Chapter 518: Demon Seed

Chapter 518: The Demon Seed

Li Wei's eyes blazed with golden flames.

All the fatal injuries that had once covered his body vanished without a trace.

Aguru was stunned for an instant—only an instant—before he reacted immediately, accelerating his attack without hesitation.

The blade capable of severing souls slashed toward Li Wei’s neck.

He intended to kill him utterly.

"Soul-Devouring Annihilation Slash!"

This was power drawn from a demon god.

None could withstand it!

At such close range, even in the guise of the Sacred Flame Lord, Li Wei had no way to evade.

*Slice!*

The short blade severed Li Wei’s throat.

In the next breath, the blade suddenly halted.

From within the wound burst forth an intensely pure force of blazing sunlight.

A blinding radiance erupted from the gash in Li Wei’s neck.

For a moment, Aguru felt as though he were staring directly into the sun, his entire being on the verge of combustion.

The moment the Soul-Devouring Annihilation Slash struck Li Wei, that black power invaded his mind, seeking to obliterate his soul.

Within the sea of consciousness, that force encountered the sun.

In the world of his mind—

Li Wei stood within the sun, gazing at the black currents pouring in like demons and monsters.

His eyes burned like twin suns.

“You wish to see the sun within my heart?”

“As you desire!”

The power of the blazing sun surged forth, instantly incinerating every foreign force.

Even in the darkest night, in that instant, Li Wei reached his peak.

The sacred flames burning upon his body flared violently, as if ready to consume everything.

Aguru felt his vision failing; he had seen the sun.

In the midst of night, the sun had appeared.

Li Wei grasped the short blade embedded in his throat. The moment his hand touched it, the blade began to heat up, turning red-hot, and within seconds melted into molten iron that dripped onto the ground.

*Sizzle sizzle sizzle!*

The scorching metal hissed as it hit the floor.

Li Wei’s entire body blazed with fierce sacred flame, his strength reaching its zenith.

Aguru’s sight remained distorted for a long time. Terrified, he staggered backward, trying to flee.

Li Wei fixed him with a gaze.

Golden flames erupted from Aguru’s eye sockets.

“Aaaah…”

Aguru screamed in agony, clutching his eyes, his hands pierced through by golden sacred fire.

Then, the golden flames erupted from every part of Aguru’s body—he became a living torch.

The sacred flame had ignited his very soul.

Aguru burned from within outward, his life force kindling into flame, illuminating the world.

*Whoosh!*

Finally, Aguru burned away completely, collapsing to the ground as charred remains, shattered into pieces.

Victory and defeat decided in but a moment.

Li Wei gradually reined in his power, returning to normal.

He sensed the consumption of the solar energy within his mind.

“That felt amazing, but judging by this expenditure, it’ll probably take at least half a month to recover.”

Li Wei thought to himself.

He turned his head toward another battlefield.

The battle there had already ended.

Monis was sealed within a massive crystal of ice.

Guthvie remained unscathed.

Monis had underestimated Guthvie’s strength—and even more so, the might of the Frost Staff.

As a legendary weapon, the Frost Staff was inherently formidable.

Let alone here, in the Far North Icefield.

The Ice Jade Palace had been built by the Ice Queen using her powers over frost and snow.

Here, the Frost Staff could unleash even greater strength—

bringing Guthvie infinitely close to the level of a legendary mage.

Li Wei glanced at Monis, encased in ice, then looked at Guthvie and said, “The battle is over.”

Guthvie shook her head. “The real test begins now.”

She slammed the Frost Staff into the ground, channeling the hidden power within the Ice Jade Palace, instantly shattering the magical barrier that enveloped the entire palace.

Her spiritual senses swept across the palace grounds, and a cold gleam flashed in Guthvie’s eyes.

Frost spread rapidly throughout the Ice Jade Palace. The enemies still fighting the valkyries and guards were instantly frozen into ice sculptures.

Guthvie showed no mercy toward these invaders.

She froze them all indiscriminately, regardless of whether their lives would be spared.

Seeing that casualties among the valkyries and guards were minimal, Guthvie let out a slight sigh of relief.

She turned to Li Wei. “It will take some time to deal with the chaos caused by Monis.”

Li Wei recalled something and reminded her, “Monis seemed to have stockpiled a batch of supplies. She was likely planning to distribute them after taking power, to win the people’s hearts. You should look for where she hid them.”

Guthvie nodded. “Mm, I know.”

Li Wei had no interest in getting involved in the governance of Velreid City. Everything else was left to Guthvie.

What concerned him more was what Aguru had done within the city.

How had Aguru managed to dramatically enhance Monis and Adi's strength in such a short time?

That was what Levin wanted to find out.

He certainly didn’t seek to gain power through such means himself.

It was simply that he felt this kind of strength might bring future calamities.

No power ever fell from the sky like a free gift.

Levin feared that this strength could trigger an even greater crisis.

The next day, Levin learned exactly what he had wanted to know.

Guswei told him that Monis had obtained a magic seed from Aguru, which caused her strength to surge dramatically.

“A magic seed?”

Levin wore a thoughtful expression.

The Demon God had vanished tens of thousands of years ago, and there wasn’t much information about magic seeds left in the world.

At best, Levin only knew vaguely that magic seeds were extremely dangerous things.

