915: Declaration of War! Great Dark World and Golden Crown Mountain!
'Bang~'
The entire Secret Treasure World was shrouded in thunderstorms. The terrifying power of Attila Lightning Chain was released in an instant; even the demons and monsters watching from the sidelines were caught in it before they could react.
Locke, meanwhile, charged out of that world with Douglas's body and all of his Magical Radiance.
Upon his return, he immediately threw Douglas onto the ground. At the same time, behind him, the Great Evil King of Darkness reached out a hand toward him—a hand that could cast shadows and darkness over countless civilizations. "Wizard..."
"No matter who you are..."
In the next moment, his great dark hand touched the black hole witch peach, causing the peach to suddenly open a black hole on the spot. That black hole frantically devoured his flesh and blood, threatening to suck in his body, soul, and dark power altogether.
The Great Evil King of Darkness had gone mad under the continuous strikes, letting out the most poisonous curses. He was originally a creature of the dark world, but now his mind was in complete chaos.
"Wizard~"
This voice pierced through the entire Golden Crown Mountain, causing countless wizards on the mountain to look toward the interior of the Golden Crown Mountain caves.
The voice of the Great Evil King of Darkness was filled with resentment and anger.
"I swear to you, I, the Great Lord of the dark world, Great Dark King Lolorua, will never let your wizard faction go. Only because you have trampled on my dignity time and time again."
"I hereby declare that darkness shall descend upon all of your heads."
In the next instant, before his right hand could be completely devoured by the black hole automatically triggered by the black hole witch peach, he forcibly summoned his right hand back.
In the darkness, a pair of eyes filled with madness glared at Locke and the Third Ring Wizard beside him.
At this time, in Golden Crown Mountain, the Academic Committee, the Senate, and the Deacon Group were each holding meetings in three different conference rooms. The wizards in all three meetings looked at each other.
The Senate was a group of elder wizards wearing wizard robes with red interiors and white exteriors. The meeting was presided over by a Third Ring Wizard who had not gone to the Genesis Academic Conference but had stayed behind to guard Golden Crown Mountain.
"Honestly, ever since the High-Ring Wizards went to the Genesis Conference to discuss the future of the Wizard Civilization, these little bugs have become more and more numerous. I don't know if it's because of the Genesis event or the Demon Ascension Plan. It seems like the little brats over at the Academic Committee stirred this up."
The Third Ring Elder to his left whispered, "That lord from the Great Dark World doesn't know life from death. He didn't declare war on the Red Dragon Lineage, but on Golden Crown Mountain. He has no idea what he's doing."
"A Wizard Academy of our level cannot allow those from the lower planes to provoke us."
The elder wizard to the right of the presiding officer whispered, "The authority of Golden Crown Mountain cannot be questioned. Many outside wizards heard this declaration of war today. In that case, we have no choice but to go to war. But since this was caused by the Academic Committee, we should challenge them during the Academy Council."
"They've had many achievements lately, but ever since the Red Dragon Witch took over, our troubles have somehow increased. Isn't it better to develop quietly? They just have to rush ahead of everyone else."
The wizards of the Patrol Executive Team, who were the heads of various laboratories, thought for a moment after hearing the declaration of war from the Third Ring being of the dark world. After confirming it wasn't caused by wizards on their side, they continued their meeting as if nothing had happened.
A laboratory head said, "We need to persuade the wizards of the other two factions at the Academy Council to open more projects that allow more wizards to learn. Breeding Science, Bloodline Studies, and Energetics are all too niche; Breeding Science is a bit better. It would be best to open another key laboratory for the Evocation School."
Meanwhile, at the Academic Committee meeting, Witch Catherine, who was presiding, had a prophet friend beside her observe what had happened. Upon learning that Locke had come into contact with the Great Evil King of Darkness, causing him to suffer repeatedly and leading to the direct declaration of war against Golden Crown Mountain...
The corners of her mouth curled up.
"It's nothing major. Just another being that doesn't know life from death. The exploration of the Great Dark World was supposed to continue anyway, and we were just discussing this matter."
