Chapter 42: The Vanished Temple of Life

“Stop.”

Before the echo of the voice had faded, a Dark Elf, distinct from the assassins, slowly emerged from behind the shadow of a massive stone pillar.

She did not wear the close-fitting leather armor favored by assassins for agility, but instead was clad in a deep purple robe embroidered with a silver crescent moon, holding a staff entwined with white withered wood and black crystal.

It was clear she was a Dark Elf priestess.

Her appearance was breathtakingly beautiful, yet her obsidian eyes held no cold killing intent like the assassins’, but rather an innate pride and profound wisdom.

Clearly, she was a leader among the Dark Elves.

Her sharp gaze swept first over her tribesmen, pinned immobile by the Wind of Stagnation, without a trace of panic on her face, before finally settling on Lin En.

“Outsider, your strength is beyond question.”

She spoke directly, her voice echoing clearly through the vast ruins.

“My people offended you recklessly. I am willing to pay the price for that. Release them, and in exchange, you may choose any three Treasures from the Treasure Vault our Moonshadow Clan has guarded for a thousand years.”

Lin En’s cold gaze turned to this newly appeared Dark Elf, clearly the leader.

He had no interest in so-called Treasures, nor did the urge to kill fade.

In his view, eliminating threats was the most efficient choice.

At this tense moment, Elaine quickly stepped to Lin En’s side, lowered his voice, and spoke in a hurried whisper only the two of them could hear:

“Lord Lin En, wait! Treasures are useless to us, but information is valuable! We know nothing about this place. They have lived here in seclusion for generations—they must know the secrets deep within the ruins, maybe even clues about our mission objective! We need them alive. We need them to talk!”

Lin En nodded slightly.

Yes, completing the mission was the primary goal of this journey.

Killing them was easy, but afterward, they would still be blind in these unknown ruins.

A plan more valuable than simply killing them or exchanging for Treasures instantly took shape in his mind.

Lin En faced the priestess, slowly raised his left hand, palm upward.

The fire element seemed to heed a king’s call, frantically converging into his palm, a wild and formless energy forcibly captured and compressed.

A mass of liquid fire, viscous as molten gold, materialized in his palm, pulsing slowly like a living heart, radiating a soul-chilling aura of destruction.

In the suddenly contracted pupils of the Dark Elf leader, Lin En waved his hand lightly.

The golden liquid instantly split into several streams, slithering like sentient serpents toward each immobilized Dark Elf assassin with unerring precision.

They did not touch flesh, but hovered at the slender necks, finally forming liquid fire collars—Spiritlinked Liquid Fire Collars—flowing with terrifying heat.

The assassins’ eyes betrayed undisguisable fear.

They could feel that if the energy within the collars went out of control, their heads would instantly vaporize.

“To help you… and your people understand the basis for our upcoming conversation more clearly,”

Lin En spoke in a tone utterly devoid of emotion.

“I believe it’s necessary to first demonstrate this sincerity.”

With a thought, he sent an identical Spiritlinked Liquid Fire Collar toward a petrified ancient tree nearby, clamping it around the trunk.

Then, he turned his gaze to the leading assassin who had been thrown to the ground.

“Use your dagger. Stab it.”

He commanded.

The leading assassin, trembling with fear, glanced subconsciously at her leader.

The priestess’s face was pale, but she said nothing.

She knew resistance was meaningless.

The force binding the assassin’s right hand vanished.

She bit her lip, then hurled the Anti-Magic Dagger in her hand with all her strength!

The gray dagger struck the collar on the tree trunk dead-on.

The sharp blade pierced the energy shell as easily as bursting a soap bubble.

The next instant—

BOOM!!!!

A deafening roar, as if compressing air itself into a solid, erupted!

The terrifying energy within the collar detonated instantly.

The petrified ancient tree was no obstacle—the massive trunk was blasted open, the central segment incinerated and vaporized by searing heat in a thousandth of a second!

The savage destructive power sent chills through every Dark Elf’s heart.

In the deathly silence, Lin En coldly declared the rules of these chips:

“Any external force, especially your Anti-Magic power, that tries to break it… the result is what you just saw.”

“I can also, at any moment, detonate any—or all—of them with my will.”

“And don’t think about escaping.”

Lin En’s gaze locked onto the priestess.

“They are directly linked to my Spirit Power. If they move more than a hundred meters from me, the mental link fails, and they will likewise… explode.”

Like three iron laws impossible to breach, all hope and pride in the priestess’s heart was crushed.

