Chapter 342 Seizure and Conflict

Weshouldn't run away." After the Flail Warrior finished speaking, Shaoke added, "If there aren't many intercepting us, we'll kill them. Otherwise, the next time we come here, they'll still be waiting outside to extort magic materials from us." With that, Shaoke gently rotated the magic array in his hand. This staff was still an ordinary Seventh Rank staff from the Death Mage Corps; only mages with significant contributions were eligible for an Eighth Tier staff. Of course, one could also forge their own staff.

"Let's do as Mage Xueye says. We can't let those people extort us anymore." The Gray-robed Mage beside him waved his staff, as if to show his resolve.

"Yes, kill one if we can." Shaoke suddenly turned his head to look at the Gray-robed Mage. At that moment, his eyes had turned pale purple, with two Eight-pointed Star Magic Arrays rapidly spinning within them. Then, two gray-black beams of light fell upon the mage. Death Gaze—this could be considered Shaoke's last-resort spell—and this time, he used it first on a mage who had just fought alongside him.

The mage never expected Shaoke to attack him, so he was easily frozen by the spell. But before Shaoke could cast a spell to kill the Gray-robed Mage, a golden light suddenly flashed on the mage's body—a light Shaoke recognized as that from the Fallen Horn.

"What do you mean by this?" The mage instantly Blinked to another location, but the prepared Flail Warrior hurled his flail, while the Blue-robed Mage beside him rotated her staff, conjuring a pale blue cage around the Gray-robed Mage. Shaoke then continued his attack.

Death Disintegration. This Eighth Tier Mage spell was released by Shaoke in a short time using hand seals and Ancient Magic Language techniques. Although it consumed more mental energy, it wasn't worth conserving at this moment.

The chain, under the warrior's control, struck the mage heavily, shattering two layers of Defensive Spells instantly. But a blue light emerged on the mage's body, composed of countless magic scripts. This blue light not only enveloped his body but also knocked the chain away.

"You shouldn't have passed on the news of our arrival here to others." The Blue-robed Mage glared fiercely at the Gray-robed Mage, then took out her spellbook and began chanting a new incantation. At this time, her staff continuously released blue light, composed of magic scripts, which quickly merged into the blue cage to strengthen it and prevent the Gray-robed Mage from using Blink to escape.

Just as the Gray-robed Mage used a magic item to knock away the golden flail, Shaoke suddenly flew closer to him, and two seven-pointed star golden lights flew from his eyes. These lights easily passed through the cage and the blue protective spell around the Gray-robed Mage, about to merge into his body.

Facing this, the Gray-robed Mage grimaced and struggled to resist. He knew the spell Shaoke had just cast was a rare mental spell, and he had not learned such an attack, so he could only passively release a large amount of mental energy to resist Shaoke's mental spell. He knew that if those two seven-pointed star golden lights entered his body, he would be killed here without any resistance.

Those two seven-pointed star golden lights were a mental attack spell Shaoke had obtained from an interpreted ancient spellbook after advancing to an Eighth Tier mage. This spell was also embedded in the magic array within his Meditation space. Due to the effect of the silver light, this mental attack spell could still be instantly released by Shaoke. Of course, this consumed more mental energy, but fast casting was still necessary.

While the mage was releasing mental energy to resist Shaoke's mental attack, Shaoke's Death Disintegration was also ready. A gray beam of light quickly flew through the gaps in the cage, striking the blue protective spell heavily. Under this powerful penetrating spell, the blue protective spell seemed to weaken significantly. Then, the Flail Warrior, who had retrieved his weapon, rushed over and smashed his flail heavily onto the mage, shattering the thin protective spell. Of course, the mage's body was also shattered. Shaoke then cut off his head with a knife and preserved it using a special method. He planned to use these Eighth Tier mage heads to forge a powerful staff later.

The Blue-robed Female Mage dispelled the spell she had just prepared, then flipped through the floating spellbook again and cast a spell. A pale blue mist fell into the passage behind them. The three then searched the Gray-robed Mage's body for all his possessions.

There were seven or eight large-capacity rings, containing almost all of the mage's property. The Blue-robed Mage took a blue bracelet from the deceased's arm, looked at it happily, and after some discussion with Shaoke and the others, put it on her wrist. Shaoke took the golden horn from the mage's chest. This horn was large, with thirteen characters on it, but these characters looked nothing like any he had seen before. Unable to figure it out, he temporarily placed it in his magic bag.

Finally, at the Blue-robed Mage's urging, Shaoke took the mage's spellbook, while the Flail Warrior took an extra ring containing a large amount of magic materials as compensation.

At the end of the distribution, only the golden light left by the Eighth Tier mage's death remained. We have already mentioned the effect of this golden light earlier, so we won't repeat it here.

