Chapter 447: A Chinese Ghost Story: Lanruo Temple
"So we're just supposed to take your word for it? That's not very convincing."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.
Akainu and Smoker shared the same sentiment, their gazes fixed warily on Lord Ning.
Shrrrk.
Without hesitation, Lord Ning reached up and tore the wrinkled skin from his own face, tossing it toward them.
[Face of the Demonic Robe Scholar]: Contains the essence of the Demonic Robe Scholar's demonic energy.
Blood streamed down from where his face had been, revealing jagged black teeth. Grinning, he said, "This is my sincerity."
The Navy Alliance team didn't hesitate any further.
Refusing now would surely provoke a fight with the Demonic Robe Scholar—and none of them wanted that until they understood the full picture.
They retraced their steps and exited the Ning Residence. Following the old woman's directions, they made their way toward the outskirts of town.
"Forgive me. I cannot leave the Ning Residence for long. You'll have to go the rest of the way yourselves."
The old woman gave a feeble wave, her figure growing translucent.
And in the final second before she vanished completely—
Her face twisted into a terrifying grimace, like that of a vengeful ghost. Her hands morphed into claws as she lunged toward them.
Snap.
A necrotic curse snake coiled around her neck and twisted violently, severing it.
Orochimaru hadn't expected it to be so easy. The item dropped on the ground was an embroidered sachet, the kind typically carried by young women preparing for marriage.
[Nie Xiaoqian's Sachet].
Aside from a few small soul fragments meant as ghost food, it held nothing of value.
Smoker frowned. "We just agreed to help Lord Ning collect Ghost Tree Hearts. It doesn't make sense for him to send a female ghost to attack us."
Especially since the ghost was weak—far too weak to harm any of the Navy players, even with the element of surprise.
So... was the attack her own idea?
Orochimaru chuckled. "Maybe she was trying to warn us—at the cost of her life—just how dangerous Lord Ning really is."
That seemed the only reasonable explanation for her behavior.
"So what do we do now?"
"Let's start hunting Ghost Tree Hearts. We'll store them in our inventory and observe. No matter how powerful Lord Ning is, he can't break the Samsara Game's rules and loot from a player's inventory."
Their strategy agreed upon,
The Navy Alliance team proceeded beyond Guobei County. Up ahead, the silhouette of a dilapidated temple gradually came into view.
[Lanruo Temple].
The demonic energy here was dense. Ghost Tree Demons wandered everywhere.
"Radiant Spear Barrage..."
Borsalino raised his arms, launching volley after volley of golden radiant spears into the sky, forming a sea of golden clouds.
A rain of glowing spears poured down like needle-sized missiles.
Even the black mist shrouding the forest was pierced apart. The Ghost Tree Demons screeched as golden light skewered them.
"Hellfire Inferno!"
A cold voice echoed.
Akainu's skin turned bright red, his body temperature surging as he transformed into a molten mass. His body surged forward like a crashing wave of lava, engulfing the Ghost Tree Demons.
Between radiant fire and molten lava, more than a dozen Ghost Tree Demons guarding Lanruo Temple were obliterated.
[Ghost Tree Demon King Lv.49]: Ruler of the Ghost Tree Demons. Gold-tier boss.
A towering tree whose crown blocked the sky, its massive trunk as thick as a baobab's, extended countless vine-like tendrils that swept toward the five players like a sea of whips.
"A gold-tier Ghost Tree Demon? Don't just stand there! These things aren't easy!"
Smoker looked up, his expression serious as he faced the onslaught of the Tree Demon King.
At his feet, a swirling pool of venom condensed and wrapped around him, forming a purple, armored giant.
Boom.
His poison-clad fist struck the demon's trunk, but it was like punching steel—completely ineffective.
The Tree Demon King retaliated immediately. Its vines lashed out, coiling around Smoker and absorbing the energy from his armor like a vacuum.
The bark and leaves quickly turned purple—but the demon showed no signs of being poisoned.
"Such high poison resistance... I need backup!"
Sweat beaded on Smoker's brow. He hadn't expected the Tree Demon King to be this tough.
"Demon-Slaying Iron Fist!"
Garp bent his knees, shattered the earth beneath his feet, and launched himself like a cannonball, delivering a mighty punch to the Tree Demon King's head.
Crack!
With pure physical force, Garp's iron fist left a deep dent in the demon's trunk. Cracks spread outward from the impact point like a spiderweb.
But the Tree Demon King didn't flinch. It continued absorbing energy from Smoker, and the fist mark visibly began to regenerate.
Boom boom boom!
Explosions of radiant fists burst like fireworks.
Garp pounded the demon like a miner breaking rock. With sheer brute strength, he snapped off one of its thick branches.
"Those fists... what is he, a pugilist? A martial artist?"
Orochimaru licked his lips, stunned by Garp's raw power.
As a necromancer, close-range brawlers like Garp were his worst nightmare.
If he ever planned to ambush Smoker, he'd have to make sure Garp wasn't around.
Serpent Curse.
Orochimaru opened his mouth, spewing forth countless necrotic curse snakes. They slithered up the Tree Demon King's trunk.
Each snake burst into flame as it reached the demon, turning to ash and leaving behind black burn marks.
The black snake marks twitched, as if alive, writhing across the demon's bark until they converged into a massive, pulsing sigil.
Boom!
The sigil exploded, blowing a gaping hole in the demon's steel-hard trunk—something even Garp had needed dozens of punches to achieve.
Gold-tier bosses were powerful—
But the Navy Alliance team was made up of Samsara Game elites. Working together, they quickly brought down the Tree Demon King.
A pile of game items hit the ground.
[Heartwood of the Tree Demon King]: Increases energy defense by 500 permanently when consumed.
[Ghostwood Gem]: Increases [Dark Attribute] by 600 when socketed.
[Staff of the Tree Demon King (Gold)]: Allows the user to summon Ghost Tree Demons by consuming energy. The demon's level scales with the user's energy quality.
...
"These are all fantastic items!"
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed as they locked onto the gold-tier staff.
Ghost Tree Demons were dark-aligned—perfect for a necromancer army.
His current staff was also gold-tier, with a rare effect that boosted the attack power of summoned undead—too valuable to replace.
But the [Equipment Devouring System] would let him fuse the new staff into his own, gaining the ability to summon Ghost Tree Demons.
"This staff would benefit me the most. I don't believe anyone else here uses summoning?"
He didn't wait for approval. Like a snake flicking its tongue, he grabbed the staff and dropped it into his equipment inventory.
No one objected.
Orochimaru had contributed heavily to killing the gold-tier boss, and the staff wouldn't benefit the others anyway.
"Vice Admiral Garp, you take the Heartwood?"
Smoker looked at Garp after reviewing the item's attributes.
As a pure physical brawler, consuming the Heartwood would massively increase Garp's energy defense. With 500 extra points, he could ignore the spells of most casters with mental stats below [100].
It would essentially make Garp a mage-killer.
"This new season... and we haven't even faced the Tree Demon Matriarch yet. A single gold-tier boss already dropped loot that could transform a player."
Akainu's gaze was sharp. Among the admirals, he had one of the keenest strategic minds.
It was no coincidence he became Fleet Admiral in the original timeline.
Just from the Tree Demon King's loot, he could tell—the Black Myth map was full of treasure waiting to be mined.
If they could seize the initiative, the Navy Alliance might dominate the Samsara Game.
"Move out. Into Lanruo Temple!"
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