Chapter 642 - 586: Eve (2)
Chapter 642: Chapter 586: Eve (2)
This was the first time a spatial rift to the Underworld had ever appeared in the Northern Territory.
Especially near Maple City.
For Otz, this was nothing short of a nightmare.
From what he knew, any place where a spatial rift to the Underworld had appeared was now a quagmire of war.
Even if they managed to defeat the invading Dark Races from the Underworld, the land would be all but destroyed in the process.
What’s more, this was a war on a planar scale.
If they truly faced an invasion by the Dark Races, the Beixuan Kingdom alone wouldn’t stand a chance.
Forget the Beixuan Kingdom; even if they threw the entire military might of the Northern Territory into the fray, it wouldn’t even make a ripple.
Otz walked behind his desk, picked up a Magic Letter and a Magic Pen, and hurriedly began writing a request for aid.
Li Wei watched him in silence.
Once he finished, Otz called for the guard outside the door. He ordered him to take the letter to the Magic Association and have them send it to the Imperial Capital with the utmost speed.
The guard took the letter and hurried away.
Otz leaned back in his chair and looked up to see Li Wei.
Li Wei asked, "Who is your backer?"
Otz replied, "The Empire’s Ninth Prince."
The name sounded familiar to Li Wei.
He soon recalled seeing the Ninth Prince at the Jade Prince’s millennial celebration.
The Ninth Prince had presented a birthday gift to the Jade Prince on behalf of the Emperor.
It had only been a brief encounter.
Otz gave a wry smile. "Originally, besides the Ninth Prince, I also had the Jade Prince."
"But eighteen years ago, right after that celebration, the Jade Prince vanished. His whereabouts are unknown, and no one has any idea where he went."
"There are even rumors that the thousand-year-old Imperial Prince is dead... The treasury of the Jade Territory has been completely plundered by a mysterious figure, and the Jade Prince’s descendants are all fighting for control of the land. They’re so wrapped up in their squabbles they have no mind for external affairs."
"If the missing Prince doesn’t reappear soon, I’m afraid the Jade Territory, the most prosperous land in the Empire, will be torn asunder."
Li Wei listened to his lament, his expression impassive.
It was as if the matter had nothing to do with him at all.
After he finished, Otz looked at Li Wei curiously. "I remember you were wanted by the Light Divine Sect twenty years ago. What did you do to get them to issue a warrant for your arrest?"
Li Wei replied nonchalantly, "Nothing much. I just accidentally broke a Holy Artifact."
Otz’s face twitched at his words.
’Is it really okay to speak of such a horrifying matter so casually?’
Otz was reeling from shock.
’How strong could Li Wei possibly have been twenty years ago?’
’It’s incredible that he managed to get his hands on a Holy Artifact from the Light Divine Sect.’
This made Otz even more curious about Li Wei’s current level of power.
He had heard some rumors.
The Legendary Mage Gu Sewei was supposedly Li Wei’s wife.
Otz asked tentatively, "Have you advanced to the rank of Legendary Mage?"
Li Wei gave him an odd look. "You didn’t know?"
Otz froze for a moment. Then, as he thought, a memory suddenly surfaced.
Eighteen years ago, rumors had suddenly spread like wildfire through Maple City that Li Wei had become a Legendary Mage.
He had even reported the matter to the Jade Prince at the time.
But then, overnight, all the frantic rumors fell silent.
And Li Wei never showed up in Maple City.
So, Otz had assumed it was all just a rumor.
He had forgotten about the incident over time.
After all, for more than a decade after that, there had been no news of Li Wei whatsoever.
It was only natural that Otz would come to believe the wild stories from that period were nothing more than baseless rumors.
The Jade Prince would never have told Otz that he had invited Li Wei, of course.
And news of Li Wei becoming a councilor of the Elemental Tower would never have reached Maple City.
Otz naturally had no way of knowing Li Wei’s true situation.
He could only make judgments based on rumors and gossip.
As Otz recalled this, a look of astonishment crossed his face. "You became a Legendary Mage eighteen years ago?"
Li Wei nodded. "If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going."
With that, he vanished from the room.
Otz collapsed into his chair, his expression flickering with uncertainty.
He realized he had severely underestimated Li Wei.
Li Wei’s level of power was likely far beyond his imagination.
