"Shut up, don’t spout nonsense in front of me, you’re the one who’s gone mad, not I."
Sidney raged, "I can’t help you, go find someone else, and don’t come looking for me again."
"Heh heh, my student, it seems you are truly angered. Tell me, who is behind Wayne, what kind of protection has he found?"
The Void Lord muttered to himself, rambling on for quite a while before saying, "Such a familiar name, I seem to have heard it somewhere."
Sidney was nearly driven mad with anger, he knew this old lunatic was unreliable. The Legendary Mage who made a name for himself in Windsor had forgotten about the Tulip Family, why couldn’t he just forget about him, his student, too!
What was there to remember about endlessly, couldn’t it be changed!
"Forget it, names that can’t stay in my memory are surely not worth remembering."
The Void Lord’s tone shifted, speaking coldly, "Sidney, bring Wayne to me, immediately, right now, I don’t want to wait any longer."
"Marshall, is this how you ask someone for a favor?!" Sidney’s voice was just as cold.
The Golden Statue glowed, projecting the will of the Void Lord as it descended.
Bit by bit, white flesh sprouted from nothingness, points connected to lines, lines to surfaces, as the dark void became a breeding ground for the white flesh.
Tentacle-like veins roamed far and wide, with white translucent skin secreting a viscous fluid, interwoven with blood vessel-like streams that flowed within. Each piece of revolting rotting flesh teemed with an abnormally evil vitality.
The dark void was filled and overtaken by the white flesh, surrounding Sidney from all angles, and in an extremely short period, sealed the exits, blockading Sidney’s retreat.
Sidney’s eyes blazed fiercely, yet without any visible actions from him, the Golden Triangle pattern spread beneath his feet, and the Life Barrier surged up, blocking the incoming white froth tendrils, ensuring that his thoughts remained uneroded.
"Sidney, my most exceptional student..."
The white froth tendrils clung to the Life Barrier, writhing and twisting, opening abyss-like maws, each snap revealing sharp teeth that shimmered with a chilling light, grating against the Life Barrier with a screeching sound.
Dozens of voices resonated in succession, the bone-chilling arctic winds howling past, tugging at Sidney’s thoughts, scrambling his rationality.
Sidney’s vision darkened, his complexion turned exceedingly grim; if it was only the truth from the void, he could barely fend it off with the Life Barrier, as long as he didn’t step through the Gate of Truth, the Void Lord would never be able to shake his mind and beliefs.
That’s what Sidney once thought, but now he realized that the Void Lord had already meddled with him, maybe before the madness, or perhaps during those few transactions.
In any case, his thoughts were under the control of the Void Lord, who could at any moment drag his mind into The Great Void Cosmos or let his thoughts freeze and wither away.
"Damn it, what have you done to me?"
"I guided you towards learning the true Life Magic, my student, this is what a teacher should do."
Abyssal maws closed and opened, a succession of jarring noises drilled into Sidney’s ears, leaving him feeling like ashes, tears of regret streaming down.
If given another chance, he would never bargain with that old madman.
"Look at your tears of joy, my student, hurry up and bring Wayne to me, or else..."
A hallucination appeared before Sidney, a white tendril snuck through the Life Barrier and brushed against his face, lifting a teardrop, "You covet vanity, you thirst for worldly power, you don’t want to lose it all, do you?"
By the end of it, Sidney’s vision was consumed by a massive white maw in the dark world, its bone-white teeth looming like mountains, emitting a breath so foul it choked the air, swallowing him whole.
Sidney snapped awake all of a sudden, his eyes opening to find himself standing in the midst of the black void.
There was no terrifying white flesh, no Life Barrier being gnawed away, nothing at all; even the Golden Statue had vanished.
Looking at the empty black void, Sidney felt a chill run through him. He quickly returned to his study, personally erasing the secret chamber formed by his thoughts.
The Void Lord seemed to have left, but Sidney still heard the low whispers in his ear, to find Wayne, immediately, now, and offer him to the teacher.
Sidney shook his head, dispelling the voice. He picked up the mirror on his desk, revealing a pale, bloodless face.
Something seemed to be wriggling in the depths of his pupils, on the verge of crawling out of his eyes.
