Chapter 451: I Have Returned

"Speak! Speak!"

The woman gripped the iron cage, her glare so vicious she looked ready to devour Yan Jing alive.

Over the past few days, they had dragged the youth before them through at least eight or nine dangerous zones in the Desolate Forest.

But apart from trembling and stammering out a few things that woman had taught him at the very beginning, he hadn't spat out a single useful detail since.

And those things were nothing more than simple minor spells, completely unrelated to the knowledge of the Wizard Progenitor they so desperately sought.

By the time they reached the latter few dangerous zones, perhaps because the youth was truly terrified of the torture, he began howling like a madman one night.

When the guards woke everyone up, the youth frantically begged for mercy, claiming he could expose that woman's crimes.

But in the end, their eager anticipation was met only with a string of pure gibberish.

It was as if the youth had absolutely no idea what the Wizard Progenitor's knowledge even was.

Given all that had happened, it was no wonder Wu Bu assumed the boy was just playing the fool again.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Yan Jing's expression remained perfectly calm. "I don't even know who this woman you keep mentioning is."

"Heh, switching up your routine again."

Wu Qiu sneered. "Wuercha! Bring the Pain Crystal!"

"Alright."

Soon, the man in the black cloak brought over a blood-red crystal. Wu Qiu took it, weird energy flowing through her palm, and began muttering an incantation at Yan Jing.

Intense agony instantly spread from the depths of Yan Jing's heart. It felt as though someone were relentlessly clawing at his flesh, carving open his heart with a blade.

But to Wu Qiu's surprise, Yan Jing didn't collapse to the ground and beg for mercy like before.

Instead, he gripped the cage tightly, staring coldly into her eyes. "I really will kill you all."

His gaze was frigid, brimming with a killing intent so dense it made Wu Qiu's skin crawl.

Once she realized the boy was just putting on an act, fury overtook her, and she immediately ramped up the output of weird energy in her palm.

With a muffled groan, Yan Jing's body began to tremble slightly.

There was indeed a massive problem with this body. Not only was the pain magnified several times over, but what made it even harder to endure was the voice screaming continuously inside his mind.

It desperately wanted Yan Jing to drop to the ground and plead for mercy.

Both his soul and body were severely compromised. Coupled with his current dire predicament—taking over this role was absolutely no less difficult than when he'd been Mao Si.

Enduring the excruciating pain, Yan Jing flashed a cold smile. He extended a finger, pointing it directly at the crystal in Wu Qiu's hand, and weird energy surged.

The blood-red crystal shattered with a sharp crack, scattering into fragments across the ground.

This sudden turn of events left the people outside the cage utterly stunned.

Before this, the blond youth had never fought back.

Moreover, the weird energy fluctuation just now was completely beyond what a Third Tier youth could produce.

"I will warn you one last time. Let me go."

Yan Jing said coldly, "Otherwise, I really will slaughter every last one of you."

Wu Qiu swallowed hard involuntarily.

Wizards were a group that placed great importance on faith.

Because of this, they fully believed in the power of souls and spirits.

Everything Yan Jing was displaying right now was entirely different from the boy they had known.

It was said that countless criminals were buried within this dense forest.

Perhaps... perhaps it really was...

Wu Qiu stared at the shattered crystal on the floor, her eyes trembling.

What worried her wasn't the mere possibility of an evil spirit possessing him; it was the fact that if one had truly taken over the youth's body, their entire group was doomed.

Evil spirits knew absolutely nothing about the Wizard Progenitor's knowledge.

Their long-awaited hope for a revival... it would all be shattered just like that.

Before she could speak, Wu Bu suddenly sprang into action. He lunged to her side, snatched the cage keys, and furiously unlocked the iron gate. "Damn it! Still faking it! You're still faking it!"

"I'm going to kill you today, you little bastard! You motherless son of a bitch!"

"If we weren't afraid of you dying, I would have turned you into medicine a long time ago!"

He charged into the cage, the bone ornaments on his massive headdress rattling loudly. Grabbing Yan Jing's hand, he forcefully tried to drag him out.

