Anya gave Jie Ming a clean, innocent smile, her voice ethereal and pleasant.

“Mr. Jie Ming, it’s been a long time. This… is my grandmother’s plane. I’m very happy to see you again, even under these circumstances.”

She turned to Viola and performed a polite curtsey.

“Aunt Viola, you’ve arrived.”

At the word “Aunt,” the corner of Viola’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly, but she helplessly accepted the generational title.

On the other side, Jie Ming watched Anya’s pure, shy, and pitiable demeanor; the corner of his own mouth also twitched in a barely noticeable way.

He knew all too well what lay beneath that appearance.

That innocent, harmless exterior was nothing more than a carefully applied layer of camouflage paint!

Peel it away, and what hid inside was a soul utterly mad for research—eyes burning hot enough to scorch anyone who dared meet them.

Their brief interactions during the graduation trials had already shown him this “genius’s” near-obsessive thirst for the unknown.

Viola had no such internal drama. She cut straight to the point, frowning. “Anya, what on earth is going on? How did this plane end up like this?”

Anya fell silent for a moment, her slender fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Only then did she answer in an embarrassed whisper, “It’s… the subject races that Grandmother originally kept for observation inside the plane… they rebelled.”

“Rebellion?”

The word jammed into Jie Ming and Viola’s minds like a rusted cog, producing near-physical black-question-mark expressions on both their faces.

Could the word “rebellion” truly appear in the territory of a formal wizard—especially in the private plane of a sixth-ring wizard?

Jie Ming couldn’t help recalling his own experience with the Golden Garden territory on Noren Plane No. 147.

Trouble had indeed occurred there, but strictly speaking, it did not qualify as “rebellion.”

When he took in those humans, dwarves, and elves, it was mostly as a favor to his friend David; he had never treated them as traditional servant races.

Aside from the first generation, no harsh soul contracts had ever been imposed on their descendants.

Moreover, the root cause of that incident had been his first large-scale plane war, during which he was away far longer than expected and, due to inexperience, neglected follow-up arrangements.

Even so, the unrest in his territory at the time had been extremely limited.

One could say that any ordinary formal wizard who truly put their mind to management would find it impossible for their own backyard to catch fire.

And now, Anya was claiming that rebellion had broken out inside a sixth-ring wizard’s private plane?

Let alone basic restraints like soul contracts—what did a sixth-ring wizard represent?

An existence capable of touching and manipulating the very origin of a plane!

Within their own plane, they were practically the incarnation of the rules and the plane itself.

Suppressing internal enemies was, in many cases, truly just a matter of a single thought—mobilizing the plane’s power to crush them.

Since Jie Ming was not acquainted with this unfamiliar sixth-ring wizard, he adhered to the principle of “speak less, err less” and kept his questions to himself.

Viola, however, had no such reservations. Arms folded across her chest, she spoke bluntly in a tone that said “I knew it.” “That woman’s gone off the deep end again, hasn’t she? What kind of nonsense is she up to this time?”

Anya’s smile grew even more awkward. In a small voice she explained, “Grandmother says… war is a ‘baptism’ and ‘catalyst’ that any intelligent race must inevitably experience in the course of its development. She believes forcibly intervening would damage the integrity of natural spiritual evolution, so… she has no intention of stopping it.”

From these words, Jie Ming caught a different, crucial piece of information. Unable to hold back, he asked for confirmation, “Anya, are you saying… your grandmother never signed soul contracts with the subject races in her territory?”

Anya nodded obediently. “Yes, Jie Ming. Most of the races in Grandmother’s territory were personally created by her using life alchemy and soul-weaving techniques.

She believes that although soul contracts are convenient for control, they might subconsciously restrict the free development and creativity of spirituality. In order to pursue the most ‘primal’ and ‘authentic’ evolutionary data, she never imposed any form of enslavement contract from the very beginning.”

Hearing this, Jie Ming couldn’t help raising a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, feeling the onset of a headache.

Now everything made sense.

Viola’s friend—this powerful sixth-ring wizard—had assumed the roles of both “Creator” and “Observer” within her own plane.

She created life, bestowed spirituality upon it, and then… let go completely.

She allowed them to develop freely, even permitting extreme forms like war, all for the sake of observing spiritual evolution in its “natural” state.

To this, Jie Ming could only silently comment in his heart: This senior wizard’s research methodology is truly… extravagantly unrestrained!

Since the situation had been deliberately allowed to develop, the occurrence of this so-called “rebellion” was no longer incomprehensible.

