Chapter 71: The Six-Armed Enchantress in the Purple Dress

The Six-Armed Enchantress belonged to the immortal species. According to legend, the immortal species were formed when the dead drank from the Fountain of Undying. They were called immortal not because they could not be killed, but because their lifespans were exceedingly long.

In this world, beneath the ranks of the extraordinary, the vast majority of humans possessed a life wheel with 360 segments, each segment’s life light representing one year of existence. Even if every gray segment were reactivated, the maximum lifespan would not exceed 720 years. This remained true even for those in the Golden Realm, unless they ascended to the extraordinary.

Apart from humans, most monsters below the extraordinary realm had lifespans of less than a thousand years. But the immortal species were different; if they were not slain, they could easily live for thousands, even tens of thousands of years, outlasting most other creatures.

The Alliance Government’s Institute of Species Research had once captured over a hundred different immortal species for study. It was discovered that, in the absence of external stimuli, they could wander a room less than ten square meters for centuries, needing neither food nor even a drop of water. It was as if their sole purpose was to aimlessly roam the same space until their protracted lives were utterly exhausted.

The Six-Armed Enchantress was no exception. They wandered ceaselessly within the confines of the Forgetting Forest, an area scarcely three hundred square kilometers. It was as if the souls of the dead could not find peace upon this land, doomed to endlessly retrace their steps.

The territory claimed by the Six-Armed Enchantress was sharply defined. Within its bounds, the earth was scorched black, devoid of any plant life; only brittle, decaying wood remained, not a single living tree, starkly contrasting with the rest of the forest.

Such peculiar signs marked the frequent presence of immortal species: nearly all absorbed the life force of surrounding beings at an exceedingly slow pace. The effect was subtle in the short term, but over time, the land would become barren, the trees withered and dead.

At around half past seven in the evening, darkness had fully descended. Lin Huang stood beneath a large tree just beyond the boundary, hiding behind its trunk. He cautiously peered out, scanning the scorched earth.

Within his view, three Six-Armed Enchantresses in red dresses wandered slowly, as if patrolling their domain.

Lin Huang dared not act rashly, choosing instead to wait patiently. To alarm three such monsters at once was clearly unwise. In direct confrontation, each Six-Armed Enchantress was nearly as formidable as Bai; against three, he would have no choice but to flee, or else lose his life.

Upon the blackened soil, the red skirts of the Three Six-Armed Enchantresses floated eerily, barely twenty centimeters above the ground. Their pace was even slower than a casual stroll after dinner, appearing thoroughly unhurried.

Facing such ghostly creatures for the first time, Lin Huang felt a chill in his heart. Their appearance was hauntingly reminiscent of vengeful female specters from films he had watched as a child.

After about ten minutes, two of the Six-Armed Enchantresses vanished from his sight, leaving just one, drifting slowly toward his position.

“Little Black, reconnect my life wheel to Bai!” Lin Huang whispered urgently. Only three gray segments of his life light remained; Bai needed to slay a monster for his life wheel to reach overflowing brightness.

[Connection reestablished!]

Hearing Little Black’s prompt, Lin Huang turned and spoke in a low voice to Bai, “I’ll rush out first; that Six-Armed Enchantress will focus on me. You take the opportunity to kill her. Remember, you must shatter the mask on her face!”

No sooner had Lin Huang spoken, than the Six-Armed Enchantress was within ten meters of his hiding place.

Lin Huang suddenly leapt out from the right side of the tree and waved at the creature, “Hey beautiful, come chase me! If you catch me, I’ll let you hehehe…”

Before he could finish, the Six-Armed Enchantress’s movements, once slow, became swift as a wraith, lunging toward him.

“Damn, so fast!” Her speed startled Lin Huang.

Six arms, translucent as jade, slashed at him like blades. If struck, Lin Huang feared his body would be cleaved into pieces.

“Bai, now!” Lin Huang shouted, rolling sideways to dodge, causing the Enchantress to miss her mark.

Almost simultaneously, a golden flash pierced the night—a crimson-gold spike, like a lance, impaled the center of the Enchantress’s mask, passing through her skull from front to back. The other end of the spike was connected to Bai’s spine. Ever since Lin Huang had used the flawless card on Bai, his blood energy had turned from scarlet to crimson-gold, sharper than before.

The Enchantress froze, with not a drop of blood spilled, as the mask on her face shattered, her red dress and six arms disintegrating. Moments later, only a heap of black hair remained on the ground.

Seeing the creature dead, Lin Huang rose, dusting himself off. Almost simultaneously, his life wheel stirred within him.

The last three gray segments melted away like snow beneath boiling water, quickly dissolving and filling with white life light.

At last, Lin Huang’s 360-segment life wheel was completely saturated with white light.

“My life light is finally overflowing. If I kill just one more Six-Armed Enchantress myself, I’ll complete the baptism, acquire my life seed, and ascend to the Black Iron Realm!” With this thought, Lin Huang’s anticipation grew.

“Let’s go. We’ll search along the edge of this territory for another lone Six-Armed Enchantress!” Lin Huang called to Bai, and the two departed the scene of their recent battle.

Perhaps because this was the Enchantress’s domain, Lin Huang and Bai, walking along the edge of the scorched region, encountered not a single other monster.

They continued for five or six kilometers, and several times Lin Huang spotted groups of Enchantresses, never fewer than five or six—impossible to attack.

“I refuse to believe I can’t find a lone one if I circle your territory!” Lin Huang had Bai lead the way, pressing on.

After several hours, having circled nearly half the perimeter of the scorched earth, Lin Huang finally found two solitary Enchantresses beneath a dead tree.

However, one wore a skirt of an odd color: not vibrant red, but a pale purple.

“Could it be a mutated monster?” Lin Huang scrutinized the purple-skirted Enchantress, hesitating.

The purple-skirted Enchantress stood beneath the dead tree, seemingly lost in thought, while the red-skirted one paced back and forth less than ten meters behind, as if guarding her.

Lin Huang waited for ten minutes, but their behavior remained unchanged—the purple-skirted still in a daze, the red-skirted still vigilant.

After a moment’s indecision, Lin Huang resolved, “No matter, I’ll kill the guardian first as quickly as possible, then deal with the dazed one.”

He dared such a move because he had studied the habits of the Six-Armed Enchantress. These creatures lacked vocal cords, unable to warn their companions. Once they detected an enemy, they attacked directly, without coordination. Lin Huang planned to exploit this delay, slaying the guardian before the mutated Enchantress could react, thus avoiding simultaneous attacks.

Having made up his mind, Lin Huang whispered instructions into Bai’s ear, “I’ll lure the guardian over. You shatter its mask and kill it as fast as possible, then use your blood energy to restrain the purple-skirted Enchantress so I can finish it.”

With that, Lin Huang emerged from the woods, beckoning to the guardian. The guardian immediately spotted him and rushed forward.

Just then, the purple-skirted Enchantress twisted her head around, rotating a full one hundred eighty degrees so that her once-turned back now faced Lin Huang directly. Upon her eerie white mask, a pair of blood-red eyes slowly opened, fixing their gaze upon Lin Huang.

Under its stare, Lin Huang felt a cold chill crawl up his spine…