Chapter 229: The Reason

On the plaza of the New Plane Nuolun Academy branch, David, who resembled a steel giant, and the tall, upright Gao Jie Ming exchanged greetings.

There was no excessive small talk, nor any unnecessary formalities.

At their level, time and efficiency were far more important than hypocritical etiquette.

A single exchange of glances, a single confirmation of soul aura, was enough to convey all necessary information.

Afterwards, the two did not say much more, simply nodding in tacit agreement.

Their bodies simultaneously transformed into two streaks of light and rose from the ground, instantly tearing through the azure sky of the Ailuoxia Plane, taking flight together and leaving the academy that was still under construction.

They flew at high speed toward the location where the "illegal wizard" from the mission intelligence had last appeared.

The high-altitude airflow was easily pushed aside by the energy barriers surrounding the two, emitting sharp whistles.

The ground retreated rapidly beneath their feet, turning into patches of blurred color.

On the way, the two compared the intelligence on their terminals while exchanging their respective findings.

During this process, Gao Jie Ming felt a bit curious and asked, "David, why did you come to participate in this mission?"

"Logically speaking, for wizards like you and me who have just advanced, the best choice should be to stay in our respective base camps, carefully consolidate our realms, and accumulate knowledge."

Gao Jie Ming's words were not without foundation.

This was the consensus among logistics-department wizards, and even the vast majority of wizards with any ambition.

A solid foundation was far more important than rash exploration.

Furthermore, a wizard's power came from wisdom and knowledge; advancing did not represent an increase in power, and acting rashly outside could very likely lead to disaster. From Gao Jie Ming's current perspective, if circumstances allowed, he felt that a newly advanced Tier 2 wizard was not suitable to go out on missions for at least a hundred years.

Hearing Gao Jie Ming's question, David's body, covered under heavy pitch-black armor, was actually somewhat silent.

The surrounding air seemed to become a bit more solemn because of this.

A moment later, he did not answer directly, but instead asked back, "Gao Jie Ming, do you know the origin of 'illegal wizards'?"

After Gao Jie Ming gave a negative reply, he explained the origin of the special existence known as "illegal wizards" in a dull and weary voice.

The so-called "illegal wizards" were much like what Gao Jie Ming had guessed before.

They were actually those who had privately advanced to become wizards without signing a standard contract with the official Wizarding Civilization.

This situation was not common, but it was not particularly rare either.

It generally occurred in the early stages after a plane had just been conquered, when the transformation of the entire plane was still in the primary stage, and the monitoring arrays covering the entire plane had not yet been fully laid out.

That chaotic early stage of transformation was the easiest time for all sorts of problems to arise.

Conversely, once the transformation was complete and there was complete monitoring of all living beings on the plane, the probability of problems occurring would be much lower.

According to the iron law of the Wizarding Civilization, every newcomer with potential would be forced to sign a soul contract the moment they came into contact with supernatural knowledge.

This contract had many terms and clauses, but if one removed the additional clauses unique to each wizard faction, its core, and most important points, were basically only two:

First, one must not betray the Wizarding Civilization in any form.

Second, one must not casually leak any supernatural knowledge about the Wizarding Civilization to any other race or living being that had not signed a contract.

"Of course." David's voice paused, then he added, "Although these two points are stated very clearly, there are actually some ways to bypass them from the side. Theoretical loopholes always exist."

"Just like what I did back then." He mentioned his own past without any hesitation.

"Back then, in order to persuade the Sage of the Plane Plane Nuolun and completely crush his psychological defenses, I once showed him a portion of destructive intelligence regarding the Wizarding World."

"If that Sage's psychological defenses hadn't been crushed at the time, and he had instead chosen to resist to the end, or even leaked that intelligence, then to a certain extent, I would have actually violated the contract."

"Therefore, the possibility of the Wizarding cultivation methods being leaked is not zero."

"However, this kind of thing generally only happens in the early stages of plane transformation. By the later stages, the entire plane is completely shrouded in ubiquitous monitoring arrays, and any abnormal energy fluctuations or information transmissions are instantly captured. By then, the occurrence of such things as illegal wizards is completely eradicated."

Upon hearing this, Gao Jie Ming developed a new question. He asked David somewhat curiously, "Since loopholes exist, don't those high-tier wizards consider modifying the contract to make it more rigorous?"

David's massive helmet slowly shook from side to side, counting as a shake of his head.

