Chapter 254: The War Treant Declares War on You

"You're truly... a genius..." Negrilis gazed at the withered witch heart inside the soul casket, then at the concentrated essence-worm ash fluid in Ange's hand, and couldn't help but sigh.

Worm ash is an incredibly miraculous fertilizer; the essence-worm ash fluid purified with holy water can revive dead matter, restoring it with the properties of living things.

By refining it with the Spot-Removing Spell and reducing three bowls to one, it becomes concentrated essence-worm ash fluid.

Concentrated essence-worm ash fluid can not only reverse a life sacrifice and bring Ouk back to life, but also cause dead matter to grow—repairing rotten teeth and making them regrow.

And the witch heart within the soul casket is now dead beyond any possibility of revival.

If that were all, it wouldn't be enough to astonish Negrilis—after all, the most important thing for undead is memory; turning into a pile of bones, even if the bones bloomed like flowers, would be useless—reviving it would only create a new skeleton.

But this is specifically a witch, and specifically a soul casket.

A witch's soul casket is crafted as a backup, designed to enable rebirth after the soul perishes—Lan of the Ice City revived herself using a soul casket.

Not every witch can possess such a thing; only those who are wealthy, powerful, and strong enough can afford and have the ability to forge a soul casket.

Clearly, Lan's former identity was no ordinary one.

Unfortunately, she was burned to death by the Church wrapped in holy shrouds, losing all her memories and forgetting who she was entirely.

Du Luo Ken's soul casket has no shroud on it; if the soul casket revives, he will be the complete Du Luo Ken.

It's just so fortuitous—across all planes, only Ange can revive Du Luo Ken; even other gods would be useless.

But what astonished Negrilis wasn't that Ange could do it—it was that Ange realized he "could do it" so quickly. Even Negrilis, the God of Knowledge, hadn't dared to consider it; yet Ange thought of it immediately—what else could this be but genius?

Of course he's a genius; otherwise, it would make Negrilis look stupid—not thinking of this? Kua Ba Da.

A few drops of concentrated essence-worm ash fluid dripped down, and the dried, shrunken heart slowly unfurled like a resurrection fern absorbing water.

When it unfurled to two-thirds, Negrilis pulled out the Gold-Pointing Rod and tapped it against the scattered metal parts.

As if an invisible hand gripped each part, they flew one by one onto the heart, precisely slotting back into their original positions.

Behind them, Lamor exclaimed: "Isn't that Master Du Luo Ken's Gold-Pointing Rod? How did it end up in your hands? Master Du Luo Ken used to sigh constantly that he hadn't brought the full Gold-Pointing Set—otherwise, with the materials in his cloak, he might have forged a device capable of teleportation."

"Materials in the cloak? Materials in the cloak? Isn't the cloak just for showing off?" Negrilis asked, then casually pulled out the Gold-Pointing Cloak.

Holding it by both ends and shaking it, nothing changed—the cloak bore inscriptions, but clearly not spatial ones; how could it hold anything?

The Gold-Pointing Set: the Gold-Pointing Rod and the Soul-Eating Hat were useful, but the cloak wasn't—Negrilis had always assumed it was just for show.

"Of course not—the cloak is also in your hands. Where did you find the Soul-Eating Hat?" Lamor asked.

Negrilis replied offhandedly: "I raided Du Luo Ken's palace. Found it there."

Then he pulled out the Soul-Eating Hat: "How do you use it?"

"..." Lamor fell silent, looking at it helplessly.

Seeing he wouldn't speak, Negrilis urged: "Speak!"

"It's not good—if Master Du Luo Ken wakes up..." Lamor hesitated.

"So what if he wakes up? I'll charge him anyway. Isn't the Gold-Pointing Set enough for resurrection fees?"

"Whether you charge him is none of my business. If I tell you how to use it, he'll come after me when he wakes."

"If you don't tell me, he'll still come after you—we'll say you sabotaged the resurrection and left him missing an arm or leg."

"... y lord, you're ruthless. Cover the hat with the cloak, then reach into the hat—and that activates the space inside." Lamor said.

Negrilis was stunned—such a clever combination? No wonder I couldn't find it. No wonder it's called the Gold-Pointing Set—it only activates fully when assembled together.

Negrilis quickly covered the hat with the cloak, then reached in... arms too short—he shoved his whole head inside and started pulling out items one by one.

After pulling out a few things, Ange suddenly erupted with a surge of psychic energy—Ange himself was shaken, and countless residual thoughts flooded into his soul.

"We're doomed—the spatial turbulence damage is too severe. The soul casket is going to shatter."

"What do we do? So embarrassing—will we be killed by spatial turbulence? What do we do? Those bastards outside will laugh themselves to death."

