Chapter 168: Chapter 158: Accumulation 4
Suddenly, Lin Hui’s gaze swept over the ground the giant had trod on. He saw that the previously small, unremarkable rubble and white weeds had now become enormous.
He snapped to his senses.
He gazed up at the massive white foot stomping down once again.
Lin Hui held his breath, terrified of inhaling the white powder.
’One last try. If this doesn’t work, I have to retreat!’
SWOOSH!
He once again narrowly dodged the edge of the gigantic foot, but his speed was already at its limit.
After all, the boost from the gales had its limits, while the giant’s growth seemed endless.
This time, Lin Hui didn’t hesitate. Once he was out of its attack range, he decisively raised his sword and pointed it levelly at the creature.
An idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
’Sealed Spirit!’
He let out a low shout.
Instantly, the nine green crystals connecting his neck and shoulders flared with brilliant light.
The emerald fluorescence bathed him in a pale green light, tinting the entire area.
ZZZZT!!
In the next instant, nine emerald beams shot out from the Nine Eyes.
The beams, like ribbons, flew toward the Wailing Giant, wrapping around and binding it in the blink of an eye.
Soon, the green light began to harden, thickening and expanding to cover every inch of the giant’s skin.
ROAR!!!
Realizing something was wrong, the giant began to struggle.
BOOM!!
It slammed a fist into one of the green bands of light.
In the next instant, the pained and furious face of a Blood Rhinoceros flickered into view on the band’s surface, and faint cracks appeared on the light.
The giant struck the same spot again, trying to break free.
But the bands of light had already shifted like flowing water, and a different one took the blow.
BOOM!!
With another thunderous crash, cracks appeared once more, the savage, pained face of the Blood Rhinoceros flashing across the band’s surface.
Watching this, Lin Hui instantly understood the principle behind the Spirit-Sealing Array.
’So it uses the spirits I’ve previously sealed, combining all nine into an array to imprison an external foe?’
He watched the struggle between the Wailing Giant and the green light array. He saw the phantoms of monstrous faces appearing on the bands, one after another—a total of nine phantoms, each one a monster he had previously killed and absorbed.
’The Spirit-Sealing Array must have amplified the power of these spirits. Otherwise, they could never have withstood the attacks of a top-tier, high-threat monster like the Wailing Giant. It seems that unless it can shatter the combined power of the Nine Eyes array in a single blow, it will be relentlessly bound by the array’s power until it’s completely sealed.’
As the Wailing Giant was restrained, Lin Hui could feel the creature begin to shrink. At the same time, he felt himself growing larger, and the world around him slowly returned to its original state.
After about ten seconds, the Wailing Giant had shrunk down to the size of a normal person, roughly the same height as Lin Hui.
Then, it shrank again, abruptly.
POOF.
Completely enveloped in green light, it was compressed into a green crystal ball.
The sphere continued to shrink.
Lin Hui couldn’t comprehend how such a massive giant could be shrunk down to this size.
He watched, wide-eyed, as the watermelon-sized crystal ball shrank again, until it was no bigger than an insect’s eye, emitting a piercing green light.
Then, with a ZING, it shot toward him and flew precisely into the first crystal of the Nine Eyes on his shoulder.
The light dimmed, went out, and vanished.
Lin Hui’s vision blurred. In that instant, his entire surroundings changed.
He realized he was still standing in the exact spot where he had first seen the Wailing Giant, not having moved an inch.
And in the distant fog lay the massive, ten-meter-tall body of a white giant.
It lay motionless on its back. The small, emaciated figure on its head was like a desiccated corpse, no longer wailing.
It was as if it had died.
Haaa...
Lin Hui looked around.
There were no signs of a struggle anywhere, nor any trace of the strong winds that his swordsmanship always kicked up.
’It seems that from the moment I heard its wail, I was already caught in the monster’s Mental Attack... Everything that happened after that must have been an illusion...’
A chill ran down Lin Hui’s spine.
Only now did he truly understand the terrifying dominance a High Priest Level being held over those of lower levels...
’If I hadn’t had the Spirit-Sealing Array as a trump card, my only options would have been to find a chance to use my Typhoon Swordsmanship or attempt a Purgatory Transformation to escape...’
He stared at the Wailing Giant on the ground, his scalp tingling. For the first time, he felt a true, imminent sense of crisis.
If the Original Blood represented a vague, future threat, then the Wailing Giant was a lethal, High Priest Level crisis staring him right in the face.
’So, can the spirit of the Wailing Giant, now that it’s sealed, be used to power the array in the future?’
The thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Without hesitation, he drew his sword, flashed forward, and with a SQUELCH, plunged it precisely between the giant’s eyebrows.
The Ruyi Sword was incredibly sharp, and when combined with his Inner Strength, it should have been unstoppable. But this time, it felt like stabbing into an incredibly hard tree trunk; it only went in a dozen centimeters.
’Just as I thought. Its defense is absurdly high, just as the records stated. Even a High Priest can only lure it away, not kill it.’
Lin Hui stabbed at the same spot again and again with all his might.
SHINK SHINK SHINK SHINK!!
After hundreds of strikes, he finally managed to plunge the entire blade into its head.
But there was no reaction.
He glanced at the Nine Eyes on his shoulder.
