Chapter 378

Following his words, the surrounding space seemed to ripple.

One, two, three...

An endless stream of figures began to appear from their hidden states in various ways.

Some walked out from twisted light, some rose from the shadows on the ground, some directly lifted their illusions, and others approached cautiously from afar.

These people were the last survivors of this cruel melee, besides Jie Ming and the two Tier 5 wizards who had just exited.

They had been hiding nearby, witnessing this earth-shattering battle.

Jie Ming's gaze swept over the figures appearing one after another like ghosts; there were exactly thirteen of them, no more, no less.

Among them were six Tier 4 wizards and seven Tier 3 wizards.

They vaguely formed a loose encirclement, their positions seemingly casual, yet they blocked most of the angles from which one could break out.

Their auras were vaguely connected, clearly having reached some kind of temporary alliance.

"Formed an alliance?" Jie Ming understood in his heart, not surprised.

Wizards are a profession that relies on wisdom and knowledge to survive; choosing to join forces when facing a strong enemy that cannot be fought alone is precisely a manifestation of rationality and wisdom.

And the reason he was able to detect the existence of these people was not by relying on reconnaissance wizardry.

After all, under the interference of space blockade and energy turbulence, those methods were greatly reduced in effectiveness, and Jie Ming's own state was not good, so he had no ability to pay attention to the surrounding situation.

The reason he was able to discover the enemies was based on a simple fact: Helios and Morpheus had already surrendered and exited, but the 【Space Anchoring Force Field】 covering this area was still as solid as ever.

This could only mean that the person maintaining the force field was still there, or rather, there was still enough power supporting it.

His gaze finally fell on the figure standing at the very front of the alliance, with a complex expression but carrying a firm fighting spirit—Lei Ke.

A knowing smile appeared on Jie Ming's face, and he said: "Lei Ke, if I'm not mistaken, the one who was able to gather them together should be you, right?"

Lei Ke nodded, frankly admitting: "It was me. Jie Ming, after communicating with you in the 'Justice' plane, I was very clear that one-on-one, no one here is your opponent."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over his allies beside him: "Especially after witnessing with my own eyes how you 'dealt' with those Tier 5 seniors, I believe that joining forces is the only way we might be able to contend with you, or even... find a glimmer of a chance of victory."

Hearing this, Jie Ming felt a bit of curiosity: "Since that's the case, according to the optimal strategy, you should have launched a thunderous strike while I was in the midst of a fierce battle with those two seniors, or when I had just finished the battle and was at my most relaxed. Why wait until now, giving me a chance to catch my breath?"

A helpless yet persistent smile appeared on Lei Ke's face: "Because I had two reasons to convince them. First, I could lead them to solve the most troublesome enemy, which is you and the other Tier 5 wizards—fortunately, most of the Tier 5 wizards were solved by you. Second..."

He took a deep breath and looked at Jie Ming with burning eyes: "I voluntarily give up the qualification for the final victory of this competition. My goal is not for the 'Death-Substituting Doll,' but to have a real fight with you! I want to know, how big is the gap between us!"

"Me?" Jie Ming pointed at himself, "Are you sure it's now?"

Jie Ming's current state is slightly disheveled—his aura is unstable, the Da Guang Xiang's light is dim, and the Black Giant army in his internal space is almost empty.

"Yes, your current state is just right! This is the only opportunity I might have to force out more of your means and measure the gap!"

Jie Ming suddenly realized, a trace of appreciation flashing in his eyes.

To seek verification of knowledge and strength, even willing to give up the precious reward within reach, this is very wizard-like.

He looked around at the dozen or so wizards waiting in full battle array again, suddenly smiled, his tone carrying a trace of inexplicable ease: "So, the people on the field now are the last of everyone, right?"

Seeing this smile, Lei Ke's heart suddenly thumped, and a strong sense of ominous foreboding poured down like ice water.

Jie Ming sighed softly, as if regretting something: "If you were scattered all over the vast battlefield, in my current state, I would indeed be powerless and could only surrender."

"Or, if you had launched an all-out siege without hesitation the moment we met, I probably wouldn't have lasted long either. But fortunately... you didn't do that."

"What?!" Lei Ke's expression changed drastically; although he didn't understand what other trump cards Jie Ming had, his combat instinct told him he had to open his mouth and roar immediately, ordering everyone to attack!

However, the moment he exhaled, an extremely eerie, unprecedented sense of suffocation suddenly grabbed his throat and chest!

It was a sense of suffocation as if an ordinary person had been suddenly thrown into a vacuum environment.

But Lei Ke couldn't understand; wizards are not ordinary humans, especially at the level of official wizards, whose bodies have undergone layers of modification, so even if they were really thrown into a vacuum, it would be completely fine.

So he quickly realized that what he felt was not physical oxygen deprivation; the surrounding air still existed.

But a deeper level of "suffocation," as if the foundation of his own existence had been shaken!

