Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Just over two hours later, the Corpse Wizard King, who was wearing a straw hat and disguising himself as a troop, sneaked back into the castle, “Hehehe, Sir, the deed is done. He sure was a sage level fighter, he was quite delicious!”

Quite delicious?

Yang Ling shook his head as he caught a whiff of the metallic stench of blood. The Corpse Wizard King was powerful, so powerful that even Yang Ling was not a match for him at his peak. Unfortunately, as a Corpse Wizard, he would leave behind an aura of dead souls every time he attacked. It was very easy for someone to notice something suspicious. Both his strengths and weaknesses were very prominent. Without such a weakness, he would have been able to kill the Sword Emperor Elderweiss fairly and justly, with no need to go through all this trouble.

“I encountered a few knights of the Church while completing my job, but do not worry Sir, I’ve disposed of them cleanly!” Seeing Yang Ling knit his brows tightly, the Corpse Wizard King naturally knew what he was worried about, “The Sword Emperor does have quite the reputation, but he is unfortunately a pauper. He doesn’t have any treasures on him other than this Space Ring!”

The Sword Emperor’s empty Space Ring was not large, able to fit a few cartfuls of rations at the very most. However, it was blue and simply built, with wave-like patterns carved on the surface. They released streaks of an obscure energy ripple.

“Hand this over to Master Aaron and get him to refine it. If he can’t, then destroy it!”

The blue Space Ring was too small and was basically a burden. Rather than keep it on himself as a threat, he might as well destroy it. Of course, if he could refine it and change its appearance, keeping it was worth considering.”

After dealing with the challenge of the Sword Emperor, Yang Ling once again closed himself in his villa to train. He trained on his Body Honing Wizard Mantra and continued exploring the secrets of the Ice-sealing Throne Armor.

The Sword Emperor Elderweiss was at the peak of sage level, his abilities powerful. If not for the fact that he had been severely injured during his battle with Casia, as well as caught off guard by the Ice-sealing Throne, Yang Ling would not have been able to beat him that easily.

However, even if that was the case, the Ice-sealing Throne coupled with a Wizard’s close combat abilities gave Yang Ling hope of a speedy improvement in his abilities. That feeling of being able to take on his opponents directly was completely different from raising his Blood Elf Dagger and launching a sneak attack from behind them.

Under the complete effects of the Body Honing Wizard Mantra, all of his muscles towered upward, expanding and shrinking at a rate visible to the human eye as they maniacally absorbed the energy in the surroundings.

Every fiber of his muscle, every inch of his bone was getting strengthened rapidly!

Ordinary Wizard Mantras focused on cultivating the ability to control souls, as well as the understanding of the Source Energy in this world. It was a fleeting kind of cultivation. However, the Body Honing Wizard Mantra was different. Yang Ling’s so-called training was to try his best to absorb the energy around him, then use the magnificent energy to strengthen and refine his body, enhancing his body time and again…

Under the effects of the Spirit Gathering Spell Formation, Yang Ling absorbed the spiritual energy in the surroundings and the life force of the nearby trees during the day; At night, he focused on absorbing the magnificent starlight, directly absorbing the energy of the stars.

Slowly, a massive energy vortex once again formed in the sky above the Wissen Castle, getting more and more visible as the days went by, its area getting wider and wider as the majestic energies gathered. It looked like a heavy dark cloud, but also a massive dark vortex, eerily suspended above the Wissen Castle, pressing down on the hearts of the people.

Seeing the energy vortex get denser day by day, Yuna, Alice, Goode and the rest were extremely worried, afraid that Yang Ling had met with an accident in the villa. The Corpse Wizard King was also not his usual self, meditating motionlessly at the entrance of the villa from day to night, not allowing anyone to get near.

If someone would get near, they would realize that he is silently murmuring to himself from time to time, his body enveloped in a ball of faint black gas; If someone were to dig down into the ground to take a look, they would realize that red-haired zombies and Dark Knights have appeared around Yang Ling’s villa.

Even though he did not know what was going on, the experienced Corpse Wizard King knew that he definitely could not allow anyone to disrupt Yang Ling’s training at this moment. As a precaution, he had summoned a large group of undeads to defend the villa, preparing for the worst. Of course, unless he absolutely had to, he was not willing to expose his true identity.

The terrifying energy vortex worried Goode, Yuna and the rest, and quickly attracted the attention of outsiders. Just like how it was when news of Yang Ling defeating the Sword Emperor Elderweiss bare handedly had spread out, the energy vortex had ignited another commotion within the Magical Beast Territory. The news soon spread all over the Tailun Continent.

The Troop Association had many spies all around the continent, and they naturally knew of the news!

An average person in the capital Montson of the Livenza Alliance would have long went to bed, but the headquarters of the Troop Association remained busy. Other than the mysterious Chief Elder, the rest of the managing elders have gathered at the headquarters, presenting a rare sight.

After repeatedly reading through the intelligence in his hands, a white-bearded Spellcaster had a grave expression, saying slowly, “Elders, I think that we have underestimated the abilities of the family backing Yang Ling. There’s a need to reconsider our relationship with the Magical Beast Territory and Hunter Association!”

After following the Wolf Troop Team under Kerband’s invitation and experiencing what had happened in the underground city, the white-bearded Spellcaster had a deep impression of Yang Ling’s abilities.

