Page 350

As a practitioner, one cannot choose their innate talent, but effort is something that can be controlled. Grand Elder Ankired is a prime example of this. Although he hasn’t made a breakthrough in over a thousand years, the experience and power he’s accumulated over countless years are substantial. If he were to one day comprehend a higher realm, even the "Great Prophecy" of the Pope of the Radiant Temple might not be his match.

However, at least for today, the Grand Elder’s cultivation cannot continue. A flash of azure light awakens the blood elf elder from his meditation. This flash is part of an emergency call system designed to safely awaken a mage from meditation. Due to the high cost of the magic array that sets it up, it is only used in the most urgent situations.

"Marins, what’s wrong?" The Grand Elder opens his eyes and waves his hand over the crystal ball on the table, revealing the image of a young elf’s face.

"Ah, respected Shalafi (a term of respect for a teacher in elven language, cited from *Dragonlance Chronicles*), it’s terrible!" The young elf says urgently, "The Absolute Return magic array has activated again, this time it’s the reaction from the Horn of Light, 'Holy Lance Quinilon' has returned!"

"What?" The Grand Elder can’t help but change his expression. The return of a divine weapon means its master has died. He never thought that two of the strongest warriors, the Sword Saints, would fall within a month. "Is it 'White Night'? What happened, can we confirm with the accompanying mages?"

"Um... no response from the magic call, no reaction from the life detection, it should be a total loss..." The young mage Marins’s voice trails off, hesitating as he answers, "Also, Shalafi, the mages guarding the 'Lonely Room' and the 'Returning Platform' need to be recruited again."

"Hmm, I understand. Not just the guarding mages, but our city’s defensive forces also need to be strengthened. Issue the council’s order to summon all blood elf mages again. The secret that 'Blood Capital' is the place where divine weapons return has been exposed, and peace is unlikely in the future..." Grand Elder Ankired says, gradually falling into silence.

His concerns are twofold: one is the oppression brought by the deaths of two "Holy Emblem Knights," although neither is a blood relative of the elves, the blood elf tied to the human war chariot cannot be unaffected. Not to mention, the act of sending the only "Arrow God" to assassinate the "War Saint" Leimen in the "Star War" has already made them mortal enemies with the orc. The other concern is the gradual shortage of mage manpower in the "Red Glory Royal City." Although the blood elf alone has nearly as many mages as all humans combined, due to complex bloodline origins, only about half still support the alliance with humans and can be dispatched by the blood elf council. These blood elf mages also need to send some to support human magic facilities and armies, leaving only about two-thirds in the royal capital.

Originally, with the strength of the "Red Glory Royal City," the power of two to three thousand blood elf mages was sufficient, and with over three hundred high-level mages, there was even some surplus. So when the Radiant Temple requested to place the "Holy Emblem" return array here, despite the array requiring a hundred high-level mages to be stationed permanently, and once a divine weapon returns, it forcibly extracts the mental power of the guarding mages, rendering them unable to use magic for three months, the blood elf readily agreed, considering the great benefits from humans. They even allocated enough mages for three shifts, thinking that with the strength of the "Holy Emblem Knights," without a strong figure like Leimen today, and with many means to preserve life, it was absolutely impossible for three to die in battle at once.

However, although the facts did not completely exceed expectations, the return of two divine weapons in just a month has already shocked the blood elf. What will happen next, no one can guess. The only thing that can be done is to prepare for the response.

Unfortunately, the blood elf’s reaction is ultimately too late.

"Alert! Alert! Abnormal energy gathering above the royal capital, energy intensity immeasurable, energy attributes unestimable, space distortion detected, please activate the defense system immediately, please activate the defense system immediately————"

The crisis has arrived from above.

In the high clouds, Chen Xuanfeng, holding the demonic blade "Tiger Soul," coldly looks down at the city below. The towering crimson walls shimmer with countless magical lights, resembling a galaxy, and the twenty-eight Magic Towers along with various buildings in the city light up one by one. Thousands of magical barriers, etched with mysterious runes, layer upon layer, materialize above the city, eventually forming a massive egg-shaped protective dome, enveloping the entire city.

"Whoosh——————"

The purple crystal longsword, wrapped in black light, pours down from tens of thousands of feet in the sky. The black light wings behind Chen Xuanfeng have already disappeared, and he dives straight down with gravity, the "Tiger Soul Blade" in his hand stirring up thousands of cloud waves, roaring like a mountain and sea. Where the blade passes, even space seems to peel back like a curtain, layering and accumulating in front of the blade, forming a massive hemispherical distorted space layer. As the blade moves, the surrounding clouds for thousands of miles are driven, forming a massive vortex of clouds, continuously converging around the "Tiger Soul Blade."

A blade merely a meter long radiates the force of shifting heavens and earth, like a comet plummeting.

However, Chen Xuanfeng, who is in the midst of it, is not at ease. He now realizes that his previous estimation was too arrogant. This strike, named "Reopening the Chaos Purple Brilliance Calamity," derives its true power from the ultimate dark curse of the "Great Demon King" Bato, famous throughout the world — "Doomsday Birth," a super dark spell that overlays countless spaces to form a massive spatial distortion field similar to a black hole, then uses this field for multiple destructive strikes. Although this spell is not as powerful as a forbidden curse, it far surpasses other tenth-level dark magic by a hundred times, even surpassing the ultimate light divine art "Great Judgment." In the past, Bato used it to destroy countries and cities without restraint, killing millions of lives under this curse, making it the most representative skill of the "Great Demon King."