Du An suddenly looked up. "What is a restart?"
Xiao Suo said lightly, "I cannot say, nor would you be able to hear it anyway. You only need to know that becoming a Great Wizard allows you to break free from the bindings of a restart, but even a Great Wizard cannot stop the restart itself."
"Then why are you helping me? Just to gain another black-robed priest?"
"Of course it's to destroy this disgusting Wizard World," Xiao Suo said with a smile.
"Let's go. We still need to return to the Nihility State and find an opportunity to give Li Ban another push."
Xiao Suo turned around and once again opened a teleportation channel to the Wizard World.
Du An simply watched him work.
When the gate opened once more, Du An suddenly asked, "Does every version of you possess this kind of ability?"
"Of course not. The weaker avatars only have the abilities of a sixth- or seventh-tier priest."
"Let's go."
With that, Xiao Suo prepared to step through the channel first.
However, the moment he took a step forward, Du An thrust a hand into the back of his head.
Xiao Suo stiffened, his body immobilized.
Du An gripped the Wizard Embryo Fragment inside Xiao Suo, leaned in close behind him, and whispered into his ear, "I will figure out the things you refuse to tell me on my own. It's just the death of an avatar. You shouldn't feel too heartbroken over it, right?"
Xiao Suo opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, Du An yanked out his Wizard Embryo Fragment.
Yet a smile curled onto Xiao Suo's lips. Right before his body disintegrated, he left behind a single sentence.
"As you wish."
Du An had already figured it out. The main reason he had failed to acquire Li Ban's Wizard Embryo Fragment this time was that Xiao Suo no longer wanted to help him get it.
It seemed that upon discovering Li Ban could fuse his Wizard Embryo Fragment without turning into a Black Robe, Xiao Suo's interest in Li Ban had skyrocketed.
Upon noticing that Li Ban was hunting him down, Xiao Suo hadn't even hesitated to send his other avatars straight to Li Ban's doorstep just to guide him into fusing with them.
Du An pressed Xiao Suo's Wizard Embryo Fragment between his eyebrows.
A moment later, the air pressure around him subtly fluctuated. A vast surge of energy instantly rippled outward in all directions from his body.
A faint black halo bloomed around him, dimming the surrounding starry sky.
After fusing with Xiao Suo's Wizard Embryo Fragment, Du An had actually advanced to the seventh tier!
He didn't feel any joy over his advancement. In his eyes, this was merely a stepping stone on the path to becoming a Great Wizard.
He carefully scavenged through the residual information within Xiao Suo's Wizard Embryo Fragment.
Since Xiao Suo's consciousness could exist within the Wizard Embryo Fragment, Du An could naturally use it to unearth the secrets hidden in his heart.
Du An closed his eyes. A moment later, he slowly opened them again.
"The Power of Rules is preventing me from reading all of Xiao Suo's information. Still, I managed to see a few things."
"Xiao Suo is actually the inner demon of a Great Wizard?"
"But don't inner demons always oppose their Great Wizard? Yet Xiao Suo has been trying every possible method to increase the number of black-robed priests and destroy the Wizard World—if doing this means opposing the Great Wizard who birthed him, then that Great Wizard must either be one of the three Wizard Lords, or perhaps... that one."
Even as proud as Du An was, he had never considered making a direct enemy out of that person before ascending to become a Great Wizard himself.
At this moment, the teleportation channel Xiao Suo had just created was reaching its limit and was about to dissipate.
Although Du An couldn't create such a channel himself, keeping it stable for a little longer wasn't a problem.
He stepped forward and stabilized the channel. Once it was completely secure, he flashed inside.
However, when he emerged on the other side, the scene before him was not the destination Xiao Suo had mentioned earlier.
Instead, it was a vast, boundless ocean.
At the very edge of his vision was a waterfall cascading down from the heavens.
No, calling it a waterfall was an understatement.
It was clearly an expansive ocean plummeting straight out of the sky.
"This is... the Nine Heavens Sea? Did Xiao Suo already guess that I was going to kill him, so he sent me here to keep me out of his plans in the Nihility State?"
