Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Woodsman Ghoul, Excellent Level Illusion Soul Kind·Ghost Hits the Wall_1
Wang Linchi abruptly stopped. His multi-layered Soul Vision revealed a smoky energy formation emerging one hundred meters to his right. This energy then solidified into the form of an old man.
"Young man, don’t go any further. There’s a cliff up ahead," an elderly voice echoed.
Immediately, the scenery within his normal vision drastically changed, revealing a cliff not far in front of him. However, in his other visions, it remained flat.
Clearly, the other party had changed the ’ghost wall’ illusion to a ’ghostly cover.’
Glancing backward, he saw an old woodcutter bearing a large bundle of firewood in the woods to his right, hailing him to stop.
Clearly, this form was an illusion. Wang Linchi could see the entity’s true form: a ghostly figure, its flesh mangled and stomach hollowed out, floating above the ground.
"Thank you for the warning, Elder, but I could swear it was just flat ground," said Wang Linchi, playing dumb.
"You’ve fallen victim to the illusion spell of an Evil Tiger," the old woodcutter earnestly explained. "That beast is especially skilled in casting ghostly illusions. It lives beneath that cliff and waits for unsuspecting travelers to fall to their deaths, making for a hearty meal."
Seriously? Wang Linchi listened, itching to pick apart the woodcutter’s story. In a place like this, who else would come here besides people chopping wood, gathering herbs, or hunting? Even if others came, they’d know this path was problematic. Who would still choose to take it? If that Evil Tiger relied on this to eat, it would have starved to death long ago. Even a fabricated story needs some logic. This guy really takes me for a fool.
"So that’s how it is. A really close call," Wang Linchi said, playing along. Then he added, "After entering the mountain, I was disoriented and couldn’t get my bearings. When I came to my senses, I was lost. If it weren’t for your help, Elder, I fear I might have fallen off that cliff."
He wasn’t sure of the old man’s strength, but he could determine its species. It should be a Ghoul. Humans devoured by a Tiger become Evil Ghosts controlled by it, luring others to become the Tiger’s food. The so-called ’accomplice to the Tiger.’
"Ah, you’re a stranger, no wonder you lost your way. I’m heading down the mountain. You might as well come along with me."
"As for these mountain paths, I know them like the back of my hand. We should be at the foot of the mountain in an hour."
The old woodcutter was very enthusiastic and immediately suggested taking Wang Linchi down the mountain.
"Thank you, Elder. The mountain paths are indeed treacherous, and even at your age, you manage to climb up to chop wood. You truly are strong and robust," replied Wang Linchi, extending his compliments.
He then trailed far behind the old woodcutter, maintaining a distance of one hundred meters.
The Ghost Woodman was puzzled why Wang Linchi walked so slowly. Even though it had slowed down for him, Wang Linchi still wasn’t keeping up.
The Ghost Woodman wanted to stop and wait, perhaps even urge Wang Linchi to hurry, but worried about exposing itself. So, it decided to endure for now; at least Wang Linchi was following without suspicion.
One led the way while the other followed.
Within normal human vision, everything seemed normal; they were indeed heading downhill.
But his other visions, unaffected by the ’ghostly cover’ illusion, showed that while they appeared to be going downhill, they were actually heading uphill.
It was leading him right to the Evil Tiger’s lair.
However, using a Ghoul to lure prey for the Evil Tiger seemed rather inefficient. The Evil Tiger could hunt much more easily itself. How many people ventured into these mountains daily? Even an ordinary Tiger couldn’t survive on such infrequent meals.
"Elder, something’s not right. We haven’t fallen into the trap of a ’ghost wall,’ have we? We aren’t back at the cliff, are we?" Wang Linchi abruptly questioned.
This abrupt question confused the Ghost Woodman. A ’ghost wall’? I clearly used ’ghostly cover.’ How could we be back at the original spot?
"Young man, what nonsense are you spouting? What ’ghost wall’? Don’t spout nonsense while in the mountains," the Ghost Woodman chided.
But Wang Linchi acted as if he didn’t hear him: "Elder, don’t just keep walking, answer me."
This made the Ghost Woodman’s expression turn strange, and it muttered to itself, What’s happening? Could some mountain spirit be playing tricks?
It then floated over to Wang Linchi, intending to check what was happening.
As it approached, it heard Wang Linchi say, "Elder, why do you keep moving further away?"
This made the Ghost Woodman even more confused. There’s clearly no problem. Why is he talking nonsense? Could he have been scared witless?
"Mad is fine too," the Ghost Woodman sneered. "The King isn’t picky, and you’ll be spared the physical torment."
"Your King may not be picky, but I am."
Wang Linchi suddenly spoke, startling the Ghost Woodman.
Before it could react, its body began to expand as if something inside it was filling it up.
BOOM!
In an instant, it exploded into fragments of its soul, which gradually dissipated under the sunlight.
Wang Linchi’s Soul Seed Page, Fanciful and Fickle, had instantly obliterated its soul.
This attack-focused Soul Seed Page, which contained Spirit, Soul, and Soul attributes, naturally had no problem dealing with a mere Ghoul.
Thank goodness my first choice was an attack dealing Multi-Law Damage. If it had been physical, I might not have been able to harm this Ghoul. The reason for deceiving the Ghoul was, of course, to make it lower its guard for a sneak attack. Why fight head-on when a sneak attack is possible? The Soul Resemblance he awakened wasn’t the type for direct confrontations.
But the power of Fanciful and Fickle was somewhat beyond my expectations. I only used 10 points of spiritual power from my Golden Core, and this Ghoul was blown to bits. It must be because the Ghoul was too weak. It only had two abilities: ’ghost wall’ and ’ghostly cover.’ If it had other abilities, it wouldn’t have needed to deceive; it could have just attacked directly.
After the Ghoul died, energy began to gather where it had been, eventually condensing into a Soul Kind.
Only Awakeners can see and touch Soul Kinds; native inhabitants cannot sense them. If a Soul Kind is not picked up by an Awakener after a long time, it will dissipate.
Upon picking it up, he found that it was an Excellent Level Soul Kind.
The ’ghost wall’ illusion technique was useless to Wang Linchi. He already had a ’ghost wall’ Soul Kind in his Storage Treasures. As a relatively common Excellent Level illusion-type Soul Kind, it wasn’t exclusive to this Secret Realm.
As expected of a Gigantic Secret Realm, the drop rate is incredibly high! Even a low-level monster can drop an Excellent Level Soul Kind, Wang Linchi couldn’t help but exclaim.
In smaller Secret Realms, it’s possible that only boss-level characters would drop Excellent Level Soul Kinds. Excellent Level Soul Kinds couldn’t be dropped in small Secret Realms. Only by completing the Secret Realm task with a very high evaluation would they be offered to the Awakener as an additional reward by the Secret Realm.
Here, perhaps even higher-level Ghouls could drop Excellent Level Soul Kinds.