But to let things escalate until the entire plane was engulfed in war… the scale of this wizard’s “experiment” and the degree of her laissez-faire attitude were genuinely rare.

Viola seemed long accustomed to her friend’s style. She moved on to another question. “Then why were we teleported to this hellhole this time? In the past, I always arrived directly inside her precious laboratory.”

Anya hurriedly answered, “Because the speed and scale of this ‘rebellion’ exceeded Grandmother’s initial predictions, triggering the plane’s automatic emergency defense protocols. Grandmother hasn’t had time to manually adjust permissions yet, so all unmarked external teleports are currently being redirected to this observation outpost near the front lines.”

“I came here precisely because Grandmother detected your teleportation energy signature and specially sent me to escort you to the safe laboratory zone.”

Viola waved a weary hand. “Fine, fine, I get it. No need to guide us—I know exactly which turtle shell that woman hides her lab in. Follow me.”

She was clearly very familiar with the routes here.

Jie Ming glanced at the black giant priests who had returned carrying two still-twitching elemental creatures and living plants. He looked somewhat awkwardly at Anya and Viola. “What about… these specimens?”

After a pause, he added, “We instinctively counterattacked earlier. It won’t interfere with your grandmother’s experimental data, will it?”

Anya blinked her clear, limpid eyes and shook her head in confusion. “That… Grandmother didn’t say. I don’t know how to handle it.”

Viola was far more decisive. “Just erase these individuals that have been thoroughly contaminated by my law power and have lost normal behavioral patterns. Their very existence is already distorted; keeping them would only risk polluting the experimental environment.”

“As for us having acted and possibly glimpsed information…” She sighed. “Nothing we can do about it now. We’ll have to ask that madwoman in person later whether she cares or not.”

Watching Viola already rise gracefully into the air, orient herself, and shoot forward, Jie Ming shook his head helplessly.

With a thought, the black giant priests who received his command unhesitatingly ended the suffering of the captives on the ground, after which Jie Ming withdrew them back into his inner paradise space.

Anya also directed the nature spirits around her to help clean up the strange creatures still wailing on the ground.

Together, the two made short work of the cleanup.

Jie Ming and Anya then took to the sky, catching up with Viola ahead.

During the flight, Anya quietly edged closer to Jie Ming and asked in a low voice, her azure eyes gleaming with curiosity. “Jie Ming, I heard… you’re the one who researched the ‘Fictional Law’ and created that very interesting ‘Imaginary Element’?”

Jie Ming glanced at her and nodded. “Yes, something like that.”

Confirmed, Anya immediately grew excited, her words tumbling out faster. “Then can I buy some from you? If military merits aren’t convenient, I can trade with spirit crystals I’ve collected or ancient soul runes! According to Grandmother’s research, the Imaginary Element you produce seems to have an extremely unique effect on the growth and mutation of all kinds of spirits!”

“No need for special materials—military merits are fine for exchange.”

Jie Ming didn’t particularly mind. Spiritual Qi was not a non-renewable scarce resource for him.

If anything, he wished more people would buy his Spiritual Qi.

Once the Incense Fire Divine Dao of the Infernal Sulfur plane was fully transformed, he would have an entire plane continuously generating Spiritual Qi for him—far more than one person could use in the short term.

He casually replied, “We can discuss the exact exchange rate later. But…”

Jie Ming glanced at Anya flying beside him. Her expression still appeared shy and demure, but he could clearly sense the emotions carried in the faint psychic fluctuations she unconsciously emitted.

It wasn’t mere curiosity—it was a mixture of extreme excitement, insatiable inquisitiveness, and even a subtle hunger, as if she were looking at rare experimental material.

A chill ran down Jie Ming’s spine; he rubbed the goosebumps that had risen on his arms in distaste. “…Before that, could you please rein in that ‘I really want to dissect him and see what’s inside’ look in your eyes!”

Far from being embarrassed at being called out, Anya stuck out her tongue and licked her lips, revealing a smile that was utterly at odds with her pure appearance—carrying a faint, eerie chill.

“My apologies, Jie Ming. It’s just… your life aura smells so very ‘fragrant’—much stronger than the last time we met. It makes it a little hard to hold back.”

Jie Ming’s eye twitched violently. He decided not to exchange another word with this latent research maniac and potential madwoman-in-training, silently accelerating to close the distance with Viola.

The sooner they met the real master of this place, finished their discussion, and found a way to leave, the better!