Chapter 3177

Xia De on the other side did not know the surprise when he came back next time. He followed the hound that was agilely walking through the tombstone thicket, thinking about whether the other party would take him to its master's tomb, and then ask Xia De to help eliminate the resentment—this was a quite common story development direction.

It was a pity that he guessed wrong this time. As the hound moved forward, Xia De vaguely saw a huge shadow appear in the thick fog ahead. After continuing to approach, he realized that the direction the hound was moving forward was clearly the big tree he saw when he went out with Theresa.

"This tree again? Is this hound the bait released by that tree?"

Xia De looked at the tree and thought to himself, and confirmed with "she" that he could leave at any time, only then did he continue to carry the shovel and follow.

As he got closer to the big tree, the density of the surrounding tombstones was clearly decreasing. And Xia De also gradually discovered that the tree seemed to have a faint blue shimmer. After chasing forward for half a minute, the whispers of elements in the chaotic element environment around him suddenly became rich.

"Relic?"

The tree was not tall, at least not tall compared to the trees Xia De saw in the Vesta Forest. A rough estimate was only less than three meters high.

And when all the tombstones standing around disappeared, countless tree roots protruded from the black ground under the big tree. Xia De also saw at this time that the giant tree itself not only had a canopy emitting blue ghostly light, but also had tree vines hanging corpses hanging from the canopy.

Xia De looked up at this scene, subconsciously slowing down his pace. The familiar relic in front of him gave him a wonderful feeling of time and space overlap. He really didn't expect that after experiencing so many things, this relic appeared in front of him again—

"【Keeper-level Relic - Corpse Tree】!"

This was one of the relics sealed in the ruins when he and Iluna and Luweiya broke into the ruins left by the 【Innocent Creator】 sect underground in Tobesk, but at the same time, this was also a seal specially used by the last ring warlocks of the sect to guard the ruins.

Although it was only at the Keeper level, this tree had characteristics such as spatial movement, large-scale collective hallucinations, manipulating the undead, manipulating life puppets, etc.

As long as it was not allowed to "eat" for a long time, its power would decline on its own, and the three people at the beginning encountered the "Corpse Tree" that had not eaten for a thousand years. As for the tree today, it didn't look like it was starving at all.

"It feels like going around in circles and returning to the starting point... How did we deal with this relic at the beginning? I remember I was only at the first ring at that time."

【The corpse and soul of Gina Angela Sewell were sealed in the tree, merging with the tree. She sacrificed herself to burn this relic, and then sublimated into an angel.】

Xia De remembered it now, because his 【Founding · Balance】 was found from that tree. So in the summer of 1853 in the Sixth Era, the 【Corpse Tree】 completely became history. But at the end of the Fifth Era today, the tree was clearly still in its strongest state.

And because of the environment of the "Tombstone Wilderness" today, its power might be far beyond the level of "Keeper."

The hound running in front quickly entered under the canopy of the corpse tree, but the corpses tied by the neck with tree vines and the relic itself did not care about it.

Although Xia De continued to move forward, he had changed from running to walking. When he also came to the influence range of the relic's power, he had already prepared to fight, and if he couldn't beat it, he would run, but unexpectedly, the 【Corpse Tree】 still did not react.

The blue light slightly dispelled the surrounding thick fog, but the smell of corpse and the breath of death around became more intense. When he really came under the tree, Xia De understood what had happened here. A corpse dog head larger than the spiritual hound was embedded in the trunk of the relic, and a stone tablet stood beside the trunk.

Although this stone tablet was only to remind others of the current state of the relic, it could actually be counted as a tombstone—

【Fifth Era 4007, used the body and soul of a pregnant dog to seal the relic 【Corpse Tree】. The relic had already destroyed three small city-states when it was discovered in the eastern part of the Southern Continent. With my Eleventh Tier power, I could not repel it, so I had to sacrifice my dog Reina. After a thousand years of sealing, if the relic's power weakens to a controllable degree, please help rescue Reina's soul. The gift is hidden in the tree hole.】

Below was the signature of that Eleventh Tier witch. Calculating the time, this tree had indeed been sealed for a thousand years. But the problem was that it did not weaken due to hunger. Now, no matter how you calculate it, it was definitely not in a controllable state.

The spiritual body of the black hound jumped fiercely under the tree and rubbed against the shriveled dog head on the trunk. So the corpse opened its eyes, first seeing its daughter, and then seeing Xia De holding a shovel.

It opened its mouth and spoke human language. Although it was not the language used by Theresa and the others, Xia De had also learned it in class.

"Living person? Leave, you are not welcome here."

Xia De guessed that this was because he did not have any funerary items on him, so the other party's attitude was so bad.

"Woof woof!"

The spiritual hound immediately jumped and barked, but the corpse on the trunk did not even look at it. The tree emitting a rotten smell trembled in the fog, and the tree vines hanging from the canopy also extended downward, as if wanting to release those corpses to the ground.

"Stop!"

Xia De said. After dropping the shovel, his body turned, and he was surrounded by soft silver moonlight. And when the moonlight dissipated, the silver-white wolf stood beside the shovel. To make himself look more majestic, he even used 【Body of Courage】 to make the wolf body larger:

"Can we talk now? Wolves and dogs are actually distant relatives. No, they are close relatives."

If it weren't for the fact that the corners of the corpse's mouth couldn't make small movements, Xia De believed he would see a human-like twitching expression on a dog's face. But this at least proved that it possessed reason. As for the reason, whether it was the means left by the witch a thousand years ago, or its soul was relatively special, this was something Xia De did not know:

"Do you think I haven't seen transformation magic?"

