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墨書 Inktalez
On the afternoon of the third day, Sadin had also recovered and resumed work. This time, both Sadin and Cui Ming had learned their lessons. Sadin set up a magic circle on a flat sandy area five hundred meters away, using sand golems to trigger it. Cui Ming simply chose not to participate. Before activating the magic circle each time, Sadin would call out, "Ready, be careful," much like a demolition expert warning others before igniting explosives.
With this approach, the work went much smoother. Although there were two incidents, they were nothing compared to before. When Sadin was in high spirits, the annoying Wind chimed in, "Isn't this the Sun God's magic circle? What happens when the Sun God goes to sleep at night?"
Sadin froze for a long moment, going into a frenzy. He hadn't recorded which symbols were for daytime and which were for nighttime experiments, and he forgot which symbol was meant for daytime use. So he decided to start all over again. Cui Ming was timing things on the side; well, now there was definitely enough time for the prophet to cause trouble.
On the prophet's side, Wandering was in charge. Cui Ming had some confidence in Wandering; failure didn't matter—he would take the blame for it. According to Zhir, if the prophet set up outside of Zhir's territory, one hundred kilometers from the Royal Tomb, Zhir would be unable to detect it. Once the magic circle was established, it could last anywhere from half an hour to an hour, depending on the amount of Void Energy from the sacrifice. Once Mage broke free, Zhir would appear. Mage might very well use a splitting technique to escape, dividing into multiple energy forms; however, the energy couldn't be too weak or Zhir wouldn't need to show up at all. It also couldn't be too strong since that would mean fewer forms, and this energy needed to deal with attacking the prophet and seizing its body.
As for whether Zhir could accomplish the mission of killing Mage or whether Mage could easily escape, neither Zhir nor Mage knew. They had been acquaintances over a thousand years ago, but this encounter was separated by more than a millennium; their strengths were entirely different from those days. Mage felt uncertain and thus wasn't in a hurry to escape; he was quite patient. However, Sadin pushed him into a corner where he had no choice but to fight desperately. He was also grateful that he had contacted the prophet; otherwise, once the seal was broken, he would have nowhere to run.
This battle could very well ignite; avoiding a conflict where neither side had any chance of winning meant that all bets were on Wandering. Wandering wasn't alone; he entered Dawn Desert with Bufon, Dina, and Wei Wei to search for the prophet. Finding the prophet in such a vast desert relied not only on strength but sometimes also on luck. The desert wasn't flat; on the contrary, most areas were uneven with small dunes, wind-eroded cliffs, and riverbeds that made searching difficult.
Cui Ming sat in front of a Sand Soldier archer and said to Feng Dao beside him, "Did you know? The number of people who drown in the desert is about equal to those who die of thirst."
"That's nonsense."
"The riverbed is actually the most likely place to find fresh water. In fact, it's true. And there's a characteristic of deserts: riverbeds are usually elevated. When it rains heavily ten kilometers away for just twenty minutes, it can create floods." Cui Ming initially didn't believe it either but found out it was indeed true after checking—this could be considered one of the curiosities of the desert.
"Here we go again." The Sand Soldiers fired in unison as Wind stood up and charged toward the target, wildly slashing for a while until an energy scorpion turned purple and then dissipated into nothingness. After finishing off his target, Wind walked over to a sand pit and pulled down his pants aimed at 'the prison': "I'll shoot you right in the face."
Cui Ming covered his face in disbelief. It had already been seven days with four energy ambush incidents occurring in total—all detected by the Sand Soldiers and dealt with by Wind. The first time Wind had bickered with Mage but lost; then he resorted to mischief by urinating into Mage's prison. The following three times were met with no anger—purely routine business. Each time Wind finished urinating, Mage would fall silent for several minutes; judging by his expression, he seemed to be struggling not to curse like Wind.
When Wind returned after pulling up his pants, Cui Ming teased him: "You won't start throwing your waste like a monkey now?"
"Wow, I didn't know you were so heartless..." Wind pondered for a moment before adding: "Solid waste isn't fun; I can actively have diarrhea..."
Cui Ming forced a smile and said, "I was joking. Don't take it seriously."
"I'm not. I think it's quite a challenge and interesting," Feng replied as he walked to the edge of the sand pit. "I wonder how far I can shoot."
Cui Ming sighed, not wanting to get to know this person even in the desert. He knew Feng wasn't joking; with such a novel way to play, he would definitely want to try it out.
...
Sadin and Cui Ming watched from a distance, unable to look away due to their curiosity. After three days of training, Feng finally made his appearance. Standing at the edge of the sand pit, he loudly introduced himself to the two on the roof: "After experimentation, it can't be too thin, or it won't block properly and will cause an explosion. It also can't be too dry, or there will be tearing—don't ask me how I know."
Cui Ming couldn't help but exclaim, "Come on, enough with the nonsense!"
Feng pulled down his pants, squatted slightly, and adjusted his position, raising his hips. "I will launch a parabolic shot..."
