Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Five: Gegewu "Respected Lord Gegewu... *cough cough*... please accept our tribute..."
Jay, who had also taken quite a beating from the earlier shockwave, was in slightly better shape than the old hag at this point—just barely able to keep standing.
Seeing this, she dropped to her knees in a strange posture while simultaneously hurling a
"Copper Ring!!!"
Lei Lin's pupils contracted as he recognized the wizard's head. So Copper Ring hadn't died in the secret realm's traps at all—he had been directly betrayed by the old hag and Jay!
Cold sweat poured down Lei Lin's back as he stood off to the side, not daring to move even an inch.
Although the dark figure on the altar hadn't glanced his way again, he could clearly feel a wave of extremely evil, overwhelmingly powerful Spiritual Power that had already locked directly onto him.
Lei Lin had a premonition—if he took even one more step forward, what awaited him would undoubtedly be a full-powered strike from Gegewu!!!
Crunch!!! Crunch!!!
The dark figure caught Copper Ring's head—its eyes still wide open in death—and placed it directly into its mouth, chewing away.
A bone-chilling grinding sound echoed ceaselessly atop the silent Hill of White Bones.
"Hee hee!" After devouring the entire head, the dark figure let out a sound of deep satisfaction, and a scarlet tongue extended from its mouth to lick its lips, as though it still wanted more.
"A soul that meets the requirements—state your request!!!"
An ancient, obscure voice resonated directly in the hearts of Lei Lin and the other two, spoken in a language Lei Lin had never heard before. Yet somehow, impossibly, he could understand the meaning of every word.
"I want..." Jay began slowly.
"Let me! Let my daughter, Jay, be revived and granted a body brimming with life again!!!" The old hag, who had collapsed to the ground, suddenly flew into a frenzy and threw herself before Gegewu's dark shadow. "As long as you can grant this wish of mine, I am willing to pay any price!!!"
Perhaps it was just Lei Lin's imagination, but when the old hag spoke those words, something seemed to flicker in Gegewu's enormous eyes—a look of... mockery?
"I need... more sacrifices..."
The massive dark shadow licked its lips. "And according to the principles of spirit body transformation, a male Wizard of the dark attribute is also an essential material!"
"I know!!!" The old hag hurriedly pulled several soul-crystal orbs brimming with Spiritual Power from her pocket, then pointed at Lei Lin.
"As for the material — it's that Wizard!!!"
The moment the shadow stated the condition, Lei Lin's heart sank. The acceleration spell beneath his feet surged to full power.
His figure was instantly enveloped by a black whirlwind, and he rocketed down the mountainside at incredible speed.
But the speed of the giant shadow Gegewu far exceeded even Lei Lin's imagination.
Facing Lei Lin's escape attempt, the shadow simply extended a translucent hand and grabbed forward!!
Hummmm!!
The black whirlwind was torn straight open, revealing Lei Lin's figure.
Lei Lin felt the air around him suddenly solidify, compressing inward from every direction toward him.
In the span of an instant, a silver band of light descended from the sky, wrapping directly around Lei Lin's waist.
From within that silver band, a torrent of powerful Spiritual Power suddenly erupted — its quality was the highest Lei Lin had ever witnessed in his life. With only a wisp of it, it shattered the elemental Spiritual Power he had gathered!
Spiritual Power was a Wizard's foundation, the catalyst for casting spells.
With his Spiritual Power crushed, Lei Lin naturally could not cast a single spell now.
The silver band of light reeled back, and Lei Lin was dragged involuntarily with it, ultimately returning to the front of the altar.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Four black tentacles erupted from the altar like chains, binding Lei Lin's four limbs tightly in place.
Lei Lin now stood spread-eagled before the giant shadow Gegewu.
"Materialized Spiritual Power!!! This malice-gathered entity Gegewu is at least a second-rank Wizard in strength!!!"
Lei Lin's face was ashen, but inside his mind, he was continuously calculating the shadow's power.
At the same time, the Chip was running at full speed, collecting the energy data that Gegewu continuously leaked out, calculating its parameters and weak points.
Spiritual Materialization was advanced knowledge that only second-rank Wizards had the qualification to even touch upon!!!
Spiritual Power was formless and invisible. The dazzling spells Lei Lin had seen swirling around Wizards before were actually manifestations of various energy particles in the air, while Spiritual Power—the leader and catalyst behind them all—could never be observed with the naked eye.
But once a Wizard reached the second-rank level, they could pull Spiritual Power directly from the Sea of Consciousness into the material world and give it the most basic particle form, visible even to an ordinary person!!!
