Chapter 231 – What Do You Take Humanity For!

The Assistant Priest was preparing to take action, and even though the others harbored concerns, there was nothing they could do.

In the Cult, those in power controlled everything.

However, what the arrogant Assistant Priest failed to notice was that while he was maliciously staring at Mu Lin, crimson Poppy Flowers were also glaring intently at them.

Manjusaka!

Mu Lin had not merely been wandering through the Withered Wood Forest all this time.

He had scattered numerous seeds of the Other Shore Flower, planting them upon those eerie Deadwood.

Though the Deadwood was saturated with an aura of death, capable of suppressing the Mana and Qi and Blood of Qi Refiners, leading all things toward demise, Manjusaka was the flower of death itself. It could feed on life, luring people to their end, or absorb death to accelerate its own growth.

When planting the Manjusaka, Mu Lin had initially intended only to leave markers, hoping to navigate his way out of this ghostly labyrinth.

Unexpectedly, he stumbled upon an unforeseen discovery.

“Sacrifice, Lord of Desolation… So the Calamity here isn’t a naturally formed anomalous land, but man-made?”

This revelation surpassed Mu Lin’s expectations and filled his eyes with killing intent.

Gazing at the corpses hanging from the trees, especially upon discovering that among them were children under the age of ten, the murderous rage in Mu Lin’s heart became uncontrollable.

“What do you take humans for!”

As a human being, witnessing these aberrations treating people like cattle to be slaughtered ignited an extreme fury within him, compelling him to act.

And upon confirming that these individuals, upon seeing him, not only showed no intention of fleeing but were instead preparing to attack, Mu Lin mentally sentenced them to death.

“You have brought this upon yourselves!”

“Kill!”

With his decision made, Mu Lin held back no longer and did not wait for the Cultists to strike first.

True to his decisive nature, he took the initiative and issued the command to attack.

“Crack…”

Following his order, Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers no longer merely traversed the Withered Wood Forest but began wielding their blades to hack at the surrounding trees.

This action immediately drew a scornful laugh from the Cultists who had been tailing them.

“Fools, our Sacred Tree is no ordinary thing that can be harmed…”

“Screech!”

The Deadwood was anomalous, possessing potent suppression and curse abilities. Ordinary blades striking it would not only fail to damage the wood but would instead injure and weaken the wielder.

Even the weapons themselves would be corroded by the Deadwood’s eerie power.

However, while the Deadwood was dangerous and strange, Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers were no weaklings either.

Recognized by the will of the Human Dao, they were part of the Underworld Nether Bureaucracy and possessed a special advantage against evil entities like demonic monsters.

As the saying goes, countering trumps all, and specialized attacks can topple gods.

This overwhelming countering ability meant that with a single slash from a Netherworld Soldier, the Deadwood was immediately wounded.

This sight defied the Cultist’s expectations and filled him with intense anguish.

“Bastards! How dare you wound our Sacred Tree! You will all die!”

The enraged Cultist’s fury stemmed not from any reverence for the Sacred Tree, but because cultivating the Deadwood was their duty. For every tree Mu Lin injured, they would have to labor extensively to revive it, hence their outrage.

Nevertheless, even in their anger, these individuals felt not the slightest fear toward Mu Lin.

They did not believe Mu Lin could win and consistently regarded him as nothing more than a minor nuisance.

Their earlier hesitation had merely been to avoid provoking the Aristocratic Families.

This line of thinking wasn’t entirely born of arrogance, but rather from their confidence in this Withered Wood Forest.

And the facts… proved them right.

“Woo woo woo…”

Mu Lin’s aggressive assault was like poking a hornet’s nest. The wounded trees immediately began to bleed crimson, staining their trunks a deep red.

At the same time, countless overlapping faces of Malevolent Ghosts appeared on the tree trunks, screaming desperately.

“Wail!!”

The piercing, shrill shrieks were maddening, causing dizziness and disorientation.

What was even more terrifying was that these screams weren’t just coming from the wounded trees; the surrounding trees also began to wail incessantly.

