Chapter 1167: Chapter 917 The Old Man’s Caprice
Subsequently, twenty Crazy Demons and three Black Crystal Mages came to this place.
The man in the field, filled with confidence, spoke up, "Let them come at me all together!"
"First, let’s test with the Crazy Demons," Elma said with a smile. He liked confident people.
The twenty Crazy Demons surrounded the man.
The man’s mana suddenly erupted, even stronger than before!
"Awoo!"
The Crazy Demons howled and charged, but the man simply raised a mana shield with one hand while his two fists, each brewing a different spell and gathering mana continuously, stood ready. The surging Crazy Demons continuously bombarded him with spells, but the man remained unmoved. Some of the Crazy Demons attempted a direct assault. And at that moment, the man let out a great roar and his fists collided. An inexplicable shockwave swept through, instantly shattering the surrounding twenty Crazy Demons, leaving behind only their Crystal Cores!
That shockwave even caused Elma a moment of discomfort!
The man didn’t pause, casting a spell on a Crystal Core and disrupting it before it could reassemble from the surrounding crystals. In just that round, he had destroyed six Crystal Cores!
The remaining fourteen Crazy Demons were already reassembled. The Crazy Demons knew no fear, they simply charged instinctively at the command. But the man was already raising his fists again.
"That will do," Elma said, stopping the fight. He was clear that ordinary Crazy Demons posed no threat to him!
Then it was the Black Crystal Mages’ turn, the three of them initiating a mana Resonance right from the start.
"Heh, I was once one of you, but I am different now! I am stronger!" the man laughed.
The Auffa Array spun to its limits, its mana beginning to roar, two Arrays, one above and the other below, appeared with faint black crystals forming within them.
Dark matter? Is this Darkness Descending? But how could it be like this?
Zulal glanced at Elma, who also showed confusion in his eyes. The two Arrays, with the man at the center, spun in opposite directions. The black crystals reached out, grinding like millstones!
Suddenly, the man charged forward, enveloping a Black Crystal Mage within the Array. And once cloaked by the Array, much like being immobilized, the Black Crystal Mage instantly couldn’t move an inch, while the deep-seated crystals within the two Arrays began to crush the Black Crystal Mage’s Dragon Scale armor.
Despite the resilience of the Dragon Scale armor, the internal crystals were immensely fragile, and in a blink of an eye, a Black Crystal Mage was completely crushed. Only the outer Dragon Scale armor remained, like a bag filled with flour, while the Array continued to close in!
Bang!
The Dragon Scale armor reached its limit, crushed into dust, and the contained shattered crystals sprayed out like flour. But not a speck of crystal dust left the confines of the Array, all the dust was firmly absorbed by both ends of the Array. As the Array closed in, a distinctly different sound of shattering followed, and all the crystals vanished, leaving behind just a plain Dragon Scale.
This victory left Elma dumbfounded. The completely illogical spell was devastatingly effective against Black Crystal Mages.
Sometimes, people often refer to overwhelming an enemy with a huge advantage as crushing the opponent. And this time, it was a true crushing, an absolute pulverization.
"I think there’s no need to continue, you’ve already proven your strength with this display," Elma said.
Hearing Elma say this, Long Yi immediately retracted all his spells, standing joyfully to one side.
Yes, you heard right, and you’re not seeing wrong, it truly was Long Yi who retracted all the spells. Because the one fighting there, from beginning to end, was Long Yi!
This was Long Yi’s safeguard measure. Right from the start, he knew no one could be trusted and everything had to be done by himself. Precisely because of this, he had asked Elma for a Cosmic Stone fragment. The fragment was indeed intended for power enhancement, but it also allowed Long Yi to control the man remotely without anyone noticing. Like a Crystal Demon warrior receiving remote commands, through this method, Long Yi could enter the man’s consciousness undetected, the man himself oblivious to the control, thinking it was just an epiphany. Even thorough inspections by Elma could reveal no flaws because it all stemmed from that Cosmic Stone fragment.
As Long Yi anticipated, Elma hadn’t spotted any flaws. During the battle, Elma cast several spells to try to figure out if there was something amiss with this suddenly empowered man. Yet, the results returned the same each time—no issues!
Soon, Elma was no longer concerned because his heart was already filled with excitement.
If possible, Elma didn’t want to turn into a Crazy Demon either! Fearing he might be killed by Long Yi, he had chosen a Crazy Demon’s body, allowing for quick resurrection upon death. But, as he himself admitted, becoming a Crazy Demon stripped him of many human pleasures: no need for food, diminished desires. Sometimes even he felt a hint of sadness about it.
