Chapter 235

Time and space lost their meaning here, like a puzzle twisted and crushed by invisible hands and then reorganized, both complete and fragmented.

The Truth Court is not a specific location, but a special place that spans dimensions.

It is not in the Black Mist Jungle, not in the Central Land, and does not even exist entirely in any part of the Ring Abyss Continent Group.

If you want to describe its appearance, the closest metaphor is an infinite crystal palace floating above the void.

Composed of pure, near-transparent starry sky crystals, countless rays of light refract within it, creating a dazzling scene that dazzles mortals.

However, this "palace" simultaneously possesses countless overlapping yet independent entrances.

Each leads to a different plane of existence, and only those who have reached the Great Wizard realm can find the correct passage.

For a formal wizard, even a Dark Sun-level powerhouse standing in front of the entrance of the Truth Court would only feel a void and gain nothing.

The core area of the Truth Court is called the "Eternal Hall."

There is no ceiling or ground in the usual sense here, but countless spiral crystal passages circling and intersecting.

In the never-ending gentle flow of light, it extends into seemingly infinite space.

The light here appears unusually warm and textured, as if it were the breathing of some living thing.

On the surface, this is the highest hall of the wizard world, a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, and power.

However, when delving into the interior of this seemingly sacred hall, another completely different scene will come into view...

Above the "Eternal Hall," thousands of huge crystal sacs float in the void.

Each is like a transparent coffin, varying in size and shape.

What is even more heart-palpitating is that countless hanging figures are stored in these crystal sacs.

Men, women, old and young, human or non-human, and even some biological forms that completely exceed conventional cognition.

All are hung upside down in a strange posture, their bodies floating in pale golden liquid, their eyes closed, but faintly revealing a living aura.

The entire space is silent, only the faint heartbeat occasionally coming from some crystal sacs indicates that the interior has not completely lost its vitality.

This is the most core secret of the Truth Court—the "Specimen Library," a special area that stores the remains and souls of the top Great Wizards for several eras.

Every Great Wizard collected here has set off waves in the ocean of knowledge of the wizard world during their lifetime.

Their research results and their own wisdom are considered to have enough value to be preserved in this special way.

And as historical records say, a Great Wizard has already transcended the category of ordinary life forms.

They are no longer limited to a single body, but have obtained a special form of existence called "Void Remains" through countless self-transformations and metamorphoses.

Void Remains are the highly concentrated crystallization of a Great Wizard's lifelong academic achievements and magic, and are their reinterpretation of their own essence.

In this state, a Great Wizard can get rid of the limitations of the flesh and blood shell, exist in a purer form, and can even briefly touch the boundaries of dimensions.

And in the Specimen Library, the Void Remains of these Great Wizards are deliberately suppressed in a semi-dormant state.

Retaining self-consciousness, but not interfering with the normal operation of the Truth Court.

In this ocean of mysterious and terrifying hanging figures, a faint golden light suddenly flickered in a corner.

The light originated from a special information transmission device—the "Wizard General Record Projection Table."

This is a special device capable of receiving and displaying the registration information of wizards across the entire Ring Abyss Continent Group in real-time.

No matter how far the distance, as long as a wizard signs and confirms their identity on the Wizard General Record, the information will be transmitted here in the first time.

Above the projection table, a line of golden text is slowly emerging:

"Luo En Ralph

Advanced to formal wizard (Primary) through the True Path

Time: Fourth Era, 3721

Confirmed recorded."

This seemingly ordinary information fluctuation, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, stirred up subtle ripples in this dead space.

Several crystal sacs near the projection table suddenly lit up with faint light, and the liquid inside began to flow slowly, as if the existence sleeping inside was awakened by some power.

"... True Path... another one..."

A hoarse and ancient voice sounded in the void, the tone like sand rubbing against each other carrying a thick sense of time.

That voice contained a special magic fluctuation, enough to make ordinary wizards hear it and collapse, or even have their spirits collapse.

"True Path... Crystal Spire downstream Black Mist School... Luo En Ralph..."

Another voice followed, this one sounded younger, carrying an indescribable metallic texture, as if a wonderful mixture of crystal and steel.

"Star Swallower... the meditation method associated with the Swallower... interesting..."

The third voice sounded like the flow of liquid, every syllable accompanied by some kind of moist echo.

The crystal sac that spoke first increased in brightness, and inside was an old man who looked ordinary.

That is, if you ignore his skin covered in scales and his unusually pale complexion.

That is not ordinary transformation, but the result of his ultimate research on "Dragon Scale Theory" during his lifetime.

Every scale is an independent magic core, containing complex energy conversion formulas.

"Another lucky one." The scaly old man sneered, his voice full of disdain and contempt for the younger generation:

"The mortality rate of the True Path back then was as high as 90%, now these young people are just enjoying the benefits of their predecessors. In my era, a slight carelessness meant the end of soul collapse, where was there any ready-made guidance and auxiliary potions?"

The old man's name was Varian, a Great Wizard in the middle of the Third Era, specializing in spatial spell research.

His achievements in plane boundary theory are still regarded as classics, and even after nearly ten thousand years, few people can surpass them.

However, he still had the only regret—he advanced by relying on "Key Potion."

Although he had surpassed many primary wizards who advanced through the True Path through his own efforts, this matter still made him feel resentful.

"Varian, you are still so mean."

The owner of the second voice revealed his true body—that was a male in his youth.

Looking from the outside, he was almost no different from ordinary people, except that his eyes were pure silver-white, without any pupils or irises.

These silver eyes were not decorations, but the peak result of his research on spiritual vision spells—"Dialysis Eye," capable of directly insight into everything in the material, energy, and even soul levels.

