Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
What Yang Ling saw in the cave was astonishing.
The Corpse Wizard King and the little girl called Bess were both squatting on the floor, wholly focused on observing an angora rabbit giving birth. The labor looked difficult and the baby seemed to be stuck.
The little girl gently held the pregnant rabbit in place. Her face was slightly pale from either stress or fear, but her eyes shone expectantly at the half-born baby rabbit.
The Corpse Wizard King launched into his work after instructing Bess to hold onto the struggling rabbit. He used water element magic to clean away the blood from the rabbit and cast a Regeneration Spell over it. He even dangerously attempted to tug the pink baby out of its mother’s body… God knows if he was trying to help the poor rabbit, or if was he trying to kill both the rabbit and her baby!
“Uncle Roke, why hasn’t it ended yet?” Bess asked the Corpse Wizard King in a small voice, stroking the rabbit’s soft, long fur. She had been squatting beside the laboring rabbit for almost two hours and had reached her limit.
“Don’t worry, Bess. It’ll be over soon!”
“Uncle Roke, what should we name the baby rabbit after it’s born?”
“Oh, that…” the Corpse Wizard King pondered this for a moment. “Since your name is Bess, we’ll call the baby rabbit Bebe!”
This duo of young and old! He couldn’t believe that they were here playing midwives while everybody else was worried sick about Bess!
Looking at the Corpse Wizard King and Bess focused on the task at hand, Yang Ling shook his head and made a half-smile. He secretly sighed in relief. After all, the Corpse Wizard King was an old lecher who had once dared to abduct a Fairy Dragon as his plaything. No matter how he looked at it, the current situation was better than what he expected in every possible way.
The Corpse Wizard King murmured under his breath and recast the Regeneration Spell. He looked up and quickly discovered Yang Ling who suddenly appeared a short distance away. “Eh, His Lordship. You’re here?”
“Roke, from the looks of it, you might as well be a vet at the Hunter Association’s Beast Taming Ground!” Yang Ling shook his head. “Little Bess has been missing for the whole day. Her mother almost demolished Wissen Town looking for her!”
“Oh, that…” the Corpse Wizard King laughed uneasily. He quickly added, “Just a moment, Sir. We’ll be done soon enough!”
Yang Ling looked at the Corpse Wizard King who returned to his frantic midwifery, then turned to little Miss Bess who was gazing sympathetically at the rabbit. Yang Ling fell silent and stopped hurrying them. In any case, they had already been out for the whole day. A while more wouldn’t hurt. Luckily, the rabbit soon gave birth and the three immediately returned to Wissen Town.
Madam Thatcher listened to the explanation of what happened and checked that her daughter was unhurt. She thanked Yang Ling for his help and quickly took her daughter by the hand and left. Soon, the crowd dispersed, leaving just Yang Ling and the Corpse Wizard King alone in the enormous meeting room.
Yang Ling took a sip of cold rum. An idea came to him. “Roke, how do you feel about Madam Thatcher’s looks? I can speak on your behalf if you want to ask for her hand!”
While the incident that afternoon had turned out to be a false alarm, Yang Ling knew that he had to do something about the problem. Who knew what other troubles this old monster of a Corpse Wizard King could bring?
“Hehehe, Sir, I simply liked spending time with that little girl” scoffed the Corpse Wizard King. He hardly cared about Madam Thatcher at all. He preferred the company of children who are innocent and active. Beautiful young married women were, in his eyes, nothing but tools to sate his lust.
Attractive young madams like Madam Thatcher always reminded him of that whore from his past. He was even tempted to capture and torture her. He thought about summoning a lewd demon with tentacles all over so that she could have a taste of life more horrible than death. Unfortunately, the Magical Beast Realm was still the territory of his master, Yang Ling. No matter how insane he was, he would not dare to create trouble in Yang Ling’s territory.
“He simply likes that little girl? Don’t tell me that the Corpse Wizard King is indeed a pedophile? Or did he have some difficulties in that area after being sealed for away for 8,000 years?”
Yang Ling was aghast. The problem was solvable if it was the latter. He could instruct Alice to concoct some wonder aphrodisiac which would solve the problem. However, it would be troublesome if the former was true. A powerful yet perverted old monster was not something he could reign in right now. He couldn’t possibly lock him in the Wizard Pagoda’s Space forever.
“Sir, truth be told, I once had a daughter like Bess!”
