Pei’er hadn’t expected that even now, Nerela still refused to engage her in direct combat.

The other party transformed into a black shadow and immediately disappeared into the passage she had come from.

“She’s going to the Magic Reservoir? Will she run into Saul?”

Although Pei’er had left Saul alone in the passage when chasing Nerela, she believed that boy with his miraculous methods would find a way to break free from the traps Nerela had set.

But if he encountered Nerela head-on during his advancement…

Pei’er was about to give chase when she suddenly felt entangling forces behind her.

She turned back to see her own riddled body, seemingly extending an invitation to her, its long-absent master.

Pei’er paused for a moment, thought of Saul outside, and still pursued without hesitation.

However, she had just reached the fork in the passage when she saw Saul and the fake Wind Sprite Nerela.

Strangely, Saul had one hand pressed against the fake Wind Sprite’s forehead, while the latter remained motionless, allowing him to do as he pleased.

At this moment, Saul also saw the Old Witch and noticed that her expression differed greatly from her usual carefree demeanor.

“Old Witch, or should I call you Lady Wind Sprite?”

Pei’er pursed her lips. “Even if you use honorifics, I can’t feel any respect. You might as well call me Old Witch, or… you can call me Pei’er directly.”

“Uh, I’ll stick with Old Witch then.” Facing such a face, Saul couldn’t bring himself to say the name “Pei’er.”

Pei’er mentally rolled her eyes but didn’t mind. “You’ve advanced to second-rank? So quickly?”

“Actually, the preparations were completed when I finished the Magic Reservoir. Plus, this second-rank imposter who was pretending to be the Wind Sprite helped me upgrade the Magic Reservoir, so everything fell into place naturally.” Saul casually glossed over his years of preparation work.

Even so, Pei’er’s gaze toward Saul carried a few more traces of wariness.

She looked at the motionless Nerela. “What did you do to her?”

“She’s already dead.”

Pei’er’s heart jumped.

Not only had Saul quickly completed his advancement, but he had also killed Nerela in such a short time? This guy had just reached second-rank and could already easily kill a veteran second-rank wizard—wasn’t that a bit too exaggerated?

Pei’er’s wariness increased further.

She stepped forward to examine Nerela and discovered the latter had indeed lost all signs of life. It was just that she had died too quickly, and Saul’s method of killing was too bizarre, making her body appear no different from a living person.

In front of Pei’er, Saul stored away the fake Wind Sprite’s corpse. “My original plan was to advance to second-rank, kill Wind Sprite, then quickly escape. But I discovered this Wind Sprite was completely fake, while the real Wind Sprite had been hiding her identity by my side for a year.”

“Old Witch, can you tell me what exactly happened to you now?”

Pei’er stared intently at where Nerela had disappeared. After a moment, she sighed softly. “Follow me.”

However, Saul pointed toward the passage they had come from. “Nothing else is urgent, but can you disable the traps the fake Wind Sprite set? Otherwise, I’m afraid my subordinates will fall apart.”

Pei’er nodded. “That also requires going to another cave. There are controls for everything there.”

The two quickly arrived at another cave.

Pei’er went to control the Magical Golems to stop attacking and switch to defensive mode. She also commanded the Spider Mother, who had become a puppet, to transmit the order “stop attacking, continue lurking” through spider silk.

After completing all this, Pei’er returned to Saul’s side.

At this moment, Saul was observing the fragmented woman standing in the middle of the cave, his gaze lingering on her shattered face and the hand missing a section of finger.

“Now, can you tell me what exactly happened?”

Pei’er walked to her original body. “Actually, even now, I feel like I’ve been having a dream.”

She suddenly placed both hands on her original body’s shoulders. Then a terrifying scene occurred—the Old Witch’s body actually began to slowly melt.

But these melted parts didn’t drip down. Instead, as if guided by some force, they slowly flowed through the cracks of the fragmented body before her.

