Wizard: I Have a Cultivation System

After all, whether he was searching for the so-called "Ancient Heart Demon Embryo" or investigating the reality of this place, understanding his surroundings was the necessary first step.

He walked slowly along the stream.

The stream was clear enough to see the bottom, and sunlight filtering through the treetops cast shimmering ripples on its surface. The air remained fresh, carrying the damp fragrance of grass and trees.

Everything was so normal it was refreshing.

But after walking some distance, Murphy’s pace gradually slowed.

A subtle sense of dissonance began to surface in his mind.

It was too quiet.

Apart from the babbling water, the occasional rustle of wind through the leaves, and... the crisp, pleasant birdsong drifting intermittently from deep within the forest, there was no other sound.

Wait.

’Birdsong?’

Murphy stopped, his calm, dark eyes turning toward the dense forest on the other side of the stream.

The birdsong was indeed there—melodious, beautiful, and full of life.

’But... what else was there?’

He turned his attention back to the stream before him.

The clear water flowed slowly, its bed paved with smooth pebbles and some aquatic plants.

However, there were no fish.

Not a single one. He couldn’t even see the shadow of the most common small shrimp or aquatic insects flitting beneath the surface.

He extended his senses toward the forest again.

The trees were lush and verdant, with dense branches and leaves.

But his keen Spiritual Power told him that between the branches and leaves, on the trunks, and beneath the roots... aside from the plants themselves, there was no active life signature belonging to any animal.

There were no squirrels leaping on branches, no insects chirping in the grass, not even the faint vibrations of ants crawling on the ground.

He hadn’t noticed these abnormalities at all when he was refining the Mind Furnace earlier.

’Then where was that incessant birdsong coming from?’

Murphy frowned slightly and looked up at the sky.

Beneath the azure canopy, a few white clouds drifted lazily by. There was no sign of any flying birds here, either.

Murphy pondered for a moment, then hesitated no longer.

With a thought, the Mana in his body flowed, and his form abruptly transformed into a condensed, Crimson sword-light that shot into the sky!

The sword-light was incredibly fast, piercing through the treetops in an instant and soaring high into the sky.

However, no matter how his sword-light moved, the scenery below remained the same.

Rolling green hills, a meandering clear stream, and a dense, flourishing forest... The landscape was beautiful, serene, and peaceful, as if it had no end.

The sky was still the same azure blue, the clouds were still the same few puffs of white, and the sunlight was still just as warm.

He even tried flying at his maximum speed in one direction, attempting to leave the area, but the surrounding scenery simply unfolded smoothly with his movement, like an exquisite scroll painting that he could never reach the end of.

He finally stopped, hovering high in the air. The sword-light receded, and his form reappeared.

’An Illusion Realm?’

’Or some kind of domain?’

Murphy descended back to the ground, landing in a forest clearing.

He stood motionless, fully extending his Spiritual Power with himself at the center, meticulously observing the seemingly tranquil forest.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the ground.

The wind was still gentle, carrying the fresh scent of grass and trees.

The birdsong hadn’t stopped; it still came from different directions, crisp and real.

Time passed in silence.

But after just a moment, the Sun in the sky instantly slid toward the western horizon.

In what felt like less than ten minutes, the bright daylight was replaced by a deep twilight blue, which then rapidly faded to pitch black.

This was a stark contrast to before, when he had been refining for what felt like a full 24 hours by his own internal clock, and the environment hadn’t changed at all.

And as the light completely vanished, the forest fell completely silent.

The incessant, seemingly omnipresent birdsong from before had vanished.

The babbling of the stream had also ceased at some unknown point.

The sound of the wind also seemed to be cut off by an invisible barrier, and the rustling of leaves could no longer be heard.

An absolute, dead silence suddenly enveloped the world.

Murphy stood his ground, his black clothes blending almost perfectly into the surrounding darkness. Only his calm eyes glinted with a barely perceptible, faint light in the night.

Just then, a crisp voice, tinged with a child’s innocent tone, sounded without any warning, extremely close behind him:

"Look... my flowers... Aren’t they beautiful?"