But the immense resistance from the boy's hand felt like a bucket of ice water over his head, instantly extinguishing his fury.

He turned around in disbelief. It felt as if he had grabbed not a frail youth, but a towering, immovable mountain.

"Heh."

The corners of Yan Jing's mouth curled up, and he licked his lips. "It seems you lot don't listen."

Before Wu Bu could react, Yan Jing instantly folded his body twice like a piece of paper.

First, his head was forced down to his feet, and then his back was folded over again at the spine.

Dark red blood poured steadily from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Eyes wide with shock, he couldn't even manage a scream before Yan Jing tossed him into a corner, his fate unknown.

Wu Qiu watched this unfold, her face etched with horror.

She wanted to run, but in the very next second, Yan Jing murmured softly, "I deconstruct, I control, I comprehend. I possess the knowledge of fear."

An energy distinctly different from weird energy flowed from his fingertips, followed by a rapid series of camera shutter clicks.

Compared to the pure Freeze Frame Moment from before, this was more like an imitation.

But the effect was largely the same.

Wu Qiu found herself completely unable to move her feet.

She stared blankly at the iron cage in front of her, feeling as though it and Yan Jing were growing taller and larger.

It was as if he were going to crush her flat.

An indeterminate amount of time passed. By the time she came to her senses, Yan Jing was already standing right in front of her, holding Wu Bu—who had been snapped back into a straight shape.

Nearby, Wuercha and the wizard on horseback up ahead had both long since fainted.

Feeling the terrifying aura rolling off him like a massive, churning river, she shuddered violently. She collapsed onto the ground in terror, completely forgetting to call for help.

"I told you. I would kill you all."

He leaned in with a wicked smile, causing her to violently flinch.

She couldn't understand it. If he was an evil spirit, why hadn't he simply slaughtered them from the start? Why wait until they brought out the Pain Crystal, and why bother with pointless conversation?

Seeming to read her thoughts, Yan Jing smiled. "Let me ask you. For the Soul Wizard Lineage, how many stages are there in the process from soul possession to coupling?"

"H-how many stages..."

Wu Qiu stammered, barely able to form the words. She clearly didn't know the answer to Yan Jing's question.

'She doesn't know?'

Yan Jing paused, taken aback.

'If she doesn't know, then hasn't my whole act been for nothing?'

"Then let me ask you this," he said. "For the Fear Wizard Lineage, what are the three principles regarding the spread of fear?"

"I... I don't know..."

Wu Qiu was on the verge of tears. She had never heard of any of this.

"Are wizards of this era really this weak?" Yan Jing asked, his tone laced with dissatisfaction. "Isn't this basic knowledge?"

"I... I really don't know..."

Tears welled up in Wu Qiu's eyes. Suddenly, she seemed to grasp the most crucial part of Yan Jing's words.

Wizards of this era... knowledge...

Could it be...?

"Are you... are you a wizard too?" she asked tentatively.

"..." Yan Jing's eyes were ice-cold. "You are not yet worthy of knowing my name."

"Listen well. For the Soul Wizard Lineage, the process from soul possession to coupling is divided into: the Separation Phase, the Blending Phase, the Ignorance Phase, the Awakening Phase, and the Maturation Phase."

Yan Jing's words seemed to trigger a memory within Wu Qiu.

"Right... right, right... there is a Blending... and an Ignorance..."

Wu Qiu muttered, her gaze gradually turning dazed.

Blending... Ignorance...

Thinking back to Yan Jing's recent behavior...

'Why are you doing this to me?'

'Confess what?'

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Otherwise I really will kill you all.'

'I will warn you one last time.'

Everything matched up.

No wonder he didn't attack immediately. It was because the person before them was also a wizard, and a senior one at that.

Wild joy surged in Wu Qiu's heart. She took a deep breath. "You... you are a wizard... and you're..."

"Heh."

Yan Jing chuckled coldly and tossed the somewhat recovered Wu Bu right onto Wu Qiu.

The two of them crashed into each other, tumbling several meters away.