He had already become a Legendary Level Mage eighteen years ago.
’So, just how powerful is he now?’
Otz suddenly realized that if he could convince Li Wei to stay in Maple City, the invasion from the Underworld wouldn’t seem so dangerous after all.
Li Wei was, at the very least, a Legendary Mage.
With two Legendary Mages overseeing Maple City, ordinary invaders from the Underworld would no longer be a threat.
If they ran into a powerful Professional from the Underworld that even a Legendary Mage couldn’t handle, then Otz could only resign himself to his fate.
The Ninth Prince wouldn’t be able to send any stronger support.
Demigod Level Powerhouses?
The Ninth Prince himself barely had any Demigod Level Powerhouses in his service.
Why would he be willing to part with them and send them to the Northern Territory to aid the Beixuan Kingdom?
Besides, the Empire was currently being invaded by various otherworldly forces, and every region was facing a tremendous crisis.
The various Princes Within the Empire were seizing the opportunity to rack up merits and solidify their claims to the throne.
They were all scrambling to put out fires and claim the credit, all in the hopes of inheriting the throne.
Saving a remote region like the Northern Territory wouldn’t earn them much credit anyway.
Even for the Beixuan Kingdom, which he had supported, the most the Ninth Prince would do was ensure his initial investment didn’t go down the drain.
He would never bankrupt himself to save the Beixuan Kingdom.
Otz gazed out the window. The Ninth Prince’s support felt like a distant fantasy; it was impossible to know if it would ever arrive.
Right now, the only thing he could count on was the group of Professionals from Fred City.
Otz suddenly realized that if he could bring those nearly one thousand Professionals under his command, they might not be completely defenseless against an invasion from the Underworld.
At this thought, he immediately summoned the Ministers of the Beixuan Kingdom for an emergency meeting.
On one hand, they needed to discuss how to respond to the potential invasion from the Underworld.
On the other hand, they needed to discuss how to quickly recruit the Professionals from Fred City.
The lights in the great hall of the Imperial Palace burned all night long.
Otz and his Ministers stayed up through the night, devising strategies and making plans.
Li Wei stood on the open-air platform of the Mage Tower’s Sixth Floor.
Gazing at the sky, he thought of Saint Xi, who was still in the Underground Sea beneath Sea Abyss City.
So many years had passed.
He wondered how much longer Saint Xi needed to complete the Holy Dragon Inheritance.
If Saint Xi were to complete the Holy Dragon Inheritance and awaken, Li Wei would be able to sense the stirrings of her soul.
For now, Saint Xi’s soul remained perfectly calm, which meant she was still slumbering and receiving the Holy Dragon Inheritance.
He glanced toward Dragon Fall Slope outside the city.
If the spatial rift to the Underworld hadn’t suddenly appeared in Dragon Fall Slope, Li Wei would have already left for the Underground Sea beneath Sea Abyss City to see Saint Xi.
The invasion from the Underworld could begin at any moment.
Li Wei didn’t dare leave Maple City right now.
He would wait until after they repelled the first wave of the invasion. Once things settled down, he would go to Sea Abyss City to find Saint Xi.
Gu Sewei came over, took Li Wei’s hand, and said, "Don’t worry. We survived the desperate situation in Fred City, and things here are much better than they were there. We’ll definitely make it through this."
Li Wei turned to Gu Sewei and smiled. "Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, nothing is a problem."
He looked up at the sky.
His gaze pierced the distant heavens, seeing a slowly burning star in the Star Realm.
Unlike an ordinary star, this one radiated a nine-colored light.
The Nine-Colored Divine Fire was continuously burning the star, converting it into Divine Power.
Li Wei’s power grew stronger by the day.
A mere ten-thousandth of the star’s power had made Li Wei the strongest Demigod.
If he could burn the entire star—no, if he could just obtain one percent of the Divine Power from its burning—he could defeat even a Divine Spirit.
Li Wei wasn’t worried about the invasion from the Underworld.
As long as he was here, it wouldn’t matter how many enemies came; it would be pointless.
He was only worried that if he left, Maple City might not be able to withstand the invasion from the Underworld.
If that happened, Gu Sewei would once again have to experience losing her home and wandering as a refugee.
Li Wei didn’t want to put Gu Sewei through that kind of pain again.