Liquid Magic Essence

Jiang Lin’s mind stirred.

The golden specks within the crystal began to surge frantically toward his palm. Like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, they poured into his body in a ceaseless stream.

Those specks of light traveled through his meridians, merging, resonating, and tempering his own holy light magic essence.

He could feel his holy light magic essence being purified at an unprecedented speed. What had originally been a pale gold mist was now gradually solidifying and transforming into a liquid under the tempering of the Star Core Fragment.

This was the precursor to a qualitative change in magic essence.

Magic essence from rank 0 to 5 is in a gaseous state; from rank 6 to 8, it is in a liquid state; and at rank 9 and above, it becomes a solid state.

He had only just stepped into the 4th rank, yet his magic essence was already leaping toward 6th-rank quality with the help of the three Star Core Fragments.

The glow lasted for a long time—so long that Fenrir began to shift his feet restlessly, and Alicia’s shock gradually gave way to numbness.

When the last wisp of golden light vanished into Jiang Lin’s body, the light-attribute Star Core Fragment shattered in his palm, dissipating into countless tiny golden specks.

This time, the Star Core Fragment had been completely consumed by Jiang Lin.

Jiang Lin opened his eyes and looked down at his empty palm, clenching his fist.

“You consumed an entire Star Core Fragment? And you didn't explode from an energy overload?”

Alicia’s voice had changed pitch.

At the same time, she felt that the Jiang Lin before her seemed different.

It felt as though the total volume of magic essence in his body had undergone a qualitative leap, becoming much more substantial.

She walked quickly to Jiang Lin and pressed a hand against his back.

After a moment, she released her hand and stared at him as if she had seen a ghost.

“Your magic essence... it’s already starting to liquefy! Aren’t you only at the 4th rank? How have you already begun the transition to 6th-rank magic essence?!”

“Furthermore, how can your body withstand such a high quality of magic essence?!”

Jiang Lin did not answer, merely feeling the new power surging within him.

The holy light magic essence circulated slowly in his dantian, its color deepening from pale gold to a rich, heavy gold, as thick as molten metal.

Every breath drove this liquid magic essence to complete a cycle through his meridians, washing away impurities and healing old hidden injuries along the way.

He clenched his fist, and faint golden arcs of electricity jumped between his knuckles.

This was a phenomenon of natural overflow caused by excessively high magic essence density, something that usually only appeared in powerhouses of the 6th rank or higher.

He felt his combat power had increased significantly again.

“It’s alright,” he said, withdrawing his hand with a flat tone. “The results were good.”

He reached out to pick up the other two Star Core Fragments.

“Do either of you want to absorb these?”

Jiang Lin held the two Star Core Fragments out to them, but both Fenrir and Alicia shook their heads simultaneously.

Fenrir said, “My path is already set; I don’t need a Star Core Fragment to change it. Besides, this thing is too precious. If I take it, it might actually interfere with my cultivation path.”

“Same here,” Alicia added calmly. “Especially regarding spatial magic. I’ve heard how difficult it is to learn. It’s certainly not something I can master, so I won’t waste such a treasure.”

Hearing this, Jiang Lin said no more and stowed the two fragments into his spatial ring.

The runes on the altar began to dim slowly after he removed the three crystals, the silver-white light extinguishing layer by layer.

The elven runes on the walls around the hall also lost their luster, as if they had lost their power source.

“This storage space is collapsing.” Jiang Lin’s Space Perception caught the flow of spatial elements becoming chaotic. “Let’s go. It’s time to get out.”

The four of them hurried out of the hall, passing through the corridor littered with puppet wreckage and returning to the initial storage room.

Fenrir swept all the enchanted weapons from the racks into his spatial ring, while Alicia selected several books she deemed most valuable.

Elune simply took a few moonlight stones scattered in the corner, which were excellent materials for crafting magic tools.

Jiang Lin took one last look at the treasure left behind by the ancient archmage and turned to step into the passage they had come through.

When they emerged from the underground passage, the entrance closed silently behind them, and the rubble-strewn ground returned to its original state, as if nothing had ever happened.

“Teacher Matthew, which direction should we go next?”

Fenrir shouldered his greatsword, his eyes full of excitement.

Jiang Lin took out the map and gave it a quick scan.

“North. There’s a mountain range there, which is the core area of the entire secret realm. The core research facilities of the ancient archmages should be located there.”

“The core area?” Fenrir shifted his greatsword. “Didn’t they say we shouldn't go to the inner layer?”

“There’s no clear boundary between the outer and middle layers,” Jiang Lin said, putting away the map. “As long as we can navigate the middle layer comfortably, we’ll be fine. If we encounter a danger we can't handle, we’ll just run back out.”

