Chapter 829: The Comet Gate, the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual, and the Grand Magic

A string of coordinates reached him. Locke immediately summoned his mount, the Rainbow Sparrow, and a rainbow in the shape of a peacock appeared in the sky.

The Rainbow Sparrow was only a special weather phenomenon created by weather wizards that could interact with the external world. It could not be called a living being, nor was it a mechanical being. But it was very similar to an automobile.

Because wizards could inject their own magic into the Rainbow Sparrow to increase its movement speed. Similarly, a cloud whale served the same function.

At this moment, Locke's magic pressure continuously rose, a full moon descended from the sky toward the earth behind him, and in his hand appeared a Pinellia plant with the spathe shape of a slender sword.

Locke inserted the Pinellia into the Rainbow Sparrow beneath his feet, and instantly the Rainbow Sparrow burst into flames across its entire body, like an immortal phoenix reborn from fire.

The magical power of the Golden Cloud Peach flowed through the Pinellia into the Rainbow Sparrow, transforming into golden clouds beneath it.

Locke headed directly toward the target location.

At that moment, the clone of Wizard Trajan, who was overseeing affairs at the main peak of Golden Crown Mountain's Origin Academy, looked up in astonishment at the sky and made a peculiar expression.

"Who has managed to provoke junior."

"Junior's temper is the same as mine when I was young. Quick to anger."

Wizard Trajan looked at the two golden clouds beneath Locke's Rainbow Sparrow.

"Golden Cloud Peaches can reduce the energy dissipation rate of Grand Magic and increase the movement speed of all magics. But junior really has been at Golden Crown Mountain too little time and received too few Golden Cloud Peaches."

"The more of these Golden Cloud Peaches one consumes, the greater the enhancement they provide. A mere one or two like this, how can that possibly be enough? If it had been a few years ago when I had fewer students, I would have just directly given this junior who suits my taste a few Golden Cloud Peaches."

"Now that will not do. My number of students has grown. I have to consider my students' interests."

At this moment, a comet gate suddenly appeared in front of the Rainbow Sparrow beneath Locke's feet. Locke passed through the comet gate and disappeared.

Wizard Trajan was mildly taken aback.

"The Comet Gate. Although that is only a Second Circle magical artifact, even for a sun ring wizard it holds a certain appeal. He actually has such a valuable rare artifact in his hands?"

At the Second Circle stage, only a small number of magical artifacts could enhance Grand Magic. For this category of artifacts, each one was an heirloom magical artifact capable of being passed down through generations.

And the Comet Gate was one of the few artifacts capable of enhancing Grand Magic.

This was the reward Locke had received for completing the Fourth Sky Ladder in the Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

At this moment, Locke passed through the magical gate in the shape of a comet and appeared approximately ten thousand kilometers away about ten minutes later.

Ten thousand kilometers away, in the Golden Crown Mountain region, in the imperial capital of a mundane empire.

At this moment, all of the ordinary people in this mundane empire's capital, whether nobles, commoners, or the mundane king of this region, were showing expressions of terror. This was because four six-eyed, six-winged blood race demon gods had appeared in the sky above this imperial capital.

They appeared to be deep blood race demon gods from deep within the blood river plane, appearing in this mundane world's city. This caused many nobles and commoners to suspect the world was ending.

As the four blood race demon gods descended, the surrounding sky turned the color of blood, dark and oppressive. Many mundane people were bitten by some unknown creature and then transformed into blood race servants.

Becoming the casting material for the four blood race demon gods.

Inside the imperial palace of the capital, the second-class wizard apprentice of the Eternal Glory Hall stationed here, who was also the academy director of a medium-sized academy in this area, looked up at the sky in utter terror.

The pot-bellied emperor sought help from the academy director. "Wizard, if things continue like this, everyone in my country will die. Do something about them. You are a wizard too, so are they. You must have a way to save my country."

The academy director's face wore a look of terror and rueful helplessness.

Do something? What could he do?

Those above were four Second Circle wizards. Their mere combat aftershocks were enough to be fatal to him.

