ahh!" Belinda's earth lizard was quickly bound up by vines, and let out a high-pitched lamenting call.

"Eternal Light!" A scarlet light suddenly appeared in Leylin's hand, making the vines shrink back swiftly as if they had seen their natural enemy.

"Let's go!" Belinda flew behind Leylin, and his earth lizard began to flee at the speed of lightning.

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Reentering the Dreamscape

"These vile Dreamscape Creatures, we clearly had an agreement before for the protection of our bloodline!" Belinda snarled rudely, flushing red with anger.

"Dreamscape's changes are too strange, we can't judge it by normal standards…" Leylin had already faintly guessed the reason for the creatures chasing him, but naturally he wouldn't say tell her, "Perhaps these Dreamscape Creatures are not the same as those you signed the agreement with…"

Hearing his words, Belinda became silent.

"Indeed. The strength of Dreamscape Creatures is not governed by any laws. Perhaps the Nightmare Creatures we had previously signed an agreement with have all died. These new Nightmare Creatures could even have evolved from earthworms yesterday." A wry smile appeared on Belinda's face, as if she had figured it out.

"Even with our bloodline, our use of dreamforce cannot match that of these natives, we're in trouble." She looked at Leylin with a twinge of regret in her eyes, she clearly felt very apologetic about involving him in this.

"Nevermind, I agreed to this path myself." Leylin spurred on the earth lizard he was riding, making it increase its speed without stopping. However, the rays of light in his hand did not fade in the slightest.

'A.I. Chip, attempt to detect the position of these Nightmare Creatures.' While silent, he was conversing with the A.I. Chip in his mind.

[Beep! Scanning… Unknown interference experienced, unable to determine positions.] The A.I. Chip's answer filled Leylin with regret.

Crash!* At this moment, waves seemed to be traversing the earth itself, causing it to violently rise and fall. A great number of the giant black trees roared, unrooting themselves from the earth. Their vines were so thick that they obscured the sky completely, sheltering the trees from the light.

Whoosh!* A black bat shot across the sky like a hurricane, extinguishing the light in Leylin's hands.

"We cannot lose our way! I can only be sure of our safety on this route!" Belinda's expression became rather urgent.

"Roar…" A great number of the one-eyed Ents combined to form a wall of wood, covering the original path. Leylin and Belinda were blocked off firmly.

'Damn!' Leylin cursed in secret. The A.I. Chip's prompt came over as well, [Violent dreamforce undulations discovered from underneath the host, it is recommended to move away.]

"Go!" Leylin grabbed Belinda and began to leap quickly away.

Whoosh!* Just as Leylin had risen into the air, a dark red spot suddenly appeared on the ground, transforming the void into innumerable streaks. The streaks twisted and warped, revolving to form an irregular sphere.

This sphere suddenly shrank and began to emit terrifying undulations.

A massive explosion rumbled out, and Leylin's mount was immediately reduced to a skeleton before even its bones vanished completely. Leylin and Belinda were immediately caught up in a frightening shockwave halfway into the sky, sent flying violently. It was as if they struck a wall of solid steel.

Bang!* Leylin fell to the ground, and even the clothes on his back were shredded open, exposing a layer of fine scales beneath. It was because of this layer of protection that he hadn't suffered a massive injury from the earlier explosion.

"Belinda! Belinda!" Leylin flicked away the soil on his body and loudly shouted, but did not receive any response.

He looked around him. He was in a neat garden, with clear spring water splashing out of a white marble fountain. Belinda and the forest from earlier had completely vanished without a trace.

[Beep! Scanning complete, dreamforce intensity increased, host determined to be in Dreamscape.] The A.I. Chip's prompt appeared before Leylin's eyes.

'As expected, that explosion earlier took me directly from the crack between Dreamscape and the Purgatory World to Dreamscape itself. This…' Leylin had a premonition. If he could completely analyse this process, it would be of great benefit to the A.I. Chip's mission of analysing Dreamscape transport.

After completely comprehending the law behind this sort of transport, he would no longer need the bloodline of the Alabaster Devilsnake to enter Dreamscape. Transporting himself to other worlds would bring about great benefits.

'Dreamscape…' Leylin looked upon the realistic scene of the garden and fountain with a contemplative expression.

This time, he had entered Dreamscape with his real body. Without his main body serving as the coordinate, and without the astral laboratory linked with it, perhaps he would be trapped here for the rest of his life.

'However, the Alabaster Devilsnake blood that I possess is the key to entering and leaving Dreamscape.' Leylin stroked his chin in thought. His mind drifted to another topic.

"Almighty Ruler of Chaos, the resolution of free will, I call for your arrival…" The chaos crystal Leylin had collected earlier exploded in his hand, converging quickly into a Sacrificial Array.

The rune of the array depicted a giant bird with wings spread open, and it emitted a brilliant radiance.

'It was very difficult to link up. Because I'm only a rank 4 Sacrificer, I used up a chaos power crystal…' Leylin shut his eyes, his truesoul experiencing the power of the link.

The path of sacrifices was only common to the Purgatory World, and it naturally had its limits. The main one was that, once one left the Purgatory World, their connection would experience enormous interference.

On the whole, it was not beneficial for experts from other worlds to train in the path of offerings. It was like the distribution of goods: It didn't have many problems in the Purgatory World, but once one left it was like the trade route had become longer and on top of that various obstacles were added. It was terrible, and on a whole Sacrificers would make a loss every time some power was bestowed. Naturally, this path wouldn't be used in that case.

Consequently, those in the Magus World would at most use the Trial's Eye to sign a contract or the Nefarious Filthbird to renege on it. These two had few real Sacrificers there due to the frightful weakening effect of the world itself.

It was the same in Dreamscape. However, with Leylin's unwavering perseverance and lack of regard for the consumption of chaos power crystals, his truesoul finally linked up to a certain will.

Compared to the Purgatory World where the Nefarious Filthbird's will could descend anytime and anywhere, it was extremely troublesome here. It was just like receiving a bad signal from a transmitting station, even the information that got there was disjointed.

"You are… in Dream…scape…" The Nefarious Filthbird's voice seemed to be a little intermittent, but Leylin could still understand its meaning.

"The forces separating us are too powerful, even I am unable to transmit too much power. Perhaps only my Feather of Chaos can give you some hope…"

"Feather of Chaos?" Leylin still had some doubts, but the Sacrificial Array did not have any other response. The communications had quickly broken down, and even receiving these few short sentences had consumed nearly half his chaos crystal reserves.

It was necessary to understand that this chaos power was a part of his reward for getting rid of a portion of the Trial's Eye forces in the Hail Continent's coastal waters. He'd even dispatched many rank 4s to acquire it.

In actual fact, these crystals with the Nefarious Filthbird's power were enough for a rank 4 Sacrificer to amplify his attributes by more than tenfold, and at the very least they would reach the level of the governor of Elias.

"Dreamforce, chaos power… these two share some similarities…" Leylin reached into his bag and took out a grey feather.

'The power of the Feather of Chaos lies in chaos, concealment. Dreamforce itself is full of uncertainties. There seem to be some similarities, but there is a greater number of differences. How will chaos power affect Dreamscape?'

"A.I. Chip, record the following scenes and store all data!" Leylin commanded.

[Beep! Establishing mission, opening omni-directional mode!] The A.I. Chip's voice was transmitted.

'Chaos power!' Leylin took out yet another grey chaos crystal, putting it next to the feather.

Buzz!* Bright, coloured light burst forth from the crystals, and soon after the chaos power turned into a stream of light that entered the Feather of Chaos.

A layer of grey mist radiated in all directions. The areas illuminated by the feather's radiance began to experience strange transformations, and a great number of flowerbeds began to warp and deform. Some directly cracked, and the others grew irregular. Other areas turned into places filled with human faces.

The white marble of the fountain turned pitch black in a flash, and began to fall off layer by layer. In the blink of an eye, the clear spring water within had also turned blood red, and the entire pool seemed to be filled with blood, a demonic stench emanating from it.

Even the space in this area disintegrated under the grey radiance, the entire place appearing to come to a standstill. It drained of its colour, becoming like a black and white photograph.

"Coo! Good afternoon, mister! We meet again!" A grey owl fluttered its wings and landed on the side of the fountain. Leylin felt incomparably familiar with it.

"Indeed, we meet again," Leylin bowed slightly, "Your Majesty gave me my key before, and it was of great help to me. But I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again, does Your Majesty know of a way to leave Dreamscape?"

"What key? Are you talking about my future self?" The owl nipped at its wings, "That doesn't concern me at all, that was my future self acting on its own initiative… As for the issue of leaving… perhaps Madam Minaz could help you.."

"Madam Minaz? Where is she?" Leylin eagerly made his inquiry, but at this moment the owl that had appeared so suddenly earlier had completely vanished with a trace.

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Whiteriver Valley

'When did it disappear? Why didn't I notice at all?' Leylin's pupils shrank as he watched the now-empty fountain of blood.

Crackling sounded as the fountain disassembled itself at a faster rate. The bricks, rocks, soil, flowers, and grass all came apart into tiny beads that banded together to form a twisted humanoid figure.

This twisted figure constantly drew in parts of the garden and became increasingly solid, until at last it turned into a woman who had a black beach umbrella with her.

"I heard from Owl that you're looking for me?" The woman had her back to Leylin, dressed in black clothing and using the large area of the umbrella to cover her upper body. Leylin could only see her black dress and crystal shoes, and hear a pleasant rich voice that could subconsciously intoxicate a person.

"Looking for you? Could you be Madam Minaz? Yes, I'd like to know if there are any ways to freely leave Dreamscape!" A layer of black Kemoyin scales emerged on Leylin's skin, and his pupils even turned amber and vertical. After all, the way she had appeared was rather mysterious. She looked to be a personification of the garden.

After turning into Madam Minaz, the garden had now turned into an empty land, and even the surface of the ground had disappeared.

'Dreamscape is far too mysterious. If I have no confidence at all, I should definitely not set my foot here…' Leylin was slightly jittery, loathing the fact that he was in a world with such factors that could not be controlled.

Perhaps it could be said that no Magi really liked Dreamscape. It's lack of adherence to rules led to most of their methods becoming ineffective. Of course, some would say that this was because the absolute laws governing Dreamscape hadn't been discovered yet.

One could simplify the analysis of Dreamscape once that law was found, and the Magus who managed to do so would likely get immense benefits.

"Yes. That owl! It's the best at causing trouble for others!" The woman holding the black umbrella turned.

Leylin took several steps back. The front view of this Madam Minaz was quite surprising. She had a distorted face with no eyes, and a nose and mouth at different locations. Her visage looked like an abstract work of art. Her upper body had numerous lifeless eyes on it that were staring at Leylin.

"Thousand-Eyed Woman! It's rumoured that a gaze could cause a Magus to fall permanently!" Leylin exclaimed, and a tremendous Kemoyin Emperor phantom appeared behind him.

"You're afraid? Why?" At this moment, her voice had undergone a huge change. It lost its previous tenderness, becoming robotic and icy, even hiding a hint of contempt. The eyes on her upper body suddenly released a multitude of rays of light.

Light spread into the skies and blanketed the region, making the so-called death rays of Beholders look like child's play. The powerful radiance seared Leylin's eyes, forcing him to cover them.

The moment he opened them again, Leylin was stunned. Around him was a dark forest, and the one-eyed Ent from before had long since disappeared. The earth lizard was still moving up and down underneath him.

Belinda's voice was heard from the other side, "Do whatever you like! Since I've already given it to you, it's yours!"

'This scene… It's when I just entered the Dreamscape Forest and commanded the A.I. Chip to analyse this…' Leylin's pupils shrank, and he looked at the records of the A.I. Chip.

However, it left Leylin disappointed, even in shock. The Chip's records were all blank since the moment he'd ordered it to analyse the methods the Alabaster Devilsnakes used to traverse Dreamscape.

'Why did this happen?'

[Beep! Unpreventable interference encountered. Records are abnormal.] The A.I. Chip's robotic voice caused Leylin's expression to go dark.

Immediately after, he saw the newest records. [Beep! Analysis of ability of Alabaster Devilsnake to traverse Dreamscape has been completed. Dreamscape can be entered at will by consuming a bloodline imprint. Host lacks enough blood at the moment and cannot refine a bloodline imprint.]

;That's impossible. Didn't it say that a large amount of time was needed?;

Leylin's eyes showed how deeply in thought he was, 'So everything that happened was real! The ability to enter and exit Dreamscape was not analysed by the A.I. Chip, but given by the Thousand-Eyed Woman, Madam Minaz…'

'Time…' Leylin sighed. Even the concept of time had been warped by Dreamscape. Encountering such a scene, he was still terrified even after it ended.

All the dangers he'd encountered previously with dreamforce paled in comparison to the warping of spacetime that occurred.

It probably wasn't just him. Perhaps even a rank 7 could do nothing against these illogical events in Dreamscape.

'Dreamforce, the ability to warp time and space… that's a realm I can't even make contact with as I am now…' Leylin sighed.

"What's wrong? After going through Dreamscape Forest, we'll reach Whiteriver Valley. Once we pass that we'll be at the Serpent Plains. That's a month away from the holy city." Belinda slowed down and arrived beside Leylin, her eyes full of concern.

"It's nothing, I was just lost in thought," Leylin smiled a little and shook his head.

"Though the Dreamscape zone isn't as mysterious as Dreamscape, the ample dreamforce here is enough for Magi to unknowingly be dragged into illusions, with even more terrifying wretched Dreamscape Creatures here… Of course, for mixed blood Alabaster Devilsnakes like us, this isn't a large issue… After all, we've already made a contract and have the protection of our bloodlines…" Belinda explained.

'But that wasn't what happened!' Leylin cursed inside, but did not speak. After all, things that dealt with warping time and space were too frightening.

Unlike last time, this trip went very smoothly. There was no clown or Ent coming up and stirring trouble, and the Nightmare Creatures seemed to abide by the contract and did not harass them.

The dark red fog slowly dissipated, and the dark forest became more sparse. Occasionally, bits of clear moonlight shone down from above.

Whoosh!* An unceasing sound of flowing water could be heard, and the earth lizards grew exceptionally excited, darting forward at a greater speed. Not long after, a vast river appeared in front of Leylin. The earth lizards cheered and lay down at the river, their thick barbed tongues extending into the water as they lapped it up.

"The white river, we've arrived!" Belinda's voice showed her admiration, a glint showing in her eyes.

Leylin turned back. The black forest and dark red fog had long since disappeared without a trace. It seemed that without the summoning of Belinda or other descendants of the Alabaster Devilsnake, it would not appear again.

Unlike the previous barren lands, there was now a river valley nearby. Even the temperature and concentration of elemental particles had undergone a drastic change, allowing Leylin to know that the short period of time where they had run at night had allowed them to traverse a huge distance.

'Using the indeterminacy of Dreamscape's space and hurrying along a world crack to leave through a node… This is something like teleportation! The person who thought it up was a genius… Either that or a lunatic!' Fear still lingered in the depths of Leylin's heart.

From the port at the edges of Hail Continent, they had travelled about halfway through the continent. Were they to have used a teleportation spell formation, even one from ancient times would have consumed a huge amount of resources.

Here, besides the preparations for the summoning Belinda had not done much. Just from how prompt it was, it was several levels ahead of these teleportation spell formations, if one could disregard its limitations and dangers of course.

As the Dreamscape Forest belonged to Dreamscape, only Alabaster Devilsnakes or bloodline creatures that could make contact with Dreamscape could discover or summon it. This in itself was a huge limitation, and what was more troublesome was the dangers near the end of the journey.

Dreamscape was the riskiest of all the worlds Leylin had seen. What he'd witnessed this day probably wasn't even the strangest thing about it. In the Dreamscape zone, he couldn't even disregard any attacks from Dreamscape Creatures despite a prior agreement.

Furthermore, in the eyes of the powerful devils, perhaps their attacks were not intentional attacks and were instead like a show of curiosity or intimacy with other beings.

It was a pity that a rank 5 being could do nothing against that 'curiosity'.

"After the white river we'll come to the whiteriver shore valley, another settlement for Alabaster Devilsnakes." Belinda sounded muffled, and looked towards Leylin, "That's also where my family is."

"Oh! Are we going there to visit them?" Leylin nodded.

"There's no need to. We'll recuperate nearby. Meanwhile, I'm preparing to go there and take care of some matters, so don't interfere!" A resolute look appeared on her face. This was a realisation through several life and death experiences, giving Leylin a premonition that this would involve blood. Of course, he wasn't against it.

'Looks like Belinda and her family have a very unique story.' Leylin watched Belinda's back and stroked his chin.

"This is good timing. The A.I. Chip has already analysed the bloodline imprint to traverse Dreamscape. It's not bad to gather some materials…"

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Sophia

It was obvious how determined Belinda was, and how adamantly she was against Leylin's interference. After settling Leylin at the Whiteriver Valley, Belinda regularly headed out early and returned late, seemingly in a hurry as she prepared for something.

Seven days later, she brought a girl who was about fifteen or sixteen, pulling her in front of Leylin. "This is my sister, Sophia. How is she? Do you like her?"

"Lord Nick, good- Good morning!" The girl called Sophia pulled at her skirt and bowed towards Leylin.

"Sister Sophia!" Leylin laughed as he sized her up. She looked similar to Belinda, with long silver hair and eyes that were like rubies. However, there was a hurry and uneasiness on her face.

"You… What's this about?" Leylin glanced towards her, not knowing if he should laugh or cry in this situation.

"It's nothing much. There's stuff I need to do, so I'm hoping you can take care of her for a while…" Belinda ruffled her hair lovingly, "When she was young Sophia was seriously affected by a leakage in an experiment. Her appearance, and even her intelligence have been frozen at age fifteen. I secretly brought her out of the family…

"Sophia, when your sister is not around, you have to listen to Brother Nick obediently, alright?' Belinda pulled at Sophia's hand and carefully reminded her.

"Alright, sister, and Nick… Brother Nick!" Sophia ducked her head, and her cheeks flushed. Leylin was left at a loss for words.

……

The Purgatory World only had four hours of daylight everyday. The sunlight wasn't burning hot either, instead exuding an extremely rare warmth.

The bright light shone down on the plains. All of Sophia's fears from coming to a foreign environment had dissipated, and she was cheerfully watching a few butterflies that emitted light. A childlike beam plastered her face.

A distance away, Belinda and Leylin stood side by side.

"I can rest at ease now that I've handed her to you!" Belinda spoke as if she had been relieved from a burden.

"I hope you can treat her well. With her bloodline, your descendants will definitely be pure and of the Alabaster Devilsnake nobility…" Belinda spoke calmly, while Leylin merely rolled his eyes.

"It's like you're entrusting an orphan to me. Are you prepared to die?" Leylin asked without reservations.

"Die? No, just tying up some loose ends!" Hatred was evident on her face, "With all the years I've been making preparations, it should be enough to…"

Seeming to realise what she had said, Belinda hastily stopped, "Of course, I'm only requesting that you take care of her for a period of time. Once everything here is settled, I'll meet with you. Let's meet at the holy city."

"Seems like that was your plan from the start," Leylin was unhurried, "And your preparations are the petals of the Serpent Intoxicating Flower, as well as the stealth magic equipment you have? Please forgive me for being so direct, but while Serpent Intoxicating Flowers are remarkably effective against high-energy snakes, they're still lacking if you want to deal with pure-blooded rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnakes. Your magic equipment might have the function of hiding your tracks, but I don't think your plan will go well. That's a community belonging to a rank 5…"

"How did you know?" Her expression changed as she subconsciously took several steps back.

"I'm rather well-versed in potions, and I smelled the Serpent Intoxicating Flower on you…" Leylin laughed and rubbed his nose. "Even if you have insiders there, your preparations shouldn't be enough…"

"No, it's enough! You don't need to know what's going to happen. Anyway, as long as I'm still alive, I'll definitely meet you at the holy city!" Belinda shook her head resolutely, as if she had returned to her previous state as an unfeeling leader. It seemed like she had made more preparations in that area.

"In that case, I'll go with you…" Leylin spoke deliberately. He was going to harvest the bloodlines of Alabaster Devilsnakes sooner or later, he could just do it now.

"No! You just need to take care of my sister. Don't mind any other things. If anything happens to Sophia, I won't let you off…" Belinda glared at Leylin and disappeared into the shadows, not even bidding Sophia farewell.

"What a staunch resolve!" Leylin's eyes seemed to smile as he headed towards the sunlight and back to Sophia.

"Brother Nick!" Sophia exclaimed sweetly.

"Mm! Sophia, darling, can you tell brother where your home is?" Leylin now had a smile that was as bright as the sun.

"I… Sophia doesn't know… there are a lot of strange uncles in there who all look scary… When Sister brought me out here, I couldn't recognise the way…" She gnawed on her finger, looking dazed.

'This… is this a natural intellectual disability or a seal that was placed later?' Blue light flashed in Leylin's eyes as he stroked his chin. Soul force rippled through the place, and he found that Belinda really had left without bidding farewell.

'Such a stubborn lass… it's a pity…' Leylin's lips quirked up in a smile. With his strength, it was far too easy to find Belinda even if she was trying to conceal herself. Some stardust bugs or a soul mark would do the trick.

After all, he was using methods of the Magus World, while Belinda would be on her guard against probes and local abilities of the Purgatory World. The huge differences between the two was enough for her previous preparations to come to naught.

"Well then, Sophia! What do you think of Brother bringing you home?" Leylin felt like he was grinning like a big bad wolf.

"I– I don't want to!" Sophia, however, suddenly paled and grasped his hands tightly, as if recalling something horrifying. Even her body began to quiver.

"But your sister, Belinda, is there. How about we bring her back? How does that sound?" Leylin used a bit more strength in his hands, as if giving her strength and consoling her.

"Sister Belinda!" She looked around and, after noticing Belinda was nowhere to be found, she was now feeling anxious.

"Sister! Sister!" She jogged around and began to call out, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Sister can't go back, or else Father won't spare her!" Two rows of tears fell from her eyes, and she looked immensely frightened.

"Is that so? Let's go and get her!" Leylin didn't really want to bother with rivalries amongst families. All he knew was that he needed the bloodlines of Alabaster Devilsnakes, and there were purebloods amongst Belinda's family at Whiteriver Valley. That was enough for him.

"Alright, let's get sister!" Sophia bit her lips, evidently having made her decision.

"Mm, let's go!" Leylin had to resist the urge to pinch her exquisite cheeks. A black energy storm formed with a twirl of his fingers, enveloping the two of them within.

……

After the Whiteriver Valley was a huge plain. There were only a few scattered tribes and towns in the vast region, and it was no small feat to find a specific family. However, Leylin had already placed some stardust bugs on Belinda's body, so this task was easy for him.

In order for this to go smoothly, Leylin specifically came slightly later and gave Belinda enough time. He followed slowly with Sophia in tow, and even secretly took the time to do some other things.

'I never thought there's another race making use of a town as a cover near the valley…' Using the stardust bugs, after Belinda had made her move Leylin brought Sophia to enter a little town with an obviously foreign style.

The buildings here were made with black rocks and coated with nice colours. The sharp roofs were like upside down awls, and even the pavements were very orderly and even.

Sophia grabbed Leylin's hands after reaching this place, evidently having thought of something. It was still the wee hours of the morning and the town was quiet, only the occasional sounds of wind resounded in the empty streets.

Creak!* A wooden door opened, and a resident looking dazed walked out with a basin used to store water in her hands. This resident looked very similar to a human, with numerous triangular scales that formed strange flower petals on her.

Her eyes flashed with some astonishment upon seeing Leylin. But when she saw Sophia beside him, especially her silver hair and scarlet pupil's, she dropped her basin causing a dull thud.

"Ala– Alabaster Devill! The Alabaster Devil has come…" The woman collapsed to the ground, her sharp voice piercing through the skies.

"What?" "What's going on?"

A clamour sounded as a peasant holding a metal pitchfork darted outside of the house. However, upon seeing Leylin and Sophia he fell to the ground. "Revered noble Alabaster Devil! Our, our blood taxes this year have been paid…"

'Blood taxes? So they forcefully demand blood sacrifices or something…' Leylin shook his head, quickly regaining the calm on his face. Doors and windows creaked open or closed, and an aura of panic gathered in the town.

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Ancient Bloodline Mirror

Accompanied by cries of "The Alabaster Devil" "The Alabaster Devil's here!", panic spread like a plague and enveloped the whole town. The people of the town were now not as boisterous as before, and some even quivered in fear in their own homes.

'Seems like Belinda's family doesn't have a good reputation here.' Leylin entered the town that had descended into a state of panic and shook his head while speechless. On second thought, though, he wasn't all that surprised.

These people were only slightly stronger than regular humans, while Belinda's family had rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnakes in their numbers. The huge disparity in strength led to an imbalance of power, and in this situation Leylin would actually be more astonished if the residents were treated well.

"Tell me, where is the Whiteriver Valley?" The crimson in Leylin's eyes flashed as he watched the pair who were trembling in fear.

"Re- Revered master, there aren't any valleys at all nearby!" The peasant finally answered while shivering.

'Oh? That is true. How would they know about that place…' Leylin somewhat understood. The base of the Alabaster Devilsnakes might be nearby, but concealing it from regular humans was a very simple task.

'Based on the location, my target should be here. However, there's some sort of interference and I can't determine the location.' Leylin stroked his chin. There had to be many reinforced spell formations in the base of such a powerful family, isolating and blocking them off from scouting.

Even just the radiation they let out unconsciously could amass to result in mysterious changes in the terrain. It was only that, for some reason, these beings that looked like humans with scaled foreheads had a resistance to high-energy radiation that was greater even than low-ranked Magi, allowing them to survive and reproduce. Perhaps the Alabaster Devil family had moved them here to exploit and pressurize them.

'Since it's nearby, I'll definitely be able to find it!' Under the peasant's reverent gaze, Leylin's body began to float. In the blink of an eye, he appeared above the town, truesoul at Half Moon sweeping out.

Every resident, every change in the terrain, even the bugs and microbes in the cracks of the town were revealed in front of him. His soul force expanded out, and the range of his sense was expanding further.

'The feeling of the pinnacle of power, of having control over anything… This can make anyone feel intoxicated!' Leylin felt like a god as he looked down on the town. He now knew the area like the back of his palm, and he would be able to take all the lives in the place with but a thought. He felt drunk on such power.

'Only with this amount of power can I strive for eternity!' Only limitless torture and suffering awaited those lacking in strength. Only by fully grasping his freedom and immortality would Leylin achieve his life's goal.

"Mm, found it!" Leylin descended with a flash of light watching Sophia who was clearly uneasy, "Sophia, we're going to get your sister. If we meet with any danger, find somewhere and hide yourself. Don't mind me. Understood?"

"Mm, I'll listen to brother!" She nodded obediently.

Just as Leylin and Sophia headed off, a black figure appeared from the shadows of the town and turned into Leylin's previous appearance. He turned and donned a large black cloak, disappearing amongst the morning light.

Because he had to perform some unspeakable acts, Leylin used a method he'd employed before, using the A.I. Chip to control a shadow clone to bring Sophia away. He was prepared to make his move on the sly.

Dragging Sophia along would probably not arouse Belinda's suspicions, and especially… Leylin's eyes glinted with intelligence.

……

After he passed through the dreamforce fog, as little white valley appeared in front of Leylin. 'Mm. There are so few people here… I'd thought that Belinda's family would be huge, but there are only tens of people here. And about half of them are half-bloods or have bloodlines that are yet to mature…'

Surrounding it were multiple snaking pathways, with a constant surge of dreamforce being radiated out. Deeper in was a set of buildings that were close together. It was obvious that this was where Belinda's family was located.

Though there were few people, the valley was bustling with life. The hissing and snarls of large snakes sounded from time to time.

'Seems like I've come at a good time!' With a sweep of his soul force, most of what was in the valley appeared in front of him. A few Alabaster Devilsnakes that were like little hills were spread in all directions, their life auras now at their weakest.

A huge battle had turned the royal mansion in the depths of the valley to rubble. In mid-air, Belinda was laughing maniacally with bloodstains all over her body, holding onto an ancient mirror. There were even a few obvious claw marks on her arms. She had evidently paid a huge price for this.

In front of her, a middle-aged man with short silver hair and crimson pupils looked ready to gobble her whole, his eyes filled with malice. Terrifying undulations at rank 5 flowed out of his body, causing even the surrounding space to shudder. Still, even that seemed like an attempt to refrain from provoking her and causing more harm.

'Can high-ranked descendants of the Snake Dowager take human form?' Leylin wasn't very surprised by this. Though the ancient Giant Kemoyin Serpent lacked this ability, that didn't mean it would be the same for the rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake. Besides, the Snake Dowager and snake girls were all humanoid. Hence, even descendents of the large ruler of all snakes would have no problem taking human form if they had sufficient bloodline force or intelligence.

Some tasks were more convenient with a human body rather than that of a giant serpent, and the energy consumption was obviously much lower. That was how half-bloods mixed with humans were formed. If not, with the body of these giant snakes, even mixed-blood descendants would turn into monsters with bodies as large as mountains.

"Belinda, you dare return and even covet our family's greatest treasure?!" The middle-aged man with silver short hair exclaimed, the fury in his eyes almost able to reduce Belinda to ashes.

"On the day Sophia was kidnapped, I'd already reinforced the defences, but I didn't expect you to have bribed even Lisa and secretly obtained the keys into the secret room… You even got so many Serpent Intoxicating Flowers!"

Belinda, on the other hand, laughed carelessly. "I didn't bribe her. She betrayed you of her own accord, poor, silly father.

"Your disgusting methods to carry on the inheritance of bloodlines in order to gain the favour of the Snake Dowager have long since given rise to fury amongst the family… I only sparked the fire!" Belinda watched the ancient mirror in her hands, hatred in her eyes, "I could have done this long before I left home. However, the Trial's Eye taught me to prize order, and not wilfully engage in vengeance. But now, everything has changed. There is nothing holding me back…"

"Give me the ancient bloodline mirror, and I can pretend none of this happened. If you don't, it's not just you. Your sister Sophia will also suffer the worst of punishments… just like your mother did!"