The four of them sped toward the north.

The middle layer of the Starfall Corridor was starkly different from the outer layer.

The grayish-black rocks on the ground had turned into silver-white metal, their surfaces covered in dense elven runes that shimmered with a cold luster under the starlight.

A faint, indistinct humming filled the air, sounding like countless precision gears turning simultaneously.

“These runes... they’re still functioning.” Alicia knelt down, her fingertips lightly touching the rune patterns on the ground. “And they’re running very stably. It’s truly awe-inspiring that magic arrays from a thousand years ago can still maintain their operation.”

Jiang Lin didn't stop. He maintained his Space Perception at maximum range, and everything within several miles appeared clearly in his mind.

Then, he caught a movement ahead.

“There are people. Three of them, being chased by something.”

Fenrir gripped his greatsword. “Should we bypass them?”

“Let’s go see.”

Jiang Lin quickened his pace.

After passing through a grove of silver-white metal pillars, the view suddenly opened up to reveal a circular plaza about a hundred meters in diameter.

A statue should have stood in the center of the plaza, but now only half of the base remained, its broken edges covered in thick silver moss.

Three elves were running for their lives across the plaza—two males and one female. Their light armor was severely damaged, and their faces were filled with terror.

Behind them, a massive metal construct was slowly closing in.

It was a guardian puppet, but much larger than the ones in the corridor earlier.

Standing over five meters tall, it was forged entirely of silver-white metal. It was humanoid in shape, but instead of legs, its lower body was a tank-tread chassis. The treads crushed the metal floor plates, emitting a dull rumbling sound.

Its right arm was a thick magic cannon, the muzzle currently condensing a pale blue light.

Its left arm held a massive tower shield etched with dense defense runes.

A fist-sized, deep blue crystal core was embedded in its chest, with violent magic essence surging within it.

“A 6th-rank... guardian puppet.”

Fenrir’s voice sounded a bit dry.

Alicia gripped the rapier at her waist, her pale gold eyes staring at the massive metal construct. “And it’s not just an ordinary 6th-rank; it’s a 6th-rank peak!”

“Teacher Matthew, how do we fight this?”

The three elves also spotted Jiang Lin’s group. The male elf in the lead had his eyes light up suddenly, and he ran toward them desperately.

“Help! There are people over there! Help!”

His voice carried a sob; he had clearly been chased for a long time.

Jiang Lin stood his ground, his golden eyes watching the massive puppet draw closer.

“Get back.”

Fenrir, Alicia, and Elune immediately retreated to the edge of the plaza.

The three elves finally reached them and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath, their faces full of relief at having survived.

“Are you... are you also students here for the trial? Why are there only four of you? Where are the others? Run! That puppet is 6th-rank! The three of us couldn't even block a single hit from it!”

Jiang Lin did not answer. He simply raised his right hand.

The Eight Extremities Holy Sword condensed in his palm, its white-gold blade wrapped in deep blue ice soul power, the eight-colored runes at the crossguard flowing slowly.

He poured the liquid holy light magic essence from his body into the blade. The light on the sword suddenly flared, transforming from its original pale gold into an intense, almost blinding radiant gold.

The deep blue ice soul power also became more solid under the enhancement of the liquid magic essence, and a layer of visible frost formed along the edge of the blade.

The three elves sitting on the ground were stunned, staring blankly at the longsword in Jiang Lin’s hand, which radiated a terrifying aura.

“What... what is that?”

Jiang Lin stepped forward, walking toward the massive guardian puppet.

The puppet’s perception system clearly captured him as well. The tank-tread chassis stopped advancing, and the magic cannon on its right arm swiveled toward him.

The pale blue light inside the muzzle had condensed to its limit and would burst forth in a magic beam capable of destroying everything in the next instant.

Jiang Lin raised his left hand and made a grasping motion toward the magic cannon.

【Space Folding】!

The space between his palm and the muzzle compressed instantly, temporarily erasing the distance of several dozen meters.

The moment the light beam shot out of the muzzle, it had already touched the tip of his sword. With a flick of his wrist, Jiang Lin effortlessly deflected the beam with the Eight Extremities Holy Sword.

The light beam was knocked off course, grazing past his side and slamming into the metal floor behind him, exploding into a crater several meters wide.

Molten metal liquid splashed everywhere, trailing brilliant orange streaks through the air.

The puppet’s tank-tread chassis began to reverse, while the tower shield on its left arm swung in front of it. The defense runes on the shield lit up layer by layer, deepening from an initial earthy yellow to a dark gold that was nearly black.

