Chapter 354

Ye Lin's expression was somewhat complex.

If he hadn't guessed wrong, these five characters must have been carved into his palm by Uncle Jiang with his fingernails when he was surrounded by the skin corpses.

At that time, Uncle Jiang must have known he wouldn't survive, and fearing that they wouldn't be able to find the Human Emperor Flag, he had fought with all his might to leave them some information.

Having obtained the useful information, Ye Lin raised his hand and swallowed the skin corpse directly, turning it into his own experience points.

Afterward, he buried Uncle Jiang on the spot, and as soon as dawn broke, he took Xia Qinglan and headed toward the North City.

Through questioning, Ye Lin learned from Xia Qinglan that there was only one tree in the North City that could be called an old locust tree.

It was a locust tree nearly a thousand years old, and right beneath the tree, there happened to be a small temple!

After brushing past countless existences, whether human or skin corpse, the two arrived at the North City, and from afar, Ye Lin spotted that old locust tree.

Even though it was daytime, the old locust tree with its twisted and intertwined branches still gave Ye Lin a chill.

The brown trunk was covered in mottled moss, and as the breeze blew, the leaves rustled, as if someone were whispering, or as if ghosts were weeping, adding a sense of eeriness.

Somehow, in a trance, Ye Lin seemed to see countless corpses hanging from the old locust tree, swaying in the wind, but they quickly vanished.

As they approached, a heavy sense of oppression pressed down on their hearts, and beneath the old locust tree stood a small temple half the height of a person, which had grown together with the tree roots.

The walls, which should have been red, had faded to a dark gray under the erosion of time, the temple door was half-open, and in front of it sat an incense burner covered in cobwebs and dust.

Seeing this temple, Ye Lin subconsciously began to scratch his head.

"What are you doing?" Xia Qinglan asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Oh, nothing, I've been playing games too much; whenever I see a temple, I want to pull out a hair and pay my respects."

Coming to his senses, Ye Lin felt a bit awkward and hurriedly changed the subject.

"The temple Uncle Jiang mentioned must be this one, right? Is the other half of the Human Emperor Flagpole beneath this temple?"

"It should be; Uncle Jiang didn't tell me, I'll go dig and see." Xia Qinglan stepped forward, wanting to take action.

"Don't rush, this tree and this temple don't seem that simple." Ye Lin frowned slightly.

"That's why I should be the one to dig; your strength is higher than mine, if there's any real danger, you'll still have time to save me, but if you get into danger, I might not be able to save you!"

Xia Qinglan's eyes were sincere, and she stepped forward to start searching for the Human Emperor Flagpole in the small temple.

Seeing that it wasn't inside the temple, she hugged the structure, attempting to pull the entire temple up by the roots.

But this small temple had long since grown together with the roots of the old locust tree; Xia Qinglan tried several times to no avail, and instead, it seemed to wake something up, as the old locust tree moved without wind, and then white locust flowers bloomed on the branches.

The moment the flowers bloomed, imperceptible pollen drifted down in abundance.

Ye Lin pulled Xia Qinglan away at the first opportunity, but it was inevitable that some pollen would land on them.

This pollen didn't give Ye Lin any uncomfortable feeling, but it caused the scene before his eyes to change!

Ye Lin's pupils shrank sharply; he saw that the old locust tree before him was actually hung with countless pale skins, which were swaying gently, emitting intense resentment.

Those skins seemed to be connected to the branches of the old locust tree, and vaguely, one could hear the old locust tree emitting low, painful wails.

Although those skins were eerie, they showed no intention of attacking the two of them.

"I think I know... where those skins that attacked Uncle Jiang came from..."

Ye Lin's scalp tingled; the old locust tree before him was clearly a giant skin corpse incubator!

All those skin corpses that hadn't found suitable hosts had parasitized this old locust tree, relying on sucking the life force of this old locust tree to survive.

It stood to reason that when Uncle Jiang hid the flagpole, it was daytime, so he could retreat safely, but he had come at night yesterday to retrieve the flagpole, which attracted the attention of the skins on the tree, leading to him being eaten and parasitized.

Although skin corpses can act during the day, their mobility is clearly not as good as in the dead of night.

Crack, crack, crack—following a series of eerie sounds, the old locust tree before them suddenly split open a gap.

In the middle of the gap, half a flagpole stood quietly; just looking at that flagpole made one feel the sound of gold and iron horses.

"It's the other half of the flagpole!" Ye Lin was overjoyed and stepped forward to take it, but at this moment, the trunk of the old locust tree slowly closed, swallowing that half of the flagpole once again.

"Xie Hong, it seems like this old locust tree wants us to help it." Xia Qinglan stated her speculation.

"Help it? Help it get rid of these skins on the tree?" Ye Lin frowned slightly.

"That should be it." Xia Qinglan wasn't too sure either.

At this moment, the branches of the old locust tree swayed up and down, as if nodding, which made Ye Lin's scalp tingle; the Demon Realm really is an eerie place, this old locust tree is probably already a monster!

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll help it solve it right now."

Ye Lin rubbed his hands; the skin corpses hanging on the old locust tree, at a rough glance, were dense and numerous, at least a hundred of them.

If these were to be awakened, their terrifying resentment would definitely be enough for Ye Lin to handle.

Therefore, the best way was to wipe them all out in one go!

"Forbidden Spell—Karma Fire Burning Heaven!"

Following Ye Lin's cordial greetings to the fire elements, purple-red eerie flames ignited from the ground, surging upward, enveloping the entire old locust tree and all the skins on it!

The blazing fire burned fiercely, and the trunk of the old locust tree, under the burning of the karma fire, emitted a crackling sound, and the painful, low wails from before suddenly became sharp!

And compared to the old locust tree, the skin corpses hanging on the tree were even more miserable; under the baptism of the karma fire, they began to curl and twist, and were quickly swallowed by the flames, turning into nothingness along with the resentment on them.

"Xie Hong, what are you doing?" Xia Qinglan's face was illuminated by the flickering firelight.

"It's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish; even if we help this old locust tree get rid of all the skin corpses parasitizing it today, it won't be long before new skin corpses parasitize it again."

"Since that's the case, it's better to solve it once and for all; I'll burn this old locust tree along with them. In this way, I guarantee that from now on, no skin corpses will ever parasitize this old locust tree again, and the old locust tree will never have to suffer the pain of skin corpse parasitism again."

"Is that reasonable?"

Ye Lin smiled nuclear-kindly.

"Um... uh..."

Xia Qinglan's brain couldn't quite keep up; she felt that what Ye Lin said seemed to have some logic, but it also seemed like something was wrong?

But one thing she was very clear about: if the old locust tree could be reborn, it would definitely rather die than ask Ye Lin for help again.