All scheming and tactics became meaningless jokes before these ‘explosive collars’ floating at their clanswomen’s necks.

Lin En willed, and the Wind of Stagnation trapping the Dark Elves dissipated.

They instantly regained movement, but none dared to act.

They stood frozen, keenly aware of the deadly warmth at their necks, as if Death itself breathed at their ears.

The situation on scene was now firmly in Lin En’s grasp.

Lin En strode step by step before the Dark Elf leader, his tone calm but brooking no dissent.

“Who are you? Why did you attack us?”

The other party took a deep breath, with a tremor she struggled to suppress.

She gripped her staff so tightly her knuckles whitened, but finally chose submission.

Before the lives of her people, pride was powerless.

“I am Elena, High Priestess of the Moonshadow Clan.”

She said, her voice hoarse, stripped of all bargaining chips.

“This ancient forest ruin has always been home to our Spirit race. For thousands of years, we have remained isolated, welcoming no outsiders.”

Elena’s gaze swept over Lin En, Elaine, and Fiona, her expression complex.

“Your arrival shattered the peace here. To prevent you from delving deeper, we tried warnings.”

Lin En raised an eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue.

“The Beast Tides,”

Elena admitted, with helpless resignation.

“Whether the initial small-scale skirmishes, or the catastrophic flood days ago, were all triggered by us. We hoped to drive off greedy treasure seekers this way.”

At these words, shock appeared on both Elaine and Fiona’s faces.

They had never imagined the terrifying Beast Tide that nearly destroyed them was orchestrated by these Dark Elves!

“But you still came,”

Elena’s voice grew heavier.

“Your strength, especially yours,”

Her gaze locked on Lin En,

“Far surpassed our expectations. All warnings became meaningless. So we could only choose the most direct—and least desired—method: assassination.”

Lin En’s expression did not change.

The Beast Tides had been their doing.

It didn’t matter—the outcome was they failed to stop him.

To him, the process was meaningless. Only the result mattered.

“I’m not interested in your history or grievances.”

Lin En interrupted coldly, getting to the point.

“I need to know where the Hall of Life is.”

The moment the words “Hall of Life” were spoken, Elena’s face changed drastically.

It was a mix of fear, taboo, and vehement rejection, as if Lin En had named not a sanctuary, but a forbidden curse.

She instinctively stepped back half a pace, and the assassins behind her mirrored the same expression.

This subtle yet intense reaction did not escape Lin En and Elaine.

“It seems you know.”

Elaine added sharply, exchanging a glance with Lin En—they both saw confirmation in each other’s eyes.

The secrets here ran far deeper than they had imagined.

Elena pressed her lips tight, eyes wavering.

Though she had resolved to reveal all, on this question she fell into deep conflict.

She stared at Lin En, speaking each word with difficulty.

“That place… is forbidden. You cannot go there. No one can! I can give you any Treasure you desire—just spare my people, leave here, and forget the name Hall of Life!”

“It seems you still don’t understand the relationship between us.”

Lin En’s voice turned ice-cold.

He didn’t even spare Elena a glance, instead looking at the assassin leader he’d thrown to the ground earlier.

Buzz–

A faint but bone-chilling energy hum resounded.

The Spiritlinked Liquid Fire Collar on the female assassin’s neck suddenly became unstable.

The golden liquid, once flowing calmly, now boiled and bubbled violently, like a pot of oil on fire.

The collar’s light flickered, the emitted heat warping the air, and the assassin let out a muffled groan of pain as her hair began to curl and scorch.

She stared wide-eyed in terror, body rigid as stone, not daring to breathe, for she knew the next moment this thing could detonate around her neck—

“Stop!”

High Priestess Elena screamed, all color draining from her face.

Her forced composure and pride shattered, leaving only pure terror.

“I’ll tell! I’ll tell you everything!”

She cried to Lin En, nearly shrieking.

“Stop! Please… make it stop!”

Lin En raised his finger without expression.

The buzzing ceased instantly.

The rampaging Spiritlinked Liquid Fire Collar stabilized, returning to a gently spinning golden ring, as if the prior display of destructive power had been mere illusion.

But the suffocating fear of death had already imprinted itself in the heart of every Dark Elf present.

Elena gasped for breath, sweat streaming down her body as if she had barely escaped drowning.

She stared at the cold, demonic youth before her, finally understanding that any bargaining would only be humiliating herself.

She closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, only despair remained.

“The Hall of Life perished a thousand years ago.”