Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Murphy whirled around, his icy gaze sweeping across the arena like a razor's edge.

Standing there were the seven senior apprentices who had just arrived and joined Mitchell.

"Speak!" Murphy's voice was hoarse and piercing, filled with boundless rage.

"Where did Mitchell go? How dare you leave him alone?"

The seven advanced apprentices were trembling with fear at the powerful pressure and overwhelming killing intent emanating from the liquefied wizard.

The leader, barely managing to steady himself, answered in a trembling voice:

"Reporting to Lord Murphy, the young master... he took the defector Leon and went... to the southeast to chase after a Shadowmoon apprentice."

"Southeast... Stone Forest..." A flash of bloodlust appeared in Murphy's eyes, and he didn't ask another word.

The senses I received before the mark disappeared indicated that it wasn't far from here!

His figure suddenly transformed into a blinding blood rainbow, shooting off towards the southeast.

Just as he took off, his withered fingers casually flicked the ground.

A thread, as fine as a cow's hair and shimmering with an eerie, blood-red light, fell silently.

The seven advanced apprentices had no time to react before being easily pierced by the blood vessels.

The next moment, the seven living bodies, like snowmen under the scorching sun, rapidly melted and collapsed.

Amidst its piercing, short wails, it disintegrated into seven pools of murky, smoking blood, leaving not even a trace of its bones.

Sares and Phantom, who were standing nearby, witnessed the whole scene and exchanged a subtle glance.

They both saw deep apprehension in each other's eyes.

They vaguely guessed what had happened to enrage Murphy so much that he would even kill one of his own apprentices; it could only be that something had happened to his beloved grandson, Mitchell.

Mitchell is Elder Murphy's most beloved and promising grandson. He has excellent aptitude and his strength is among the top of the advanced apprentices.

Moreover, Murphy equipped him with numerous life-saving magical artifacts, so theoretically, there should be very few people who could threaten him on this battlefield.

But this is the battlefield; anything can happen.

However, the murderer who killed Mitchell... will probably never escape.

If it falls into the hands of a raging liquefaction wizard, its fate will likely be unimaginably tragic.

The two suppressed their thoughts, said no more, and continued to carry out the task of clearing the battlefield, their movements noticeably more careful.

……

After killing Mitchell, Ian didn't even have time to loot the body, and ran eastward, getting further and further away from the location of "Gray Rock Fortress".

He dared not linger for a moment, enduring the dizziness and exhaustion from the depletion of his mental energy, and sprinted in the opposite direction from Mitchell.

After running for about seven or eight miles, a terrifying energy fluctuation suddenly came from the sky far behind them.

Even at such a distance, Ian felt his heart clench, as if it were being gripped by a merciless hand.

A cold, violent, and bloodthirsty spiritual force swept across the sky like a tsunami.

Even the aftershocks sent chills down his spine, making his body tremble uncontrollably.

It's that liquefaction wizard! He's here! He seems to be extremely enraged!

Ian immediately stopped running and forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart.

He knew that with the liquefaction wizard's terrifying perception and tracking ability, if he continued to run at full speed, he might appear like a torch in the dark to the wizard.

"We can't run anymore!"

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

His gaze quickly swept around and found a naturally formed rock crevice, narrow and deep inside.

There were also a few clumps of dead thorns at the entrance, their color similar to the rocks.

He quickly slipped inside and huddled in the deepest shadows.

With a thought, he silently withdrew the [Eye of Vigilance] that had been hovering in the air.

At this moment, any outward energy fluctuation is a fatal flaw.

Immediately afterwards, he began to fully activate his meditation technique, trying his best to restrain and intensify his mental energy, which had become agitated due to the battle.

Breathing became long and weak, heartbeat gradually slowed under the control of a strong will, and blood flow almost stopped.

He suppressed all vital signs and energy fluctuations to a minimum, like a lifeless rock.

At the same time, he mobilized his almost misty spiritual power, which, like the finest gauze, covered his body to further isolate his own aura and attempt to simulate the eternal stillness of the surrounding rocks.

This is a hidden technique he developed by combining his powerful mental control after breaking through his limits with the physical control granted by the [Rock Bear Potion].

While it was far inferior to specialized concealment magic, it was the limit of what he could do in this emergency.

Just as all this was completed, that terrifying mental force swept across the area once again like a tangible tide.

This time the distance was closer, and the perception was clearer.

Cold and brutal, with undisguised, insane killing intent, it meticulously "caressed" every rock, every crevice, and every inch of land.

Ian could even "hear" the faint rustling sound as his mental energy swept across the rock wall, like a viper flicking its tongue.

His mental energy swept over the entrance to the rock crevice where he was hiding, pausing slightly.

Ian's heart almost stopped, his muscles tensed, he dared not make the slightest movement, and even his thoughts seemed frozen.

He imagined himself as part of the rock, an unchanging, ancient stone.

The spiritual energy lingered at the entrance for a brief moment, seemingly unaware of the anomaly deep within the narrow crevice behind those clumps of withered thorns, before slowly departing and continuing its sweeping journey into the distance.

Ian did not relax immediately, but remained completely still.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, that spiritual energy returned, conducted an even rougher screening, and then truly disappeared.

But he knew the danger was far from over.

A liquefied wizard's furious search is definitely not going to be that simple.

For the next half day, Ian was dancing on the edge of a knife.

That powerful spiritual force, centered on the place where Mitchell died, swept back and forth like a comb, its range constantly expanding.

Sometimes it's like a raging storm, brutal and direct; other times it's like a gentle stream, seeping into every possible hiding place.

On three separate occasions, he narrowly escaped detection by relying on an almost self-destructive silence and strong mental control.

Sweat had already soaked through his inner shirt, and it had become icy cold under the low temperature of his skin, but he was completely unaware of it, his entire focus on maintaining that fragile "stubborn rock" state.

This is a dual torment of spirit and will, more exhausting than a fierce battle.

Time seemed to stretch out, each minute and second feeling suffocatingly long.

As dusk fell, the setting sun cast a dark red glow over the desolate stone forest.

That frequently sweeping spiritual force finally shifted its focus elsewhere.

Ian waited patiently for a long time until night fell completely and the surroundings were plunged into darkness.

He then finally realized that the most intensive search seemed to be over.

He moved his stiff limbs slowly and very slightly, and slid out of the crevice like a ghost.