Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 779 Destroying an Entire Cult and Understanding Me, Locke!

A giant's hand descended from the sky above Locke's head, and the immense magical pressure created a crater on the River Styx. Under this enormous magical pressure, Locke's Moon of Evolution gradually descended, and it looked as if it was about to fall back into the River Styx.

'I have no choice but to take this gamble, but this gamble carries a certain degree of risk for me.'

'If the Moon of Evolution were cast into the River Styx, I wonder what would happen to me.'

'I must time my departure perfectly; if I cannot complete the graft, I will have to leave the Styx plane.'

At this moment, the power of jade descended upon the second-ring fern spear, causing it to grow to a gigantic size and become entirely jade, transforming it into the Jade Fern Spear.

This Jade Fern Spear gathers a large amount of Jade Dream Power, its entire body is dreamlike and illusory, giving it a fantastical feel, with a vast amount of life energy constantly gathering within it.

Locke wielded the Fern Spear, which seemed like a needle before the mysterious Styx Iron Tree.

With a 'ding', the Emerald Fern Spear struck the bark of the Styx Iron Tree, and sparks of magic appeared one after another. The bark of the Styx Iron Tree was so tough, it wasn't some special energy, it just seemed to be the bark of an iron tree, simply tough and indestructible.

The Jade Fern Spear struck the bark of the Styx Iron Tree three times, but each time it missed and caused no damage whatsoever.

The embroidery needle seemed to be struggling repeatedly among the textures of the ironwood bark, trying to pierce the folds between the bark's textures, but to no avail.

"Damn, it's so hard!"

Locke's tiger-like eyes gleamed even more fiercely, as if a three-eyed tiger-like cat was hunting for food in the forest behind him.

"World Tree Leaves!"

The two-ringed fern spear developed a bright green leaf ring, and its energy suddenly concentrated.

The Jade Fern Spear struck the tree branch like a massive collision between heaven and earth, even affecting the surrounding River Styx, causing its surface to ripple endlessly.

The next moment, the Emerald Fern Spear slid across the branches of the Styx Iron Tree, creating a magical spark.

Locke frowned when he saw this.

"Is my magical pressure still not enough?"

The Moon of Evolution reflected light and used the generational alternation to transform the Emerald Fern Spear into a gamete-spore body. This alternation occurred six times in total. The last one, reflecting the summer magic attribute of Pinellia ternata, transformed into a flame fern spear that flew out, condensed into a point, and landed on the Styx Iron Tree.

'Boom~'

At this moment, the Styx Iron Tree remained unmoved, without any damage whatsoever.

Locke raised his right hand, fine-tuned the spell model, and the Emerald Fern Spear flew out from the flames, like a dragon, dancing around the branches of the Styx Ironwood.

The moonlight of the Evolution Moon shines on the magical pressure that dissipates in the air, using the moon's spiritual mist to gather the magical power gained from generations of succession and reassemble it on the Fern Spear.

At that moment, the giant's hand was almost touching his head.

The Moon of Evolution was forced to a distance of less than five meters from the surface of the River Styx, and it was about to leave the final time for its departure.

Locke gritted his teeth, "If we miss this opportunity, Crimson Deeper will definitely fix the loopholes, and I will find it difficult to replicate today's situation. There are too many coincidences involved in the fact that this happened."

"This magical plant is so mysterious; if we retreat now, the loss will be too great."

"I still have the Little Vajra Date Pendant. I can use the Little Vajra Date Pendant to take the damage for my main body. If I use the Little Vajra Date Pendant to replace myself, it can buy me an extra 3 seconds of escape time."

"Open it for me!"

Locke's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

The Emerald Fern Spear danced around the branches of the Underworld Iron Tree, colliding with the bark countless times, each collision triggering a magical shockwave.

The Emerald Fern Spear flew from the trunk of the Underworld Iron Tree to the middle of the branches, and then to the treetop.

'Boom~'

The Emerald Fern Spear could not withstand Locke's forceful driving and several impacts, and it broke in the middle.

Lygodium japonicum was originally just a common fern, but it was later bred into a tree fern by Locke, which increased its hardness. However, it is not a true tree. Therefore, the main components of Lygodium japonicum fern are still intertwined aerial roots and petiole bases, which are relatively soft.

Its microstructure is similar to a reinforced version of paper.

At this moment, the Golden Fern Spear could no longer hold on and split open from the middle, like a piece of torn paper.

Locke was stunned for a moment.

Because, apart from the Black Lock Bamboo, this was the first magical plant that he had ever broken.

But the next moment, he used the Jade Fern Spear to cut a V-shaped slit in the tip of the Netherworld Iron Tree's branch!
At a crucial moment, Locke suddenly realized something from his common botanical knowledge—

The bark of a tree is not uniformly hard throughout.

The hardest part should be at the base of the tree, followed by the middle section of the branches.