A large Alabaster Devilsnake phantom abruptly appeared while he was speaking, and an enraged howl caused even the surrounding red fog to grow more concentrated. There were even signs of a link to Dreamscape.

"Haha… mother?" Belinda's crazed laughter eventually turned cold, "You don't qualify to speak of her!" It was like she had been triggered. Crimson light exploded in her hands, and the ancient mirror creaked, unable to bear the pressure.

"Don't!" The middle-aged man's expression immediately changed and he made his move. A terrifying red hand appeared and grabbed at Belinda, even as a large number of dark red tendrils appeared and extended towards the mirror from beside her.

"Keke… Such a pity, it's too late!" Black light burst forth from her body, forming a layer of black armour that blocked the tendrils.

Clang! Clang!* Black cracks now appeared on the ancient mirror in her hands, spreading out before it exploded.

Boom!* At this moment, Belinda was thrown backwards by the large red hand, and the black armour on her body was smashed to pieces. She coughed out mouthfuls of blood but still looked at ease as she laughed.

"NOOOO!" Crazed snarls sounded, and the ancient bloodline mirror turned into a large black hole as the cries of a woman sounded out from the middle.

Spirit after spirit appeared, all turning into multicolour figures that dispersed unceasingly. All that was left in the end was the sound of a distant lament, and the ancient bloodline mirror completely disappeared.

"Do you know what you've done?!" The man's facial muscles contorted. "With just another century… With just another century, I'd be able to refine our family's bloodline further such that it enters the ranks of the pure-blood nobles! It's all your fault!"

Formless power was sent out, and Belinda was dragged to the front of the man. Without the ancient bloodline mirror, he now had no reservations against acting. In front of his powerful rank 5 strength, even a full strength Belinda couldn't resist at all.

Not even taking into consideration the exhaustion from stealing the mirror, the discovery and pursuit had caused a great loss in her strength.

A formless giant beast in the sky widened its mouth and bit down.

Ka-cha!* A large portion of Belinda's flesh and bones disappeared, causing her to let out a low grunt.

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Revenge and Taking Action

"I swear that your death will be incomparably miserable…" The middle-aged man's face was contorted. The plans that he had meticulously thought up had been completely destroyed, causing him to sink into exasperation and fury.

Thin scales appeared on his hands in an instant and shot out like a giant cannon, striking Belinda's abdomen. Pure-blooded rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake strength caused Belinda to fly backwards like she had been hit by a train, and the sounds of fracturing bones rang out.

Some of her internal organs were even ripped apart, mixing with blood as they spurted out of her mouth.

"Did you think you would die? No, no no. Let me heal you, and we'll repeat this process unendingly!" A large white snake figure emerged from the smoke, with a furious middle-aged figure at the bottom.

He came before Belinda, eyes sparkling a bloody red. Belinda's body floated in the air, and as if she was being crushed by tens of thousands of tons, her bones were crushed inch by inch, but for some reason, she remained clear headed. Her expression was that of one suffering incomparable pain.

"Now, tell me. What kind of pain would you like to feel?"

The man approached Belinda, a palm with a few tiny white snakes writhing their bodies appearing and flicking their tongues at her.

Bzzt!*

At this moment, light flashed on her body, and a beast spirit tattoo flickered.

A translucent beast spirit figure appeared, obstructing him.

This was a humanoid beast spirit that had characteristics of a snake woman. It had rank 4 undulations, and some rationality still remained in its eyes.

For beast spirits, this was practically unthinkable.

When Belinda was in the face of danger, the beast spirit had automatically appeared and protected her, and even retained some memories of when it had been alive.

"It's you!" The man now had a demonic charming grin as he watched Belinda, "So you're still protecting that trash? How about I annihilate you first? I believe our precious Belinda will be very agitated…"

"Don't… you… dare…"

An intermittent an unclear voice sounded from Belinda's lips.

"No wonder she hadn't been using her beast spirit. So this was the reason…" Leylin nodded in understanding. As a rank 4 beast spirit master, Belinda had not summoned a beast spirit with Morning Star strength, and Leylin had long since found it strange.

At this point, Leylin found that the beast spirit and Belinda had very similar faces.

"With this show of automatically protecting her, it seems that this rank 4 beast spirit on Belinda's body should be her mother, and seeing what's happening, this should be the work of her father…"

When it came to matters like this, it was no wonder that Belinda's nature had changed and she'd prepared for a bloodbath to take revenge.

This had first been repressed by the teachings of Trial's Eye, but she now had no reservations.

"You dare…" Belinda almost broke her teeth from how hard she was gritting them, eyes wide as she glared at her father.

"Keke… And what would I not dare do? This low-life woman was only a mixed-blood maid. I gave her glory and a good life, and in return, this is what she should do… don't you think so?"

The man stared at the beast spirit like a sick pervert. It was a pity that after being refined into a beast spirit, the woman had now lost most of her memories and emotions, and only protected Belinda subconsciously and answered the gaze of the man emotionlessly.

"Sigh… This work isn't that perfect."

He shook his head with regret and suddenly snapped his fingers, "Belinda! How about I seal your sister? What do you think? The process must be just as beautiful?"

Watching Belinda begin to struggle violently, he smiled, now having the upper hand, "And now… let me…"

Large amounts of dark red fog turned into a cage, binding the snake woman beast spirit within.

"Hss…" The snake woman's eyes were wary as she hissed, but she, who only possessed rank 4 strength, could not really resist.

"Pfft! And that's the end of this drama. Is it time for me to make my move?"

A terrifying black chain appeared in the air and was like a sharp sword, appearing and splitting up the man and Belinda.

"Who is it?"

The man abruptly raised his head, looking fearful.

He was a rank 5 after all, and yet someone had stealthily entered without anyone noticing. Just this ability alone had him in fear.

Following which, he found a figure in a black cloak standing, a pair of eyes full of malice watching him.

"No, not malice, but apathy! It's like a regular person stomping and killing an ant. That's how he feels about killing me!"

In that instant, the man, who had understood the meaning of the indifference in Leylin's eyes, became violent.

"Who is it? Who dares belittle I, Kenta! Mighty Alabaster Devil nobility, descendants of the Mistress…"

A large Alabaster Devilsnake figure abruptly emerged and snarled at Leylin, dark red dreamforce floating in its surroundings.

"This is…" Belinda's vision went red, the figure in black seeming familiar.

"Right! He's… it's the same person who took Lord Bayclark away… or perhaps it's just his temperament that's similar. But why did he appear here?"

"Keke…" At this moment, the black-cloaked man in the sky laughed coldly, the malice causing everyone around to tremble in fear.

"If a rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake is turned into a beast spirit, I imagine it'd be very powerful even amongst rank 5 beast spirit masters, right?"

"Beast spirit? You dare have such thoughts and dare use the descendants of the mighty Mistress as a beast spirit?"

The man's eyes widened like saucers, evidently astonished by Leylin's gutsy behaviour. In the Hail Continent, the descendants of the Snake Dowager were naturally the mainstream, and because of their statuses as large beasts, they were repulsed by practices of capturing snakes and refining them into beast spirits.

This was especially so for descendants of the Snake Dowager. That was a huge taboo, and all beast spirit masters who were found making use of the descendants would be chased till their deaths regardless of how they were obtained.

Hence, on the Hail Continent, beast spirit masters never dared use the descendants as beast spirits, and that extended to snake species disappearing as beast spirits.

Even on the other continents, in order to avoid being viewed as hostile by the great Hail Continent, the beast spirit masters who controlled snake beast spirits were few and far between, and even had to live their lives secretively.

In these circumstances, Leylin's words were offensive and shocking.

"You're dead meat! You're dead meat! The Mistress and all of her descendants on the continent will be your enemies…"

The man roared, "For you, who dare offend our revered bloodlines, I, Kenta, will give you the appropriate punishment!"

"Hmph, what nonsense!"

Leylin snickered, and a demonic pressure released from his body, giving him a feeling of being in the presence of an emperor.

"Dreamforce is useless to me! Don't bother!"

Leylin waved his arms, and the great amounts of dark red fog congealed in his hands, forming a black bundle of light.

"Rank 4 dream spell— Chains of Dreams!"

Dark red chains shot out and, like a spiderweb, sealed off the whole space and left behind what was similar to a poisonous snake, biting towards Kenta.

"He makes use of dreamscape and can even do this?"

Kenta's expression immediately changed, "Who exactly are you? Are you from the Devil Scorpion Race or the Dreamscape Elves?" This person's abilities at manipulating dreamforce was clearly above his, and Kenta could already feel that the two of them were now wrestling over authority over the dreamforce, and the winner could appear at any moment.

These two races were the most capable at manipulating dreamforce of all that he knew. Amongst the descendants of the Snake Dowager, besides the Alabaster Devilsnake, there were no others that had contact with dreamforce.

"You don't need to know this. Just die obediently and let your soul be extracted!"

Dark red chains of dreamforce formed a spider web that wrapped him inside.

"Is that so? We, who have inherited the bloodline of the Mistress, could never lose to someone like you who only knows to act slyly in the shadows!"

Crackle!* Kenta's body exploded, and a large white shadow appeared in the air, squeezing and breaking the dreamforce chains.

"Hss…" The white figure soared into the skies and, with a terrifying pressure, presented itself as a terrifying giant snake that was tens of thousands of metres long.

The large snake had white, jade-like scales filled with the luster of dreamforce. Scarlet pupils were filled with madness and ruthlessness, staring straight at Leylin.

In comparison, Leylin's body was as tiny as an ant.

"This isn't a Morning Star Arcane Art but a natural transformation of the body!" Leylin muttered to himself, eyes shooting out blue rays, "This sort of boost to the body is terrifying! As expected, the power from one's original form will be able to show the best strength!"

Meanwhile, Leylin was in more awe towards these ancient Magi.

To be able to create combinations and make up the Morning Star Arcane Art to somehow simulate their true bodies and even gain a boost, they must have sacrificed much time and effort!

A rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake had a terrifying pressure that caused the onlooking members of the family to bow down.

"Too weak! Too weak! This Alabaster Devilsnake family is too weak!"

Leylin surveyed the area.

Though his truesoul had probed and found that there were tens of life undulations, many had clearly lost their ability to battle. It was obvious that Belinda's Intoxicated Serpent Flowers were the cause.

Even without this, Leylin did not pay mind to the rank 4s who were weak, dying, or youths.

"But that's good. This Alabaster Devilsnake somewhat meets my requirements!

Leylin stared at the giant white snake in front of him and grinned.

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Killing and Clone

The large snake figure that was even taller than a mountain stood before him, with large energy undulations of rank 5 emitting from it.

This aura caused many of the family members with the blood of the Alabaster Devil to fall, yet Leylin was not the least bit affected.

His expression did not even change, still assessing this huge beast in front of him as if picking and choosing goods.

Evidently, this attitude had led to Kenta's great wrath.

"Hss!" The Alabaster Devilsnake hissed and pounced forward.

Rumble!* The surface of the ground shook unceasingly, and the area at the middle caved in, forming a terrifying large pit.

The tremendous snarls and the figure of the white snake streaked across from the pit.

Terrifying explosions sounded continuously. A tremendous white snake figure was sent flying at the end, large droplets of blood sprinkling across the sky.

"Impossible!"

The large snake rolled in the sky and then regained Kenta's human figure, though there were now numerous tiny wounds all around his body. His clothes had long since become tattered, and his expression showed his disbelief.

"How's that possible? How can there be someone more powerful than me? I am favoured by the Mistress, a rank 5 of the noble Alabaster Devils!"

Boom!* Immediately after, a streak of black flashed, and Kenta coughed up blood as he frantically retreated.

"There's nothing that's impossible! While a giant rank 5 serpent is powerful, there's still a huge disparity when compared with the primordial Thousand-Eyed Giant, Golden Titan and the like."

Leylin's black figure slowly emerged, a mysterious Multi-Limb Race appearing at his back. The figure was now shimmering with gold and seemed to have solidified, turning into a golden deity statue.

Though it looked very delicate, there seemed to be a primordial giant beast concealed under Leylin's black cloak. The strength hidden within caused even the Alabaster Devilsnake to look fearful.

"Hand over your blood and soul obediently, and I might even let you die more comfortably."

As Leylin closed in step by step, Kenta let out a strange shriek and transformed into a streak of white, preparing to abandon his family and escape.

Pak!* Many dark red chains appeared once more, sealing the whole White River Valley.

"Your strength and speed are all lacking! Even your manipulation of dreamforce can't measure up to me."

Leylin stated the truth calmly while ambling over.

"No!" Kenta kept falling back, almost pressing his body on the chain walls.

Such a ridiculous pose filled Belinda with pleasure and eased her desire for revenge, but she then found this pitiful.

"Mighty Mistress, I am willing to give up everything that I am. Please release a clone and protect your descendant!"

At his wit's end, Kenta's expression suddenly flashed with ruthlessness and began an offering spell formation.

Silver rays of light flashed, and immediately after, blood and flesh splattered everywhere. An arm that was still dripping blood fell onto the spell formation.

"The offering shall be the flesh and blood of your child!"

Rumble!* Crimson flames flashed, and the attention of a conscient in the void descended on the area.

Under the red flames, Kenta's arm was melted till it turned into a blood-red mask, the tremendous conscient making use of this item and descending.

"Oh Mistress, please protect your descendant!" Watching the mask take shape, Kenta might look pale and had an arm on the shoulder with a gaping wound, but his eyes were filled with elation.

"Begin the experiment!"

In front of him, Leylin merely muttered something.

"Chirp chirp…* Grey rays of light flew from his chest. Within which was a grey feather that was like an illusion, bringing with it the power of chaos.

The grey luster spread in the surroundings, forming an overcast sky.

"While the Feather of Chaos might be able to conceal and have the power of misleading others, how effective would it be after the Snake Dowager's clone is summoned and descends? That's worth investigating!"

Leylin's eyes glinted with intelligence. While the Nefarious Filthbird had already told him this, Leylin preferred to determine this for himself.

If he found there was an issue here, he wouldn't need to head to his death in the holy city.

"A.I. Chip! Record the following scene carefully. Remember to collect data!" Leylin commanded inside.

[Beep! Mission established. Beginning scanning of surroundings, recording data!] The A.I. Chip loyally intoned.

The crimson mask opened its eyes, revealing a pair of bewitching pupils. Just meeting the gaze caused the bloodline force in Leylin's body to begin rebelling.

"The clone of the Snake Dowager!" Leylin muttered to himself.

"Mighty Mistress, it is he who futilely tried to kill your descendant and even tried to refine us into beast spirits. Such evil behaviour must be punished!"

Kenta roared, while the conscient in the crimson mask stared at Leylin silently.

"We finally meet, Snake Dowager!" Through his truesoul, Leylin's voice was transmitted to the mask in the offering spell formation.

"Emperor of the Kemoyins, you dare appear before me?"

The eyes in the mask showed doubt followed by ire, a great voice sounding in Leylin's mind, "The power of chaos! You've sided with the Nefarious Filthbird and sealed off this region?"

Eyes swivelling, they rested on the gray feather in the air.

"Let's just say this is a temporary cooperation." Leylin's expression showed his sincerity as he bowed towards the clone of the Snake Dowager and greeted her carefully, "Well then, mighty Mistress, is there a possibility of us settling this?"

"If you take the initiative and abandon your Kemoyin Serpent bloodline and let me seal you myself!"

The clone went silent for a while and then answered coldly, as if this was the furthest she was willing to go, while Leylin's pupils showed his hostility in answer.

Sealing his emperor bloodline meant there was no chance of advancing forever, and his Warlock rank would fall to 4.

That was not something he could bear to let happen.

"Then… This discussion will come to naught? As expected," Leylin sighed and manipulated the feather of chaos in his hands.

A crystal with the power of chaos from before appeared in his hands, burning up fiercely.

Great amounts of the power of chaos, mixed with Leylin's own strength, swallowing up the offering spell formation like a tsunami.

Whistles* Crimson rays emanated from the mask and quickly showed signs of being unable to endure the pressure, and was then drowned out by large amounts of gray power of chaos.

"How- How's that possible? Kenta watched the scene, stunned, feeling like all the faith he had had crumbled.

Leylin and the Snake Dowager's clone had chosen to communicate through the soul, which was why these outsiders could not understand what had just happened.

All they saw was that the black-cloaked being, Leylin, and the Snake Dowager's clone in the mask had gazed at each for an instant and, immediately after, the clone had been swallowed by the grey strength.

The Snake Dowager was a mighty dignitary for them, and was everything to all bloodlines. How could it be extinguished so easily?

The shock rendered them speechless, and Kenta lost all will to resist.

[Beep! Recorded all data. Confirmed that no information has been leaked.] The A.I. Chip's robotic voice sounded, allowing Leylin to heave a sigh of relief.

He had used the power of chaos to seal off the area, so that the clone had no way of returning, and even all information would not be transmitted back.

If not, even if he were to dispose of the clone, he would immediately be found by the Snake Dowager herself.

Thankfully, with the help of the Nefarious Filthbird and its strength being proficiency in misleading, it had even temporarily cut off all connections between the clone and the Snake Dowager.

"The reason the clone had lost was not that it had lost to the Nefarious Filthbird, but because it was caught by surprise, as well as a boost from me…"

Leylin clearly understood the situation and would not be proud that he had been able to destroy an energy clone.

The loss of a clone was, to the Snake Dowager, like a human losing a strand of hair. It was not worth even mentioning.

However, this was a good start. At the very least, Leylin was certain that with help from the Feather of Chaos, he could conceal himself completely and sneak into the holy city without trouble.

"By concealing myself with the law of chaos and help from the A.I. Chip. I'll be able to hide myself unless I meet with the main body."

Leylin completely sighed in relief, gaining more confidence in his plans.

"How can the Mistress of all snakes, a dignitary, be defeated and die so easily? How can that be?"

He headed over to Kenta. This guy was now not in his right mind. For bloodline holders, the Snake Dowager was everything to them, and they could not accept this fact.

"Once he regains his wits, he might begin to harbour doubt towards her. I've planted the seed, allowing them to understand that she's merely a powerful existence. That seed will then sprout and grow till he begins to seek to surpass his limits and obtain more power… With that tiny possibility of one in a million, that could awaken the emperor bloodline of the Alabaster Devilsnakes and allow him to become a rank 6… Next, he'll be like me and try to break away from the restraints of the Snake Dowager, or be sealed with the Curse Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes and have his bloodline absorbed till his death!"

The A.I. Chip analysed, and a large number of possibilities in the future appeared.

This was not the power of destiny, but precise estimations based on a massive amount of analysis and behaviours of individuals.

Though its rate of having inaccuracies was quite high, Leylin was confident that someday, the A.I. Chip could be like a god of the future, simulating everything that had happened and could happen in a world.

"If it reaches that point, I would probably have reached rank 9 by then…"

Leylin sighed, "It's a pity, but you won't get that opportunity!"

Dark red blades of light slashed, and Kenta's head fell to the ground.

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Serpentes Plains

After death, Kenta's corpse swelled and regained its form of a giant snake that was tens of thousands of metres long.

A flicker of a truesoul abruptly emerged, as if about to accept guidance into the cosmic world and turn into a floating island for all eternity.

"Trying to leave?"

Leylin sneered, terrifying power sealing the surroundings. Dark red chains trapped the truesoul and was emptied into the black crystal ball in Leylin's hands.

"The soul of a rank 5 is the main ingredient for a rank 5 beast spirit!" Leylin muttered to himself, keeping the crystal ball properly.

"The materials for the dream imprint have been gathered!"

Leylin came before the gigantic carcass of the Alabaster Devil. After having much of its blood extracted, the body looked like it had shrunken, but was still tremendous.

"Return!" With a flash of spatial undulations, the large snake carcass disappeared without a trace. This was the body of a rank 5 giant snake, and even without blood, it still had a very high value.

"Next is all of you!"

Leylin surveyed his surroundings. The nobility of the Alabaster Devils who saw that Leylin had killed their family leader without any trouble and they themselves affected by the Intoxicated Serpent Flowers, they were now completely in despair.

"Their bloodline force is too varied. What a disappointment."

Leylin grabbed forward, and crimson blades of light appeared, decapitating the giant Alabaster Snakes that had been lying on the ground. Leylin gathered the materials and only left behind Belinda and the rest of the mixed bloods.

Leylin set up a humongous, grey offering spell formation where he placed the rest of the materials that he did not need.

Chirp chirp!*

The figure of a giant grey bird appeared, large amounts of grey flames absorbing these offerings.

"You did well! Not only did you kill one of the clones of the Snake Dowager, you even sacrificed the descendants of the Snake Dowager. I am very satisfied!"

Large amounts of the power of chaos descended. If Leylin was willing, he could raise his offerer ranking up to rank 5, but Leylin did not want to do so.

After rank 4, he would need to place the dignitary's markings on his own body, which was completely unacceptable for Leylin.

Hence, he chose to gather all this power and turn them into crystals to be stored.

Leylin then charged into the mansion, gathering all the treasures and documents before leaving in satisfaction.

……

"It's over? So that powerful person is a follower of the Nefarious Filthbird! The offerer rank should be at or above rank 5…"

A long while after Leylin left, Belinda struggled to get up and gazed at the White River Valley that had turned into a pile of ruins.

Only a few mixed bloods survived. Due to her traps and the Intoxicated Serpent Flowers, many had lost most of their strength and could be killed easily.

Noticing Belinda looking over, these people immediately gazed at her imploringly.

"Hehe… family!"

Belinda shook her head. While she had already completed her revenge, it still felt like something was missing.

Elated, she was just about to leave when, at the entrance to the valley, she saw two people that left her in shock.

"Why did you come here? Are you trying to create trouble?"

"Sister!" Sophia yelled and threw herself into Belinda's arms.

"Brother Nick and I were so worried for you! Sister… boohoo…" Sophia's eyes went red, and while Belinda consoled Sophia, she glared at Leylin venomously.

"Hehe…" Seeing the sisters embracing each other, Leylin merely laughed and rubbed his nose.

He had already retrieved the shadow clone secretly. With his strength, he wouldn't find any trouble hiding from a bunch of rank 4 or 5s, much less a little lass.

"So? Is everything settled?"

"Everything's settled!" Belinda turned and gazed at the White River Valley that was now in a very sorry state, patting Sophia's head, "Let's go and never return…"

"Mm, alright!" Sophia answered, looking excited. It seemed that she did not have many happy memories here.

……

On the plains that were moving up and down occasionally, gigantic snake paths could be seen, as well as moulted skin and scales.

The round moon in the sky emanated a purple luster and looked especially evil.

An orange-yellow bonfire flickered on the plains with a warm luster, with several simple tents nearby.

"There are descendants of the Mistress on the Serpentes Plains, as well as many mixed bloods. We need to be careful and try our best to be as far as we can from these snake paths…"

Belinda gazed at Leylin meaningfully, "Also, try your best not to attack. These large snakes have parentages that can be traced back to various large families…"

Amongst the descendants of the Snake Dowager, even in the family of the Alabaster Devilsnakes, there were many branches. The top were of course the tens of pure-blood families, where practically every member was a pure blood.

Belinda's family was a mere distant branch with a bloodline that was not very pure. In the whole family, only her father was a pure blood, and his lifelong wish was to refine the family's bloodline till it was pure. He did not mind committing sins for this reason, which had resulted in much suffering during Belinda's childhood years.

Of course, all of this was already over. Belinda was now just warning them.

"Alright!" Leylin smiled tenderly, passing over the grilled meat with sizzling oil that was emitting steam.

"Thank you…" Belinda extended her arm and took it, and then passed the food to Sophia. He watched her tear it into pieces carefully, smiling so much that his eyes were like crescents and traces of gentleness could be seen on his expression.

"Did you notice anything?"

Leylin had a varying opinion, "Yes! Even if I get Sophia to be an alibi, the timing at which I appeared both times is too coincidental. Anyone would suspect that. Of course, that's merely a suspicion…"

Belinda was no fool. At most, she had guessed that Leylin had hidden his true strength as he was a follower of the Filthbird, but would definitely not connect him with the fugitive Magus.

"Besides, the few times I acted were all for her sake. Even if she discovers anything, she won't leak news of it…"

Leylin was confident in this. He could tell Belinda's nature, and her reliance on those of her own race was so much so that it was almost abnormal.

This time, especially, she had passed her sister to him. That already indicated that she regarded her as someone close to her.

In this situation, the possibility of her betraying Leylin was low. Furthermore, she didn't know Leylin's true identity.

"But I still need to guard myself against this situation!" Leylin rubbed his chin. He had yet to retrieve the stardust bugs he had left on her.

Whether it was on the Serpentes Plains or the holy city, he needed a guide. Take for instance the traversing. Without her providing the Dream Forest, Leylin would probably still be hastening along along the coast, and it would take about half a year to even reach the Serpentes Plains.

For Leylin, who was tight on time, this was very useful.

"You guys can eat first. I'll go get some rest!" Gobbling up his food, Leylin elegantly bade the sisters farewell and entered his tent.

On the surface, he merely lay on the soft mat and closed his eyes to rest. Inside, however, he was conversing with the A.I. Chip.

"A.I. Chip, have you reorganised all the materials gathered yet?"

Leylin asked. These were naturally items gathered from Belinda's family. After killing the leader, Leylin had charged into their mansion and plundered it, taking not just treasures and resources, but also all sorts of books.

This information was then passed on to the A.I. Chip to tidy up.

If Belinda were to find out that the thief who had robbed from her family was now flipping through her family's collection unabashedly, he wondered what her expression would be like.

She had made some guesses in the past before, and was even subconsciously denying this thought.

[Beep! Reorganisation complete. Calculated to be 34 printed resources, 13 with beast skin, 142 with content stored with spiritual force. Conversion to stats completed.]

The A.I. Chip loyally intoned.

[Others have been categorized. Related to strength systems: 16. Related to geography: 24. Related to materials: 9. Others have been deemed to be general or miscallaneous information.]

With the A.I. Chip's abilities, it could quickly scan and categorise the information and form a complete library for Leylin to browse through.

"Mm! Show me information regarding rank 5 beast spirit masters, especially the part about the spell formation to seal beast spirits!"

Leylin commanded.

[Preparation of related information has been completed. Transmitting to Host's memories.]

Along with the A.I. Chip's voice, Leylin felt there was another portion of content in his memory that was related to the training of higher-ranked beast spirit masters. It felt very familiar to him, as if he had recorded everything painstakingly himself.

"When it comes to training, rank 5 beast spirit masters need to have a good truesoul as a base. One must completely destroy the remaining conscience that remains in the rank 5 beast spirit and use a rank 5 soul sealing spell formation. The boosts and support from using beast spirits will also be on a higher level."

Leylin carefully pondered over the differences between a rank 5 beast spirit master and one weaker. Power at rank 5 and above was academic knowledge that was tightly sealed. In the Elias port, Leylin had only gathered information up to a rank 4 beast spirit master. Anything above that was strictly against the rules.

However, Belinda's family was Alabaster Devil family and had a long history and even a rank 5. The content on this was therefore very detailed and thorough.

"I have the theory and knowledge, and the beast spirit is also in my possession. What's left is to do it…"

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Two Conditions

"The most important part of a beast spirit master is the training of his soul power. Any Magus will not face any issues in this aspect. After sealing the rank 5 beast spirit, and adding the other tricks that I prepared beforehand, it should be possible to push the truesoul to advance to the peak of rank 5 at Full Moon…"

Leylin stroked his chin, his eyes emitting large amounts of light.

"A.I. Chip! Based on my previous calculations, what is the rate of success of this method?"

[Beep! Task established. Inputting data, constructing main model, in the midst of simulation experiment… Beep! Success rate is 78.99%!] The A.I. Chip immediately intoned faithfully.

"A rather decent probability. If it's the peak of a rank 5, there will be an additional guarantee to the feasibility of my final plan…" Leylin muttered to himself.

His fundamental purpose of coming to the Purgatory World was to break the bloodline shackles, the eternal curse that perplexed all Warlocks!

Due to the restrictions of the bloodline shackles, even if the Warlocks could have advanced by leaps and bounds in the earlier stages, so much that they could be stronger than Magi of the same rank, these chains still held them back. A mere look at the current central continent would reveal that there were many rank 6 Breaking Dawn Thrones among those Magi, yet not a single Warlock was of that status. If not for the support from the Morning Star fort and a few rank 5 Warlocks, the entire Warlock heritage would be broken off, and one would be able to imagine what would happen next!

According to Leylin's own understanding of the bloodlines, and the guidance previously given by the Wisdom Tree in the Scarlet Ruins, Leylin had a obtained a greater knowledge of such bloodline shackles.

"Bloodline shackles! The root cause is still the bottleneck in bloodline strength, which has infiltrated every single cell, and even the genes, of Warlocks. It was much like the 'gene locks' hypothesis proposed in his previous world, but of course, even scarier, forming a shackle that restricts the soul…"because it had transformed one's soul and turned into a spiritual chain…"

"And to break through the confinements of the bloodline strength, it requires an advanced force that is at least of a higher grade than bloodline strength! Also… the blood of the origin!" Leylin's pupils twinkled with a fervent glow, which even contained a hidden trace of… fear!

Leylin previously did not know about a force that was of a higher grade than bloodline strength. But upon entering the rank 5 realm, his horizons had been broadened, and he had already found two types during his experiences in a great many other worlds. The first was Dreamscape energy at its peak value, not the kind at its lowest point. The second was the power of laws, and it had to be complete, or above 90% at the very least; not the kind of semi-finished goods like the Flame Monarch's, which didn't even have half of the comprehension of laws.

No matter which type, they were not easy to obtain.

Firstly, the Dreamscape energy. Although the Dreamscape energy that Leylin usually brought with him seemed incomparably tough, it was far from its peak value.

After all, at its peak value, it was possible for Dreamscape energy to bear demonic spirits!

Based on Leylin's train of thought, perhaps… Only the real Dreamscape demonic spirits would be able to summon the Dreamscape energy at peak value! The deceptive uncertainty of the Dreamscape energy made implementing this plan especially inconvenient.

As for the power of laws, it was needless to say much. As of now, Leylin hadn't even fully comprehended even one percent of the fire laws. To truly come into contact with the energy of the rules, one had to be at least a rank 6 Magus, and to completely gain control of it was something that only a rank 7 Magus could do.

