Volume 31: The Mantra of the End Times

Chapter 610: The Secrets of the Ash Forest

The meteor shower ended quickly, and the core area of the Withering Gorge took on a completely new appearance.
Rather than deal with them one by one, which would be troublesome, Donald unleashed the full power of the Projection of Natural Wrath, purifying the core of the Withering Gorge. Even legendary undead creatures could not resist such a powerful cleansing force; their negative energy was removed, and their souls found peace.

“As expected!”
Standing in place, feeling the streams of green energy flowing into his body and soul, Donald immediately understood.
For purifying this large area of the main world severely infected by negative energy, the Will of the Plane rewarded him with immense natural energy. Although most of this energy went to his true body in the Divine Kingdom, as Donald’s true will resided there, the power allocated to his avatar alone raised its strength from legendary level to demi-god level on the spot.

“Now, even without using my true body’s power, I can wield the combat strength of an ordinary demi-god!”
With that, he strode toward the purified core area.
Along the way, he encountered some golden-tier undead creatures that had somehow survived due to being at the periphery of the explosion of Natural Wrath’s power. Donald dealt with them all one by one.
However, what puzzled him was that these undead creatures resembled those in the Abyssal Plane he had seen before. Only someone like Donald, who had personally visited the Endless Abyss and explored more than two abyssal planes centered around undead creatures, could sense such a faint presence so acutely. Even ordinary beings, let alone demi-god warriors, might easily overlook it due to the strong aura of the undead creatures.

“How could these undead creatures in the core area of the Ash Forest possess the chaotic and evil aura of the Abyss?”
Donald wondered.
Logically, undead creatures transformed in the main world should not carry the aura of the Abyss, unless they came from the Abyssal Plane. Could there be a dimensional portal connecting to the Endless Abyss here?
Thinking this, Donald quickened his pace to investigate the area further.

Most places were devoid of any life, aside from some remnants of undead creatures purified by natural forces. But when Donald reached the bottom of a valley of rocks, he found that a strong negative energy still lingered there, along with the chaotic aura of the abyss.
“This must be it!”
The fact that these remnants hadn’t been purified even under the full power of the artifact’s projection meant they must be supported by immense strength. Perhaps this was the secret behind the Formation of the Withering Gorge and even the entire Ash Forest.
As he stepped into this area shrouded by the domain of death, an inexplicable fluctuation spread outward. At the same time, accompanied by a roar originating from the soul level, four formidable auras emerged—clearly, Donald’s arrival had caught the attention of the powerful beings here.
“A semi-divine being?”
Donald never expected such great power to be hidden deep within a small Ash Forest.
This was also why he had little interaction with the semi-divines across the continent; otherwise, he would have learned about the Ash Forest from them.
This place was one of the most dangerous areas in the Main World to provoke.
Of course, those semi-divines didn’t know the secrets here either. They only knew that just the four semi-divine undead creatures were beyond their capabilities to deal with. Even those unaware of the situation would wisely choose to retreat upon arriving here, rather than risk being attacked by those four semi-divines together.
But Donald’s thoughts were clearly different from theirs. To him, the secrets deep in this gorge were extremely intriguing. His strength and influence also far surpassed those of the Main World’s semi-divine powers, most of whom operated alone or with just a couple of allies.
If there were no important secrets, at worst he would lose this avatar. But if the secrets here were truly significant, he would descend in person and bring a few allies to resolve the issue.
Especially since it involved the existence of the Bottomless Abyss.
Not to mention that a large part of his foundation lay in the Main World. As a member of the human faction, he couldn’t allow the Bottomless Abyss or any external forces to threaten the Main World. So, discovering such a situation naturally meant he couldn’t stand by idly.
Before entering an area that blocked information transmission, Donald immediately contacted his true self and relayed what he had discovered. Then he rushed headlong toward the bottom of the valley.
“Roar!”

