Chapter 122: No, don't do this!

The cold moonlight shone over the marsh, casting long shadows across the ruins of the ancient castle.

Bell overturned the last giant stone lying on the ground, only to find the earth beneath it empty. He shook his head. "No cage to be seen."

Ilúvatar unearthed a barrel of wine that had miraculously survived the destruction. "My Prince, would you care for a drink?"

"No..." Bell turned his gaze toward the black-skinned figure sitting on a nearby rock in a daze. "Seeing my brother turned into this, I truly have no appetite for alcohol."

Lin Lei’s cage had been snatched, the demigod had been snatched, and the airship had even scorched him into a piece of charcoal!

Being turned into charcoal was one thing, but half of Lin Lei’s hair had been burned off as well.

"Damn it!" Lin Lei stood up abruptly.

As if to vent his fury, the *Song of the Azure Sky* suddenly manifested in his hand. With a casual flick of his wrist, Lin Lei snarled, "I am going to teach her a lesson!"

In that moment, the earth trembled.

A white blade of energy swept forward, following the arc of his swing. The reeds in the marsh were instantly sliced in two, sending shards of grass flying into the sky. The muddy water erupted in a spray, and the stone rubble of the ruins was pulverized as if it were mere sand.

"Eek!"

Lady Ilúvatar screamed and crouched down. She and Bell had not been in the direct path of the strike, yet the sheer shockwave of the energy was enough to shred the clothes right off their backs.

Several hexagram-shaped magic circles appeared in the sky.

"What was that?"

"Swordplay. That was swordplay!"

A voice filled with pleasant surprise rang out. Lin Lei looked up to see several familiar old men descending from a teleportation portal.

"Your Highness, what did you call that move just now?"

"It was simply magnificent!"

The Royal Mages were flushed with excitement; they had not expected to witness such a spectacular scene the moment they arrived. Lin Lei’s strike had been nothing like the steady, grounded techniques of a warrior; his casual swing had been not only stylish but terrifyingly powerful.

"It was just too cool!"

"So dashing!"

The Royal Mages were beside themselves with excitement. The blade energy Lin Lei had displayed was exactly like the descriptions in cultivation novels—that was true swordplay, the real deal.

"Why are you all here?"

Lin Lei’s focus was quite different from the mages'.

"Lady White has been tasked with transporting fuel for the airship, and we came ahead to assess the situation." Eve appeared behind the mages. She looked at Lin Lei and frowned slightly. "Little Prince, it seems you have run into some trouble?"

The answer was obvious; she had never seen Lin Lei look this charred before.

"Hmph, it’s a long story."

Lin Lei snorted coldly and turned to look at the two dwarves—but they had vanished. Because their clothes were gone, Bell had taken Lady Ilúvatar and gone into hiding.

"Your Highness, let us heal your wounds!"

Seeing the injuries still marring Lin Lei’s body, the Royal Mages immediately began casting spells to treat him.

Lin Lei spoke with Eve, asking why she had come along when Lady White was the one in charge of the fuel transport.

"Some Night Elves have arrived as well," Eve replied. "The werewolves have invaded the Dwarven Kingdom. Queen Angie was worried about your safety, so she sent me to assist you."

"What? The werewolves invaded the Dwarven Kingdom?"

Lin Lei was stunned. He hadn't kept an eye on the outside world for only two days, and already the werewolves had invaded the Dwarven Kingdom? Although the Dwarven Kingdom bordered Ashia, wasn't the speed of the werewolf invasion a bit too fast?

"Weren't there defensive lines ahead?" Lin Lei asked, deeply puzzled. "Did the werewolves break through so quickly?"

"They have already broken through... the werewolves know our human defensive lines like the back of their hand," Eve said. "No matter how the lines are shifted, the werewolves always manage to find the weak points."

Her expression turned grave. "There are some Rabbit-kin in the werewolf army who can spot troop movements and deployments. They are always able to launch surprise attacks. The Alliance has already mobilized for an emergency, but if the werewolves occupy the Boka Mountains, they will be able to launch attacks on various countries, and it will be difficult for the Alliance to surround them."

Lin Lei’s expression soured. He thought of Leda—those ears of hers were indeed formidable. If the werewolf army possessed such assets, it was no wonder their pace was so rapid.

Armed with such a cheating tool as a radar, the werewolves would naturally not stop. They would push forward with all their might, invading the interior at top speed, refusing to give the Alliance time to devise a countermeasure.

An hour later, the mages had healed Lin Lei’s external wounds. Aside from his waist-length hair now being shoulder-length, Lin Lei was as fair and unscathed as before.

"Little Highness, this is for you."

The mages handed Lin Lei a book. Lin Lei took a look: *Codex of the Ancient Elven King*.

"Its magical power has partially recovered," one mage said. After years of rest, the book’s mana had been partially restored, making it usable once again.

The mages had also gone to great lengths to establish a connection between this codex and the Guardians. It could now act as a remote terminal, allowing the code Lin Lei wrote on it to be transmitted directly into the system at Emerald City.

The "Pillar Holding Up the Sky" project was nearing completion, and the mages had discovered that Lin Lei was indeed the best at writing cultivation code. Therefore, they had implored the King to entrust the *Codex of the Ancient Elven King* to Lin Lei, hoping he could develop new spells.

"You should have given me this good thing much sooner."

Lin Lei tucked the book away.

He heard a rumbling sound coming from the forest. Dwarf cavalry in shining armor emerged.

"Did you break through my traps?"

Lin Lei was not at all surprised. The castle had been destroyed and the airship had departed for half a day; it would have been strange if the dwarves hadn't breached his defenses.

Hundreds of cavalrymen charged out of the forest, quickly surrounding Lin Lei.

"Demon Lord!"

The Lord lifted his sword in anger, pointing it at Lin Lei. "You raped a dwarf woman and helped the werewolves escape! Your crimes are unforgivable!"

Lin Lei didn't look at him, but rather behind the dwarf cavalry, where many human Paladins had followed. The Paladins sat on their horses in a line among the reeds, watching from a distance, seemingly unwilling to come and help.

"A demigod’s Life Seed was stolen here not long ago. Was that your doing as well, Demon Lord?" the Dwarf Lord interrogated him.

Lin Lei couldn't help but snort coldly. His list of false accusations was growing ever longer.

The werewolves had escaped, the demigod had run into trouble, and everything Lin Lei had wanted had vanished into thin air. With him left here as the "Demon Lord," the demigods had a perfect excuse to blame him—Lin Lei would find it nearly impossible to even find evidence to defend himself.

"Little Prince."

Eve took the initiative to step in front of Lin Lei, glaring coldly at the Lord. "What do you think you are doing?"

The mages also began to radiate magical fluctuations, looking at the dwarves with icy indifference.

At that moment, the human Paladins noticed a rustling, swaying patch in the reeds.

"Who’s there?"

They swung their swords, cutting through the reeds.

"No, don't!"

Two naked dwarves appeared there. In that instant, everyone’s eyes turned toward them.

The Dwarf Lord’s face drained of all color.