This formed a paradox: in order to break through the bloodline shackles, one had to grasp either the Dreamscape energy of the energy of laws, or they would be unable to advance to realms that were above rank 6. Yet, these two types of energy required one to be at least a rank 6 before they could attempt to master them. But without breaking through the bloodline shackles, it was absolutely impossible for Leylin to promote to rank 6!

This mere vicious cycle was enough to dash the hopes of all Giant Kemoyin Serpent Warlocks who wished to break through their bloodline shackles, much less satisfy the other conditions after that.

Fortunately, the gift from the Wisdom Tree previously, as well as the information obtained in the Purgatory World allowed Leylin a method around this knowledge gap.

The second condition was the blood of the origin, which would be the blood that was the source of the Giant Kemoyin Serpent bloodline.

This origin was something that Leylin felt a trace of dread towards.

The origin of his bloodline was a rank 8 being, the Exemplary of the Hale Continent, master of all snake species: the Snake Dowager! Stabbing a rank 8 being? Heh… It was probably easier to think of how to die…

But no matter how challenging, Leylin would not give up. This was a stumbling block in his journey to become a rank 9 Warlock at his peak, and his pursuit of an eternal path.

Without removing it, it was simply impossible for Leylin to advance to a higher realm.

However, the difficulty of having to stab a rank 8 being was something that Leylin could only laugh bitterly about.

Anyway, in order to stab the Snake Dowager, the problem of whether he'd be able to defeat her aside, he would have to find her at the very least, no matter what.

Therefore, Leylin had no other choice but to head towards the holy city of the Hale Continent. Besides, this was the sacred place of the descendants of the Snake Dowager, and also a place rumoured to be favoured by the Snake Dowager herself.

According to the intelligence reports and the analysis of a few resource materials that Leylin had gathered, the possibility of the Snake Dowager being there was high.

After all, every once in while on the 'Snake Dowager's birthday', the Dignitary Snake Dowager would appear, giving rise to the holy city's rumour of it being her favoured place.

Other than waiting idly outside the holy city and leaving it to chance, Leylin didn't have a better plan.

Of course, if she didn't appear in the end, Leylin would have to take the initiative to show himself instead. He believed that she would definitely rush over by hook or crook upon discovering his tracks. But in doing so, Leylin would lose his chance to make the first move, and he thus dared dared not take action.

What he hoped for was to secretly stay low in the holy city, then find a suitable opportunity and strategy so that he could firmly seize the upper-hand and give himself the advantage of making the first move.

"Although I already have a defined draft and contingency plan in mind, why do I feel like I'm indulging in a wild fantasy?"

Leylin gave a bitter laugh. Taking into account his strength as a rank 5 Warlock, wanting to challenge the Snake Dowager and even seize control of the Dreamscape or energy of laws was a wild thought no matter how he thought about it.

However, he didn't regret choosing the Warlock path then. After all, at that time, Leylin was an acolyte who did not even hope to obtain other high-ranking meditation techniques.

Moreover, with his average natural endowments, if he didn't pick the bloodline path, perhaps he might still be a rank 2 or 3 Magus fooling around in the south coast.

Without the supplemented bloodline energy, even if he had other methods, he would be far from having the graceful bearing of someone practically without a rival of the same rank, which had allowed him to acquire more resources.

In both the Magus and Warlock paths, the greater one's strength was, the more one gained. The weak would only be slowly tossed to the sidelines, and eventually lose all hope. Even if they lived longer than ordinary people, and grasped formidable strength, it would still be hard to escape the evil palm of death.

"When in pursuit of the path to eternity, naturally the faster one walks, the more one is at an advantage!"

Leylin reminded himself and ingrained it in him. As he had chosen the bloodline path, he was now a rank 5 Radiant Moon Magus, and would be considered a decent contender in ancient times.

Additionally, due to the amplification of the bloodline energy, his multiple advancements were strangely quick. As compared to his life, which would be thousands of years long, he was still in his infancy years. This was under the circumstances in which spells that contributed to his life expectancy were not considered.

Even if those rank 5 Magi possessed all sorts of spells that would increase their vitality, they would have spent a great amount of time climbing to the rank 5 realm, and it would be amazing if they could live for another millennium.

In comparison, Leylin virtually held a huge advantage.

Of course, everything evened out. Since Leylin had obtained extraordinary strength and a longer life span, he naturally had to carry the burden of the corresponding restriction: the bloodline shackles!

Once this restriction was broken through, it would be time for Leylin to shoot for the sky!

"Even if it's a gamble, so what? If I can't obtain eternity in this life, what's the point of me travelling here? For my body to decay in another world, for my truesoul to be annihilated, and to turn into filthy soil?"

Large amounts of radiance glowed in Leylin's pupils.

"On the other hand, even if I fall on my journey in pursuit of eternity, I would have accomplished my dream and achieved a marvelous life experience, second to none!"

"Now that I've laid my cards on the table, this would naturally increase the probability of success. Although a Half Moon and Full Moon would appear like ants to a rank 8 being, the main difference being their size, but at a critical moment which would determine life and death, an increase of the success rate by even a millionth would be useful!"

Leylin communicated with the A.I. Chip, "How's the progress on the analysis of the rank 5 spirit seal spell formation?"

[Beep! 100% of the spell formation has been analyzed, ready for optimization.] The A.I. Chip projected a simple and unadorned spirit seal spell formation in front of Leylin. The runes on it reeked of the distinct style of the Purgatory World.

[Optimization will lower the beast spirit's willpower to resist, raising the degree of a harmonious relationship by 15%.]

"This probability is slightly lower than the rank 4 spirit seal spell formation from before. But it's understandable considering how the quality of the spirit seal spell formation gathered by Belinda's family was already very high…"

A gloomy radiance unknowingly came into view all of a sudden, forming a barrier that isolated the inside of the tent from the rest of the outside world.

Shortly after, a crystal ball appeared with a flip of Leylin's palm. Within the crystal ball was a small white snake, its pupils a deep red. Its forked tongue showed from time to time, as though trying to probe the seal on the crystal ball.

The aura of a rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake kept radiating out. If not for the barrier that Leylin deployed, it would have definitely been sensed by Belinda, who was outside.

"A rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake… Even though its a beast spirit, it's very formidable, and a rare find amongst rank 5 creatures. Of course, unless I wish to become a fugitive wanted by everyone, I can't use it often here because this is the Hale Continent. It's even better if I silence those who come face to face with it…"

"We meet again, Chief Kenta!"

Leylin smiled weakly. A soul force of Half Moon rank probed into the crystal ball, and it immediately sensed the tremendous and brutal spiritual force engulfing it, complete with hostility.

Since he wanted to train it into a beast spirit, its memories had naturally been destroyed long ago. However, its enmity towards Leylin was instinctively left behind, and was still considered an inconvenience.

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A Strange Environment

The beast spirit had to be attacked personally, resulting in a blood feud between the two. Its hostility, along with its instinctive resistance against being enslaved, simply made subduing this beast spirit a fantasy for any average beast spirit master.

"Resistance is futile!" Leylin shook his head. Magi and Warlocks definitely cultivated their truesouls to a greater degree compared to the aboriginals of the Purgatory World.

With his tricks and refined manipulation techniques, it was possible to even extract the hatred from the beast spirit directly, as though it was a highly precise surgery. This would greatly reduce the difficulty of subduing the beast spirit.

However, in comparison to making use of one's truesoul to defeat it, the difficulty of such a surgery would be much higher, and the time required would be much longer.

Thus, Leylin chose to subdue it forcefully, instead of taking an approach that would make the beast spirit's hatred simmer down.

"If I get rid of the beast spirit's will to resist entirely, as well as its hostility, I'm afraid that perhaps even a rank 4 beast spirit master would be able to make this rank 5 beast spirit submit to him, especially Belinda. With the effect her bloodline energy has, the probability of success is much higher… Of course, it's of no use to me all…"

Leylin was aware that he might have unintentionally unearthed an even more terrifying way of utilizing the Purgatory World's beast spirit spells. It was a pity that he didn't belong to this world, and that he didn't major in beast spirit spells. Hence, he could only toss this idea to a side.

Hiss…*

Following the invasion of Leylin's soul force, the alabaster phantom within the crystal ball started to appear abnormally irritable. The scarlet tongue kept flashing continuously.

"It's just like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!" Leylin snorted coldly. The horrifying soul force that followed after immediately made the little snake shrink to a corner, as though it had been struck by lightning. Even the radiance in its pupils became dull.

"If we maintain this pace, it would be possible to thoroughly tame it within roughly half a month's time. Before arriving at the holy city, this beast spirit can be sealed…"

Leylin nodded as he assessed his progress.

For an average beast spirit master, the amount of time spent on subduing this beast spirit would often need to be measured in years. Leylin's method of removing the fragments of resentment from the beast spirit would also take as long. Only the most simple and cruel method of subduing it would require the shortest amount of time.

"It would take about a month to traverse the Serpentes Plains and arrive at the holy city. In that case, I should be able to advance the truesoul to Full Moon rank before we reach the holy city…"

Leylin stroked his chin.

Judging by the strength of rank 5 beast spirits in repaying their owners, advancing the truesoul to Full Moon was initially a feasible task. But now, with the presence of the Curse Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes, Leylin probably needed to prepare a few more things.

"Taming a beast spirit is not something that can be done in a day. It will need some time to prevent it from crumbling straightaway."

When his work was done for the day, Leylin kept his crystal ball. There was a hint of rumination in his eyes.

"Since we've arrived at the Serpentes Plains, 'it' should have started…" A glaring chill was dispelled from Leylin's pupils. It reeked of extreme evil, and it even made the temperature of the surroundings fall greatly.

Fortunately, he had deployed a barrier. Otherwise, Belinda and her sister would have detected that something was off.

By then, after seeing what Brother 'Nick' had turned into, it would be questionable whether Sophia would still continue to stick to Leylin like before.

…..

Swish! Swish!*

The yellowish-green underbrushes swayed continuously. Shortly after, the stout shadow of an animal ran across in a flash, making Sophia scream in excitement.

Maybe it was because she wasn't very intelligent, or perhaps it was the result of being constrained within the family for a long time, but everything that the young girl had witnessed on her journey amazed her incessantly. It even made for a few jokes.

"Sophia!" Belinda yelled. She was unhappy, but didn't reprimand the child directly.

With both her and Leylin around, they could naturally confirm that the little chap that just ran past was the most harmless creature around that would cause no harm to Sophia.

After all, Sophia was the hybrid borne of a rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake. It wouldn't be a problem to achieve the standard of a rank 2 or 3 Magus merely through the strength from her bloodline.

She might not even need to cultivate her energy, and may even rise to higher realms solely through ageing. It could be said that she was enjoying a natural advantage, just that her childish mentality might not allow her to put them to good use.

"A dusty pink rabbit!" Contrarily, Leylin recognised the name of that creature.

With the A.I. Chip's amazing learning abilities, Leylin was no longer the clueless fool that he was when he had first stepped into the Purgatory World.

[Dusty pink rabbit. Strength: 1.3, Agility: 2.5, Vitality: 1.9, Spirit: 0.7. A creature special to the Hale Continent of omnivorous nature with an extremely extensive diet. Innate skill: breeding. As long as it obtains a sufficient amount of food, the dusty pink rabbit's ability to propagate knows no limits. Its breeding season occurs all year round, throughout the four seasons. (Note: The mapping of the above-mentioned creature's genome has shown anomalies. Discovered that the part about reproduction contains traces of artificial optimization!)]

Although such a rabbit would definitely be considered a demonic animal among the normal humans in the Magus World, it was as weak as an ant in Leylin's eyes. What caught him by surprise was the modification made by the A.I. Chip in the annotation.

"It's not just a dusty pink rabbit!"

Hiss…* At this instant, a giant snake as thick as a person's arm slithered by the roadside. A giant grey rat hung from its mouth. Through the A.I. Chip's analysis, although the grey rat's data was endlessly similar to the dusty pink rabbit's in all aspects, it was clear that their reformed reproductive abilities were exactly the same. This made their already formidable innate skill even more terrifying.

"Wow…" Sophia was slightly startled by the gray snake, but she still went forth without fear, seeming as though she wanted to touch its head.

Hiss…* The giant grey snake let Sophia do as she pleased without resisting at all. This made Sophia giggle with laughter, and at the end, the giant grey snake even placed the food that it had caught in front of Sophia as a show of its subservience. It was only until Sophia explicitly declined, did it then continue to hold the rat in its mouth as it slithered through the bushes.

The bloodline of a rank 5 Alabaster Devil had the ability to restrain most of the common snake types across the Serpentes Plains. This was why Belinda was so at ease.

Leylin, on the other hand, gazed at the trail left behind by the grey snake, seemingly in deep thought.

"I'm afraid that the Snake Dowager was the one who tampered with the animals at the bottom layer of the food chain. It's rumoured that there are all kinds of giant snake types in the Serpentes Plains that are incapable of transforming. These include the Giant Kemoyin Serpent, the Double Loop Snake, the Three-Headed Python, the Purgatory Fire Python and so on, as well as a great many mixed-bloods and other subspecies. Even though the Serpentes Plains is incomparably plentiful, it might not be able to withstand such a tremendous consumption of energy. But if it's just the bottom layer of the food chain, perhaps there wouldn't be enough…"

Leylin grabbed a weed at random. There was fresh soil on the stem, and the pale yellow roots felt moist.

"Sure enough, even the dusty pink rabbit's food had been taken into consideration. There must be more changes in the environment to come, and even things such as them getting fatter at fixed times…"

"Seems like the entire Serpentes Plains is basically a cultivating ground for giant snake types…"

The corners of Leylin's lips revealed a slight smile. Just by observing the Snake Dowager's method of doing things, he knew that its academic attainments regarding bloodline experiments were definitely not few.

"Individuals manufactured in the laboratory are bound to have defects. The best method is still to seek for coincidentally mutated animals born in nature! The Snake Dowager's plan is actually identical to the hypothesis that the A.I. Chip raised previously, just that…"

A hint of suspicion slowly appeared on Leylin's forehead.

"What is the Snake Dowager trying to achieve from this? By creating an even stronger individual, isn't it afraid that something more powerful would emerge?"

"No! Perhaps it wouldn't allow a powerful being from the various tribes to arise, but maybe a first-rate mutated individual would be permitted… Or maybe she's trying to cultivate an emperor bloodline that can fully take control…"

"It's also possible that she's performing these experiments purely out of curiosity. Or perhaps she wants to break through a bottleneck herself, and attain the rank 9 eternal realm or something… There are way too many possibilities…"

All sorts of possibilities flashed across in Leylin's mind, making him frown slightly.

"Anyway, no matter what, the environment here is much better than I expected. There will absolutely be no problem in carrying out the plan…"

"Nick! What are you thinking about?"

Belinda walked over unhurriedly. Ever since she had gotten her revenge, she seemed to have unloaded a heavy burden worth thousands of kilograms. Even her usual grim expression had melted more or less—of course, this was only true in front of Leylin and Sophia.

"Oh! Nothing much, I'm just wondering if the Serpentes Plains will be dangerous…"

Leylin smiled.

"This place is indeed a treacherous for other foreign tribes. After all, among the snake clans that cannot transform, there are dreadful giant snakes that are rank 5 or 6… Even strong rank 6 contenders would be besieged by these humongous pythons, and I'm afraid that they would only end up falling…"

"But we're different. The descendants of the Snake Dowager will never be attacked on the Serpentes Plains! Of course, this refers to those rational giant snakes. If we bump into those that are as stubborn as a rock and are influenced by their instinctive appetite, then we have no other way out even if it's us. But fortunately, such snake types that are affected by their instincts are usually only rank 3 or below…" Belinda seemed rather proud.

She clearly understood the Serpentes Plains very well. She even had connections in the holy city. This was why Leylin was insistent on bringing her along.

"Hm!" Leylin nodded, then looked at Belinda, "You are a wanted for a trial. About that contact in the holy city…"

"Rest assured! That's my close friend. Besides, this is the Hale Continent after all!"

Belinda was obviously highly confident. "Nick, you haven't entered the holy city before, have you? Then you'll have to register your identity. It will be more troublesome for such a frequent traveller like you, but no matter, this friend of mine will come in handy…"

Leylin identified himself to Belinda as a mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnake who had always been on the go, and he hadn't even been to the holy city. Although such situations were rare, the Hale Continent was so vast that anything could happen. Besides, Leylin's Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline could not be falsified, and thus Belinda was convinced.

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Gluttony's Defilement

The journey through the Serpentes Plains was extremely smooth as the Giant Serpentes avoided Leylin whom had carried the Devilish Alabaster bloodline on him,

As for those snakes without intelligence that tried to harass Leylin or treat him as a prey, they were swiftly slain by Belinda, which gave Leylin the cold shudders.

Perhaps, amongst the snakes, only those with intelligence could be considered as the same family. Those without any ability to think or those that only acted on instincts were not considered as part of them.

Furthermore, between the different races under the Snake Dowager, cannibalism and wars were often executed.

These races were mostly hovering between ranks 1 and 2, even Sophia could deal with them easily without Belinda's help.

Over time, Leylin's party gradually entered the deeper regions of the plains.

Under the purple moonlight, the plains were extremely tranquil. Time to time, flickering red light from burning coals surfaced, bringing heat to the surroundings.

Suddenly, Leylin's figure appeared above a tent with burning charcoal beside it, before flickering into concealment again.

"The distance is just right, it'll be here!"

Leylin looked up at the moonlight high up in the sky as he muttered and left the camping grounds.

He left behind a puppet equipped with basic A.I. Chip capabilities, which would be enough to deal with most situations.

Not long later, a marsh appeared in front of Leylin, where puddles seemed to be strung together on the plains, like starry shining pearls in the sky.

In this vicinity, Leylin felt large amount of energy waves which were concealed, time to time hearing the hissing and roars of giant snakes nearby.

Oftentimes, battles between creatures would surface to vye for the water source.

Leylin had passed through this region with Belinda a few days ago. However, to avoid unnecessary battles, they avoided this area. However, Leylin had etched this place into his memory back then.

"Sssiii….."

A giant snake with the circumference of a vat emerged from the marshes and opened its bloody jaws, wanting to swallow Leylin in just one bite.

"Scram!" Leylin's brows furrowed. The snake roared and escaped right after it was flicked away.

"These useless things that don't know their place are so troublesome!"

Not every low ranked snake would be subjugated to Leylin's bloodline. Back then, the grey snake that Sophia had encountered had only been subjugated due to it being extremely weak.

However, the moment rank 2 and 3 giant snakes without intelligence appeared, Leylin would only be akin to a tasty prey to them.

"Because they share the bloodline from the snake dowager, a higher ranked snake would not strike fear in them?"

Leylin suddenly grinned, "This is the right specimen that I want!"

Boom!* A gigantic white snake phantom the size of tens of thousands of meters surfaced from behind Leylin's back, as two scarlet vertical pupils the size of stars let off a ferocious roar.

At the same time, the regal aura emanated from the huge snake.

Right now, those giant snakes without any intelligence had also slithered away quickly and left the vicinity.

Leylin was not a Warlock with mixed bloodline, hence just with the tiny trace of regalness emanated would stop the giant snakes with insatiable greed to devour him. Instead, these giant snakes with no intelligence were now extremely frightened.

"Slick…." Beds of snakes continuously left the marsh, forming a tide of giant snakes. Mixed bloodlined snakes and even those that Leylin could not identify were escaping.

"Huh! As expected, they're all weak. There aren't any traces of rank 4 species here, but it is also logical, since no matter how low their intelligence was before, they would undergo a transformation after they enter rank 4.

Leylin's gaze swept through the horde of snakes, before his eyes brightened, "It's you!"

A giant black snake was writhing and crying as it struggled in the grasp of Leylin.

This snake had black scales and its vertical pupils were filled with horror and plea. As for its strength, there were rank 3 energy waves emanating from it.

"Black Horrall Snake! The subspecies of Kemoyin! We meet again!"

A trace of remembrance shuttered past Leylin's thoughts as he watched the snake in front of him, keeping its silence.

Back then, his Kemoyin bloodline was extracted and purified from the Black Horrall Snake. Thinking of it now, even though the great Magus Serholm left his inheritance behind, it was not as powerful as it seemed to be, as he did not have any intentions of passing down the Kemoyin bloodline.

Perhaps, in Serholm's eyes, a rank 3 Warlock was strong enough to conquer the south coast and he did not want his inheritor to be swept up in the perilous dangers of the central continent.

However, it was all for naught. Even the great Magus Serholm did not expect that his inheritor would be this heaven-defying, purifying the Black Horrall Snake's bloodline into the Giant Kemoyin Serpent, turning into a powerful presence.

"I have already done this much, now I will need your strength!"

A dark red test tube appeared in Leylin's palms, where the contents within continuously frothed, filled with an ominous aura.

"The quintessence from the clone of the Monarch of Gluttony — Beelzebub! Leylin muttered. This was the huge risk he took to summon Beelzebub through the constraining spell formation before he entered the Purgatory World.

Although it had been purified many times, the quintessence still contained large amounts of Beelzebub's branding. Once used, the target will definitely be affected by the sin of gluttony. The target's intellect will disintegrate, turning into Beelzebub's puppet or the preparatory body of a clone.

"Purgatory World is too quiet, I have to introduce chaos to this place!"

Leylin chuckled as he poured half of the contents of the test tube into the Black Horrall Snake's jaws.

"Sssii!….Grrrroarrr." The Black Horrall Snake struggled continuously within Leylin's grasp as dark coloured runes appeared on its body, so much that the scales seemed to be breaking apart, as if a devil within its body was trying to break free.

"Go!" Leylin tossed the Black Horrall Snake back into the horde of snakes.

Immediately, the Black Horrall Snake attacked the other giant snakes beside it. Its pupils were filled with a type of overzealous rage, as the aura on its body exponentially increased.

Ka-cha!* A giant boa had it's head bitten off by the Black Horrall Snake, before it was devoured completely by it.

Sssii!*! A crackline appeared on the head of the Black Horrall Snake and expanded continuously until it exploded.

Large amounts of skin were molted. Now, a larger, stronger Black Horrall Snake appeared, its strength nearing that of a rank 4 Magus.

The Black Horrall Snake with it increased strength continued to devour the other snake species. Eventually, another head appeared from its neck, accompanied by fiendish flames spewed from its mouth.

"The fiendish transformation is even more apparent now!" Looking at the scales on the Black Horrall Snake that looked even more malevolent now, Leylin shook his head.

"Sssii…" The double headed Black Horrall Snake in this Purgatory World had advanced into rank 4, yet it did not dare to provoke Leylin.

After looking at Leylin with fear in its eyes, the black coloured purgatory snake dashed into the distance, leaving behind a trail of corpses.

"Not so stupid huh. Although you won't live happily ever after, claiming yourself as the king amongst all snakes on the plains for a short while should be a blazing glory as you were originally only rank 3 huh?

Leylin muttered, as he tossed the other half of the test-tube into the marsh behind him.

Gulp! Gulp!* Dark red colour contents that were frothed expanded quickly in the marsh, leaving behind a peculiar smell lingering in the air.

Under the enticement of this scent, very soon a huge grey rat conquered its fear of snakes and scurried over, before lapping the water.

With each mouth, this rat only grew larger in size. Very soon, its eyes turned red, as if in an enraged mode.

Very soon, more grey rats scurried over. There were even white rabbits, accompanied by more snakes.

After these organisms had finished quenching their thirst, they began to attack other animals ferociously, at the same time transforming into unrecognisable creatures.

Looking at this scene, the corners of Leylin's lips curled up maliciously.

"Heyo Beelzebub! Are you satisfied with this Purgatory World that I found?"

By just thinking about it, Leylin knew that Beelzebub hungered for this world. It was a huge world with abundant resources. Even with the chaotic World's Will, it did not reject these new life forms on the world.

To Beelzebub, such a world held an incomparably huge enticement.

Even if Beelzebub knew what Leylin was scheming out in the open, he would still be attracted by the benefits and take a gamble. It was an irresistible trend.

"Of course, the power of gluttony is still weak in the beginning and has to be protected!"

Leylin smiled, as a pair of chaotic grey wings appeared, with the power of chaos, enveloping the marsh and its nearby region with a grey barrier.

"With this disguise, high ranked organisms would not be able to notice it until it's too late!"

Leylin laughed blandly.

Although the Snake Dowager was considered a dignitary, she would not be able to understand the continent like the back of her palms, much less monitoring the happenings across the Hale Continent.

Furthermore, with Leylin using the power of chaos intentionally for disguise and concealment, nothing can be changed when the Snake Dowager has realised it.

Moreover, this was the marshes. Any organisms which were attracted were just expendables. Leylin would not feel the pinch in his heart even if all of these creatures were completed dead.

"Man-made environments are often the weakest type of ecosystems. After this has blown out of proportions, I'm sure it will cause the Snake Dowager and the Holy City enough headaches for a few years…"

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Eve of the Arrival

Manmade environments were often the weakest and the most susceptible to external influences.

Through the Snake Dowager's power that boosted reproduction rates, coupled with the defilement of gluttony running rampant through the plains, the combined results of both of these would not just be a simple addition, but a powerful immeasurable change in the rate itself. Even Leylin himself highly anticipated the changes that were bound to happen.

The most important thing was that those effects were all due to the power of laws. Leylin had barely done anything at all to make that happen, which fully removed him from the situation.

Even the Snake Dowager herself would only suspect that it was the Monarch of Gluttony invading from another world, and thus her attention would be diverted away from Leylin.

With these two law wielding existences vying to control this world, what sparks would it bring about?

Just thinking of it amused Leylin.

Finally, Leylin gave one last lingering look at this marsh that was riddled with chaos and gluttony, before leaving and not giving one more glance at it.

Now that the seed has been planted, how it would develop and grow would no longer be under his control.

The next morning, Leylin brought Belinda and Sophia away from this area.

"What's wrong? Nick? Did you sense any danger?"

Belinda felt that Leylin's actions were somewhat suspicious.

"I have a premonition that something hugely unfavourable to us is happening behind our backs!" Leylin put on a solemn face, his eyes filled with worry.

"Mm, Sofia also felt it, that evil sensation, full of chaos and gluttony…" Belinda was still half-suspicious, but what surprised Leylin was Sofia, who stood to the side and nodded in agreement, her eyes filled with fear.

"That frightening evil feeling has become a vortex just behind our backs, and its range is still expanding, sister! Let's leave this place right now, please!"

Sofia's eyes widened and her shoulders began to tremble slightly.

"Alright, we'll leave at once," Belinda put her arm around Sofia's shoulders and began to gently console her, no longer having any thoughts on Leylin's proposal to leave. However, Leylin looked at Sofia and took measure of her with great interest.

"I really couldn't tell, although her bloodline power isn't particularly concentrated, she has this innately sharp perception… Does it originate from the sensitivity of her soul?

Although Sofia had sharp perceptive powers, it was a pity that she was facing Leylin, who was an old hand at this and was already in the middle of his long life. He was long able to bury his own emotions at the bottom of his heart, and put an end to anyone sensing or peeping on his feelings.

Consequently, Sofia thought that brother Nick smiled gently and had a comforting expression, and never discovered even the slightest trace of his investigations, hidden deep within.

"This sort of innate soul sensitivity, although there is still room for it to develop, for now it is far too weak," Seeing this, Leylin could only shake his head and urge on the giant earth lizard once again to continue its journey.

……

With Leylin's secret calculations, and with his true body faintly emitting a powerful aura, the beasts afflicted with the desire for gluttony didn't dare to come and offend him as he gradually left the area behind. Sofia had also slowly calmed down, and had recovered to her original childish appearance.

Leylin had left a wake of terrifying desire for gluttony behind, and its influence continued to spread. Afflicted rank 4 and rank 5 continuously emerged and began to fight those intelligent Morning Star serpent clans.

By the time the Snake Dowager took it seriously, it was already too late.

The abundant resources of the Allsnake Plains, as well as the superior snake species living in it were nurtured by the Snake Dowager with utmost care. However, it had become a paradise for gluttony to grow.

Naturally, as this area was too vast, gluttony was limited to wreaking havoc in the tiniest part of it. With Leylin's arrangement and interference from chaotic power, even though it spread quickly, it did not attract much attention.

Only with the passing of time did this situation become more and more complex, and became even more frightening.

As the originator of this disaster, Leylin didn't particularly manage the matter further. After ten days had passed, after they passed through yet another long journey, the Holy City of all snake descendents and the heart of the Hale Continent had appeared before their very eyes.

"At our current speed, we will arrive at the Holy City tomorrow at noon, at the very latest!"

Belinda looked at the map in her hand and spoke confidently.

Leylin only lightly nodded. In reality, he had already seen some changes on their journey today.

A few small snake hybrids began to appear, and there were even established ranches and botanical gardens. Everything he had seen told him he had entered an area of superior intelligent species.

"My friend, Aegnis, holds the post of the highest ranked guard in the Holy City, I believe she will definitely help us!"

Belinda looked rather excited, and Leylin knew what she was thinking about.

As a wanted criminal of the Trial's Eye, Belinda definitely felt that it was a horrible situation to be in. If she could not resolve this affair, perhaps she would have to go into hiding with Sofia for the rest of their lives.

However, this place was the Hale Continent, and Belinda hadn't really betrayed the Trial's Eye, but had only rebelled against one of its forces, even if she had gone a little overboard.

If she gained the protection of a powerful person in the Holy City, although it couldn't undo the Trial's Eye influence and repeal the arrest warrant, it would be possible to keep the affair under wraps. Belinda certainly would be able to live with Sofia freely in the sunlight.

"To do this, one would need to be rather powerful. Belinda's previous status wouldn't let her do it, unless her friend is a direct descendent from a major clan…"

Leylin stroked his chin and had already guessed everything.

"That Aegnis, is she from a great clan in the Holy City or an influential direct descendant?" He directly asked.

"You really guessed it," Belinda froze, apparently surprised at Leylin's perceptive abilities, but she did not deny it. "Yes, Aegnis is from the Steward family, one of the top 10 most influential families in the Holy City. They possess the Matriarch's most noble bloodline as direct descendants, and for generations they have served as the Holy City's fundamental defenders."