But Wu Qiu didn't care about the impact. She scrambled back to Yan Jing, dropping to one knee. "M-My Lord... we were blind not to recognize you. Please forgive our insolence... it's just that our lives are far too difficult right now..."

As she spoke, Wu Qiu became overwhelmed with sorrow, tears streaming down her dark, rune-covered face. "We wizards have always been at the absolute bottom of the Great Prison. No one from any other Pathway is willing to interact with us, which has caused our development to stagnate for all these years."

"Moreover, the Wizard Continent has a deal with the ruler of the Great Prison. Every year, they only toss us the old, the weak, the sick, and the crippled."

"We... we really can't hold on much longer..."

Faced with the sobbing Wu Qiu, Yan Jing's expression remained placid. "Judging from this kid's memories, trash like you barely even have any Sixth Tier members left?"

"Yes..."

Wu Qiu bit her lower lip, overwhelmed with shame. "Currently, our tribe only has a single Seventh Rank expert who is listed among the evildoers, but..."

"Trash. Garbage. Idiots."

Yan Jing calmly delivered a string of insults. "You disgrace us wizards. A bunch of stupid pigs."

Faced with Yan Jing's verbal abuse, Wu Qiu wasn't resentful in the slightest; on the contrary, her heart swelled with joy.

Because if he considered the Sixth Tier to be trash, he had to be an entity of terrifying rank.

Seeing that Yan Jing's mood seemed stable, she spoke with renewed hope, "Which... which era's wizard are you? Could it be..."

"I already told you," Yan Jing said coldly. "You are not yet worthy of knowing my name."

As his words fell, a sudden burst of laughter rang out from a distance.

"What do you mean, 'not worthy of knowing my name'? You're just a pathetic clown who's too afraid to say it."

Hearing that voice, Wu Qiu's face instantly changed. She looked toward a man walking over from the rear of the convoy.

He was a man dressed in black fur, with an exaggerated ruff of feathers around his neck. They looked like they had been plucked from the wings of some bizarre bird, curling inward and emitting waves of malice. One glance at him instilled a desperate urge to get as far away as possible.

"Lord Wu Luo."

Realizing what was about to happen, Wu Qiu stood up, attempting to stop the man.

In her eyes, Yan Jing's appearance—whether he was truly an ancient wizard or not—was the best possible situation they could hope for right now.

The youth's soul might have already dissipated, or perhaps it hadn't, but either way, they absolutely could not afford to attack Yan Jing again.

Otherwise, things would only get worse.

But faced with Wu Qiu's obstruction, the man named Wu Luo simply scoffed. He shoved her forcefully aside and spat at Yan Jing's feet.

"I don't care who you are."

"This is my tribe."

Wu Luo flashed an exaggerated smile and arrogantly reached out, patting Yan Jing's cheek. "If you want to stay, drop to your knees right now and submit. Otherwise... go die!"

The next instant, he was sent flying like a cannonball, snapping several towering trees in half before finally coming to a halt.

"No, stop fighting," Wu Qiu cried out, alarm flashing in her eyes. She hurriedly ran up to Yan Jing and dropped to one knee, pleading, "My Lord, this is just a misunderstanding. We are all wizards, we should help each oth—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Yan Jing grabbed her by the throat.

Only then did she truly understand the sheer force Wu Bu and Wu Luo had just experienced. Yan Jing's palm felt like an inescapable iron clamp. It was massive, crushing her carotid artery and nearly forcing her to black out. All she could do was let out choked whimpers from her throat.

A second later, Yan Jing casually tossed her aside.

Right as she was sent flying, a resonant bird cry echoed from the distance.

That cry seemed to carry a malice born from the deepest reaches of the soul. In the blink of an eye, countless birds and beasts burst out from the depths of the forest, scattering in a frantic panic as a dark blur charged straight at Yan Jing.

Wu Luo had stripped off his clothes, revealing lean, rippling muscles and a back entirely covered in tattoos.

The pitch-black tattoos depicted a grotesquely shaped bird. Its wings were nothing like a normal avian's; they were contorted into bizarre spirals. Moreover, its neck coiled around itself several times like a spring. Just looking at it elicited an uncontrollable sense of revulsion.

