Leilin was startled by the words and looked upward.
Without realizing it, their group had already reached the summit of White Bone Mountain.
At the top, the surroundings were completely empty. Only in the center of the peak stood a white altar.
Looking closer, one would find that the entire altar was constructed from white bones. The ripples emanating from those bones exceeded those of the First-level Wizards below — the sheer aura alone was enough to make Leilin feel suffocated.
On some of the wider bone surfaces, strange symbols were written in fresh blood.
These symbols were incredibly complex in their strokes, some resembling three-dimensional images. Leilin had never seen any of them before.
What struck him most was that despite these symbols having existed for over five thousand years, the blood on them remained vividly bright, as if it could drip down at any moment.
Moreover, some of the runes were arranged in peculiar formations, resembling a map.
Leilin studied them carefully and quickly spotted several places he had encountered within the secret realm. Wild excitement surged through his heart, and he immediately had the Chip record everything.
In the very center of the altar sat a peculiar white skeletal skull.
The skull resembled a human one in shape, except that two black, curved horns protruded from the cranium, like the pointed horns of a goat.
And between the two horns, there was a small circular hole whose purpose was unclear.
"Is this the Soul Altar you've been searching for all along?"
Leilin glanced toward the old witch, but she was now staring fixedly at the altar, muttering words he couldn't understand, seemingly having forgotten everyone around her entirely.
What surprised Leilin even more was Jay beside her — even beneath the concealment of the black great cloak, he could feel the trembling of her body underneath.
This discovery worried Leilin, and the unease inside him began to intensify rapidly.
"It's here, it's right here... my dear, soon I will be able to let you..."
The old witch kept murmuring, then pulled out something that looked like a torn page of parchment and hurled it onto the altar.
At the same moment, Jay, who had been trembling to the side, suddenly made her move!
Densely packed, pale-blue translucent threads — like an inescapable net — descended from above, hurtling toward Leilin. The surrounding air let out a faint, piercing shriek, and even the scenery of the void appeared to waver.
"What are you doing?"
Leilin roared, but his face showed little real emotion.
Clearly, he had anticipated something like this would happen and had come prepared.
Boom!
Leilin's hair exploded outward — countless black strands, as if come alive, writhing to meet the cyan net descending upon him.
Hssss!
The moment the pale-blue translucent net entangled with the black hair strands, a massive plume of white vapor erupted, accompanied by the constant sound of material being corroded, cracking through the air.
Using his hair as a shield, Leilin's figure flickered and he was already over a dozen meters away from his original position.
"Madori Defense Formation!"
Jay in her black robe had long known Leilin's strength far surpassed hers — her earlier attack had only been a bid to buy time.
While Leilin had been entangled with the giant net, Jay had already circled the Soul Altar and laid down a ring of defensive magical formations!
"Activate!"
At Jay's command, a semi-transparent black barrier of light rose from around the Soul Altar, shielding the entire altar along with Jay and the old witch inside.
"Shadow Fireball!"
A flash of dark light crossed Leilin's eyes as countless black fireballs burst from every shadow, hurtling toward the black barrier!
Rumble!
The countless black fireballs converged, their volume suddenly swelling to more than tenfold. Empowered by Leilin's spiritual element transformation at seventy percent, their destructive force reached truly terrifying levels.
An ordinary
The black flames spread, and although Jay inside the barrier was struggling with all her might, the defensive formation kept trembling, as if it might breach at any moment.
But Jay inside remained calm, murmuring what seemed to be incantations.
Hummm!
From the base of the altar, a ring of black luminescence blazed to life and flowed into the defensive magical array.
Crash!
Once that ring of light joined in, the entire defensive magical array surged with power. The black intensified to such density that the figures inside could barely be seen.
The Shadow Fireballs outside blazed fiercely against the barrier for another ten-odd seconds.
But against the now extraordinarily tenacious magical array, they ultimately dissipated.
"This..."
Seeing that Jay appeared able to draw on the power within this laboratory, Leilin instinctively retreated several more steps.
The old witch had definitely concealed a great deal of information from him. Recalling the Soul Burst she had used earlier — identical to that of the Grudge Spirit Abomination — Leilin was now certain the old witch had discovered this ruin far longer ago than she claimed, and had already reaped considerable benefits within.
"Give up! This is the very core of the entire secret realm. Once some of its power has been harnessed, unless your strength is great enough to shatter the whole secret realm in an instant, breaking through this defensive magical array is impossible..."
