by Zhuang Bifan
Indeed, everything turned out to be like what Lin Li had expected. With the disintegration of the Light and Darkness Sword, the Laws from the Soul-devouring Domain appeared, and formed an incomplete and reduced version of the Soul-devouring Domain.
In the world where only black and white existed, the small light blue swirl of Soul-devouring Domain was particularly eye-catching. Without the horrendous wails of the countless Vengeful Spirits and storm, it was probably what the prototype of the Soul-devouring Domain originally created by the Lord of Souls, Mephistos, looked like.
This Soul-devouring Domain might not be a threat to others at all, but it would be extremely deadly to the soul sealed in the alchemy puppets, just like Holy Light to the Undead creatures.
The two alchemy puppets that were darting towards Lin Li suddenly appeared out of nothingness and began twitching unsteadily, though they seemed to be unable to move any further as if they were rooted to the ground. Next, everyone watched as the two shadow-like alchemy puppets emitted a burst of blue light from each of their bodies and eventually fell to the ground as the light dissipated.
Chapter 671 - Magic Tides
Is that it? No one could believe their eyes at all. The enemies who drove all of them into a corner actually got defeated by an incomplete Soul-devouring Domain. They still did not know what alchemy puppets were, but even if they did, they probably wouldn't believe that such a powerful enemy would end up being destroyed by a Soul-devouring Domain.
Just like how water could extinguish flames and light could dispel darkness, even an incomplete Soul-devouring Domain would render the souls helpless by launching attacks that they could not retaliate against.
Watching the two alchemy puppets fall, Lin Li did not seem too overjoyed, and instead frowned slightly. Although he successfully released the Soul-devouring Domain, his mastery and control of the Soul-devouring Domain was not as complete as that of the Magical Domain that he had created. Hence, he could not quite figure out the fate of the two sealed souls, nor did he know if they would be destroyed or devoured.
The Soul-devouring Domain gradually dissipated, and the black-and-white world slowly returned to normal. Although everyone saw the confusion in Lin Li's eyes, that did not affect their eagerness and enthusiasm for searching for treasures. Everyone simply gave Lin Li credit out of courtesy and walked straight into the laboratory without any delay.
It seemed that neither Elder Randy nor Cheyenne had any interest in the defeated enemies. Although they had had firsthand experience with the enemies' ruthless ways and knew how terrifying the latter were, the enemies were now useless because they had already died. They were in the laboratory of the Immortal King where there were definitely stronger and greater things for them to collect. Whoever grabbed the items first would get to keep them. Hence, who would be willing to waste a minute on the useless remains?
Watching everyone rush straight to the laboratory and disappear soon after, Lin Li touched his chin, and slowly walked towards the two alchemy puppets, which he then began observing carefully. He could tell at first glance that the two alchemy puppets had similar qualities with actual shadows. Even if there was no manipulation by souls, there seemed to be some shrinking and twisting of their bodies, and they would form just a thin layer on the ground.
In fact, one would be able to tell with a closer glance that the two alchemy puppets were still moving, but that was only some movements driven by the alchemy core. Lin Li squinted and a light flashed in his eyes. He had already gotten a clear idea about the material that constituted the body of the alchemy puppets.
"Turns out it's the Shadow Iron. It really is a masterpiece of the Immortal King!" Lin Li, who had a deep, Guru-level understanding of all types of magical metals, naturally was no stranger to a rare magical metal like Shadow Iron.
Although the Shadow Iron that was said to be produced in the Garso Hills of the Dwarf Kingdom had a clear origin, only a tiny amount was produced. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been deemed as rare. The most remarkable characteristic of Shadow Iron was its soft yet durable texture. It was malleable even for ordinary people, but it wouldn't break even if it was stretched to an extent of being thinner than hair.
As a rare magical metal, the Shadow Iron possessed an extremely destructive magical attribute, especially when it was used to build magical weapons. Magical weapons made of Shadow Iron could break almost any magic shield, and were definitely the ultimate weapons in the mind of every assassin.
