While walking, the old Magus taught the acolytes who were following behind him.
“I’ve already told you about the unique characteristics of the Bloody Grass. However, you’ve only seen pictures and samples. Now, I’ve brought you here, where it is naturally grown…”
“Arnold! Take a look at this. Is this Bloody Grass any different from the rest?”
The old Magus asked a male acolyte with freckles on his face.
“Yes! It’s thinner than others of its kind, and the veined pattern of blood on the surface isn’t very clear. It might have met with some natural predator, specifically… specifically…”
Arnold was still a large boy, with some hair growing above his lips. He walked ahead and extended his right hand towards the Bloody Grass, wanting to take a closer look.
*Xiu!*
In that instant, a red shadow shot out from the Bloody Grass, heading straight for Arnold’s face!
“Ah…” Arnold staggered and fell back, alarmed.
*Pak!* A black flash of light was shot out from the old Magus’ hands, striking the shadow down.
It was a red beetle-like organism with grey spots on its back. Its sharp mouth let out cold glints, its teeth that were half the size of its body still moving.
“This is the Sawtooth Beetle, the natural predator of the Bloody Grass! It loves to gnaw at the roots of the Bloody Grass. If it is cultivated by hand, one must patrol every day and eliminate this sort of insect!”
“Arnold! You didn’t even perform the most basic defence before observing the grass. This carelessness will cost you your life in the future!”
The old Magus shook his head and then headed off into the distance.
Arnold turned a little red as he rubbed his head, quickly stood up and caught up.
“Hey, big guy! You really are lucky! The spiral sawtooth attack of the Sawtooth Beetle is something even level 2 acolytes might not be able to take on! If not for mentor, you would now be a cold corpse…”
A female acolyte approached him, snorting in disdain.
“Hehe…” Arnold scratched his head, making him seem even more thickheaded.
“Let’s go! How could you even become an acolyte with that level of intelligence? It’s basically a disgrace to us and to our mentor!” A boy wearing fancy clothes and seemed to have received education on the etiquette of the nobility walked past, leaving Arnold far behind.
“Mentor! The Bloody Grass can strengthen one’s body to a certain extent, and is a huge temptation to some high-energy beings. It is usually found in places where high-energy beings hunt, so should we be a little more careful?”
The acolyte of nobility ran in front of the old Magus.
”You’re on the right track, but I’ve already scouted the area. The only high-energy being here is just a Gale Shackled Weasel, which is about the limits of what you are able to handle with your abilities!”
The old Magus nodded, praising him.
“Though Bloody Grass can strengthen the body to a certain extent, its poison is too strong for us humans. It needs to be processed before it can be turned into a potion! Your mission now is to harvest enough Bloody Grass to brew a standard portion of body-strengthening potion, as well as remove the poison within!”
The old Magus began to issue the task.
“Understood, mentor!” A few acolytes immediately brought out their apparatus and separated, with the old Magus at the centre so that he was able to help every one of them in time.
“Good!” Seeing this, the old Magus nodded in satisfaction.
*Xiu!* A Sawtooth Beetle shot out of the Bloody Grass, brushed past Arnold’s face and scared him so much that he fell.
“Haha! Look at that idiot! Mentor had already demonstrated that there could be beetles hidden in the Bloody Grass that looked less healthy, and yet you still try to harvest it!”
The acolyte of nobility coincidentally walked past. He raised his hand and chanted a few syllables, and a corrosive ball shot out, putting an end to the beetle before mocking him relentlessly.
“Look! I’ve almost gathered the required amount of resources, and you haven’t even filled the bottom yet!”
The acolyte opened his bag and proudly showed it to Arnold.
“Don’t bother with him! Levi, come help me! The roots of this Bloody Grass are too hard!” The girl from before hummed in dissatisfaction.
“Alright, alright, I’ll be right there!”
Levi quickly cast Arnold away, approaching the girl and being particularly attentive to her.
Though they were still children, the youngsters of the south coast usually matured early. There were already indications of this early on.
Upon seeing this, the old Magus reminiscenced, “This is youth…”
He mumbled to himself, producing a pipe with golden decorations on the surface and beginning to smoke. White circles of smoke were constantly puffed out and appeared in the air.
However, while he was recalling the past, a slight tremble of the ground began.
“Huh? This is?” The old Magus immediately put out his pipe, this peculiar situation immediately arousing his interest.
In the next few seconds, the tremors became more intense till the ground began to shake substantially.
From a distance away, a group of strange beings, such as two-headed wolves, four-legged mutated elks and all sorts of high-energy beings, normal beings, carnivorous and herbivorous animals banded together that formed a wave that was hard to avoid.