Legend has it that he once inadvertently looked directly at the essence of an ancient existence in an experiment, causing his eyes to permanently become this state, and at the same time allowing him to obtain this insight beyond conventionality.

This silver-eyed youth sighed, his voice carrying a trace of regret, but more of nostalgia for the past years:

"In the era you and I were in, even a failed experiment could cost half a life. When I first tried to build a spiritual bridge, I almost let my soul be lost in the void forever. If it weren't for accidentally discovering that broken anchor point, I'm afraid I would have become a wandering soul between the universe long ago."

The silver-eyed youth's name was Karent, a vision master in the late Third Era, who once founded the "Spiritual Vision School" and invented seventeen insight spells that are still widely used today.

His True Path advancement succeeded halfway, but he was luckier than Lady Ailan, and instead gained blessings from misfortune.

Karent's personality was much gentler than the scaly old man, but he was equally extremely arrogant about his research.

"So it's even more ridiculous!"

The scaly old man Varian scoffed, his body in the crystal sac trembling with anger:

"These descendants are too relaxed. The True Path advancement rate from one or two out of ten in my era to nearly half now. They don't understand at all that every successful person back then had dozens, or even hundreds of failed corpses as stepping stones."

In fact, this number is far less than estimated.

Because those who can have the possibility of breakthrough must first endure the sharp increase in pollution of the gem-level and crown-level meditation methods, and they must have enough special talents themselves.

So it seems that the breakthrough probability has changed from one-tenth to nearly half, but the number of primary wizards has not increased much over the years since the invention of auxiliary potions.

When Varian said this, his Void Remains form began to appear slightly.

Spatial cracks flashed around the crystal sac, as if ready to tear the structure of reality at any time.

This is a natural reaction to his emotional fluctuations, and even in a semi-dormant state, his Void Remains power is still not to be underestimated.

The third crystal sac lit up, and a young-looking woman hung upside down inside.

But her lower body had completely merged into a mass of dark blue gelatinous substance that kept wriggling, and dozens of tentacles extended from that mass, trembling slightly.

This is not simple deformation, but the peak embodiment of her research on "Morphological Fluidity" theory.

Those tentacles that seem to wriggle randomly can precisely control different types of energy flows and execute complex spell formulas.

It is said that she once relied on these tentacles to maintain the operation of seventy-two abyssal giant beasts at the same time, creating a record that no one has broken to this day.

"Two, say less sour words."

The jellyfish woman's voice carried a trace of mockery, mixed with disdain for the childish behavior of the two colleagues:

"The era of us hanging figures has passed. Besides, no matter how difficult the True Path is, it is not something you 'Key' wizards can understand. After all, in the direct dialogue between the soul and high-level existences, there is no shortcut to speak of."

The jellyfish woman's name was Mola, a very rare successful person of the True Path.

Her research field is "Morphological Transcendence," and she once created thirteen different bloodline extreme forms, each with completely different characteristics and abilities.

Her achievements made many Great Wizards who walked the traditional path feel deep jealousy and unease.

"Shut up, Mola!" The scaly old man Varian was annoyed and angry, his body in the crystal sac shook violently, setting off a burst of energy fluctuations:

"You are just lucky. If it weren't for the mental brand of that monster coincidentally resonating with you back then, you would have turned into a pile of ashes long ago!"

Varian's mockery was filled with thick jealousy and unwillingness.

As a Great Wizard who walked the traditional path, he had always held a complex emotion that was hard to describe towards the successful people of the True Path in his heart.

On one hand, it was admiration for their courage, and on the other hand, it was regret and resentment for his own failure to try.

The silver-eyed youth Karent couldn't help but chuckle, his body in the sac trembling slightly:

"Varian, you are still so sensitive to Mola. You have been in the Specimen Library for thousands of years, and you still can't let go of this grudge?"

Karent's words carried obvious teasing, but his eyes revealed admiration.

Although he walked the traditional path like Varian, he had sincere respect for True Path successes like Mola.

Especially the achievement of being able to maintain self-consciousness after accepting the brand of high-level existences.

"Karent, you..."

Varian just wanted to refute, but suddenly stopped, a flash of alertness and awe in his eyes, his gaze turned to another direction in the distance:

"Master Drake has awakened? This is really rare. How many years have passed since the last awakening? Five hundred years? Or a thousand years?"

In the depths of the Specimen Library, a special container three times larger than other crystal sacs slowly lit up.

Inside hung an old man who was withered and haggard, his body was unusually thin and long, and his skin was tightly attached to his bones, like a dry corpse.

But what was most eye-catching was his head—the entire skull had become completely transparent, revealing the brain structure inside that kept flickering with faint light.

That is not an ordinary brain, but a complex network composed of countless micro-runes and energy circuits.

Every nerve fiber has been redefined and transformed, allowing it to process and store an amount of information far exceeding that of ordinary biological possibilities.

It is said that his thinking speed is hundreds of times that of ordinary Great Wizards, capable of calculating the complete energy equation of a complex plane in the blink of an eye.

"The True Path is also considered rare."

The withered old man's voice was as ethereal as smoke, carrying an ancient rhythm that did not belong to this era:

"... Star Swallower's babble... is an ambitious child."

Drake is one of the oldest existences in the Specimen Library, and his era can be traced back to the middle of the Second Era.

In his long life, he has witnessed the rise and fall of countless geniuses and experienced countless major events in the wizard world.

His existence itself is a living history of wizards.

The other three hanging figures immediately stopped arguing, and even the mean Varian stopped making a sound.

The bodies in the sacs were almost completely still, as if trying their best to avoid attracting the attention of this ancient existence.

(End of chapter)