Jiang Lin’s eyes narrowed as his Space Perception expanded to its full extent.

Every ripple in space and every flow of magic essence within a hundred-meter radius appeared clearly in his mind.

He looked at the shield’s surface, watching the overlapping defense runes, searching for a gap between them.

And then, he found it.

Between the seventh and eighth layers of runes, there was an extremely brief, nearly imperceptible gap in the switching. It was a fault line that inevitably appeared when the puppet’s defense system redistributed energy, lasting for less than a tenth of a breath.

But it was enough.

Jiang Lin pushed off the ground, his body suddenly accelerating. Instead of a straight dash, he pulled a zigzag golden afterimage across the floor.

With 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】 pushed to its limit, his figure appeared to the left, then the right, then in front and behind in the puppet’s perception system, his trajectory as erratic as a fallen leaf blown by a gale.

The puppet’s cannon fired repeatedly.

One pale blue light beam after another erupted from the muzzle, plowing through the metal floor and exploding into one molten crater after another.

But those beams were always a step too slow, hitting only the afterimages he left behind.

Jiang Lin closed in to within ten meters of the puppet.

He raised his left hand, fingers splayed, and made a grasping motion toward the tower shield in front of him.

【Space Folding】.

The space between his palm and the rune gap on the tower shield’s surface compressed instantly.

With a single step, he appeared from ten meters away directly at the side of the shield. The Eight Extremities Holy Sword flicked upward, the tip precisely slicing into the gap between the seventh and eighth layers of runes.

Ice soul power surged from the sword tip—not as a force of brute destruction, but as a means to create minute ice crystals within the rune circuits.

The ice crystals expanded and spread inside the runes, slowly prying apart, twisting, and snapping the precisely arranged energy circuits.

The dark gold light on the shield began to flicker. The energy supply to the seventh and eighth layers was cut off, and the subsequent ninth and tenth layers dimmed as well.

The puppet’s perception system clearly captured this development.

The magic cannon on its right arm stopped firing and suddenly retracted, the muzzle aiming at Jiang Lin’s side.

At the same time, its tank-tread chassis began to spin rapidly, its entire massive body turning like a rotating fortress in an attempt to throw Jiang Lin off.

Jiang Lin did not let go.

His left hand gripped a notch on the edge of the shield, his body being pulled into the air. He twisted his waist and turned in mid-air, his right foot kicking violently against the puppet’s right arm joint.

【Strengthening Technique】 erupted with full force.

This was the normal version of the strengthening technique.

The liquid holy light magic essence surged wildly within him, amplifying the power of that kick to the extreme. The strike sent a shower of brilliant sparks flying from the puppet’s right arm joint.

With the joint damaged, the magic cannon’s muzzle was knocked off course. The light beam it was about to fire shot wide, slamming into a metal pillar at the edge of the plaza and sending metal fragments flying everywhere.

Jiang Lin used the momentum to flip, landing steadily on the puppet’s shoulder.

The puppet’s left arm shield snapped back, attempting to swat him off.

Jiang Lin leaped from the edge of the shield, holding the Eight Extremities Holy Sword high above his head in mid-air, the radiant gold light on the blade flaring to a blinding intensity.

Eighth Style · Extreme Cold.

He gripped the sword with both hands, pointing the tip downward, and thrust it straight toward the deep blue crystal core in the puppet’s chest.

The moment the sword tip touched the crystal, a ring of pale blue shockwaves erupted from the puppet’s chest.

This was a stress response triggered by external force on the violent magic essence within the core. Everywhere the shockwave passed, the air condensed into fine ice crystals.

Jiang Lin let out a muffled groan as the shockwave caused the web between his thumb and forefinger to split, blood dripping down the hilt of the sword. Yet he did not let go, instead pouring even more liquid magic essence into the blade.

Ice soul power and holy light magic essence intertwined at the sword tip, clashing violently with the magic essence inside the puppet’s crystal core.

The deep blue and pale blue lights collided fiercely beneath his sword, emitting a piercing hum.

The puppet’s body began to vibrate violently. The magic cannon on its right arm fired frantically, beams of light exploding all over the plaza as rubble and molten metal liquid splashed in every direction.

The tower shield on its left arm battered the air repeatedly, trying to knock down the intruder clinging to its shoulder.

Jiang Lin gripped the hilt with everything he had, his body whipped around by the puppet’s thrashing like a flag in a storm.

Fenrir stood at the edge of the plaza, his greatsword already unsheathed, but he couldn't find an opening to intervene.

In a battle of that level, he couldn't even get close.

...