Sidney hurled away the mirror forcefully, soaked in cold sweat, standing up resolved to seek psychological counseling at the Asylum.
The moment he stood up, he froze in place; going there now, with the Dean’s brutal treatment methods, the Void Lord might be fine, but he was certain to be "treated" to death.
"I can’t go to the Asylum, others mustn’t know..."
Sidney screamed and opened the drawer, frantically searching until he put on a pair of sunglasses, which calmed him down.
He unsteadily opened a bottle of red wine, gulped down a large mouthful, the red liquid running down his beard, uttering a curse-like hoarse voice, "Wayne, don’t blame me, I’ve still got a long way to go, The Church needs me. You’re different, you’ve been targeted by the old lunatic, even without me, other mages would come after you..."
Time moved to nighttime.
Hefei left the mansion at noon, her constitution astonishingly robust, staying awake for several days and nights, then slept just four hours before returning to her office full of energy and plunged back into work.
After waking up, Hefei showed Wayne eating habits no less voracious than Isabella’s. The difference was, Hefei never gained weight, no matter how much she ate.
Wayne finally understood why she got to sit in an office and he could only sleep in the basement.
Also, it’s no wonder her husband felt inadequate, with such a physical powerhouse, even the most beautiful vows couldn’t last long.
Before leaving, Hefei assured Wayne that she had cast a Life Barrier around the mansion, and that tonight, no one would disturb him.
If they did, she demanded that Wayne immediately dive into the sewer and run as far as he could.
Seeing Hefei storm off in a rage, Wayne could guess Joy Dobin’s fate. He thought, "Idiot, I have legs to run, and you dare to lay hands on my boss’s student. You’ve got it coming today."
Wayne couldn’t understand why he had offended Joy; it was his first time hearing the name. After much thought, the only cause he could think of was exposure from Hefei’s side, dragging him into the internal political struggles within The Church.
The specifics would have to wait for the teacher’s investigation results. Wayne was happy for the peace, lying in the air-raid shelter with tears in his fellow villagers’ eyes.
About midnight, Wayne suddenly became aware of a peculiar sensation, his Supernatural Sensing going haywire with warnings of an extremely fast-approaching danger.
So close that it was at the basement door.
Remembering Hefei’s warning, Wayne lamented his situation. It seemed the Magic Realm also played the game of sending small foes first then the big ones. He ditched his book and headed straight for the sewer.
This time he didn’t wait; he dived headfirst into the sewer and didn’t look back, running seven or eight kilometers. The Supernatural Sensing’s alerts came sporadically—every time he stopped, it would warn him, and every time he sprinted, the alert would cease.
After another ten kilometers, Wayne couldn’t take it any longer. He couldn’t shake off the tracker even if he got lost; it was clear the pursuer had him well figured out.
He couldn’t escape, so he had to draw his sword!
"Not running anymore?"
The sound of footsteps came from around the corner of the sewer as Sidney looked at Wayne and said indifferently, "I must say, you’ve managed to evade capture multiple times, which is quite impressive. At least, your intuition is sharp. Unfortunately, you’re too weak—that’s your biggest mistake."
Wayne didn’t bother with small talk. Someone wearing sunglasses in a sewer late at night was clearly a major villain.
Seizing the moment of conversation, with a distance of over ten meters, he raised his hand and fired a shot.
The bullet hit right in front of Sidney’s chest... only to be stopped by a flickering Life Barrier; he caught the hot bullet in his hand: "Who I am doesn’t matter. What’s important is to find your associate—he calls himself the Void Lord and has asked me to bring you to meet him."
Wayne’s heart skipped a beat—the transport company captain was making his move.
"Your gun is useless against me. Just give up resisting, don’t make this difficult."
Wayne didn’t say anything. Yes, his gun might be useless against the man, but the sword between his legs might not be.
Wayne squinted his eyes, ready to transform into an Undead Knight on the spot.
Just then, a voice full of regret came from behind him.
"Sidney, you’ve finally come to this point."
Wayne turned to look, and the comer was a disheveled old man with a white beard, dressed in greasy clothes.
Especially the white beard, it was all Bao Jiang.