Chapter 145: River of Ten Thousand Ghosts

After the sound of a deep roar, a translucent Ghost Wolf appeared on that dark red soil, with a pair of eyes flickering with mana and endless power flowing at the tip of its claws. For a moment, strange distortions appeared within the mana fluctuations surrounding it.

This was the might of a True Spirit Magic Tool Incarnation.

Unfortunately, the image was ruined because Lord Shawn's voice was quivering way too much.

"Merlin, are you sure..."

"Okay, don't speak nonsense..." It looked like the offensive of the Giant Blood Tree was becoming even more fierce, and Lin Yun couldn't even stop to catch his breath, so how could he bother to assure him about certainty? "Quick, Soul Cage!"

"Damn..." Lord Shawn ground his teeth as he cursed. He urged some of his mana out and a deep roar echoed as a strange hexagram star appeared on the dark red soil below him...

Purple light crisscrossed on top of the hexagram. It looked incomparably dazzling in the dark red soil as an astonishing amount of mana began converging. In a flash, a cage of light appeared.

This was the Soul Cage.

All of a sudden, the Giant Blood Tree shook. A scarlet shadow could be seen struggling in the Soul Cage. Without a doubt, that was the soul of the Giant Blood Tree!"

"Damn, hurry up!" Just as the Soul Cage was formed, Lord Shawn roared in alarm. He could already feel the Giant Blood Tree struggling crazily, counterattacking. If the Soul Cage was broken, the only fate awaiting him would be to become a mere Spiritual Magic Tool.

Only one of the two could survive now.

Lord Shawn truly went all-out, reinforcing the Soul Cage as if his life depended on it, trapping the frantically struggling Giant Blood Tree's soul.

But he definitely wouldn't last long...

Against such a powerful foe, with Lord Shawn's current power, being able to keep the Soul Cage up for thirty seconds would be a miracle.

Lin Yun knew about this, but it was his only opportunity.

Although the Soul Cage wasn't actually a separate world, it could confine the Giant Blood Tree's soul, and while the soul was imprisoned, it was the same as the Giant Blood Tree being banished to another world. This was the only opportunity to separate the Giant Blood Tree from the dark red soil.

All he needed to do now was to thoroughly destroy the Giant Blood Tree.

Just as the Soul Cage appeared, Lin Yun used his casting ability to the utmost, firing off a total of ten spells in just a moment, each of them carrying extreme might.

But Lin Yun wasn't satisfied.

Because he discovered that the Giant Blood Tree didn't show any signs of collapse, and on the contrary, it was actually struggling even more fiercely in the Soul Cage.

This was the most powerful control spell in the 2nd Tier...

After becoming an Ultimate Spell, it had an astonishing restrictive effect on enemies. A blue halo could be seen with Lin Yun at the center. In a flash, it spread and covered everything within several hundred meters. The entire area turned into an ice world. Even the frantically struggling Giant Blood Tree was trapped in ice, and moving seemed exceptionally difficult.

Naturally, those tentacle-like branches were more important...

Hundreds of branches froze in an instant, turning into sculptures of ice, unable to continue their attack on Lin Yun.

But at the same time, Lin Yun lost his last resort to protect himself.

This was the Frost Ring. Lin Yun had originally planned to save it, to keep it in case he couldn't defeat the Giant Blood Tree. With its power, he could buy himself time to escape.

But Lin Yun ended up using his Frost Ring. Now that he had forced himself into this corner, his only choice was to triumph. And this was the perfect time, as its only means of attack, the branches, were frozen.

Lin Yun's mana was ignited to the maximum...

At this time, what defenses, what control, what flexibility? There was no use thinking about it. Right now, this was a contest over damage. He would either destroy the Giant Blood Tree, or be destroyed.

The Magic Arrays were frantically rotating as the mana within Lin Yun poured out like water from a broken dam as one spell after another blossomed with light within his hands.