No, simply getting too close, the magic pressure alone would be enough to cause his soul structure to collapse.

Although the mundane emperor beside him might think he would be better at handling this situation and would better understand what was happening above, he was wrong.

In truth, he was utterly bewildered himself.

What he could do was use a special magical artifact to report the situation to the upper levels of the Eternal Glory Hall and hope that the Eternal Glory Hall would dispatch a Second Circle wizard as quickly as possible.

After all, this human empire, the Crimson Stone Empire, was an important talent collection site for the Eternal Glory Hall. There were three medium academies and twenty-one elementary academies within this mundane nation alone.

Moreover, this mundane nation's territory contained special mineral resources, Crimson Stone ore. The Eternal Glory Hall had established a dedicated mine here and hired mundane people to excavate the ore for them.

At this moment, this second-class wizard apprentice could call to mind at least a dozen wizard laws by which he could appeal to the White Wizard Association, demonstrating that this mundane nation was an affiliated mundane nation of the Eternal Glory Hall, and informing the four Second Circle wizards that this was the Eternal Glory Hall's private property, that every mundane person within this nation was under the Eternal Glory Hall's protection.

But he did not dare to speak.

He was terrified that those god-like, demon-like beings in battle above the capital would punish him for it.

At this moment, among the four wizards in the sky above the capital who had taken on blood race demon god forms, three were Second Circle wizards from the Pale Pilgrimage's Blood Demon Palace with magic pressure levels all around fifteen thousand. The fourth was Hussein, whose magic pressure was just over ten thousand.

All four had six eyes and six wings, while Hussein had six eyes, six arms, and six wings.

The Grand Magic of all four of them was this blood race demon god form, and they traded blows, blow for blow, every punch connecting with flesh, each strike making the air wail and the earth cry out.

The three Pale Pilgrimage black wizards were surprised to find that Hussein, despite his lower magic pressure, was holding his own against all three of them simultaneously.

All three of them were direct-line blood descendants of the Progenitor Wizard, which meant they should strictly speaking be more powerful than this half-baked vampire. But the reality was the opposite.

The three exchanged a glance. This indicated that the conversion ritual Hussein had used was superior to theirs.

This had led to the strange situation where, although Hussein's base stats were five thousand magic pressure lower than theirs and he was alone, his blood race conversion ritual's superior construction gave his Grand Magic a higher instantaneous magic pressure amplification and lower energy dissipation rate than theirs.

While most wizards had magic pressure value and Grand Magic refinement degree in proportion to each other, this only applied when two wizards had similar aptitude.

And in the current situation, there were only two possibilities.

Either Hussein's natural gifts were so far above theirs, or the blood magic inheritance Hussein had in his hands was superior to theirs.

Hussein came from humble origins, from a lower-rank wizard territory.

That meant his first conversion ritual would absolutely not have been of a very high level, and his conversion progress could absolutely not compare with theirs as direct-line descendants of the Progenitor Wizard.

That left the problem only with the second conversion ritual he had performed himself.

That is, the ritual he had performed when constructing his Grand Magic, the moment of using a World Stone in a mid-scale world to become the world's representative and performing the second conversion ritual to become the World-Stealer in that world.

Ordinary lifeforms would gradually decline and die in life's current and then welcome new birth.

But by performing the second conversion ritual, one could become someone who stole from life's current, becoming the world's life-thief, transforming into a World-Stealer, and obtaining the status of a Blood Race Grand Duke in that world.

Their Progenitor Wizard bloodline wizards' permanent defensive force field was the blood race conversion blood curse, and their Grand Magic was the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual Grand Magic.

That is, the essence of these blood race wizards' Grand Magic was an identity obtained through the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual, and the existence of this identity was confirmed through the World-Stealing Ritual and a complete set of rituals having taken place in that world.

The Blood Race Grand Duke identity obtained through the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual in that world would superimpose with the permanent defensive force field shell of the wizard world's main body, transforming into a blood race demon god form.

Also called the Blood Progenitor Form.