Xia De, who maintained the silver wolf form, didn't care:

"I just wanted to make you relax your vigilance, and my transformation magic is very powerful, which can also explain that I am not a fool who ran here foolishly and then lost his life for nothing. Is this your daughter?"

Xia De the wolf pointed with his paw at the black hound that was smaller than himself:

"It gave me a reward, so I followed. I can understand the text on that stone tablet. It hopes that I can liberate your soul, right?"

Regarding how the soul of the baby wolf grew up, Xia De did not need to delve into it. The soul was a very magical thing.

The shriveled dog head on the trunk hesitated for a moment. It was thinking:

"Although I don't know how you appeared here, I definitely know where this is better than you. If you really have a way, take my daughter out of this place and send her to where she should go, and I will give you a reward. This place cannot lead to death. Take her back to the world of the living."

This was the same as when the "Interval of Life and Death" could not lead to death, but taking the soul inside to reality could let them walk on.

"You know this place?"

A smile appeared on the slightly glowing silver wolf head:

"I want to know about things here, the more detailed the better."

"You want to know about the kingdom of God? No, silver wolf, even if I have become like this now, I will not share this knowledge. It is not stinginess, but for the safety of everyone."

"Then what if I can save you while suppressing this tree? This should count as completing your master's wish."

Xia De asked again, but the corpse dog head asked back:

"What method are you going to use?"

"I need to go back and discuss it with my companions. I have come into contact with the 【Corpse Tree】 at a certain point in time. I am very familiar with this relic."

The corpse dog head howled woof woof at its daughter. After communicating with the spiritual hound, it agreed to Xia De's trade:

"If you can realize the master's wish, I can tell you the news about this place. Besides that, the things left by the master, and the funerary items I have obtained over the years can also be given to you together. Don't try to deceive me, I know where you are."

"Then do you know what this is?"

A bookshelf with the color of a semi-transparent starry sky appeared beside the silver wolf, and then a book floated out from it and came under the trunk. The book opened, and on it was what Miss Liyade's employer wanted them to find.

The corpse dog head recognized this just by looking at it:

"You want me to pay a deposit? But you haven't done anything yet. Or, you can bring funerary items to trade with me. Since you carry the gravekeeper's shovel, you must know the rules here."

"Gravekeeper? It seems you really know a lot of things."

The wolf's paw patted the shovel, and in the silver moonlight, it turned into a human appearance again:

"I still have... wait a moment, I'll be back soon."

He didn't forget to observe the tombstones along the way just now, so after turning around with the shovel, he hurried toward the position he just recorded. The corpse dog head looked at his back as he left, but the small black hound chased toward Xia De's direction again.

One person and one dog soon returned. The shovel had disappeared, and Xia De had two bracelets and a necklace in his hand. The owner of the grave he just dug open was a stingy gambler. The cause of death was not surprisingly that he owed gambling debts and couldn't repay them, and was beaten to death directly.

Xia De was very curious about how such a rotten gambler could have money to hold a funeral ritual, and the soul that died because of gambling actually wanted to play dice with Xia De after death, and then was swept away by Xia De of all his funerary items.

"What is the stone tablet I showed you?"

A bracelet was thrown toward the big tree by Xia De. The corpse dog head opened its mouth to bite it, and then swallowed it directly into its stomach:

"The sacrificial text of the owner of this kingdom of the dead, that kind of thing will only appear in the temple of the owner here. It is worth mentioning that the temple of the owner here in the material world is usually no different from an ancient tomb."

So Miss Liyade was cheated into stealing the temple of the evil god sect without knowing anything, and then was thrown into here... The temper of those cultists seemed quite good.

It's just that with this, it's hard to say whether Miss Liyade can leave here smoothly.

"Besides ordinary evil spirits, skeletons, and ghouls, what other enemies are easy for living people like us to encounter, and will act as soon as they see us?"

The second bracelet was thrown out by Xia De, and the dog head on the tree swallowed it again:

"Gargoyles, those are flesh-and-blood alchemical devices. In the areas where they often appear, there will definitely be no kerosene lamps on the ground;

Death frogs, I don't know their origin either, they seem to be exotic species from more ancient eras. Their tongues have the ability of a one-hit kill death curse. All water areas in the wilderness are their gathering places;

Skeletal nuns, terrifying existences transformed after the loyal servants of the owner here died. When you see a string of firelight walking in the fog in the distance, avoid it immediately. They are truly immortal here;

White candle monks, corpses with white candles on their heads. This kind of thing is not strong relatively speaking, but they will continuously mark your position, making it easier for you to be discovered."

It said four kinds of monsters at once. Among these things, only "gargoyles" were mentioned by the nun and Theresa. There must be other more dangerous things in the wilderness, but Xia De didn't have many funerary items in his hands.

He wrote these contents on paper, then squatted down and patted the head of the hound that seemed to like him very much:

"Can I use the last necklace to exchange for your daughter to help me send this letter to the place where she found me?"

He didn't have time to walk back, and the small black hound barked woof woof twice, took the letter and left, not even wanting the necklace.

Xia De watched it disappear into the fog, and threw the necklace to the corpse on the trunk:

"Then I'll give it to you. By the time you find me walking freely in the wilderness again, I will probably have found a way. Then see you again."

"Since my daughter is willing to help you, this necklace is still yours. This counts as the deposit you gave me. When you bring the method next time, you can take it back."

Xia De nodded, turned and turned into a silver wolf again, waved his paws as a farewell, and chased after the direction the black hound left and disappeared.

?? PS: Picture of this chapter "Corpse Tree".

? (End of chapter)