Lin Li did not feel amazed simply because of the rare magical metal, Shadow Iron, but mostly because of the alchemical proficiency of the Immortal King. Creating alchemy puppets was already a top technique in alchemy, and shaping Shadow Iron at will to create the alchemy puppets was even more difficult.
The alchemy puppet on the ground was continuously shrinking. Although it originally appeared to be the size of a normal person, Lin Li knew that only a small piece of Shadow Iron was used to make the alchemy puppets. The characteristic of the Shadow Iron was the very reason a shadow was formed with the movement of the Alchemy core.
Soon, the body of the alchemy puppet shrunk into a clump, and was no longer just a thin layer of shadow. No one could imagine that the clump could be such a horrifying shadow assassin. Lin Li leaned over to pick up the alchemy puppets that had been transformed into clumps. In fact, what really piqued his interest was the alchemy cores within the Shadow Iron.
It was the pinnacle masterpiece of a Guru. If anyone else were to take it, they might not even be able to reactivate the alchemy puppets. However, Lin Li would be able to advance the alchemy puppets to a higher level, and might even replicate the same alchemy puppet. Of course, be it activate or replicate, he definitely needed a strong soul to do it. Hence, Lin Li would have to come up with another solution.
After stowing the alchemy puppets into the Ring of Endless Storm, Lin Li took the two Undead servants to the laboratory. As soon as they passed through the gate, they were greeted with the sight of Elder Randy and Cheyenne who were standing rooted to the ground with a glum and melancholic expression on their faces.
They searched the laboratory before I did, so why do they have such expressions? Lin Li thought as he looked around, and immediately felt surprised. It was no wonder that Elder Randy and Cheyenne would feel so upset—there was nothing to grab in the laboratory.
It was not that the Immortal King's laboratory was shabby, but rather that it seemed to have gone through a huge disaster. All the equipment used in alchemy or for other purposes had been brutally destroyed. There was also no need to look for any so-called valuable treasures, because they could all sense that there was no longer anything that had amazing mana waves in the room.
The magic furnace had collapsed, and the laboratory bench had been broken, with various crystal fragments glistening here and there on the ground. Clearly, someone had already arrived before them and taken away all of the valuable items. They even seemed to have struck the entire laboratory with a Magic Storm.
Staring at the surroundings which looked like ruins, Lin Li began gritting his teeth while cussing in his head. Which bastard came here? Forget it if he moved the damned things away, but why did he have to destroy the equipment in the laboratory? He didn't leave a single thing intact at all.
Apart from the fact that he wanted to acquire the two alchemy puppets, another reason Lin Li didn't rush to the laboratory together with everyone was because he knew that it belonged to the Immortal King. To Lin Li, what could be more useful than the experimental equipment used by the Immortal King? However, everything was ruined now, and there was nothing left for him to use. He thought, That damned jerk was really ruthless.
"Look around. This laboratory is huge. Maybe we missed something…" Elder Randy said with a wry smile. However, he did not sound too confident.
No one was willing to leave empty-handed; hence, they had no choice but to put in their last bits of patience and search the laboratory carefully bit by bit. They thought that Lady Luck m
ight suddenly appear and smile on them to let them find a secret room of sorts where they could find a huge treasure…
Everyone were initially there to search for some treasures, but no one expected to see the laboratory in ruins. Fortunately, the area was large enough. Although it was a complete mess, they fortunately needed not rummage through the debris as if they were scavenging garbage.
The three parties decided to split up and search the laboratory carefully. They would pick every piece of paper up to take a closer look. Since they could no longer sense any astonishing mana waves, they could only hope to obtain some knowledge.
The searching method made Cheyenne feel rather depressed, but he couldn't help it, because he was short of manpower. Fortunately, he had subdued a Winged Angel previously, which gave him a sense of comfort. However, his psychological comfort was soon broken with the elves' discovery.