"As long as I rely on the Steward Family, the earlier 'Eye of Sacrifice' organisation I was in wouldn't dare to offend them. So after some time, there is some hope for me to renegotiate with them about the arrest warrant!"

Belinda had evidently planned everything out, "And so, with her help, we will definitely be able to secure a settlement certificate. Nick, are you…"

Belinda was clearly rather worried that Leylin wouldn't be able to save face in this situation, but this was something she was needlessly worrying about.

"Don't worry, I have no issues with this," Leylin smiled.

What was the point of saving face? Leylin didn't care about it at all. Additionally, he had helped Belinda from the very beginning, and had even secretly taken her feelings into account, wasn't it all for this purpose?

Leylin had previously heard of the stringent rules of the Holy City. If one didn't have a powerful guarantor vouching for them, then with his status as an unidentified foreigner, it would be incredibly difficult for him to settle there, to the point where it would be easier for him to fly than to become a citizen.

Especially after he had secretly set things into motion, one could gather that the Holy City would become more and more lively. Without any real basis for entering, perhaps he would suffer a lot of harassment.

Compared to that, saving face in this situation was definitely not an issue.

Leylin had always focused solely on benefits, and with his current identity as a mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnake and as Nick the wanderer, no matter how humiliating it was, how could it bother him?

It had to be said that in some respects, Leylin's moral integrity was rather heinous.

"That's good," Belinda's eyes grew warmer, with a satisfied look.

In reality, she was confident about settling down herself in the Holy City, but if Leylin didn't agree to bow his head and give in, then his unknown origin would definitely pose a huge problem.

Seeing that he had now agreed to yield made her immediately feel more relieved.

"I still have some savings, and with our strength we can accept missions in the Holy City. The pay will be sufficient for us to live on! As for Sofia, I must hire a governess or a nanny to prepare her for marriage in the future…"

Belinda seemed to be immersed in her plans for the future, until the last part where she secretly stole a glance at Leylin. She secretly blushed, but then immediately forced that expression away.

"I-It's already getting late, we should rest…"

Belinda seemed to become unconsciously shy, and pulled Sofia, who was still playing, into her tent. Sofia's dissatisfied cries of "No, no!" could be heard.

Leylin looked in the direction where Belinda had left and stroked his chin, with a strange smile appearing on his face.

……

"Then… Goodnight, girls!"

Leylin came to their tent and softly spoke to them.

"Goodnight, Nick," Belinda's voice was rather shaky, and finally he heard Sofia's voice, "Brother Nick, I want to tell you…"

"Ah!" Sofia's voice was interrupted, and immediately Belinda's humiliated and angry scolding could be heard.

Seeing the noisy and unstable tent, Leylin only smiled a little and returned to his own tent.

If it wasn't for the Allsnake Curse on his body, and how close he was to the Holy City and the Snake Dowager, he wouldn't have minded playing more games with Belinda.

However, Leylin wasn't in the mood due to the huge pressure of the curse.

In fact, if his willpower and acting skills weren't so good, perhaps Belinda would have seen through him already.

After his everyday routine had been arranged, Leylin's expression became solemn and imposing.

"Tomorrow, we'll arrive at the Holy City, the headquarters of the Snake Dowager."

There was a dark expression in Leylin's eyes, "Everything I have, as well as my hopes of breaking the bloodline shackles- whether I fail or succeed all depends on my next move!"

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Beast Spirit Seal

"But before that, I should finish doing everything else." A crystal ball emerged in Leylin's hands, with a red-eyed little snake, with scales as pure white as jade, wriggling around within.

Bound within the ball was Belinda's father, a rank 5 pure-blooded Alabaster Devil. This was the beast spirit of Kenta! If Belinda were to find out, things might get troublesome, but Leylin didn't really care about her anymore.

Besides, Leylin was very confident in his concealing techniques.

Now, the hatred and obstinate look in the beast spirit's eyes had disappeared, and all that was left was bewilderment.

Leylin was very satisfied upon seeing this.

[Beep! Scan of target completed. All hostility in its subconscious has been removed.] At this moment, the A.I. Chip prompted in a robotic tone.

"Good! My hard work for almost a whole month hasn't been in vain! I've finally tamed him."

Leylin pressed his fingers against the crystal, allowing the little white snake to break free of its bindings. It flit between his fingers, and even seemed to have a sense of dependence on him. A month ago, that would have been unthinkable.

"No matter how poor my spirit sealing spell formation is, it seems that there's a chance of success over 50%!"

Leylin's lips quirked in a smile, "Just as well. I'll seal him completely tonight!"

Leylin was very attracted to the Purgatory World's strength systems. In this period of time, he had almost completely figured out and understood the strength systems here.

In Purgatory World, besides the innate abilities of the various races, these two strength systems were the most widespread: The path of offerings and the path of beast spirits!

The path of offerings entirely depended on the dignitary. If you gained the dignitary's favour, you would attain more power and reach a higher Sacrificer rank even if you weren't as devout, or even if the offerings were lacking. However, the price was having your body completely branded by the power of the dignitary, or even breaking off all possibilities of entering rank 7, the realm of laws. Of course, for devout followers, this method of 'existing together with one's god' might perhaps satisfy their thirst and desire even more.

The path of beast spirits was more primal. This path depended on hunting large beasts and refining them into beast spirits, and then sealing them to be ordered around in combat.

Though it sounded simple, every time they sealed a beast spirit there was a huge challenge to a beast spirit master's own soul, in terms of its cultivation and strength. If the seal failed, there were far too many instances in Purgatory World of the beast spirit devouring the master instead.

The higher-ranked the beast spirit, the more terrifying their resistance was. Hatred that retained from the soul were extremely dangerous for all beast spirit masters.

Of course, once a beast spirit of a certain rank had been successfully sealed, the beast spirit master would naturally rise to that rank.

After sealing, the beast spirit master could not only order the beast spirit to fight, one could also enjoy the many benefits to the soul from the beast spirit.

For this reason, there were so many beast spirit masters who did not fear death and pursued high-ranked beast spirits and did their best to seal them, though failure was very common.

While Leylin had a deep understanding of the path of beast spirits, beast spirits were very difficult to obtain. He only had a Gudrick beast spirit that was rank 3 and yet to mature. Hence, his beast spirit master ranking was only 3!

That was fine though. At the White River Valley, Leylin had massacred Belinda's family and extracted the soul of her father, refining him into a beast spirit.

A rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit was very rare even in the whole Purgatory World.

Even on the Serpentes Plains, there weren't many rank 5 giant snakes. Leylin hadn't seen any, and most of them travelled around in groups. If it were to move, the whole race would move along with it.

In Leylin's eyes, these giant snakes were less outstanding compared to the Alabaster Devilsnakes.

"Whether as a bloodline imprint or as a cover, this beast spirit will be the most helpful to me!"

Leylin observed the little snake in his hands. The snake even flicked its scarlet tongue, constantly licking at his fingertips.

He had gathered much of the bloodline of the Alabaster Devilsnake and even attempted at creating bloodline imprints, giving him the key to entering the Dreamscape at will.

If he had the beast spirit of the Alabaster Devilsnake as well, whether a bloodline imprint was made, used, or if he were to explore Dreamscape, he would have great advantages. Leylin had always liked preparing things well, and if his plan were to fail, then dreamforce would be his trump card. Hence, Leylin's research had been focused on exploring Dreamscape.

Besides this, for Leylin who had snuck into holy city, having an Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit was another insurance for him.

While he had the bloodline traces on the Mask of the Dreamless, as well as the cover from the Nefarious Filthbird's power of chaos, Leylin didn't mind adding another layer of security.

"What comprises of a life form is both the bloodline and the soul.'

Leylin mumbled, "With replenishment from her family, the consumption to the Mask of the Dreamless' bloodline has been made up for. With this beast spirit, I can use it in place of my soul at crucial moments. Even if the Snake Dowager were to scan over a large area, I'm sure I can hide from her…"

Using the aura of a beast spirit as a substitute for his own might be just a dream to the inhabitants of Purgatory World, but this was no issue for Leylin. What was more important was that the main material for the beast spirit was a soul. Hence, there was nothing that would not merge. With the A.I. Chip, Leylin was very confident.

"Hence, the beast spirit of the Alabaster Devilsnake is my best choice!"

Leylin's eyes shone with determination, "Furthermore, after becoming a rank 5 beast spirit master, my truesoul will probably reach full-moon."

The increase of strength in any amount was a chance hard to come by.

[Beep! Beginning seal of beast spirit. Setting up rank 5 soul sealing spell formation.] The A.I. Chip's voice sounded. Meanwhile, an intricate soul spell formation diagram was shown.

Leylin was only a rank 3 beast spirit master now, and if inhabitants of Purgatory World were to hear that he wanted to seal a rank 5 beast spirit, they would say he was merely dreaming.

Even rank 4 beast spirit masters did not dare do this even after obtaining a rank 5 beast spirit. At the very least, they would have the confidence to attempt this after sealing more rank 4 beast spirits and nourishing their soul for centuries.

A rank 3 beast spirit master? The body would probably not be able to bear the powerful undulations of a rank 5 beast spirit and just crumble, with there being a chance of exploding into bloody mist!

But Leylin was no ordinary person. His truesoul was at half-moon, and his body, which had been strengthened by bloodline force and various techniques overtime gave him this confidence.

"Compared to rank 5 beast spirit masters of Purgatory World, rank 5 Magi souls have already condensed their truesoul. The density and quality is incomparable. The power of their soul, what the soul can withstand and precision in controlling it exceeds that of a rank 5 beast spirit master by several levels! Besides, my body and vitality has already gone through bloodline force and Multilimb Strength and received boosts from body tempering spell formations. A mere rank 5 beast spirit…"

Beast spirit masters of Purgatory World could seal beast spirits as long as they were lucky enough. Their bodies would then be nourished by the beast spirit, which meant just lying around would allow them to increase their strength. Once they hit the limits of the beast spirit, they could just seal a new spirit. This turned into a cycle.

Compared to Magi who had to be cautious at all times, study continuously and advance, their method might seem comfortable and easy, but it lacked the most important experience and knowledge!

At the soul level, Magi of the Magus World could definitely look down on these beast spirit masters. If they obtained suitable beast spirits, the speed at which Magi would adapt to and seal the beast spirit would be faster than beast spirit masters.

"The reason the path of beast spirits did not prosper in the Magus World is related to the different laws of the world, and might have something to do with the extinction of species in the central continent. After all, which world has as many beast spirit resources as in Purgatory World?"

Making sense of his thoughts, Leylin looked solemn.

The path of beast spirits was worthy of Magi looking into. At the very least, the soul sealing spell formation, the beast spirit turning on the owner, coordination between the soul and the flesh were all huge inspirations for Leylin to conduct experiments.

While he focused on the path of bloodline Warlocks, Leylin would not look down on other strength systems. No matter how insignificant it might seem, anything that was passed down was definitely worthy of looking into.

Only by constantly studying would the path of Magi be filled with fervour and life.

[Starting atomic microscope. Helping with carving of rank 5 soul sealing spell formation.] Along with the A.I. Chip's voice, an intricate spell formation began to appear at the back of Leylin's hand.

At the heart of the profound spell formation was a twisted pentagon diagram and many soul runes filled with mystery and savagery. These were key to subduing beast spirits, and even led to beast spirits turning on the beast spirit master.

Even the A.I. Chip was unable to analyse some of the runes and could only use them as much as possible.

The rays emitted from the spell formation enveloped the Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit, and the little snake began to float.

"Hss…" While already tamed, the little white snake showed signs of resistance.

However, the familiar soul force from Leylin's eyes felt very familiar to the little white snake, and it now had an internal conflict.

Gradually, the bundle of light around the little white snake came closer to the spell formation on the back of Leylin's hand.

"Now's the time. Seal!"

Along with Leylin's cry, the soul sealing spell formation suddenly emitted rays of light that absorbed that bundle of light.

"Next up… is a contest between souls!"

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Fullmoon Truesoul

Leylin closed his eyes.

Now, in his gloomy soul space, his half-moon truesoul showed itself. Opposite it was the little white snake from before.

"Hss…"

This contest had already happened many times in the past month. Hence, after sensing the familiar soul aura that belonged to Leylin's truesoul, the Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit immediately became fearful.

"Obey or die!"

Leylin did not give the beast spirit much time and immediately warned, boundless half-moon truesoul strength descending and pressing the little white snake to the ground.

"Hss…" The snake flicked its tongue and chose to obey. A flash of cold, clear moonlight entered through its eyes, controlling it completely.

Gradually, the eyes became dazed, and a half moon appeared…

[Beep! Host has successfully sealed rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit. Promoted to rank 5 beast spirit master!]

The A.I. Chip's voice sounded. Everything had gone extremely smoothly with how everything had been set up.

A beast spirit above rank 4 usually had some malicious intent or memory fragments from the body. For a soul like this that had lost all its will and was defiant, beast spirit masters found this very troublesome.

Even if the beast spirit was successfully tamed eventually, a part of the beast spirit's soul source would be consumed from battle and cause it to weaken.

However, Leylin had long since tamed it, which allowed the sealing process to go smoothly.

The soul sealing spell formation had already been optimised by the A.I. Chip, which raised the compatibility between the beast spirit master and the beast spirit to the highest. Hence, not only had Leylin successfully become a rank 5 beast spirit master, but he also could display the full strength of the original Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit!

"But the process of sealing a beast spirit has already been deduced by the A.I. Chip to have a success rate of 90%. The process of the boost is the most important…"

At this thought, Leylin looked more grim than before, and placed his focus deep in his sea of consciousness amongst the point mass nebulae.

[Beep! Boost of rank 5 beast spirit beginning.]

Along with the A.I. Chip's voice, a fantastic change happened in his sea of consciousness.

On the back of Leylin's hand, a vivid tattoo of a little white snake appeared and roved around. A stream of pure soul force spiralled as it was absorbed and devoured into the point mass vortex in his sea of consciousness. The refining process was repeated and then abruptly poured into the point mass.

The point mass of a Radiant Moon Magus had already formed, the two innate runes on it were extremely dazzling.

Within the point mass, Leylin's half-moon truesoul was cheering excitedly. The point mass, that was like a full moon that was already half filled with light, suddenly expanded, charging towards filling the other half.

After entering the realm of a rank 5 Radiant Moon, a Magus' truesoul was like a full moon, signifying fullness.

The strength of soul force would show on the surface of the round moon. From the crescent to the half-moon, and then to the most powerful full moon; these would show the various phases of rank 5 Magi as they trained.

Leylin's truesoul had only been at half moon, but with the help of the Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit, he began to make a burst for the full moon!

[Beep! Rank 5 beast spirit boost has begun. Host's soul force is being enhanced. All stats are changing…]

The A.I. Chip's voice sounded at this moment.

[Beep! Detected that Host's soul force has reached threshold. Beginning upgrade. Now at 210.] [Beep! Host has absorbed a large amount of purified soul origin. Soul force upgrading. Now at 220.]

The A.I. Chip's prompts kept refreshing, and accompanied by its robotic intones, Leylin's half-moon truesoul within his point mass filled up, beginning to transform into a full moon rank.

230! 240! 250! With the boost from the rank 5 beast spirit, the rate of progress of his truesoul could be said to be terrifying.

His truesoul that was already full began to expand in size, the luster from a full moon practically filling the whole truesoul.

At this very moment, something strange happened!

"Hss!" At Leylin's forehead, a black snake rune that was bound by thorny chains appeared, with a seal from the concentrated power of chaos circling it.

[Beep! Detected disorder from the Curse Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes. Determined to be triggered by sudden increase of soul force. Now flaring up.]

With the A.I. Chip's voice, Leylin felt that there seemed to be a terrifying black hole in his body that began to absorb much of his bloodline and soul force.

"No!" Leylin's eyes were filled with wisps of blood immediately.

Though he'd already known that with the seal of the curse, it would be difficult to increase his strength, Leylin did not expect it to be this serious.

Based on his plans, after raising his truesoul to full moon, he would then reach peak rank 5. Even with the suppression of the curse mark, he could still regain his strength and even surpass it.

After all, if Leylin's previous strength was 10 and the seal decreased it by 2, the strength he had left would only be 8.

But once Leylin reached peak rank 5, the limits of his strength would rise to 15, and even with the weakening of the seal by 2, he would still have 13 which far exceeded what he currently had.

However, the terror of the curse mark and the Snake Dowager's adeptness at curses exceeded his expectations.

"Power of chaos!" A grey illusory feather appeared in Leylin's hand. Large amounts of crystallisation of chaos combusted, beginning to support the seal on his forehead.

"The curse mark even has the function of automatically increasing strength along with the increase of strength in the host body!"

Leylin looked terrible at this point, and his expression turned into one of determination. He'd already had a contingency plan for this, but it wasn't a crucial time yet and he didn't want to waste this.

"Fine! Don't you want to absorb me? I'll give you everything!"

With his eyes red, Leylin ordered. A fiery-red jade-like crystal suddenly appeared from his spatial item, with flaming red luster and the indistinct phoenix cry!

The Soul Unique Item— The essence of the fragments of the phoenix egg, also the gem of Lava World! It could enhance soul force as long as the host's vitality could withstand it.

Though Leylin had already reached the limits before, after sealing a beast spirit, his own vitality had been enhanced. On top of what he had been amassing all this time, it was enough for him to use this essence again.

Chirp Chirp!*

A black demonic fire phoenix suddenly emerged from Leylin's back, devouring the phoenix egg.

Rumble!* Golden, brilliant flames burnt around him, and turned a demonic black.

Terrifying soul force that brought with it boiling fiery rays appeared around Leylin's body, and filled the black hole of the curse mark.

Chirp chirp!* Compared to bloodline force, the soul force that had the burning powers of the ancient phoenix caused the black hole to ripple, fiery-red rays flashing from deep within the black hole.

"Get lost!"

With Leylin's roar, the curse mark on his forehead abruptly pulled back and even had a red scratch on it. Great amounts of the power of chaos formed a seal around the mark, suppressing it.

[Beep! Host has absorbed essence of phoenix egg. Obtained much soul origin. Soul force numbers increasing.]

With its voice, Leylin's soul force numbers shot forward like a rocket, and in almost that instant, broke through the 250 bottleneck. After a few jumps, it broke through the critical point of 300!

[Beep! Host body's soul force has broken through 300, reached full moon. Host's stats have all changed. Recalculating.]

The A.I. Chip's voice was still transmitting, but Leylin had no energy to investigate. His attention was now on the truesoul in the point mass.

The truesoul that was like a full moon had not only swollen up to the extreme, its whole body was filled with clear luster that gave off a feeling of perfectness.

"This is… the truesoul of peak rank 5 at full moon?"

Leylin mumbled as he gazed upon the gigantic full moon truesoul, looking drunk. The full moon not only had a clear luster, there was also a golden line that shimmered in and out of existence at the heart of it. However, it was covered by the brightness surrounding it. Unless he stared at it, he wouldn't notice it.

"This is… when soul force has a qualitative change…"

Leylin's eyes momentarily showed confusion, but was then filled with elation.

"I know, this is rank 6 truesoul force! Once Radiant Moon Magi reach full moon, their truesouls have already reached the limit. The next thing to do is to change the soul force from negative to positive energy, turning into the truesoul like a scorching sun of rank 6 Breaking Dawn Magi!"

"This golden line signifies my truesoul has already reached the limits of rank 5 and is beginning to transform into rank 6!"

Leylin sighed. For regular rank 5 Magi, getting their truesoul to full moon was already exceptionally difficult. They would have to work unceasingly to get their truesoul to fill completely and then automatically upgrade. That would take centuries, but Leylin had reached full moon in an instant.

"With negative soul force, I need to produce positive energy from this dark negative energy in order to gain solidified positive force. It's not something a rank 5 beast spirit can achieve. The only explanation would be the essence of the phoenix egg!"

Leylin's pupils brightened, "The phoenix egg contains not just a large amount of soul origin force that can strengthen a Magus' soul, but also possesses anode soul force, and its the guide for full moon Magi to promote. That's saved me hundreds of years of hard work!"

In that moment, Leylin thought of the reason.

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Life Curse

The method to refine negative soul force into positive and obtain the essence of positive soul force was the key for a rank 5 Radiant Moon Magus becoming a rank 6 Breaking Dawn Monarch.

The phoenix egg was the treasure of the Lava World after all, and the positive power it possessed could save most Radiant Moon Magi centuries worth of hard work.

If this was seen by those Breaking Dawn Monarchs who had broken through with hard work or peak rank 5 Radiant Moon who were still training desperately, they might be so jealous of Leylin that they might go crazy with envy.

"But that means the phoenix egg has been completely used up…" Leylin found this result quite a pity. With the boost from the rank 5 beast spirit, that was enough to push him to full moon. The phoenix egg left behind could be used in training at rank 6.

With the abundance of positive soul force in the egg, which could even help a Breaking Dawn Monarch advance at lightning speed, using it recklessly now as a rank 5 made him feelextremely wasteful.

Due to the limitations of his bloodline, Leylin's truesoul already had signs of transforming into an substantialised positive soul, and he would never be able to succeed unless he completely rid himself of his bloodline curse.

"It's too early to talk about rank 6. I'll need to focus on the benefits that I now have!" While he found it a pity, Leylin was optimistic about the use of the phoenix egg. Due to the interference of the Allsnake Curse, he would not have been able to reach full moon if not for the power of the phoenix egg.

If the same thing were to happen again, Leylin was sure that he would make the same choice.

Ridding himself of other thoughts, Leylin gazed at the A.I. Chip's stats column. As he had forcefully broken through to full moon, much of his stats had undergone huge changes.

[Leylin Farlier. Rank 5 Warlock. Bloodline: Giant Kemoyin Serpent (Complete form). Strength: 70 (85), Agility: 53 (66), Vitality: 175 (200.7), Spiritual force: 2315 (3001.2), Magic power: 2315 (Magic power is in synchronisation with spiritual force). Soul force: 232 (300) State: Boost from full moon truesoul and status as rank 4 Sacrificer. Rank 5 beast spirit seal: Alabaster Devilsnake. Estimation of Allsnake Curse's next flare-up : 19 years.]

"As expected, after advancing, all the limits have increased. Even with restrictions of the curse marks, I've basically returned to my most powerful state before, with some increases even!" Leylin's eyes shone as he felt the power in all parts of his body and couldn't help but clench his fists, "Only this power would be enough for my plans in the holy city!"

"But…" Leylin, who had regained his calm, watched the insides of the tents that now looked messy and could not help but laugh wryly, "Thankfully, I set up a seal. Otherwise, Belinda and Sophia would have been alarmed."

"The flare up of the Allsnake Curse happened with the Snake Dowager so close…"

Leylin looked incomparably serious, "A.I. Chip, activate strongest preventative measures!"

[Beep! Mission established. Initiation underway.]

Numerous white scaly patterns formed the most intricate patterns on Leylin's face. Meanwhile, the Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit tattoo on Leylin's body began to wander around, emitting a unique soul undulation.

After making all the preparations, a tremendous conscient was like a tsunami, spreading from the holy city.

"What is it, Mighty Mistress? Who dares go against you and caused you such ire?"

Such a terrifying conscient shocked many in that instant. Belinda and Sophia had walked out of their tents and knelt in the direction of the holy city, bodies trembling in the moonlight.

"She's naturally looking for me!"

Leylin snickered inside, though on the surface, he looked to be kneeling in reverence and trepidation, praying that the Mistress would calm her anger. Of course, Leylin knew that before he was captured, this would be impossible.

Sensing this conscient roaring above him and passing him by, yet not doubting him at all, his lips quirked in a smile.

"As expected, the double cover of my soul and bloodline, as well as support of the feather of chaos, makes it impossible for the Snake Dowager to find me with this kind of scan with her conscient unless she sees me personally."

This was definitely good news to Leylin.

Though the Nefarious Filthbird had guaranteed this, Leylin did not dare place too much hope on it.

When it came to life and death situations, he would not mind using all methods possible to increase his rate of success.

"Hss!" Realising that doing that would not help her find Leylin, the temporary wave of soul undulations passed and instead, a bright bundle of light rose like the sun from holy city.

Within the sun was a gigantic snake ball figure that was like a sun, and there were even sounds of sacrificial chanting from there.

These sounds were very ancient and had some strange pitches that caused one to be intoxicated in it.

"This…" Just after hearing a little, Leylin's expression immediately changed.

[Warning! Warning! Host's curse mark is acting up.] The A.I. Chip's voice sounded in time, before a rune began to flicker on Leylin's forehead.

Thankfully, Belinda and Sophia now had their heads down as they closed their eyes to pray, or else they'd definitely notice the change in Leylin.

"Feather of Chaos, ignite the crystals and get back!"

The blood vessels on Leylin's face writhed, and immediately after, two forces began a dangerous confrontation inside.

Chirp chirp!* At this moment, the flame imprints that were already on the curse mark began to flash with red lights, and Leylin seemed to hear the cry of a primordial fire phoenix.

With the joint work of the two, the flare up of the curse mark was suppressed.

Only after the illusion from the holy city disappeared did Leylin sigh deeply, and hastily reinforced his appearance-changing methods to hide any external changes, which was how Belinda did not notice anything different.

Even so, it was impossible to hide everything that had happened.

No matter what repercussions there were from the Snake Dowager's sudden anger, Leylin and the others had to carry on their journey.

"Nick! I…" Belinda glanced at Leylin, who was the same as before, and seemed to have something to say.

"What's wrong?" Leylin turned, a tender look and smile on his face as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, no, it's nothing!" Belinda looked dazed, and also a little confused, "It just feels like something about you has changed, but I don't know what it is for sure."

"It's the smell!" Sophia, who was ahead, turned back, eyes full of happiness as she sniffed at Leylin.

"The smell on Brother Nick's body is even more aromatic, and Sophia feels more close to him!"

"Stop it!" Belinda grabbed at Sophia's little face, causing her to frown.

Meanwhile, Leylin was stunned at her keen senses.

"I was discovered so quickly! Such a pure and sensitive soul is rather rare."

Leylin naturally knew the reason why Belinda felt something was off, since a peak full moon truesoul was worlds apart from what things had been the previous day. Even if Leylin did all he could to conceal this, there would still be a subtle difference.

Besides, the rank 5 beast spirit that Leylin had chosen to seal was Belinda and her sister's father! The bloodline aura from someone of the same kind and family had caused Sophia to realise what was off.

"However, from her experiences, I doubt she's discovered this. If she found out the feeling of feeling closer to me came from her father, she might be fearful. After all, Kenta didn't give the siblings a good impression…"

Pondering over this for a while, Leylin continued the journey with the sisters.

Though nothing had changed from the previous day, and Leylin was still chatting and joking with them cheerfully on the way, he was actually reading the contents of the prompt on the A.I. Chip, and his heart could not calm.

[Beep! Affected by Snake Dowager's undulations. Variation to Curse Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes, increasing corroding ability.] [Curse of Corrosion– High grade variation of the curse mark. After entering region of Snake Dowager's influence, Host's life force will constantly be absorbed till death. The process is irreversible.]

"After realising she can't find me, she's used this method to force me to show myself?"

Feeling the life force in his body unceasingly being seized from his body, and his body heading towards death gradually, Leylin's lips quirked in a smile instead, "But… for you, who can only do this much, does it mean you have no other ways of limiting me?"

"It's not just my bloodline and soul force, but even my life force is being absorbed by the curse, subduing my strength.]

Leylin raised his arm, his pale skin and firm muscles full of life. However, he could feel a sense of losing something.

"Under the effects of the corrosion, my body's life energy is quickly dissipating. Though there aren't obvious changes on the outside, in just a few years time, my appearance will become that of an old person… Even with appearance changing techniques, it wouldn't be able to conceal these changes…"

"Just from the bloodline curse, I have about 19 years left, but with the curse that corrodes my life force…"

He smiled wryly.

He had a feeling that this sort of complex curse would have even worse effects the closer he got to the Snake Dowager.

This would go on till the day the curse mark completely flared up and ruined his soul, causing him to die, or until he would be discovered by the Snake Dowager.

"So many restrictions and so much pressure! How… enjoyable! This is too enjoyable!"

Leylin brushed the back of his hand against his lips slowly, "Such power restrictions is so enjoyable! The greater the pressure, the worse the backlash! I can't wait to see the day I destroy these restraints and soar!"

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Reaching Holy City

"The Hail Continent's holy city!" Leylin muttered as he sized up this city that seemed to have been built by giants.

The entire city was filled with brilliant lights, and what was the most unforgettable was the giant sculpture at the very heart of the city.

It was a very bewitching female with long hair with separated out and transformed into exotic snakes of all kinds. There were the iant Kemoyin Serpents, the Alabaster Devilsnakes, Three-headed Pythons, and many other species could be found within the hair of this snake chieftess.

"The sculpture must have been made with the Snake Dowager as the model. I can see it so clearly even outside the city, and if I were to determine the scale, it must be over tens of thousands of metres tall…"

Leylin's eyes were full of admiration. If not for the spell formations and other assistance from other worlds, a statue of this scale could never have been accomplished.

The secret undulations hidden in various parts of the holy city made Leylin's expression change slightly. While he was unable to detect rank 7 existences, the radiation from rank 6 Breaking Moons could no longer resist the A.I. Chip's scans.

Hence, Leylin was certain that there were at least ten rank 6s in the holy city, and they were all descendants of the Snake Dowager!

'From the intel and what I saw yesterday, the Snake Dowager is here, but I don't know where she is.'

"Keke…" Leylin suddenly began to cough.

"What's wrong, Nick?" Belinda and Sophia looked over, their eyes full of concern.

"It- It's nothing!" Leylin laughed forcefully, hiding his palm that now had traces of blood.

"In the holy city, where the Snake Dowager's aura is even more concentrated, the rate at which my life force depletes is even faster. With this rate, I might not be able to hold on for a few years, but thankfully, these few years should be enough!"

"I was just a little emotional after seeing such a huge city. Let's get in! Have you notified your friend yet?"

"I've already notified Aegnis. She'll be here soon!" Belinda laughed.