"Forget it, trick them—say the death aura has dried up, temporarily delay resurrection, and wake me when we leave."

"We probably can't leave—the soul link with Your Majesty has been severed. Looks like Your Majesty failed, so he abandoned the soul network to keep us from being buried with him."

"Too bad we didn't grab the Gold-Pointing Set—the space inside still holds materials for a spatial gate. Assemble it and it'll work—directly connecting to the World Transit Station."

"The grave's too ugly, absolutely not beautiful. When I built the palace, I should've used leftover scraps to fix up the tomb."

"I really want to sing—but singing in a graveyard is too terrifying..."

"Lamor's crying again—he's got insomnia, and now everyone else can't sleep..."

"..."

The burst residual thoughts were clinging to the heart—when Ange restored it to pulsing life, all the residual thoughts exploded at once.

The information inside was chaotic, everything: complaints, ramblings, grievances—Ange noted down only the valuable memories.

Inside the soul casket, a living heart beat rhythmically—contracting to its extreme, then instantly relaxing, as if pulsing.

A single heart, without blood flow, was pale yellowish-white, like fascia.

Each tiny embedded part released faint vibrations with every beat.

Ange held the soul casket and turned to look at Negrilis, his expression blank—now that the soul casket was restored, what next?

"Two options," Negrilis said. "Either find a place saturated with death aura, place the soul casket there, and in one or two years, a body will grow from it. Or find a corpse, insert the heart, and within days, it will fuse with the corpse to become a new witch."

Ange glanced back into the Palace of Rest—the death fluid soaking Bone Lock was nearly gone; otherwise, tossing the heart in there would've been perfect.

Forget it—set it aside for now. Figure it out later.

Placing Du Luo Ken's soul casket beside Bone Lock, Ange turned and told Negrilis the information he'd gleaned from the residual thoughts.

"Spatial gate materials? These?" Negrilis stretched his neck again, reached into the Gold-Pointing Set's space, and pulled out several items.

One or two pieces meant nothing—but when all were laid out on the ground, Ange instantly recognized them: "Glowing archway."

This so-called spatial gate was precisely the faintly glowing archway Ange had seen when he first left the Palace of Rest—so it was a spatial gate?

The Palace of Rest contained several such spatial gates—all leading to the World Transit Station, but only activated once the World Transit Station was turned on.

Fortunately, Du Luo Ken hadn't taken the Gold-Pointing Set—otherwise, building the spatial gate would've been even more hopeless, because the World Transit Station only operated briefly after Ange entered the control room; without Purple Bone's luck, one would never have encountered it.

But Ange won't have this problem—he merely needs to think, and someone will activate the World Transit Station on the other side of the Abyss. Now, he just needs to assemble the spatial gate here.

Negrilis picked up the Gold-Pointing Rod.

The Gold-Pointing Rod was indeed an incredibly useful alchemical tool—especially when assembling Du Luo Ken's inventions. Negrilis didn't even need to think; just channel magic and randomly tap—the rod contained records of these devices and could operate fully automatically.

For anything not created by Du Luo Ken, Negrilis had to rely on his own cleverness—but either way, it was still far more efficient than working bare-handed.

Soon, the spatial gate was assembled. Through the soul link, Negrilis commanded the World Transit Station to activate—the archway glowed faintly.

Lamor excitedly rushed toward the archway, but Negrilis immediately blocked him.

"Wait a moment, Lamor—there's something we need to clarify. This one," Negrilis pointed at Ange, "is not Lock."

Lamor looked from Ange to Negrilis, confused.

Negrilis gestured everyone to gather before the archway—including the shrunken great cat—ensuring everyone could escape into the archway before Lamor and the dozen Night Watchers, plus twenty thousand undead, went berserk, then boldly spoke:

"Ange, remove your hat, raise your right hand, reveal your divine essence."

Ange did as told—removed his hat, raised his Lock Hand, revealing the Undead Divine Essence.

"This is Ange. He is not Lock. But he inherited Lock's power, and Your Majesty's Undead Divine Essence. Now, you have two choices: re-surrender your souls to the Undead God, or stay here—we'll find a way to bring in more death fluid so your souls won't continue to wither."

Negrilis would never allow these uncontrolled undead to enter the Abyss of Rest—among them, including Lamor, were thirteen Night Watchers, each possessing Mage-level power.

The one Ange killed in the Realm of Despair was an undead mage; Lamor and these others each possessed power equal to that undead mage.

Beyond them, there were twenty thousand undead.

The undead who had survived until now, without perishing, were the most resilient souls among millions—elite among elites. There were over a hundred golden skeletons alone.