This materialized Spiritual Power was absolutely devastating against any Wizard below the second rank, like smashing stone against eggs—it never failed!!!
After all, a Wizard with materialized Spiritual Power possessed a degree of cohesion that far surpassed the first rank. Against a first-rank Wizard, it was like throwing stones at paper—the fragile Spiritual Power of a first-rank Wizard simply could not withstand the assault of a second-rank Wizard's Spiritual Power, which was precisely why the gap between the two ranks was so vast.
And the silver light ribbons that the shadow Gegewu had used earlier were, in essence, materialized Spiritual Power manifested in the physical world!
"A second-rank Wizard? I never thought that those contingency plans I had the Chip prepare, just in case, would actually have to be used…" Lei Lin's mind raced as he turned to stare at the old witch.
"Now, can you tell me the truth?" Lei Lin's voice was very low, as though he had lost all his will to fight. "After all, we're still allies!"
"Besides the agreed-upon potion crafting ratios and the non-disclosure clause, our alliance pact doesn't include any provision against harming each other!"
The old witch's body was still trembling, as if she might collapse dead at any moment, yet her spirit was extremely animated—even a few traces of color had returned to her face.
"For Jay, I'm willing to do anything, let alone sacrifice an ill-intentioned ally like you?"
"Jay! Your daughter?" Lei Lin was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the black-robed figure, Jay.
Jay nodded and removed the black robe.
What appeared before Lei Lin was a semi-transparent female phantom—a very young and beautiful girl. From her face, one could still faintly traces of what the old witch had looked like in her youth.
"A spirit body?" Lei Lin was stunned again, only then recalling that throughout the journey, Jay had barely spoken a word, and had always worn thick gloves on both hands. There must have been other secret techniques involved as well, which was why Lei Lin and Copper Ring, who had been with Jay the entire time, had never noticed anything unusual.
"My poor daughter permanently lost her body in an experimental accident. All I can do is continuously pour Soul Power into her, to extend the time she can remain in this world…"
The old witch's eyes grew unfocused, as though she had sunk into a memory.
"Although Jay is dead, I have never given up hope of bringing her back to life! By a stroke of fate, I recalled a portion of information from the ancient Soul Slaughter Sect that I obtained in my youth. Their spirit body transformation technique can absolutely bring my daughter back to life and restore her a physical body!"
"So you've been collecting souls while continuously trying to unseal this Gegewu?"
Raylin asked coldly.
"That's right!" The old witch admitted freely. "And I have your potion to thank for it. Otherwise, Jay's soul wouldn't have grown strong enough to withstand the power of the transformation..."
It seemed that the old witch had used every last drop of
And it was precisely because of this that she had been elevated from an ordinary spirit body to the level of an official Wizard.
"Furthermore, to summon Gegewu and revive Jay, several conditions must be met simultaneously!" Having successfully executed a scheme decades in the making, the old witch was visibly eager to talk.
And even the dark shadow of Gegewu standing to the side, for reasons unknown, remained motionless, allowing the old witch to continue.
"To summon Gegewu, the 'key' to the opening must be an official Wizard, and there are strict requirements for soul talent and physical constitution. The sacrifice needed to revive Jay must meet similar criteria... Do you have any idea how long I waited to track down the two of you as sacrifices?"
The old witch's face contorted with madness, and without waiting for Raylin to respond, she roared hysterically: "Fifty-three years! To fulfill all these conditions, I waited a full fifty-three years!!!"
"In those fifty-three years, how much suffering did my dear Jay endure... wuu wuu..."
As the old witch grew emotional, tears splashed from her eyes, while Jay stood silently to the side.
"But all my efforts have been worth it! Now, my darling daughter Jay is about to be revived!!!"
Raylin listened quietly. Now everything was clear.
As for the role of being sacrificed — himself and Tong Huan — he felt no anger about it.
He had never considered himself some favored child of the heavens, blessed with fortune wherever he went, turning every disaster into a blessing.
Since he could scheme against others, others could certainly scheme against him.
And all he could do was think things through in advance, do his best at every step, and avoid being schemed against and used by others.
"Great Gegewu, according to the rules of exchange, I offer you this Wizard as a sacrifice. In return, I ask that you restore my daughter's body..."
The old witch panted heavily as she placed several bizarre items upon the altar and spoke her request.
"Exchange completed!!!"
From beneath the skeleton mask of the dark shadow, Raylin thought he caught a glimmer of mockery.
While the old witch sprawled on the ground and Jay stood nearby, his mind somewhat dazed, neither noticed this fact.
"Though I'd very much like to stay and watch this little show, I'm afraid I can't!!"
Facing the giant hand Gegewu had seized, Raylin simply smiled.