But now things were different!
"I think it’s time to ask the Ascender for help," Elma told Zulal.
"I believe it best to observe for a few more days," Zulal maintained a cool attitude at that moment. He always had an instinctive sense that something was off, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Yet, further observation was always prudent.
Elma certainly knew what Zulal’s concerns were; reminded by Zulal in this way, he too slightly calmed himself down.
"Well, then let’s observe for a few more days."
Elma’s response was, of course, within Long Yi’s expectations. As an old fox, it would actually be strange if he were easily tricked. Nevertheless, that was not a problem; Long Yi was not in a rush. To play the long game for a big catch, Long Yi was always filled with patience at critical moments.
Three days later, when Elma saw the man whom Long Yi had enhanced again, he was completely different. His stature had become taller, his features even more handsome, and his every move seemed to carry an air of nobility. But most importantly, the mana fluctuations emanating from his body were almost double the strength than three days ago!
Neither Elma nor Zulal had any reason to delay any further with this discovery.
This time, Elma personally paid a visit.
But when he arrived at Hayden’s residence, he discovered Hayden was not there. And those assigned to monitor him did not know when exactly Hayden had left!
Where had he gone? Could it be that out of anger for being neglected these three days, he had left?
That seemed unlikely. Even though they had delayed for three days, during this time they had treated him with great care, good food, and kindness—there had been no neglect whatsoever.
So where in the world had he gone?
"All the Ancient Mage Towers must immediately start searching for the Ascender, that is, Hayden’s traces, no matter where he has gone, he must be found!"
Elma was becoming anxious; such a perfect opportunity laid before him, and if he missed it, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Not long after, news came that an Elder had spotted someone resembling Hayden near the top floor of the Ancient Mage Tower.
Elma immediately used the tower’s internal Teleportation Array to rush to the top floor and finally, in the study room at the top floor where one could see the stars, Elma saw Hayden sitting there gazing at the starry sky. The gemstone above Hayden’s head was emitting a red glow, signifying that he was now an Ascender.
"Ascender, so you are here..." Elma tried to keep his tone from sounding too anxious and free from any blame.
"When I was a young man, the thing I liked to do most was to lie on the empty grass, looking up at the starry sky. Not until the last time I came here and saw the stars did I realize that, even though I have always been surrounded by them, it has been a long time since I have taken a good, careful look at them like I am doing now," Long Yi said, filling his voice with nostalgia, as if he were an old man reminiscing about the past.
Elma glanced up, but he didn’t share that sentiment, as this was his study, and he saw the starry sky many times every day. He was more interested in how Hayden had managed to get here. After all, this was the Ancient Mage Tower, where everything was controlled by permissions. Even though Hayden had now become an Ascender, his permissions had not been upgraded accordingly; he still had the lowest level of access. Yet, with such low clearance, he had managed to enter the upper levels of the Ancient Mage Tower unobstructed and even entered his private study?
"Ah, please forgive an old man’s sentimentality. After all, it has been tens of thousands of years since I last observed the world with my eyes," Long Yi knew his acting had about hit the mark, and any further delay might be detrimental. So he stood up, the expression of reminiscence vanishing from his face, replaced by his signature smile, and he asked Elma, "So, have you made up your mind?"
Elma had been waiting for this question; this meant that the Ascender was not angry!
"Yes, I have made up my mind," Elma said.
"And your decision?"
"I request that you make me stronger! I want to become stronger!" Elma said firmly.
"Good, actually, in these past few days, I have also restructured your rebirth plan."
"Restructured? Different from that man’s?" Elma asked with confusion.
"Of course, different. Do you hope to merely be at the same level as him?" Long Yi countered.
"Of course, stronger!" Elma said immediately. Nonsense, who wouldn’t want to become stronger?
"Precisely because of that, I think I should optimize those devices, as those devices were only my temporary modifications." Long Yi said.
"Whatever you need, I will satisfy!" Elma said immediately.
"Actually, I need nothing, for the things I need you cannot provide. All I hope for is that, when I leave, you would treat this descendant of mine a little better," Long Yi once again began his act.
"You will leave?" Elma’s eyes widened.
"Certainly, I do not belong to this world. My power is not here either. I must seek my true form, and only when I obtain it will my strength be fully unleashed."(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com), and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
