Chapter 436

Magic Tower.

This is the residence of the highest ruler of this magic kingdom, and DarkWizard is obviously very familiar with this place; returning here feels like coming home, like a drop of water merging into the sea, making it impossible to find him.

However, this method of hiding magical aura is useless against Jiang Xia; as long as one can detect his faint unique aura, his trail can be found.

Just like using elemental vision, one can track a person by their trail.

Speaking of which, it's quite ironic: despite being humanity's enemy, with wanted posters plastered everywhere, the residents of the magic kingdom regard DarkWizard as an enemy, yet he comes and goes from the kingdom's center as if it were home—this surely indicates a serious problem among the upper echelons.

Outside, there is peace and prosperity, but internally the roots have begun to rot.

The phantoms born here have also become thugs for some people; it's almost certain that such a huge number of phantoms must have been deliberately created by someone.

It's unclear what use so many phantoms have in a world full of magicians; perhaps they intend to use them as weapons to conquer the outside world.

By then, it will be a battle between the two worlds.

Jiang Xia and Cao Zhenqingren simultaneously dispelled their transformations upon entering the tower; their transformed appearances were too conspicuous, unsuitable for stealth and disguise.

After dispelling their transformations, the two hid against one side of the wall; to the left of the wall was a glowing passage, its sides dotted with faint red candles, dark red curtains lining both sides, and they had just flown in through the window behind the curtains.

At the end of the passage stood a dark red wooden door, surrounded by court magicians in black cloaks holding wooden sticks—perhaps not sticks but magic wands—on patrol.

Although they likewise rely on belts to cast magic, they might also use the sticks as weapons to punish enemies.

After seeing the court magicians' attire, Cao Zhenqingren used transformation magic, donning a black long robe over his black short leather jacket and putting on a hat, lowering his head to disguise himself as a court magician and slip inside.

When he prepared to enter the passage, he discovered that Jiang Xia had not changed any clothing or appearance.

Cao Zhenqingren spoke in the softest voice he could muster: "Why don't you change clothes? If you lack transformation magic, I can lend you my ring."

"There's no need," Jiang Xia glanced at the black‑robed Cao Zhenqingren, then his body gradually merged into the air like a drawing erased by a rubber, becoming invisible.

Cao Zhenqingren instinctively reached out to grab, but only grasped air; he stared around in surprise, realizing he could not sense Jiang Xia's direction at all.

"This doesn't seem like magic," he said, hearing no incantation.

Cao Zhenqingren tugged at the black hat on his head, shading the brim, straightened the wooden stick he had conjured according to the standard uniform motion, and cautiously walked into the passage—of course, this was something he had just learned.

Compared to Cao Zhenqingren's caution, the invisible Jiang Xia became a bit reckless, walking straight down the middle of the passage; since the patrolling magicians leaned against the sides, he was actually the safest.

But Cao Zhenqingren was different; every time he passed a court magician, he performed a salute, maintaining mutual respect.

This stemmed from the first court magician who, upon meeting Cao Zhenqingren, voluntarily saluted him; to avoid revealing anything odd, he had to keep doing it all the way.

Moreover, because the passage is long, with patrolling magicians stationed at intervals, Cao Zhenqingren simply saluted his way through.

"I actually got through this easily," Cao Zhenqingren remarked, glancing sideways at the patrolling court magicians on both sides, who looked astonished.

It was so easy it was almost abnormal.

He gently pushed open the wooden door taller than himself, entered the room, and the door closed silently behind him.

The room was empty; hexagonal bookshelves arranged from low to high were neatly packed, holding an astonishing number of books, each protected by different magics—these precious magical tomes constitute the kingdom's accumulated knowledge.

It was like the great library of the magic world.

And in the center of the room there was also a large wooden table, on which lay a clearly black‑and‑white chess set; this was an endgame, the black king had already been driven into a dead end by the white army, and all that was needed was for the white king to move one step to invade the black side's king‑city and behead the black monarch.