Countless spells filled the sky as they bombarded the Giant Blood Tree.

Fire, Ice, Lightning...

A large, stifling Elemental Storm wreaked havoc on the Giant Blood Tree.

"I'm at my limit..." Lord Shawn's voice came from below, but Lin Yun turned a deaf ear as he was completely immersed in casting his spells, throwing everything else to the back of his mind.

There was only one thought in Lin Yun's mind...

Faster, faster, faster...

Second after second passed, and after about twenty seconds, the Soul Cage's light was getting dimmer and dimmer, and it could be seen that the blood-red shadow would soon come out.

Lin Yun only had one last chance.

This was his last Ultimate Spell, Flame Storm!

At the same time, it was the most powerful.

A loud rumbling sound then echoed as the nine flaming dragons ruthlessly charged onto the Giant Blood Tree, making the red shadow within the Soul Cage issue a mournful scream.

Then, silence filled the Blood Forest.

The several-hundred-meter-tall Giant Blood Tree withered at a visible speed, and the hundreds of branches hung down lifelessly, before turning into ashes. The leaves yellowed and fell off as the trunk decayed. The Giant Blood Tree that had once dominated the entire Blood Forest seemed to have aged millennia in an instant, crumbling away into ashes in front of Lin Yun.

"Phew..." Lin Yun sighed in relief and slowly hovered down from the sky.

While looking for the precious Blood Heart within the ashes, he asked Lord Shawn in a concerned tone, "How is it, you still alive?"

"I won't die before you!" The dejected Ghost Wolf shot out of the ashes before shaking the residue away while cursing resentfully.

"Right, at worst, you'd become a Spiritual Magic Tool," Lin Yun snickered before quickly finding the Blood Heart.

The Blood Heart looked like a pure ruby the size of a fist. It let out shining red lights under the night sky. Moreover, it was still throbbing within his hands...

Lin Yun could feel a surge in vitality with each of the throbs. Compared to this Blood Heart, those previous Life Crystals were truly too inferior, on a completely different level. It could be said that the life energy contained within all the Life Crystals of the Undead Elder Treants still simply couldn't compare to the Blood Heart's life energy.

Indeed, this was the Blood Heart, the origin of life of all Undead Elder Treants.

The Blood Forest headed towards its death after losing the Blood Heart. Weeds wilted, leaves withered, and one after another, Undead Elder Treants turned to ashes drifting in the wind just like their ancestor. After a few minutes, the dense and lush Blood Forest disappeared, giving way to a desolate plain.

"Now, the River of Ten Thousand Ghosts, there should still be time left..." Lin Yun casually threw the Blood Heart into his pocket while treading upon the ashes of the forest that he'd destroyed.

The Blood Forest wasn't far from the River of Ten Thousand Ghosts, and it only took twenty minutes for Lin Yun to reach a precipitous cliff. Atop the cliff was a sinister forest suffused with cold winds, and below was a black river surging onward.

Countless Ghosts were struggling as they were drowning in the river. Mournful howls and weeping cries echoed in Lin Yun's ears. Under the stifling death energy, countless illusions appeared before Lin Yun's eyes. That test in the prince tomb simply couldn't compare.

Lin Yun's Spirit Defense lost its effect for the first time.

With his peak Spirit Defense, he still couldn't break away from the Ghosts.

Nothing could be done about it, as the River of Ten Thousand Ghosts truly had too many of them, to the point that they simply couldn't be counted. One or two might be fine, but withstanding several thousand or even several hundred thousand Ghosts appearing at the same time, let alone a Great Mage like Lin Yun, even a High Mage wouldn't be able to resist these illusions.

It could be said that this was a true path of no return.

Unless one was an Archmage, one simply couldn't make it through this River of Ten Thousand Ghosts.

But Lin Yun stood on the cliff, and without a shred of hesitation, cast a Float and a Water Walk. Once he was done, Lin Yun directly leapt down towards that black river filled with drowning Ghosts.