Hundreds, thousands of withered wooden faces shrieking in unison turned this place into a veritable den of demons. The layered, overlapping cries of agony could drive a person completely insane.

At this moment, Lin Qi and Fox Spirit Bai Zhi, protected at the very center by the Netherworld Soldiers, were suffering immensely. The unending, demonic wails pouring into their ears contorted their faces with agony, leaving them deathly pale.

Outside the Withered Wood Forest, Hua Xingyu, who hadn’t entered because he had no close friends or family trapped inside, also paled. Even from a distance, the chaotic demonic noise unsettled him, affecting his Divine Soul and destabilizing his Mana aura.

Realizing this, a visibly shaken Hua Xingyu immediately retreated into the distance, not stopping until he was a kilometer away. Only when the influence of the demonic wails weakened did he look back at the Withered Wood Forest, his gaze now filled with concern.

After all, they weren’t enemies. In this perilous place, their human conscience made them unwilling to see Mu Lin and the others fall into danger.

“Brother Hua, do you think Brother Mu can win?”

“Difficult… Destroying the Withered Wood Forest is probably impossible. This place is too dangerous.”

As he spoke, Hua Xingyu shuddered violently. Clearly, his earlier experience had left him with a deep-seated fear of this forest.

However, while he didn’t believe Mu Lin could destroy the Withered Wood Forest, he was confident in his ability to escape.

“But, while destruction might be impossible, Mu Lin is very strong. If he wants to flee, no one should be able to stop him.”

Since they themselves had managed to escape, after some deduction, Hua Xingyu felt Mu Lin had a good chance of getting out.

However, while he thought this way, the Assistant Priest and others, alerted by the anomaly in the Withered Wood Forest, did not share his opinion.

“Last time, we didn’t pay attention to those rats, nor did we fully activate the Withered Wood Forest. That’s why a few of them got lucky and escaped. Now, your foolish actions have thoroughly enraged the Sacred Tree. This time, none of you will escape!”

The vicious Assistant Priest wanted to see Mu Lin and the others panic and flee in disarray.

But soon, his expression changed.

The chaotic, overlapping demonic wails emanating from the withered trees were indeed terrifying to the extreme. Even these Cultists couldn’t endure them and could only watch from afar.

Yet, such demonic noise seemed to have absolutely no effect on Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers.

“This is impossible!”

He refused to believe it. However, what happened next forced him to believe, even against his will.

Amidst the cacophony of thousands of demonic wails, Mu Lin’s hundreds of Yin Soldiers remained completely unaffected. Wielding Longswords, broadswords, and Spears, they transformed into lumberjacks, hacking and slashing at the withered trees.

“Crack!””Crack!””Crack!”

With each swing of the long saber, one withered tree after another was felled.

The hundred or so Ghost Messengers were no less formidable. Though they did not wield longswords, the Soul-Binding Chains in their hands were swung like whips, striking fiercely against the twisted, grotesque faces on the trunks of the withered trees.

“Smack!”

“Wail!!”

The full-force strikes caused the large faces on the withered trees to let out agonized cries once more.

But this time, even from a distance, the Assistant Priest among the Cultists could sense that the wails from the withered trees were no longer filled with anger and greed, but with pain—genuine, piercing shrieks of agony.

Merely hearing such cries made the Assistant Priest shudder, as if he were experiencing the pain of the withered tree faces firsthand—a pain a hundred times more intense than broken limbs or having nails torn out.

This was to be expected.

The Ghost Messengers’ Soul-Binding Chains were never meant to harm the body; they struck at the Divine Soul.

Few could endure such direct, soul-rending pain—not even demonic monsters or Malevolent Ghosts.

Otherwise, the myriad demonic monsters and endless hordes of ghosts would not tremble at the mere mention of the Netherworld.

“Smack!””Smack!””Smack!”

Violent cracking sounds echoed one after another through the Withered Wood Forest, the powerful strikes causing the withered tree faces to wail incessantly.

In the end, some of the Malevolent Ghost faces on the withered trees were even beaten to death by the Ghost Messengers’ Soul-Binding Chains.

