Translator: AnubisTL
A streak of white rainbow light tore across the sky like a shooting star.
The Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror, fueled by Jieming's desperate will to survive, propelled him toward the distant silhouette of the Wizard Camp at speeds far exceeding conventional limits.
Where the light passed, time and space seemed to blur into a distorted haze.
Yet, just as he neared the camp's defensive perimeter, an overwhelming repulsive force slammed into him!
It was the outermost layer of the camp's protective magic array, automatically triggered by the detection of an anomalous energy signature approaching at high velocity.
This array was designed to repel high-speed physical or energy impacts. However, with Jieming's entire body in Light Transformation, his terminal couldn't transmit a friendly signal, causing the array to misidentify him as a hostile threat.
Pfft—!
Under the terrifying repulsive force, Jieming was violently forced out of his Light Transformation state.
His body, which had been fused with the light, instantly reverted to its physical form, as if he had been hurled from a speeding train. His internal energy and qi and blood surged violently in reverse!
He felt as if he had been struck head-on by an invisible mountain, his internal organs shifting out of place. A metallic sweetness rose in his throat, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
His condition was dire, bordering on death.
Originally, using the Light Transformation Escape Technique from the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror had already drained all his true essence and mental power, pushing his body to its absolute limit.
Now, the overbearing force of the protective magic array had forcibly ejected him from his Light Transformation state.
The clash of these two powers detonated within him like a bomb, leaving him severely injured.
It was only thanks to his dual cultivation as a body cultivator, which had forged his body into formidable strength, that he survived this ordeal. Otherwise, that single strike would have been fatal.
But Jieming's condition was no better. He had even lost the basic ability to maintain flight.
Like a kite with its string severed, he plummeted helplessly from the sky.
The wind howled in his ears as his consciousness rapidly faded.
At least... this height isn't enough to kill me...
Yet just as he was about to crash awkwardly to the ground, Jieming felt his descent abruptly change.
The irresistible gravitational pull was countered by a gentle yet powerful force, quickly halting his descent and leaving him suspended just a few meters above the ground.
By this point, Jieming's condition had deteriorated to the brink of unconsciousness. Even the simplest levitation spell proved beyond his strength to break free from. He could only surrender to the force supporting him, allowing it to slowly lower him to the ground.
In his dazed state, Jieming mustered his last reserves of energy to force his eyes open, desperate to identify his savior. Through his blood-blurred vision, he vaguely discerned a calm, dignified face.
It was an elderly man clad in a plain gray magic robe, his presence as steady as a bedrock. His eyes seemed to contain the vastness of the starry sea.
It was Master Alvin, one of the three fifth-tier wizards stationed at the Wizard Camp!
"I have... urgent... intelligence..." Jieming strained to force the words from his throat. He tried to amplify his voice, but it came out as little more than a faint, barely audible murmur, almost like a muttered soliloquy.
Fortunately, the perceptive abilities of a fifth-tier wizard were exceptionally keen. Master Alvin's eyes narrowed slightly, and he immediately understood what Jieming was trying to convey.
Without a word, he extended a hand and conjured a green magic potion radiating with vital energy. With gentle yet irresistible movements, he poured the potion down Jieming's throat, then gestured with his eyes for him to continue speaking.
As the potion entered his system, a warm and potent life energy instantly surged through his body, like spring rain revitalizing a parched riverbed. It rapidly repaired his shattered meridians and damaged organs.
Jieming felt his condition improve significantly; at least the near-death weakness had been temporarily suppressed.
However, now that he was no longer in immediate danger, the willpower that had sustained his escape—the mental beam that had held him upright—collapsed like a spine suddenly removed.
An overwhelming fatigue and drowsiness washed over him, and he felt on the verge of losing consciousness.
But Jieming knew this wasn't the time to succumb.
Summoning his last reserves of strength, he fought to maintain awareness. With urgent clarity, he condensed the intelligence he possessed into three sentences, addressing Master Alvin:
"The snow monsters and lava giants have joined forces!"
"The monsters possess... strategic-level time-manipulation abilities!"
"The frontline nodes have been breached!"
The moment Jieming activated the Light Transformation Escape Technique, his perception of time plunged into a bizarre state of chaos.
Everything outside his vision slowed to an impossible crawl, as if frozen in place.
It was precisely through this distorted perspective that he gained a clear understanding of what had transpired at the frontline node area.
