Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance
By the time the puppet finished gathering the spoils of war, Lin Yun’s mana had almost fully recovered. Looking at his harvest, there were about thirty Life Crystals. This was a good drop rate. The larger the Undead Elder Treant, the easier it would be for it to condense a Life Crystal.
Most of the Undead Elder Treants that Lin Yun destroyed were twenty to thirty meters tall. Only a few among them had reached the standards for the condensation of Life Crystals, so it was already pretty good to get around thirty of them.
Lin Yun put these thirty Life Crystals into his pocket, and after ordering the puppet to follow him, he went through the several hundred meters of scorched earth to set out for the depths of the Blood Forest.
On the way, there were still endless numbers of the Undead Elder Treants that were twenty to thirty meters tall. Occasionally, he would even meet one or two that towered over fifty meters. But fortunately, Lin Yun already possessed five Magic Arrays. At the same time, he had two Spiritual Magic Tools in hand. He was over ten times stronger than when he had first entered the Bone Plane.
The battle puppet was opening the path ahead with its Gold Essence Spear. Lin Yun, with his Lava Dominator in one hand and the Spiritual Magic Staff in the other, looked like a lumberjack as he killed his way to the center of the Blood Forest.
After reaching the center of the forest, Lin Yun could clearly feel the pressure increasing.
The tallest Undead Elder Treants of the Blood Forest were all in this location, some of them sixty to seventy meters tall. Although Lin Yun would still be able to deal with them, it would clearly be too strenuous. Moreover, Lin Yun knew that behind these Undead Elder Treants, there was a truly powerful existence waiting for him…
And he had no choice but to face this truly powerful existence.
This was inevitable, as the origin of the Blood Forest’s power all came from the Undead Elder Treants’ ancestor. That was the Giant Blood Tree. A terrifying tree born alongside the Bone Plane.
If Lin Yun wanted to get the Book of Death through this shortcut method, he would have to destroy the Giant Blood Tree!
‘Strange…’ An hour later, the number of Life Crystals in Lin Yun’s pocket had already passed two hundred. At the same time, he had already walked to the core area of the Blood Forest.
The soil was dark red as if it had been dyed with blood. A thick smell of iron wafted through the air, making anyone standing here feel as if they had been covered in bloody mud. The surroundings were empty. Not to mention Undead Elder Treants, there was not even a trace of any weeds nearby.
This was quite normal. The Giant Blood Tree could be said to be the ancestor of the Undead Elder Treants, the source of power of the Blood Forest. There would be not a single soul in the area where the Giant Blood Tree was rooted.
But there was something wrong.
Lin Yun looked for a long time, but he didn’t find the Giant Blood Tree.
‘What’s going on?’ Lin Yun was somewhat stunned. Nearly all the materials he’d read described the Giant Blood Tree as a colossus that towered several hundred meters in height, its treetop piercing through the sky, its roots reaching deep under the ground. Each sway would lead to a whirling gale, and its anger would cause earthquakes.
‘Is it an illusion?’ Lin Yun’s heart suddenly tightened. He hurriedly cast Spirit Defense.
Now, the Spirit Defense had already been merged into Lin Yun’s Magic Arrays, and with the buff of the Soul Walker on his left ring finger, it could be said that Lin Yun’s Spirit Defense already reached the High Mage level both in mind and soul.
‘Strange, this isn’t an illusion…’ Lin Yun didn’t feel any change after casting his Spirit Defense spell, which suggested that this was all real. The Giant Blood Tree truly didn’t exist.
Lin Yun now had a heavy expression.
He cast two Mage Eyes and searched the area of dark red soil within a kilometer.
Nothing, nothing, still nothing.
‘How could this happen…’ Lin Yun couldn’t calm down. In ordinary circumstances, not finding the Giant Blood Tree after entering the Blood Forest would be cause for joy, since he wouldn’t need to fight it to the bitter end.
But it was different right now…
Lin Yun had entered the Blood Forest this time specifically for the shortcut for obtaining the Book of Death. He clearly remembered that only by destroying the Blood Tree would he be able to get the Blood Heart. It not only was the crystallization of the Blood Tree’s power, but also the life source of all Undead Elder Treants. The life energy contained within was enough to regenerate the Blood Forest in an instant.
And only this level of life energy could be enough to make countless ghosts gather and cause the River of Ten Thousand Ghosts to appear.