Shrouded in shadows, Wu Luo's speed had been pushed to its absolute limits.

But Yan Jing had already decided to see this act through to the end. He raised a hand, Sorcery Energy gathering at his fingertips like thick ink, and drew three marks across both of his cheeks. Then, he muttered, "I bestow power upon this heaven and earth, bestow knowledge upon this heaven and earth. I connect with the most profound bloodline here, transforming into the legendary beast to bring down the deepest Sin Burden upon this place. I am all things; I am the true self; I am destruction; I am revival..."

The next moment, a silhouette erupted from his body and violently collided with the oncoming Wu Luo.

Shockingly, it was also a bird.

Its sky-blotting wings were covered in writhing tentacles, which were in turn layered with pitch-black feathers. In the dead center of every single feather sat a bloodshot eye.

"I haven't even reached the Seventh Rank yet, you son of a bitch."

The Fear Bird felt like coughing up blood. Why was she always the one called out for this kind of grunt work? Fortunately, the purity of her bloodline was far beyond anything her opponent possessed, so she could just barely manage to fight him to a draw.

But as the sound of a piano flowed from Yan Jing's fingertips, she froze in surprise.

Then, the corners of her beak curled up.

'So this guy's power feels this amazing...'

'Should've said so earlier.'

Concerto:

The piece you play will buff any number of targets. This includes speed, strength, weird energy, and technique. All buffs will be scaled to half of your own overall strength.

The next second, the Fear Bird spread her wings.

A pair of colossal wings instantly blotted out the sky above the dense forest. Most of the beasts and birds that had been frantically fleeing slammed straight into this feathery barrier in panic, immediately being devoured and converted into her strength.

Following that, countless tentacles rained down from the sky, beginning a true "predation."

Wu Luo's expression changed drastically, but it was already too late.

Those writhing tentacles had already closed in around him. He flailed his hands desperately, the tattoo on his back flashing continuously with dark light.

Some of the tentacles seemed reluctant to touch the dark light and evaded it, but the vast majority plunged right toward his skin.

After a few seconds of frantic struggling, a feather-covered tentacle pierced directly into his flesh.

A bloodcurdling scream tore from Wu Luo's throat. His pupils quivered violently as if he had witnessed something utterly horrific, and his hands clamped tightly over his head.

"No! No! Stay away!"

Amidst his ceaseless shrieks, the tentacles systematically dismembered him.

An arm and half of his chest cavity had already been hollowed out. Just as the Fear Bird smiled wickedly and prepared to continue, Yan Jing chopped her over the head with the edge of his hand.

"What are you doing?!"

Her head throbbing, the Fear Bird fought back tears and roared angrily at Yan Jing.

But upon seeing his eerily calm expression, she shrank her neck back and immediately shut her beak.

"So mean..."

She muttered a complaint before burrowing back into Yan Jing's body, not daring to utter another word.

The sky-blotting wings vanished alongside her, and everything seemed to return to tranquility.

Under Wu Qiu's terrified gaze...

Yan Jing walked step by step toward Wu Luo's scattered remains on the ground. He placed a hand on Wu Luo's back and murmured, "I bestow upon wizards the knowledge they deserve, thus I understand their ignorance and forgive their foolishness. I am willing to grant them a chance to start anew..."

As his words fell, thin threads burrowed into Wu Luo's body.

The flesh and blood that had just been devoured began to rapidly regenerate as the threads fully occupied his husk.

Wu Luo came "alive."

Watching this scene in a daze, Wu Qiu subconsciously fell to her knees, snot and tears streaming down her face.

She placed her hands on her forehead, her expression one of absolute piety. Weeping, she stammered, "It's... a miracle... It's the Wizard Progenitor... The Wizard Progenitor has returned... The Wizard Progenitor hasn't abandoned us... The Wizard Progenitor is forev—" Yan Jing's expression remained completely calm. "Call everyone in the tribe over. I am going to address them."

"I will tell everyone in the Inner World that I have returned."

"Yes."

Wu Qiu knelt on both knees, prostrating herself on the ground, entirely unwilling to rise.