Chapter One Hundred and One: The Land of Wood Severance [Please support with monthly tickets]

Led by the old priest of the forest trolls, the group advanced cautiously into the depths. After about half a day, the trolls crossed a broken ridge of rock and finally came to a halt beside a river.

Beyond lay the river, and around it stood a scattering of crude wooden houses and a few simple traps. Towering, bizarre trees rose everywhere. Once they arrived, one of the elemental fiends that had been watching the dwarves had to be withdrawn because the distance was too great; instead, it began to circle the area in reconnaissance.

Through the broad field of vision of the three elemental fiends, Han Shuo discovered that the place was enormous. A rough estimate put it at several hundred houses, and it looked very much like the trolls’ lair. Many forest trolls with green-tinged skin, whether children or women, all held weapons in their hands as they were being trained by sturdy troll warriors.

From the elf’s description earlier, Han Shuo understood that these forest trolls were naturally predatory. In their lives there was no notion of self-sufficiency; whether food, drink, or daily necessities, they took it for granted that such things should be seized. Believers in the plundering demon Dhadala, they even made children and women part of their training, all for the sake of having more strength when the time came to raid and plunder.

Once the old priest arrived, he shouted something loudly in the trolls’ language. The forest trolls of the entire tribe, children, old people, and women alike, excitedly tore off the pouches from their bodies and shook them as they cried out, “Dhadala! Dhadala!”

After this commotion went on for a while, the old priest resumed speaking to Han Shuo in human language. “Come, I shall now lead the great god Dhadala and the envoy to the sacred ground.”

“Fine, let’s hurry. Lord Dhadala is already impatient,” Han Shuo said with a stern face as he nodded.

The little skeleton was still being carried by several forest trolls, while Han Shuo continued on foot. A few rafts were pushed over from afar by troll warriors, and at the old priest’s signal, Han Shuo and the little skeleton stepped onto them. Then several troll warriors paddled the oars and took them into the river behind.

The rafts drifted slowly onward. Another half hour passed before they approached a stretch of marshy ground. After Han Shuo followed the old priest ashore, he discovered that the trees here were immensely tall, while the undergrowth was so dense it could swallow a person whole; even the weeds seemed to grow with unusual vigor.

Every plant and tree in all directions seemed to flourish far better in this land. A strange aura lingered in the air. Parting the thick bushes, they were led forward by several troll warriors. The old priest took the lead, and Han Shuo followed behind him into a deeper part of the area.

The farther in he went, the more Han Shuo felt that something was odd. It was as though he had heard of such a place somewhere before. With this suspicion in mind, he finally stopped before a tall house that seemed to be supported by towering giant trees.

Ahead, five or six sky-high trees intertwined in lush, tangled growth, and in their midst stood a great house, as though it had been built upon the entwined branches, suspended in midair. Around it, some plants grew with astonishing perfection, and there were even strange flowers and grasses bearing bizarre fruit.

Han Shuo stared around in astonishment for a long while, and his heart gave a sudden jolt. He blurted out, “The Wood-Forbidden Land! Ha, so this is the Wood-Forbidden Land. No wonder all the plants grow so perfectly. So that’s what this is!”

It was a naturally formed Wood-Forbidden Land. The wood energy here was far denser than in other places, and all plants and trees growing within it would thrive far more luxuriantly than elsewhere. Although the forest trolls worshiped the plundering demon Dhadala, legend said they had evolved from trees, and their closeness to wood energy was also part of their nature.

“The air here is fresher than anywhere else. Our ancestors searched for many years before they found this place. That is why the palace of the sacred ground was built here. Inside stands a stone statue of the great god Dhadala. Every year we offer tribute to the great god, hoping that he will bless us so that every raid may end in success,” the old priest said softly, reverently bowing toward the great house suspended in the air.

After thinking for a moment, the old priest seemed to feel that something was amiss. He immediately bowed again toward the little skeleton and muttered a few words to the troll warriors carrying it. The warriors set down the sedan chair and gestured for the little skeleton to step out.

At this moment, Han Shuo was entirely consumed with the thought that the wood-armored corpse would soon be within his grasp. He was so excited that he had completely forgotten to continue issuing commands to the little skeleton. After the old priest implored him for a while, he found that the little skeleton still sat motionless in the sedan chair, and panic tightened his brow into deep knots. He fell to his knees before Han Shuo and said, “Envoy, why is the great god Dhadala not getting out of the chair? Could it be that we have done something wrong?”

The old priest’s words immediately roused Han Shuo from his daze. Turning his head to glance over, he saw the little skeleton lying there lazily, as if it had fallen asleep. With a single command, the little skeleton straightened its short leg bones and sprang to its feet, holding its bone knife as its clean white skull looked all around.

“Lord Dhadala was just pondering and did not hear your summons. Come, let us go up now,” Han Shuo said with a serious expression, though inwardly he was laughing.

Nodding obediently, the old priest dared not ask more. He walked behind one of the towering trees, grasped a soft ladder woven from branches, and began to climb. Han Shuo followed close behind, also pulling himself up that flexible ladder.

Before Han Shuo could even issue a command to the little skeleton, the little skeleton stepped out of the sedan chair and walked some distance away. Then, to everyone’s surprise, it suddenly gathered itself with a fierce burst of force. Its two short leg bones snapped taut, and the seven bone spurs along its spine flapped wildly. It shot up into the air and landed before the door of the sky-hung house, ahead of Han Shuo and the old priest.

After swaying a little in front of the house, the little skeleton slowly steadied itself. Then, shaking its head, it directly pushed open the door and went inside. From within came the rattling sounds of things being searched through.

“Dhadala! Dhadala!” The old priest cried out in ecstatic excitement once more.

