Mage Manual
Chapter 1586 - 1166: Negotiation
As the last glimmer of spirit in the werewolf’s pupils faded away, his broken demigod soul body scattered into hundreds of streaming lights. An open-air exhibition hall with a glass dome was conjured from the void amidst the streaming lights, situated on the blood-soaked ancient battlefield. Inside the exhibition hall, various vivid paintings hung—landscapes, portraits, religious pieces of all kinds. Yet, all paintings invariably featured wolves or werewolves, at times appearing as wild beasts, at times as civilized humans. They were neither human nor beast, reflecting how the painter, himself a werewolf born into a human-dominated civilized society, struggled with his tribal identity while yearning for a mightier civilization. This subconscious conflict was fully evident in the artworks.
However, in such an elegantly simple exhibition hall, there were three wonders filled with a bloody aura. "Beast Blood Boiling," a mound of warriors’ skulls from various races formed a beacon mound, "Duel," a warrior statue composed of swords and lances and all weapons known throughout history, and "Battlefield Veil," a tapestry woven from the scalps of warriors and Void Realm creatures.
These three were eternal wonders erected on the ancient battlefield, all magical crystals activated without the need for mages’ source power, engraved with the immortality of Divine Lords!
Compared to the Sword Rain Pool governed by Sword Law, the ancient battlefield, although requiring some time for the battle intent to circulate, had a higher upper limit than the Sword Rain Pool. If the werewolf was given a few more minutes to brew his battle intent, Ash had no doubt that his ordinary attacks could reach the Six-winged level. These secret realm wonders were never meant for demigods with Five Wings as hypothetical adversaries; only Six-winged Gods were worthy of such a grand festival.
The unclaimed World Secret Domains and eternal wonders stood right before them, yet the mages were stingy with even a glance at this treasure heap. Not just Ash and the others, even Ling Ting Angel and her companions were shaken by the sight before them. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
Dark red, murky Blood Sea spread across the ancient battlefield, and at its center was a mountain of corpses built from countless severed limbs and remains. The bodies seemed fresh and warm, continuously oozing hot blood, as white maggots churned in the blood sea and thousands of flies surrounded the corpse mountain like bees collecting nectar.
Perhaps due to Harvey, Ash could unexpectedly appreciate the death aesthetics formed by the corpse mountain and blood sea. The static corpses and flowing blood formed a perfect composition, requiring no additional interference, as the corpse mountain and blood sea themselves could naturally form a new ecological cycle... So filthy, so ugly, yet capable of bursting forth with such pure and exuberant life force, it was truly mesmerizing.
The wind carried the fragrance of flowers, as petals flew like drifting snowflakes. The source of the snow was the high-hanging moon, whose radiance revealed the wounds of the wind... Though named "Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon," an aesthetically beautiful scene, no one dared to appreciate this indistinct spectacle of reality and illusion. Wind sees flower, flower sees snow, snow sees moon, moon sees wind, you seem to perceive everything, yet when you focus your mind, you find nothing; the dissonance created by reality and illusion is enough to shatter a mortal’s worldview, causing dizziness at best, or soul collapse at worst!
Moreover, the term "Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon" reminded Ash and the others of the method of sneaking into the Distant Realm—collecting the materials of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon, along with Dream Technique Spirit, to refine Awaken Dream Spirit, freeing oneself from Source Angel’s dream and reaching Ruby Mountain. Yet, thousands of years ago, the four materials of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon had completely dried up, and now seeing the World Secret Domain of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon, they subtly guessed it’s the Divine Lord who uprooted the resources from the Void Realm.
The only ordinary sight was the Sky Garden hanging in the air. Abundant with colorful flowers, meandering streams, and at its center stood a pavilion; aside from floating in the air, it appeared to hold no particular enchantment, except perhaps it was unusually tiny.
But this rather heightened Ash and his companions’ dread—an essential property of the World Secret Domain is its ability to reshape the environment to incarcerate enemies. Ling Ting Angel’s task undoubtedly included capturing Ash, and restricting his escape was of paramount importance, yet they brought such a small World Secret Domain incapable of altering the environment. Either the All-knowing Weaver was overly arrogant, or the Sky Garden was indifferent to Ash fleeing!
Ash had long bestowed "Refraction Protection" upon Felix and Dedarose. The mere sight of these World Secret Domains could affect one’s spirit, and without this layer of protection, they might have already fainted.
The land was split between the ancient battlefield and the corpse mountain blood sea, the sky was the domain of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon, with the Sky Garden positioned in between. Four World Secret Domains belonging to different Heavenly Kingdoms overlapped here, a spectacle unimaginable even in ancient epoch wars.
No angel would deem it overly dramatic... Perhaps they might have thought so earlier, but upon witnessing the fate of the two throne angels of the Lord of Infinite Abyss, they couldn’t help but truly praise the Divine Lords. The man before them indeed warranted such grand treatment.
Ash Heath.
Seized the Supreme Holy Grail as a mortal.
The Heaven’s Vice Monarch sought by Supreme Star but unattainable.
One of only two mages in the world possessing Supreme tail feathers.
Single-handedly led four mages through the Hell Trial (in others’ eyes, it was all Ash’s achievement, the four Sword Maidens were cheerleaders), and furthermore, these four mages were his own pupils, Sword Maiden was merely a Village Girl, Witch was supposed to be the Divine container Empress, Silver Lamp miraculously resurrected from demise, and Vishi, even more significantly, this lifelong unyielding Ghost Prophet was incredibly willing to wash and cook for him.