At that time, he would be able to follow the River of Ten Thousand Ghosts up until the Book of Death’s resting place.
This should have been a perfect plan.
But the first part of his plan, the Giant Blood Tree, was missing.
This meant that the rest of his plan would be void.
In these circumstances, how could Lin Yun remain calm?
‘Wait, Blood Forest…’
After thinking for a while, Lin Yun’s eyes shone. That’s right, it was the Blood Forest. The Undead Elder Treants on his way hadn’t felt as powerful as he’d expected. The tallest Undead Elder Treant only approached a hundred meters, after all. And its power had been far from comparable with the Bone Devil’s. This didn’t look like the Blood Forest mentioned in the notes.
Moreover, he could feel that this forest was in a dormant state. Only after dealing with that first Undead Elder Treant did he meet with a large assault.
Didn’t this mean that the Giant Blood Tree was slumbering?
It was actually easy to test this.
“Rumble!”
Lin Yun moved the Spiritual Magic Staff in his hand, his Magic Arrays quickly activating as the Elemental Shock Blast formation was used. In a flash, several dozen meters around him were overturned. Rocks and soil were flung in all directions, as overbearing power radiated from him.
But Lin Yun didn’t plan to stop.
The Magic Arrays were spinning crazily as one Elemental Shock Blast after the other was cast. The mana surging was like a flood that couldn’t be restrained. The loud noises following each Elemental Shock Blast kept echoing, and the dark red soil within a kilometer was tossed about.
By the time the 17th Elemental Shock Blast was cast, the earth finally started shaking from below as hundreds of branches that were as thick as a grown man’s waist drilled out of the ground like pythons. Among the swirling soil and dust smoke, these thick branches gouged their way through the dark red soil. It could be seen that each one was long enough to easily pierce through a hundred meters of soil.
Afterwards, a rumbling noise grew louder and louder.
When Lin Yun felt something wrong, he poured mana into the Lava Dominator and instantly activated that blazing pair of wings to take off into the sky.
From his new vantage point, Lin Yun could see a colossus rising up from the ground.
The Lava Dominator’s wings flew fast enough that they could already contend with Lin Yun under Elemental Incarnation. But at this moment, the speed of the wings was far from enough to compare to the speed at which the colossus sprung up from the ground… Lin Yun only managed to fly several dozen meters into the air when that colossus already reached his height.
‘Shit…’ Lin Yun was startled. In that situation where it was nearly impossible to escape, he flapped his pair of flaming wings in a manner that almost defied physics and forced himself to dodge at a sharp angle.
Almost at the same time, a dozen shadows fiercely thrust over, brushing past Lin Yun’s body.
A cold sweat trickled down his back at this time.
These branches of the Giant Blood Tree all struck with power similar to that of an all-out attack from the Bone Devil. A dozen of them attacking at the same time was as frightening as a dozen Bone Devils attacking at the same time. If not for his reaction speed, allowing him to promptly change his position, he would have already been turned into a honeycomb by these branches.
Before the cold sweat could even dry up, the dozen branches sharply turned in the sky and charged once again at Lin Yun.
The sound of the sharp turnaround made his heart freeze. He cursed while pouring a shocking amount of mana into the Lava Dominator.
By relying on the surge of mana, the fast pair of flaming wings became even faster and carried Lin Yun out of danger, escaping from the pursuit of the dangerous branches.
But the Giant Blood Tree had already risen to the surface, and Lin Yun could clearly see it now. This enormous colossus was just like he had imagined it from those notes. Just the huge treetop covered a hundred-meter area. The countless branches were like pythons, attacking with stifling force.
Lin Yun could understand with a glance that this Giant Blood Tree’s might was close to that of a 6th or 7th Rank High Mage. If he fought it head on, he would definitely die. The only thing he could rely on was the Lava Dominator in his hands. Only the pair of flaming wings could allow him to stay in the sky and fight with this colossus. This was why he chose this shortcut.
Lin Yun also knew about the dark red soil under the Giant Blood Tree.
The blood earth was the place the Giant Blood Tree was born in. After countless years, it had long since turned into a part of the Giant Blood Tree. If he carelessly stepped on it, he would immediately be like a fly stuck in a spider web, and the Giant Blood Tree would drain all his blood with a mere thought.
