The Wizard: From Zero-Ring Wizard to Almighty Lord.

Therefore, the Spirit Eye Wizard had already thoroughly investigated this plane: surveying, infiltration, power distribution, weaknesses in the cultivation system—he had paved the way for future generations with a large part of the work.

When Lynn took over, he hardly needed to put in any effort to prepare in advance.

Deviations in dimensional laws, local energy tides, and which local powers are most vulnerable to collapse...

All this information is in the archives of the Temple of Life, written in more detail than one's own family tree.

All he needs to do is follow the steps, completely flatten this plane, and harvest the world's original essence.

In the old files of the Spirit Eye Forge, this plane was tentatively named "Spirit Eye Plane".

Its path is neither purely spiritual nor purely physical, but rather the most common yet most difficult of the three major paths of "essence, energy, and spirit"—the system of "energy."

Throughout the myriad realms and countless civilizations, cultivation ultimately cannot bypass the three paths of essence, energy, and spirit:
Refinement: Physical perfection, bone tempering and blood refining, able to withstand heavenly tribulations;
God: The soul is condensed, the spirit is like a knife, tearing through the void;
Qi: Borrowing the primordial energy of heaven and earth, spiritual tides, and the power of stars for one's own use, cultivating both internal and external aspects.

The Spirit Eye plane follows a dual-track system of "essence" and "energy" running in parallel, resulting in two completely different paths: the path of the knight and the path of the priest.

The path of the knight, a pure, flesh-and-blood madman. From lowest to highest:

Apprentice Knight, Knight, and Grand Knight are equivalent to First-Level Apprentice, Second-Level Apprentice, and Third-Level Wizard Apprentice, respectively.
Earth-level knights are equivalent to first-level wizards; Heaven-level knights are equivalent to second-level wizards; Legendary knights are equivalent to third-level grand wizards.

Legend has it that if one gains the favor of the gods, one can be promoted to demigod, with combat power between the third level of perfection and the fourth level of Morning Star. One's physical body is tough enough to withstand a blow from a Morning Star wizard, but ultimately lacks the "qualitative" control of the law.

The other path is that of priests and priests on the path of the gods, who use the primordial energy of heaven and earth as fuel and the power of the gods as weapons:

A trainee priest is equivalent to a wizard's apprentice; a priest is equivalent to a first-level wizard.
A priest is equivalent to a second-level wizard; a bishop is equivalent to a third-level archmage.

Above the bishops, there is a special class of "saintesses".

Their pure combat strength is comparable to that of a bishop, but they can briefly receive divine power directly infused by the gods, causing their combat strength to soar to the level of a fourth-level creature in a short period of time, no less than that of a true Morning Star wizard. They can even briefly tear open space and summon miracles when their divine power is abundant.

Lynn stood before the star gate, his gaze passing through the gradually solidifying river of stars and landing on the increasingly clear surface of the stars.

A slight smile played at the corners of his lips, carrying a hint of indifferent amusement.

"When the Spirit Eye Wizard invaded, he used a trick to lure the snake out of its hole, forcibly drawing out that woman who called herself a saintess. Then... a bolt of lightning from the wizarding world instantly killed her."

The incredibly detailed description in the file flashed through his mind:
The saintess was surrounded by a world origin so dense it was almost tangible, clearly indicating she had come with power accumulated over hundreds of years, ready to fight to the death.

But before the rules of the wizarding civilization, that little bit of "divine power" didn't even make a splash before being crushed into dust by the heavenly lightning.

Ultimately, the Spirit Eye plane is nothing more than a tiny ant, while the Wizarding World is a giant whale stretching across the void.

A whale could wipe out countless such planes with a single sneeze. The disparity is ridiculously large.

"Not long after the saintess died, the wounds to the Spirit Eye plane will take at least a thousand years to recover. Right now, it is still a half-dead, broken body."

Lynn thought to himself: If I lead the team in, sweeping away those remaining forces and reaping their resources, it will be a piece of cake.

Just then, an unstable fluctuation suddenly came from inside the star gate.

First came tiny ripples, like water being broken by pebbles;

Immediately afterwards, the colorful spatial distortion began to tremble violently, and dark red and silver energy veins flickered deep within the door, like blood vessels spasming.

The instruments on the entire platform emitted a low hum simultaneously, and the smell of burning in the air suddenly intensified.

"Ok?"

Lynn frowned, his voice low: "What's going on?"

The wizards behind them panicked instantly, rushing to their respective coordinate disks and crystal arrays in a cold sweat, their fingers flying across the runes, chanting spells in a jumble.

A moment later, a level two wizard turned around, his face ashen, his voice trembling:
"Lord Temple Master... Energy fluctuations from a higher-level plane have appeared near the Spirit Eye Plane!"

"...?!"

Lynn's pupils suddenly contracted.

Hedley behind him paused, and Tina's mental fluctuations within the bracelet also showed a slight change.