It seemed that this time, the intruders were not intimidated by their aura and chose to retreat as before; instead, they charged forward. This caught the four demi-god immortal creatures by surprise, prompting them to let out furious roars as they pursued the invaders. However, since the four of them were stationed in the four corners of the valley bottom, and Donald did not come into contact with any of them, running straight for the center, even though they were powerful demi-gods, they failed to stop the intruder in time. As the immortal energy and abyssal aura ahead grew stronger, exerting greater pressure on him, the furious roars of those four demi-god immortal creatures grew more intense, signaling to Donald that his destination was near. When Donald reached the center of the valley bottom, despite having anticipated it, he was still surprised by what he saw. “This is…” In the center of the valley lay a massive altar, above which thick forces of death formed dense clouds that covered the entire canyon, preventing outsiders from entering from above. The altar was covered with terrifying carvings depicting demons inflicting bloody tortures and the creation of various immortal creatures. Ordinary people with weak minds would likely faint from fear upon seeing such scenes. Around the altar was a huge magic array, with the carved symbols emitting mysterious and evil glows. From a spatial rift at the center of the altar, it drew chaotic and evil forces, converting them into massive amounts of negative energy to sustain the array’s operation, creating a death zone within a hundred miles and fostering the birth and evolution of immortal creatures! “So, this Ash Forest, known as the Paradise of the Immortals, was created by humans. A magic array of this scale probably requires a demi-god mage with at least a single-digit rank to assemble and activate, which would take a considerable amount of time. As for the altar itself, it clearly requires the efforts of an abyssal demon lord at the level of a true god. It seems I’ve uncovered quite a big secret today…” This method of stealing abyssal power to corrupt and transform the space of the main world could only be done by a demon lord favored by the abyssal will. After all, the rules of the main world are strict, and it takes an immense amount of power for beings from the outer realms to fundamentally transform space within a hundred miles—a task even a lower-tier god would find difficult.

Moreover, during this period, the rejection and purification by the will of the main world’s plane must also be taken into account. This is why the powerful being who designed this spell circle and altar did not choose to transform it directly into an evil land of the abyss. Instead, he allowed a small amount of negative energy permitted by the main world to seep in first, waiting until it fully turned into a land of death before pulling it completely into the abyss at once.

“Kill him! The secrets of the Great Immortal King must never be revealed to outsiders…”

As these thoughts crossed Donald’s mind, the four demi-immortal beings guarding the place already surrounded him.

It was then that Donald clearly saw the forms of these four demi-immortal beings.

On the left was a being that resembled the decaying corpse of a celestial creature. Its distinct features allowed Donald to easily recognize it as a Rotting Pioneer—usually created from the corpses of sacred celestial beings like angels, transformed into undead. From birth, they possessed legendary strength, and this Rotting Pioneer, having reached the demi-god level, was already among the most formidable!

To his right was a terrifying knight. Unlike ordinary gold-tier terrifying knights, this one, having grown to the demi-god realm, could be called a Knight of Fear. Just a glance from him could evoke deep fear in beings below the demi-god level, right from the depths of their souls!

Behind him, behind the altar, was a shadow emitting a deathly cold aura. If Donald wasn’t mistaken, it was a very rare large shadow-like humanoid creature, a Shadow Stalker. As a pure shadow creature, the Shadow Stalker, which spreads death and suffering, is an abhorrent existence. Its unique form was likely even more difficult to deal with thanentity undead creatures like the Knight of Fear and Rotting Pioneers, who possessed great combat power.

Finally, in front of him was a ghoul. Yet Donald did not underestimate his opponent; instead, he feared him the most. The fact that a being as lowly as a ghoul could reach the demi-god level clearly meant it had immense strength.

Hearing the message transmitted through the opponent’s mental waves, Donald immediately realized he had likely discovered an extraordinary secret!

There could only be one being who could be called the Immortal King and who was also connected to the Endless Abyss—that was the legendary King of the Undead, Oscar, one of the former three giants of the abyss, who was said to have disappeared or even perished!

Matthews, one of the three current kings of the Abyss, became a demon lord of the Abyss only after Oscar disappeared. If the King of Immortal Beings had not perished, the Endless Abyss would now have four mighty rulers! Just as these four demi-god immortal beings unleashed their domains to trap Donald’s doppelgänger outside the altar and plan to kill him to silence him, a beam of golden light was projected from beyond the main world, falling like a meteorite filled with raging fire deep into the Ash Forest. With a loud explosion, the death domains of the four demi-gods were instantly shattered, creating a huge crater dozens of feet wide in the bottom of the valley, already hardened by the forces of death. A statue-like figure with nine heads and eighteen arms, covered in dark gold, slowly rose from the crater—it was Donald’s newly forged Destroyer Golden Body.