The three of them now stood outside the huge holy city. There were three huge triumphal arches, and a bridge that was tens of metres long. Below it was a surging moat, though the waters were black and gave an ominous feeling.

The gates of the city opened, and many half-snake people and even pure-bloods passed by in an orderly manner.

"That's…" Upon seeing this, Leylin's eyes narrowed.

The queue that wound around like a long snake suddenly had a small disturbance near the gates, and immediately after, a half-snake person with black scales on its face wailed as he was separated out, and was pushed into the black moat.

"Ah…" Its mournful cries vanished in an instant, and Leylin immediately saw only white bones, and even then, they melted quickly.

"Just now…" Leylin's eyes shifted to the stone sculpture of snakes on the city gate. The vertical pupils of the sculptures were now flickering with green light.

"Seems like when that snake being passed by, the eyes of the sculptures turned bright red! Is that some sort of bloodline identification system?" Leylin was slightly afraid, because he had not found anything strange about that snake person earlier.

"That is the Snake Sculpture found everywhere in the holy city. As long as there are residents whose souls or bloodlines aren't pure, or have not gotten permission, all will be detected and thrown into the Howling Abyss!"

There was a grim look on her face, "Based on the system of the holy city, whether it's bloodline beings with unknown origins or wanted criminals, none can stay in the holy city!"

"Oh! In other words, if you and I were to enter, the sculpture's eyes would turn red, and many soldiers would be attracted?"

Leylin stroked his chin, "What benefits are there, for so many of them to scramble there?"

"Benefits?" Belinda smiled wryly, "There are obviously a lot! First of all, all those who get permission to stay in holy city will have their safety guaranteed. In the Hail Continent, there are few organisations who dare treat residents of the holy city roughly!"

"Absolute protection?" Leylin nodded. In this era of living from hand to mouth, absolute protection was a dream come true for the weak.

"Also, the holy city is the core of the Hail Continent. You'll be able to get anything at all here, even the most highly-ranked strength systems, the best offerings and beast spirits… but most importantly…" At the mention of the holy city, she evidently became excited.

"What's most important is that the entire holy city has gained the favour of the Mistress, and all of those who live here will have the purity of their blood not fall in rank and even continuously increase based on the length of time they stay here." Another voice sounded from the side, and along with a streak of black light, there were two more figures appearing.

"Aegnis!" Upon seeing who had arrived, Belinda grinned brilliantly.

"Belinda, my sister! We haven't seen each other in around 132 years!" Someone headed over and gave Belinda an enthusiastic hug. This must be the good friend that Belinda had constantly mentioned, Aegnis.

Leylin could not help but size up this being. She had short brown hair, a tall stature, fair and glowing skin, and she wore tight-fitting armour that seemed to be made of crystal. Her fine nose was raised, and she had a heroic air to her. While a female, she had a gender-neutral beauty to her.

What surprised Leylin was the bloodline aura of her body. This even caused him some fear. This was definitely the bloodline of a rank 6 giant serpent, and Aegnis herself had already reached rank 5.

'She evidently has the formidability of pure blood nobility! She's only half-mature, and already has rank 5 strength. Once her bloodline completely matures, reaching rank 6 isn't an issue! I can't tell her Sacrificer and beast spirit master ranks though…' Leylin silently began to judge her strength.

Compared to a mixed-blood like Belinda, she had a pure bloodline from a giant serpent. In other words, her main body was a python, and her human form was just for convenience.

"It must have been a miraculous coincidence that these two could have become good friends from the beginning!"

"Don't worry! I won't let off those people of the Trial's Eye organisation for treating you that way! I told you before not to go to that sect made out of lunatic eyes. Only the might Mistress is worthy of our faith!" Aegnis warmly held Belinda's hand, completely ignoring Leylin's existence.

She held Sophia, eyes sparkling, "This must be your sister, Sophia, right? How adorable! I'd only seen her in portraits before. Don't worry! I'll take care of you and your sister's identities. You'll definitely be able to get the residence permit and gain the right to stay in the holy city permanently!"

Seeing how she was itching to hug Sophia close and her facial muscles twitching, Leylin suddenly thought of another word from his previous world.

"Alright, alright. Aegnis! I have a friend who I've yet to introduce to you!"

Her friend's invasive gaze full of fervour was a little too much for Belinda, and she huffed as she struggled out of the devilish grasp of Aegnis, before pointing at Leylin.

"This is the person I talked to you about, and a good friend who's rendered me a lot of help: Nick!" Belinda placed emphasis on the two words, 'good friend'.

"Good friend? Him?" It was only at this point that she noticed Leylin and glared at Leylin challengingly.

"He doesn't seem all that strong? He's only a rank 5 mixed blood Alabaster Devilsnake! Oh, sorry, my beloved Belinda, I wasn't talking about you. Whether it's the blood from your father or mother's side, they have combined magnificently on you, whether it's your ruby-red eyes, or long silver hair full of luster… they are so intoxicating…"

"Aegnis, Nick is my friend just as you are!" Belinda smiled wryly and had to repeat herself.

"Alright, alright. Friend!" Aegnis flicked at the hair at her forehead, "Since it's your friend, I'll do it too!"

"Wait, sister, how can you let people with unknown origins just enter the holy city? Did you forget our work?" At this moment, the person behind Aegnis suddenly spoke.

"Hm?" Leylin noticed the person at this moment. He had short brown hair like Aegnis, and there was a faint resemblance. It seemed that they had blood relations.

"Oh, Belinda! So this is the useless brother I've mentioned before, Thomas! Thomas! Come here and say hello!"

"Good morning, beautiful ladies!" Thomas bowed respectfully, he looked enchanted and intoxicated as he gazed at Sophia, who was like a little girl,

"Aegnis!" Noticing the siblings ignoring Nick, obviously trying to infuriate him, Belinda was slightly annoyed.

"If you still keep that attitude, I'll leave with Nick! Anyway, besides the holy city, there are tons of places we can go."

Based on what she had mentioned, after obtaining permanent residency in the holy city, they could receive preferential treatment everywhere in the Hail Continent. It was the best method to counteract the fact that they were on the wanted list. Now for Leylin's sake, she was unexpectedly discarding this opportunity, it could be said that this was very unusual.

'But come on, don't you know that the closer you seem to me, the more trouble you'll bring to me?' Leylin was speechless. He could already sense two pairs of eyes that were willing to burn him to ashes.

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Residence Permit

"Hehe… we were only joking earlier, don't mind us! Of course, I'll take care of Nick's situation as well!" Aegnis smiled along, and Belinda immediately looked at ease. After all, she had asked a favour of Aegnis.

"Alright, I'll bring everyone in to go through the formalities," Aegnis rested her arm around Belinda's shoulders, and with her other hand pulling Sophia along, she did not forget to yell at Thomas, "Kid, why haven't you apologised to Sire Nick yet?"

Seeing what she was doing, Belinda smiled once more, no longer resistant to her actions.

"My apologies, Sire Nick!" Watching the backs of the three females walking ahead, Thomas shouted loudly.

However, his lips mouthed something else, "You weakling who only knows to rely on women!"

Leylin merely shrugged in answer to his provocation and insult and continued to follow behind Belinda, which left Thomas flabbergasted; it was the first time he had seen someone so shameless.

Leaving the stunned Thomas far behind, Leylin followed behind the three ladies expressionlessly with an air of resignation. In reality, however, he was snickering in his mind. What glory or reputation did he care for when he was dying? Was that important?

The Curse Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes was now eating his life force away, and he did not have not have many years left. In this situation, would he abandon such a simple method of entering the city and look for something else?

Whether he would succeed or not eventually, wasting time on reputation would be treating his life too lightly. When comparing his life to being taken as a fellow who could only rely on women, what loss was there for him?

"You…" Thomas puffed his cheeks out and followed behind them, but could do nothing against Leylin's shamelessness. Aegnis, in front, seemed to have noticed this, and her eyes glinted.

"Go away, you peasants! Don't block the path of us noble Stuards!"

As if trying to vent all the anger he'd gained from Leylin, Thomas flicked a nine-segmented whip of a snake leader, unceasingly creating crisps ounds and threatening the group of half-blooded snake beings in front of them.

Pila!* Seeing the half-blooded snake beings fearfully separating to two sides and giving way, Leylin couldn't help but stroke his chin. It seemed that the siblings who were in the Stuard family had a rather terrifying reputation in the holy city.

"Are you guards blind? Why aren't you here to welcome us?"

Immediately after, the guards who had been like fiends and slaughtering people as they wished instantly came over to help out with Thomas' call, bringing Belinda and the rest to the main gate.

Thomas had his nose in the air as he peeked at Leylin, eyes full of arrogance.

Leylin merely rolled his eyes in answer.

In the Magus World, this sort of person would have died several times over already, but this was the Hail Continent! This was where the descendants of the Snake Dowager had high statuses, and there were few bloody contests for power over them. Such a state had continued for tens of thousands of years, and had even become an iron rule.

Hence, it was entirely understandable that Thomas who had grown up in a sheltered environment was acting this way. This was one who had been spoilt by superior living conditions.

Leylin obviously would not stoop to the level of weaklings like him. His focus was now on the sculpture at the main gate.

"Mm, bloodline appraisal! A test of the soul! Though I'm confident I can pass through with no problems, the identification proof is a problem. After all, I can't invade the holy city's core database and create a fake history. What I said before had too many loopholes…"

Leylin looked slightly gloomy, which Thomas took to be a accomplishment on his part.

"You're very lucky! You should know that very few half bloods like you can stay in the holy city for a full year!"

Thomas jeered at him disdainfully, "Of course, you might not even be able to handle the living expenses here… But even if you stay here for a short period of time, it's enough for you to shine in the Hail Continent, or… You can write this in your diary, and some low-ranked bloodlines might be attracted…"

"Thomas, that's enough!" Evidently, even Aegnis could not watch on any longer.

Of course, Leylin had strong suspicions that Aegnis only felt that Thomas was bringing shame to the Stuard family with his words, which was why she got him to stop.

"Come, Belinda, and adorable little Sophia! This is the residence permit that I especially requested for you. As long as you bind it to your bloodline and soul, you will be recognised as free citizens of the holy city!"

Aegnis smiled slightly, producing two jade-green crystal cards. From the envious gazes from the half- or even pure-blooded snake beings, they should be amazing items.

"Thank you so much, Aegnis!" Belinda took the crystal card. With this identification, she could join organisations under the Snake Dowager's command. Trial's Eye would not be so brazen and might even automatically withdraw the order of her arrest.

"Then… how about Brother Nick?" Sophia bit at her fingers, finding that something was off.

"Sire Nick? When Belinda contacted me, she didn't mention it, so I didn't prepare it…"

Aegnis rubbed at her feelings as if embarrassed, "Permanent residence permits are hard to take care of in the holy city, so…"

Seeing that Belinda seemed to be on the verge of flaring up, Aegnis shook her hands, "ThoughI didn't get a permanent residence permit, I still have a temporary certification! It's for ten years, which should be enough for Sire Nick. In these ten years, I'm sure he can handle the procedures for his identification!"

"This… Nick…" Belinda peeked at Leylin slightly embarrassed. She had obviously noticed that Aegnis was purposely making things difficult for him.

"Sire Nick, a ten year certification is already very rare! For half-blooded snake beings who provide services for us residents of holy residents, their certification needs to be changed daily in order to prevent any tarnish to our noble holy city!"

Thomas, who was at the side, snorted.

"That's enough! Thank you very much, Lady Aegnis!" Leylin smiled slightly, taking another residence permit from her.

Ten years was enough time.

In the holy city, where the Snake Dowager's radiations were the most concentrated, with the the Curse Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes increasing in intensity, Leylin would probably be reduced to pile of bones if he could not solve the bloodline shackles within ten years.

Compared to Belinda and Sophis who had permanent residence permits, his own was duller, though there were intricate runes and concealing techniques on it.

"This pattern… Even with a sample, it's not easy for the A.I. Chip to make another one. On top of that… what's more troublesome is the soul and bloodline binding!"

Leylin's eyes flashed.

"Alright! Since you three now have the pass, please bind it to you. If the permits are lost, things will get very troublesome, so please keep it well and love them as you love your eyes!"

Aegnis spoke with an accent.

"The binding ceremony is very simple. Drip a droplet of blood and then use your spiritual force to scan the detection runes!"

With Aegnis' guidance, Belinda was the first and dripped her blood onto the crystal card. Once the dark red liquid touched the card, it was like water reaching sponge and was absorbed.

In the next instant, the whole green crystal card shone brilliantly and with flowing luster, Belinda's image emerged.

"Boo hoo… Sister, Sophia's afraid of pain!" Hearing that she had to bleed, Sophia's eyes were full of fear.

Such a pitiful stance immediately had Aegnis on the verge of turning into a big bad wolf.

"Keke… don't be afraid, little sister. Let your big sister help you!"

Aegnis, who was watching, only seemed to shock Sophia and bit at her finger to complete the binding process. Aegnis watched on with regret.

When Leylin was done with the procedure too, with Aegnis in the lead, they passed through a round arched door. Of course, there were sculptures ahead.

Hss hss!*

The miniature sculptures were even more intricate. They were made of some crystals similar to rocks, and especially the faces were carved very vividly, their eyes seeming to be connected to some enigmatic soul

Belinda and Sophia passed by, and the sculpture produced green and tender rays.

[Currently concealing with bloodline of Alabaster Devilsnake. Beast spirit undulations covering. Preparation to activate Feather of Chaos at anytime.]

Along with the A.I. Chip's voice, Leylin took a deep breath and passed through the formless boundary.

"Hss hss!" The eyes of the sculpture immediately produced green, tender rays, and caused Leylin to sigh in relief.

Immediately after, he was dazzled by lights.

Once Leylin got used to it, he began to size up the holy city of all descendants of the Snake Dowager.

On the ground, walls and even in the sky, a thin layer of light lined the area, causing everything to seem glorious.

The giant sculpture at the heart was filled with milky-white rays like a shining human being, giving off the feeling of holiness.

[Beep! Detected large amounts of radiation undulations. Curse Mark is being strengthened.]

The A.I. Chip intoned, while Belinda and Sophia beside him had a flush on their faces, looking intoxicated. Even their undulations were reinforced, and they obviously had obtained some benefits.

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Settling and Loft

'Rumours say the Snake Dowager favours the holy city, granting huge benefits to all her descendants…' Leylin thought, watching the siblings who were drunk on the feeling. 'Truth be told, the holy city is just affected by the presence of her main body. The radiation from it refines their bloodlines.'

Of course, there was a limit to this process. However, the guarantee that their bloodlines wouldn't deteriorate was enough for all of them to scramble here without delay.

'Pity. This sort of high energy radiation is basically poison to me now.' Sensing the curse mark continuously absorbing radiation and gaining strength, Leylin could only smile wryly. The Allsnake Curse had been sealed, but the closer he was to the Snake Dowager the more obvious the flare ups would become.

Hiding any signs of abnormality and taking the initiative to get closer to the Snake Dowager day by day, he was dancing on the edge of a knife.

'But at least it's confirmed that the Snake Dowager's main body is close to the holy city.' Leylin's eyes lit up. Just for that, he had to stay here in spite of the threat to his life.

"The Matriarch's sculpture is the core of the city, with the circles extending outwards from it. In the business district are H0LP and Imagia's Cabin, which are pretty good. Once you've settled down, I can accompany you on a stroll." Aegnis was evidently extremely excited as she brought them to a region with majestic mansions around.

"This region belongs to us Stewarts. I've arranged for Belinda to stay in a villa near me. We can—"

Trring! Trring! Trring!* Before Aegnis could finish speaking, she was interrupted by a series of rings from her vambrace. She opened a notification on her arm, her voice showing her discontentment. "What is it? Didn't I specifically mention that you are not to bother me no matter what happens tonight?"

"My sincerest apologies, Lord Aegnis, but this incident is so strange that it requires your personal attention."

"What is it?" Aegnis grew serious. For a subordinate who knew her personality to still trouble her, it would be something difficult to deal with.

"It has to do with a mutant contamination. It's at least grade 4 in danger."

"Fuck!" Aegnis cursed, evidently surprised. Immediately after, she closed off the communications and apologised to Belinda, "I'm so sorry Belinda, Sophia! There's something I need to handle, but I've already booked a room at the Spiral Serpent Restaurant. Please do go!"

"Alright Aegnis, hurry on with your work!" Belinda nodded in understanding, pressing her cheeks onto Aegnis' causing the woman to smile cheerfully.

"Thomas, I'll leave the rest to you. If Belinda and little Sophia are the slightest bit unhappy, you know what will happen!" Aegnis left hastily after assigning this task. Leylin's lips quirked up in a mysterious smile as he watched her leave.

"Alright then! My ladies, and this Mister Nick, please come with me!" Thomas said with a clap. He evidently wanted to act like a gentleman in front of the sisters.

Belinda and Sophia held no distaste for him and cheerfully chatted and joked around with hm until they reached a gorgeous villa. The entire villa lit up there with a snap of his fingers, warm light flooding every corner with a beep sounding.

Motes of multicolour light flew out into the little garden like fireflies, like little stars as they appeared before Sophia's hands.

"The lights are voice controlled, and dust removal spells activate at specific timings everyday. There's another spell formation here that can set the temperature. And every piece of furniture here was prepared specially by my elder sister. Since she didn't know your preferences, she's prepared for it and allowed you to choose things like your servants…" Thomas smiled warmly.

In the meanwhile, Belinda and Sophia were very satisfied with this villa.

"Most importantly, sister's place is nearby. It's easy to contact her." Thomas smiled as he handed the keys over to Belinda.

"Thank you both, for everything you've done for us. What about Nick's place?" Belinda glanced at Leylin.

"Mister Nick? I'm sorry, but this is area is restricted to female guests," Thomas waved his arms helplessly. He made an alternative suggestion, "How about you two ladies get some rest while I bring Mister Nick to his room?"

Though Belinda and Sophia were slightly discontent with this, Leylin appeared to very enthusiastically agree, and let the two sisters stay behind.

……

Thomas waited until he and Leylin left the villa to show his true colours.

"Listen to me, kid. I don't care who you are or what happened with those siblings on the way here. Just remember this. This is the holy city, and they aren't people you should expect anything from. Understand?" he asked, levelling a threatening gaze at Leylin. He already had a plan; if Leylin tried to resist or look for the sisters, he would get the guards and throw this guy into the moat.

In any case, the Stewart family was strong and had powerful defences. It was simple to get rid of a lone traveler with nobody to rely on.

As for those sisters? After wailing over Leylin for a while, they could only end up accepting it.

'Such is life!' Thomas laughed wickedly. He loved that phrase.

However, contrary to Thomas' expectations, 'Nick' actually seemed to be terrified and even hada flattering grin on his face, saying, "Alright, Mister Thomas. I have no expectations towards those sisters, and I'll break off all relations with them from hereon. This humble servant here only wishes to have a stable life in the holy city, and I am already extremely satisfied. Why would I expect other things?"

Leylin looked completely sincere as he continued, "Only Lord Thomas is worthy of Miss Sophia!"

"Mm, you're absolutely right!" This huge change in attitude dazed Thomas momentarily. He quickly recalled Leylin's indifference to his provocation, and passed it off as a show of cowardice and weakness in retrospect.

'Such a weak personality. He's probably someone the sisters made friends with on the way here,' Thomas wondered to himself, and suddenly found Leylin less of an eyesore.

A dark thought reared its head in the depths of his heart, 'In the future, if I bring the sisters over here, Nick's amazed expression will be very amusing…'

Leylin's position had lowered in his mind, from a love rival to a mere tool to be used. His malicious intent abated.

'If those sisters won't agree, wouldn't it be fun to have Nick knock them unconscious and then send them to my bed?' Thomas stroked his chin, daydreaming of this beautiful scene in the future. His lips arched.

"Well then. Lord Thomas, may I know where my lodging is? The prices in the holy city, they're really… Without anyone vouching for me, I can't rent a good place," Leylin seemed to hesitate before making his request.

However, Thomas, who now found Leylin less of an eye-sore, did not hesitate to agree. How could he make life difficult for Leylin if he did not have anything over him? In addition, placing the man right under his nose was better than having him going out by himself, where he could even try to hit on the sisters.

"Come with me!" Having thought this through, Thomas brought Leylin to another region. Compared to the luxurious villas before, this packed place seemed to be cheap. It was the difference between heaven and earth.

Thomas brought Leylin to another district, "This is the place! This estate belongs to our family, just that I don't know which idiot bought the rights to it then…"

Before him was an attic room. There were swirls on the wood of the walls and floor, and the place seemed dark and wet. It looked to be on the verge of collapse. It was also extremely small. There was a huge disparity between this and Belinda's luxurious villa.

Of course, this wasn't half bad considering the neighbouring residences.

"What do you think? This one isn't too bad compared to the surroundings. At the least, you wouldn't be able to pay a year of rent here even if you used up all your money…" Thomas laughed meanly without a care, "But I'm kind. You can live here as long as you want, no need to pay rent. I'll tell the guards."

"Thank you so much, my Lord!" Leylin bowed down nearly ninety degrees with a humble smile as he took the runic keys from Thomas. After multiple agreements not to look for the sisters, he finally managed to send a content Thomas away before activating them and sizing up his residence.

The wooden door let out sad creaks, as if unable to handle the stress. Leylin began to suspect that if this wasn't supported by the strength of spells, the whole building would immediately turn into a pile of rubble.

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Rationality and Reality

'However, it's still not bad!' After scanning the room, Leylin nodded lightly.

The place was a little small, lacked furniture, and was covered in a thick layer of dust, it would still fetch a sky-high rent in the holy city, where an inch of land was worth as much in gold. Since he could live here for free, why would he be dissatisfied?

What made Leylin feel even more satisfied was that this place was the Stewart family's property, and Thomas had even specially registered it for him. With Thomas vouching for him, even if the entire city was thoroughly searched in the future, this place would be as steady as a rock.

Leylin had his own reasons for his actions today. They were only performed after careful deliberation. The holy city would be entering troubled times, and without a strong patron a simple search would be very troublesome. Why else would he live here? He had no lack of valuable materials to sell.

For one, he didn't want to offend Thomas. Another reason was that he was borrowing the Stewart family's tiger skin [1 Putting on a false facade to intimidate others] to shield himself. Of course, once his plan was exposed it would implicate the Stewart family, especially Thomas. That would be an incredibly sad matter for them, but it was all within Leylin's considerations.

In reality, the idea had flashed after he saw Aegnis and her brother's infatuation with the sisters. Once they got him into the holy city, Belinda and her sister had almost exhausted their potentials, and they would just spell trouble in the future. In this dog eat dog world, beauty without strength was the most troublesome.

His options were clear. On one hand he could maintain his relationship with Belinda and her sister, but in the process offend Aegnis and her brother. By extension, he would offend the Stewart family who backed them. On the other, he could renounce his relations with Belinda and gain the family's understanding and protection. From Leylin's perspective, the answer was obvious.

Some people chose to head down a path of ruin, refusing to live quietly and even blatantly standing out despite being weak. Only an author sticking out their Golden Thumb1 would be able to save such cases.

Although Leylin couldn't be considered weak, in the Purgatory World, and especially this holy city, he was as frail as someone who would die to light being shone on them!

Indeed, he could reveal his strength and ruthlessly strike Thomas down. That would be followed Aegnis, then the Stewart family's position in the top ranks. He could move the entire holy city! All for a single moment, it would be an incomparably glorious scene.

That is, until his origins aroused suspicion. Then, with one glance the Snake Dowager would know immediately that he was the one she was looking for, and he would've delivered himself to her on a plate. Then Leylin truly would have lost everything.

And looking back at the root of the problem, it would be for what? Two women? Were they really worth all that?

Leylin had no feelings for Sophie and Belinda, they were simply companions he had met on the road. Belinda had a vaguely good impression of him, and would at most casually joke around from time to time. For Leylin to have to fight for her and ultimately lose everything- wouldn't that be outrageous?

With the Allsnake Curse on his body, and at a time where he was slowly inching towards death, worrying about trivial matters like affection was just foolish.

'What I need now is to spare no effort in hiding myself, and conflict with the Stewarts, a tyrannical snake family, is clearly very unwise… And especially over two women…' Leylin shook his head. Compared to directly clashing with Thomas and finally triggering that situation of completely exposing himself, Leylin simply chose to implement a plan which would minimise his influence and give him the greatest benefits.

'However, Thomas couldn't tell that his greatest enemy in getting Belinda and Sophie isn't me, but his sister Aegnis!' Leylin stroked his chin thoughtfully, with a trace of an sneer on his face.

With Aegnis at the sisters' side glaring covetously like a tiger watching its prey, Thomas' plan could be declared a successful failure before it even began. And of course, once he broke through his bloodline shackles Leylin could naturally make Thomas pay the price for today's insults.

With this thought, he'd handed Sophie and Belinda over to Aegnis for a while, letting her safeguard them while he received a rare guarantee of safe entry into the city. It wasn't a difficult thing for him to accept, and in fact he had more important matters to attend to than this.

Without greeting the envious neighbours around him, Leylin immediately shut the door. This two storey apartment building with a little courtyard outside it met his expectations.

After seeing a small flowerbed in the enclosure, Leylin's face blossomed into a smile.

'Not bad. It really is decent! All that's left wanting is for nobody to come and bother me. Unfortunately, that is impossible…' Leylin sighed, looking at the palm of his hand.

Blue-green veins were revealed under the light, and he could still faintly feel his life force ebbing. His body even looked a little weak.

'This situation…' Leylin laughed bitterly, 'A.I. Chip!'

[Beep! Calculating data on host's life force…… Analysis completed! The Allsnake Curse's corrosive ability has been amplified in the holy city. New estimated time: Three years and two months!]

"Even if I seal off my bloodline and soul, this life drain is still unavoidable… It really is too difficult to break through the shackles of a rank 8 existence…" There was a trace of a sigh in Leylin's expression. No matter how carefully he prepared, how far-reaching his plans were, the effect of a single seal from the Snake Dowager could instantly put him back in square one.

This was the result of an absolute gap in strength. Leylin himself always liked to bully the weak, and what he hated most was a situation where he was forced to challenge those who were much stronger than him.

Those thrillseekers who liked giving themselves heart attacks instead of safely profiting from a situation were all lunatics!

'Fortunately, I have my experience. Along with my Full Moon truesoul and all the preparations I've made, I still have a chance… Ha!' Leylin coughed, and entered the apartment building.

After spending half a day, Leylin had inspected almost every corner of this shabby apartment building, and had even secretly replaced all the defences with his own.

Leylin couldn't trust this kind of property that belonged to a family, there could be monitoring and probing equipment inside. With the A.I. Chip's atomic-level scanning and Leylin's own sight as a Grandmaster of spell formations, the few devices that had been set up couldn't escape him.

Naturally, Leylin did not choose to dismantle them immediately, which would cause him to completely fall out with the Stewart family. Instead, he prepared a layer of seals apart from the monitoring devices, to make the family feel that this place was still in their grasp. In reality, not a single trace of Leylin's actions would be leaked out to them. Once night fell, the fence surrounding the courtyard was covered with a layer of grey runes which slowly vanished from sight.

"Although it's just a temporary construction, it should be enough to deal with my neighbours!" Leylin muttered to himself, arriving at a completely sealed room with no windows.

The rotten floorboards emitted an unpleasant odour, and there was even a lot of dust on the floor. As it did not have any windows, the entire room looked extremely gloomy.

He immediately prepared a sacrificial spell formation, with a rune depicting a giant bird in the middle. Traces of grey power flowed above it continuously, making the rune of the giant bird seem as if it had spread its wings to fly.

"Almighty Ruler of Chaos! The Wings of the Storm! Free will from another dimension! Your majesty, the Nefarious Filthbird! Your Sacrificer requests that you give me your attention!"

A wave of intent burst forth from Leylin's body, containing the power of a Full Moon truesoul. It instantly linked up with someone through the spell formation.

"Kemoyin Emperor! You have actually already entered the holy city! Good! Very good! Excellent!" Excitement could be felt from the Nefarious Filthbird, although it didn't have a body to descend to. After all, they were in the Snake Dowager's back garden, and they were under strict surveillance.

In reality, were Leylin discovered to be making a Sacrifice to the Nefarious Filthbird, leave alone himself even Thomas would be hunted down and killed immediately.

This was the Hail Continent's holy city! Only one dignitary could ever rule it, and that was the Snake Dowager. Even an ally like the Trial's Eye couldn't spread its influence here, let alone the Nefarious Filthbird.

Consequently, seeing that Leylin had unexpectedly infiltrated the enemy's frontlines without a hitch, the Nefarious Filthbird's excited mood was understandable.

"Almighty dignitary, I appeal for you to bestow your chaos power, and conceal all the affairs in this apartment building so that I can escape from the gaze of the Snake Dowager!" Leylin sincerely prayed, but he did not offer any sacrifices.

"Of course! It will be your reward for bringing the power of chaos into the Holy City! If you are willing to sincerely offer sacrifices to me, in the future you will definitely become my helping hand, a rank 6 Sacrificer!"

A gentle chirp could be heard, and shortly after a grey circle began to rise up from the floors and walls, rapidly covering the entire apartment building. Everything was done in the dark and in secret, without emitting any strange undulations or radiance.

Watching the spell formation's radiance dim, a strange expression flickered within Leylin's eyes. Although he had not offered any sacrifices this time, the Nefarious Filthbird still magnanimously assisted him in concealing himself, and had even bestowed a great amount of power. This was obviously not just out of kindness.

The Nefarious Filthbird seemed to not have given up on the plan of using his chaos power to thoroughly contaminate him, and for him to finally become its underling. However, they were both currently reluctantly united due to their common enemy, the Snake Dowager. If a difference in opinion occurred in the future, they would very possibly become enemies instead.

"It looks like my success in infiltration excited the Nefarious Filthbird!" Leylin laughed coldly, "Unfortunately the bird has nothing to do with my future plans, and I will never find it again! The Nefarious Filthbird's plans are destined to be all for naught!"