From within the black barrier, Jay's voice came through flatly, but her eyes held little joy. She barely looked at Leilin; instead, she gazed toward the old witch with a worried expression, her gaze laden with an extremely complex mixture — anticipation, happiness, and... lingering dread!
The pale-yellow parchment fragment, upon contacting the altar, began to burn from its edges.
The flames were pale-yellow and incredibly pure. At first no larger than a soybean, they slowly spread across the entire parchment, shifting to a pale blue.
At the same time, the entire altar seemed to come alive, beginning to tremble.
Furthermore, vivid red blood began seeping from the crevices between the bones, and from the hollow eye sockets of many skulls, an obsidian-black glow started to emerge.
"Old witch! I strongly advise you to calm down... There is clearly a supremely powerful and evil creature imprisoned within this altar. I don't care what agreements you may have made with it before, but a lion does not negotiate with a hare..."
Outside the magical array, Leilin recalled his earlier experiences and hurriedly spoke up.
"Of course I know what's inside! I've known for one hundred and fifty-seven years! If not for its extraordinarily long slumber and the extremely demanding conditions for the summoning, I would have called it forth long ago... With it, I could..."
The muscles on the old witch's face twisted one by one, her expression manic, gesticulating wildly as she spoke.
This only confirmed how deeply connected she was to this ruin.
"Think carefully. This is an evolved form that burst forth from the Grudge Spirit Abomination — far more evil and maddened. There's no way you could control it..."
As Leilin spoke, he had already moved away from his original position, arriving back at the path they had taken up the mountain. A ring of black energy particles hovered around his legs.
" Its evil! I know it far better than you! Although I cannot control it, I understand its creation process inside and out. As long as I offer sufficient sacrifices and harness the power of this entire Soul Altar, I can fully..."
The old witch's eyes burned with fanaticism. She spread her arms wide and shouted: "Come forth! Gathering of grudges, master of soul and flesh! His Supreme Majesty, Gegewu!"
"Gegewu?!"
Leilin's heart jolted.
Before coming here, he had studied many texts related to the Soul-Slaying Cult and naturally knew that Gegewu was one of the entities worshipped by the ancient cult.
They believed that spirits were the ultimate fate of all things in the world, and Gegewu was the ruler of all spirits!
Clearly, this was where the ancient Soul-Slaying Cult had once cultivated a fully formed Gegewu! But for reasons unknown, this Gegewu had ultimately been sealed away here by the cult's Wizards.
The old witch, evidently, had obtained fragments of the Soul-Slaying Cult's legacy, gained considerable benefits within this secret realm, and had been working tirelessly to unseal the Gegewu.
Leilin now felt he had pieced together the full picture of what had transpired.
At the same time, a black glow flashed at his feet. Wrapped in energy particles, his figure reached its maximum speed and vanished from the mountaintop in an instant.
Though he didn't know why the old witch had lured him and Tonghuan here, it was obviously nothing good!
Leilin felt the best course was to retreat as quickly as possible.
Once outside this secret realm, even if the old witch and Jay attacked together, Leilin was confident he could handle them.
"A clever move, but it's already too late..."
Jay beside him seemed to let out a low sigh.
By now, the parchment on the altar had burned away entirely. At the old witch's call, wisps of black gas continuously seeped from the crevices of the altar's white bones.
Hummm!
As if an ancient demon lord had awakened once more.
A heart-stopping aura of primordial power suddenly descended upon the entire White Bone Mountain.
Cold. Malevolent!
Leilin felt as though he had been transported back to his childhood — powerless and surrounded by a whole pack of Scavenging Wolves.
The sensation that his life could be snatched away at any moment was something he utterly despised.
As this aura leaked forth, the entire secret realm began to tremble.
The masses of black gas converged, slowly fusing and solidifying, forming a colossal semi-transparent phantom figure.
The demonic skull from the altar was now worn on the phantom's face like a mask, and the two pairs of blazing red eyes on the dark figure's face swept across the Wizards present as though regarding mere ants.
Leilin's heart went hollow, and his whole body grew weak.
Scree!
The dark figure howled at the sky.
Amid the tremendous sound waves, the black defensive magical array that had previously blocked Leilin collapsed instantly. The massive gust of air flung the old witch and Jay to the side.
Pfft!
As the old witch was sent flying, great mouthfuls of blood burst from her like a gushing spring.