He subconsciously wanted to condense his most proficient blasting spell, his mental power reaching out, trying to capture and guide the fire elements around him.

But an eerie thing happened; his mental power clearly sensed "something," but he couldn't mobilize them as he usually could.

Those "things" were extremely inert, ignoring his mental commands, and even vaguely exuded a sense of rejection.

Having finally collected enough elements to barely construct an unstable spell model, it collapsed instantly the moment it was activated due to extreme incompatibility with the surrounding environment, and the backlash of mental power made him dizzy.

"What's going on?!"

"My wizardry has failed!"

"Elements... the elements aren't listening!"

A wave of panicked mental fluctuations and low exclamations suddenly rang out all around.

Other wizards had also encountered the same situation; individual wizards with powerful mental power or those relying on their bodies or special bloodlines barely managed to launch a few attacks.

But they were all greatly reduced in power and skewed in trajectory, easily blocked by Jie Ming.

The inexplicable "suffocation," the invisible obstacles, the large-scale failure of wizardry...

Lei Ke endured the discomfort at the soul level, frantically scanning the surroundings with various detection wizardry—no energy fluctuations, no force field interference, no known curses or domain effects...

All test results showed "normal," yet their spellcasting ability had been crippled by more than half!

This feeling was like being suddenly thrown into a strange plane with completely different laws, possessing power but having no way to exert it.

"Doesn't exist... can produce real influence... can interfere with elemental response..." Lei Ke's brain worked at high speed, ruling out possibilities one by one.

Suddenly, a concept he had only seen in ancient books flashed across his mind like lightning!

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Jie Ming, who was taking his time and walking slowly toward him, his eyes full of unbelievable horror, his voice so dry he could barely squeeze it out:

"False... Imaginary Element?! Your laws... the laws you have mastered, could it be... Imaginary Element?!"

Jie Ming walked to Lei Ke, who was half-kneeling on the ground, struggling to resist that "sense of suffocation."

Hearing this, he nodded calmly: "Hmm, that's about right."

"Imaginary Element..." Lei Ke repeated this term, a look of complete bitterness and relief appearing on his face.

Looking at his expression, Jie Ming shook his head.

What Jie Ming had just done was not to cast some powerful attack wizardry, but to use the "Spiritual Energy Law" he controlled!

His overall mastery of the Spiritual Energy Law was indeed not very high, but he was proficient in one key technology—Element-Spiritual Energy Conversion!

In the short gap of his conversation with Lei Ke just now, Jie Ming had already silently activated this ability.

Centering on himself, he had converted the various basic elemental particles existing in the space within a certain range—which wizards relied on to cast spells—into another form of energy on a large scale: Spiritual Energy!

This sounded like just a conversion of energy form, with no direct lethality.

But just as in ancient times, when oxygen first appeared in the Earth's atmosphere, for the anaerobic organisms at that time, it was no different from a devastating, highly toxic disaster!

Elements and Spiritual Energy are both one of the foundations that make up the world.

But for wizard spell models and mental guidance modes built entirely on the elemental system, being suddenly placed in an environment filled with "alien" basic particles like "Spiritual Energy" resulted in disaster.

Their mental commands could not effectively guide Spiritual Energy, their spell models could not run stably in a Spiritual Energy environment, and the "rules" they relied on for survival were temporarily overwritten or distorted!

This is why Lei Ke and the others felt "suffocation"—it was their souls and cognitive systems rejecting and failing to adapt to strange basic rules.

This is why wizardry failed—because the "bricks and tiles" (elements) that built them were temporarily replaced by "wood" (Spiritual Energy) that was incompatible!

This is why no abnormalities could be detected—because Spiritual Energy itself is not a curse or a force field; it is an "objective existence," but the conventional detection methods of this plane are based on the elemental system, so naturally, they cannot identify or understand it!

Under the influence of the plane's laws, the forcibly converted Spiritual Energy is being rapidly corrected by the plane itself, reverting to its original elemental form.

But this takes time, and for a battle, this bit of time is already enough.

Lei Ke looked at Jie Ming standing in front of him, feeling the "otherworldly" environment that was beginning to fade but was still making him feel powerless.

Finally, all fighting spirit and unwillingness turned into a long sigh, and he lowered his head:

"I lost."

"We surrender."

Following Lei Ke's surrender, other wizards also gave up resistance one after another, indicating their withdrawal.

Occasionally, one or two who were unwilling and tried to rush up relying on their bodies or special props were also easily knocked down by Jie Ming using martial arts far beyond the mundane, having to exit with hatred.

Beams of teleportation light lit up one after another, sending the surrendering wizards away from the battlefield.

In the blink of an eye, on this scorched earth that had been ravaged, only Jie Ming remained.

He felt the Spiritual Energy lingering around him that was being rapidly "purified" by the plane, and a smile of relief and a trace of smugness finally appeared on his face.

"Won."

With a flash of his figure, he was also wrapped in teleportation power and disappeared from this dueling ground.

(End of chapter)