Guswei said, “I found some ancient texts left behind by the Queen within the Ice Jade Palace. They seem to mention something about magic seeds, but I don’t have the time right now to go through those old records.”

Levin nodded and replied, “That’s fine. Leave this matter to me.”

Guswei handed Levin a pile of ancient texts—animal hides, beast bones, and stone tablets.

Upon seeing them, Levin couldn’t help but let out a bitter smile.

Even for ancient texts, these were truly relics among relics.

They were so old that no one could tell how many millennia had passed since they were made.

Many of the symbols and characters on them were completely unfamiliar to Levin.

These were likely remnants left behind by tribes that once lived on the far northern ice plains long ago.

Levin could only rack his brains, trying every possible way to decipher and understand the writings on these stones, hides, and bones.

Inside the magic hut, Levin sat beneath the dragonblood tree, holding a piece of animal hide and pondering over it with a splitting headache.

He turned his head to look at Saint Xi, who was lying nearby digesting the Holy Light Crystal.

He handed the hide to Saint Xi and asked, “Do you recognize these characters in your inherited memories?”

Saint Xi opened her eyes upon hearing this, glanced at the hide briefly, then shook her head and said, “No. Most of the dragon race’s inherited memories are related to dragons themselves. Rarely do they record the legacies of other races.”

“If these were ancient draconic script, I could help you interpret them. Unfortunately, these writings clearly weren’t made by dragons.”

Levin nodded helplessly. “Alright.”

“How’s the digestion of the Holy Light Crystal going?” he asked.

Saint Xi replied, “In about a month, it should be fully digested. Once I’ve absorbed this crystal, my sacred power should reach the late legendary stage.”

“But if only my sacred power reaches the late legendary stage, the overall increase in my strength won’t be that significant.”

Levin shook his head and said, “There’s nothing we can do about that. According to the natural growth cycle of dragons, reaching the late legendary stage normally takes decades, even centuries. Even just raising your sacred power to that level will save you a great deal of time.”

Saint Xi nodded. “You’re right.”

After a moment of silence, she looked at Levin and said, “Levin… I’m growing too slowly.”

Levin interrupted her. “Don’t rush. Dragon growth naturally takes a very long time. At your age, most dragons are still wobbly hatchlings. Don’t worry—take your time.”

Saint Xi said with concern, “But I feel like we don’t have time anymore.”

Levin chuckled softly, patted her head, and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

He knew what she was worried about.

The Demon Dragon King was simply too powerful.

Worrying wouldn’t change anything.

It would be better to focus on how to decipher these ancient texts and figure out exactly what a magic seed really was.

As Levin stared at the ancient texts in his hands, a person suddenly came to mind.

The shaman from the Bear Two tribe.

Perhaps he could interpret the contents of these texts.

Thinking of this, Levin quickly got up and left the magic hut.

“I’m going out for a while. You focus on digesting the Holy Light Crystal and improving your strength. Don’t worry about too much else.”

With those words, Levin opened a teleportation gate and departed.

Finding a single tribe across the vast snowy plains was incredibly difficult.

Fortunately, Guswei had a map showing the distribution of tribes across the Far North Ice Plains.

This map had been drawn during the reign of the Ice Queen.

Levin didn’t even know the name of the tribe where Bear Two belonged, so he could only visit each tribe one by one according to the map.

“The Snowbear Tribe?”

Levin put away the map and gazed toward the distant hillside.

According to the map, the Snowbear Tribe lay on the leeward side of the slope.

Whoooosh!

The wind and snow were fierce today, and the residents of the Snowbear Tribe huddled indoors by their fires.

A lone figure walked through the blizzard to the entrance of the Snowbear Tribe.

The gates of the Snowbear Tribe were built from massive stones stacked together, with water poured into the gaps to freeze and hold them in place.

The guards on watch atop the gate bridge saw someone approaching and immediately beat the large hide drum beside them to alert the rest of the tribe.

Whether the visitor was friend or foe, they had to be treated as an enemy first.

“Halt! Who are you? Why have you come to our Snowbear Tribe?”

“I’m here looking for Bear Two. I’m not sure if he belongs to your tribe?”

“Bear Two?”

This was the third tribe Levin had visited.

The gatekeeper, upon hearing that Levin was looking for Bear Two and seeing that he didn’t appear hostile, immediately sent someone to contact Bear Two.

Fortunately, due to the unusually heavy storm that day, Bear Two hadn’t gone hunting and was still in the tribe.

After meeting Bear Two, Levin explained his purpose.

“Bear Two, I’d like to meet your tribe’s shaman.”

“Ah? You want to see the shaman? Then I need to go tell him first. Only after he agrees can I take you to him.”

Bear Two didn’t think much of it and spoke sincerely.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you,” Levin said.

Xiong Er went to seek out the shaman.

A burly man who bore eight or nine parts resemblance to Xiong Er approached. Xiong Er was already quite tall and imposing, yet this newcomer towered over him even more.

His height must have reached two meters and thirty centimeters.

The robust man looked at Li Wei, extended his hand in greeting, and said, "Hello, honored Master of Magic. I am the chieftain of the Snow Bear Tribe, and also Xiong Er's elder brother—Xiong Wei."

(End of Chapter)