Wizard Turazin's true body said, "Teacher, lords, I was just about to report our findings in the Great Dark World. Through several months of research on the heartbreak flowers obtained from the dark world, we have preliminarily confirmed two points. First, the current source of the nightfall on the Sun Shadow Peninsula in the Eastern Border Region is the Great Dark World."
"In other words, the Great Dark World didn't just come into contact with us; it has been in contact with us for a long time."
At the Academic Committee meeting, the various Sun Ring Wizards, Third Ring Wizards, and even the clones of Fourth Ring Wizards nodded continuously.
Wizard Turazin said, "Lords, please see for yourselves."
He opened a virtual canvas created by the Illusion School, displaying the various things he had encountered in the dark world as the Nameless Wizard.
"Look at these ruins; it has been confirmed that they are indeed wizard ruins."
"Second, through our research on heartbreak flowers, we have confirmed a second matter. That is, the Great Dark World is significantly connected to the Dark Age of the Wizarding World."
Immediately, all the wizards at the academic conference snapped out of their nonchalant state and looked seriously at the Plant Hunter, Turazin.
Wizard Turazin said, "Then the wizard ruins are very likely ruins from the mysterious Dark Age. The chain of evidence is as follows..."
"As everyone knows, the Dark Age is one of the most mysterious wizard eras. We only know that the Wizard Civilization during that period was full of ideological despotism, suppressing others' ideas, honoring the mainstream while ignoring new lines of thought, establishing authority, and creating Wizard Gods."
"But one of the most important symbols of that era—the Wizard Flower—has been confirmed through my research to have an absolute direct evolutionary chain relationship with the heartbreak flowers of the Great Dark World. In other words, the Great Dark World is likely related to the Dark Age of the Wizard Civilization."
A clone of a Third Ring Wizard from the Academic Committee tapped his finger on the table and pondered, "So what does this have to do with our Golden Crown Mountain? We only want to focus on the development of Breeding Science and Dragon Blood studies."
Wizard Turazin said, "The wizard ruins of the Dark Age themselves are of the greatest value. Secondly, I currently have a suspicion that the past mental stagnation of the Wizard Civilization was not just a cultural issue, but a Magic Plant issue."
That Third Ring Wizard's clone responded to Wizard Turazin's report with a dazed expression.
"Very imaginative, but this kind of thing wouldn't even make it into a Second Ring first district journal. Bringing this to our meeting is a bit of a waste of our time. Is this Lady Yekaterina's intention?"
The Red Dragon Queen said, "Let's not talk about that for now. At least those wizard ruins are indeed a resource, and it just so happens that those ruins are densely distributed in the territory of the Great Evil King of Darkness. Since the Great Evil King of Darkness has declared war on us, we have no other choice but to respond."
The wizards of the Academic Committee nodded one after another.
Because this was indeed a move that followed the trend. Originally, everyone was going to deliberate for a while on whether to divert some resources to the Great Dark World for the sake of this young wizard Turazin's seemingly absurd research results.
Especially since, in the current Magic Winter, the resources of the Wizard Lands along the Tianjiang Riverbank might be reduced to ashes.
However, the declaration of war by the Great Evil King of Darkness left everyone with no more hesitation.
So, the Academic Committee passed the decision on the spot to invest a portion of resources into the Great Dark World for planar exploration.
Meanwhile, Locke was in the Black Hole Witch Peach Room. He supported himself against the wall with his left hand and coughed violently. "I rarely suffer such a big loss."
"That place actually has a third..."
"Witch King... how is Douglas?"
Locke turned and saw Douglas on the ground, and his brow furrowed. At this moment, Douglas's entire body was pitch black, completely shrouded in darkness. The Magical Radiance on his body had scattered like fireflies, hovering over the ground.
The Moon Ring Old Wizard appeared in the room. He seemed very anxious, raising both hands, the eyes in his palms looking at Locke. "Young Potion Master, what did you do? You were only in there for a few hours, yet you've caused such a huge mess."
"This Crystallized Wizard's soul has even been shattered."
Locke immediately remembered that the other party was a Moon Ring level wizard of the Mind School and asked, "My Lord, do you have a way to save him?"
The Moon Ring Old Wizard's voice appeared in Locke's mind.