"No," he replied, "those high-tier wizards, especially the nine great existences at the peak of our civilization,

if they wanted to, could completely subdivide these two core contracts infinitely, eventually expanding them into a perfect set of contract rules that, in theory, would never allow anyone to find any loophole to violate."

"But that would be of no benefit to the development of wizards."

"The more explicit and impeccable the rules are, the more they will, to a certain extent, restrict the thinking and actions of wizards. And the most important thing for a wizard is that unconstrained wisdom. In this way, it would actually be detrimental to the growth of wizards. Sheep raised in captivity can never defeat the hungry wolves in the wilderness."

Having answered Gao Jie Ming's question, David finally led the topic back to the beginning.

He continued to explain, "The reason I came to accept this mission is that, in a sense, this illegal wizard who is about to appear before us was born under my influence."

Gao Jie Ming's gaze tightened, and he listened quietly.

"The cause still lies with that Sage." David's voice revealed a trace of indescribable, complex emotion.

"After the other party learned of the despairingly powerful nature of the Wizarding World, he did not completely sink into despair like others. He used a method I still cannot understand to forcibly split his soul into two."

"One part of his soul remained within his original body, signed a contract with me, and as the price for 'surrendering,' personally executed all the surviving high-ranking mortal leaders of the Plane Plane Nuolun."

"And his other part of the soul lurked within an inconspicuous commoner. He was waiting, waiting for the Plane Nuolun Academy to conduct the first round of physical transformation on the remaining humans of the entire plane."

"Once that body was transformed into a physique suitable for humans of the Wizarding World to meditate, he began secret cultivation using a set of incomplete meditation methods he had obtained from somewhere."

"Originally, this was nothing. Wizarding forces do not mind having one more wizard with wisdom and ambition. As long as he was willing to sign a supplementary contract later to become one of us, it would be fine."

Gao Jie Ming nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

The Wizarding World had long since moved past the period of dividing races based on appearance; honestly, it remains a question whether many high-tier wizards can even be considered human based on their appearance.

Even for the transformation of indigenous survivors, the reason they were changed into humanoids was simply because organisms in this form are better suited for initial meditation methods.

If there truly exists a wise being recognized by wizards who is willing to join the wizards, then wizards are also very willing to see their own civilization grow stronger.

Gao Jie Ming had also studied that Sage from the Plane Plane Nuolun before.

Gao Jie Ming had to admit that the other party's wisdom was indeed something that made even him feel admiration.

If such a person were willing to join the Wizarding World, then in the eyes of wizards, the greatest loss he caused to the Wizarding World was using an incomplete meditation method, which very likely created obstacles for future advancement.

"But the problem is, it seems that the rough soul-splitting, or perhaps the subsequent physical transformation process, caused some irreversible trauma to his remnant soul. His sanity developed some serious problems. That once calm and wise 'Sage' became out of control, cruel, and full of destructive desire."

"And because his original strength foundation was quite good and his soul strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, after converting to a wizard, his power growth was also exceptionally rapid."

"Although it is a pity, the Plane Nuolun Academy will not allow an out-of-control wizard who refuses to communicate to act recklessly under its domain."

David did not finish his sentence, and Gao Jie Ming silently helped him complete the result in his heart:

"So, this kill mission was issued."

After David finished speaking, he fell into silence again.

Gao Jie Ming finally understood why the other party appeared here.

This was not just a mission; it was to settle a causal link that he himself had personally initiated.

During their conversation, the two had already flown over a distance of thousands of kilometers and arrived at the location where the target was last seen according to intelligence.

It was a scorched, twisted forest.

The air still held the lingering scent of violent negative energy and blood.

The two landed from the air and each used their own reconnaissance methods to carefully search the area of several dozen kilometers.

Gao Jie Ming even activated the "Eye of Omnipotence," analyzing the energy information remaining on every inch of land.

And David directly opened a massive force field, sensing any abnormal soul fluctuations.

However, after a search, no valuable intelligence was found.

The other party was clearly very good at hiding himself, having cleaned up all traces thoroughly.

After exchanging a glance, the two pulled up the map of the nearby area through their magic network terminals and found the nearest city established by the transformed survivors.

"Let's go," Gao Jie Ming said, "let's go there and take a look, hoping to find some clues."

There was no other way for the time being, so they could only go over and ask to see if any strange things had happened recently.