1. Deus Ex Machina

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The Calamity of Gluttony

The Nefarious Filthbird and the Trial's Eye were eternal enemies. Since the Snake Dowager had allied herself with the Trial's Eye, it was normal for her to be a target of the Nefarious Filthbird's resistance and hostility. Hence, Leylin decided to rely on the Nefarious Filthbird's support, using its chaos power to conceal himself.

Now, the Nefarious Filthbird saw Leylin take yet another step towards success, so its increased investment in him was understandable. It was too bad that Leylin had never placed his hopes on the Nefarious Filthbird.

From the beginning, Leylin never trusted the Nefarious Filthbird. After all, it was a treacherous and powerful dignitary from another world. When he came to the Purgatory World, he had always hidden his most important abilities and his trump cards, and had never revealed a single part of any of them.

'A.I. Chip! Initiate mission!' Leylin began to communicate with the A.I. Chip in secret.

[Beep! Mission established, opening the second spell formation.] Dark runes mixed with chaos power appeared on the walls and fence after the A.I. Chip's voice sounded, before they disappeared completely.

These were Leylin's own preparations. Apart from their concealment effects, they had all been arranged for this moment.

[Beep! Hybrid spell formation has been completed. Operating at 100% capacity, No signs of rejection.] The A.I. Chip loyally transmitted the information.

'Excellent,' Leylin nodded his head. With this spell formation, all the spying elements that the Nefarious Filthbird could have left behind would be exposed.

Only now could it be said that this apartment truly belonged to Leylin.

'Time, time! I hope I still have enough time.' Leylin sighed and walked to the flowerbed, with his hands clasped behind his back. What vegetation had originally been planted here had been completely uprooted by its host, leaving only a few agave plants with their pale yellow stamens behind.

A dense circle of yellowing grass wound around the plants, which themselves appeared to be full of vitality.

'All things in this world are like illusory flowers, and cannot endure the passing of time. This is why I must pursue eternity!' Leylin seemed to have an intoxicated expression in his eyes, as if he was absorbed in the plant's beauty. Soon, however, the plants were wrapped up in a radiant light.

Shortly after, Leylin took out a small garden hoe and began to fix the small flowerbed. He got rid of all the weeds and agave plants, and erected a wooden fence around it.

The flowerbed was semi-circular and very small, its area even less than one square meter. However, it was a lot better than the places around him, with more than a dozen people clustered together like an unbearably chaotic hotel. Although it wasn't the best, there were others who were less fortunate, so he would be satisfied.

The black soil seemed to hold a lot of water, and was clearly rich in top-grade nutrition. Obviously, all the radiation in the holy city would probably change the most ordinary of soil as well.

However, Leylin could not help but take out a few pieces of grey crystal. Within his strong grip, the crystals were immediately reduced to ashes and scattered evenly within the flowerbed. Lastly, Leylin covered them up with a fresh layer of soil.

After the preparation work was complete, Leylin grew even more cautious. A silver beam flashed, and space fluctuated as a translucent grey crystal appeared in Leylin's palm. One could see green at its core if they looked through the magnificent exterior.

'The Seed of Wisdom… It's finally time to use senior's gift.' Leylin's eyes had a tinge of reminiscence.He had encountered the Wisdom Tree in the Scarlet Ruins when he was but a rank 4 Warlock. This was the origin of wisdom! Thanks to it, Leylin had learnt to break through the bloodline shackles.

In the end, he had even obtained a gift from the Wisdom Tree, the green Seed of Wisdom.

'Rumour has it that the Wisdom Tree is the apex of wisdom in the entire astral plane, including all dimensions, planes, and worlds. It is an ancient and powerful existence that has enlightened many living creatures including Magi. Its offspring also possess many unfathomable powers.'

"Sprout, root of all wisdom!" Following Leylin's voice, the A.I. Chip emotionlessly notified him, [Beep! Releasing the seal on the Eternal Crystal.]

The translucent crystal shattered into a fine white powder which gradually disappeared with the wind. A ring of green light formed, growing in intensity within Leylin's hands.

A bit of the green light caused even the agave plants that had already been uprooted to flutter happily. These plants were already being transformed into intelligent beings, even though they had only been touched by a small amount of it.

"Disappear!" Leylin said lightly, and all of the agave plants on the floor turned into ash.

'If I hadn't prepared the spell formation in advance, it would have been a mess.' Leylin looked at the seed in his hand. The brown coating had complicated patterns on it, and the top end exposed a core that was as green as an emerald.

'If this Seed of Wisdom were to grow for a very long time, would it ultimately mature into another Wisdom Tree?' Leylin lost himself in his daydream for a while, but shortly after he buried the seed in the flowerbed and covered it with solid earth.

Afterwards, Leylin acted the part of an industrious farmer as he attentively took care of the entire flowerbed, paying no attention to the clumps of dirt on his elegant robes.

'My seed of hope has been planted. From now on, I have to continuously water it, apply fertiliser, and wait until the day it puts down roots and grows to its full size.' Leylin took up his spray bottle, with a hopeful expression in his eyes…

A lot had happened that evening, and in contrast a resident of the holy city planting a seed in his flowerbed was something extremely insignificant. While Leylin was engrossed in his flowerbed, a pair of Imperial Bodyguards solemnly stared at the scene before them, outside the Holy City.

"What did you see?" Aegnis touched the scratch on the floor and sensed the intent left behind by the creature, especially its intense hunger for food. This left her fearful.

"Very clean. Extremely clean." Behind Aegnis, a black haired youth took off his helmet and placed a clump of soil squarely in front of his nose.

"What do you mean? Tell me the important stuff!" Aegnis glared at him.

"I meant that the marks left in the scene show that there were clearly two giant creatures here. I reckon the probability of it being a giant snake is over 70%. Thus, it is clear that the winner got everything from the loser." The youth took out a device similar to a magnifying glass and attentively looked at the small purple crystals within the soil. The expression on his face was both sincere and focused.

"What I meant by 'clean', was the winner's behaviour. It ate so cleanly that not even a single drop of blood fell to the ground. This level of food craving surpasses normal biological limits."

"Biological limits?" Aegnis wrinkled her brow in confusion.

"Right! Creatures of nature, including serpents who devour each other, will always leave some traces of their meal, either blood, scales or any other remains. However, there's none of that here. There's nothing left. It seems that the winning serpent is under the control of a powerful evil existence instead of its own instincts."

"Was it contaminated by a different kind of energy? Which dignitary dares reach out to the Serpent Plains? Don't they know that this is our Matriarch's forbidden land?" Aegnis' anger was immense. It was clear that she resented being dragged here to carry out this mission.

The dark haired youth tactfully avoided trouble, stating with a businesslike expression, "Taking into account these traces, I believe that this case is connected to the violent occurrences in Central."

"Are you saying that the contamination has already spread all the way here? So quick!" Aegnis' pupils contracted. After all, even rank 4s or 5s like Leylin and Belinda, needed almost a month to cross the vast Serpent Plains.

"In that case, it's only a matter of time before the contamination spreads to the holy city!" Aegnis had a heavy expression on her face.

"That's correct. The contamination has already extended here. Although I would like to say it is only an isolated accident, we absolutely cannot take it lightly." The dark haired youth put down the device in his hand with a trace of fear in his eyes.

"This type of contamination spreads quickly, and can also affect intelligent rank 4 and 5 snake tribes. It is a serious threat to those giant serpents in the wild. I propose we immediately report this to the Snake Dowager."

"Are you joking? Just because of this small matter? Some gluttonous snakes? You want to alarm our almighty dignitary?" Aegnis looked incredulously at him.

Although she felt that the situation was rather serious as well, she had never thought that it was to the extent where she had to report to the Snake Dowager. The Stewarts, as the Holy City's garrison family, could not allow such a humiliating thing to happen.

"Continue the search! Find a damned person! I want to cut open their stomach and finally see what's inside!" Aegnis ordered. She had a faint premonition that this event could delay her for a very long time.

'It's a shame. Belinda… Little sister Sophia…' In her heart, Aegnis was wailing with anguish, but she maintained an appearance of an icy commanding officer. The small squad went deeper and deeper into the plains. Soon, a cry specific to serpents was transmitted into Aegnis' ear.

"Excellent! Let's chase it!" Aegnis excitedly chased after it. What happened afterwards, however, became a nightmare that haunted her for life.

That night went down in the records of the holy city, remembered as the beginning of the Calamity of Gluttony.

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Allsnake and Tyrant

'There seems to be some disturbance in the holy city today.' Leylin looked at the sky. The sound of a piercing alarm could be heard, but he ignored it as he continued to water his garden.

'According to my plan, those serpents contaminated by gluttony should have reached this place. It seems like the guards have discovered something,' Leylin was unhurried, busying himself with his own matters.

In reality, with all the time that had passed gluttony had already permeated the Serpent Plains. This epidemic wouldn't disappear unless the plains were completely destroyed. That was how certain Leylin was of his own work.

With a push on his end, the original power of gluttony on the plains had become unstoppable. The large amount of giant high-energy snakes, combined with this terrifying power that made use of food intake to break through, created a horrifying effect that exceeded even Leylin's expectations.

'With this speed, perhaps even those rank 5 or 6 creatures won't be able to avoid being contaminated by the power of gluttony,' Leylin's lips quirked up in a smile.

Even a rank 6 snake nest on the plains had no choice but to run away or be consumed by their gluttonous desires, and ultimately consume others or become fodder. There was no other way out.

As for the Snake Dowager? She might an incredibly powerful rank 8 being, and the dignitary who ruled over the Hail Continent, but the Sovereign King of Gluttony, Beelzebub, was no pushover either. As a being who was equally at rank 8 and someone who had grasped the laws of gluttony, he ended up discovering the Purgatory World and making use of his power to take over the whole plains.

Now, it was too late even if Beelzebub decided he wanted to halt the war with the Snake Dowager. After all, as an invader, how could he give up such a huge, splendid area in the Hail Continent?

Consequently, unless the Snake Dowager were to abandon the entire holy city and hand over the Serpent Plains, the two of them would not be able to come to an agreement.

If she chose to give in and gave up the plains, it would be an invitation to share rule over the Hail Continent. This was equivalent to slowly committing suicide, which was obviously unacceptable. It was foreseeable that the conflict between them could only increase in intensity.

The earth trembled, sending pebbled jumping around on the ground. A ball of coiled snakes that was like a star rose above the skies of the holy city.

"It's the Matriarch! The mighty Holy Mother!" In that moment, the residents of the holy city all began to pray. Leylin appeared to be doing the same, but on the inside he was raising all of his defences.

Rumble* Like an earthquake or an erupting volcano, a conscient that was extremely terrifying began to spread in all directions, with the sculpture at the very centre of it all. Leylin could sense the Snake Dowager's immense fury from the terrifying wave. The other free residents could only lie on the ground, trembling.

'The laws the Snake Dowager has grasped… Are they of bloodlines, serpents, or reproduction?'

Leylin seemed to react the same way as his surrounding neighbours, even looking more devout than some of them. However, he was inwardly attempting to trace the source of the Snake Dowager's laws through her conscient's undulations.

'It seems to be the mix of a few. There's also a trace of darkness.' His astounding knowledge, coupled with the A.I. Chip's tremendous database, allowed Leylin to somewhat identify these laws.

'The Snake Dowager is terrifying. Not only does she grasp multiple laws, but she has already begun to refine her comprehension of her laws and fuse it with the law of shadows to form an entirely new law…'

The realm of rank 8 was naturally superior to rank 7, where only one law had been grasped. From this wave, Leylin had pried into the path that she had probably taken.

'Rank 7 Magi have to grasp the powers of a single law, but in order to grasp multiple laws, rank 8 beings have to attempt refining them?' Leylin stroked his chin, 'Then what about rank 9 Magi? The legendary most powerful realm of all? Does it mean containing all laws in one body and trying to create something more powerful?'

A murky understanding seemed to dawn on Leylin's mind. The Snake Dowager's path might be wrong, but her actions still gave Leylin, who was going in blind, a great enlightenment.

'Let's leave that aside for now. The Snake Dowager must have discovered the contamination from the power of gluttony, but I still don't know how Beelzebub will react.' Leylin watched the battle from the shadows.

"I am the Snake Dowager, source of all snake bloodlines." The ball of snakes uncoiled, revealing the charming face of the mother of all snakes. Every strand of hair represented an astounding amount of power that caused the air to distort.

While she was transmitting her will, Leylin abruptly felt the Snake Dowager launch a probing force even more powerful than before.

'Seems like she still has yet to give up on finding me. Or, has she guessed that I'm the one behind all this? But even if she has noticed it, what can she do?' Leylin snickered.

He was now using an obvious scheme. Using the Purgatory World and the Allsnake Plains as bait, Leylin had attracted Beelzebub over. And, as long as he had the desire to take over this world, Beelzebub would never reach an agreement with the Snake Dowager.

Beelzebub had previously suffered great losses under Leylin's hand, and nothing would change this fact even if they had a common enemy in the Snake Dowager.

In their eyes, Leylin was merely a tiny bug that could easily be pinched to death. Why would they pause their conflict to work together and attack him?

This was reality. As long as there was a victor, either side would have no problem dealing with Leylin later. This situation gave Leylin the amount of time he needed.

"Purify!" The eyes of the Snake Dowager held benevolence and compassion as she spread her arms. Holy golden rays of light rained down in every direction, with the holy city at the heart of it all.

Bits of a dark red liquid were repelled from the roots, water sources and even pores of some giant snakes, and then neutralised by the golden rays, turning into pure water droplets.

'The Snake Dowager of the Shadow World has such knowledge on light-type purification spells? As expected of an ancient being who has lived through the ancient war. She has no weaknesses…' Leylin's pupils shrank as the the A.I. Chip recorded the information, trying to simulate the limits of her power.

While the A.I. Chip couldn't really tell how much power an existence like the Snake Dowager had, just having a vague idea was still helpful for Leylin.

Under the golden holy light, the region around the holy city was completely purified. The area continued to expand all the way to the depths of the Serpentes Plains.

Watching what should be a worrisome scene, Leylin's eyes glinted with delight, 'It's a pity. If I was the only one behind this, just a few purification processes by the Snake Dowager would save the Serpentes Plains. However, there is someone else who lords over the power of gluttony.'

At this very moment, a strange happening occurred with a loud crash!

Large amounts of the dark red contaminated liquid that should have disappeared began to boil. The red motes of light converged and formed a huge ball of red light that soared into the air like a bloody moon.

"Hail to master Beelzebub! You are the Sovereign King of Gluttony, the child of original power, the master of everything in this world." A resonant praise that held traces of insanity began to echo in the holy city, striking the Snake Dowager's holy light display.

"This feeling… you're…" The Snake Dowager's enraged voice was heard from within the holy light, before it was drowned out by large amounts of crimson lightning.

The crimson lightning looked like long lines that danced in the air, tearing out cracks and revealing huge terrifying spatial rifts.

Two webbed hands with seven fingers each pressed on the side of a rift, causing it to roar as it expanded. There seemed to be a terrifying existence at the other end of the spatial crack trying to squeeze in.

"Ha, Beelzebub! You can't endure it anymore? That makes sense– a place where the World Will is this chaotic must be heaven for you."

Leylin laughed as if he had the upperhand. With the temptation of a huge world lacking a will, Beelzebub decided to take the risk. Even if this wasn't his real body, it was at least a clone with 50% of the strength of the real body. For Beelzebub, the losses incurred if he were to fail would cause his main body to be severely injured and enter a deep sleep, or he could possibly die. It made obvious his intentions.

"You dare trespass on my territory? Do you attach any importance at all to the treaty of alliance, which has been in place since time immemorial?" If Beelzebub was full of determination, then the Snake Dowager was full of fury. After all, anyone would be in a foul mood if they were relaxing at home and someone else just decided to barge in.

While the Snake Dowager fired her questions, the golden holy light seemed to transform. A layer of darkness appeared like a huge web, vast and layered, dispelling the crimson lightning out of the holy city.

After being challenged by someone of the same rank, the Snake Dowager finally showed her true strength.

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Descent of Clone

Rumours said that the Snake Dowager could take over the Shadow World, it was clear how great her comprehension of the power of shadows was. As expected, the moment the power of shadows appeared, it replaced the purifying holy light from earlier. Even the crimson lightning and spatial storm's destructive power could not affect it, and it remained as steady as a rock.

"Allsnake Devour!" The dark power of shadows transformed to form numerous giant snakes, revealing their fangs to the huge monstrous palm opposing them.

"Hah! The doors to a new world shall be opened by me!" A multitude of terrifying grey snakes hissed at the owner of this voice. Alabaster Devilsnakes, Giant Kemoyin Serpents and practically all of the Dowager's descendants could be found amongst the shadow snakes.

Terrifying and tremendous force, backed by the corrosive power of shadows, immediately left lacerations on the monstrous hand.

However, Beelzebub paid no mind at all. His skin and muscle was completely shredded, with dark red blood falling like raindrops, but he still resolutely endured the pain. The two huge hands abruptly spread out, using their strength to completely tear apart the spatial crack.

A streak of black light suddenly darted out from the crack, fusing with the crimson moon in mid air.

The ball of light squirmed and then formed an enormous phantom figure. A pair of enormous wings made of membranous meat, riddled with holes, were attached to arms with seven-fingered hands. Black muscle tied everything together; the many compound eyes on the face formed a soul spiral; the flames of the Devil King blazed around him, showing off his might and power.

Beelzebub, the powerful Devil King, child of the power of gluttony, had descended into the Purgatory World! In that moment, it seemed as if the whole world was suffocating. Numerous terrifying conscients focused on this place from afar.

'A clone?' Leylin carefully observed Beelzebub. From traversing worlds and the attack from the Snake Dowager, he seemed to be in a rather miserable state, especially with those two devilish arms that were now heavily injured. He also had numerous terrifying injuries from his travel through space.

However, this did not deter the spread of his power or the feeling of evil. Even the air seemed to be polluted as it spread.

'The main body must be too powerful and he can't bring it over, so he chose to separate his soul from his body and move over with his soul…' Leylin's eyes darted around.

'Compared to moving physical materials over, the consumption of having just the soul travel over is much lower. Even so, he was gravely injured from moving between worlds… Of course, if this weren't the Purgatory World, he would probably just die…'

The resistance that Beelzebub experienced in travelling to the Purgatory World was minimal. If he dared to enter the Magus World, the suppression from the World Will and the spatial storms combined would kill even his soul.

The more powerful one was, the easier it was to get suppressed by the World Will. Beelzebub could place clones at Morning Star or Radiant Moon in the Magus World, but separating his truesoul like this was far too powerful, and he would easily be suppressed.

And if he were to find some small world, where the World Will could do nothing against his descent, it could just self-destruct and make things backfire on him.

Hence, as he could not go to high-ranked worlds nor smaller ones, the discovery of the Purgatory World was like that of a precious treasure!

He didn't hesitate to split his truesoul to reach this place.

'But in his 'half truesoul' form without even a corporeal body, he's definitely not a match for the Snake Dowager. They won't be able to fight today…' Even as the residents of the holy city were quivering in fear, Leylin's thoughts moved further, 'Of course, with his power as the Sovereign King of Gluttony, finding a body is very simple. As long as he has enough food, he can regain his strength. Also, with him around, it won't be so easy for the Snake Dowager to purify the Serpent Plains…'

Though Beelzebub could not do much against the Snake Dowager now, she might not be able to defeat him. This was the truesoul of a rank 8, which meant they were at the same level!

"The power of Gluttony shall rule this place henceforth!" As he soared in the skies, Beelzebub's numerous compound eyes surveyed the Snake Dowager without fear, though his body was gradually becoming more transparent.

Whether in terms of the grasp of laws and flawless wisdom for a rank 8 existence, Beelzebub immediately chose to leave after realising he would not be gaining benefits from the Snake Dowager today.

Similarly, she would not let go of a chance that was so difficult to come by.

"Shadow Cage!" A circle of shadows spread from her body, and instantly turned into a cage formed of numerous shadow snakes that enveloped the whole holy city. Terrifying shadow chains were like agile snakes, twining around Beelzebub's truesoul.

"It's no use! I am the personification of laws, and I cannot die in the presence of gluttony. I will not be destroyed…" Along with his voice, that was like an announcement, his body exploded.

A large amount of energy spread, but it did not harm the shadow cage around it. Once the explosion ended, there was nothing left in the chains.

"Damn it, he even found this world…" A few tremendous conscients that carried the will of the dignitaries conversed above the holy city. Immediately after, the Snake Dowager's face turned extremely grim. Along with loud explosions, the shadow cage disappeared. Finally, a purple moonlight shone down, making the last battles feel like a mere illusion.

However, the slight spatial storms in the surroundings as well as the wrecked regions around the holy city were hard proof of what had happened.

'In an area where his law exists, he will never die nor can he be destroyed?' WIthin the holy city, Leylin's eyes were on the ground as he pondered over Beelzebub's words. 'From his words and abilities, they might all be existences that deal with laws, but Beelzebub's path is evidently different… Furthermore…'

Leylin brightened up, 'The Snake Dowager seems to be rather fearful of him, or rather, his world…'

This provided some verification to Leylin's previous conjectures.

'But that's all in the future! Now, with Beelzebub around, the Snake Dowager won't place too much emphasis on a wretched mortal like me…' Leylin immediately felt relieved. Compared to an arch enemy like Beelzebub who was rank 8, he was like a mere ant, where none of the two could be bothered with him.

It was only at this time that he would be able to pull chestnuts out of the fire!

'Fight! Fight! Go on, fight!' Leylin snickered inside, while looking incredibly calm.

"Just fight, while I quietly tend to my garden and wait…" He spoke light-heartedly as he picked up the watering can and took care of the little flowerbed, as if putting all his efforts in here.

Bang!* However, his peace did not last for long. Practically the moment after the Snake Dowager's figure dissipated, the sounds of the door being bashed on could be heard.

"What's going on?" Leylin opened the door and watched two snake beings who were like guards. They had emblems on their uniforms and were obviously looking for Leylin. They were clearly the guards of the holy city.

"By order of the Holy Mother, all snake beings in the holy city are to be searched!"

The head of the guards had Morning Star strength. This would be impossible in other worlds. Only in the holy city where the bloodlines of the descendants were concentrated to the extreme would guards have such powerful military strength.

"Sure! But this is property of the Stewart family, and I am a guest of Young Master Thomas. I hope you won't make things messy in my home!" Leylin smiled and leant towards the side.

From this position, he could see teams of guards in light armour already on the streets, perhaps conducting searches on the whole region.

"Sir, we have found nothing!" As if due to Leylin's warnings, the guards had roughly looked here and there through the area vaguely and returned to report.

Due to Leylin's arrangement and the concealment of the power of chaos, none of them had discovered everything, and the little flowerbed was nothing special.

"How about your residence permit? Can I take a look at it?" The team leader sized Leylin up and spoke in a low voice.

"What are you doing? Which squadron are you from?" At this moment, a voice full of haughtiness sounded. Leylin took a look and found it was Thomas, along with Belinda and Sophia. They had arrived at his door.

Thomas now wore a luxurious silk robe, looking obviously humiliated and angry. It was clear that this team leader had not respected his reputation at all, and he was feeling very annoyed about it.

"Which squad are you from? Do you know that this is property of our Stewart family, and Nick here is my guest?" Thomas narrowed his eyes, fingers about to poke at the team leader's nose.

"But… the order from the higher-ups…"

"There are no buts! I'll take responsibility for Nick," Thomas waved his arms around, "Order from higher-ups? Is our Stewart family not important enough to be given special treatment?"

The Stewart family had control over the defences of the holy city. If it came down to it, Thomas could very well rank above his own superiors, which was why the pair didn't even dare to squeak in answer.

"Everything's fine now. Thank you very much, Young Master Thomas! He was merely doing his job, so don't make things difficult for him!" Leylin mediated and then passed his residence permit to the team leader.

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Dreamscape Waning

"Soul undulations, bloodline detection, identity testing— pass!" A mechanical voice transmitted from a small sculpture of the Snake Dowager held by the squad leader.

Sensing the detecting undulations sweeping past him, Leylin inwardly sneered. With his soul force and bloodline concealed, and especially with Aegnis inadvertently protecting him as his original information had been entered into the database, the identity test that was most likely to expose him had its leaks completely sealed. Even if they examined him again, it would be to no avail.

"Haven't you finished the inspection? Shouldn't you get lost then?" Thomas looked at the bunch of guards who hurried away in confusion, with a satisfied look in his eyes.

"Little Sophia! These guards all belong to the Stewart family. If you encounter them in the holy city, don't be frightened, just give them my name!" Shortly afterwards, Thomas made this solicitous offer.

Leylin secretly rolled his eyes. He knew that if it wasn't for Belinda and her sister, Thomas wouldn't have so hot-bloodedly rushed out to support him.

"Nick, are you alright?" Belinda and her sister went into the little courtyard, and when they saw how narrow the place was and how cramped the apartment was, they wrinkled their brows. "Would you like to come and live with us instead?"

"That's not necessary!" "That's not necessary!"

Leylin and Thomas spoke almost at the same time, and seeing the threatening expression in Thomas' eyes, Leylin inwardly sneered. He switched to a smile and said to Belinda, "This place is very nice! And besides, Young Master Thomas is letting me live here entirely for free, this is very rare in the holy city… To be honest, being able to become a free citizen of the holy city, even if it's only for 10 years, I can't ask for anything more than this……"

Leylin intentionally emphasised the last few words, and from Thomas' point of view, this was Leylin surrendering to him, so he nodded his head with satisfaction.

Belinda, on the other hand, looked at Leylin with astonishment. From her impression of him, Leylin definitely wouldn't behave like this.

"But… Brother Nick! How can you live here? Sophia's heart is distressed…" Sophia tugged at Leylin's sleeve.

"Alright, alright! The both of you, don't come back and give me trouble!" Leylin didn't care, pushing Belinda and Sophia out with an impatient expression. He then shut the door in their faces/

"Very good. You've done well." Once the door had been shut, he heard Thomas' secret message, but at the same time he heard other news.

Immediately after, Thomas' arrogant and proud voice could be heard just outside. "Don't bother with that Nick anymore. Look! He actually treated you both like this. Little Sophia, shall I bring you to play at the Holy Mother's Sculpture?"

As their voices grew more distant, Leylin shook his head with a laugh.

"Sometimes, when you don't want trouble, trouble comes to find you instead! Did I put on too good a performance when we were on the road?" He currently wished for the entire world to forget him, and let him quietly farm properly.

However, now it looked like—

……

Night had fallen, and the purple halo of the moon had slipped down. Inside the holy city there was none of the clamor of the day, and even the places filled with holy light had all dimmed down.

After a full day of searching the entire city, and with dozens of unlucky people without papers thrown into the moat, dissolving until their bones couldn't be found, the streets were completely deserted with a desolate atmosphere.

"Activate the bloodline imprint!"

In the small courtyard next to the flowerbed, Leylin looked at his right arm. On his wrist were ten small white snake imprints lying side by side.

These were naturally the bloodline imprints he had made using the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline.

Hss—* A rank 5 beast spirit tattoo appeared before his eyes, making Leylin's control over the bloodline imprint much easier.

"The beast spirit's power has an effect of resisting suppression, and can maximise the imprint's effect!" There was a trace of a smile on Leylin's face, and soon he saw the brand on his hand fading rapidly and disappearing.

[Beep! The host has consumed the Alabaster Devilsnake's bloodline imprint, initiating connection with Dreamscape!]

The innate skill of the Alabaster Devilsnake was the ability to travel to Dreamscape. Leylin himself had acquired this ability through the bloodline imprint.

However, in his heart, he had some doubts about it. After all, this was something he gained from the Thousand-Eyed Woman on his previous adventure in the Dreamscape. As a result, when his truesoul connected to the monstrous and dazzling world, Leylin did not choose to immediately enter it. Instead, he attempted to draw on some dreamforce.

Ssss—* The air seemed to shimmer and warp like in a hazy heat, and traces of dark red dreamforce began to fall in without end, sinking into the earth of the flowerbed.

The green Seed of Wisdom seemed to welcome it, and absorbed the dreamforce. It even budded a little green shoot, and seemed to be filled with the breath of life.

The dark red dreamforce was like a fog, and lingered on around the small bud. It was continuously absorbed by the bud, and appeared to have become a nutrient source.

At this moment, it sounded as if a bowstring had snapped in the void. An oppressive voice sounded, and the dreamforce rapidly faded, disappearing in a flash.

"What's going on? I used the bloodline imprint to pull dreamforce in, and it's just this little… It's not equal to the previous times I've used it… Don't tell me…" Leylin's expression immediately turned gloomy.

[Beep! Dreamforce has rapidly decreased, determined to be at the nadir.]

"What bad luck! To think that it also had this uncertain and deceptive characteristic…" Leylin could only laugh bitterly.

Although dreamforce at its peak phase could be compared to the power of laws, it was full of uncertainty. Now it had declined, dropping from the zenith to the nadir. Currently, it was perhaps far weaker than bloodline force.

"I can feel it! The entire Dreamscape seems to have sunk into stillness, and all dreamforce has vanished!" Leylin had a solemn expression. He could feel a lot of things through the Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit and bloodline.

Not only had dreamforce fallen into its weak phase, even the Dreamscape itself had sunk into silence, meaning that if he wanted to draw out dreamforce, he needed to waste even more power than before. And its effects would be greatly reduced as well!

'As expected, choosing not to rely on dreamforce was the correct decision; this random and uncertain behaviour is basically used to cheat people…' Leylin shook his head, and at the same time he suddenly understood, 'No wonder the Snake Dowager's performance today was so poor! She seemed evenly matched with the divided truesoul clone of a rank 8, it was because dreamforce had fallen into its trough phase and reduced her strength… '

The weakness of dreamforce was both a blessing and a curse for Leylin. The best advantage was that the Snake Dowager clearly could not use dreamforce without restraint, which was the same as cutting off an arm.

'If it's like this, the advantages of Dreamscape entering its silent phase outweigh the disadvantages for me!' Leylin stroked his chin, 'Besides, I have my reserves of chaos power and so many bloodline imprints. I can afford to use them up a little, I can still complete the plan.'

From Leylin's point of view, if one bloodline imprint from before could draw over 10 units of dreamforce, then now it was only enough to draw over 1 unit. For those who primarily used dreamforce, this terrifying reduction was a complete nightmare!