Now that its power was spent, the nine crystals of the Nine Eyes had lost their green fluorescence, looking no different from ordinary crystals.
Only the first crystal had changed; after absorbing the sealed Wailing Giant, it had turned from green to white.
This seemed to represent the Wailing Giant’s overall color.
Confirming that it was useless, Lin Hui sighed. He began to rummage over the Wailing Giant’s body, hoping to salvage something of value.
Every one of these Fog Area monsters was a treasure trove, and the most valuable part of a Wailing Giant was its heart.
It was known as the "Wailing Heart," listed in the bestiary as an extremely rare antidote capable of neutralizing almost every known toxin. It was an incredibly expensive and precious Treasure Medicine on the market.
In terms of value, it was far superior to the Purple Cloud Ganoderma, the Yun Lingzhi, and even the Illusory Dragon Lotus.
After all, this was a top-tier, high-threat monster that only a High Priest could withstand. Anyone below that level, no matter how many of them there were, would just end up being squashed underfoot.
He quickly dug out the giant’s heart.
The entire giant’s body was over ten meters, but its heart was actually only the size of a walnut.
This was because the ten-meter-tall giant wasn’t its real body. The small, emaciated figure on its head was the Wailing Giant’s true form.
And the heart was carved from that small figure’s chest.
After tucking it into his pouch, Lin Hui glanced at the giant’s corpse with regret. ’If I could haul this back, its flesh would be a top-grade primary ingredient for corrosive poisons. It would fetch a high price...’
What a pity.
From his position, he was at least a hundred kilometers from the Fog Wall. It was simply impossible to drag it back.
With his strength, he had no choice but to give up....
’The Spirit-Sealing Array is incredibly useful. The strength of the spirits it stores determines the array’s final power. That means I need to seal the spirits of monsters at the very peak of my abilities. That’s the only way for the Nine Eyes to reach its maximum potential once it’s fully charged.’ Having confirmed this, Lin Hui wasted no more time. He activated his Body Technique and charged straight toward the horde of Purgatory-transformed monsters.
First, he would improve his constitution, and while he was at it, capture the spirits of Purgatory-transformed monsters. After all, monsters that had undergone Purgatory Transformation were generally much stronger than their original forms.
He had seen this with the goat from before.
An ordinary goat, after its Purgatory Transformation, had become frenzied and aggressive. Its strength had doubled, and its regenerative ability was astonishing.
As for whether the Purgatory Transformation could infect the giant’s corpse, he had already tested it. Only living things could be infected. The Wailing Giant, having lost its spirit, was now considered dead and couldn’t be.
In fact, he could now actively conceal his Purgatory Aura. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare use his Inner Strength so freely to attack things.
He could actually hide most of the physical traits of his Purgatory Transformation, except for his ears. As for his ears, he could control the growths covering them to retract, returning them to normal. It wasn’t difficult; it just required conscious effort.
He was also quite curious to see how much he would change after absorbing enough Purgatory flames.
At the same time, he worried about what would happen if the Purgatory Transformation went too far and he stopped looking human. He could only take it one step at a time. If he found any Purgatory traits that he couldn’t hide, he would have to stop immediately.
’First, I’ll go fill up the Nine Eyes!’
With a flicker, Lin Hui vanished, speeding through the thick fog and navigating the steep mountain terrain.
*
*
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「Directly opposite the main gate of Qingfeng Temple.」
At a small tea stall.
Two old men with graying hair and full beards sat there. They were dressed like any other old men in town, in gray robes with green sashes, their long hair held in place by bamboo coronets.
They sat facing each other, sipping slowly from a pot of hot tea and occasionally popping a few fried peanuts into their mouths. Their eyes kept drifting toward Qingfeng Temple.
"Those two Golden Threads still haven’t returned. I suspect something’s happened to them. It was just a probe. How could a mere Observatory Master Qingfeng cost two Golden Threads their lives? Is his Qingfeng Temple a deathtrap or something?" one of the old men, the one with the whitish eyes, transmitted his voice with Inner Strength, his lips unmoving.
"I feel it, too. Something’s not right. You think Liu Wu Jun could have made a move?" asked the other old man. His eyes were faintly dark. The two looked similar, like twins, their eye color the only discernible difference.
"If it really is him, what’s the plan? I have no desire to go back covered in injuries. That brat is ruthless and ridiculously talented. We couldn’t beat him before, and after more than two years, we stand even less of a chance now," the white-eyed old man said, annoyed.
"Me neither. I was planning a trip to the Jade Sea to catch ghost crabs for Xiaoling’Er. If I get injured here, that’s definitely not happening," the black-eyed old man sighed.
"I promised her I’d catch a nest of Five Wood Birds, too..." the white-eyed old man said, resigned.
The two fell silent. Both wanted to retreat, but they couldn’t just abandon the organization’s mission.
"How about this: we wait here for Observatory Master Qingfeng. We’ll give it five days. If no opportunity arises, we pull out. That should be enough to satisfy the organization. What do you say?"
"Deal." Both of them were High Priest-level experts. Even if they botched a mission, the worst they’d get was a reprimand and a loss of some internal contribution points. There wouldn’t be any major repercussions.
After all, at their level, the organization wouldn’t come down hard on them for something like this.