At the very front, the old Magus even found a few large terrifying beasts that gave him a sense of danger!
“Assemble! Assemble here!” The old Magus yelled, his voice a little hoarse from his nerves.
“What the hell is going on?”
The acolyte of nobility, Levi, raised his head and stared at the scene, stunned. All of a sudden, he was drowned by the large numbers of Sawtooth Beetles that flew out from the Bloody Grass. The girl with him could not escape the fate of death either, the sound of flesh and blood being gnawed on constantly being produced.
The group of beetles were like grey spots constantly rising from the Bloody Grass, forming a cloud that entered the wave.
“What’s going on? Why are there animals fleeing from danger in this season? Is there some extremely dangerous being chasing after them?”
The old Magus wondered to himself, not even sparing a glance at Arnold who had been running pitifully.
*Xiu xiu!*
A human figure streaked through the sky at an incredibly fast rate, creating two air waves that had long ripples trailing behind.
“You can’t escape!”
A massive voice travelled from behind the figure. Following the sound, a large bundle of white light immediately appeared in front of the black figure, turning into a large shield.
“Scorching Touch!” With a wave of his hand, two streaks of red rays shot out from the shadow and created two large holes in the shield. Under the constant shimmering of the white rays, the shield quickly returned to its prior state.
Under the hindrance of the shield, the black figure stopped, revealing the appearance of a young Magus. He had black hair, his features handsome yet sinister.
Behind him, a line of white light brought with it immense pressure as it burst towards him.
*Weng!* A formless energy boundary dissipated in all directions with the light at the centre. A fantastical land of light and beauty suddenly descended upon this region.
“This is… the domain of a highly ranked Magus! It’s a rank 3 Magus!”
The old Magus gaped, his eyes on the verge of popping out, “Who in the world is he chasing after? Is it also a rank 3 lord Magus?”
The rays dissipated, revealing the figure of a blonde Magus.
“Poison King Leylin! You dare kill my blood! Even though Jajone was just trash, our family name must not be tarnished!
Countless rays were emitted from his body, forming a huge pike made of countless other pikes.
&
nbsp; “Heavenly Pike!” The large numbers of pikes shot towards Leylin like raindrops.
“Toxic Bile!” Leylin spread his arms and a wave of toxins rippled towards the pikes. *Tss tss!* A large amount of white gas sizzled out, and the sounds of corrosion was produced from the pike formed of heavenly rays. It quickly began to fill with holes.
However, though the pike’s power seemed to have been weakened, it still charged towards Leylin.
“Kemoyin’s Scales!” From the surface of Leylin’s skin, countless black scales with incomplete runes on it emerged. The black light exploded from the scales, forming a huge shield in front of him.
*Ka-cha! Ka-cha!*
The pike penetrated the shield with black runes, focusing on Leylin’s body and created a large number of sparks.
An unnatural flush appeared on Leylin’s face, and he retreated. While flying backwards, he waved fiercely.
“Latent Fireball!”
Large amounts of black flames wrapped the shield of light from before, combusting fiercely.
The shield of light had become slightly thinner after the attack of the Scorching Touch. Now, with the attack from the Latent Fireball, white rays constantly flickered and eventually exploded, turning into little milky-white lights that were burnt till nothing was left by the black flames.
“Light Domain!” The blonde rank 3 Magus suddenly spread his arms, looking ready to give a hug.
*Boom!* The boundaries of light shifted such that it increased in area, including Leylin within.
A huge suction power exploded from the light Magus, and Leylin was involuntarily dragged closer to him.
“As expected of a rank 3 Magus! Though this light domain is but an imitation, it is still slightly able to suppress my strength!” Feeling the rapid increase of the number of light elemental particles in the air and the huge decrease in dark elemental particles, Leylin’s expression became grim.
“Die!”
A white bundle of light carrying with it a terrifying destructive power rose from the rank 3 light Magus’ hand, advancing towards Leylin.
Possession
“Activate gravitational spell formation at full power—100 times gravity!”
Leylin pressed his temples and ordered.
*Weng weng!*
A large, dark brown formation lit up and rose from the ground and tore apart the milky white domain.
The light Magus was stunned for a moment, the ball of energy in his hands changing its course and missing Leylin.
“An ancient spell formation? When did he set that up?”
The light Magus saw the terrifying formation that spanned for kilometres, shock apparent in his expression.
“I’ll take advantage of this! Suction spell formation!” An inverted “L” shaped rune brightened on Leylin’s body, and as if he was being sucked in by a black hole, he turned into a black streak and vanished.