One could say that the reason the Progenitor Wizard bloodline wizards were so powerful was precisely because the Progenitor Wizard had created a system that caused the Grand Magic and the permanent defensive force field to resonate and form the Blood Progenitor Form.

This led to this group of Progenitor Wizard's students possessing powerful close-combat ability, regenerative ability, undying ability, and even a lifespan surpassing ordinary Second Circle wizards.

Because they could extend their own vitality by absorbing the life force of living beings in that mid-scale world, as well as from their own lower-level vampires.

Of course, as a cost, vampires were naturally countered by sunlight and certain natural forces.

This was because of a design error left behind when the Progenitor Wizard constructed the Grand Magic and permanent defensive force field shell linked system, causing it to be rejected by natural forces.

In order to strengthen the vampire's undying ability, a series of reactions had been triggered, leading to the situation where especially the sunlight of the world where they performed their rituals and certain magical plants could more easily kill them.

At this moment, the three Pale Pilgrimage wizards exchanged a glance and all felt pressure.

At the same time, deep incomprehension showed in their eyes.

Blood race wizards had two severe forms of worship, the first being ancient worship and the second being bloodline worship.

There were reasons for this.

The World-Stealing Celestial Ritual required using the bloodline power of a high-rank being to elevate one's own standing, only then could one perform the life reversal and steal that world's life current.

The more powerful the ancient bloodline force used in the ritual, the higher the foundation of a blood race wizard's Grand Magic.

Following that, the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual needed to be performed once in that world every ten years to strengthen the ritual's own existence, while in this process, sacrificing high-grade bloodlines to increase the blood race wizard's own Grand Magic.

And once the ritual stopped being held, the ritual itself might be forgotten or might wane. If this happened, the blood race wizard would also gradually decline and might even see the collapse of their Grand Magic.

Of course, only the first World-Stealing Celestial Ritual was the most complex and resource-intensive.

Each subsequent ritual was a simplified version.

The reason blood race wizards had bloodline worship and ancient worship lay in this. The longer a blood race wizard lived, the more times they had performed the ten-year cyclical World-Stealing Celestial Ritual, the larger the scale of their Grand Magic, and the greater their total magic pressure.

If they hunted high-grade magical creature bloodlines from the wizard world and incorporated them into the ritual, their magic pressure strength would also increase somewhat in the ten-year cycle ritual.

This was equivalent to blood race wizards who could obtain more high-grade bloodlines, or who used a higher-grade bloodline initially, and who had lived longer, naturally becoming more powerful.

So the Pale Pilgrimage's Blood Demon Palace inherently held these two worships.

But at this moment, incomprehension showed in all three pairs of eyes.

What standing did Hussein have to deserve this?

Was he a member of the noble Progenitor Wizard's direct bloodline, one of the six great clans?

Was he one of the seven great clans descended from the Progenitor Wizard's seven students?

He was none of these.

Speaking bluntly. Someone of Hussein's origins, in the Pale Pilgrimage, would not even be worthy to be a blood slave to their noble clans.

He would only be fit to be a blood slave for the weak branch clans that had split off through historical changes.

And did Hussein live a long time?

No. He probably had not even performed a second World-Stealing Celestial Ritual yet.

The essence of blood race wizards' Grand Magic was this ritual, repeatedly performed in that world to trace back to that world's life current and steal its power, while also bringing a new undying race to that world. This was how the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual was meant to be used.

Then why could someone so young and of such low bloodline, with lower magic pressure than theirs, hold his own against all three of them at once?

Among the three, one blood race wizard said with a cold sneer, "Hussein, you cannot escape. You are the Progenitor Wizard's blood supply. Come back with us now. Otherwise, prepare to have your limbs torn off and be dragged back."

Another blood race wizard, seemingly unable to believe Hussein could resist them, struck out in shock with a punch toward Hussein, only to have Hussein catch it with two enormous palms and then forcefully lift and throw him backward.

That blood race wizard was thoroughly frustrated.

"Just a low-grade blood supply from a lower wizard territory, and something like this happens."