Thousands of high-level Magical Beasts, abilities deep beyond comprehension, powerful and mysterious family…

As a managing elder of the Troop Association, he was definitely unwilling to forge a deep animosity with Yang Ling and the family backing him. Along with Kerband revealing the contents of their conversation to him, he knew that Yang Ling also did not want to challenge the Troop Association. If that is the case, the two parties could both take a step back and even negotiate ways of working with each other, preventing a vicious competition between the two associations.

“However, the missions of the Hunter Association are in serious conflicts with ours. If we allow them to freely develop, I’m afraid…” The white-bearded Spellcaster had just finished speaking when a short and skinny old man raised his voice to object. He had caught wind of the news that the Sword Emperor Elderweiss had died in Yang Ling’s hands and had rushed over from the Delar Empire.

“Judging from the intelligence we gathered, the leader of the Magical Beast Territory is a scheming man. He infuriated the Sword Emperor through a string of schemes and forced him to lose his sanity before gathering his elites to attack him, allowing him to easily heavily injure the reputable Sword Emperor Elderweiss.” A wrinkled old man maintained a neutral expression, pausing for a moment before continuing coldly, “A person like this is even scarier than a Domain Expert at the peak level. We should either choose to cooperate with him, or seek the help of the Chief Elder and give our best efforts in eradicating him along with the family backing him as soon as possible!”

Seek the help of the Chief Elder?

Hearing the wrinkled old man say this, the short and skinny old man had a thought, “Elder Mandela, what you mean is… We directly activate Shadow Killer?”

“That’s right, only the Shadow Killer under the Chief Elder can cleanly eradicate the target; And only Shadow Killer could force out the location of the family backing Yang Ling and take them out in one fell swoop!”

The wrinkled old man had an icy expression, his right hand gently stroking a pitch black dagger. Looking at the dagger closely, one would notice that the top of the dagger was adorned with a strange, blood red Magical Beast Essence Crystal. Merely looking at it for an instant made one giddy.

“No, Elder Mandela. Yang Ling has tens of thousands of Magical beasts, amongst them are the level nine Flying Dragon King and Level Surpassing Magical Beast Dark Dragon King. Lately, his family had also sent over a guardian warrior whose abilities are deep beyond comprehension.”

The white-bearded Spellcaster disagreed loudly, then deliberated for a moment before continuing, “According to the intelligence, the family backing Yang Ling are definitely not ordinary nobles. It is highly possible that they are one of the ancient families that the Chief Elder said that we should never offend. We must definitely not act recklessly!”

…

Just like this, with some approvals and some objections, the elders arrived at a stalemate.

“Alright, no need to argue, I have an instruction from the Chief Elder here, take a look at it!” Seeing the group getting louder and louder, an old man who had been silent all this while spoke as he took out a piece of vellum from within his robes.

The authority of the Chief Elder was unquestionable!

Even though they could not even meet the Chief Elder once in a few decades, or even centuries, no one present dared question his authority. The decision of the Chief Elder could be said to be the decision of the Troop Association.

The group quickly stopped arguing after closely reading the contents on the piece of vellum.

The wrinkled old man and the short, skinny old man sighed and fell silent, while the white-bearded Spellcaster and a few other elders had a look of joy. They discussed about who should represent the Troop Association and head to the Magical Beast Territory, prepared to resolve the conflict between the two parties as soon as possible.

The Troop Association had quickly made a decision, while Yang Ling was oblivious of what was happening in the outside world, continuing to train in seclusion.

A long time later, when he finally opened his eyes, the energy vortex that had been suspended above the Wissen Castle had long scattered. The snow had also disappeared, the trees around him sprouting their shoots.

The spring that revitalized all living creatures have finally arrived!

“Ice Sealing the Environment!”

After noticing that winter had passed, Yang Ling had a thought as he touched the Ice-sealing Throne Armor he was wearing. He shouted as his majestic Wizard Power and mental power welled out of his body.

In that instant, an alarming change happened to the Ice-sealing Throne. Blue light flowed across the surface of the item, releasing a dull ring of blue light. The wind blew a withered leaf into the radius of the blue light, and the latter instantly turned into an icicle, then shattered into countless pieces, scattering into the wind like dust.

Tsk tsk, it lives up to its reputation as a Divine Weapon. If I could truly spread the blue light to envelop a radius of ten thousand miles one day, I would truly become a god!

Looking at the blue light that had about the radius of a step, Yang Ling shook his head. This was already his limit.

Hard work pays off. After investigating it for a dozen days, he had finally found such a great ability of the Ice-sealing Throne. The armor could release a ring of bone-piercingly cold blue light after he infused his Wizard Power and mental energy into the armor with a precise ratio.

Within the radius of the blue light, as long as he willed it, he could even freeze a rock, much less leaves. The frozen object would scatter into countless pieces after he touched it. Its power was unparalleled!

The only downside was that it required an alarming amount of Wizard Power and mental energy. In his current state, even if he cast the technique with all of his power, his limit was a radius of about a small step, and he could only maintain the technique for a few short minutes.

To an average person, a few minutes is not even enough for them to enjoy a cup of tea; But to Yang Ling, as long as he did not encounter any top-notch experts, a few minutes was enough to deal with the problem.

With the growth of his Wizard Power and mental energy, he was filled with anticipation for this trump card that he named himself — Ice Sealing the Environment!