Du An sneered. "It seems he truly doesn't want me snatching Li Ban's Wizard Embryo Fragment and ruining his new plan."
Since Xiao Suo wanted to find a way to stall him, there would inevitably be—
"Who is over there?!"
"It's a Black Robe!"
"Kill him!"
Several white-robed priests patrolling the Nine Heavens Sea quickly spotted Du An's figure hovering over the open ocean, hastily rallying their companions to give chase.
Du An knew that he had been played by Xiao Suo this time.
However, the other party hadn't wanted a complete falling out with him just yet. Because of that, Xiao Suo hadn't dropped him right into the headquarters of the White Robes, and had even freely given him a Wizard Embryo Fragment.
With no other way out of this situation, he could only focus on shaking off these white-robed priests first.
Three white-robed priests chased after Du An as he sped away.
Meanwhile, the Solar priest stationed at the Myriad Ancient Pagoda of the Nine Heavens Sea had just repelled another batch of raw souls attempting to invade the Nine Provinces.
He put away the trident in his hand and returned to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda with a smile on his face.
Beside him were several Dark Moon priests.
The Myriad Ancient Pagoda of the Nine Heavens Sea was different from other locations; the battles here were the most grueling, which resulted in far more Dark Moon priests being stationed here than anywhere else.
Among these Dark Moon priests, one was rather special.
She looked to be in her forties or fifties, her face bearing the weathered marks of time and a few strands of white hair at her temples.
This was incredibly rare among female priests.
She was Priest Huinv of the Imperial Dynasty Faction, an exceptionally formidable Dark Moon priest. Much like Priest Zhu Yao, she was a renowned combat priest.
However, unlike Zhu Yao's aloofness, she was genuinely cold and completely indifferent to most things.
Yet in battle, Priest Huinv was abnormally fanatical.
She was so fanatical that it made people wonder if she imagined every invading raw soul was a certain priest she wanted to whip.
Watching Priest Huinv look down to maintain her whip, Priest Ling Feng's brow twitched imperceptibly.
He spoke with a smile, his voice as gentle as a spring breeze. "Priest Huinv, you have been stationed at the Nine Heavens Sea for many years now. You might want to consider heading to the Unreturning Place to prepare for your advancement."
"No need." Priest Huinv was like an impenetrable wall of ice, completely shutting out the spring breeze.
His daily attempt at persuasion having failed, Priest Ling Feng turned his gaze to another person. "Shi Ye, I haven't seen Priest Hao Ze today. Isn't it his turn on duty?"
Shi Ye, a Dark Moon priest of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, naturally answered Priest Ling Feng with utmost respect.
"Priest Hao Ze's older brother came looking for him. He requested a leave of absence and has temporarily departed with him."
"Priest Hao Ze has an older brother?" Priest Ling Feng asked with great interest.
"Yes. It is said that when their minor world was destroyed, both of them were lucky enough to survive. However, one was taken in by our people, while the other was unexpectedly rescued by the Mist Realm Faction. They only recently discovered that the other was still alive."
Priest Ling Feng smiled and nodded. "This is a good thing. Give him a couple more days off."
Everyone knew that Ling Feng, the Solar priest of the Nine Heavens Sea, had a gentle, magnanimous, and tolerant temperament, so they weren't in the least bit surprised by his decision.
Suddenly, someone flew over to the group.
"Priest Ling Feng, we've discovered traces of Du An in the Nine Heavens Sea!"
"What?" Priest Ling Feng's expression immediately darkened. "Du An actually dares to show up in the Nine Heavens Sea! I will go cut off his head myself and offer it as a sacrifice to Priest Pei Jun!"
With that, he ignored their attempts to dissuade him, gripped his trident, and vanished.
Priest Shi Ye shook his head helplessly.
Who could have imagined that the gentle and refined Priest Ling Feng would transform into a battle maniac the moment he encountered an enemy?
Then again, among the priests who chose to station themselves at the Nine Heavens Sea long-term, which one of them wasn't a battle maniac?