Chapter 23: Night Emperor

Bang!

The man in black slammed onto the ground hard, then fell into a brief daze.

He had no idea what was happening.

His Magic had not failed, but in that instant he felt his body lose control, as if an invisible force bound him, causing him to fall straight down from the air.

The feeling was as if this area outright prohibited any appearance of flight.

But what was Unbelievable to him was that he sensed no trace of Magic fluctuation.

He struggled to lift his head and looked toward the source of the sound.

In the mid‑air not far away, a black phantom hovered, exuding a terrifying aura of authority.

Just a glance made the man in black feel as if he had offended a Deity, and he dared not stare directly.

"What is that..."

The man in black thought silently.

What could be confirmed was that it was not a person, but more like a phantom, a phantom wielding supreme authority.

If a precise term were needed to describe its existence, I felt that black shadow resembled a deity descended to the mortal world.

It had no face, no substance, like condensed wind, like melting mist, both real and illusory.

Its right hand reached forward, making a prohibitive gesture; recalling the earlier authoritative voice, there was no doubt that the change here was brought by this figure.

This left the man in black feeling great Shock.

Because he did not see the figure holding a wand, and even the earlier words were not a spell but resembled a Decree.

Yet, its Decree seemed truly effective, directly prohibiting the ability to fly in this area.

Does such Magic exist?

Undoubtedly, the phantom in the sky was Dali.

He initially activated the Trensost Brass Book with his own blood, then wrapped the Brass Book with his own spirit body, briefly elevating his stature so that he could temporarily reveal his spirit form and wield near‑demigod level power.

But this state was highly unstable; his own strength was still too weak to sustain it for long, and his spiritual power could not support the use of demigod‑level abilities—everything was achieved by leveraging the Trensost Brass Book, a powerful Sealed Object.

"Avadaso..."

Swish!

The man in black lying on the ground gave a slight tremor to his wand in his right hand, and a spell was about to be released instantly.

"Spirit Pierce!"

Dali noticed the man in black's action and immediately activated an ability of the Sequence Seven Interrogator.

It was not an Extraordinary Ability that interfered with thoughts or affected the mind, but a direct method to attack the spirit body.

The target of Spirit Pierce is the "spirit body", capable of imposing pressure on the spirit level.

Buzz!

Dali gathered his spirit and thrust directly at the man in black's spirit body.

"Ah..."

A cry of agony, and the man in black's Magic was interrupted.

He felt his brain as if struck by a heavy blow, the pain so great he could barely focus to think of anything, let alone counterattack.

"Hm?"

Dali's phantom gaze narrowed slightly; when he had just activated Spirit Pierce, he sensed that the man in black's spirit body was odd, not pure, as if mixed with something else.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh…

A rapid sound came from the sky, and several mist‑shrouded white light pillars fell straight downwards.

The Gulingge people arrived.

The man in black clearly realized the danger, ceased his attack, and forced his body upright to try to flee.

"Imprison!"

Dali pushed forward with his right hand, the Decree ability reactivated, and this time it was the Extraordinary Ability of the Sequence Six Judge.

This is currently the last ability Dali can fully employ without draining his spiritual power.

"Hmph! You force me to use the Trensost Brass Book, and you still think you can just run away?"

Dali let out a cold hum.

He didn't need to kill personally; merely blocking his escape would allow the Gulingge people to capture him.

With the Imprison Decree activated, an extremely thick, viscous liquid appeared around the man in black, enveloping him layer by layer, then turning into transparent amber, continuously reinforcing and coalescing, binding the man in black firmly in place— a powerful Decree that even a spirit body could not escape.

"Who dares to invade Gulingge!"

"Intruder, die!"

An angry voice came from above; the Gulingge wizard was drawing ever nearer.

Boom!

The area around the man in black, originally imprisoned by Dali's Decree, suddenly erupted; terrifying flames ignited around him, sweeping outward in all directions, instantly shattering the cage formed by the Imprison Decree.

Swish!

In the next instant, the man in black turned into a black wisp of smoke, fled rapidly, and vanished almost instantly.

"Escaped."

Watching the fleeing silhouette of the man in black, Dali's expression turned sour.

He hadn't expected the Imprison Decree to fail to stop him.

"The power he unleashed at the final moment seemed far stronger than before; what's going on?"

"Did he conceal his strength earlier? Why didn't he unleash all his power right away?"

Dali frowned.

He vaguely sensed a hint of disharmony, some disorder.

But this feeling was extremely weak, making him unable to accurately determine what exactly happened.

As an Extraordinary One of the Judicator Sequence, he could use his Extraordinary Ability to discover clues others could not, even some connections in Mysticism.

But his contact with that black-clothed person was still too short, unable to effectively transform this information.

"Who are you?"

Swish swish swish, several white light pillars fell near Dali, turning into several wizards, they looked shockingly at the illusory black shadow.

The powerful aura of majesty made them dare not stare directly, but duty forced them to see clearly what that black shadow actually was.

That seemed like a person, but was not truly existent.

He was more like a projection.

His visage was extremely blurry, completely impossible to see clearly, and the aura of majesty emanating from him made everyone involuntarily want to lower their heads and kneel before him.

"Your Excellency, what exactly are you?"

The lead wizard, bearing the majestic aura, forced himself to ask.

They had already seen the situation here from the sky earlier; this phantom stopped that black-clothed person.

But who is this black shadow? How did he appear in the underground of Gulingge?

Dali gave that person a cold glance; just a look made that wizard involuntarily lower his head, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Night Emperor."

After Dali left those two words, he dispelled his spirit state; the black shadow directly dissipated, leaving no trace.