Chapter 586: Eve

Chapter 586: The Eve

The scene within Dragonfall Slope had drastically changed.

What was once a vast forest,

lush with greenery and teeming with birds and beasts,

now resembled a dead land, devoid of any sign of life.

Withered trees stood like ghosts; birds and animals had vanished without a trace.

A massive black rift tore through the sky, revealing chaotic spatial turbulence within—

a sight that stirred unease in one's heart.

The entire secret realm hovered on the brink of collapse.

Li Wei could not fathom how a secret realm could have come to this.

Even if the Dragonfall Slope were destined to perish, it would never have looked like this.

This seemed more as though someone had violently torn apart the very fabric of this secret space.

Li Wei sensed that the source of the strange energy came from deep within Dragonfall Slope.

He swiftly flew toward the interior.

Even here, he dared not casually use teleportation spells.

One misstep might trap him within the disordered spatial currents.

Though the turbulence itself posed no threat to him, losing his way meant great trouble in returning to Mapleleaf City.

Upon reaching the depths of Dragonfall Slope, Li Wei saw a colossal breach where the dragon’s corpse had once been sealed.

Space shattered, opening a vast spatial fissure leading into profound darkness.

The peculiar energy he felt originated from beyond the rift.

Now he understood what that strange aura was—

it was the breath of another world.

Beyond the spatial crack lay an entirely different realm.

Seeing the state of Dragonfall Slope, Li Wei surmised that this devastation must be the work of beings from that other side.

They sought to invade the Prime Material Plane through this passage.

Li Wei also realized there was trouble ahead.

If the invasion point had appeared elsewhere, perhaps it wouldn’t matter so much.

But fatefully, it emerged just outside Mapleleaf City.

Mapleleaf would bear the brunt—should a planar war erupt, survival would be nearly impossible.

Alone, the Northern Mystery Kingdom lacked even the standing to intervene in such a conflict.

This was a war between worlds.

A small kingdom like theirs wasn’t even worthy of being cannon fodder.

After brief contemplation, Li Wei decided first to investigate the other side.

Perhaps there was still a way to stop their incursion into the Prime Material Plane.

He flew into the spatial rift.

Passing through the tunnel of time and space, he arrived in a dimly lit world.

Looking up, above him stretched endless blackness.

All around was gloom, broken only by faintly glowing plants casting weak light upon the landscape.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

Sounds echoed nearby.

Turning his head, Li Wei peered through the dark shrubs and spotted a scout—a troglodyte hiding beneath.

Recognizing at once the distinctive features of its race,

he identified it immediately.

As soon as the troglodyte noticed his gaze, it burrowed underground and disappeared.

Li Wei wore a thoughtful expression.

“Troglodytes… Could this be the Underdark?”

Troglodytes were unique creatures native to the Underdark,

born with innate abilities for burrowing through earth.

Gazing into the distance, Li Wei considered—if this truly was the Underdark, then he might encounter drow elves.

And possibly even their patron deity—Lolth.

The danger level remained high indeed.

Unlike gods who resided in celestial divine realms,

the dark goddess Lolth, born of the Underdark, had always lingered below, never venturing forth to forge her own heavenly domain.

She knew full well that the gods of the heavens did not welcome deities like herself—any rash attempt to enter their domains would bring peril.

Better to remain hidden beneath the surface.

There were many divine beings dwelling in the Underdark.

Most belonged to no pantheon,

wandering freely beyond divine hierarchies, unconstrained yet equally unaccepted by orthodox divine orders.

Li Wei circled near the spatial rift,

but did not venture deeper into the Underdark.

Instead, he returned to the Dragonfall Slope secret realm.

There, he expended divine power attempting to mend the rift.

Moments later, however, he gave up.

Attempting to repair this particular rift demanded more divine strength than even he could spare.

It didn’t appear man-made—it looked more like a wound inflicted upon reality itself.

Normally, all spatial tears would heal naturally over time.

Yet this one not only refused to close, but continued expanding instead.

Li Wei left the Dragonfall Slope secret realm and returned to Mapleleaf City.

Once the banquet concluded, he met privately with Oats.

The potential dangers lurking within Dragonfall Slope were now far beyond what the Northern Mystery Kingdom could face alone.

Only by relying on the powerful backing behind Oats could he possibly weather this crisis.

Oats turned around and saw Li Wei standing in the room, his face showing clear surprise.

He hadn’t sensed at all when Li Wei had arrived.

Quickly, his expression returned to normal, and with a faint smile, he said, “Master Li Wei, barging in without so much as a greeting—surely that’s not a good habit.”

Li Wei replied, “Compared to that, I think you should be more concerned about the crisis Mapleleaf City is about to face.”

Hearing this, Oats’ heart jolted, and he quickly asked, “What do you mean, Master Li Wei?”

Li Wei told him what had happened within the secret realm of Dragonfall Slope.

Upon hearing it, Oats frowned deeply.

“A spatial rift leading to the Underworld has appeared at Dragonfall Slope?”

He began pacing back and forth in the room, thinking hard.

Regarding the appearance of such spatial rifts to the Underworld, he knew far more than Li Wei did.

This was not an unusual occurrence.

At least, not recently.

Many such rifts had opened across the Skyvault Continent, allowing dark races from the Underworld to invade the Prime Material Plane, causing considerable disruption to its inhabitants.

The invasion from the Underworld had already been going on for years.

But this was the first time such a rift had appeared in the Northern Reaches.

