The stars falling around him continuously shed their brilliance, intertwining to form a light and shadow with countless figures swaying, and the aura of the Knowledge Moor permeated the surroundings.
The light of civilization and knowledge burst forth here, intertwining with things like death, eternal slumber, endings, and deep darkness, meticulously recording and analyzing the aura the other party displayed.
At the edge of the surging river, Leyton looked up at the towering giant bird and spoke calmly, "I need some water from the River of Eternal Darkness."
The creaking, swaying illusory door was silent for two seconds before a voice slowly emerged, "You may."
Receiving the other party's response, Leyton said no more. His right hand grasped at the void, and soon a greenish seed materialized.
The moment the seed landed, it began to sprout and grow rapidly, producing a somewhat illusory gourd vine that in turn bore seven gourds of different colors.
After the gourds had formed, Leyton reached out and plucked the fifth, a green one. This gourd solidified in his hand, while the remaining gourds and vine quickly withered and vanished.
Leyton's gaze swept over the rippling river surface, simultaneously extending the green gourd in his hand forward.
The river water, splashed into the air by the movement, seemed to be strongly attracted and spontaneously gathered into the green gourd.
Gradually, the gourd, which had originally been weightless, became heavy, and its green exterior gradually took on a deep black hue.
Leyton stopped collecting the river water at the opportune moment, looking up at the enormous Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace, and said, "I will find a suitable target for you to infect, and pour the River of Eternal Darkness's water onto him."
As he spoke, he also raised the black-tinged green gourd in his right hand.
As his words fell, the illusory door covered with mysterious patterns slowly closed, bit by bit, and the enormous Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace, once again sank into the pitch-black, lightless river, and the surging river quickly became quiet and still.
In that brief moment, Leyton noticed that the black tinge on the surface of the green gourd in his hand had increased even more.
I need to leave quickly and find a suitable container. As the thought flickered, his body rapidly dematerialized, breaking down into streams of complex knowledge, surging towards the outskirts of Calderon city.
Rumble! Rumble!
Exaggerated silver-white lightning bolts fell from the sky, electric snakes darting wildly among the strange, decaying, and dilapidated buildings, destroying the structures and the hunters hidden in the surrounding shadows.
The torrent of information surging from the depths of Calderon city passed directly through the lightning-ravaged area, stopping before Klein, who was dressed in a Pope's robe, wore a triple crown, and held the sea god scepter. Leyton's body quickly reformed.
Klein stopped his actions and asked in surprise, "How did you get out of there?"
"I went inside to meet an acquaintance and reached some cooperation with him."
Leyton chuckled and raised the gourd in his hand, which was half black and half green.
As he spoke, his profound gaze swept around, easily spotting the Bizarro Bane's main eye, which Klein had enveloped within his Spirit Body.
It was precisely due to the allure of this extraordinary material that, driven by the instinct to complete itself, the Spirit World Plunderer would appear even after Leyton had disturbed the city, attempting to hunt Klein.
Soon, Leyton saw the 'Invisible Man' draped in a translucent white robe, hiding dozens of meters underground.
"It's hiding underground."
As he spoke, he gently shook the greenish gourd in his hand, flicking out a drop of water that had no luster, was exceptionally heavy, and cold.
The moment this water drop appeared, the surrounding aura belonging to the domains of death, eternal slumber, and darkness proliferated wildly.
It was like a drop of ink in a water tank, spreading out wildly and assimilating the surrounding objects.
Deep, dark tides emerged from nothingness, surging rapidly downwards, and in the blink of an eye, they permeated deep underground, enveloping the 'Invisible Man' draped in a translucent white robe hiding beneath the earth, silently pulling it into slumber, causing it to slowly die in its sleep.
Klein looked at the streets and buildings around him, which seemed to have aged tens of millions of years in an instant, and felt his scalp tingle.
He subconsciously swallowed and then asked, "What was that drop of water just now?"
"That instant, I felt like I was back on Gray Fog, divining the Eternal Blazing Sun and the True Creator. No, it was even more dangerous than divining Them!"
"A drop of water from the River of Eternal Darkness."
As he spoke, Leyton reached down and grasped, and a giant invisible hand pierced through the weathered ground, pulling out the slumbering Spirit World Plunderer.
After glancing at the Spirit World Plunderer, whose translucent robe had turned black, Leyton turned his head to Klein and said, "It's corrupted. Remember to Purify the material before using it."