"Elder Randy, I found a journal!"
Halfway through the laboratory search, Princess Elune found a somewhat tattered journal beside the collapsed laboratory bench. She was rather surprised. Although she had found some pieces of paper before, the scarce information on them did not have much value at all. However, the journal was different. Although there were some defects, it still had research value.
Hearing Princess Elune's yelling, almost everyone stopped in their tracks, especially Elder Randy, who dashed towards Princess Elune, grabbed the journal, and began scrutinizing it eagerly.
At this moment, both Lin Li and Cheyenne stopped searching, and walked towards Elder Randy. Although the journal already belonged to the elves because of their tacit agreement, everyone could not help but feel curious about the Immortal King's journey.
After Elder Randy gently flipped through a few pages of the notes, the joy on his face increased, and he raised his head to say to Lin Li and Cheyenne, "I shall not hide it from you two. This journal was indeed written by the Immortal King, and the annotation on the top corner is probably the Alchemy Array Magic Tides."
In Anril, the first thing that would come to everyone's mind when 'magic tides' were mentioned would be the natural phenomenon that allowed humanity to continue the prosperity of magic civilization after the end of the Dark Age. In particular, the first magic tide allowed plenty of mages to immediately break through the world that they were originally in and allow the number of Archmages to reach a historical high. At that time, many people even claimed that the magic tide was a blessing bestowed on the humans by the gods, a reward for the overthrowing of the High Elves.
However, people then learned that the magic tide that happened once every 400 years had brought to humans a huge disaster that was detrimental and outweighed the benefits. The terrible Black Current that accompanied the magic tides caused countless people to be devoured by crazy magical beasts. Even the Darkness Shrine that had once forced the Brilliance Shrine into a corner also declined due to the attack of Black Current. The current Pope of the Brilliance Shrine had also gotten injured by the viper's poison during the Black Current, and suffered the detrimental effects of it for hundreds of years.
Lin Li knew that the 400-year-long period was ending, and a new magic tide was brewing. According to Geresco's calculations, the impending magic tide this time would probably be stronger than the three preceding ones. If there was no way to deal with it, Anril might really be struck with disaster this time.
Lin Li did not forget that he did not take the three relics of Geresco for nothing. He could only protect himself and the ones he wanted to protect during the world-ending disaster by reaching the Sanctuary-realm within two or three years. Protecting Anril would just be something he could do at the same time…
However, the real magic tide was not a natural phenomenon that only occurred once every 400 years. The term "magic tide" was not created by humans, but borrowed from the High Elves. The real magic tides were the Magic Tide Array that was described in the journal that was obtained by the elves.
At this moment, even Elder Randy couldn't restrain the excitement in his heart, and his joy and pride were written all over his face. Yes, even the Seven Sages of the elves and the elven queen would not be able to remain calm before the Magic Tide Array.
Cheyenne was similarly anxious, riled up, envious, jealous, and annoyed. In short, he had a sullen expression on his face. Although they had not experienced the Dark Age, and did not know much about Magic Tide Array, anyone would still be able to tell from the name of the phenomenon just how destructive the Magic Tide Array would be.
However, while struggling, Cheyenne still shot Lin Li a strange glance. If he remembered correctly, it seemed that the journal that they found was on the route that Lin Li had scoured, yet the latter missed it. Cheyenne felt that he would have felt like dying if he were Lin Li now. His expression seemed too calm.
However, Cheyenne again thought about Lin Li's age, and reckoned that the latter seemed to be in his early twenties, which meant he was younger than his grandson Hutton. He thought, But that's not too bad, either. Since he didn't know, he wouldn't have to feel as conflicted and regretful as I do now. After all, it's the Magic Tide Array, a peak Alchemy Array that only appeared once in the long history of Anril.
It only happened once, and there was probably no one present who knew it better than Elder Randy did. Although the High Elves were already at the end of their reign when Elder Randy reached the Legendary-realm, he had heard plenty of stories about the magic tides from the elven elders.