At last, the old priest and Han Shuo climbed together to the steps before the great house. The other forest trolls remained waiting outside; no one else was permitted to ascend.

Following the excited old priest, Han Shuo entered the house and immediately saw, in the very center, a gigantic skull stone statue exactly like the one he had seen earlier on the old priest’s ancient scroll. The only difference was that this enormous skull wore an eyepatch. In its right hand it held a weapon resembling the scythe of death, and in its left it clutched a huge sack, bulging as though packed full of plundered spoils.

The interior was brightly lit. Precious gems of many colors were inlaid into the wooden walls, and gold and jewelry were scattered across the floor. Han Shuo was no amateur when it came to valuables; every gemstone embedded in those wooden walls radiated a dazzling brilliance, and each one was unquestionably worth a fortune. The cups and bowls placed on a jade table were made of fine jade or gold, leaving his eyes almost dazzled by the splendor.

The massive skull statue stood in the middle of the room. The little skeleton, bone knife in hand and one hand touching its smooth skull, circled the statue repeatedly. It even occasionally reached out to feel the pair of featherless wings behind the giant skull, then touched the seven bone spurs on its own back, seeming deeply puzzled by why this enormous skull looked so much like itself.

Still, compared to the statue, the little skeleton was nearly half its size. Standing side by side, the small skull and the great skull looked rather peculiar.

After Han Shuo and the old priest entered, they saw the puzzled little skeleton walking around the statue of the demon Dhadala. As Han Shuo watched it now, he suddenly discovered that the little skeleton’s movements had become remarkably human. In his astonishment, he did not issue a single command, but instead fixed his bright gaze on it, wanting to see exactly what it intended to do.

In the midst of his surprise, Han Shuo saw the little skeleton suddenly stop directly in front of the demon statue. Its hollow eye sockets locked onto the eyepatch over the demon’s left eye. Then it reached up to touch its own left eye socket, as though wondering why it lacked such a covering.

Suddenly, the little skeleton leaped. It reached out and seized the eyepatch of the demon Dhadala, giving it a sharp tug. When the little skeleton landed, the eyepatch was already in its hand. With the eye covering removed, the left eye socket of the demon statue revealed a purple orb like a gemstone. The once lifeless statue of Dhadala, now lacking its eyepatch and bearing that purple eye, seemed to have acquired a trace of life, and Han Shuo had the eerie illusion that it was looking directly at him.

At that very moment, the purple eye seemed to roll slightly, and a faint, gentle violet glow spread from it. It was as though the demon Dhadala had suddenly come back to life.

“Oh! The great god Dhadala has opened the Purple Demon Eye! The great god has manifested!” The old priest’s face lit up with狂喜. He abruptly pressed his head to the ground and cried out in wild delight.

Suddenly, the little skeleton, which had just been standing there in a daze, acted at once and moved a small table in front of the demon statue. It then leaped onto the table, stood on tiptoe, and reached toward the statue’s left eye. With Han Shuo’s scalp prickling, it forcefully dug the Purple Demon Eye out of the demon head’s socket. After holding it high for a moment to inspect it, it then tried to stuff it hard into its own left eye socket.

Han Shuo no longer knew what to do. Before he could even decide on a course of action, a splitting pain suddenly tore through his head. When he looked at the little skeleton again, he was startled to see that somehow it had forcibly shoved that so-called Purple Demon Eye into its own left eye socket.

Yet after the Purple Demon Eye entered the left eye socket, the little skeleton also showed signs of great pain. Its body first trembled and swayed, then it clutched its head and collapsed, rolling about in agony. As its host, Han Shuo shared a spiritual bond with the little skeleton and felt the same searing pain. A massive and bizarre surge of energy was radiating from the Purple Demon Eye in the little skeleton’s left socket, and Han Shuo could clearly sense that it was invading both his own body and the skeleton’s, as though it intended to seize control over them both.

“What is happening to you, envoys of the great god Dhadala?” The forest troll old priest, who had been bowing in excitement, looked up and cried out in alarm when he saw that Han Shuo and the little skeleton were apparently in trouble.

“Get out. Leave at once. The great god Dhadala has some matters to attend to,” Han Shuo growled through the searing pain.

The old priest was startled and, his face full of confusion, hurried out of the house to wait outside while watching the sacred ground.

As soon as the old priest left, Han Shuo immediately rolled on the floor with the little skeleton, both of them clutching their heads in agony. Fear filled Han Shuo’s heart. If this Purple Demon Eye truly belonged to the demon Dhadala, then the strange invading energy must also come from Dhadala. Demons were evil deities, and such power was not something a human could resist. For a moment, Han Shuo had no idea how to deal with it.

The vast power was pouring out from the Purple Demon Eye in the little skeleton’s left socket. Han Shuo first ordered the little skeleton to remove it, but he did not know how the eye had been forced in there in the first place. No matter how desperately he tried to pry it out, he could not get the Purple Demon Eye off.

As the man and skeleton tumbled about inside, convulsing in unbearable pain, another mysterious force suddenly emerged from the eyepatch the little skeleton had been holding all this time. Because his head was in such torment, Han Shuo’s perception had actually grown far stronger, and he abruptly sensed the anomaly. Grasping at a desperate remedy, he ordered the little skeleton to put on the eyepatch.

Miraculously, once the little skeleton clumsily and frantically donned the eyepatch, the mysterious power trying to seize both their bodies vanished without a trace. Han Shuo, drenched in sweat, gradually returned to normal as well.

The eyepatch fit the statue of the demon Dhadala perfectly, but on the little skeleton it was obviously far too large. It covered nearly all of its left eye and even most of the left side of its face, making it look rather ludicrous.

“No matter what happens, never take that eyepatch off for me,” Han Shuo said, steadying his mind and temporarily setting aside all these strange events as he gave the little skeleton this command.