Chapter 114: Soul Box Equals a Power Bank

When the Lich moved, the temple trembled violently; illusory wailing spirits flew out, piercing the walls, their forms like pale female souls, eyes filled with endless resentment, mouths emitting shrill howls, hands like claws swooping down from mid‑air.

At the temple's main gate, seven or eight withered undead creatures surged out; from their tattered armor and weapons they were clearly transcendents in life, their corpses transformed by the Lich into corpse puppets.

In the sea of fire, the three reacted differently.

Luo Jie formed a seal with his hand, a faint aura manifested outside his body, easily blocking the flames; his silver long sword quivered, and both he and the sword became a phantom, cleaving the fire and charging straight at the Lich.

Zuo Er Tan kept a greater distance, leapt back several steps, exiting the fire's range, raised his soul spear and fired.

Bang bang bang!

The bullet struck the Lich accurately, but was blocked by a gray shield, failing to inflict immediate damage.

Lei En's aura manifested a layer of ice armor.

This is the war hammer's Secondary Ice Armor Technique, isolating the fire; he did not charge to attack the Lich, but stood his ground, channeling soul energy, locking onto Luo Jie's Dragon Power infusion.

The Lich's Mirror Image technique only serves to confuse and lacks genuine casting ability.

Lei En instantly saw through that the one on the left was the Lich's true body.

He was about to tell Luo Jie which was the true body, but saw Luo Jie dash left, clearly having recognized it as well.

Luo Jie's speed reached its limit, the legendary warrior's power fully unleashed, faster than Lei En's charge; in the blink of an eye he arrived before the Lich's true body.

The Lich hadn't anticipated this at all, forcibly halting a spell midway, its figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

Flash.

Luo Jie's silver sword missed, but swept forward, shattering the two Mirror Images, which dissolved like bubbles into phantom fragments.

He halted, turned his head, and saw the Lich flash onto the roof of a building outside the temple, passing directly over the three and moving closer to Zuo Er Tan.

"Legendary Demonkin hunter…"

The Lich let out a shriek, seemingly frightened, the flames in its eye sockets flaring wildly.

Zuo Er Tan heard the sound, turned and fired wildly at it.

Bullets burst against the Lich's shield; though they couldn't break it, they forced the Lich to retreat repeatedly, unable to concentrate on casting.

Luo Jie stepped forward to pursue, suddenly sensed something, looked up to see an illusory massive dragon head descending, a layer of colorful dragon scales appearing on its skin, its whole strength surging as if endless power.

He glanced at Lei En with mild surprise, gave a slight nod, raised his sword and rushed toward the Lich.

At that moment, five or six wailing spirits lunged forward, each semi‑transparent claw nearly landing on Lei En.

Boom—

A pale‑purple energy burst from Lei En's belt, a violent shockwave that pulverized the surrounding spirits, instantly clearing the area.

Lei En swung his war hammer, charging at the corpse puppets by the temple's gate.

The heavy war hammer whooshed through the air, smashing the foremost corpse puppet. The puppet was towering, clad in armor half rotted; it had likely been a Mid-stage Iron Guard in life, whose power plummeted after becoming a puppet. The hammer struck its head, shattering it instantly.

The chill from the hammer erupted, freezing all nearby corpse puppets.

Lei En's hammer hammered and swept, reducing the puppets to dust in two or three blows, clearing the obstructive undead.

Compared to the Lich itself, these wailing spirits and corpse puppets were feeble.

Lei En looked back and saw the Lich had shifted again, flashing onto the Ha Ma Er statue's top, daring not to desecrate the deity, it merely stood on the statue's shoulder.

The move instantly enraged Zuo Er Tan, who let out a roar.

The Lich, perched high, gazed down at Zuo Er Tan, casting "Evil Gaze"; Zuo Er Tan's body went numb instantly, as if petrified, only his eyes could move.

While Luo Jie hadn't yet reached him, the Lich swiftly flipped through the rune book in its hand, uttered a brief incantation, and a rotting aura spread from its feet, turning the statue and ground grayish, shrouding a vast area.

Decaying Land!

Zuo Er Tan, within the Decaying Land, felt a strand of ash‑white creep onto his face, his body wilting as life force drained rapidly.

After casting two spells in succession, Luo Jie had already arrived at his side.

The Demonkin hunter stepped onto the statue, his silver long sword igniting, the blade's light within arm's reach.

However, this time the Lich didn't use Flash to escape; instead it let out a sharp laugh, "Let's kill one first!"