Because the base of the trunk bears the weight of the entire tree, high-density lignin deposits and thickened wood element crystal cluster walls occur.

The trunk, on the other hand, is responsible for transporting water and natural magical structural components, so its strength is slightly lower than that of the base, but it is not the weakest part.

The weakest point is the treetop.

Because the treetops of the magical tree plants are newly grown, the crystal walls of the wood element clusters are not fully formed, or are still very thin!

Therefore, I only have a chance if I attack the top of the tree!
Of course, all my previous attacks were not in vain, because even at the same treetop, there are still differences in hardness.

You need to target the newly sprouted treetops, as they are the only weak point among all the magical tree plants.

And at the very moment the Second Ring Road Haijinsha broke, Locke found it.

Those are probably newly grown tree tips; all parts are still very tender.

Locke slashed a V-shaped cut in the cambium layer, and the Time Fern that Locke had prepared long ago flew out of his hand.

The instant the V-shaped cuts of the two plants, Shadow Fern and Nether Ironwood, overlapped, Locke cast a second-circle Botany spell, Model: Advanced Grafting Heal.

Regardless of the outcome, Locke chose to exit the Underworld Plane, interrupting the witch Stephania's ritual magic, and left the Styx Plane.

Because the giant's hand from the underworld had already pressed down.

If he doesn't leave now, his Moon of Evolution will be directly suppressed in the River Styx, along with the fallen angel and the waters of the underworld.

At this moment, the fallen angel seemed extremely angry, raising its head and roaring, pounding the river surface with all its might, but it was pressed down by a palm and directly pushed into the River Styx.

At the same time, the crimson deep courtyard was also shattered, and the ever-flowing river of faith was destroyed at its source flowing into the River Styx.

The little golden jujube pendant sank into the River Styx and disappeared without a trace.

The giant of the underworld smiled as he looked at the River Styx, which had stabilized again.

"And so, the problem is solved. This section of the Styx has returned to calm. There seem to be some small insects on the surface of the Styx. There have been too many small insects on the Styx lately, which is why it often causes accidents."

"I need to suggest to the Lord that we clean up the little insects on our River Styx."

"You two can expect to be punished by your superiors."

……

In the present world, Locke returned to the ruins of the University of Verdantia.

At this moment, the black wizards looked at him with fear, awe, terror, and also flattery and fawning.

Locke stood before the female leader of the Ghost Cult, hands behind his back, eyes closed, and began to examine his Evolution Moon.

Fortunately.

Although the Moon of Evolution traveled through the River Styx, it was not significantly affected.

So, was my final action successful?

Locke began to examine the ecosystem of the Evolutionary Month.

If successful, the Shadow Fern will be grafted onto the Underworld Iron Tree, and the Shadow Fern will be able to live as part of the Underworld Iron Tree.

That means that part of that mysterious underworld iron tree has become part of its own ecological community.

Although I managed to make a V-shaped incision in the end, grafting is, after all, a rather delicate and difficult technical skill.

Especially for those unknown magical plants.

Therefore, I don't know if my final advanced grafting healing will be successful.

At that moment, Locke closed his eyes and saw a scene.

The Underworld Iron Tree was once again located beneath the River Styx, and this time, the river's water level seemed to have risen due to the earlier commotion, causing the tree to be completely submerged beneath the river's surface.

The Time-Shadow Fern was completely submerged in the waters of the River Styx, gradually withering and turning gray.

They simply could not survive in the waters of the River Styx.

Similarly, severe rejection occurred at the grafting site, and black pus appeared at the interface between the two plants.

That mysterious ancient tree rejected the Shadow Fern.

Locke frowned. So it still didn't work?

In that case, I can only memorize that location first, and then explore it after I become a Moon Ring Wizard, or even a Sun Ring Wizard.

Alternatively, one could seek outside help, perhaps by asking one's fellow wizard Trajan or the Sith leader for assistance in the exploration, if they are interested.

When I left, I left behind that little golden jujube tree not only to shield me from the demonic pressure of the underworld giant, but also for another reason.

It's about marking the location of the River Styx.

He inserted the small golden jujube into the bottom of the River Styx so that one day he could find his way back.

"Ok?"

The illusion in Locke's mind suddenly changed slightly.

"Could that mysterious iron tree be related to the World Tree?"

In the illusion, the Time Shadow Fern was almost completely withered, and even had several imaginary roots broken. As Locke's ecological community, its core spirituality naturally contained a trace of Locke's spirituality.

It was this spark of inspiration that saved this cursed plant.

The spirituality within the mysterious iron tree resonated with this spirituality, and indirectly resonated with itself in some way. Then, the iron tree changed its usual behavior and tacitly accepted the grafting of the Time Shadow Fern, and actively provided nutrients for the Time Shadow Fern.