Due to the withering death aura, their current state was poor and weak—but once they left here, especially upon reaching the Abyss of Rest, under the nourishment of the Resting Wind, they would rapidly become a terrifying force. Without control, they could easily dismantle the Abyss of Rest.

Familiar or not, Negrilis would never let an uncontrolled force enter the Abyss of Rest.

Lamor stared blankly at Ange's purple-gold arm and the revealed Undead Divine Essence, incredulous: "Did you kill Your Majesty and Lock?"

Negrilis collapsed onto the ground, screaming in frustration: "Of course not! How could we kill Your Majesty and Lock? Are you insane?"

"Then good, good—then how did you get the Divine Essence?" Lamor asked again.

The other Night Watchers gathered around, postures tense—the previous harmonious atmosphere had vanished entirely.

"We obtained it in the Palace of Rest. Ange received the Divine Essence's recognition. Now, he is the new master of the Palace of Rest."

"Where is Your Majesty? Where is Lock? Where is the Grand Sage? Where is the Witch Lady?" Lamor asked rapidly.

"The Monarch is gone. Lock is dead. The Grand Sage is in the Realm of Despair. But who is the Witch Lady?" Negrilis replied honestly.

Lamor gave him a strange look: "Even if you once lost to the Witch Lady, you don't need to pretend you don't know her."

"What? I lost to a Witch Lady? When did I ever lose to a Witch Lady? What did I lose at? I don't remember anything!" Negrilis was baffled—where did this Witch Lady suddenly come from, and she beat him?

Lamor gave him an "I understand, I understand" expression, nodded, and moved past the topic: "We need to discuss this."

He turned and walked back, gathering with the others to confer.

Without that expression, it might've been fine—but with it, Negrilis exploded with rage. What did he mean? What did he understand? Understand...

Just as Negrilis was about to pounce and choke Lamor into explaining, a sudden flash of insight pierced Negrilis's soul: Could the memory of the Witch Lady be sealed, like the Monarch's name?

Lamor wouldn't fabricate a name just to mock him—what he said was likely real, but Negrilis couldn't recall it at all.

The most probable explanation: the memory of the Witch Lady was sealed—just like the Monarch's name.

The Palace of Rest had four subsidiary halls: Negrilis's own Brass Book Tower, Lock's palace, Du Luo Ken's palace—and one final one. But Negrilis couldn't remember who the last one belonged to.

According to this structure, the Undead Empire must have had another being on the same level as himself, Lock, and Du Luo Ken.

He'd assumed it might've been the Grand Sage—but it couldn't have been Harvey, because a thousand years ago, Harvey was still just a golden skeleton, unworthy of an independent subsidiary hall.

But now he realized—he couldn't recall who the last hall belonged to. Had his memory been sealed? Including the memory of this Witch Lady?

Negrilis grew anxious—Kua Ba Da! Not only the Monarch's name, but the Witch Lady's memory was sealed too? How much else had been sealed from him?

Lamor and the others quickly reached a decision: "My lord, I can surrender my soul to you—but you must take me away and deliver what I've seen to them. Only then will they make their final decision. If you deceive us, they will choose eternal slumber here."

As he spoke, a soul flame drifted from Lamor's body.

Passing through the spatial gate, the group appeared at the World Transit Station. Ange dropped Lamor off, letting him wander freely through the Abyss of Rest, then ordered the World Transit Station to activate again, teleporting directly to the main plane.

From the Abyss to the Prime Plane, Ang usually used the small teleportation array in Demon Valley, because activating the World Transit Station consumed too much energy and was too conspicuous.

Last time he activated it for just a moment, Zi Hai showed up; if he did it frequently, who knew how many people would discover it? Restarting the World Transit Station was a major event for many planes, as it might be their only channel to communicate with the outside world.

But now it was already running, so activating it once more wouldn't consume too much energy, and Ang decided not to bother going to Demon Valley.

Unfortunately, neither Negrilis nor Ang knew how many devices on the Prime Plane were monitoring dimensional teleportation, especially the intense fluctuations of a World Transit Station.

Back in Meishencheng, Lisa hurried over to report: "My lord, the elves' final compensation has arrived—a War Tree Person."

No sooner had Lisa finished speaking than Negrilis burst out: "Only one? What good is just one of those slow, clumsy War Tree People? Have the elves learned to cheat and deceive?"

No sooner had Negrilis finished than the ground trembled; a massive shadow slowly enveloped the spot where Negrilis and the others stood, and a deep voice descended from above, speaking slowly: "Who said you were slow and clumsy?"

Negrilis looked up and saw a hundred-meter-tall giant tree tilting toward them, its twisted branches forming a hand clutching a massive boulder, raised high in anger: "Damned Huang Tong, you have insulted me! The War Tree Person formally declares war upon you—take up your weapons!"