He paused, then, considering Klein's limited use of Sefirah Castle, he added, "Use ritual magic to leverage the power of that Gray Fog. The aura of Sefirah Castle can dispel the corruption of the River of Eternal Darkness, and it's harmless to you."
"I understand."
Klein nodded gently in response.
In the blink of an eye, Leyton's figure before him was reduced to nothing more than a faint glimmer rushing into the distance.
You haven't given me the Worm of Spirit yet... Klein raised his hand, then helplessly lowered it.
Sighing, he looked at the Spirit World Plunderer, whose aura was rapidly weakening at his feet, and extended the sea god scepter, striking its Spirit Body.
Zzzzt!
A silver-white electric bolt as thick as a bucket appeared out of thin air, striking directly onto the slumbering Spirit World Plunderer, shattering the Spirit World Plunderer, which had been stained with a layer of pitch black, into somewhat illusory bubbles.
Perhaps due to the corruption of the River of Eternal Darkness, the Spirit World Plunderer's characteristics precipitated very quickly. In less than half a minute, a palm-sized, almost humanoid entity, formed by worm-like structures intertwined, condensed.
Inside the humanoid form, deep black liquid filled it, with bubbles occasionally rising, carrying auras of strangeness, madness, Concealment, change, death, and slumber.
With just a brief glance, Klein felt a wave of dizziness. Without much hesitation, he enveloped the Spirit World Plunderer's true soul body and dust with his own Spirit Body, then ended the ritual response.
His Spirit Body instantly vanished from this ancient, sinister city, returning to the space above Gray Fog.
In the Library deep within the Spirit World, countless brass-colored specks of light floated, outlining strange symbols in mid-air, isolating the decaying, rotten area in the center from its surroundings.
Mr. Hughes, dressed in a scorched yellow robe, stood outside the area where the brass-colored light floated. His usually placid eyes uncharacteristically held a hint of anger. He said in a not-so-good tone, "Don't bring everything here. This isn't a place for you to just dump trash."
"I'm sorry, it was just an accident."
Leyton's voice came from within the decaying, rotten area.
Around him, specks of starlight flickered erratically, the surrounding physical rules were modified, and the deep, dark river water floated quietly in mid-air, slowly contracting under the starlight, being collected into a gold-inlaid dark brown glass bottle.
Having put away the water from the River of Eternal Darkness, Leyton let out a long sigh.
Then he turned his head to look at the Library, which had been disfigured by the erosion of death, decay, and deep darkness, and chuckled awkwardly. Then he half-crouched, placing his right hand, clad in a mechanical glove, on a patch of gray-white floor.
A hazy glimmer, not brilliant, not clear, without any color, as if composed of a massive amount of illusory things, rippled out from around him, rapidly altering the surrounding material structure and clearing away the lingering auras of death, decay, rot, and deep darkness.
In less than half a minute, the area that had been eroded by the River of Eternal Darkness's water returned to its original state.
Mr. Hughes's figure appeared silently. His voice was very cold as he said, "Hmph! Don't bring any more strange things here."
"Don't worry, I won't," Leyton chuckled awkwardly.
Mr. Hughes nodded gently, considering the topic closed. His gaze fell upon the gold-inlaid dark brown glass bottle in Leyton's hand, and he said calmly, "You went to Calderon city? What agreement did you reach with it?"
Leyton summoned an invisible servant, handed the glass bottle containing the River of Eternal Darkness's water to him to put away, and then looked at Mr. Hughes, chuckling as he replied, "To help him infect a target."
"You want to act against those in the Numinous Episcopate's royal faction?" Mr. Hughes asked in surprise. He paused, then overturned his previous statement, saying, "No, that's not suitable. To some extent, they are potential allies. So, you plan to support Evernight?"
Leyton nodded gently, "Yes, the River of Eternal Darkness has too great an advantage on the Western Continent, and choosing Evernight will allow me to gain more help in the subsequent conflicts."
Mr. Hughes nodded gently. His gaze calmly surveyed the Library for a while, and the books on the bookshelves spontaneously began to move.
Amidst the rustling of turning pages, Mr. Hughes calmly asked, "The war between Evernight and Badheil, which is also Adam's ritual for becoming a god, what are your plans?"
Leyton glanced at the calm-faced Mr. Hughes and chuckled, "Ankewelt is already interfering with Adam's designs on 0-08, but he is currently finding it difficult to succeed, whether due to his own declining strength or the lack of allies."
A book with a cover depicting numerous dragon patterns flew from the bookshelf into Mr. Hughes's hand. As he flipped through the book, he sighed, "He does not lack allies. When necessary, we still have some tacit understanding..."