Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2852: Chapter 2853: Reform and Breaking Free

The other side—

Time goes back half an hour.

The Wise Sovereign has been observing Angel and the others’ movements through the core node of the Magical Energy Array.

However, what he can observe is only the general location of the group and the degree of energy reaction; he does not know specifically what has happened.

At the beginning, the Wise Sovereign was worried that Adanis would personally deal with Angel, but when Olao appeared, that possibility was eliminated.

However, the Wise Sovereign does not think that Adanis would stop so easily; she must have other means.

The reason the Wise Sovereign observes the Magical Energy Array is to ensure that Adanis’s methods do not exceed the limits that Angel and the others can handle. If there truly appears an unstoppable method, the Wise Sovereign will take over the Magical Energy Array to create a retreat for Angel and the others.

This is the Wise Sovereign’s promise to Angel and the others, and it is also the backup plan for himself.

The Barbarian Cave, the Noah Family—one is a top organization among the Witcher Organization, and the other is one of the strongest Wizard Families in the Southern Domain. Perhaps from them, one can obtain a glimmer of hope to save Naraku City?

Although the Wise Sovereign is very reluctant to rely on outsiders, what if the Goddess is right and Naraku really does not return?

The Wise Sovereign previously did not want to think about it because he still had hope. But his time is running out... reality must be faced, just as he hopes Angel becomes a variable that breaks this chaotic game of the Qingkong Poetry Room’s Underground Aqueduct, because he’s starting to prepare for the worst outcome, to face what he most unwillingly thinks about.

So, this time, whether Angel’s move disrupts the Qingkong Poetry Room as a variable or fails to change the status quo, forcing him to save people in the end, none of it is a loss for him.

These are his preparations, his preparations for the future.

The Wise Sovereign lowers his eyebrows and no longer thinks about these trivial and bothersome things, his eyes return to the Magical Energy Array.

Suddenly, the Wise Sovereign’s gaze sharpens.

From the energy display of the Magical Energy Array, an unusual fluctuation appeared in the Slow Hallway. At this time, Angel and the others had not yet reached the Slow Hallway.

This unusual fluctuation is undoubtedly a new trap set by Adanis.

"Indeed, she is still not willing to give up." The Wise Sovereign twirls the wisps of hair hanging by his ear with his fingers, mumbling to himself while contemplating the source of this unusual fluctuation.

A very strange energy fluctuation, with no familiar feeling, nor the void sense of a Mirror Domain creature. This is more akin to a living magical creature.

Yet, when did such a potent magical creature appear in the Underground Aqueduct?

In the perception of the Wise Sovereign, this unusual energy fluctuation is still in a dormant stage but is already capable of affecting the surrounding Magical Energy Array, indicating that if there’s a creature within, it certainly surpasses the Wizard Level.

The Official Wizard Level is merely the starting point for this unknown creature’s power, its exact strength is currently undeterminable by the Wise Sovereign. Only until it truly encounters Angel and the others in battle can it be determined.

However, from the current situation alone, Angel and the others may face a tough battle ahead.

It is possible that Angel and the others might be defeated in this confrontation.

If Angel and the others truly lose, then he should step in.

That’s what the Wise Sovereign thinks, but for now, he doesn’t need to take any action, merely watching Angel and the others inch closer to the Slow Hallway.

The speed of Angel and the others becomes slow, and they pause for quite a while, indicating that they have also noticed the anomaly.

"What will you do?" The Wise Sovereign murmurs quietly.

In the Wise Sovereign’s mind, Angel has few choices, only two possibilities: to outsmart or to confront directly.

However, being clever during such times is actually very hard to effectuate.

When roads intersect, only the brave win. Therefore, the Wise Sovereign guesses Angel would opt for direct confrontation. But in the process of confrontation, whom would he choose to face this unusual fluctuation?

Certainly not the two apprentices, and additionally, a wizard is needed to take care of the apprentices, ideally holding Plane Corridor casting materials, ready to retreat at any moment.

Thus the answer is basically clear, the one to confront directly is likely to be the Black Earl or himself? Or perhaps both of them together?

Soon, Angel and the others made a decision. The Wise Sovereign’s deduction was right; Angel and the Black Earl stepped forward to confront, leaving Dox as support.

Feeling the two approaching the area of unusual fluctuation more and more closely, the Wise Sovereign also becomes alert.

If Angel and the others indeed encounter a crisis, it also tests the Wise Sovereign; he must choose the right timing to take action, acting too fast or too slow is inappropriate.