Especially near Mapleleaf City.

To Oats, this was nothing short of a catastrophe.

From what he understood, wherever such rifts had appeared, those regions had long since descended into endless war.

Even if the surface races managed to repel the dark invaders, the lands were usually left utterly devastated.

And this wasn’t just any ordinary conflict—it was a war between planes.

If faced with an invasion by the dark races, even the entire Northern Xuan Kingdom would be powerless to resist.

Forget the kingdom—even if every soldier in the Northern Reaches were mobilized, they wouldn’t make the slightest ripple.

Oats walked behind his desk, picked up a magical scroll and quill, and hurriedly wrote a plea for aid.

Li Wei watched silently.

Once finished, Oats called over a guard outside and instructed him to deliver the letter to the Mage Association, asking them to send it to the capital with utmost haste.

The guard took the letter and rushed out immediately.

Oats leaned back in his chair and looked up, catching sight of Li Wei again. Li Wei asked, “Who exactly is your patron?”

Oats replied, “The Empire’s Ninth Prince.”

Li Wei felt a vague sense of familiarity upon hearing this.

Then he remembered—he had once seen the Ninth Prince at the millennium banquet hosted by Prince Jade.

The prince had come on behalf of the Emperor to present gifts and offer birthday wishes.

Though it had only been a brief encounter.

Oats gave a bitter smile. “Originally, besides His Highness the Ninth Prince, there was also Prince Jade himself.”

“But eighteen years ago, after hosting his birthday banquet, Prince Jade simply vanished without a trace. No one knows where he went.”

“There are even rumors that the thousand-year-old imperial prince has died… The treasury of Jade Domain was looted clean by some mysterious figure, and his descendants have been fighting fiercely among themselves for control of the domain. They’re too busy to care about anything else.”

“If that missing prince doesn’t reappear soon, I fear the Empire’s most prosperous region—the Jade Domain—will soon fall apart.”

Li Wei listened impassively, as though none of this concerned him in the slightest.

After finishing, Oats looked at Li Wei with curiosity and asked, “I remember twenty years ago, you were wanted by the Church of the Light. What exactly did you do to provoke their ire?”

Li Wei answered casually, “Nothing much. Just accidentally broke one of their holy relics.”

Oats’ face twitched slightly.

Was it really appropriate to speak of something so shocking so lightly?

Inside, Oats was deeply shaken.

Twenty years ago, how strong could Li Wei have been?

That he could even lay hands on a sacred relic of the Church of the Light was beyond belief.

Now, Oats was even more curious about Li Wei’s current strength.

He had heard certain rumors.

It was said that the legendary mage Gusewei was Li Wei’s wife.

Oats cautiously asked, “Have you advanced to legendary rank?”

Li Wei glanced at him strangely and said, “You didn’t know?”

Oats froze for a moment, then thought for a while. Suddenly, a memory surfaced.

Eighteen years ago, news had suddenly spread like wildfire throughout Mapleleaf City—that Li Wei had become a legendary mage.

At the time, he had even mentioned it to Prince Jade.

But overnight, all such talk had quieted down.

Li Wei never showed up in Mapleleaf City again.

So Oats assumed it was just a rumor.

Eventually, he forgot all about it.

After all, for more than ten years afterward, there had been no word of Li Wei whatsoever.

Naturally, Oats came to believe the earlier gossip had been mere hearsay.

There was no way Prince Jade’s invitation to Li Wei would ever reach Oats’ ears.

Nor did word of Li Wei becoming a council member of the Elemental Tower ever reach Mapleleaf City.

Thus, Oats had no way of learning the truth about Li Wei’s situation.

He could only form judgments based on scattered rumors.

Remembering now, Oats’ eyes widened in shock. “You became a legendary mage eighteen years ago?”

Li Wei nodded. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now.”

With those words, he vanished from the room.

Oats slumped heavily into his chair, his expression shifting constantly.

He realized he might have seriously underestimated Li Wei.

The level of Levi's power was likely far beyond anything he could imagine.

Eighteen years ago, he had already become a legendary mage.

So, just how powerful was his strength now?

Oates suddenly realized that as long as they could keep Levi in Maple Leaf City, the invasion from the underground world seemed far less perilous.

Levi was, at the very least, a legendary mage.

With two legendary mages presiding over Maple Leaf City, ordinary invaders from the underground world could no longer threaten it.

If they truly encountered a mighty practitioner from the underground world whom even a legendary mage could not defeat.

Then Oates could only curse his own misfortune.

The Ninth Prince's faction could not possibly grant him any stronger reinforcements.

Demigod-level powerhouses?

The Ninth Prince himself had few demigod-level powerhouses by his side.

How could he possibly bear to dispatch them to the northern borders to aid the Northern Black Kingdom.

Furthermore, the Empire was currently under invasion from various otherworldly forces, with every region facing a monumental crisis.

The several princes within the Empire were also seizing this opportunity to hastily amass merits to secure their claim to the throne.

They were all rushing about putting out fires and scrambling for glory, desiring to inherit the imperial throne.

A remote region like the northern border offered scant credit even if it were saved.

Even for the Northern Black Kingdom, whose establishment the Ninth Prince had supported, he could at most guarantee that his initial investments would not go to waste.

It was impossible for him to ruin himself to aid the Northern Black Kingdom.

Oates looked out the window; the Ninth Prince's support was illusory and intangible, and it remained uncertain whether it would arrive at all.

Right now, the only asset