The Wind Sprite’s body, having absorbed the Old Witch’s body, rapidly began changing. The cracks on her body were quickly filled.

Her weak breath was also gradually recovering.

Conversely, the vitality on the Old Witch’s side was rapidly diminishing.

“Clang!”

When all the material from the Old Witch’s Perfect Body had flowed into the Wind Sprite’s body, her disproportionately large head fell to the ground with a loud crash.

The severed finger tied in her hair floated up lightly and reconnected to the Wind Sprite’s palm.

The Wind Sprite’s dull eyes blinked and regained their luster.

This process took about fifteen minutes.

Saul stood quietly to the side throughout, watching the Old Witch reclaim herself.

Wind Sprite Pei’er looked at Saul with an unprecedented presence. “Now, I’m clear about what happened.”

She led Saul to a cluster of icicles in the corner of the cave.

“Two years before you entered the Borderland, I encountered terrifying pollution while attempting to advance. Even if I could successfully advance in the end, I would lose myself due to the pollution. What would exist in this world then would only be a mindless killing monster.”

“So I forcibly aborted the advancement, but this also caused my mental power and magical power to suffer severe backlash, nearly dropping me to second-rank. This attempt also made me understand that in the Borderland, advancing to fourth-rank is simply impossible! Because the rules here don’t allow it!”

“After the failed advancement, I originally planned to consolidate my forces and quietly recover from my injuries, but I was betrayed by those around me. You saw her—that second-rank wizard Nerela who impersonated me. She informed Clark about my severe injuries. Clark actually wanted to take the opportunity to pull me into his Dream Kingdom. If he had truly completed devouring me, he might have been able to attempt advancing to fourth-rank.”

Pei’er sneered. “Of course, if he also advanced in the Borderland, he’d probably end up worse than me!”

Saul crossed his arms, analyzing the current situation. “Clark took advantage of your injury to try devouring you, while your subordinate Nerela impersonated your identity, stabilizing the situation in the Borderland. This was probably to buy time for Clark to safely devour you. But Nerela isn’t truly third-rank after all. Even if she could borrow your presence to intimidate the wizards at the Cliff, she couldn’t do so indefinitely. After all, as soon as she made a move, observant people would notice something was wrong, so she was desperately eager to advance.”

Pei’er nodded. “The pollution accumulated in her body made her unsure she could survive the advancement, so she secretly sent people to test your pollution-cleansing abilities. However, she probably discovered through Justin that you were building a Magic Reservoir, so she changed her mind and decided to risk using the Magic Reservoir for rapid advancement. Previously, when impersonating me, she pretended to be injured and rarely left this cave. Even when she came to seize your Magic Reservoir last time, she first had three wizards exhaust your strength, then appeared at the end to directly take the Magic Reservoir without engaging in combat at all.”

Pei’er turned to Saul again. “However, she didn’t expect that even such brief action would let you discover the flaws, and you were audacious enough to secretly enter the Cliff for a counterattack. If you hadn’t provoked me to come in, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to recover my self-awareness.”

The questions about the fake Wind Sprite were basically resolved.

But the Dreammaker Clark behind her was still a major problem.

Saul spread his hands. “First, congratulations on reclaiming yourself. Then, may I boldly ask whether you can now break free from Clark’s devouring?”

Pei’er bit her lip. The tough presence she had just shown, once softened, gained a pitiable quality.

“I’m not confident.”

Seeing Pei’er’s expression, Saul understood that even though she had reclaimed herself, her condition was definitely not as good as before. Her spiritual body might even be weaker due to Clark’s years of devouring.

He continued asking, “Has Clark discovered that you’ve recovered your self-awareness?”

“I’ve temporarily sealed these icicles. For a few days, he won’t be able to detect the changes here.” Pei’er slowly shook her head.

Saul stroked his chin. “The enemy is too strong, and reinforcements need time to develop… For now, we can only play along with their scheme.”

(End of Chapter)

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