Chapter 455 - 213: Mechanism: The Power of Life and Death
Chapter 455: Chapter 213: Mechanism: The Power of Life and Death
The true extent of his growth would have to be tested in actual combat.
A thought stirred in Lin Ye’s mind. He floated into the air once more and flew toward the stone bridge where he had first killed the Curse Bone elite.
Traces of the battle still remained on the stone bridge.
Lin Ye landed in front of the grayish-white bone dust and squatted down.
He slowly extended his hand and activated the fully upgraded [Soul-Catching and Dream-Planting].
This time, the feedback Lin Ye received wasn’t the blurry, emotion-filled thought fragments from before.
Instead, a series of clear, coherent images flashed through his mind like a movie!
It was also much clearer and more defined than when he read his puppets’ memories using the Silk Puppet.
Lin Ye saw a massive, magnificent temple built entirely from black stone, much like the bridges. It stood silently somewhere in this subterranean space.
Countless members of the Curse Bone Race roamed around the temple. They commanded innumerable thralls—pieced together from the skeletons of various creatures—like a highly disciplined army.
Through the memories, Lin Ye also discovered a startling fact.
These members of the Curse Bone Race, long ago, had actually been human!
For example, this particular member of the Curse Bone Race had once been a human named Li Zhihao.
He was one of the first pioneers to enter the Painful Labyrinth.
But in the end, he had been twisted into this monstrous form, neither human nor ghost.
The Black Nightmare Race, it seemed, were not native to this planet either.
They, too, seemed to have been brought here by some unknown entity.
A long war broke out between the two races. It lasted until they discovered that the planet was home to an even more terrifying native species: the Rot Eye Race.
Those monsters, capable of spewing corrosive acid, were a fatal counter to Spirit Body beings like them.
And so, the Curse Bone Race and the Black Nightmare Race, sworn enemies, formed a temporary alliance.
Together, they drove all members of the Rot Eye Race to the labyrinth’s upper levels.
To eliminate the threat once and for all, they even stripped the upper levels of nearly all their Source Crystal Veins, attempting to starve the Rot Eye Race to death in the most primitive way possible.
But neither race could have ever imagined that Lin Ye, a deadly menace wielding the abilities of the Rot Eye Race, would descend upon them from out of nowhere.
The memory reading was complete. Lin Ye slowly withdrew his hand, the light in his eyes flickering uncertainly.
’So that’s how it is.’
’No wonder that Curse Bone elite was so shocked and furious when it saw me use [Soul Melting Bone Erosion].’
’No wonder the environment on this second level is so much eerier and more oppressive than the first, and the Celestial Abyss Race members are on a completely different level of power.’
’That temple is likely the main base of the Curse Bone Race.’
Now that he understood all this, Lin Ye didn’t linger.
He plunged into the dense gray fog that shrouded everything, making his way, half-intentionally, in the direction of the Black Stone Divine Temple.
However, after flying only a few hundred meters, Lin Ye abruptly stopped.
He stopped in mid-air and closed his eyes.
A peculiar sensation surfaced in his awareness.
He didn’t need his eyes to see, nor did he need to release his Spiritual Power or a Gravity Field to scan his surroundings.
He just had a strong intuition—
’There’s a living creature on a stone bridge to my front-left, about eight hundred meters away.’
Lin Ye flew a little closer and soon picked up a thought.
"So hungry... When will I finally catch my first sacrifice... and have my own thralls..."
It wasn’t a physical sound, but rather a wave of thought.
Lin Ye raised an eyebrow.
’Is this the effect of [Soul-Catching and Dream-Planting] after it evolved?’
’It’s not just perceiving vague emotions anymore... it’s straight-up mind reading!’
Lin Ye understood now. It hadn’t been intuition earlier.
Instead, as long as there were thoughts active nearby, they couldn’t escape his perception!
This was the perfect chance to test his new skill in a real fight. Without hesitation, Lin Ye flew directly toward the source of the thoughts.
Soon, he saw his target.
It was a lone, ordinary member of the Curse Bone Race, only LV.44. It was much weaker than the previous elite and had no thralls in its company.
It seemed to be worrying about its future, wandering aimlessly on the stone bridge.
When it spotted the unexpected visitor, Lin Ye, the two points of eerie green flame in its empty eye sockets suddenly flared!
"A human! A sacrifice! I’ll turn him into my first thrall!"
The ecstatic thought rang through Lin Ye’s mind without the slightest delay.
The next moment, the Curse Bone creature moved.
Its figure became a white streak as its arm twisted into a bone spike. With a sharp whistle, it thrust straight for Lin Ye’s heart!
Faced with this swift strike, Lin Ye raised his hand to block.
However, the instant he raised his hand...
TSSS—!
It was a faint, almost inaudible sound.
A few drops of dark green liquid oozed naturally from the skin of his raised arm.
The Curse Bone creature was moving too fast to react.
Its sharp bone spike struck one of the drops of acid with perfect precision.
And then...
Time seemed to stand still for a moment.
As Lin Ye watched in stunned disbelief, the Curse Bone creature’s forward momentum came to a dead stop.
"Huh...?"
It seemed to only have time to let out a short, confused syllable.
The next moment, its body of ghastly white bone completely dissolved into a puff of green smoke in mid-air. It then dissipated, leaving not a single trace behind.
An instant kill!
Lin Ye was stunned.
He hadn’t actively used [Soul Melting Bone Erosion].
A mere subconscious defensive motion had somehow triggered the passive trait to activate on its own!