In this way, although Locke's grafting method was half a failure, the grafting was actually completed because the mysterious ancient tree took the initiative to help.

The time-shadow fern grew on the branch of the cycad, and Locke could observe a part of it through the time-shadow fern.

'My power and will are strictly limited to the Time-Shadow Fern.'

Locke pondered, "But in any case, the grafting was successful. That's my biggest takeaway from this trip."

"With this foundation, I can proceed with further research. The Second Ring Wizard Shoes project is now truly showing promise." Locke pondered for a moment and decided to abandon his plan to return to Corfu.

This is a matter of trade-offs.

Should we return to our hometown for a visit, or immediately begin our research?

Considering how difficult it is to get funding from Jinmianshan, and that I've already missed out on this year's top-tier grant, I don't want to miss out on next year's as well.

Next, the time it takes to obtain initial experimental data and complete the application is, at most, about six months.

Furthermore, having just come into contact with such a huge secret, the Ancient Tree of the Underworld is truly too mysterious.

This left Locke with no other thoughts; all he wanted to do was immediately begin research, obtain initial data, apply for projects, and then leverage the academy's resources and talent to conduct in-depth research on that mysterious tree.

Why did the tree suddenly stop resisting the grafting cultivation method it was using after sensing its special connection with the World Tree?

What is the relationship between that tree and the World Tree?
Did it grow naturally from the underworld, or was it planted by someone?
Who planted it? And what was their purpose?
Furthermore, could I, like the founding wizard of the Ghostly Holy Cult, utilize this mysterious ancient tree as a public server for my products...?

And that special realm on that mysterious ancient tree, which I am not yet able to extract.

These are all worth exploring.

At this point, Locke had made a great gain.

He looked at the female leader of the Ghostly Holy Cult and said, "Leader, you are a smart man. I will give you two choices: first, be killed by me; second, surrender voluntarily."

"If you agree to let me cast a spell on your soul and come with me, I won't do anything."

At this point, after learning that Locke was a second-circle wizard, none of the dark wizards of the Ghost Cult dared to step forward to stop him.

The witch Stephania was also deathly pale.

"Let me cast a spell on my soul."

"Then wouldn't that mean my life and death are entirely in your hands? The life and death of the entire Ghostly Holy Sect are in my hands. If my life and death are entirely in your hands, then wouldn't the entire Ghostly Holy Sect belong to you?"

Locke retorted, "Does your life or death no longer belong to me?"

Stephania the witch looked grim as she quickly weighed the pros and cons.

She was soon horrified to discover that after Locke deliberately fell under her ritual magic, she was unable to connect to the core of the Ghost Cult's magic system, the Ghost Iron Pillar!
All the magic of the Ghost Cult is essentially imbued with a touch of ritual magic.

Without that ghostly iron pillar, even for a crystallized wizard, most of the ghosts' magical abilities would be wasted.

Because a crystallizing wizard cannot use ritual magic at all times, he cannot afford the corresponding price to pay.

Stephania the witch screamed.

"Augustine, what have you done? You went to the River Styx, and now all the magic of our Ghostly Holy Cult is unusable?"

The magical pressure of the official wizards of the Ghostly Holy Church began to decrease one by one.

All the formal wizards, except those who became crystallized wizards, began to have their permanent defensive force fields begin to shatter.

One after another, formal wizards died as their eternal defensive field shattered, their souls decaying and turning into echoes.

The scene was quite spectacular.

Hussein couldn't help but turn around and look.

Locke stood alone amidst hundreds of official wizards of the Ghostly Holy Church, his hands behind his back. The deaths of those official wizards were like stars falling from the sky, or whale falls.

It was quite spectacular.

One whale falls, and all things come to life.

Locke was responsible for all of this.

Hussein was stunned.

'That bewitching wizard is even faster at killing than I am! He's incredibly ruthless.'

'Brutal!'

Locke also realized what was happening.

'Yes, the spell models for the permanent defensive fields of these official wizards of the Ghost Cult all use Ghost magic.'

'Since they're ghosts learning magic, they all rely on that pillar. Now I've caused the water level in that section of the River Styx to rise significantly, and all the iron trees are submerged.'

'If these people can't connect to that iron pillar, wouldn't the permanent defensive field collapse? Their permanent defensive field would suddenly collapse, and they would die instantly.'

Locke understood. 'If that's the case, then this is precisely the flaw in the Ghostly Magic of the Ghostly Cult. Unless they reach the first level of crystallization, they will die instantly upon losing that iron pillar.'

'Wait a moment.'

Locke realized what was going on. 'These people were originally... food for the Pale Pilgrimage. This was clearly a deliberate contingency plan. In this way, the formal wizards and dark wizards learning the Ghostly Cult's magic wouldn't have any chance to fight back, and their souls could be easily harvested.'