Chapter 672 - Tower of Death
The Alchemy Array Magic Tides was established under the Tree of Eternity. The High Elves used more resources and manpower in the construction of the array as compared to the Sky Castles. The Alchemy Array was effective in a radius of 1000 miles, almost covering the entire Hlidskjalf.
To many people, this was just one of the many legends about the High Elves, yet Elder Randy knew very well that that was no fiction. Only the royals and nobles during the rule of the High Elves had the right to enter the Hlidskjalf to enjoy the rays of the Magic Tides. Although the elven race had a lowly status then, they had Hollisas Dalisma, the Helios, who had been personally appointed by the queen.
Helios Hollisas obtained the right to enter the Hlidskjalf and experienced the rays of the Magic Tides for himself. The Magic Tides blessed him with the powers of the Tree of Eternity. He acquired a formidable ability as well as a source of mana that was almost eternal.
The Magic Tides needed the Tree of Eternity. Now that the Tree of Eternity had fallen, the elves were left with the Sierra Leone Forest. If they could build a Magic Tides Array that could cover the whole of Sierra Leone Forest, the Elven Kingdom would become an impregnable fortress.
The thought that the declining kingdom of the elves would rise again due to the Magic Tides made Elder Randy incredibly excited. He was not alone. The other elves shared the same glitter in their eyes. Some of them even had tears welled up in their eyes. It was time to end the suffering of the elven race.
Lin Li shook his head. "Congrats, both of you have found such important information. It seems that I have to continue searching for mine…" he said to Elder Randy disappointedly.
With that, he brought his Undead followers off to continue their search in the laboratory. His backview seemed melancholic to the elves.
Lin Li's words reminded Cheyenne of the task at hand. He woke up from being envious of the elves' good luck and went back to the box of trash. Somehow, he could feel that there was something wrong with Lin Li, but he could not put his finger on it.
Cheyenne pushed the doubt to the back of his mind very quickly and devoted all of his attention to rummaging through the trash. The laboratory was extremely huge. If the elves could find such an important diary in that place, it could not be that this laboratory had no other valuable item left!
It was as though Lady Luck had heard Cheyenne's prayers. When he kicked a pile of trash away, he saw a scroll-like object lying on top of it. Cheyenne picked it up and prayed really hard as he unrolled
the scroll slowly…
Tower of Death!
Cheyenne nearly dropped the scroll when he saw the first few words on it. As the scroll unrolled, it revealed a blueprint of the Tower of Death.
The Tower of Death was as infamous as the Sierra Leone Forest where people had been sent into exile. The Tower of Death had been a trendy game during the reign of the High Elves, yet to the races living under their rule, the tower was a symbol of the brutality of the High Elves.
The royals of the High Elves loved to banish beings of different races into the Tower of Death. Entering the tower was akin to entering a world of battles and bloodshed. People who entered the tower would know that there were numerous magical beasts on every single level of the tower. They could only kill all the beasts on the same level as them before they could progress to higher levels. The higher they progressed, the more the beasts they had to deal with grew in power. Yet, no living being knew how many levels the Tower of Death had.
There were different theories about where the countless magical beasts in the Tower of Death came from. Despite not being well-versed in alchemy, Cheyenne could recognize an array that resembled the Teleportation Portal when he opened the scroll.
The Teleportation Portal was a rather powerful item among Alchemy Arrays. The portal used by the tower, however, was a hundred and a thousand times more complicated than usual Teleportation Portals. Cheyenne felt the stress when he looked at the blueprint. He really could not fathom how the High Elves had managed to invent such a thing. Cheyenne only knew that the Teleportation Portal involved profound intricacies of time and space. It was a domain for the divines.
This Teleportation Portal was the reason why countless magical beasts could be transported into the tower from their respective dimensions. These magical beasts could not leave the range of the Tower of Death. Being real creatures, they would be hurt and die in pain with the people who were trapped in the tower.