Once dreamforce grew weak, perhaps even existences on the level of the God of Evil could only withdraw into Dreamscape or even take the initiative to lie dormant and reduce their consumption until dreamforce was restored.

However, Leylin staked it all on his abundant bloodline imprints; even if he wasted a few, it wasn't as if he couldn't make up for it.

In any case, he had reaped many bloodlines from Belinda's family and it was enough to support his consumption, and it wasn't as if the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline was limited to that family.

"When you think of trouble, trouble will arrive!" Leylin's brows pressed together, and he sighed helplessly. With a wave of his right hand, a whirlwind of energy particles appeared and swept across the flower garden.

Although he had already prepared for this, the energy aura from earlier could leak out some things, and Leylin naturally would not leave such a huge leak without caring.

After a moment, a dreamlike figure came out from the moonlight.

"Nick!" She looked at Leylin with a complicated expression on her face.

She had long golden-white hair which shone with vibrant lustre under the moonlight, scarlet eyes which were as beautiful as rubies. She seemed like the very personification of beauty, and she had a strange attractive force about her.

"You've come!" Leylin greeted her without even turning his head.

"I already left a message for you earlier, you know this!"

Belinda went directly to Leylin and looked at him with her beautiful eyes that were devoid of restraint, "I know that the outsiders from earlier could have given you trouble so I've come secretly, the other's don't know. Did Thomas, that disgusting fellow, pressure you?"

It had to be said that Belinda was a very intelligent girl, she was after all a senior Sacrificer for the Trial's Eye who even mercilessly exacted vengeance on her own family. How could she not be scheming? Leylin's transformation was far too obvious, anyone could see the difference.

"Even if he did, so what?" Leylin spread out his hands helplessly: "In the holy city, do we have any other choice?"

"I'll kill him!" Belinda let out a murderous aura, and it wasn't faked.

"And after that? After becoming a wanted criminal of the holy city, and really flee to the other end of the world? How childish!" Leylin coldly refuted her.

"So what?" Belinda bit her lip, and her eyes seemed to sparkle a little: "Even if I don't kill him, we can just move out and become mercenaries and do missions, we will still be able to live in the holy city…"

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Tacit Understanding

At the end, Belinda's voice was choked with sobs.

Leylin looked at how Belinda was speaking in her tearful voice, and was rendered speechless. 'Alright I didn't think my acting would have such a great effect, did the mental suggestions affect her too deeply?'

However, what he needed now was to be low-profile, and he couldn't be together with Belinda and bring trouble onto himself. The beauty of the two sisters would be a source of chaos anywhere.

Knowing this, how could Leylin put himself in danger?

"Become mercenaries? Hah, how would we afford the holy city's rent and prices? Particularly with the Stewart family, you can't just break away from them just because you want to. Against this family who have extended their tentacles in all corners of the holy city, what can you possibly do?"

Leylin could only play the role of a realist, and coldly strike down Belinda.

"Nick, you've changed! You weren't like this before!" The callous words made Belinda a little dull, and she looked at Leylin with a rather foolish expression.

"I haven't changed, I've only accepted reality! Go!" Leylin seemed to wave his hand impatiently, and also violently began coughing at the same time.

"Uh, no!" Belinda stepped forward and directly brushed away Leylin's palm, and finally saw the blood that Leylin had coughed up.

"Your life force! How could it became this weak, and why do you have all these symptoms? What happened to your strength? Has it disappeared?"

Leylin's life force was continuously degenerating, and although his appearance was the same as before, his vitality was constantly sapped away. Compared to before, it was like the difference between a candle and a torch.

"It's an old wound from past adventures, it's nothing!" As for this, Leylin did not try to hide it, and it could no longer be concealed either.

This was the reason he had done his best to avoid conflict. With his strength in decline, unrepentantly provoking formidable powers could only be described as foolish.

"I knew it! You were afraid! Afraid of burdening me and Sophia!" On the contrary, Leylin's condition made Belinda seemingly join the dots.

"Are you afraid of becoming a burden to me? It doesn't matter, I can certainly cure you!" Belinda looked deeply into Leylin's eyes, her figure disappearing into the moonlight.

Leylin stood there somewhat speechlessly: "She actually thought of something? Although it's not quite the case at all…"

However, if Belinda wanted to think of it like this, it didn't seem like it would do him any harm. Leylin thought about it a little, but did not intend to expose himself.

"Now… perhaps after the Sovereign King of gluttony's appearance today, the structure of the holy city is likely to have changed dramatically…" After Belinda had left, Leylin took up his sprinkler again and attentively tended to the budding shoots in his flowerbed. His expression was peaceful and serene, and he seemed to have nothing to do with the outside world.

In fact, this truly was the case. On the second day, along with a heavily injured Aegnis returning home, an even more terrifying news came about— mad beasts contaminated by gluttony had appeared near the holy city!

Even if the Snake Dowager had already discovered this and carried out her purification, with Beelzebub's disruption her schemes clearly could not succeed.

However, her earlier purification still had some effects. At the very least, Aegnis still managed to retain her life, but she had suffered severe injuries, which filled many serpent guards with endless fear.

According to Aegnis' report, a group of giant serpents contaminated by gluttony had already broken through into the holy city. The neighbouring half snake people had suffered enormous losses.

The members of the squad that was with her had all unfortunately perished, and even their corpses had been swallowed up by those insatiable beasts, until there was nothing left.

After all, compared to ordinary food, snake flesh of a superior species was abundant in energy, especially those snake people who were of high rank. It was even easier for them to become the targets of the gluttonous beasts!

gluttonous beasts! This description had come from Aegnis, and was very quickly widely adopted to distinguish them from other giant serpent species.

No matter what creature it was, once it was contaminated by the power of gluttony, it would enter a horrifying state of hunger where it didn't mind what it ate. They were all called gluttonous beasts.

The holy city and the Stewart family attached great importance to this report, They prepared both the city defence soldiers and a great number of reserves. They declared that the holy city was imposing martial law, and even released a large number of tasks for mercenaries and adventurers to target the gluttonous beasts invading the holy city.

In a short while, the entire Serpent Plains seemed to ripple unpredictably with activity, and this chaotic scene seemed to spread ceaselessly in the Hail Continent.

What the ordinary citizens of the holy city didn't know was that this situation would continue for a very long time. Furthermore, in a short span of time, the gluttonous beasts would replace all the previous natural and manmade calamities to become the primary threat to their survival.

……

Time seemed to pass in a flash, and a year went by before he knew it.

"Brother Nick! Sophia is here to see you!" Looking like a younger Belinda, Sofia pushed open the door and walked in. She wore a hunting outfit and looked very exuberant and heroic, overflowing with the vitality of youth. Looking at her, Leylin felt a little envious.

"You've come, Sophia!" Leylin smiled and greeted her, inwardly shaking his head.

Although he had come to a tacit understanding with Belinda, Sophia clearly did not know much. Not only this, neither Leylin or Belinda could possibly tell her that much, because with her intelligence it was impossible for her to keep secrets.

As a result, although Belinda had cut back on coming to Leylin's place, Sophia still remembered her brother Nick, and came over from time to time.

"Brother Nick, haven't you recovered from your illness?" Sophia drew closer to Leylin, with obvious worry in her eyes. It was now possible to tell that Leylin was beyond saving. Although his appearance had not changed too much, wrinkles had appeared on his forehead and the back of his hands. His body's life force continuously disappeared, giving an account of just how weak he was.

"*Cough*… It's alright! *Cough*…" Leylin took out a white handkerchief and covered his lips. The back that stood so tall and straight in the past seemed to have become a little hunched.

"It's already become like this, how could you say it's alright? The Spring of Life that elder sister Belinda asked me to bring last time, are you using it?"

"I have!" Leylin smiled, and picked up his sprinkler.

A milky-white spring water with a rich fragrance was poured into the soil.

The budding shoots in the flowerbed before had now grown into a small tree, the glistening verdant leaves appeared even more full of vitality after being watered.

"Oh! This small tree has unexpectedly grown so tall?"

Sophia was a little surprised: "Only… Brother Nick, why are you giving your medicine to the small tree? Is it also ill?"

"No. To be honest, it needs this more than I do…" Leylin had a deep expression in his eyes, but did not continue his explanation. Instead, he picked up a small gardening hoe and slowly plowed the soil and removed weeds, just like an earnest gardener.

Sophia appeared very familiar with Leylin's behaviour, and immediately sat by his side and began to talk to herself:

"Recently, the Calamity of Gluttony has gotten even more serious! Sister Aegnis said many garrison squads have suffered heavy losses, and the frontline reached the Crescent Moon Lakeside for a while, which isn't far at all from the holy city. There are still lots of giant serpents that have been contaminated, and even rank 6 Serpent families cannot escape. Over half of the Serpent Plains are now occupied by gluttonous beasts…

"The entire Serpent Plains already does not have many places for us to live, and recently even a lot of the holy city residents are beginning to flee, which complicates things for sister Aegnis…

"And sister Belinda, she recently keeps on accepting missions, it's said that she's thinking of exchanging it for the highest grade Holy Light Crystal, and to get it she took on a very dangerous mission, and will leave tomorrow…"

"Oh!" Leylin's hand stopped slightly, but then continued to move. He could understand Belinda's current situation a little, she seemed to accept the holy city's missions without stopping, and exchanged her contributions for materials full of life force, then secretly sent them to him.

These things were almost of no use to him, otherwise with Leylin's methods, he wouldn't need to keep living in seclusion here.

"The Holy Light Crystal?" Leylin shook his head, this type of life crystal was full of life force, and had good effects on purifying and suppressing various curses, it was said to be the Hail Continent's peak grade material, and even though Belinda was rank 4, obtaining this was not an easy task.

An even more crucial point was that this material wouldn't be of much use given his current condition, but it could have an even better effect on the Seed of Wisdom.

Bang! Bang!* At this moment, a rough sound sounded out. "We're inspectors!"

"Ah…" Leylin sighed in recognition and came to the door. "Please come in, sirs!"

Seeing a large group of guards boorishly rush in, Sophia stuck out her tongue: "There's a lot of people. Sophia doesn't like them. See you, brother Nick!"

The young lady prepared to say goodbye and left, and soon after the guards did the same, fully explaining that they were absolutely not here for inspection, but to serve as a reminder and a warning.

Leylin could only bitterly laugh.

Although in the space of this year, borrowing the Stewart family's and Thomas' name saved him a lot of trouble, Sophia was still an enormous problem. Leylin had already felt that as Sofia came to visit him more often, that Thomas had the tendency to become even more impatient.

"Ah… Just how is Belinda managing her sister?" Leylin helplessly massaged his temples.

He had a very bad feeling that if Sophia's vague affection for him was discovered, the good relationship that he had with Thomas would be gone forever. He'd already failed at shutting her down after several attempts.

He was afraid that his position would go back up in Thomas' mind, from the tool he was currently to something along the lines of a love rival or competitor.

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Green Leaves

The small courtyard that had been peaceful and quiet for over a year had recently received more and more visits from guards, and that was because of that Thomas' secretly hostile behaviour.

'Perhaps he will come and have a showdown with me soon?' Leylin sighed, 'This sort of situation is so troublesome, especially at this crucial moment…'

Shortly after, Leylin shut his eyes. 'In this situation, even if I don't fight back and make some vows instead, Thomas won't ever believe me again. After all I've done that many times already, and having Sophia pretend is also not desirable. With her intelligence, she'd be found out.

'Unless, I directly take over her consciousness, but that would demand too much from me… Or I could send her over to Thomas' bed? No, Belinda would probably go crazy. It's fine if she does, but if she mobilises Aegnis, that'll be more troublesome than that moron Thomas…'

In just a moment, Leylin had completely thought over the outcomes from the situation, and discovered that it seemed as if he had no other option apart from running away.

But that would be impossible! After entering the holy city and planting this seed of Wisdom, Leylin had not taken one step out of the courtyard.

After all, the thing that held the power of life or death over him was here, how could he possibly divert his attention to something else? Besides, if he left his camp for too long, with all these hidden rats around, he wasn't sure he would be able to continue hiding in the holy city.

'I can't show weakness… It looks like I can only demonstrate my strength!" Leylin stroked his chin. Sometimes a reasonable show of force could still be put to good use.

However, he would definitely face Thomas' counter-attack afterwards, but from Leylin's perspective he only needed a little bit of time for his plan to succeed.

"This period of hesitation, I think it can still be obtained!" Leylin's eyes flashed.

"Keke…Sophia, wait a moment!" After thinking clearly about his plan, Leylin immediately called out for Sophia.

"Brother Nick, is there anything else?" Sophia jumped and hopped to Leylin, the fragrance of a young lady mixed with the vitality of youth lingering in Leylin's nose.

Shortly after, the warning gazes from the guards from earlier could be seen.

"Oh! I have something that I need you to give to your sister!" Leylin acted as if he hadn't seen the warning glares from the guards, and smiled at Sophia.

"What is it? Is it delicious food? The roasted meat that brother Nick made last time tasted good!" Sophia's eyes lit up.

"It isn't something to eat, you little glutton!" Leylin shook his head and smiled, he never thought that his cooking skills from his previous world would have fans in a different world, "It's a protection amulet! Take it to your sister for me! Perhaps it will be of assistance to her in her mission."

It needn't be said that a mission where the holy light crystal could be obtained would have a frighteningly high difficulty. Just relying on Belinda, even if she was Rank 4, even if she had support from Aegnis and the Stewart family, it would still be extremely dangerous.

However, in his current situation, it was not suitable for him to go out by himself, so he could only entrust it to Sophia and believe that no matter how naive she was, she would be able to hold on in the face of her own sister being in danger.

"Alright! Sophia will definitely bring her this thing to her!" Sophia clenched her first and nodded her head.

"I believe in you!" Leylin immediately went to the side of the flowerbed and plucked a single leaf from the small emerald-green tree.

"It's this, help me pass it to your sister!" The dark green leaf had a faint lustre, and Sophia's eyes lost a little of their spirit.

"I know!" Sophia put away the leaf like it was something precious, and even her eyes seemed a little more quick-witted.

It appeared that coming into contact with the leaf for such a short time had already changed her a little. This was beyond Leylin's expectations.

"Let's go! Unless you want to be scolded by Brother Thomas?" Sophia shot a glance at those guards who watched her like a tiger guarding their prey, and immediately walked out aloofly, just like a refined princess.

And these guards looked at each other and hung their heads down in dejection, following behind Sophia like bodyguards protecting their princess.

'The effect is this good? She merely touched it a little!' Leylin's pupils contracted as he looked at the little green tree in the flowerbed.

'The Wisdom Tree's branches are so inconceivably formidable. They can provide such great enlightenment and wisdom!'

'No! Sophia was so diligent in coming here, so perhaps she had been influenced by it. Knowing that this place could bring her great benefits, she did not hesitate to disobey Belinda's guidance as a result!' Slowly, Leylin suddenly understood the reason behind Sophia's determination to visit him, and it seems that her previous goodwill was only a small part of it. To break through her sister's command, perhaps only the craving for wisdom could do that.

'This is good, it gives me more confidence in my own plan!' Leylin secretly clenched his fist.

……

At the same time, next to a street not too far away from the courtyard stood Thomas, with a gloomy expression on his face.

"That slut!" Seeing Sophia leaving Leylin's courtyard with a brilliant smile, Thomas' expression grew very dark.

"And that Nick, he actually dared to ignore my warning, and continue to meet Sophia!"

Bang!* Thomas' fingers directly left long marks on the nearby wall, and a lot of powder fell from it.

"Get ready to go down there! I want to properly teach that Nick a lesson! It looks like I have been far too lenient to him this year……"

"As you command, Young Master!" the other two appeared to be captains of the garrison, but they respectfully knelt before him.

"Also, carefully investigate his background and strength!" Thomas added.

As a descendent of an influential family, although he was infatuated with Sophia, he couldn't lose his head over her. After all, he understood restraint before power. As a result, if he was prepared to fall out with Nick, he would first investigate him as much as possible.

However, his influence as the heir of the Stuart family, as long as Leylin wasn't the top of a small family of descendants, he could easily be crushed like a little ant. Still he would first investigate, just in case.

"An Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline! Even if you are rumoured to be the purest White Devil nobility, I'll still send you to hell!"

Thomas looked at Leylin's courtyard, with a cold light flashing in his eyes.

……

"Sister! Sister!" Sophia threw herself into Belinda's arms and began to act spoilt, but Belinda's expression was like ice, "Did you go to Nick's place again? Haven't I told you many times not to do that, or you will bring him a lot of trouble? Why don't you ever listen?"

Belinda rarely spoke so strictly.

"But… I wanted to go!" Sophia felt wronged. She twined her fingers as she said, "I feel comfortable and very happy in Brother Nick's place."

"Oh? What did he do to you?" Belinda's expression suddenly grew alert, even her finger joints began to crack.

"It's not like that! It's the small tree, just smelling it makes me feel good!" Sophia's face flushed red.

"Nick's darling tree?" Belinda shook her head, and felt that she had thought too much.

Belinda could not understand why Nick treated that tree like a precious treasure, and because of it she had consulted many resources and almost considered the Seed of Wisdom as some demonic thing that could bewitch a person's heart.

She felt somewhat dissatisfied by his continuous attention to the tree, without even a care for himself.

"Mm! Also, Brother Nick let me give this to you, and said it would be very useful to Sister's mission!" Sophia's expression seemed a little reluctant, but she still gave the leaf to Belinda.

"What is this? Is it a calming amulet?" When the leaf touched her palm, Belinda did not feel any powerful sensation, only a slight chill from the leaf helping her mood to calm down a lot.

"It's just some calming amulet? It doesn't seem to be of much use! Why did he give this to me?" Belinda's eyes seemed puzzled.

"No! Sophia feels that this leaf will be very useful to Sister, so you must bring it!" Sophia nevertheless had an imposing expression on her face.

"Alright, alright! I really can't deal with the both of you…" Belinda's face was brimming with a warm smile, she put away the leaf safely and stroked Sophia's head, then her expression changed: "This is wrong!"

She looked Sophia up and down and stared at her sister without pause, "Sophia, why do I feel like you've gotten smarter…"

Due to an accident in her childhood, Sophia's intelligence was like a child's, but today her speech was very orderly, which was a ceaseless surprise to Belinda.

"Have I? I've always been very smart, it must be that sister has gotten it wrong!" Sophia smiled sweetly, but a crafty light flashed in the depths of her eyes.

"What? Perhaps the stress of tomorrow's mission is too much! Has it driven me insane?" Belinda touched her own forehead.

"Belinda!" At this moment, another figure charged towards her, with an expression of unconcealed rage.

"Why did you take that mission? Don't you know that the Crescent Lake has already become a dangerous area of gluttonous beasts?" Aegnis asked. The armour on her body hadn't even been removed, and was still stained with blood… As the leader in charge, Aegnis spent almost every day active on the battlefield with the gluttonous beasts.

"I'll leave first!" Seeing this situation, Sophia stuck out her tongue and slipped out of the door at lightning speed.

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Crescent Lake

"What mission are you talking about?" Belinda said, with a blank look on her face.

"You're still trying to deceive me?" Aegnis' voice rose an octave higher, "Don't forget that as the leader of the holy city's garrison, I have jurisdiction over both the adventurer and mercenary guilds!"

"The Crescent Lake Acquisition mission is extremely difficult, and has a Rank 5 danger level! Even those who are Rank 5 will have to face certain dangers, and you think you can do it?"

Aegnis bitterly exhorted her: "If you're doing this for that holy light crystal, then just leave it to me!"

"Thank you Aegnis, but I have my own reasons……"

Belinda forced a smile on her face.

"I know, is it because of Nick? Even though you haven't gone to find him for over a year, I know all about how you ask Sofia to bring things to him."

"Is it because of him that you aren't willing to accept me?" Aegnis' said in a dark voice.

"It's not what you think it is!" Belinda didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

"It's exactly because of him! That bastard, sooner or later…" Aegnis slammed her fists together fiercely.

"Aegnis!"

"I only consider you my good friend. I'm giving you a final warning, if anything happens to Nick, you'll definitely regret it!" Belinda's expression grew darker.

"For him… You're acting like this for a filthy man! You dare to actually argue with me?"

Aegnis emanated a terrifyingly powerful aura, and many shadows converged at her back to become the likeness of a three-headed python.

"Precisely!"

Even under the innate oppression of her race, Belinda still staunchly looked Aegnis in the eye.

Seeing Belinda acting this way, Aegnis' chest heaved violently. "As you wish!" she panted out vulgarly.

The sound of armour dropping to the floor rang out, followed by the distant footsteps of Aegnis as she left.

Once she had left the villa, Aegnis' expression grew completely dark.

"Bang!" A snake whip slashed out suddenly, and many rose petals and tulip petals flew into the sky.

"Nick!" Aegnis ground her teeth in frustration, but it soon became a cold laugh.

"I promised Belinda not to harm him, but Thomas hasn't agreed. However, shall I go about this a little more secretly?"

……

"It should be here!"

Belinda looked at the map in her hand and appeared to be very cautious.

Currently, she was in a wasteland which had an aura of death and decay, which made her unconsciously become nervous.

Ever since the Calamity of Gluttony broke out, the entire Serpentes Plains was not how it used to be.

War, hand-to-hand combat and gluttony spread with incredible speed, leaving the plains covered in blood.

Even the Snake Dowager's radiance could not move those savage gluttonous beasts, because they were also protected by an Exemplary.

The Sovereign King of Gluttony– Beelzebub. Although it had not been 2 years since Beelzebub's descent into Purgatory World, his name was known by everyone. It was to the extent where it could immediately make little snake children cry.

In this situation, because of the gluttonous beasts' terrifying consumption, food shortages had broken out in the holy city. In the past, this would have been an absolute joke, but now it was something that had really happened.

In fact, the gluttonous beasts were facing the same food shortages, which were even more serious for them than the snake people. They were already at the stage where they were killing each other for food, otherwise they would have already invaded the holy city.

It was different from previous calamities. Belinda had a feeling that once the gluttonous beasts had occupied a territory under the Sovereign King of Gluttony's command, it wouldn't easily be relinquished ever again.

The Snake Dowager's large-scale purification that had happened in the beginning could never happen again.

When she thought of this, a fog immediately shrouded Belinda's mind.

"Once I pass through here, I will be very close to the Crescent Lake!"

Belinda muttered to herself, although she had disguised herself, she felt very unsafe in this sort of place.

"If Becker and the others had come, perhaps I would be able to relax more easily. It's a shame……"

Belinda smiled bitterly. In her career as a mercenary, she had gained a few subordinates and the like, but once they heard that she had taken on this mission, they had rejected her one after another.

If Belinda had just a little more time and used her own methods, it would be effortless to unite some powerful and loyal subordinates. But just a year wasn't even enough to bind them to her through familiarity, and certainly wasn't enough to persuade them to take risks with her.

"However, my mission this time is just to collect blue quartz within the Crescent Lake. If I don't disturb those gluttonous beasts, the danger should be quite low!"

Belinda pondered over this in silence, and soon passed through the plains.

Past the sloping fields, the scene ahead was reflected in her eyes– a blue lake shaped like a crescent extended across the plains as far as the eye could see.

A sparkling radiance and a hint of chilliness was emitted from the Crescent Lake.

"This was once the holy city's valued resource point, but after falling to the gluttonous beasts, it has already grown wild. If the holy city wasn't so short of resources with they urgently need to replenish, perhaps they wouldn't have put such a high price on this mission…"

Belinda bit her lip in distress.

With Aegnis there, she simply did not need to come out and take risks. If she was willing to forget her pride and plead with Aegnis, a piece of Holy Light Crystal would easily fall into her hands.

However, Belinda did not want to owe her so much and moreover, she was not willing to give up her dignity to do this.

Because of this, Belinda had not hesitated to risk her life to do this mission.

"If only the gluttonous beasts weren't here, then I would have more of a chance," Belinda's eyes lit up. A tattoo of a white eyeball appeared and flew up to a high altitude, and images of the scene were transmitted to her.

"Roar…" "Hiss…"

It was unlucky that there were several gluttonous beasts lingering next to the Crescent Lake, tearing apart the corpse of a giant serpent.

Powerful undulations that were on par with a Rank 5 were emitted from a gluttonous beast that was the size of a small mountain

"Oh damn it! My luck is awful today!' Belinda cursed silently.

Through the surveillance eyeball, Belinda had already received images of the scene which were transmitted directly into her consciousness. Amongst those gluttonous beasts, one was a giant serpent with many tentacles that had been split open from head to foot. There was also a giant rat with two heads, one bigger than the other, which gnawed its food at lightning speed.

The final beast appeared to be the corpses of different animals stitched together into a giant ball of meat, with a giant crack in its centre. A red tongue licked its white teeth incessantly, and it gave off the strongest undulations. It seemed to have reached the peak of Rank 5.

The corpse of the giant serpent on the floor was clearly also Rank 5, but it was definitely not a match for these three gluttonous beasts and had become their food.

"What a pity……" Belinda tightly clenched her fists.

That Rank 5 giant serpent was clearly a giant serpent descendent of the Thousand Snake Plains, but it couldn't escape from its fate and became prey.

Although the Snake Dowager and the holy city had done their utmost to rescue and evacuate the giant serpents, the Thousand Snake Plains were too vast, and these unlucky ones often surfaced.

Although Belinda was furious, she was rational enough to not rush out hot-headedly and die.

"Gluttonous beasts have to eat very frequently, so sooner or later they will leave after they finish eating here…"

Belinda very patiently waited and hid herself.

These gluttonous beasts had astonishing military power and a frightening ability to consume, but their intelligence and detection were rather weak. This gave her a chance.

"Click! Click!"

These three gluttonous beasts ate very quickly, and not even the bones were spared. Even the drops of blood on the floor were greedily lapped up until there was nothing left– The blood of a Rank 5 giant serpent was full of nutritious energy, and one drop of it was said to be better than eating ten low-ranked beasts.

When food is short, the gluttonous beasts probably massacre each other! In that case…"

Belinda's eyes lit up a little as if she was a lone cheetah, waiting for the opportunity.

"Roar…" "Hiss…" "Coo! Coo!"

After eating the prey they had caught together, the three gluttonous beasts sized each other up and let out a huge roar which shook the void.

After obviously testing each other, the sewed-up monster and the tentacle snake left one after the other in opposite directions.

The gluttonous beasts digested things quickly, so they almost had no time to rest. They had to spend the rest of their lives fighting and hunting for food.

The two-headed rat that was left seemed thirsty. Leaning against the Crescent Lake, the two rat heads began to drink up the water in the lake. The surface of the lake seemed to drop in volume continuously, exposing the dried up lakebed.

Within the lakebed, small blue rays of light began to flicker.

It was a blue ore that looked very bright under the rays of light.

"Blue quartz!" After seeing the goal of her mission, Belinda grew very excited.

However, the actions of that two rats made Belinda feel endless frustration.

After the two-headed giant rat had drunk its fill from the lake, it unexpectedly lay next to the lake and sunk into a deep sleep.

The rat's body emitted traces of black gas to its surroundings, and it breathed it in again. In this process, its body grew even more enormous, with a sarcoma growing on its neck. Its aura grew even more powerful, and was approaching the peak of Rank 5.

"Damn! I've unexpectedly run into an evolving gluttonous beast!"

Belinda's expression grew exceptionally unsightly. gluttonous beasts rarely rested, one exception was when they absorbed too much energy and started to evolve!

After their deep sleep, the power of gluttonous beasts would undergo an earth-shattering transformation!

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Eternal Ent

The holy city had paid a price in blood to gather information about the gluttonous beasts, and in return Belinda had been taken advantage of by those dishonest profiteers when she tried to get a hold of the information.

However, the information was worth the exorbitant price. It was unquestionably genuine, and had helped her escape danger several times.

'This won't do. If the gluttonous beast evolves, its capabilities will have grown even greater. It might even discover my presence…

"Even if I continue waiting patiently for the beast to leave, there will still be others. This place is obviously a gathering point for them, otherwise the mission wouldn't be marked with such great difficulty. And now… The aura given off by this evolving beast is making the others subconsciously keep away from this place…' Belinda's eyes flashed.

"This might be my best chance!" she said, with a resolute expression in her eyes.

"Dreamforce spell— Hollow!" A crimson trace of dreamforce lingered on Belinda's skin like a scarlet veil, and she looked like she had just stepped out from a fairytale.

As a mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnake, she had naturally inherited the ability to manipulate dreamforce. After her black conversion, her innate skill had strengthened considerably even.

However, at this moment an anxious look appeared on her face. 'The dreamforce has weakened…'

The dreamforce that Belinda had pulled to this world was several times weaker than before, and its power had clearly fallen. She had a feeling like all of Dreamscape had perished, and there was not a single trace of life. Even the intensity of the dreamforce had greatly decreased.

Dreamscape had sunk into its silent phase, and those with the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline like her could only consider it as bad news. During this testing time of the Calamity of Gluttony, Belinda could tell that many Alabaster Devilsnake bloodlines had been massacred on the battlefield due to losing the dreamforce they had mastered.

'Almighty Matriarch, please bestow your blessings on my clan!' Belinda prayed inwardly and soon vanished into thin air.

Borrowing the illusionary powers of Dreamscape, Belinda concealed herself completely and approached the Crescent Lake. The nearer she drew to the two heads of the mountainous rat gluttonous beast, the more she could feel its ghastly energy that cared for nothing in the world, as well as its sinister will to satisfy its appetite at all costs. Her skin prickled with fear, as if an edge of a sharp sword was pressing against her soft cheek.

'It's going to be alright.' The gluttonous beast's ability to respond to this type of invasion had diminished, and as Belinda drew closer to the Crescent Lake, her eyes glimmered with joy. Belinda warily passed by the two-headed giant rat and reached the Crescent Lake's lakebed, and the precious stones which radiated a blue glow disappeared without a trace into her hands.

'Blue quartz!' After the success of her operation, Belinda had a feeling that things had gone beyond her expectations.

'Excellent, with the holy light crystal Nick should be able to carry on for a bit longer…' Belinda clamped down on the excitement in her heart, stowed the blue quartz away safely, and prepared to leave immediately.