The energy fluctuations of higher planes—these Morning Star wizards knew all too well what that meant.

Their act of peering into the Spirit Eye plane through the Stargate is itself releasing high-level energy fluctuations. In other words:
Besides them, another force from a higher plane has set its sights on this crippled plane and has even begun to take action, wanting to devour this piece of fat meat in one gulp.

Lynn's gaze returned to the stargate.

The once flowing river of stars, like silk, now shows fine tearing marks at its edges, as if it were being repeatedly scratched by invisible claws.

Dark red energy veins, like a spiderweb, grew denser and denser, seeping from the depths of the door, carrying a violent aura completely different from that of the wizarding system...

The stench of blood and flesh, the burning of sulfur, and a kind of ancient, greedy growl, as if something in the void was licking wounds.

The buzzing on the platform grew more and more rapid, like countless heartbeats overlapping, and the fluctuations inside the stargate accelerated accordingly, the rhythm so chaotic it made one's teeth ache.

"Can we pinpoint the source of that fluctuation?"

Lynn's voice wasn't loud, but it sent a chill down everyone's spine, making them all wary.

The wizards behind them immediately erupted in chaos, their fingers flying across the coordinates, spell fragments scattering everywhere, and the crystal array emitting a piercing resonance.

The scene inside the stargate began to switch rapidly:
One moment it's a winding, meandering Milky Way, like a silver ribbon torn apart by a gale;

One moment you're falling into a galaxy, where the scorching cores of stars intertwine with icy clouds of dark matter;

A moment later, the view zoomed out to beyond a pale blue star, where continents stretched out, and oceans surrounded the land like abysses. Thunderstorms and volcanoes were faintly visible amidst the rolling clouds.

Lynn frowned slightly but did not interrupt.

He knew that these were the wizards desperately searching for: they weren't just looking at the scenery, but using dimensional coordinates as searchlights to try to find the source of that foreign energy.

Hedley stood a little behind, and Tina in the bracelet didn't speak again.

Both of them felt a sense of helplessness. They had finally gotten to the expedition, but other troubles had suddenly appeared halfway through.

All they could do was watch Lynn's retreating figure and hope that the Morning Star Wizard could sort out this sudden mess.

Lynn stood with his hands behind his back, his wizard robes fluttering in the aftershocks of magic.

His face was calm to the point of being cold, but a thin layer of chill floated in his eyes.

"Found it! Lord Palace Master!"

A sharp shout suddenly rang out.

Immediately afterwards, several main instruments connected to the stargate simultaneously emitted a deep rumble, and the magic stone burned to ash at a visible speed, with blue-white energy flames shooting out from the core of the furnace.

The scene inside the stargate suddenly froze, then stood still as if forcibly pulled.

boom!
The complete outline of a star emerges.

Rivers meander like silver ribbons, and mountains rise in layers.

The screen began to rotate, as if someone were turning a giant globe.

Seaside...inland...plains...the camera zooms in rapidly, magnifies, and magnifies again.

Ultimately, it settled on a vast plain.

There, a pitch-black shadow completely engulfed the entire area.

It was so black it had no luster, like ink that had been poured into water and solidified.

The outline of the plain remains, but everything inside... hills, rivers, vegetation, possible cities...

It was completely swallowed by the darkness, not even a single outline could be seen. Only the occasional dark red veins at the edges remained, like blood vessels throbbing in the darkness.

Everyone could feel that the energy fluctuations from that higher-level dimension were continuously projected from this shadowy area.

The dark shadow inside the stargate writhed silently, like a giant mouth opening to devour something.

Lynn's gaze remained fixed on the all-consuming shadow within the stargate, his voice low but undeniably authoritative:

"Could we intercept a portion of the dimensional energy fluctuations and transmit it through the stargate...?"

As soon as the words were spoken, the wizards behind exchanged glances, their expressions subtly changing. One of the level two wizards opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to remind them of something.

Lynn raised her hand to interrupt him directly, her tone calm but leaving no room for argument:

"I know they'll notice if I do this. But they've already come knocking on our door, what's the point of hesitating?"

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines, and no one dared to say another word.

Fingers flew across the coordinates again, the incantation low and rapid, the instrument emitting a sharper hum. The acrid smell of burning magic stones intensified instantly.

The scene inside the stargate began to change slowly.

On that plain, the pitch-black clouds gathered thicker and thicker, writhing like living things, completely obscuring every detail of the earth's surface.

Immediately afterwards, wisps of black smoke began to peel away from the edge of the cloud, extremely fine and faint, as if being carefully unraveled by an invisible hand.

The amount extracted from the Star Gate was controlled to be extremely small, almost negligible, just to avoid alerting the giant beast lurking in the shadows.

The time dragged on for an extremely long time.

Several minutes passed before a palm-sized black cloud finally appeared in the center of the platform.