"White mage, are you still here?" Cao Zhenqingren asked in a low voice.

After his companion suddenly disappeared, he made no sound at all—not even the wind from moving his body or his breathing—so it seemed as if he had always been alone infiltrating this place, and Jiang Xia's existence felt like merely his hallucination.

"Of course, I've been here all along."

As soon as Cao Zhenqingren's words fell, he felt a broad, strong hand appear on his shoulder. He turned his head to look back and saw Jiang Xia standing properly behind him, and at the same time that sense of emptiness also vanished.

"Hah." Cao Zhenqingren exhaled in relief, deciding that after returning he would have Uncle Rinjima make an invisibility ring, since the ability to become invisible was truly convenient.

"This is the heart of the Magic Kingdom; I just looked around, and beneath this room lies the place where the Magic Kingdom's magical power converges—that is, the final disappearance point of DarkWizard's magic." Jiang Xia withdrew his right hand and walked toward the table bearing the chess set.

The space beneath this room is empty, and the passage lies directly in front of this table, so dispelling the magic on it will reveal the mastermind behind everything.

At that moment, before Jiang Xia could dispel the magic, the wooden board in front of the table suddenly swung open on its own, revealing a downward-spiraling passage inside.

However, neither of them went down at once, because a person they both knew and yet did not know stepped out of the opened passage one step at a time—Cao Zhenqingren.

"Another me…" Cao Zhenqingren wasn't particularly surprised that there was another version of himself in this world; he knew his counterpart here was an evil guy.

"The one above is waiting for you below, white mage who possesses the Philosopher's Stone." After emerging from the underground passage, Cao Zhenqingren said to Jiang Xia.

"It seems only I was invited." Jiang Xia turned to Cao Zhenqingren and said, "You can handle this place, right?"

"Of course." Cao Zhenqingren put on that red magic‑gem ring.

"Fighting oneself is like left hand versus right hand—one never knows who will win." Jiang Xia murmured, then withdrew his gaze and walked down the opened spiral staircase.

The staircase was filled with an unusual aura, and only when he pushed open the door at its top did the surroundings light up.

This is a very large space for storing various machines; some resemble computer consoles, and behind those devices are thick black pipes that connect to the central towering tree.

All the magical power circulating in the Magic Kingdom converges within this great tree.

This gigantic tree serves as the vessel for magical power.

But beneath this towering tree lies something even more horrifying: pale human bones.

A vast number of skeletons are stacked in rings around the base of the tree, like building blocks, from the lowest layer upward; even on these bones one can faintly smell magical power.

This indicates that these bones are still fresh.

"The vessel of Tanatos?" Jiang Xia said slowly, standing before the great tree forged of white bone.

Tanatos is the god who governs death, and his vessel means using humans as a reservoir, just like a water tank, to accumulate immense magical power.

Jiang Xia had once faced tens of millions of vicious Alien Insect armies and witnessed their bloody slaughter of humans, so seeing this great tree forged of human bone did not shock him overly.

Now he merely wants to kill the creator.

"Exactly, this is the key to the Magic Power Circulation System." A low‑voiced figure stepped out from the other side of the bone tree—a middle‑aged man dressed in black, his face bearing a sinister glare.

"Golden mage, the person who helped you come to this world should also be here, right?" Jiang Xia glanced at him and said lightly.

This middle‑aged man is precisely the human form of the golden mage, namely the human named Oma.

"Of course, to obtain ultimate power we will certainly unite our factions."

The golden mage stepped out from behind that Oma, and together they looked toward Jiang Xia.

"Indeed, only oneself can help oneself; there are also two golden mages!" Jiang Xia watched Oma and the golden mage standing side by side, and he sighed.

One is the golden mage of the Magic Gem World, and the other is the golden mage of Earth.

They are not like the two Zhenqing manipulators who are hostile to each other; on the contrary, both of them are mages transformed by the Mirage.

Moreover, they both possess the same power and ambition, so before their plan is completed, they will not allow the other self to be defeated. (End of chapter)