Upon observing his expression, the Corpse Wizard King understood at once that Yang Ling had misunderstood him. He took a big gulp of rum and began to tell him of his harrowing past.
A long, long time ago, there were many practitioners who chose to practice Undead Spells in the Tailun Continent. Back then, the Corpse Wizard King was just a regular Undead Wizard. Other than his excellence in magic, he was just like any other guy on the street.
Back then, he was utterly in love with magic. He spent all of his time researching all types of Undead Spells, even after he married a gorgeous wife.
Slowly, as his daughter grew up, the stress of everyday life began to pile on him. When he was not studying all kinds of Undead Spells, he would be making Magical Staffs for others in exchange for Crystal Coins. Before he knew it, his wife began to flirt with an earl. When he finally realized what was going on, it was already too late.
Even to this day, Rodriguez could recall that night of howling cold winds. His pampered wife, who was used to being served, dismissed the servants and prepared an entire feast by herself. Just as he sighed in content and downed a huge cup of wine, he saw his 12-year-old daughter collapse with blood streaming out of her eyes, nose, and ears after stealing a sip from the wine cup. Then, he’d lost all his energy and began to drift out of consciousness…
The instant that he realized that something was wrong, he went berserk and killed the earl. He turned the adulterous couple into skeletons with Undead Spells. However, since she had accidentally consumed the poison, he could not save his daughter no matter how much he tried. In a great rage, he used a spell that allowed himself to be reborn in the Dimension of Dead Souls, making him an undead Corpse Wizard.
“According to legends, when Corpse Wizards are powerful enough to reach Divine-level, they can locate the souls of their kin that have disappeared into the Dimension of Dead Souls,” the Corpse Wizard King said grievously as he took another gulp of cold rum.”For the sake of reaching the Divine-level, I have cultivated unscrupulously in the Dimension of Dead Souls… I even risked the lethal dangers of the Massive Space-Time Tear to return to the Tailun Continent. Alas! I made no progress, even after 8,000 years.”
“His family fell apart and his daughter died?”
Yang Ling was surprised at the truth. He hadn’t expected the Corpse Wizard King, who looked no different from a zombie, to have such a tragic story behind him. No wonder he felt nothing for women and even hated them to the core, but instead liked the company of young girls. Such is the Corpse Wizard King. A dangerous, eccentric, and merciless savage!
Through the memories of the Corpse Wizard King, Yang Ling saw that he had once summoned a pack of lewd tentacle demons to a city. He killed all the men in the city and tortured all the women over age 13 to death. Yang Ling shook his head and understood that the Corpse Wizard King was an extremely dangerous man.
What should he do? Should he lock him up in the Wizard Pagoda’s Space all day long? Or should he simply smelt his memories and turn him into a mindless creature?
Yang Ling deliberated, holding a crystalline goblet in his hand. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but his expression betrayed nothing. Having learned the Corpse Wizard King’s twisted mind and the hatred carved deep within his heart, Yang Ling stopped worrying that he might harm teenage girls like Bess. However, he now vexed over what the Corpse Wizard King might do to the mature women of the realm.
The Corpse Wizard King was a double-edged sword. He could use him to solve some dirty underground matters and deal with current or hidden threats, but if anything went wrong, he would surely bring disaster to the realm. Despite this, it would be a pity to destroy such a powerful fighter.
The doer of a bad deed should be its undoer. So long as he could summon the soul of the Corpse Wizard King’s daughter and undo the knot in his heart, he might be able to solve the problem once and for all!
Yang Ling paused for a moment as a perfect idea formed in his mind. “Rodriguez, there might be a way to summon your daughter’s soul without having to attain the Divine level! So long as we can travel to the Dimension of Dead Souls, I can use the Soul Summoning Spell to summon your daughter’s soul. I might be able to reunite you with her!
“Soul Summoning Spell?”
The Corpse Wizard King lit up at Yang Ling’s words. With a plop, he prostrated himself in front of Yang Ling. “Sir, I’m willing to dissipate into nothingness if I may be granted one chance to meet with my daughter again!”
While Yang Ling could not make any guarantees, the Corpse Wizard King knew that there was no need for Yang Ling, his master, to lie about this. Yang Ling would never suggest this if he wasn’t certain. The thought of finally meeting his daughter thrilled him.
“It has been 10,000 years, almost 10,000 years!”