The peculiar phenomenon—where even dust motes hung motionless in the air—left no doubt: the advancing lava giant legions were accompanied by a terrifying "time-stop domain."
While other abilities could produce similar effects, such as mass mind control or field-based spells that altered the laws of physics, Jieming's certainty about the time-stop nature of the phenomenon stemmed from the unique circumstances of this plane.
As previously explained, the wizard world's four fundamental elements—beyond representing their inherent elemental forces—also embodied four distinct high-tier concepts.
The fire element represents "energy."
The water element represents "time."
The Flamefrost Plane is a unique world perpetually illuminated by projections of both fire and water elements.
Life born in this realm inevitably bears the imprints of these two high-tier concepts.
Lava giants, as favored children of the fire element, differ fundamentally from elemental creatures of other planes due to their extraordinarily vast reserves of internal energy.
Each adult lava giant functions like a mobile energy source, expending its energy almost recklessly during combat.
This is the primary reason why lava giants are significantly more powerful than comparable elemental creatures from other planes.
Moreover, lava giants possess an innate ability to manipulate earth veins, allowing them to mobilize vast quantities of energy across wide areas.
The so-called "strategic weapons" they demonstrated in battle were essentially massive, instantaneous releases of energy into a target region, causing temperatures to skyrocket and achieving city-razing, world-scorching effects.
Since lava giants possessed innate talents deeply intertwined with the concept of "energy," it was only natural that snow monsters, as creations of the water element and eternal rivals of the lava giants, would possess their own unique talents.
Without a doubt, the snow monsters' innate talent was related to "time"!
Under normal circumstances, the core and physique of snow monsters could only sustain a temporal ability that allowed them to accelerate their own movements.
This manifested as their extraordinary speed and lightning-fast reflexes, making them nearly impossible to defend against.
While powerful, this trait wasn't particularly remarkable. Many wizards simply attributed it to the snow monsters' natural aptitude, never delving into its true nature.
But this time, the situation was entirely different!
This temporal ability had evolved to the terrifying level of being able to pause time in the surrounding area.
Even more bizarrely, it wasn't the snow monsters activating this power, but the lava giants!
This was how Jieming could confidently deduce the two pieces of intelligence mentioned earlier.
Clearly, the lava giants were providing massive, nearly inexhaustible quantities of "energy" to fuel and amplify this ability.
The snow monsters' innate talent for manipulating time had been amplified to its absolute limit!
Two fundamentally opposing forces had been perfectly combined through some unknown means, creating a terrifying strategic-level ability.
After Jieming exhausted his last ounce of strength to deliver these three crucial pieces of intelligence, he could no longer maintain consciousness. His vision darkened, and he collapsed into a deep coma.
Master Alvin, standing before him, showed a flicker of barely perceptible solemnity deep within his eyes. He nodded calmly, as if he had been mentally prepared for this information.
With a casual gesture, he handed the unconscious Jieming to Viola, who had arrived unnoticed.
Viola accepted Jieming, her silver-gray eyes gleaming with a strange, excited light as she gazed at his half-dead, blood-soaked, and wretched appearance.
Meanwhile, the wizards who had rushed to the scene upon hearing the news erupted into chaos after hearing Jieming's three pieces of intelligence!
"What?! Time suspension?! Are you kidding me?!"
"Damn it! The frontline node was breached so quickly!"
"The lava giants and snow monsters have joined forces... That's hardly surprising."
After the initial shock and panic, the wizards' formidable mental fortitude allowed them to quickly regain their composure.
Deep down, most felt a sense of relief.
Thank goodness this wizard risked his life to bring back this intelligence!
To the wizards, time-based abilities were indeed mysterious and unpredictable, extremely difficult to counter. A single encounter could often lead to total annihilation.
But now that they understood the existence and principles of these abilities, defense became much simpler.
"Full alert!"
Master Alvin's voice, though not loud, carried clearly to every wizard's ear, instantly silencing the chaos.
His gaze swept across the field, radiating unquestionable authority:
"Activate the temporal stability anchor! Immediately switch all defensive nodes to anti-time distortion mode!"
"Order the Department of Magical Potions to mass-produce time-freezing potions!"
"Notify all Combat Squads to equip time-freeze runes!"
Master Alvin issued his commands with methodical precision.
Under the command of this fifth-tier wizard, the entire Wizard Camp transformed into a finely tuned war machine, its gears grinding into high gear as it prepared to face the approaching enemy.
(End of the Chapter)
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