I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 671: First Battle

Jie Ming's spiritual power analyzed the energy signatures of the three individuals present. Each of them was a sixth-ring wizard.

A pair of males and a single female, all clad in wizard robes of varying designs, maintained cautious spacing between themselves.

“Fortunate not to have encountered individuals from the same faction, yet caution remains paramount…” Jie Ming’s gaze descended.

The quartet traversed the lower atmosphere in silence, soaring over the delineated streets below.

The surrounding environment gradually deepened into darkness. A thick, dark substance began to manifest in the atmosphere, spreading like ink dropped in water and progressively consuming the available light.

Abruptly, precipitation commenced.

Raindrops descended from the dark violet sky, each imbued with potent energy fluctuations. They impacted the ground with muffled sounds. Upon contact, the raindrops dissipated into mist that defied gravity, rising rather than settling, forming stratified curtains of fog that perpetually twisted and swirled in the air.

“This does not appear welcoming…”

Jie Ming could discern the city's energy field actively targeting them—a primal repulsion akin to a biological system's defense against foreign invaders.

It seemed the Hollow City had also registered the wizards' presence and reacted instantaneously.

Before long, the group alighted at the commencement of a bridge.

It was a stone arch bridge featuring a narrow walkway and low stone parapets on either side.

As they neared, the river water flowing beneath the bridge underwent a transformation. By the time they landed, the initially clear water had morphed into a dark, viscous fluid writhing sluggishly along the riverbed.

Beyond the bridge lay a straight thoroughfare paved with stone slabs, flanked by diminutive shops with askew signs and windows shrouded in absolute darkness.

Positioned at the bridge's midpoint stood a solitary figure.

It was an imposing silhouette, brandishing a black umbrella.

The entity towered at least three meters, draped in a black robe of unidentifiable fabric, its hem trailing extensively upon the ground.

Where its face ought to have been, there existed only a flat, unfeatured black expanse.

The black umbrella it held boasted a canopy exceeding two meters in diameter, supported by black metal ribs, its handle constructed from segmented pieces of bone, possibly from an animal.

Two of the sixth-ring wizards landed somewhat closer to the bridge's deck and immediately stepped beneath the umbrella's shadow the moment their feet touched the surface. As their feet made contact with the ground, palpable changes commenced within their bodies.

Their skin rapidly lost its healthy vibrancy within mere seconds, adopting a dull, waxy yellow hue. Wrinkles radiated outward from the corners of their eyes and mouths like intricate webs, spreading across their entire countenances.

Their hair transmuted from the roots, turning their dark tresses a greyish-white in under a second.

Muscles withered, bones grew fragile, and blood vessels hardened.

Their physical forms were overtly deteriorating at an accelerated rate.

Jie Ming's eyes widened involuntarily.

He could distinctly perceive the emanations of the 'Death' Law and comprehended the genesis of these transformations affecting the wizards.

It was 'Death' itself, activating within their beings simultaneously, systematically stripping away every characteristic associated with 'life'.

One of the sixth-ring wizards calmly brought his gaze down to his own emaciating hands. He then raised the hand, now reduced to nothing but bone and a thin film of skin, and gave a casual flick.

Muscle detached from the bone like a worn garment finally succumbing to decay.

Yet, he paid no heed to the fragments of flesh on the ground. Instead, using the hand now revealing its bare finger bones, he traced a rune in the empty air.

This seemingly simple rune effectively intercepted the further encroachment of the Death Law.

Once the invasive Death Law was isolated, the dislodged flesh instantly vaporized, subsequently re-coalescing into new muscular tissue. This regenerated tissue spread outward from the bone's surface, enveloping his entire hand in less than two seconds.

The newly formed muscle was more robust and powerful than before, with skin that even radiated a healthy, rosy glow.

The other sixth-ring wizard adopted a more drastic approach. He directly relinquished his rapidly aging body, transforming in accordance with the Death Law's fluctuations into a form composed of death energy, thereby achieving complete invulnerability to the anomaly's assault.

Jie Ming remained at the bridge's entrance, his All-Purpose Eye and Fate Subsystem operating in unison. Vast quantities of data streamed rapidly through his consciousness.

He swiftly grasped the operational principles of this anomaly.

In essence, the anomaly's core entity was, in fact, the umbrella itself.

The expanse encompassed by the umbrella's shadow constituted a domain under the absolute dominion of the concept of 'natural death'.

Within this domain, all life forms would involuntarily enter the process of dying.

Disaster Grade.

Undeniably Disaster Grade.

And not a commonplace one at that.

While its sphere of influence was not extensive, the lethality of this umbrella-wielder was sufficient to impact sixth-ring wizards.

The Death Law it wielded was exceptionally pure, possessing virtually no impurities. Measured by wizarding standards, its mastery of the Death Law likely exceeded one hundred and fifty percent.

Wizardry’s concept of Law Mastery wasn't about the entirety of a wizard's knowledge of a single law, but rather served as a progress bar for achieving the rank of a sixth-ring wizard.

Attaining 100% Law Mastery merely signified that a wizard possessed the fundamental groundwork necessary for advancing to the sixth ring.