"I can use Psychokinesis to gather his soul fragments and re-integrate them into his body. Although this will consume quite a bit of my magical power, it can indeed be done."
"This sort of thing is what the magic of the Mind School is best at."
Locke was quite surprised.
"Then please, senior, take action to save him."
The Moon Ring Old Wizard was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I refuse."
"If you had ended up like this, I could save you. But him... no. He already had a second soul within him. Don't think I didn't know; before you went in, I detected two souls in his body."
A pink, long-trunked elephant appeared behind the Moon Ring Old Wizard. This was his Ultimate Magic.
The elephant's ears were like palm-leaf fans and could fly like wings.
Its condensed magic pressure and perfect Spell Model made Locke's eyes light up with admiration as he, who was on the path of forging Ultimate Magic, looked at it.
Clearly, this flying elephant was the source of this Mind School Moon Ring Wizard's psychokinetic ability.
The Moon Ring Old Wizard said, "This person is suspicious, his identity is unclear, and he can't even be considered a wizard of our Golden Crown Mountain. I will not save him."
"However, I can do you a favor. I'll give you one hour. If you can't collect his soul and take it away, or whatever you choose to do, then I will use Psychokinesis to sweep these soul fragments away like trash and toss them into the black hole witch peach."
The Moon Ring Old Wizard's figure vanished from the spot. He had used Psychokinesis to forcibly teleport himself.
Locke said, "The Ultimate Magic of a Moon Ring Wizard is indeed on an entirely different level compared to that of an ordinary Second Ring Wizard."
He looked at the pile of soul fragments on the ground.
He felt quite helpless.
This is trouble.
Locke looked at the soul fragments and tried to speak, "Mr. Witch King, are you still there?"
Locke's voice fell, but there was no reaction.
Locke frowned. He thought for a moment and could only first try to use the golden ear wheat to suck in all that firefly-like Magical Radiance.
Next, Locke prepared to seal this stalk of golden ear wheat to prevent the Magic Plant from absorbing other substances and contaminating it.
Just then, he felt someone tugging at the hem of his wizard robe.
Locke turned around in surprise. "Mr. Witch King, you're still here?"
'Douglas' climbed up from the ground and looked at Locke helplessly.
"It seems you already had a faint suspicion of my existence."
"I've exhausted all the nourishment I had accumulated within Douglas's soul. That Moon Ring Wizard has the mindset of a low-ring wizard after all. I wasn't soul-parasitizing Douglas's body. If I still had a complete soul, I would only need a bit of soil to make a body for myself. Why would I need Douglas's body?"
"I don't even have a soul left, only a Light of the Mind. My Light of the Mind is supporting Douglas's body. But I've consumed too much and will soon fall into a deep sleep."
"I wasn't prudent enough this time, forgetting that times change. The location of the treasure left tens of thousands of years ago has long since changed as time passed."
"Fortunately, the treasure is still there."
Locke nodded and said, "Senior Witch King, how can I help Douglas?"
The Witch King asked Locke in return.
"Why help him? You've already obtained the location of the treasure. This extraction failed, so just go again. You have the Token in your hand now. If you need my help, just extract my Light of the Mind from him and put it into another wizard."
"Douglas's talent is mediocre, and his abilities are average. Casting him aside won't be a problem for you at all."
Locke was stunned for a moment, then frowned.
"I have my own principles. Douglas is a wizard in my team, working for me, and I am very satisfied with his work."
The Lagemen Witch King chuckled.
"Honestly, no matter the era, there are always people like you. I'm almost speechless."
"Can I not avoid people like you in any era? Last time it was people like you... who made me challenge the Black Sun Tower..."
"I understand."
"You are trustworthy. This Light of the Mind of mine is completely bound to Douglas. I'm about to fall into a deep sleep. I originally intended to rely on myself. But since you've said so much, it would be strange if I didn't be honest. Put Douglas's Magical Light and body together, and place them under a thunderstorm, burying him in the soil."
"After the thunderstorm night, his soul will be restored. His soul was specially modified long ago when it accepted my Gate of Lightning magic inheritance. He is no ordinary wizard."