Hence, observing the unusual values of energy fluctuation and analyzing them, to infer the current combat situation, is what the Wise Sovereign needs to do now.

But what the Wise Sovereign didn’t expect was that his high alert... didn’t play a role.

The value of the unusual fluctuations not only didn’t rise but instead, when Angel and others coincided with the location of the unusual fluctuation, the value actually weakened?!

This means there was no battle; rather it turned into a... cross encounter without conflict?

Because the unusual fluctuation actively retracted its external energy, and the remaining part gathered at the edges, allowing Angel and the Black Earl to pass through. Moreover, Dox and the two apprentices also followed.

The battle the Wise Sovereign anticipated never occurred.

Once Angel and company entered the Qingkong Poetry Room, and the Wise Sovereign lost the sense of their location, the unusual fluctuation simultaneously disappeared.

The Wise Sovereign is still in a daze now.

What is this unusual fluctuation exactly? Why wasn’t there a battle? Is this truly a trap set by Adanis?

Or did he misjudge from the start? Was this unusual fluctuation merely an intimidating trick?

The once wise and famous Sovereign is now scratching his head continually, a look of confusion on his face.

"Perhaps, ask Erbao?"

The Wise Sovereign couldn’t figure out what happened in the Slow Hallway. Plus, since Angel and company have entered the Qingkong Poetry Room, which is independent of the Magical Energy Array, unless they come out by themselves, he won’t know what happened inside, meaning he now has nothing to do, waiting for Angel and company to reappear is when he gets to play his part again.

Having some free time, the Wise Sovereign doesn’t idle, summons the monocular Erbao, intending to have it analyze what this "unusual fluctuation" actually is.

Yet with Erbao’s narration, the Wise Sovereign’s clarity doesn’t improve, rather becomes increasingly muddled.

Erbao did provide some useful information: a passage appeared in the nearby Mirror Domain, personally opened by Adanis.

This indicates that the unusual fluctuation is indeed a trap set by Adanis. Moreover, it is likely called a magical creature from the Mirror Domain?—Though the Wise Sovereign didn’t sense the familiar breath of a Mirror Domain magical creature, maybe there exists a magical creature that can conceal its aura from the Mirror Domain, right? Whether it’s a Mirror Domain creature or not, this is unimportant; what’s crucial is why did the magical creature summoned by Adanis not attack Angel and the others?

He thought he judged wrong before, that there’s no magical creature, just a bluff. But in actuality, his judgment is correct, yet because it’s correct, makes him more bewildered why at a narrow encounter there was no battle.

As time passed little by little, the Wise Sovereign’s thoughts grew more chaotic.

After an unknown period, the Wise Sovereign suddenly frowned, looked up at Er Bao in front of him, and said, "You leave first."

Er Bao with the single eye seemed to sense something too, said nothing more, and disappeared from the spot.

Once Er Bao left, the Wise Sovereign stood up from his cross-legged position and walked out of the secret chamber where the core node of the Magical Energy Array was located.

As the Wise Sovereign left the secret chamber, his expression changed from previously being confused and cautious to a relaxed and carefree manner. As he walked out, he stretched lazily, yawned repeatedly, his eyes slightly wet, as if he had just woken up.

When the Wise Sovereign rubbed his groggy eyes and entered the hall, his gaze immediately shifted to the mirror above the distant fireplace.

The image in the mirror had been concealed, and appearing in the mirror was a cold and alluring woman whose face was half-covered by golden hair.

"Goddess, what brings you to me?"

— The visitor was Adanis.

The Wise Sovereign yawned and walked toward the fireplace.

When he reached the front of the fireplace, feeling the warm glow, the Wise Sovereign instinctively rubbed his hands, as if to ease the drowsy sleepiness from being interrupted.

"Shouldn’t you be receiving long-lost guests at the Qingkong Poetry Room at this time, Goddess? Or have you finished receiving them and tossed that group of guests to the Sea of Void Mirror?" The Wise Sovereign muttered as he sat on the rug in front of the fireplace, "If you really threw them into the Sea of Void Mirror, why are you looking for me? Seek out You Nu."

"Hmph, do you really want to ask if I threw them into the Sea of Void Mirror, or are you trying to probe their current situation?" Adanis said coldly.

The Wise Sovereign did not deny it and said with a smile, "The Goddess is indeed wise, you guessed my intention right away."