For a sixth-ring wizard to ascend to the seventh ring, the expansion and deepening of their personal law knowledge essentially entailed embarking on research and delving into more profound layers of that law's intricacies.

Judging strictly by the level of law mastery, this Strange's command over the law even surpassed numerous wizards who had just recently attained the sixth ring. Despite the fact that Stranges are beings governed by rules, born from the very origin of a plane, achieving such a high degree of law mastery was exceedingly uncommon.

Consequently, leveraging its considerable law mastery, this entity was indeed capable of inflicting harm upon sixth-ring wizards.

…Or so it was theorized.

In practical application, however, the two sixth-ring wizards had conclusively demonstrated that this theoretical possibility scarcely held true.

For them, the Death Law had indeed been invoked, and their physical forms had indeed perished.

Yet, they remained unfazed.

Should one physical body cease to exist, they could simply manifest another. Even if their souls were affected, as long as the “death” component did not reach a critical proportion, no significant issues would arise.

Their self-awareness remained intact, and their power experienced no substantial detriment. The Death Law had claimed their physical vessels, but the instant they were killed, they had immediately overwritten the outcome with an alternative reality. This was the inherent nature of high-ranking wizards—as their rank and age advanced, their repertoire of abilities expanded, making them increasingly resilient to demise.

After dissecting the core essence of this Strange, Jie Ming found himself considerably tempted.

Unfortunately, just as he was preparing to intervene, the two sixth-ring wizards had already made their move.

The wizard who had transmuted into a being of death-energy manifested myriad cracks across its form. From these fissures, a multitude of semi-transparent, viscous tentacles erupted. These appendages effortlessly breached the umbrella-holder's defenses, ensnaring the canopy of the umbrella directly.

Simultaneously, the other wizard extended a hand, fingers splayed, and executed a grasping motion towards the shadow cast beneath the umbrella-holder.

The shadow, representing the domain of the Death Law, was suddenly “compressed” the instant the wizard clenched their fist.

Initially, this shadow lacked definitive boundaries, capable of freely expanding or contracting based on the angle of light.

Now, under that seemingly mundane grasp, its extent was fixed, and its fundamental nature was irrevocably altered.

The shadow emanating from the umbrella was seized by this wizard, morphing into serpentine constructs of shadow that ensnared the umbrella-holder in a reversal of its own power. The umbrella-holder’s body became rigid.

No discernible expression could be discerned on its featureless visage, yet the violent trembling of the black umbrella clutched in its hand conveyed an emotion akin to “bewilderment” or perhaps “alarm.”

It attempted to retract the umbrella, but the semi-transparent tentacles held with unyielding force. The canopy emitted a sharp, metallic tearing sound amidst the struggle. As for escape, that had become an impossibility the moment its physical form was bound by its own shadow.

The two sixth-ring wizards simultaneously applied their power with terrifying effectiveness.

The tentacles yanked both the umbrella canopy and its holder inexorably towards the wizard manipulating the shadows.

The shadow-controlling wizard closed their hand in the emptiness of space, much like closing the cover of a book.

The umbrella-holder's form imploded within their closing palm, shrinking from a towering three-meter giant into a minuscule black bead, no larger than a thumb, which then hovered above their palm.

The entire process of containment concluded in less than the blink of an eye.

Jie Ming stood at the forefront of the bridge, observing the lingering remnants of the Death Law dissipating around the black bead, and with a touch of regret, lowered the hand he had already raised.

The two wizards had acted with astonishing swiftness; he hadn't even been afforded an opportunity to make a move.

However, as the sensation of regret subsided, the corners of his mouth curved upward slightly, fueled by overwhelming elation.

Encountering a Strange of this caliber immediately upon arrival was thrilling in itself. A Disaster Grade Death Law Strange possessing terrifyingly advanced law mastery. Within the wizarding world, studying such a high-level law entity up close would necessitate either a substantial expenditure or a wait of several centuries in the private domain of some influential figure. Yet here, within this nascent Hollow City, Stranges of this magnitude were emerging prolifically, like wild vegetation. And this was merely the commencement. Even more formidable Stranges dwelled within the city's depths. He lowered his hand and slipped it into his robe's pocket.

While the All-Purpose Eye and the Fate Subsystem continued their functions at a diminished capacity, remaining in a state of readiness for immediate full activation, Jie Ming lifted his head. His sharp gaze penetrated the downpour, fixated on the city's inner sectors.

Within this district, the somber, dark purple sky yielded to an intensified blackness. Anti-gravity-induced floating mist coalesced into myriad serpentine, fluid shapes amidst the gloom.

Deep within these shifting formations, he could perceive a surge of energy fluctuations stirring awake.

It appeared that the sorcerers' deeds had provoked the city itself.

For common trespassers, this would represent a calamity, but for the sorcerers…

“This is precisely what I’ve been anticipating,” Jie Ming mused, a thrill coursing through him.

With burgeoning excitement, Jie Ming proceeded across the bridge. His steps echoed faintly upon the damp, rocky paving stones.

The trio of sixth-ring sorcerers had already advanced into the street beyond, preceding him.

Their forms became indistinct within the sheeting rain, quicklyvanishing into the labyrinthine water vapor.