A monstrous cawing suddenly filled the air.

It was at this moment that the two-headed rat's body suddenly transformed. It opened its eyes in a flash, revealing four green irises filled with an oppressive manic insanity. The purple veins on its body throbbed explosively, and innumerable blood clots and tumours pulsed beneath its skin in a horrifying manner.

The gruesome sarcoma on its neck was enclosed in a crimson light, and was steadily shrinking and swelling.

'Its evolution failed!' Belinda was astonished. It was clear that the gluttonous beast had not accumulated enough energy, leading to a failure in its evolution. This was the worse case scenario: after failing its evolution the gluttonous beast would enter a fearsome foraging state to make up for its lack of energy.

The gluttonous beast was now even more psychotic than the average beast, and it would fear nothing, not even death. The beast roared, its inhuman cry bursting forth into the surroundings.

The sound of something breaking could be heard as fine cracks began to appear like a spiderweb on Belinda's veil of dreamforce.

As it began to crumble, Belinda's expression changed in an instant. The sky flashed red, and her figure was immediately revealed. No later than that were the beast's four enormous green eyes fixed on her.

The rank 5 beast converted its rage over the failed evolution and its hunger into a berserk killing intent, and its fearsome gaze left Belinda feeling suffocated.

"Run!" The enormous phantom of an Alabaster Devilsnake formed behind Belinda, and wisps of dreamforce converged like a crimson wave in front of the giant rat.

She didn't turn back as she fled in a hurry, becoming a streak of red in the landscape as she struggled to escape.

However, the rank 5 existence was still a terrifyingly powerful beast contaminated by gluttony, and its power far exceeded Belinda's capabilities. With a berserk roar, the giant two headed rat approached the impenetrable wall of dreamforce and the figure of a giant serpent within it. The insanity only grew deeper in its eyes as it charged straight through.

The sound of a shrill scream and a frightening explosion pierced Belinda's ears. The rat was covered by wisps of green smoke and the odour of rotting flesh. The corrosive dreamforce had eroded its previously smooth coat into a festering mess, riddled with bald spots that exposed the tender white flesh beneath. It looked extremely grotesque.

The wall of dreamforce and the shadow of the Alabaster Devilsnake had been obliterated with a single strike from the giant rat. Like a black hole, it had sucked all of the dreamforce and even the soul projection into itself.

With a flash of yellow light, the two headed rat's serious injuries healed immediately, and its aura grew even more tyrannical. If it had enough food, the gluttonous beast's injuries could recover completely at a frightening speed, and it didn't even have to overcome any bottlenecks to advance. This was the truly terrifying aspect of the gluttonous beasts!

"Oh." Belinda grew faint at the sight of her soul projection being extinguished. Two lines of blood trickled out from her eyes. It wasn't only that; her traumatic injuries ripped apart the streak of light, she was no longer able to rapidly flee the battlefield.

The two headed rat chirped as it stared at Belinda, sizing up where it would take its first bite. To this gluttonous beast, a rank 4 adventurer was rather good nourishment.

"You disgusting bastard, let's go!" In this life or death crisis, Belinda grew extremely fierce. An enormous black battle sword appeared in her hands.

The only way she could deal with this kind of gluttonous beast was to use large-scale destructive techniques, and heavy duty weaponry could also show good results.

The colossal two headed rat was as fast as lightning once it started moving. Belinda only saw a yellow flash before a titanic force swept towards her, knocking the black sword out of her hands and driving to her knees. Blood spilt from her mouth.

'A rank 5 existence! It's even on the verge of breaking through, at a higher state that I could never hope to reach…' After receiving this life-threatening injury, Belinda could only smile bitterly. The sound of sharp crunching made Belinda look up, only to see that her extremely expensive battle sword which had received the Matriarch's blessing had disappeared into the giant rat's toothy maw.

"It actually ate it…" Belinda lost her ability to smile, and her eyes narrowed, "Don't tell me that my fate is to disappear into this gluttonous beast's stomach?"

The rat beast finished its meal of her battle sword and pounced towards Belinda, its sharp front claws ripping through Belinda's defense and disembowelling her.

"Farewell, Sophia… and Nick…" In her final breaths of life, Belinda's expression was serene. Apart from a trace of regret, she didn't seem to have any feelings of fear.

Thud!* A shock wave suddenly sent Belinda flying back, yet the sharp pain she expected didn't come. Her eyes grew wide with confusion, and she recognised the mysterious object that protected her.

"Isn't that… Nick's amulet?" She recalled Sophia's reminder, and her heart grew warm.

The green light began to tremble, fluttering like a leaf in the breeze. The giant tree leaf seemed to be full of a brilliant radiance within the sacred light. The veins and stem of every leaf were clearly pronounced, and each one seemed like a piece of lustrous jade.

The boundless green light dispersed, and with the green leaf at its core a giant human-like figure that was over ten feet tall appeared. The giant person's body had a wooden grain texture, with vines and green leaves decorating its shoulder and body. It looked like a giant tree soldier.

"My esteemed mistress, you've been injured!" The Ent said in a droning and nasal voice.

"Who are you?" Belinda asked expressionlessly.

"The Protector of Wisdom! I am from the clan of Eternal Ents, you can call me Benny," the Ent seemed to smile at her, "I will stay behind and hold back this beast, so please leave this place as quickly as possible!"

Afterwards, Benny the Ent bellowed and charged towards the two-headed giant rat.

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Successful Growth

Chik! Chik!* The large two-headed mouse bellowed, a pair of sharp claws being enveloped by yellow light. A huge wound was torn open on Benny's ches, but for the Ent who didn't have any weak points or even flesh and blood, there was naturally nothing like a scene of blood spurting out.

On the contrary, there was no pain on Benny's face. Instead, a green circle of light was emitted from his chest and it began to heal immediately. Even the giant claws were caught inside, inducing the large rat's fury.

"Bind!" Green leaved vines were like the most terrifying of law-shackles, extending from Benny's arm and twining around the giant rat.

'Powerful regeneration abilities and such physical strength… Could this be the Primordial Ent rumoured to be from ancient times?' Belinda watched the two monsters fighting and gritted her teeth, making use of this hard-to-come-by chance and beginning to flee. Meanwhile, the mysterious feelings she had for Leylin grew even stronger…

Rumble! Rumble!* Terrifying earthquakes wreaked havoc near the crescent lake, causing dust to fly everywhere. Two huge figures could vaguely be seen in battle. Wooden arms or vines were sent flying on occasion, and this would be accompanied by a terrifying crunch.

The Ent was evidently not a match for the giant mouse, but due to its characteristics it could buy a lot of time for Belinda to escape. By the time the giant mouse achieved victory, it could only roar in fury at the pile of wood shavings.

Someone else was spying on the battlefield from the darkness.

"This darned old mouse. Get an entire brigade over here for me. I want it dead!" Aegnis glared at the giant two headed rat hatefully, her eyes showing her wrath. The few soldiers behind her could only agree meekly.

'Thankfully, Belinda's fine.' Aegnis patted her chest, a pondering look in her eyes. She was obviously worried about Belinda going on a solo mission and had followed her secretly. If not for the appearance of the Ent, she probably wouldn't have been able to keep from acting herself.

'Nick seems rather interesting! Are otherworldly summoning techniques his trump card?' While sacrifices and beast spirits were the norm in the Purgatory World, there were also other paths to power. Even Magi existed here, hence Leylin's summoned Ent didn't surprise Aegnis too much. At most, she would think he'd inherited some relatively obscure abilities.

'But this Ent that he so casually summoned has the power to hinder a rank 5 gluttonous beast for a while…' Aegnis stroked her chin, 'I should warn Thomas and get him to stop his plans for now. I should look up Nick's history, he might be someone who'll give us a huge surprise.'

However, Aegnis had no idea that when Leylin's true identity was revealed, she wouldn't be surprised, but horrified.

"Yes, ma'am!" one of the guards immediately bowed and withdrew.

"Next up, it's you, you disgusting old mouse. How dare you harm my adorable Belinda? I'm going to tear your bones apart and use your brain juices as gravy!" A vast and horrifying three-headed snake appeared abruptly in tandem with her announcement, pouncing towards the giant two headed rat.

The rest of the soldiers exchanged glances. In the end, despite their unwillingness, they could only follow their leader and charge forward as well. A massive battle was about to ensue…

Aegnis had grown slightly fearful after Leylin revealed that tiny bit of his strength. Thomas' plan for revenge had been put on hold, which gave him valuable time.

However, battles generally grew more intense, and things had almost gotten desperate.

In order to contain the wave of gluttonous beasts, the holy city had already arranged campaigns against them several times. Even the Snake Dowager herself had sent out a clone, but in the face of Beelzebub's huge army of gluttonous beasts, they yielded tiny results. Several of her clones were even destroyed. The bloody loss of life caused the holy city to be in an extremely unstable situation.

A few months later, after several attempts to meet the beast wave, the battle line was pushed to the edges of the holy city. The city walls, and the triumphal arch that used to be filled with holy light, had now turned into the last line of defence for the snake beings.

Furthermore, compared to the spread of gluttony itself, the Gluttonous Army had Beezlebub himself in charge. Even the Snake Dowager would not be able to deal with them easily.

It could be said that the holy city was now in a desperate state of emergency and on the brink of life or death.

There were many residents within the holy city, and they would often hear the roars of the gluttonous beasts as they slumbered. They had no choice but to contribute and help with the holy city's defences.

"I've told you many times already! This is property of the Stewart Family, and I am a guest of Young Master Thomas. Unless you get his consent, you have no right to look through anything here. Scram!" Leylin sent a group of patrolling officers away sternly.

Even while using the name of the Stewarts, Leylin had no choice but to take the risk to use a mental hint, and only then did the patrolling officers leave obediently.

After sending them away, Leylin laughed wryly. "Is it already the fourth time this month? Each time they seem to be even more urgent. Looks like rumours of the gluttonous beasts being on the verge of breaching the holy city have spread widely…"

He then came to the flowerbed. The little green tree had already grown quite tall and was completely emerald green, like a flawless work of art.

Even with concealing spell formations, this strange scene had attracted some attention from others. If not for Leylin spending most of his time close to it, perhaps there would be someone brazen enough to come in and steal it.

"The 'holy light crystal' that Belinda sent over seems to have a good effect on the Wisdom Tree! Cough cough…" Leylin sized up the little green Wisdom Tree, looking quite satisfied. Even while he was coughing, the hope in his heart grew.

'I had to courteously bow to Thomas in the past, hiding my true strength for later. It's given me two years, which was just enough for this stump to successfully grow. Destiny is on my side!' Leylin's eyes burned with passion.

Ever since he found out that holy light crystals were beneficial for the little Wisdom Tree, he had secretly acted and committed a few alarming crimes, gathering large amounts of crystals and bringing the growth of the Wisdom Tree forward.

Leylin had always acted with caution and did not leave any traces behind. Since they were at war, their intent to hunt down criminals was weaker than usual. With this as a cover, he had been able to hoodwink them easily.

After all, who would suspect an old geezer on the verge of death?

Yes, in two years the Allsnake Curse had practically extracted all of Leylin's life force. Even with facial transfiguration techniques, many wrinkles still appeared on his forehead and palms.

"A.I. Chip, how much longer do I have?" Leylin inwardly asked.

[Beep! Gathering data on Host's life force… Establishing conjecture model! … Experiment completed. Estimated time till death: 34 days 12 hours 23 minutes 32 seconds.] The A.I. Chip intoned faithfully.

"A little more than a month? It's shorter than I expected. Is it because I helped out the last time? Cough cough…" Leylin began to cough hard again, his handkerchief covered in scarlet blood.

"The rejection is also becoming more and more serious," Leylin smiled wryly and threw the blood-stained handkerchief aside.

He was now already at his very weakest.

The frightening part of the Allsnake Curse was that it was essentially fatal for all of the descendants and Warlocks who made use of the Dowager's serpent bloodlines. It was already an incredible thing that Leylin had managed to hold on for so long.

Roar!* *Awoo!* *Rumble!* *Clatter!* Load roars, multi-coloured flames and the cries of many snake beings could be seen and heard. The ground shook underneath them all continuously. This was another attack from the gluttonous beast wave outside towards the holy city.

The Snake Dowager and Beelzebub had yet to act, and seemed to have come to some tacit agreement, handing down the responsibility of victory to their subordinates. Thus, these attacks happened a few times everyday, resulting in many sacrifices and refugees.

With the protection and the support they believed he had, many neighbours came to Leylin and prayed for help. Leylin ruthlessly rejected all of them.

"No!" "I don't want Daddy to go!" "Please, don't send me to the battlefield! I don't want to die!" Noise could be heard from the streets, and the moans and cries of wretched souls travelled into Leylin's ears.

"How chaotic." Leylin shook his head and returned to his deckchair, narrowing his eyes as if taking a nap.

"Grandpa Nick, we've come to visit!"

Bang!* The door was pushed open, and Sophia as well as Belinda walked in. In Sophia's eyes was an unconcealed sense of sorrow. From his life aura undulations, Leylin did not have long left. Even Belinda no longer had any reservations and came to visit him often.

"Hey, you're here!" Leylin's smile was like that of a lonely old geezer, kind and friendly as he watched little children dropping in, "I've just made some tea!"

The dilapidated courtyard was the same as before, just that beside the green tree Leylin had made a round table and deck chair, not leaving the area at all. On the wooden round table was a porcelain teapot that was emitting steam.

"Come and try my new brew!" Leylin was very friendly and made a cup of green tea for Belinda and Sophia.

"Oh, it's very fragrant!" While holding the teacup, Sophia looked extremely content.

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Imminent Crisis

"Sophia seems to be recovering well, she doesn't need to come here anymore!" Leylin reclined on the deck chair and spoke leisurely.

"Mm, thank you very much!" Belinda's eyes seemed to become a little emotional. For some reason, ever since Sophia began drinking the mysterious 'tea' Leylin made from his little green tree, her condition had greatly improved. She had become much more mature and intelligent.

"By the way, what is this 'tea'? Is it some sort of medicine?" Belinda was puzzled, but at the same time was filled with gratitude towards Leylin. She naively believed that Leylin had grown the tree in order to treat Sophia, and Leylin obviously would not uncover this beautiful misunderstanding.

"Oh! It's just the name of a drink from my hometown. It's made from plants, where the essence of leaves is extracted through liquid. It is rather similar to this drink," Leylin obviously did not want to elaborate.

"Is it the culture of some overseas isle? I really hope I can travel there with you one day…" Belinda's eyes seemed to be luminous and sparkling.

"Mm, there will be chances!" Leylin yawned, not seeming to be in good spirits.

"Alright, Sophia. What stories have you brought for your Grandpa Nick?" He turned to Sophia. She had already drained the tea.

"Oh! I heard from sister Aegnis that the holy city is preparing for a huge counterattack. Even the disciplinary corps will be moved…"

"Also… The entire holy city is now under a strict curfew. There are even plans to gather all the residents and manage them all together."

……

"Thomas is really incredibly stupid! If I just throw a random tantrum, he'll divulge all the sensitive information he knows. Isn't Sofia amazing?" Sophia raised her head arrogantly with a crafty glint in her eyes.

"Yes, Sophia is the best!" Leylin nodded slightly in praise. He had gained a lot of information about every corner of the holy city from her daily accounts. However, the more she spoke, the more his head began to droop, until his eyes finally shut as he sank into a deep sleep.

Sophia immediately stopped speaking when she noticed this, and her eyes reddened with emotion.

"Let's go," Belinda's voice trembled as she draped a fur coat over Leylin. She then led Sophia away. They were very busy everyday, and their free time was limited. Perhaps it was also because they were unwilling to see Leylin in this state.

However, after they had left, Leylin's eyes sprang open brightly and animatedly, "So it's already come to this? It seems like the big decisive battle is approaching soon, it's about time to start my plans."

"Meanwhile… I'll take care of a few little rats," Leylin's eyes slanted to the side, as if he could see through the wall to watch another place far away.

After that he closed his eyes, and like a tired old man sank into a deep sleep.

……

Clatter!* A valuable crystal bottle fell to the ground, shattering into fragments.

"At a time like this, as a noble of the Stewart Family, even I have an obligation to fight on the battlefield, and yet he stays there doing nothing. I have no idea what sister is thinking!" Thomas huffed. The armour he wore was covered with bloodstains.

"Young Master Thomas, our Stewart family has been part of the garrison over generations in the holy city. Protecting the holy city has always been our duty! As for that man, he is just a free resident…" The white-haired middle-aged butler advised. He had completely lost one eye, and there was only a deep hole left there.

"Furthermore, my Lady seems to have discovered that he he is hiding some trump card and ordered us not to offend him. I believe that with the Madam's foresight, she won't be wrong!"

"But… I can't take it! And then there's those two bitches… It's not just Sophia but even Belinda goes over to visit him so regularly. What do they take the Stewart Family for?" Thomas yelled, and the butler could only sigh.

They were clearly free residents, and Belinda had even taken the initiative to help out with the guarding of the holy city. She was merely taking some time to visit her friend, and there was no reason to get mad over that. Of course, this good-for-nothing young master wouldn't listen anyway.

"I can't take it! I can't take it anymore! Mumbas, find a way to make Nick disappear forever! It should be easy since it's wartime!" Thomas' expression turned dark, bloodlust evident in his eyes.

"Yes, honourable young master! Your will is our command! However, the second elder is now preparing to lead the counterattack of the disciplinary corps. Please be patient…" The old butler bowed a full ninety degrees.

"I know, I know! This damned situation!" Thomas groaned in annoyance but did not retort further, allowing the old butler to heave a sigh of relief. What he did not realise was that the bloodlust in the depth of Thomas' eyes did not fade. It instead grew more forceful…

Night had fallen. Aegnis was wearing her crystal armour as she stood on the walls of the holy city. Her line of sight extended past the triumphal arch, fixed on the dense army of gluttonous beasts outside.

They had already been contaminated by the law of gluttony, and it was difficult to make out what their original bodies looked like. The only similarities they shared were their terrifying and powerful energy undulations, as well as their desire for food. Aegnis shivered in fear at this sight.

Days were short in the Purgatory World, which was why many beasts were more active at night. These gluttonous beasts rarely rested, and when their physical strength declined they would feed on their own kind that had died in previous sieges, which was why they seemed even more full of vigour than ever. What this meant was that their appearance was even more frightening at night than during the day.

Watching this uproar at the frontlines by the nearby beasts, the experienced Aegnis knew this was a signal for them to attack.

She abruptly turned to watch the soldiers on the city walls with her. They were mostly the troops that the Stewart Family were in charge of. Some of them were volunteers, and some were labourers who were forcefully conscripted.

Aegnis took a deep breath, her voice spreading through the frontlines. "Mighty Matriarch! My blood brothers, can we allow those filthy and despicable beasts to set foot in the holy city and pollute the glory of our dignitary, the holy mother?"

"No!" "No!" "No!" The residents in the holy city were now so loyal that they were ready to die for the Snake Dowager, and they naturally howled loudly in denial.

"Very good. Tear them apart for me, our holy city must be victorious!" Aegnis brandished the nine-tiered whip in her hands that had a snake head, thundering.

"To Victory! "To Victory!" "Long Live Stewart!" "Long Live Stewart!" Many soldiers shouted loudly, the atmosphere heated to the extreme.

Seeing that she had taken care of the soldiers' morale, Aegnis sighed in relief and retreated from the city gates.

"You did very well, Aegnis!" Belinda walked over in martial attire.

"Is that so? I feel that it's far from enough though," Aegnis smiled wryly and draped an arm around Belinda's shoulders, "How are the second elder and the disciplinary corps?"

"Preparations are complete. We are prepared for battle anytime!" Belinda did not struggle against her and sounded calm, "If all goes well and this operation is a success, we can probably push the battle line close to the Crescent Lake…"

"Hah… if it goes smoothly?"

Aegnis chuckled, pressing her lips close to Belinda's ears, and spoke to her in a low voice, "Belinda, leave! Take Sophia and maybe even Nick. Leave this place; go as far as you can!"

"Why?" Belinda was stunned, Aegnis' warm breath tickling her ears as they flushed red, "Do you have no faith in the holy city?"

"If my enemy is an army from another dignitary, I wouldn't be afraid even if they surrounded us, but…" Aegnis shook her head, "You know how the gluttonous beasts work. Belinda, what's most terrifying isn't their strength but that they are infectious! 14 of our own family have been infected by the power of gluttony in battle. In order to prevent the infection from spreading, we had no choice but to obliterate them."

"So that's what happened!" Belinda's eyes widened, extremely shocked.

"If that damned Sovereign King of Gluttony isn't eliminated, there will never be a victory over those gluttonous beasts. Do you get it now?" Aegnis coquettishly lifted Belinda's chin.

"Then come with me!" Belinda gritted her teeth. After all, she had treated Belinda and Sophie quite well, and Belinda wasn't willing to watch her die here.

"Hehe… you can all leave, but I can't." Aegnis laughed, though this gave a bad feeling.

"For your family?" Belinda's expression was complicated.

"Yes. Our Stewart Family has been protecting the holy city generation after generation. As the next in line, how can I leave now?"

Aegnis pushed Belinda while laughing maniacally, "Go! Pursue your freedom!"

"This is giving me an ominous feeling!" Belinda's eyes reddened, on the verge of tears. So many things had happened recently, and even this strong girl could not really endure it.

'Mighty Matriarch, please show mercy and save us all!' Belinda looked towards the statue erected at the heart of the holy city and could not help but kneel piously, making a silent prayer.

The mighty statue watched everything expressionlessly, as if it had seen through everything with a slight smile. It seemed like everything was guided by her hand, but nothing really changed. The wind blew, and Belinda felt a chill come on, a sense of terror rising within her.

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The Great Thief Daudet

Outside the holy city, the great war was on the verge of beginning. Leylin was also caught up in the imminent crisis.

A guard with slanting eyes and a sullen face reported to Thomas: "Young master! Our people in the coastal division have sent news. There isn't the least bit of information on this Nick, and he seems to have appeared out of thin air. In addition, the other pure-blooded Alabaster Devilsnake clans have been contacted and they couldn't find this Nick wither, perhaps he is from some remote branch clan…"

"You couldn't discover his origins? That's fine, arrest him on the charge of espionage. Set off immediately!" Thomas stroked his chin, with a trace of menace in his eyes. He couldn't bear it any longer.

As for considering the bigger picture? He chuckled gently. This was not something that young master Thomas would ever consider!

"Yes sir," the slant-eyed guard immediately accepted his order. If the butler from earlier, Mumbas, was still there, he would perhaps try to dissuade Thomas. However, this guard clearly did not intend to do that and even seemed to add fuel to the fire.

After all, small fry like them only wanted to seize all opportunities to climb up, and as for the overall situation— what about it? It made one want to laugh.

A squad aggressively arrived in front of Leylin's building, pushing the door open smoothly.

"Nick, you are being arrested on the crime of espionage!" Thomas raised his head with a carefree smile on his face, as if he had already seen Leylin's panicked expression.

'Oh? He's really restrained himself until now, it looks like Aegnis' doing.' Only, it seemed that Leylin's response had gone beyond Thomas' expectations. After hearing this, he unexpectedly showed no fear, and only thoughtfully stroked his chin.

"What's the matter?" An awful sense of foreboding suddenly enveloped Thomas' heart. He felt faintly regretful, and felt that he had done something extremely foolish.

"Capture him!" The slant-eyed soldier next to Thomas, however, didn't think too deeply. after seeing how senile Leylin looked, with his life force at its very limits, he immediately issued an order without thinking.

Several soldiers charged forward immediately, and there were even sparks left in the air. The guards of the holy city were naturally all outstanding. The minimum requirement to enter the garrison was rank 3, and even the captain had the power of a rank 4 Magus.

Leylin was half-seated on the couch. Without even budging his fingers, he spat out a single word, "Obliterate."

The sound of something breaking filled the air, and everything seemed to still as the loud crash of crystals shattering echoed in the room. The guards that had charged ahead earlier along with the slant-eyed soldier had been destroyed by a black gas, and not even their souls remained.

"This strength… and the black destructive gas… You must be the thief who stole away so many holy light crystals, the great thief Daudet!" As the heir to the Stewart family, Thomas possessed at least this much knowledge. His teeth began to chatter in fear.

The great thief Daudet! This was a new rising name in the holy city, and he'd only needed to do one thing to trigger an awfully dangerous situation. In the strictly guarded holy city, he plainly dared to make his move and pilfered the entire reserve of holy light crystals, and had even killed several of the strongest guards!

Daudet's greatest strength was this black destructive gas! If they weren't currently in the midst of war, Thomas believed that with these battle accomplishments alone, Daudet's name could spread to the entire seven continents.

Daudet's actions were clearly an insult to the Stewart family who guarded the holy city. Even Thomas' sister Aegnis had vowed to apprehend the thief, but unfortunately there wasn't even a single clue for her to follow.

Thomas could never have thought that this frightening great thief Daudet was unexpectedly hiding in his own home, and he was actually Nick! The strange difference between Daudet and Nick made Thomas feel a strong sense that none of this was real.

"You're the great thief Daudet, then why…" Thomas took several steps back with a panicked expression and felt utterly humiliated.

He had already realised that when Leylin had so easily tolerated him and conceded the sisters to him, he was actually being used as a shield. When he had been so immensely pleased with himself before, he was actually being played for a fool.

"You really… really dared to treat me like this, I will absolutely get my revenge on you, I swear it!" Of course, on the surface Thomas still had a fearful and humiliated expression on his face. There was a ring laden with a huge red gem on his hand, which was secretly emitting unknown undulations.

"Do you know why I acted so directly today, and didn't hesitate to expose myself?" Leylin calmly asked. He seemed as if he hadn't sensed Thomas' secretive action at all, but was still half-lying on the couch.

"I… I don't know," Thomas leaned against the wall, extremely afraid that if he went a few steps further, he would be pursued by Leylin. In his heart he was wildly roaring to himself, 'Yes, yes! Just like this, before you catch your prey, you'll humiliate me a little? Very well, come! Give me a bit more time until my family's reinforcement arrives and I'll pay you back a hundred times the humiliation you've given me!'

"Perhaps you are thinking that I'm acting like I've just caught my prey, and first I'll humiliate you a little before killing you?" Leylin indifferently said, right at that moment. His voice was teasing and his bright eyes seemed to have completely seen through Thomas' actions.

"No, how would I dare to think that?" Thomas knew that it would be harder to laugh than to cry. This feeling of being seen through made his heart sink a little.

'Isn't it almost time?' Leylin didn't bother with Thomas anymore, but looked at the position of the triumphal arc of the holy city.

Just as Thomas began to feel suspicious, a violent earthquake began to shake, and Thomas nearly fell.

With a great rumble, a loud sound came from the city gate. With the cries of countless gluttonous beasts and the sound of killing, a violent commotion began to spread within the city.

"Do you know why I didn't respond to your little secret action earlier?" Leylin stood and ridiculed Thomas, who was anxiously wringing his hands. Thomas' face paled immediately, as if all the blood had drained from it.

"It was because… The Stewart family, or the entire holy city, will become history after tonight. How could I care about your cry for help?"

"How.. How is that possible? Our holy city is under the protection of the Matriarch!" Thomas' voice was very hoarse, as if he was a desert traveller about to die from thirst.

With a whistling sound, two black daggers shot out from Thomas' sleeves like two concealed vipers in a flash, baring their fangs at Leylin.

Even though Thomas was a playboy, as Aegnis' fellow clansman and with a pure rank 6 bloodline, even if he hadn't really practiced he was still in the Morning Star realm.

Thomas' twin daggers which were pitch-black with a dark lustre, emitted undulations which were not inferior to any high-grade magical equipment.

Swish! Swish!* In an instant, the daggers were already flying towards Leylin's eyes, and he could even see Thomas' malevolent smile behind them.

With a crackling sound, countless sparks appeared, and shortly after a huge force could be felt. Thomas even felt like the daggers had pierced into steel, and could not even move an inch more.

"How is this possible?" Thomas' expression changed in an instant. It felt like he had been sent flying after being hit head-on with a train. As his chest caved in completely, he threw up a huge amount of blood and fragments of bone.

Thomas fell to the floor like a dead dog, and seemed to have lost most of his fighting strength in that moment. However, his pupils dilated abruptly, as if he had seen something unfathomable.

"The daggers are rather fine, it's a pity I can't use them," Leylin looked at the daggers he had caught in his hands, and sighed.

The powerful magical equipment that Thomas had shot out had been caught by him in both hands, and hadn't really been able to inflict any damage to him.

Thomas' astonishment was not because of this, however. He was surprised to find that phantoms of tiny snakes began to appear within the twin daggers, charging towards Leylin's hands to bite him.

Sizzling sounded, and several wisps of white smoke appeared which caused Leylin to wrinkle his eyebrows and throw the dagger away.

With two puffs, the twin daggers slammed into the ground, and two traces of what looked like burn marks appeared on Leylin's hands.

"My daggers are my family's treasured heirlooms, and have even received the Matriarch's blessing! You dared to…!"

"Haha… Ahaha… You're definitely dead! Through the daggers, the almighty Holy Mother will definitely know about you, you're definitely going to die! Haha…" Thomas began to laugh wildly.

"What? I'm afraid that she won't have the time to care about me!" Leylin shook his head.

"What's happening?" Thomas had also realised something was wrong, especially when the sounds of fighting at the city gate gradually grew weaker, and even began to spread inside the city. The sound of blood-curdling and surprised cries could be heard in response.

"You still don't know? The city gate has been broken! The gluttonous beasts have murdered their way in, and what the Snake Dowager needs to consider now is how to confront Beelzebub instead," Leylin looked down arrogantly at Thomas, his eyes filled with pity.

"Since the Stewart family is full of trash like you, no wonder you couldn't guard the holy city."

……

A little into the past. After she had bid Belinda farewell, Aegnis' expression grew firm and resolute. "What's the situation like now?" she asked once she'd reached the city wall.

"The preparations are complete, the disciplinary corps have been dispatched. Judging from the beasts' response, our chances of success are very high," a secretary-like snake man reported to her.

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