Mo Fan at his best – Versatile Mage

On the way back, Mo Fan did not speak for a long time.

Zhao Manyan was lying half-dead against the side of the cabin, still recovering from the exhaustion of the deep-sea trip. His face was pale, and every now and then he would mutter curses about sea monsters, ugly merfolk, and Mo Fan’s habit of dragging him into death zones.

Mo Fan ignored him.

His mind was still on the memory fragments he had extracted from the Sea Fiend Divine.

The Water Elemental Spirits had fled.

The Sea Monster Empire was beginning its purge.

And behind all of that, another truth had surfaced—the world’s elemental spirits were not simply rare by nature. Their disappearance had been caused by war, greed, exploitation, and countless buried experiments.

Humans had once caught Elemental Royalty Spirits, refined them, dissected them, and used them to open paths of magic that should never have belonged to mankind so easily.

Thinking of this, Mo Fan naturally thought of another race with a similar mystery.

True Dragons.

Unlike ordinary dragon-blooded demons or pseudo-dragons, True Dragons were majestic beings that had appeared in this world long ago through Spatial Portals. In some ways, they were similar to Elemental Royalty Spirits. They carried natural authority, ancient power, and a connection to laws that ordinary creatures could only look up to.

Humans, greedy as always, had tried to make use of them too.

Unfortunately for those people, True Dragons were not gentle elemental spirits.

They were far too strong.

Even the weakest True Dragon was a pure and genuine Emperor-level being. The strongest among them could reach the level of a Medium Emperor, or even surpass it. More terrifyingly, True Dragons naturally dominated their own rank. A dragon at a certain level was not equal to an ordinary creature of the same level. By default, it could be several times stronger, as if its body, soul, blood, and magic all belonged to a higher rule.

Humans could not capture them.

They could not refine them.

They could not dissect them.

So mankind did the next best thing.

They secretly observed how dragons used magic and copied what little they could understand.

Mo Fan’s lips twitched slightly at the thought.

In other words, humans pirated dragon magic, but the dragons still held the original copyright.

Of course, even among True Dragons, there were lineages.

Ordinary True Dragons already had the potential to reach Medium Emperor level. But above them were the Ancient Dragons, the first-generation Genesis Dragons. Those were existences far beyond normal understanding, High Emperor-level beings capable of destroying planets.

Fortunately, beings that great had never invaded Earth.

They existed mainly in the mysterious Summon Beast Plane.

That plane was not a normal world humans could physically explore. It existed somewhere in the universe, hidden beyond ordinary dimensional boundaries. Humans, demons, and other species could only enter it through spiritual life forms or contracts. No one could truly map it. No one could conquer it. No one could say they understood it.

If the Dark Plane and the Luminous Plane were each as vast as ten stellar systems, then the mysterious Summon Beast Plane was like a small galaxy.

Even the God of Darkness and the God of Luminosity, literal gods of their respective planes, would not dare invade the Summon Beast Plane thoughtlessly.

There were too many mysteries there.

Too many ancient beings.

Too many rules that even gods could not fully solve.

Mo Fan lowered his gaze to the Little Loach Pendant resting against his chest.

Little Loach’s true lineage was the Azure Dragon.

Strictly speaking, the Azure Dragon’s lineage was even higher than that of ordinary True Dragons. It was not merely a dragon. It was a Totem, a mystical being tied to Jiuzhou’s ancient fate, worship, land, and protection.

But because the Azure Dragon had cooperated with humans generation after generation, because it had chosen to protect China and carry the burden of the human race, it had never truly found the chance to break into Medium Emperor level.

If it had abandoned humans and focused entirely on its own evolution, perhaps it would have already stepped into Medium Emperor long ago.

It might even have reached the peak.

But the Azure Dragon had not done that.

It chose to become a Totem.

And Totems were different from ordinary Emperor creatures.

Their power could not be measured only by level. They carried unique authorities, miracles, and bonds that even Medium Emperors could not imitate. Some of the things a Totem could do were beyond brute strength, beyond bloodline, beyond ordinary monster evolution.

Mo Fan’s thoughts drifted further.

The originator of Totemic power was not simple either.

The Divine Dragon God had originated from the Kunlun Divine Kingdom.

And above the countless legends of Kunlun stood the God of Kunlun—the Twelve-Tailed Divine Fox.

That being was the true master and originator of Totemic power.

It had already reached the peak of Medium Emperor level and was standing at the edge of breaking into High Emperor. Yet even before crossing that boundary, it could already contend against High Emperors through its strange and godlike abilities.

The things it could do were not like ordinary magic.

They were closer to authority.

Closer to the methods of gods.

If the Twelve-Tailed Divine Fox truly reached High Emperor level, even the strongest beings of the Summon Beast Plane might not be able to challenge it easily.

What made it even more terrifying was that the Fox God did not come from the Summon Beast Plane.

It was born on Earth.

A true anomaly of this world.

A being that should not exist.

If it were given enough time, perhaps one day it could grow to the point where even the God of Darkness and the God of Luminosity would no longer be beyond its reach.

Mo Fan exhaled slowly.

The world was much larger than most mages imagined.

National Teams, World Academy Competitions, High Tier, Super Tier, Forbidden Curse—these things already looked like the peak to ordinary people. But beyond them were Emperors, planes, elemental royalty, True Dragons, Totems, gods, and ancient secrets buried by human greed.

The deeper Mo Fan walked, the more he realized one thing.

Strength was not optional.

Without strength, even knowing the truth was useless.

Zhao Manyan opened one eye and saw Mo Fan’s serious expression. “What are you thinking about now?”

“Dragons,” Mo Fan said.

Zhao Manyan blinked. “Are we hunting dragons now?”

Mo Fan glanced at him. “With your current state, a dragon sneeze would send you to your ancestors.”

“Damn, can’t you say one nice thing?”

“I just did. I assumed your ancestors would accept you.”

Zhao Manyan was silent for two seconds.

Then he weakly raised a middle finger.

Mo Fan smiled faintly and leaned back.

The Water Elemental Spirits had escaped.

The Sea Monster Empire was moving.

The secrets of the Void, Spatial Spirits, True Dragons, and Totems were beginning to connect faintly in his mind.

This trip had not given Zhao Manyan the Water Elemental Spirit they wanted.

But it had shown Mo Fan how deep the waters of this world truly were.