“What an interesting little guy! It’s a pity that all your methods are useless against me!” The light Magus calmly looked in the direction in which Leylin had fled, and suddenly laughed, shooting a glance at the old Magus from the corner of his eye. He turned into a ray of light and quickly left the area.
“Poison? Then he should be the Demonic Poison King Leylin, whose name has been going around! I wonder which faction and organisation that rank 3 Magus is from…”
The old Magus mumbled to himself in a daze, not noticing the look of envy in Arnold’s eyes.
……
*Boom!* A black shadow slammed into the spell formation, the powerful suction spell formation smashed to pieces.
Leylin let out a long sigh, “A rank 3 Magus is someone I can’t deal with yet…”
In the beginning, under the influence of his emotional state, Leylin had killed off Jojane, who had a powerful backing. Under his enraged state, he had not even taken the most basic protective measures.
When he had killed Jojane, the death mark from a rank 3 Magus was left on Leylin’s body.
All Magi usually had this method. For Leylin, a mark from a rank 2 Magus basically had no effect on him. However, the mark from a rank 3 Magus was evidently not so easily dealt with.
Leylin forced a smile and took a look at his sea of consciousness.
Within the crimson sea was a little, maggot shaped, milky white ray of light. While Leylin was not paying attention to it, it would expand.
A large amount of time and spiritual force would be needed to wear down and expel this mark.
This was the best solution provided by the A.I. Chip, but Leylin would be found by his opponent every so often. There was not enough time to deal with this.
After a few battles, Leylin had a better understanding of his own strength.
In his current state, he was a terrifying existence to rank 2 Magi who were lucky enough to rank up.
With a high-grade meditation technique, as well as a powerful bloodline, Leylin’s advancements in rank as a warlock always brought immense benefits and increases in strength.
However, for similar rank 2 Magi who also possessed high-grade meditation techniques, the gap was not so obvious.
“In my current state, I am considered an elite amongst rank 2 Magi. However, in the face of any rank 3 Magi, I have no confidence at all. Even being able to escape would depend on my luck!”
Leylin shook his head and walked out.
In front of him was a small, desolate little town, with dust, rubbish and all sorts of vines growing on the ground.
“No! The mark on my body is constantly emitting waves to track my location. No matter where I am on the south coast, I’ll easily be found. I need to go to a place far, far away, to the point that the distance can interfere with the mark’s transmission of information!”
Leylin’s eyes showed his resolution. This was the desolate town where the Ancient Spirit Slaying Sect’s secret plane had been!
“If this really doesn’t work out, I can just use the teleportation spell formation and leave this place! If I’m quick enough, he won’t be able to find out about this place, and I may still be able to return!”
If the Magus did not find out about this secret plane, Leylin could remove all traces of the mark, and then confidently strut back into the south coast.
The moment the entrance to the secret plane was found, no matter how much Leylin did not want to do so, he could only hold back the pain of having to abandon this place, destroy the teleportation spell formation there, and leave this place forever.
“I didn’t think I’d need to use my last resort so soon!”
Leylin laughed bitterly, and from a spell formation at the villa, entered the secret plane. While going through the spell formation that went through the void, Leylin moved his hand and a red ray disappeared into the wall.
“I haven’t been able to obtain probing spells or spiritually branded slaves. If I’m going over, I’ll need to do it myself. Though I’ve already ascertained that the teleportation spell formation is alright after checking with the A.I. Chip, gambling like this really leaves a sour taste in my mouth…”
Leylin furrowed his brows and came to the secret room in the narrow pathway.
Though he was sure that the teleportation spell formation was fine, the state of the surroundings around it might not be alright.
What he could confirm, though, was that the other side of the spell was in a place that was very far away. As long as he escaped and broke the connection between the two spell formations, he would be able to break away from the chase of the rank 3 Magus!
“I’ll take a look over there, and if it really isn’t a good environment there, I can still come back!” Leylin consoled himself.
*Pu!* All of a sudden, a bright, milky-white beam shot out from Leylin’s body and up into the sky, heading upwards in a straight line as if penetrating the hindrances of the secret room.
Leylin covered his head and staggered back. In his sea of consciousness, that milky-white light was spreading outwards, and no matter how Leylin us
ed his spiritual force to obstruct it, it was of no use.
Leylin seemed to see a blonde rank 3 Magus rushing towards him.
“The time he takes to detect me has shortened. He’s found this place!”
Leylin’s expression turned grim, “I’ll have to use my last resort and completely give up on this place!”
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