"You dare!" Mage shouted angrily. This seal wasn't a prison; Zhir had instructed everyone not to let Mage or Seduction enter the sealed area, meaning things could go in. Stones and similar items were meaningless; in fact, urine and feces were also pointless. Mage's face swelled with rage as purple energy boiled like water.
"3, 2, 1... Launch!"
From the rooftop of the sand house, Cui Ming and Sadin watched as a yellow semi-liquid substance traced a beautiful arc through the air and crashed into the Royal Tomb, covering the purple energy with a layer of yellow material. Mage roared while Feng shouted, "Second strike!"
Mage's roar was so loud that he didn't hear it; the second strike accurately flew into Mage's wide-open mouth. Cui Ming and Sadin immediately felt nauseous; they knew that mouth wasn't just a mouth—it was pure energy—but it was too vivid to ignore. Mage was stunned for a moment by this hit before erupting in anger, his embarrassment turning into rage as purple energy surged around him, beginning to compress the prison. A halo appeared around the Royal Tomb as one of Mage's large hands broke through it; the halo was like an elastic balloon, but even balloons have their limits.
Cui Ming and Sadin watched nervously. Was the seal about to break?
Feng turned around and squatted down, dumbfounded by the situation. No way—was it really going to break? Zhir, would you arrive on time? Feng shouted back, "Give me some tissue!"
Cui Ming pulled out a tissue wrapped in Force and tossed it over. Feng caught it and yelled, "Third strike... Just kidding! Everyone's overthinking this."
Gathering himself, he stood up. At that moment, the Mage's energy hand had already reached seven meters from the Royal Tomb, just six meters away from Feng. The light barrier was being stretched to its limit, on the verge of shattering. Cui Ming said, "You're just adding fuel to the fire."
"There's nothing left," Feng replied. After a moment of thought, he dropped his pants, turned around, and began to dance.
The hand continued to stretch forward, now only four meters away from Feng.
Just as it seemed he would escape, the Mage suddenly stopped, retracting the energy hand. Everything returned to normal, and all that could be heard was the Mage panting in anger; reason had triumphed over rage. Cui Ming and the others felt a deep sense of regret. Sadin noticed something and said, "So this Royal Tomb is indeed a sanctuary."
"Huh?" Cui Ming retorted, "Did you not think so before?"
Sadin replied, "While we referred to it as a sanctuary, we always believed the Mage was trapped inside the Royal Tomb. But now it seems this magic circle prevents outsiders from entering. If we were to force our way through, we would face the same attack that blasted us away that day. However, getting out from the inside is much simpler; there are no attacks activated. So this is indeed a sanctuary. Cui Ming, I think he is intentionally getting angry."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He needs anger; he needs to be furious. Logically speaking, Feng must have been annoying him out of boredom, making him angry every time. Until one day..."
"One day when the prophet's magic circle is ready, he will break free and catch us off guard. Just like in the fable of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf,' Zhir might also let down his guard." Cui Ming admired, "This ancient demon has a deep scheme. You're impressive too for seeing through his plot."
Sadin was not modest either. "I suspect his method of escape isn't like this; it's merely for us and Zhir to see."
"Yeah, I feel it's somewhat dangerous. If he escapes, will he just step on us first?" Cui Ming wasn't worried about himself; he could run. But Feng and Sadin lacked long-distance teleportation abilities.
Sadin said, "I brought some Magic Stones; I need to set up a magic circle that can at least withstand a few of his attacks."
"Good. How's your research on the symbols going?"
"I've studied about half of it; I've basically deduced the type of magic circle it is. The progress will speed up from here on out. I estimate I can solve it in about five days. Once I do, give me an hour and I can break the seal."
Cui Ming calculated the time and said, "Our lives are more important, so let's set up the defensive magic circle first."
"Alright."
Feng flew over to the two of them and asked, "Is it fun?"
"Not bad," Cui Ming replied. "You really have a lot of tricks up your sleeve."
"Just trying to entertain myself," Feng said with a hint of regret. "It's a pity, we're just one step away."
Cui Ming explained a bit more, and Feng listened with some skepticism. "Is it really that dangerous?"
"If even the prophet can be deceived, it's better to believe there is danger than to dismiss it," Cui Ming stated. "Sadin's magic circle requires manual activation, which means we don't have enough personnel on duty." One person needs to be ready to activate the circle, Sadin will study the runes and spells, while another person protects Sadin from a small number of energy entities.
Feng Dao suggested, "Let the one who is sleeping deal with the energy entities. It would take him a lot of effort to move them outside anyway."
Sadin added, "This also confirms Zhir's statement; it should be quite easy for the Mage to escape. We must be extremely cautious, especially the one activating the magic circle. The Mage's strength is much greater than we think. We only have a moment to face him, especially you, Feng. Although we believe his anger is feigned, he is genuinely angry with you."
Feng chuckled lightly and said, "What’s there to be afraid of? When soldiers come, we fight; when water comes, we block it."
As the battle drew near, Cui Ming felt a sense of anxiety in his heart, wondering how things were going on Wandering's side. (To be continued.)
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