It floated in the silvery-white spatial ripples, like a small piece of solidified ink, its edges still trembling slightly, faintly exuding the pungent smell of metal and sulfur.

"boom!"

The silvery-white ripples suddenly exploded, as if space itself had been torn apart and then forcibly stitched back together. The black cloud completely detached from the stargate and hovered half a foot in front of Lynn.

Just as he was about to reach out to catch it, he suddenly looked up, his gaze piercing the sky.

Seeing this, Hedley quickly looked up as well.

The sky above was a clear, cloudless blue, and the sunlight was so bright it was almost blinding.

But the next moment!
The sky was like a piece of paper being torn apart by a tremendous force, making a silent cracking sound.

The azure blue instantly twisted and collapsed, with countless jet-black lightning bolts leaping through the cracks, like countless hungry venomous snakes lurking about their prey.

The entire sky was trembling, as if an invisible hand was pressing down from above to uproot the area.

"This is... the very essence of the wizarding civilization is shifting?!"

Lynn's heart skipped a beat, and his pupils contracted sharply.

He almost instinctively drew upon the faint, primal gifts of the world deep within his spiritual realm.

That was the mark bestowed upon him by the wizarding world when he ascended to the Morning Star realm; it was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet as heavy as a mountain.

An invisible wave spread out instantly, crashing into the sky like ripples on the water.

The twisted crack suddenly stopped.

The pitch-black lightning froze in mid-air, like a frozen venomous snake.

The torn paper began to slowly shrink back, and the cracks healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The azure sky spread out again, a bright sky without a single cloud, as if everything just now was an illusion.

It comes quickly and goes even faster.

The platform was deathly silent, except for the palm-sized black cloud inside the star gate that was still trembling slightly, like a restless, poisonous heart.

Lynn slowly withdrew his gaze and fixed it on the floating black cloud, his eyes fixed on it intently.

"Even a tiny energy fluctuation can cause anomalies at the level of the world's origin... This must be the aura leaked from another advanced civilization plane."

The myriad realms and planes are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, but those that can truly be called "advanced civilizations" are pitifully rare, like a gold nugget occasionally appearing among billions of grains of sand.

Every advanced civilization in a plane of existence is a terrifying force that takes your breath away: the Wizard Civilization, the Civilization of Gods, the Void Devourers...

They control and influence tens of thousands of lower planes, spanning countless star fields, making them the true overlords of the heavens.

Even the slightest energy fluctuation they leak is enough to make the fundamental nature of lower-level planes tremble and become alert.

Even advanced civilizations of the same level are extremely wary of this. For example, the Wizarding Civilization just sensed some changes.

Fortunately, Lynn was a Morning Star Wizard, and the wisp of the world's origin within him served as an invisible anchor.

The ripples he had just released acted as a silent reassurance, forcefully suppressing the restless surveillance in the sky.

Of course, it's only temporary.

The members of the Wizarding Council have an eerily keen sensitivity to the origins of the world.

Before long, wizards from the Wizarding Council will surely come to ascertain the situation.

Lynn took a deep breath, stretched out her hand, palm up.

The black mist seemed to be drawn by invisible fingers, slowly falling into his palm.

The texture... was cold and sticky, like holding a solidified mass of malice.

A slight tingling sensation spread through my fingertips, as if countless tiny tentacles were crawling under my skin, trying to burrow into my flesh.

Just one glance at it would probably cause an ordinary person to lose their mind instantly, their pupils to dilate, drool to fall from their mouth, and they would turn into a monster that can only roar.

"This is... an corrosive energy that acts on both the physical body and the mind simultaneously."

Lynn frowned, his voice so low that only he could hear it.

Although advanced civilizations are few and far between, each one possesses methods that are vast and unfathomable.

Based on this wisp of aura alone, he couldn't determine its source at all. Was it the chaotic contamination of the Void Devourer? Or something else, something more ancient and insane?
He had few encounters with advanced civilizations to begin with, and had only been a Morning Star for a few years. The secrets of the myriad worlds were still just the tip of the iceberg to him.

Fortunately, the Tina in the Hadley bracelet behind him was different.

She was the pride of the Rogers family, having grown up immersed in the family's deepest forbidden archives, and knew more secrets than most Morning Star wizards.

At first, her mental fluctuations were just slight hesitation, like groping in a maze of memories.

Then, the fluctuations became increasingly violent, carrying an undisguised sense of gravity.

"The Green Forest Wizard... if I'm not mistaken..."

Tina's voice came from the bracelet, low and slow, each word sounding like she was suppressing something.

"This energy fluctuation... should be from that advanced civilization plane that has long lost its mind and gone completely insane... the Ancient God Civilization."

The voice just fell.

Lynn's expression suddenly changed.

His pupils contracted sharply, his fingertips tightened unconsciously, and the black mist trembled violently in his palm, hissing softly like a startled venomous snake. (End of Chapter)