"Mage Xueye, this golden light is yours. What do you think?" The Blue-robed Mage stared at the golden light for a long time before finally letting out a long sigh, then signaled Shaoke to absorb it. "Consider this an extra reward for just joining this operation." After saying this, she closed her eyes and said no more. The Flail Warrior glanced at Shaoke, shrugged, indicating he didn't mind.

Given this situation, Shaoke didn't linger. He released his pale blue spellbook and used it to collect the slowly dissipating golden light using a special method.

After doing this, the Blue-robed Mage threw the staff she had taken from the altar to Shaoke, and he accepted it without any hesitation, as this was their agreed-upon distribution method.

After completing all this, the three Eighth-order beings rested briefly here, then continued flying toward the surface. Upon entering the lake, they followed their previous plan and quickly flew into the sky. Shaoke frantically released his mental energy to detect the outside. Instantly, three mages floating in the air appeared in his mental detection. With this discovery, Shaoke began preparing a spell attack, as those three mages were locking onto them—a behavior considered hostile by mages.

The three flew out of the lake almost simultaneously. Shaoke locked onto one mage and released his attack. An Eighth-order Elemental Hand—a giant hand quickly formed in the sky, and Shaoke controlled it to slap down on that mage. The mage only used Blink to escape his original position when the hand was about to reach his head. Shaoke continued to control the giant hand, wildly slapping at the mage.

"Why are you attacking me?" The mage, while flying quickly, cast a spell to shatter Shaoke's giant hand and shouted loudly at him. "This meaningless battle is useless. I think we can sit down and talk properly." After saying this, he added, "I am a mage from the Mage Guild. I think what just happened was a misunderstanding." Then, he continued to Blink quickly or release interference spells to dodge Shaoke's attacks.

"I want to kill someone today. You're unlucky." Shaoke shouted this loudly using an Amplification Spell, then Blinked to a spot not far from the mage and released the Eighth-order Death Wave he had just prepared. A black smoke in his hand quickly turned into a thin line, which under the mage's control formed a strange pattern, then under Shaoke's manipulation, enveloped the Eighth Tier mage from the Mage Guild.

While Shaoke was fighting that mage, the Blue-robed Mage and the Flail Warrior also engaged in fierce battles with the other two mages. Spells were released frantically, as if without cost. The Flail Warrior, while attacking, occasionally shouted loudly, sending out golden Aura through his flail, severely affecting the mage's Blink movements.

After the battle lasted for about half a magic hour, a large number of Eighth-order Practitioners flew out from the Fallen Capital and gathered around the battlefield. A crack suddenly appeared in the air, and a Young Mage floated to the center of the battlefield. After releasing a large-scale area spell, he finally stopped Shaoke's battle.

"What's going on? I hope such fights happen far away from the city. Otherwise, if the city is damaged, will you build it yourselves?" The Young Mage said, then looked at the Blue-robed Mage and the others, his gaze finally falling on Shaoke. He hadn't expected Shaoke to advance to an Eighth-order Practitioners so quickly.

"We were resting here, and they attacked us from the lake, so we had to defend ourselves." The mage who had fought Shaoke glared at him fiercely, then explained to the Young Mage. He knew the power of this mage; although he was also an Eighth-order being, there was still a big gap in strength between Eighth-order beings.

"If you come here again next time, no matter where you flee, I will kill you." Shaoke said, then instantly Blinked next to the mage, swinging his burning staff heavily at him, but the mage dodged in time. The Young Mage also intervened to stop their fight.

"Didn't you hear me say no fighting here?" The Young Mage, whom Shaoke actually recognized as the mage sent by the Blue Feather Empire, ignored his words. Instead, Shaoke continuously cast three Fifth Tier spells instantly, as if venting his anger, attacking the Eighth-order being from the Mage Guild.

"Don't make rules for me." With that, Shaoke slowly floated toward the Blue-robed Mage. "I hate the rules you talk about the most now." He said, silently rotating his staff, glaring at the Young Mage without backing down. The Blue-robed Mage beside him twitched her mouth, flew forward a bit, and spoke.

"You now represent the military, but we are all Wandering Mages now. I don't think you have the right to make rules for us." She then turned to look at the hundreds of Eighth-order Practitioners floating around and continued, "Do you want to oppose the hundreds of Wandering Practitioners here? Matters of wandering mages should be resolved by wandering mages themselves." After saying this, the Blue-robed Mage glanced at the Young Mage and waved her hand to signal him to leave. She no longer cared about this mage. With three or four ancient magical artifacts, she could no longer tolerate being ordered around by a peer.

"Continuing like this will eventually cause trouble." The Young Mage showed no dissatisfaction under these circumstances. "I hope you don't touch the people from the Mage Guild. This is not a threat, but advice." After saying this, he turned and used his strange staff to draw a crack in the air, which became a man-sized rift, and he stepped into it and disappeared.

"Everyone, we can actually talk this out properly." The Eighth Tier mage attacked by Shaoke looked at them uncomfortably. He wanted to explain the misunderstanding just now. Of course, whether it was truly a misunderstanding was not known to outsiders.