Amid the frantic cries, Luo Jie's silver sword sliced the Lich's shield as easily as a hot knife through cheese, cutting into the Lich's body.

The Lich ignored it, a gray‑white ray firing from the tip of its staff, targeting the immobilized Zuo Er Tan.

As the casting concluded, the Lich's figure vanished again before the silver sword could cleave it at the waist.

It reappeared at a distance, stumbling, too preoccupied to re‑apply its shield, it turned smugly, hoping to witness the "Death Ray" slay the dwarf.

To its surprise, the ray missed the dwarf.

A towering figure rushed past the dwarf at breakneck speed, pulling the dwarf out of the Decaying Land; the ray missed by a hair, striking the ground.

"Ah…"

The Lich's eye flames flickered, emitting an angry roar.

Even while wounded, it strained to kill an enemy, harvest a soul, sacrifice it to its Soul Box to sustain its existence, only to have it destroyed.

"I will kill this Lich with my own hands, smash its Soul Box, and scatter its ashes!"

Zuo Er Tan broke free from Evil Gaze, the paralysis lifting, and shouted loudly.

He felt a wave of dread; had Lei En not arrived in time, he would have died.

"Its Flash leaves almost no casting gap; killing it isn't easy," Lei En's soul eye clearly saw the Lich's Element, especially Flash, a triple‑ring spell wielded with extreme mastery; he even suspected the Lich had spent centuries in the fortress perfecting Flash.

Without a means to counter Flash, it's hard to strike the Lich.

"Hmph, leave it to me."

Luo Jie lifted his sword, leapt off the statue, his figure flashing as he slipped into the darkness, vanishing from sight.

This is Shadow Step!

Lei En finally understood why, that night outside Longshandecheng when he slew Aiseberg, he never noticed Luo Jie's presence.

It turned out Luo Jie had mastered the Shadow Step Element.

A Demonkin hunter capable of stealth sounds incredible, yet it isn't impossible.

Shadow Step is not an Element exclusive to Shadow Warriors; as long as one has confidence to fuse and does not fear Element conflict, any transcendent being can, beyond the Main Soul, choose another profession's Main Soul as a secondary soul.

Thus one can simultaneously possess abilities of different professions, but the difficulty is enormous.

However, for Lei En now, Shadow Step has no effect; under the augmentation of Truth Will, he sees through Luo Jue's Shadow Step at a glance and silently approaches the Lich from another direction.

He pretended not to notice and consecutively cast Dragon Power Technique twice, bestowing its effect on himself and Zuo Ertan respectively.

The two, together with Luo Jue, launched an attack on the Lich.

Lei En sprinted wildly across the broad street, the ground trembling as if a massive, heavy rhinoceros were charging.

On the other side, the Lich noticed Luo Jue's disappearance and immediately flipped through the rune book to cast a spell.

Two breaths later, a dark green aura emerged from beneath its feet.

Running at full speed, Lei En recognized the spell: the four‑ring "Weak Energy Ring", which erodes death energy on any target touched by the aura, weakening power and corroding will.

The Weak Energy Ring expanded rapidly, the air warping, enclosing the Lich within.

Luo Jue halted outside the aura, awaiting the right moment.

Lei En rushed past him, and at the instant of about to enter the Weak Energy Ring, he activated a Charge.

Swish—

Lei En's figure vanished at first, then reappeared within the aura; death energy coiled around him, slowing his speed, and waves of evil aura pierced his skin, partially blocked by his dragon‑scale hide, slightly weakening his physical strength, yet he still charged steadfastly toward the Lich.

Flames flickered in the Lich's eyes as it unleashed an Evil Gaze at Lei En.

This is the caster's most common combat method: first restrain the enemy, then calmly cast to kill.

Evil Gaze is a rare three‑ring spell; only casters who worship the Lord of the Dead, including Black Wizards and Undead Wizards, have a chance to master it.

The Lich has studied this spell for decades, reaching instant activation; a mere glance can fix most enemies, and it has never missed.

But this time the Evil Gaze failed.

The spell clearly locked onto the young human, consuming spirit power, yet it seemed as if it had never been cast—the target was still charging!

Moreover, the Weak Energy Ring's will‑corroding effect seemed useless, merely slowing the speed a bit.

The Lich never expected this and was startled in its heart.

Before it could figure out what was happening, Lei En had already surged close, only two or three meters away, the war hammer about to strike.

"Quick Flash."

