Translator: AnubisTL
For Jieming, who had been secluded in cultivating his Dao Foundation, the past century had passed in the blink of an eye.
Yet, during this time, his Purgatory Sulfur Plane had undergone a cataclysmic transformation.
Seen from outside the plane, the entire Purgatory Sulfur Plane had been turned into a blinding, fiery red.
This was the result of a near-eternal sea of molten lava that now covered almost its entire surface.
Powered by the Seventh-tier Large Elemental Pool, even the slightest leakage of energy was enough to completely melt the rocks on the plane's surface.
Within this churning red purgatory, a few black "islands" drifted and shifted.
These were not true landmasses, but rather the settlements of the Black Giants.
Black Giants possessed an innate ability to absorb external heat. When a large number of them gathered in one place for an extended period, their combined effect was enough to cool and solidify the surrounding molten lava, creating temporary black land.
Driven by a natural attraction to high-energy environments, the Black Giant settlements would continuously migrate toward even hotter regions.
And once they departed, the black "islands," deprived of the continuous heat-absorption effect, would soon be melted and consumed by the surrounding lava once more.
After more than a century of proliferation, the Black Giant population had swelled to nearly six hundred million.
Even split into tribes of varying sizes, their sheer numbers were enough to exert a significant influence on the local environment. A new ecosystem had gradually formed around the Black Giant Tribe: besides the peculiar demonic beasts naturally adapted to lava, many other species had developed the habit of migrating with the giants. The Black Giants, in turn, had domesticated a number of heat-resistant demonic beasts as "livestock."
More importantly, under Jieming's deliberate influence and the tribe's own development, these elemental lifeforms had already nurtured the sparks of a primitive civilization—they now had fixed sacrificial rituals and had even formed simple holiday "customs."
Jieming watched one of the large-scale Black Giant tribes through the monitoring arrays scattered across the plane.
Under the leadership of a Level 5 Black Giant Leader, they had just completed a grand sacrifice brimming with primitive power.
He immediately checked the formation next to him, which was connected to the Incense Divine Path Core. It showed that the collection of incense power was steady and efficient, and all other facilities were operating without a hitch.
"Hmm, the incense collection is running normally, and all the basics are firmly in place. We can proceed with the next step: the core rune integration," Jieming nodded in satisfaction.
He quickly calculated the time. The mandatory rest period displayed on his magic net terminal had less than fifty years remaining.
"We should be able to make it. If we're lucky, we might even have some spare time to research spatial knowledge..." He was still planning when his portable communicator buzzed.
It was a message from Viola. As always, it was short and to the point: "Open the gate! I'm coming!"
Jieming shook his head helplessly. With a thought, he used a spatial anchor to return to the underground laboratory of the Golden Garden in Noren Plane No. 147.
Entering the adjacent control room, he activated the teleportation formation's receiving permissions.
A flash of light, and Viola appeared.
But she wasn't alone this time. Behind her stood a young wizard, looking somewhat awkward and restrained.
Jieming found the young man vaguely familiar. He blinked, and soon retrieved the relevant information from his memory bank—it was the new disciple Mentor Clark had recently taken on.
"We're here!" Viola stepped out of the teleportation formation with her characteristic silver-gray hair swaying, her manner as unceremonious as ever.
Jieming noticed that this time, she wasn't dragging the junior brother along like a piece of luggage, but letting him walk down on his own.
Knowing his senior sister's volatile temper, Jieming immediately understood: it seemed this junior brother was also a genius she had come to acknowledge.
"Miss me, Junior?"
Viola greeted him with her usual familiarity, casually pulling a mass of flowing active metal from the ground, shaping it into a chair, and settling comfortably into it.
Ignoring her, Jieming turned his gaze to the young man and spoke in a calm tone, "Hello. Or rather, long time no see. I recall your name is... Anker, right?"
Anker hadn't expected this legendary senior, who had long since left the academy, to still remember his name. A flicker of flattered surprise crossed his face as he quickly nodded in respect. "Yes, Senior Jieming! It's an honor to see you!"
Jieming sensed the young man's mental power fluctuations—steady and condensed. He had already constructed the Ring of Truth. He was now a formal wizard.
But that was only natural. After all these years, Anker must have long since completed his Mandatory Military Service.
Viola leaned in from the side, chiming in with a mischievous grin. "Junior Brother Anker is also an astonishing genius! Of course..."
She trailed off, shooting Jieming a playful glance. "...he's not as freakishly talented as you were back then."
Jieming's face remained impassive as he placed a hand on Viola's leaning face and gently pushed her back.
Seeing Anker's stunned expression, he explained, "Don't be surprised. The elegance she maintains in front of others is all an act. Once you get to know her, you'll realize she's actually quite a nasty piece of work."
"Hey! Jieming! That's slander! Blatant slander against my perfect reputation!" Viola protested from the side.
Jieming glanced at her and sneered.
If the laws a wizard wielded weren't such a deeply private matter, he would have told Anker that this senior sister's core rule was "Pain." She was a latent sadist who took pleasure in watching others suffer.
However, considering their years of friendship, he decided to let Viola save some face in front of the newcomer.
"Still," Jieming continued, "she's quite reliable when things get seriously dangerous. If you run into trouble on the battlefield or in your research that you can't handle, you can try relying on her."
After the brief introductions, Jieming manipulated the active metal on the floor, shaping it into an elegant table and two chairs, and gestured for Anker to sit.
He then waved his hand, and a silver metallic automaton standing nearby approached, carrying a platter of various plant fruits that emitted faint energy fluctuations.
Jieming glanced at Viola, who had already snatched up a round fruit and was biting into it without hesitation, and asked directly, "What brings you here today?"
Chewing the sweet, juicy flesh, Viola replied unclearly, "Nothing major. My mandatory leave is almost up. I have to report to the second-line battlefield in another decade or so, so I came to say goodbye. And while I'm at it, to introduce you to your junior, Anker."
She swallowed the fruit and turned to Anker. "If you run into any trouble you can't solve at the academy or out in the world, you can come to him. He can handle almost anything."
She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, without any intention of asking for Jieming's opinion.
Jieming neither agreed nor disagreed. He simply gave Anker a slight nod, tacitly accepting this "entrustment."
Then, he looked at Viola with some confusion. "I recall your rest period shouldn't be over a thousand years yet. How did it end so quickly?"
As a sixth-tier wizard, according to the conventional regulations of the wizard civilization, the mandatory rest period after participating in a planar war was typically over four thousand years.
This timing... was a bit too fast.
As he spoke, Jieming casually picked a piece of plant from the fruit platter that looked like a brown tree root but emitted a refreshing, cool aroma and handed it to Anker. "You can try this. The energy and trace toxins in the other fruits might be a bit too much for you right now."
Viola lifted her chin triumphantly and explained, "Heh heh, I'm a member of the 'elite combat unit' now! I get high-rank wizard benefits, like being able to apply to shorten my mandatory rest period. I also used some of my accumulated high-tier military merits to trade for extra free time, which is why I could return to the battlefield so quickly."
Seeing a flash of surprise in Jieming's eyes, Viola curled her lip, her expression one of annoyance as if to say, You actually underestimated me?
"Hey, what's with that look? The elite combat unit was established specifically to absorb genius wizards from all walks of life. Passing the workshop's Elite Trial is one way in, but for someone as naturally gifted and battle-hardened as me, they'll naturally send an invitation! Alright?"
Jieming didn't argue.
After all, setting aside her twisted personality, Senior Sister Viola's talent and strength on the path of wizardry were beyond doubt.
Her induction into the elite combat unit was well-deserved.
(End of the Chapter)
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