Wizard: I Have a Cultivation System

The jeers from the gatehouse had long since turned to cries of terror, but the sounds were instantly swallowed by the storm.

The cataclysmic scene lasted for about ten seconds.

Then, as abruptly as it had arrived, the winds began to subside.

The dust and sand obscuring their vision slowly settled.

The two soldiers, still shaken, cautiously opened their stinging eyes.

The sky was once again a vivid blue, and the sun was just as blinding.

The streak of Dark Gold Streaming Light that had caused it all had vanished without a trace, as if it had never been there.

Only the ravaged ground before the fortress, the new scrapes on its walls, and their own sorry state—covered in dust and spitting sand from their mouths—proved that the brief, terrifying moment had not been a hallucination.

"J-just now..." the sentry’s voice was hoarse and trembling. "What in the world was that?"

The soldier who had been whittling wood didn’t answer. He just stared blankly in the direction the light had come from—the heartland of the Vilt Kingdom, the direction of the Holy City.

...

Above Blackstone Fortress, within a peculiar space.

The blue sky, white clouds, and Blackstone Fortress below were all still visible, yet everything seemed set apart, as if viewed through an invisible dimensional barrier.

The Dark Gold Sword Light that had just caused the atmospheric anomaly was now darting about within this isolated space, colliding countless times with invisible, intangible barriers that appeared out of thin air!

Each collision unleashed a deafening roar, releasing terrifying Energy potent enough to affect the weather.

If this space weren’t sealed by a special power, the aftershocks from any single collision could stir up another anomaly at Blackstone Fortress.

"Why must you be so agitated?"

The Ironspine Duke’s deep, resonant voice seemed to echo from every corner of the space at once, tinged with a sense of resignation.

"Murphy, the mortals on the ground are innocent. Even with the isolation of this space, the residual shockwaves from you venting your power so wantonly could still harm them. Doesn’t this go against your Path of ’protecting this world’?"

The response was a barrage of Dark Gold Sword Light that grew even sharper, denser, and more ferocious!

They rained down like a tempest, striking the invisible barriers from every angle and along all sorts of impossible trajectories.

"You have yet to depart. What are you still doing in this world?"

The Ironspine Duke’s voice rang out again.

"Your Elementalization has progressed this far; the Old Realm will soon reject you. If you have unresolved attachments, you should be fulfilling your cherished desires before you leave. Why waste what little time you have left tangling with me?"

At these words, the ferocious assault came to a sudden halt.

The crisscrossing beams of Dark Gold Sword Light filling the sky instantly converged, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, gathering at a single point.

The light faded, and Murphy’s figure manifested, floating silently in the center of the space.

He was still dressed in his deep black robes, his dark hair stirring gently, his expression impassive.

Almost as soon as he manifested, the space opposite him rippled, and the tall, imposing, mountain-like figure of the Ironspine Duke condensed into view.

The two faced each other from a distance, separated by dozens of meters of open sky.

Murphy’s gaze fell calmly upon the Ironspine Duke, his voice devoid of any emotion:

"The way I see it, all my efforts over the past eleven years on this Continent—the blood and sweat I’ve poured, the changes I’ve pushed, the order I’ve established... The moment I leave, you will use your power to return it all to how it was."

Hearing this, the Ironspine Duke let out a soft chuckle.

"How could that be, Murphy? I’m not as keen on interfering as you imagine. All things in this world ebb and flow, rise and fall. They have their own trajectories and internal balance. What I do has never been about forcibly reversing anything. I merely... at the opportune moment, gently brush away the dust that has strayed too far from the balance, allowing everything to return to the track it was meant to follow. That is all."

"Track? Balance?"

Murphy slowly raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers held together. A point of Dark Gold light pulsed uncertainly at their tips.

He looked at the Ironspine Duke, his voice echoing clearly, word by word, in this isolated space:

"Who told you,"

"that balance is the truth of this world?"

The instant the words fell.

The speck of Dark Gold at his fingertips suddenly erupted!

A beam of pure Dark Gold light, so absolute it seemed capable of severing causality and sundering yin from yang, materialized from his fingertips, piercing through heaven and earth!

Aimed straight for the Ironspine Duke!

Faced with a blow powerful enough to obliterate an Elementalization Wizard, the Ironspine Duke showed no alarm, only letting out a long sigh.

"Alas..."

As he sighed, he gently raised his left hand.

As his palm rose, the surrounding space underwent a sudden, unimaginable change!

The blue sky, the white clouds, the faint outline of Blackstone Fortress below... all of it vanished in an instant, like color fading from a canvas.

In its place appeared an open-air platform atop a majestic castle.

The Ironspine Duke was floating above the platform.

And upon the platform.

A red-haired lady, her hair as brilliant as flames, was crouching down, gently playing with a toddler.

The boy giggled, reaching out with his small hands to grab a little blue ball in his mother’s hand.

The red-haired lady’s face was brimming with a blissful and serene smile.

Not far from them stood a man of about thirty.

He was handsome with a straight, tall posture, dressed in well-tailored dark clothes, and had a calm and steady demeanor.

At that moment, he was watching his wife and son play with a smile, his eyes filled with contentment.