In the temporary prison specially built for Maglido.
Splash!
A basin of ice-cold water was poured, waking the wizard.
Maglido barely opened his eyes and saw the blurry figures of Rhine and Aurora.
He composed himself, and it took him a while to regain consciousness, realizing that the magic ring on his index finger had also been removed and was now worn on Rhine's index finger.
As soon as he saw the two, Maglido trembled with fear.
The power and deterrence Rhine had displayed earlier far exceeded his imagination.
The Chief Wizard of Ender Kingdom began to beg for mercy loudly.
"Let me go. Please, let me go!"
"I shouldn't have cooperated with the Eastern Witch, and I shouldn't have plotted against you and the Queen of White Kingdom. It was the Eastern Witch who bewitched me, saying that if I helped her with this, she would help me overthrow Oz!"
"I will never oppose you again, and I will never target Oz Country again. I will leave Oz Country from now on and never step foot on this Green Field again."
"It was the Emperor of Ender Kingdom who was too ambitious, wanting to conquer the oasis countries in the desert as a strategic location to connect the East and West, which forced me to seek the throne of Oz. I am just a pawn, unable to control myself."
"I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong."
"No, you don't know." Rhine shook his head, responding with a line very familiar from his previous life, "You just know that you are going to die."
"By the way," Maglido's eyes flashed, as if he had thought of another straw to grasp, and he said eagerly:
"You must have wishes you want to fulfill, you must!"
"I know of a Godly Lamp that can grant wishes. According to ancient records, it is hidden in an underground treasure vault near Oz Country, and I am currently searching for its exact location."
"As long as you let me go, I can quickly lead you to find it!"
"Great Wizard Rhine, you are now one of the few legendary wizards in the world. Once you possess that Godly Lamp, your magic will only become stronger, and no one on the entire continent will be able to compare to you. You can become the King of the World!"
Godly Lamp?
Hearing this familiar term, Rhine raised an eyebrow.
Seeing that Rhine seemed interested in the Godly Lamp, Maglido's eyes lit up, feeling that he had found hope for survival, and quickly added:
"As long as you are willing to spare me, I can lead you to find that Godly Lamp!"
Unexpectedly, Rhine just shrugged:
"Sorry, I'm not very interested."
"Besides, you've already told me about the existence of the Godly Lamp and its general location. As a master of divination, I can perfectly find it myself."
Maglido saw the young man's ruthless expression and was so scared he almost wet himself.
He cried and begged for mercy:
"No, no, even finding that treasure vault is useless."
"That treasure vault is guarded by the most terrifying curse. Even the most powerful wizard can only enter the treasure vault by specific methods."
"I read in ancient texts that there is only one way to open the door to the Godly Lamp's treasure vault. One must go to the East and find a specific person to open the treasure vault."
"That ancient text was burned by me long ago. If you kill me, you will never know how to open the treasure vault!"
Rhine said calmly:
"You need to find a child named Aladdin—he is the child of a tailor named Mustafa. Let Aladdin say his own name and his father's name to open the door to the treasure vault, right?"
His tone was unruffled, as if stating a well-known fact.
Maglido's pupils dilated, and his voice trembled:
"How did you… know?"
He showed an expression of self-doubt:
"It shouldn't be, only I in this world should know… How did you know!"
So it was like this… Rhine sighed softly, then asked:
"After you find the location of the treasure vault, you will disguise yourself as Aladdin's uncle, deceive him, and have him help you open the treasure vault, right?"
"That is indeed a method I considered…" Maglido's voice was full of tremors, becoming increasingly unstable.
So that's it, you are the wizard who disguised himself as Aladdin's uncle in the story of "Aladdin and the Godly Lamp"… Rhine understood.
According to the original work, the wizard who deceived Aladdin was from Africa, and Aladdin himself was Chinese(In the original oral tale recorded by Antoine Galland, Aladdin lived in a "city of the cities in China". However, this "China" was likely used to signify an exotic, faraway land rather than the actual country.), symbolizing the West and the East respectively.
However, the entire story is completely Arabized, with no African or Chinese elements.
This so-called birthplace is clearly a romanticized treatment, no different from the "far, far away land" in most fairy tales.
Therefore, on this continent, Maglido's homeland also became the Middle Eastern Country.
Rhine stared at the trembling, tear-streaked Maglido and asked indifferently:
"As far as I know, Black Witch Maleficent should be in Oz Country right now. Do you know where exactly she is? Have you seen her recently?"
He didn't kill Maglido on the spot precisely to ask him this question!
Since Maglido had cooperated with the Witch Society once, it was not impossible for him to cooperate a second time.
Maglido cried and shook his head: "I don't know."
"Thank you for your answer." Rhine was slightly disappointed.
"Goodbye."
The next second, Maglido's collar suddenly tightened, constricting his neck.
"No…"
Maglido's eyes bulged, staring intently at Rhine, and he lost his life without even being able to utter a final cry.
He died.
"Maglido is dead. Once things here are settled, I can go to the East to find Aladdin and get the Godly Lamp!" Rhine thought.
He couldn't place all his hopes of returning home on the founder of the Witch Society!
Aurora looked at Maglido's corpse, let out a long sigh of relief, and her expression showed a few hints of joy and relief:
"The evil Eastern Witch is dead, and Wizard Maglido is also dead."
"Now, our last task in this land is just to find Black Witch Maleficent."
"It won't be long before the Rose Kingdom's curse can be lifted!"
Rhine's face, however, held no smile: "I have a not-so-good premonition."
As a legendary prophet, his premonition itself represented a certain truth.
"I always vaguely feel that Maleficent will strike first and come looking for trouble with us."
Aurora, however, was not worried:
"It's alright, Teacher. Now that we are working together, even if Maleficent has fully recovered from her injuries, she is no match for us. Besides, we also have a backup plan, we found…"
Just then, the two in the basement suddenly felt the earth tremble.
It was as if the entire world shook three times.
"What happened? An earthquake?"
Aurora was puzzled and walked up the stairs, with Rhine following behind her.
Above them was the royal palace of Emerald City.
As soon as Aurora reached the ground, her pupils contracted sharply.
The entire world outside had changed—
The palace, market, streets, courtyards, and gardens were all gone. There was only an empty Green Field and vast mountains.
In the center of the Green Field was a vast lake.
In the lake, fish of four different colors swam wildly, blowing bubbles, their numbers countless.
At this moment, Rhine saw a small figure by the lake, looking at the fish in the lake in a panic—it was King Oz.
As soon as Oz saw Aurora and Rhine, he rushed over in a panic, his face filled with anxiety:
"Oh my goodness. I really don't know what happened to this land?"
"I just took a nap and found myself lying in the wilderness—it was as empty as Emerald City before it was built. And there was also a large lake here with fish of four different colors."
Four-colored fish?
Could it be that…
Rhine seemed to have thought of something, quickly walked to the lake, and carefully observed the fish in the water.
He saw that those fish seemed to be intelligent; as soon as they saw Rhine approaching, they all gathered together, staring pitifully at him and Oz.
Their gaze seemed to say: "Save me quickly!"
Sure enough!
Rhine took out his crystal ball and began to divine over the lake, the wilderness, and the fish:
"Tell me, what happened here? What happened here? How did these fish come to be?"
After becoming a true legendary wizard, his divination magic was already close to the magic mirror! However, he still couldn't ask questions out of thin air; he needed a suitable divination medium.