A rough voice interrupted the mage's words, roughly meaning for Shaoke to continue attacking and kill these three Eighth-order beings from the Mage Guild, as there was no need to waste time here.

As soon as the big man's voice fell, a golden short knife suddenly appeared behind the Eighth Tier mage who was speaking. After flashing a golden light, it swiftly cut off the mage's head, then collected the golden light that emerged from the head and disappeared into the air.

When this happened, the Eighth-order beings floating in the air frantically released their mental energy, magic power, or various auras to detect the surroundings, preventing Infiltrators from approaching and attacking. Of course, after expanding his mental detection, Shaoke also discovered over a dozen Infiltrators floating in the air, but they were at a certain distance from various practitioners. At this distance, the usual detection methods of practitioners could not find them.

The rough voice paused briefly, then rang out loudly again, roughly meaning to kill the other two Eighth-order beings from the Mage Guild. Then, a figure over two meters tall, wrapped in aura, flew toward an Eighth Tier mage. In midair, his body suddenly expanded into a giant seven or eight meters tall. The giant warrior then swung his fist heavily at the mage. At this time, Shaoke and the Blue-robed Mage also joined the attack.

The battle ended quickly. The last two mages—one had his head cut off by Shaoke's Death Wave, and the other was frozen into a statue by a mage.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Shaoke calmly collected the mage's head and the golden light, then looted all the items from the mage's body. During this time, no one stopped him, as this was his prey, and he was entitled to the spoils.

After the battle, the giant warrior did not revert to his original form but instead crazily crashed from the air into the ground dozens of times, creating dozens of large craters before returning to his original size and flying quickly back into the city. At this point, only Shaoke and the Blue-robed Mage remained on the battlefield.

"Maybe we should have done this from the start." The Flail Warrior shrugged indifferently, glanced at the three mages' bodies, sighed, and left alone. Shaoke and the Blue-robed Mage returned to the small mountain col where they had been staying.

Back at the residence, Shaoke did not immediately examine his gains from the expedition in detail. Instead, he carefully recorded the events of this period. It wasn't until three days later that he finished this work. By then, the Blue-robed Mage had somehow obtained some young maids and strong men. After giving them some medicine, she had them copulate in a special magic array she had just drawn, while she used a quill to record details.

"Are you sure their offspring have a higher chance of better talent?" Shaoke asked uncertainly. "Your sample size is actually too small. If you had ten thousand pairs of men and women, your experimental data would be more detailed." As he said this, Shaoke suddenly realized why she hadn't done this—she couldn't manage it alone. At that moment, he thought of a cruel experimental method but wasn't sure whether to mention it. Under the Blue-robed Mage's influence, he had gradually become interested in bloodlines and evolution.

The Blue-robed Mage didn't respond to Shaoke but instead watched the copulating men and women intently. Only after the pair stopped their frenzied activity did she have the maids take them away, then signaled Shaoke to leave and talk.

"I've been experimenting for over a hundred years." The Blue-robed Mage looked at Shaoke wistfully, casually playing with the quill inlaid with crushed star gold. "Their offspring have improved somewhat, but not significantly. Maybe I should recruit some people to conduct this research together." After saying this, she closed her eyes and stood upright in the open space, enjoying the wind on her face.

In the following days, Shaoke thoroughly organized his gains from the expedition and then studied the two golden horns. Both horns were larger than the one he had previously merged into his meditation space, and the thirteen characters on each were different. After several attempts, he tried to merge these two horns into his meditation space using the previous method.

Carefully extracting some silver light from the Arcane Fire and injecting it into one horn, Shaoke felt no change in the horn. But to continue the experiment, he kept injecting mental energy and magic power into it. After over a month, when the horn could no longer hold his mental energy and magic power, it finally turned into golden specks and merged into his meditation space.

This time, Shaoke clearly saw these golden specks enter the meditation space, hover briefly in the air, then slowly fly to the altar burning with Arcane Fire and fully merge into it. As soon as this golden horn fully merged into his altar, a flood of images transmitted into Shaoke's mind.

This transmission gave Shaoke a severe headache for many days. If not for his strong mental energy, he would have been turned into an idiot by this sudden influx of information. Fortunately, with his Eighth-order mental energy, he persevered. Of course, in the following days, the altar occasionally released small amounts of images into his mind, from which he gained many insights.

Later, he absorbed another horn. By then, the altar had thirty-nine strange symbols. These symbols were no longer clustered at the base of the altar but were scattered across its three layers. As the Arcane Fire burned, they, like other magic scripts, flew off the altar when they gained enough energy, wandering aimlessly in the space until they completely disappeared.

The merging of the two golden horns made Shaoke feel some changes in his entire meditation space. First, the altar grew larger, and the number of Arcane Fire increased. Second, when he took medicine to aid his cultivation, his speed improved slightly, though only a little. Even so, the mage felt very excited, as it meant he would progress faster.