He himself was sent crashing down heavily onto a mountain, his Blood Progenitor Form crushing a mountain flat.

The other two blood race wizards immediately extended blood claws toward him. The blood claws were wrapped in a terrifying blood explosion curse. Any ordinary living being struck by this curse would, in the next moment, have all the blood in their body flow in reverse and then explode.

Even Hussein could only retreat.

'Fighting these people, even if I could win, I would be severely injured at minimum. If severely injured, my growth would be placed under serious constraints. If not for that, I could directly kill these three outright. The difficult point is doing it with minimal injury to myself.'

'These fools do not know the true use of the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual. They still think it is only a ritual for creating blood races, reversing life, and stealing world power.'

Hussein shook his head slightly. Looking at these blood race wizards who descended from the Progenitor Wizard and his students, most of them today were clearly nothing but empty vessels.

Hussein observed the situation. As a black wizard from the Blood Curse Court, he was an opportunist. While currently at a loss, he was observing everything happening around him and working hard to find an opportunity to turn the tide from this situation.

Although from his perspective, the so-called adversity was his inability to guarantee he would kill three Second Circle wizards with higher magic pressure than his without taking any injury.

The three Second Circle wizards seemed to have lost patience. The next moment, their entire bodies were enveloped in blood magical power, and simultaneously they launched the World-Stealing Celestial Ritual on the living beings of the worlds where their respective Grand Magics resided, forcing a ritual performance and absorbing the energy of life from those three mid-scale worlds, transferring it to themselves.

In an instant, the upper bodies of these three Second Circle wizards each expanded dramatically.

Only the upper body expanded, while strangely the lower body remained the same size.

Their upper bodies grew to at least three times their original size, causing their bodies to deform into something resembling a serpent king, standing upright in place and swaying as they wielded their power.

Throughout the mundane empire's capital, many ordinary people discovered with terror that the blood in their bodies was flowing uncontrollably toward those three blood race demon gods.

The three Pale Pilgrimage Second Circle wizards bared their fangs.

"We have lost our patience, Hussein. You cannot escape."

"Strike him down quickly. Otherwise, if the Eternal Glory Hall's Second Circle wizard arrives, things will get complicated. Besides, he is the Progenitor Wizard's blood supply, proven by the Progenitor Wizard's Second Circle. His vitality is powerful. Even killing him by force should not completely kill him."

Hussein, facing a sea of blood and three misshapen demon gods, was frowning when, in the midst of this storm of blood and chaotic magical power, a clear, bright beam of moonlight fell.

Cries, terror, and unease seemed to freeze in place within that moonlight in an instant.

A stillness appeared in everyone's heart.

Hussein sensed that familiar magic pressure.

"He actually came."

Hussein's expression turned strange.

He had never felt anything like the so-called camaraderie of companions at the Blood Curse Court. What he experienced there was only deception and betrayal.

At the Mithril Law Firm, all he encountered were clients with various legal disputes and equally scheming lawyers.

One could say that throughout his life, aside from his time at Lilith's Cottage, he had always been in contact with the worst of human nature.

And yet at this moment, Locke had reached out to help him twice. While there were many considerations of interest involved, this still made Hussein feel for the first time that Locke was a reliable friend.

The three blood race wizards immediately roared upward.

"Who is that?"

"Who dares to interfere in the Pale Pilgrimage's internal affairs?"

"This matter has nothing to do with outsiders. As long as we hunt down this Pale Pilgrimage traitor, we will withdraw on our own."

In the sky, an arched moon door appeared, with latticed window panels bearing patterns of ice-crack intersections and plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum designs. Elegant and refreshing.

The panels gradually shifted aside, like the transformation from a crescent moon to a full moon.

Then the panels vanished, revealing the full moon behind this moon door.

Then the moon door disappeared as well.

This was the Moon of Evolution, arrived from a thousand miles away.

Locke appeared beneath the moon and looked at his own translucent body.

"Hmm? This is not spatial traversal, but rather using the comet's spirituality to perform rapid transit at the spiritual level. It seems it can only be used within a single wizard territory and cannot cross a natural barrier."

