The Witcher: Elemental Lords

Above the valley, an extremely pure Yin energy suddenly erupted, eroding in all directions. An intensely strong and terrifying chaotic consciousness emitted a silent howl, seemingly declaring its status and power.

The Yin energy recklessly poured out, radiating across dozens of surrounding hills, covering the entire Silent Valley.

Silent Valley became utterly silent.

Before long, several roars echoed from the distant mountains, confronting the Yin energy head-on.

The roars were filled with power, ambition, and majesty, seemingly brooking no desecration. They belonged to terrifying creatures from another place.

The two sides' auras clashed, neither willing to yield, creating a tense atmosphere.

Dore sat in his tent, the slight elation from his recent improvement instantly vanishing. He opened all the concealment runes on the tent and added some magic crystals for good measure.

This was that Level 4 Yin Ghost. His several bottles of potent hallucinogenic potions had apparently had no effect, instead even enhancing it somewhat.

His lips twitched slightly, his expression somewhat bitter.

Baal looked up at Dore and said, "This Yin Ghost's strength has clearly reached the late stage of Level 4. It has a rudimentary grasp of Yin energy manipulation. Although its mind is still somewhat chaotic, it's on the verge of developing a core will. If we could capture it as a helper, it would be the best thing possible."

In the darkness, Dore glared at it, annoyed. "I don't have that ability. I was lucky to escape from it last time. You want me to pull a tiger's whiskers?"

Baal grunted twice. "Not now, but we could later. Tomorrow, hurry up and find that millennium locust tree core and let's get out of here. Sleeping in this place is uncomfortable." He shifted his butt, clearly very dissatisfied with the ground.

Dore nodded.

The Level 4 Yin Ghost howled for half the night. All the creatures near Silent Valley trembled. All the adventurer groups around Silent Valley fell silent, watching in the darkness with varying expressions.

Gerry was resting in a cave on the edge of Silent Valley. They had lost another member today in a conflict with another adventurer group. The other side hadn't fared much better, having lost three people to them. Both sides retreated, the other group was a notorious poaching group.

At this moment, the moonlight in the sky was at its peak. A small portion of the moonlight was distorted as it fell towards one of the mountain peaks, where something was dancing in the sky with flailing claws.

Gerry recognized it at a glance. This Yin Ghost was the one that had chased them that day. The Yin energy fluctuations were simply too obvious.

This guy actually advanced? How is that possible?

There are countless Yin Ghosts in Silent Valley, but they usually don't come out. The highest level is only Level 3, almost none exceed Level 3. This Yin Ghost's strength suddenly became so powerful. Could it be because of the warm jade?

He thought of this, and countless rays of light gleamed in his eyes.

Level 4, that's a bit tricky.

At the same time, in other places, the adventurer groups also looked towards this side, pondering in their hearts. The words 'warm jade' constantly arose in their minds.

Only warm jade could allow a ghost to advance so quickly. That's a treasure that nourishes the soul. If they obtained it and sold it to a Level 5 or higher wizard, it would definitely be overnight riches.

The adventurers were excited.

Of course, some adventurer groups also planned to retreat quickly. A Level 4 ghost was not something they could deal with. Rather than dying in vain, it was better to change their target.

Among those retreating was the Ellengard Academy squad. They planned to kill a few Level 3 magical beasts and return to the academy, putting the warm jade and fox matter aside for now.

…

One night passed. The water in the valley had dropped to the level of an ordinary stream, and the ground was dry, allowing for free movement.

Dore walked out of the tent, scanned his surroundings, called Baal up, and began to silently pack up the tent.

In light of yesterday's Level 4 Yin Ghost, he decided to find the millennium locust tree core as soon as possible today and leave this place of trouble.

Yin Ghosts do not operate during the day. Sunlight is like a natural enemy to them. Only those at Level 7 or higher can move freely, so the daytime is still safe.

After spending a little time collecting everything, Dore officially stepped onto the mountain path.

This time, his goal was clear. He hardly took any detours, heading straight for the summit.

The locust tree core was on the other side of the valley. He needed to cross the summit to get there.

Actually, he also wanted to see what was in the location of that Yin Ghost, what could have allowed its strength to increase so quickly. Even the potent hallucinogenic potion didn't have such a quick effect.

After his physical improvement, he felt that his endurance and stamina had increased dramatically, walking in the mountains as if he were sprinting.

In less than an hour, he arrived near the summit and saw the situation at the top.

He was somewhat surprised because on the summit, there was a tall but very dilapidated locust tree. It was charred black all over, along with the surrounding ground and other plants. A burnt smell permeated the air. The entire summit only had this one locust tree.

He immediately thought of something and exclaimed, "Lightning-struck Locust."

Locust trees are Yin in nature and particularly like sunlight, but most locust trees do not grow on mountain peaks because it is clearly water-scarce here. But this locust tree was different. Its trunk was huge, firmly rooted on the mountaintop, and showed no signs of withering.

Its canopy was tattered, charred black everywhere. Some thin twigs stubbornly grew from the trunk, greedily absorbing the surrounding sunlight, tenaciously alive, just not dying.

There were many cracks in the trunk, covered in charred blackness, all from being struck by lightning.

"It's still not dead after all that. A few more strikes and this tree will become a magical beast, right?" Dore was shocked.

Would such a tree have a Yin Ghost entrenched inside? Isn't it afraid of being struck by lightning?

He could feel a cold Yin energy entrenched within the tree trunk. Under the high sun, that cold Yin energy did not dare to come out.

Dore was somewhat tempted. It might be nice to chop off a branch from the lightning-struck locust tree.

Thinking of this, he carefully observed it.

The main trunk of this large locust tree clearly did not have a tree core. The inside of the trunk was already empty, but that did not affect its inherent properties. He only took a look and saw a split trunk that had been dried by lightning.

Although this branch was dry, or even dead, Dore was surprised to find that this branch actually had a little bit of a tree core.

Seeing this, he immediately flew forward without saying a word, wanting to climb the tree.

At this moment, his brow tingled, and he felt a strong sense of danger.

The danger was not on the tree, but on the other side of the mountain. His attention had been drawn to the big tree just now, and he had forgotten to observe his surroundings.

After sensing the danger, in an instant, a magic shield rose up. At the same time, he forcibly twisted his body in mid-air, flicked his wrist, and a small sword appeared in his hand.

The arrow came piercing through the air, extremely fast. Dore only had time to turn around when the arrow shot onto the magic shield. The powerful force pushed the magic shield inward, and the strong fighting spirit attached to it collided frantically with the power on the magic shield, emitting waves of energy.

At this time, Dore finally turned around, and he slashed his sword at the arrow.

Clang.

His wrist went numb, and the arrow was successfully knocked away. At the same time, the mental power he released had already captured the movement in the distance. Without saying a word, the flames around him quickly ignited, and a full five fireballs instantly condensed.