The Lich had to abandon the prepared Weak Energy Ring and risk confronting the legendary demon hunter hidden in the shadows.

Yet before the thought settled, a rainbow‑like beam suddenly erupted, striking its shield; the beam's light blinded its sight, and the two flames in its eyes nearly extinguished.

"This guy is actually a Wizard..."

In panic, the Lich activated Blink.

Because it could not see, the Blink destination was not chosen, randomly appearing beneath a corner of a wall.

An ultra‑fast silver sword flash slashed through, instantly shattering the Lich's shield.

Sensing danger, the Lich fled recklessly, unable to mind the spirit‑power backlash from over‑casting, and Blinked again.

This time, the Blink distance was very short.

The Lich steadied itself just as the blindness wore off, the flames in its eye sockets reignited; when it saw clearly, a blue‑white war hammer rapidly enlarged in its view.

Bang!

A crisp crack sounded, and the Lich's head was smashed to pieces.

No brain matter, no blood—only a skin‑and‑bone like headless corpse slowly fell.

Lei En, fearing mishap—after all, it was an undead creature—raised the war hammer and swung it twice swiftly, crushing the Lich's corpse into fragments.

Luo Jue appeared beside him; in fact, he was only half a step slower than Lei En.

Even without Lei En, the Lich could not evade his next sword slash.

Luo Jue was puzzled by how Lei En did it, managing to detect the Lich's Blink point half a step faster than himself thanks to the Charge, timing it perfectly.

At this moment Zuo Ertan also rushed forward; his speed was the slowest, so he exerted little force.

"Pah!"

The dwarf spat at the Lich's corpse and asked, "Is this damned thing dead?"

"Probably not yet," Luo Jue said slowly, shaking his head toward the temple, "Killing the Lich's body is only the first step; we must locate its Soul Box, or it will resurrect within days."

Lei En was also certain of this.

Because he did not absorb the Lich's soul, its spirit vanished outright after death.

"It dared to desecrate Ha Ma Er's temple and statue; I will find its Soul Box and kill it completely," Zuo Ertan cursed angrily. He is a follower of Ha Ma Er, and no dwarf can tolerate such a blasphemer.

But locating the Soul Box is extremely difficult.

The Lich is trapped in an underground fortress, and its Soul Box is surely inside the fortress as well, possibly anywhere from the third to the fifth level. Those three levels together are nearly half a city in size, while a Soul Box is usually only palm‑sized—like finding a needle in the sea.

Zuo Ertan asked, "How long does it take for a Lich to resurrect?"

"Three to seven days," Lei En replied, having read about Lichs in books.

"We'll go find the Soul Box right away," Zuo Ertan said, his eyebrows flaring, and turned to rush into Ha Ma Er's temple, searching the places where the Lich had previously hidden.

Luo Jue also patrolled the surroundings.

Lei En, however, was unhurried, picking up the Lich's staff and rune book.

Both items were fine enchanted gear, especially the rune book, a top‑grade piece that recorded five spells in total; although a few belong to the undead line, an Enchantment Master could replace them with other spells, fetching at least ten to twenty thousand Gold Shields.

The Lich's robe was also enchanted gear, but it was dirty and smelly, and had been nearly ruined in the fight, so Lei En dismissed it.

After stowing the loot, Lei En also began searching for the Soul Box.

He did not search blindly; he fully activated his Soul Eye, coordinating with the Truth Will's attached True Eye, and immediately uncovered a clue.

An extremely faint soul force drifted from the Lich's corpse, moving toward a direction.

Lei En followed this thread‑like soul energy all the way onward.

A moment later, he arrived at his destination.

Unexpectedly, the Lich did not place its Soul Box far away; it was still inside this cavern, hidden beneath a very remote stone structure, covered with stone slabs and then piled with a large amount of rubble, looking like ruins.

Lei En moved aside the rubble, and with a single hammer strike shattered the stone slab, revealing a staircase leading to the underground chamber.

He scanned the area carefully, confirming there were no magical traps, then entered the basement and saw an altar made of bones.

On the altar sat a palm‑sized black box, resembling a jewelry case, its surface engraved with runes and magical sigils, exuding an aura of death.

At that moment, the Soul Box was activating.

A great amount of flickering dust billowed out of the Soul Box, merging with the death energy and gradually taking the shape of a gaunt humanoid silhouette.

"Found it!"

Lei En let out a laugh, stared at the Soul Box and licked his lips.

In his eyes, this was not the Lich's Soul Box, but a gigantic portable charger!

(End of chapter)