The Wise Sovereign shrugged: "After all, they are the first outsiders to enter the Qingkong Poetry Room in so many years, it’s only natural for me to be concerned."

Adanis: "What do you think the result is?"

The Wise Sovereign lowered his eyebrows, a hint of light flashing in his eyes: "If the Goddess doesn’t say, how would I know what the result is?"

Even as he spoke, the Wise Sovereign’s mind was as clear as a mirror. With his intelligence, analyzing a person’s character didn’t take too long, especially since he and Adanis had been in the underground aqueduct together for millennia. He knew Adanis too well; her question already allowed the Wise Sovereign to deduce... Angel and the others were certainly fine now.

At the very least, Adanis had not thrown them into the Sea of Void Mirror.

Upon reaching this conclusion, the Wise Sovereign was actually quite surprised, but it wasn’t Angel and the others’ safety that surprised him, but something else.

"Angel and the others being safe" was a conclusion he had already speculated when they entered the Qingkong Poetry Room.

The reason was simple: with Angel’s cautious, always ready to open a Plane Corridor demeanor, it would be too difficult to keep him.

While in the slow corridor, there were Magical Energy Array constraints making it not so easy to open a Plane Corridor. But the Qingkong Poetry Room was different; to connect with the Mirror Domain, Adanis couldn’t prohibit the Power of Space in the Qingkong Poetry Room, which also meant Angel could open a Plane Corridor at any time without restrictions.

In this case, Angel’s safety was certainly ensured.

Thus, the Wise Sovereign was not surprised by Angel and the others’ current safe state.

What surprised him was that Adanis’ tone revealed a piece of information: Angel and the others were still in the Qingkong Poetry Room!

If Angel became safe through the Plane Corridor, the Wise Sovereign wouldn’t be surprised. But the fact that Angel hadn’t used the Plane Corridor and was already in a safe state was quite interesting.

Does this imply one thing: that change has happened!

If change has indeed happened, does that mean the Qingkong Poetry Room will experience dramatic transformations soon?

The Wise Sovereign forcefully restrained his increasingly unruly thoughts and still pretended to be half-asleep, looking up, he said, "Would the Goddess be willing to enlighten me?"

Adanis snorted coldly, "Why should I enlighten a traitor?"

The Wise Sovereign: "A traitor? Goddess, you must have misunderstood, I was never a traitor. I simply changed from conservative to reformist."

Adanis: "What change are you making, and what are you trying to reform?"

The Wise Sovereign smiled without answering.

Adanis wasn’t annoyed and continued, "What triggered your sudden urge for reform?"

This time, the Wise Sovereign didn’t remain silent but smiled and said, "Not much time left... My wish hasn’t changed, but if possible, I’d also like to live a little longer."

Hearing the familiar words, Adanis inexplicably thought of Olao, his transformation also due to... not much time left.

Adanis said softly, "You can leave at any time. Accompanying a dead city to extinction is not as good as going to a broader world to see if there’s hope."

"Yes, just leaving here could solve many problems, right?" the Wise Sovereign said, "So, why hasn’t the Goddess left?"

Adanis paused for a moment, then said blandly, "I have my reasons, which have nothing to do with you."

The Wise Sovereign smiled, "Because of Olao?"

Adanis shot a cold look, her eyes like knives aimed at the Wise Sovereign.

The Wise Sovereign only smiled without speaking.

"Don’t think that calling yourself The Sage really makes you a sage."

The Wise Sovereign: "The past gave me this position because of Naraku, I had no reason to resist. And now, I only treat ’The Sage’ as my name, a name without any meaning, just a code. Just like you as a ’Goddess’, your honor."

Listening to the Wise Sovereign deliberately emphasizing the word ’Goddess’, Adanis’ expression slightly changed, how could she not understand the implication of the Wise Sovereign’s words.

It was saying, aren’t we all the same, trapping ourselves, yet unable to break free.

Adanis clenched her fists in her sleeves but quickly released them, seemingly thinking of something.

Her expression returned to calm: "Goddess, you can call me that if you want, or not, it’s all in the past."

Since you plan to leave here, why not throw away the past belongings?

The Wise Sovereign was stunned: "What does the Goddess mean?"

Adanis: "No particular meaning. Back to the main topic, I’m here to borrow something from you."

The Wise Sovereign was still pondering Adanis’ previous words, and when Adanis suddenly shifted to the so-called ’main topic’, he reflexively replied, "What is it?"

"The Sweet Dream."