Others had only seen the horror and cruelty of the Corpse Wizard King, but who knew the reason for his cruelty or the agony that tortured him every day and night?
At the Dimension of Dead Souls, he had tormented the lustful and charming Succubuses. When he returned to Tailun Continent 8,000 years ago, he’d senselessly abused every single good-looking woman he met. Even the Fairy Dragon fell victim to his ways. However, after every episode of madness came an overwhelming sense of pain and agony. If he could, he would kill every woman in the world!
“Rest assured, Rodriguez. The day will soon come where you are reunited with your daughter.” Yang Ling consoled the Corpse Wizard King but immediately gave him a warning. “I don’t care what you want to do to those from the Church, but you are not to touch the people in the realm. Otherwise, you will know the consequences!”
“I understand, Sir!”
The Corpse Wizard King was clear about Yang Ling’s demands. He wouldn’t dare to commit such atrocities in this realm. After all, no matter how powerful he was, he could never go against Yang Ling. Furthermore, Yang Ling’s help was the only glimmer of hope for him to ever see his long-lost daughter again.
Yang Ling left after giving his warning to the Corpse Wizard King. Before he could leave the meeting room, Orlando strode in. “Sir, Kerband, the Leader of the Wolf Troop Team, has arrived. He said that he needs to talk to you regarding an extremely urgent matter. Do you…”
Kerband? What urgent matters did he have to see him about at this hour? Could it be that someone had leaked the news that he now possessed the Divine Weapons?
Yang Ling mulled over the possibility and instructed Orlando to let Kerband in. What was coming would eventually come. Nothing good would ever come from evading the problem, and it’s not like he could run away forever.
“His Lordship! This is bad…” Kerband yelled once he stepped into the room. He came to a sudden halt when he saw the Corpse Wizard King standing behind Yang Ling.
“Sir Kerband, this is Roke, my follower. It is alright to speak in front of him.” Yang Ling cut to the chase upon seeing how grim Kerband looked.
“Sir, it is a win-win situation if the Troops Association and the Hunter Association enter a collaboration. I have managed to convince several Managing Elders of the proposal, but I was unfortunately too late.” Kerband shook his head and continued, albeit hesitantly. “According to a reliable source, Sword Emperor Elderweiss has almost reached the Magical Beast Realm. He… he will challenge you, the Chief Elder of the Hunter Association, in person!”
Upon seeing Yang Ling’s unfathomable strength in the underground city, the Managing Elders of the Troop Association began to waver on their intention to fight the Hunter Association. They quickly informed the rest of the Managing Elders in the Troop Association headquarters of the situation. With the relentless convincing of Kerband, many of the Managing Elders agreed to cancel the operation aimed at the Hunter Association. Unfortunately, it had all been too late to make a difference.
Sword Emperor Elderweiss had always been aloof and proud. While he did not belong to any faction, his biggest hobby was challenging powerhouses with strength beyond his own. To do this, he roamed the Tailun Continent all year long.
To harm the Hunter Association, the Troop Association had sent someone to contact Elderweiss, embellishing Yang Ling’s strength and abilities. They had wanted to kill Yang Ling using Elderweiss, but this plan proved to be self-defeating. They could no longer cancel the operation despite their change in position.
“Sir Kerband, are you sure that this is Sword Emperor Elderweiss, the one whose unsheathed sword will always see blood, the one who can kill someone before they even see his shadow?”
Yang Ling looked as calm as ever at the news. However, Orlando, who stood beside him, paled instantly and even began to tremble at the thought.
Several hundred years ago, Elderweiss had killed an Earth Sword Saint, famous for his impenetrable defenses, in a single strike. Then, he slew Holstein, a Wind Element Magical Tutor renowned for his incredible speed. From then on, his name spread far and wide across the Tailun Continent and people hailed him as the youngest genius Sword Saint of the land.
Shortly after that, he disappeared for several decades. Just as the rumor spread that he had died at the hands of a Sage Level Spellcaster, he killed Moradi, a Sage Level Warrior. He once again sparked an unprecedented sensation.
Over the next few hundred years, countless Sage Level powerhouses had died at the end of his sword, his name shaking the continent again and again. People honored him as the Emperor of Swords and believed him to be the warrior most capable of overcoming the Domain threshold. Not just humans, but even hermit races like Beastmen and Elves had heard his notorious name.