'The study of ghosts has always favored using wizards who study ghosts to create magical artifacts.'

These people are the best targets for exploitation.

Only by studying Ghostly Arts can one qualify as a raw material for crafting magical artifacts.

Locke, considering Hussein's current predicament, feared that Hussein, as a wizard from the Blood Curse Court, was also within the scope of being harvested.

Moreover, because he obtained the legacy of the progenitor wizard, he became a second-circle wizard and is still within the range of those targeted.

It is likely that the dark wizarding traditions in the southeastern corner of the region are at risk of being harvested by the Pale Pilgrimage.

Therefore, the Pale Pilgrimage appears to be an extremely dangerous dark wizarding organization.

It's just unknown what kind of connection they have with the Lich Kings.

Realizing that these fallen ghost wizards could become excellent raw materials for ghost artifacts, Locke did something: he took out Banxia and used the "One Tree Cannot Support" technique.

In an instant, the magic of summer descended, and the entire sky was burned into fiery clouds.

The echoes and souls of those fallen ghost wizards were all burned by Locke.

"Since killing these chives might actually make them easier to harvest, I'd rather burn them."

Locke smiled.

At the same time, he looked at Stephania, the only remaining female leader of the Ghost Cult, and a crystallized witch beside her.

Stephania, the female high priestess, gritted her teeth. Due to the failure of the ghost magic and Locke's ferocity, she was completely terrified.

She had originally intended to use some tricks, but at this moment, facing such a ruthless and infamous bewitching wizard, she was completely terrified.

Stephania, the female cult leader, felt that Locke was more like a dark wizard than she was.

How could she have imagined that the little wizard she had only briefly met back then would grow up to be what he is today and stand before her?

The female cult leader, Stephania, said, "Alright, I'll let you cast a spell on my soul."

"I surrender."

The next moment, Locke swung Banxia and set the other, half-crippled crystallized witch ablaze, instantly reducing her to ashes.

'The Ghostly Studies system of the Ghostly Cult is far too easily wiped out.'

Locke shook his head slightly.

'This isn't a magic system designed for proper training.'

'I wonder if there's any real ghost studies at the Pale Pilgrimage.'

Stephania's eyelids twitched in fright; she had assumed Locke intended to capture the remaining two wizards of their Holy Church.

Who knew that after she surrendered, Locke immediately killed the remaining elder.

In an instant, Stephania felt a chill run down her spine. Dark wizards were known for their willingness to sacrifice their own companions rather than themselves, so she didn't really have any particular opinion about the deaths of so many of her colleagues.

She just felt sorry for all the wizards who originally belonged to her, who were all dead.

However, since these people had lost their ghost magic and were already useless before Locke killed them, she wasn't too heartbroken.

But the female priestess Stephania thought, what if it was that elder who surrendered to Locke first?

Wouldn't Locke kill her instantly?

Fierce!

Too cruel!
Stephania the witch looked at Locke in horror, finding him unpredictable and completely incomprehensible. At that moment, she had lost all will to resist or even try to cheat.

Locke came to her side and touched her forehead with his finger. Because the witch Stephania had voluntarily released her soul and dispelled the permanent defensive field, Locke placed a gamete of the Tyrant Sea Gold Sand, that is, a heart-shaped leaf, into her soul. The heart-shaped leaf parasitized her magical pressure and used her magical pressure to nourish the Tyrant Sea Gold Sand that had transformed into a gamete.

This is originally a usage of generational change.

After transforming into gametes, magical plants easily parasitize the magical pressure of others, regarding a wizard's magical pressure as soil.

After that, if Locke so desired, he could instantly transform into a spore body using generational alternation, bypass the permanent defensive field, and harm the witch's true form.

Thus, the witch Stephania was essentially controlled by herself.

Locke smiled with satisfaction. As long as he kept his promise to Hussein and destroyed the Blood Curse Court, he would gain a second-circle wizard to help him explore the planes.

At that moment, a second-circle wizard appeared beside him.

His voice was cold and quite angry as he said, "Your Excellency, you killed so many of my Pale Pilgrimage's subordinate wizards, and that's fine. They were just a bunch of leeks to be harvested; they can just grow back after being cut."

"But why burn all these chives, leaving us with no chives to harvest?"

"Isn't the Eye Demon Wizard being a bit too domineering?"

"You are not one of our dark wizards, why bother getting involved! This witch possesses some secrets of the Pale Pilgrimage, you cannot take her away!"

At this moment, Locke sensed two second-ring magical pressures appearing beside him and Hussein.

Hussein, however, was not surprised but delighted.

Because we finally caught a fish.

Locke looked at Hussein.

"Is this your real purpose?"

The life or death of those first-ring wizards is of no importance; it probably has little impact on Hussein. What he really wants to do is fish!
Hussein laughed heartily.

"Locke understands me!"

(End of this chapter)