As the Malevolent Ghost faces dissipated, the mystical properties of the withered trees faded significantly.

“Crack!””Smack!”

Thus, Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers set to work felling trees in the Withered Wood Forest.

In a short time, Mu Lin had cleared a large open space in this forest.

This sight drove the Assistant Priest to utter madness.

“Impossible! How can you harm the Sacred Tree? Why aren’t you affected by the weeping and wailing?”

They could not comprehend the scene before them, but Mu Lin remained calm.

How did they attack? Naturally, it was due to the Netherworld Soldiers’ specialized effectiveness against withered trees.

As for being unaffected by the wailing, it was because of the Transcendence Trait.

Derived from an invincible will, this trait allowed Mu Lin’s Divine Soul to maintain supreme rationality and transcendence, rendering him immune to most negative mental influences.

The chaotic, demonic sounds were, in essence, a form of negative mental state—capable of causing distraction, agitation, and even the shattering of the Divine Soul.

Unfortunately, Mu Lin’s already formidable Divine Soul, combined with the Transcendence Trait, allowed him to ignore such effects.

Moreover, since the Netherworld Soldiers were an extension of Mu Lin’s abilities, easily linked to him and bolstered by his power, his subordinates were also unaffected.

…

“Cut down every last one of these withered trees!”

Unaffected by the disturbances, Mu Lin acted with even greater audacity.

At his command, the Netherworld Soldiers grew even more frenzied, felling withered trees and shattering ghostly faces one after another.

This sight pushed the Assistant Priest into a state of desperation.

This was the place where the Servants of the Gods were being nurtured. Now, before the Servants of the Gods had fully matured, if all the withered trees here were cut down, he would be finished.

The lethal crisis filled the Assistant Priest with overwhelming regret.

“Damn it, I shouldn’t have provoked this guy…”

And after regret, what remained for the Assistant Priest was sheer madness.

“All of you, attack together! If we don’t kill him, we’ll all die! Destroying the descent of the Servants of the Gods—the High Priest will never forgive us. By then, our fate will likely be worse than death!”

Driven by the threat of death, the numerous Cultists could only endure the torment of the demonic sounds flooding their ears as they closed in on Mu Lin.

Simultaneously, the dark Withered Wood Forest also sensed the impending crisis of annihilation. Under such circumstances, it too employed every means at its disposal.

“Woo woo woo…”

Amidst the mournful wails, the many desiccated corpses hanging from the withered trees began to sway.

Then, these dead bones rose again like undead, stiffly charging toward Mu Lin.

Not only from the branches—beneath the roots of the withered trees, countless bones were buried. Now, these remains were also awakened.

Clawing through the soil and emerging from beneath the ground, these monsters, after a moment of confusion, also charged toward Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers.

The Assistant Priest had caused the deaths of thousands of people. With so many bones emerging, Mu Lin found himself outnumbered.

Besides the bones and demonic sounds, the withered trees continuously swayed their branches, activating their ability as hanging ghosts, attempting to strangle all of Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers on the withered branches.

“Hum!”

Naturally, they did not succeed.

Having completely torn off all pretense, Mu Lin also went all out.

He ordered the Netherworld Soldiers to form the Celestial Fortress Array.

“Boom!”

Once the grand array was formed, the numerous Netherworld Soldiers moved as one.

The hanging ghost ability of the withered trees, when directed at one person, now targeted everyone. Gathered together, the Netherworld Soldiers were like a fortress—solid, resilient. Under such circumstances, the withered trees had no power to hang Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers.

However, though the hanging ghost ability was useless, the massive horde of bones surged forward, engaging in battle with Mu Lin’s Netherworld Soldiers.

“Kill!”

A fierce war erupted within the Withered Wood Forest.

As the battle commenced, the Cultists also surged forward.

Of course, fearing death, they did not approach directly but hid behind the withered trees and bones, unleashing their attack Spells with all their might toward the withered trees and bones.

Yes, they were attacking the withered trees and bones.

This scene also stunned the Assistant Priest, who was preparing a Spell.

“Bastards, what are you doing? Have you gone mad?”

(End of Chapter)