"Approximately one minute covers a thousand kilometers. But it is really only suited for traveling within a wizard territory or within a colonial world. After all, the Comet Gate's traversal method is not instantaneous teleportation."

"After passing through, my body is still in a spiritually dormant state and requires approximately three minutes to emerge from this state."

That made it unsuitable for use in combat.

But even so, the Comet Gate had enormously reduced the dissipation rate of his Grand Magic.

The reason was simple.

Because of the Comet Gate's characteristics, his Moon of Evolution could appear at any location within a wizard territory or within the same world through the Comet Gate.

Combined with the fact that the Moon of Evolution could move by moonlight, this meant that the Comet Gate had in practice enhanced the omnipresence characteristic of the Moon of Evolution.

That is, it enhanced the Moon of Evolution's ability to move through moonlight projection.

Even the Moon of Evolution's ability to illuminate past and present had been enhanced by the Comet Gate.

'Only, attaching this Comet Gate to my Grand Magic took considerable time. After all, certain spell models needed to be adjusted. Golden Cloud Peaches' golden clouds can directly carry the Moon of Evolution, while a magical artifact is a dead object and is not that flexible. The spell models could only be fine-tuned so that the two could be compatible.'

Locke looked down at the three blood race wizards who looked like serpent kings and frowned, but he had not yet reached the three-minute mark, so aside from speaking, he could not do anything else.

Locke stood with his hands clasped behind his back, exuding an imposing aura, looking down from above at the three blood race wizards.

"What place is this?"

Since he needed to wait three minutes, he could not give them time to react.

The three blood race wizards froze.

One said, "This is the Golden Crown Mountain region of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. Is this Second Circle wizard a senior researcher of Golden Crown Mountain?"

"But you are not a demon hunter of the Golden Crown Mountain region. Why involve yourself in our affairs?"

Locke stood with his hands clasped behind him, looking down at them.

"The Golden Crown Mountain region is my Golden Crown Mountain's private garden. Whatever black wizard sets foot here, I, the Eye Demon Wizard, will immediately execute them. Black wizards are forbidden to enter this area. I will give you three minutes. If you leave now, I can let bygones be bygones."

Since the only Second Circle wizard present was Hussein, his friend, and there was no one else to consider, Locke simply activated his beast panel and increased his magic pressure by three thousand.

And the Comet Gate had also added an additional one hundred magic pressure to his Grand Magic.

In other words, his magic pressure at this moment was nineteen thousand one hundred and three.

Under the pressure of this powerful magic pressure, the three black wizards, whose confidence had already been shaken by Hussein, became immediately disoriented.

One black wizard said, "Black wizards are forbidden to enter this area?"

"The Golden Crown Mountain region is their Golden Crown Mountain's private garden?"

"This person is far too overbearing!"

Another Second Circle black wizard saw Locke's arrogance and began to waver himself, falling into uncertainty.

"How vast is the Golden Crown Mountain region. Is all of it Golden Crown Mountain's? And if a black wizard merely sets foot in it, they must be executed. This is too overbearing. I do not believe..."

Locke counted down the time, and just as the three black wizards were shaken by his intimidation, the three minutes were up.

The moment Locke's body emerged from the spiritually dormant state, he had no more patience for these people and struck directly. In his hand appeared the six-branch, twelve-flower Great Glazed Wintergreen Plum. He used Lone Tree Cannot Form a Forest.

At the same time, the Moon of Evolution used the Lunar Cultivation Method to strengthen the Great Glazed Wintergreen Plum.

His first move was a killing blow.

Twelve plum blossoms each produced an ice crystal circular ring that spread to envelop the three Second Circle black wizards, condensing their magical power, freezing their bodies, and suppressing their magic.

Under the augmentation of the Moon of Evolution, the Great Glazed Wintergreen Plum seemed to summon a winter of hibernating all things.

Heavy snow fell.

The sea of blood froze.

Locke's tiger's eye appeared on his forehead, perceiving their weaknesses.

These three black wizards possessed mid-scale worlds, so he would force them into a world war.