Chapter 451: A Chinese Ghost Story: The Trap!
Seeing her panic,
It was clear—the peach tree's destruction would indeed disrupt Ning Laoye.
The ghost maiden's strongest move was the blood mirror that reflected attacks, tied to the most powerful of her nine heads.
The others were auxiliary at best.
At that moment,
Akainu ignored the ghost's summoned blood mirror and leapt high into the air, heading straight for the peach tree.
Magma Hell!
A massive, blazing magic circle expanded to cover the entire rear courtyard of Lanruo Temple, with the peach tree at its very center.
The next second—
The earth split open, and magma erupted in towering pillars, engulfing the tree.
Intense heat. Blistering flames. Total incineration.
The tree, which resembled a bloody arm, crackled as the lava roasted it, the bark splintering with a series of sharp pops.
The bark fell away. Then the core.
Though it had seemed lifeless, the peach tree shrieked like a living thing in a firestorm, its wails filled with agony.
"You'll regret this!"
The ghost maiden screamed, lunging toward the magma column in desperation.
But as she neared the tree shrouded in magma, her anxious expression abruptly shifted—
Into a twisted smile.
"I told you... you'll regret it."
Just then—
Smoker suddenly felt a burning sensation on his arm. He quickly yanked open the shoulder flap of his uniform.
Inside was the piece of face skin that Ning Laoye had torn off as a token of goodwill.
The wrinkled, bloodstained skin began moving on its own, flapping in place. Smoker couldn't grab it—it gave off a demonic aura so potent it corroded his hand down to the bone in an instant.
Hiss...
The skin ignored the searing magma and flew directly to the tree trunk.
"You bastard of a scholar—how dare you?!"
The scorched, crumbling tree suddenly let out a voice—neither male nor female. It was the Tree Demon Matriarch, who hadn't fully died.
Ning Laoye's voice echoed from the face skin. "It's too late. Don't bother resisting. It's just a branch, after all."
"Thanks to these arrogant fools, they burned away your seal, and now I can break free."
"Once I kill them, I'll find your real body..."
His maniacal laughter rang out from the patch of skin.
He didn't even try to hide his identity or intentions anymore.
"Congratulations, Lord Ning, on breaking the seal."
The nine-headed ghost floated over and bowed low, her tone sweet and submissive.
So different from the ferocity she'd shown when fighting the Navy Alliance team—like a tame dog now.
Just seeing this behavior was enough to confirm that Ning Laoye's strength and means were nothing short of terrifying.
"He's really that injured?"
The thin patch of skin twitched violently, bleeding profusely until it reformed into Ning Laoye's full body.
He gently caressed the stumps where the ghost's heads had been severed, sighing, "These were your sisters that you ate. Finding more like them will be a pain. Don't worry, I'll avenge you and kill them all."
At that moment,
Orochimaru and the others realized the truth—they'd all been fooled by the ghost's masterful performance.
The peach tree in Lanruo Temple was a sealing mechanism for the Tree Demon Matriarch—
Specifically designed to imprison Ning Laoye after he consumed her heart.
Destroying it would release him.
The cunning ghost had pretended to be his enemy and subtly planted doubt in their minds.
Combined with Ning Laoye's deceptive quest, they were misled into breaking the seal themselves.
"Let's start with you."
Ning Laoye's wrinkled eyelids lifted, and his cloudy gaze fixed on Orochimaru.
Orochimaru had inflicted the most damage on the ghost, and Ning wasn't about to let it go.
The moment he was targeted,
Every hair on Orochimaru's body stood on end. His senses and spirit screamed with alarm.
Ning's body remained fused to the charred peach tree, and thin tendrils—like silk threads—spread from the tree into his body, rapidly absorbing the Matriarch's energy.
The earth bulged beneath them.
Ning waved his hand, and roots buried underground burst forth.
Snap!
Like octopus tentacles, they whipped downward.
Branches from a dark-gold-tier boss could easily shatter the defenses of a Tier 2 tank player.
One struck Orochimaru's waist and cleaved him clean in two.
Rustle...
As his limp body hit the ground, countless black curse serpents slithered out of the wound, latching onto one another and pulling his body back together.
"No wonder you hurt me. So you've got tricks up your sleeve."
Now unsealed, Ning's senses were sharp. He could smell the necrotic aura on Orochimaru.
Just as he moved to strike again—
He noticed the root that had just struck Orochimaru was now coated in a dark serpent-shaped curse mark.
Fsssss...
The root quickly rotted away, emitting a foul stench.
And the rot spread upward, racing toward Ning's main body.
The Navy Alliance team seized the moment.
Magma. Radiant spears. Flame-poison dragons. Iron fists...
For a brief moment, Ning was overwhelmed and unable to retaliate.
Crack!
Taking advantage of the chaos, Ning thrust his hand into the scorched peach tree.
He yanked out a rusty short sword embedded in its trunk.
Though rusted and dull, the moment he gripped the handle, his hand began to smoke as if burned—an awful stench rising from the flesh.
Whoosh!
The rusty blade cleaved through the air, aimed at the top of the rotting root.
Orochimaru, now half-serpent, slithered out just in time. The blade missed by inches.
Yet even at a distance, the blade's heat seared away all traces of necrotic energy—like fire melting butter.
"Die. All of you!"
Ning swayed violently. As he moved, the charred tree fused to his back shook with him.
It was like a titan pulling its legs from the mud.
All of Lanruo Temple—along with the withered forest surrounding it—began to rise.
Peach tree roots, like a sea of tentacles, thrashed wildly.
They shredded wandering Ghost Tree Demons, even those close to gold-tier strength. Within seconds, they were minced by the squirming roots.
"Terrifying..."
In desperation,
Akainu summoned a Tier 2 Hellfire Demon—a being comparable to a gold-tier boss.
The demon's obsidian body, forged from magma, was torn apart by the writhing roots beneath its feet.
It was like tossing it into a blender.
Akainu broke into a sweat, continuously channeling Hellfire energy to repair the demon's body.
But if this kept up—
Once Akainu ran out of energy, the demon would be consumed, and the entire Navy team would be wiped out.
"I can only hold out for two minutes. There's no time to escape this root sea."
"Escape?"
Orochimaru's lips curled into a cold smile. "Haven't you noticed? This version of Ning Laoye—the one formed from that piece of face skin—doesn't emit strong demonic energy. After controlling the entire root sea, he's barely got enough left to defend himself."
He swept his gaze across the team.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Bring the Hellfire Demon over here."
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