Despite the disappointment that the Wraith King felt in the Continent, he still decided to wander the lands in hopes that he could at least find special treasures before leaving. He’d seen his fair share of trinkets in his adventures but he’d never been able to possess one.

Since his birth, the only treasure he had ever owned was his Demon King Armament and it was quite disappointing. The lantern that he almost always carried in his left hand didn’t count since it could be considered a part of his body.

So he trekked around the southern sector of the Continent with little to know excitement until he reached the Western Sector. And what he found was a terrifying Forest that was filled with an overwhelming amount of putrid Magic Energy of the likes that he had never seen before. It was even denser than the Magic Energy found in the Forest with the gigantic tree!

Maybe there was something about Trees that created such high levels of ambient Magic Energy because he could see another gigantic Tree right in the middle of this Forest. And although it wasn’t as big as the Tree found in the Forest from the previous Continent, it was still the second biggest one he had ever seen. But that wasn’t the point.

The point was that not only did this place have an overflowing amount of Magic Energy, but its elemental nature also contained elements that were compatible with him! And thanks to the fact that he was a Greater Demon who could now absorb Magical/Demonic Energy from the air, the deathly and miasmic aura of the Forest was like the sacredest of all sacred lands to him!

Filled with glee, the Wraith King decided to enter despite knowing such a place would be laden with dangers. But he was a Greater Demon now and there weren’t many things in this World that could harm him anymore, and even in the slim chance that there was something that could harm him within the Forest, he could always just run away as he always did.

He couldn’t allow himself to give up such an opportunity because of fear!

Nearly drunk with glee at the prospect of greater strength, he flew right in without hesitation as he circulated the basic cultivation technique he had gained from his Greater Demon inheritance.

And what joy!

The corrupted ambient Magical Energy was extremely compatible with him and was already improving his cultivation by leaps and bounds, even if, in reality, he was still exceedingly far away from the 2nd Stage of the Greater Demon Realm. He didn’t know what it was, but similar to the vast power boost that he gained when he broke through to the 4th Realm, the amount of essence needed to make even 1 breakthrough was just too tremendous. Sometimes he would even catch himself thinking that it almost wasn’t worth it.

But in a place like this, there was no longer a problem! He had truly struck gold!

Letting out a ghostly laugh that sounded like it came from multiple directions, he flew even faster to the area that had the densest amount of Magic Energy, thinking about all the faces of those that had wronged him as he pummelled them to the ground with the strength he was soon to gain.

‘I will make such a thing a reali-’

BOOOM!

He was…sent flying.

But this time it wasn’t as far! He crashed into a tree only a hundred metres away and nearly broke his back, reminding him of why he didn’t like his pitiful physical form. If it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t absorb essence from the air without it, he would never use it.

Quickly switching into his Wraith Form, he readied his scythe and looked towards the-

His scythe?

Feeling the lack of weight in his palm, his ghostly cloak flickered with confusion... Where was his scythe?!

“What kind of creature are you?” came the dry crackling voice ahead of him.

‘!!!’ He quickly turned his attention towards the source of the voice and was astonished to see another one of those creepy half-dead humans right in front of him!

He had long since come into contact with irregularly strong humans that looked like walking corpses with some of them even having half or all of their flesh missing, especially when he had arrived in the western sector. He knew that they were still humans instead of some kind of abnormal creature in Enlightened Form, but he also knew that they were not the same humans that he was so used to seeing at all.

Talk less of their atrocious appearances, merely their smells were different from the tell-tale scent of the average human. And he wasn’t talking about the decaying smell of a corpse, even if that too was there.

It was this smell amongst other things like aura and Magic signature that let him know that the thing before him, even though it looked like the most perfect human he had ever seen, was one of those walking corpses.

It had pasty white skin that was paler than his (when he was in his Enlightened Form), flat black eyes, a bald head, a muscular figure that was over 2 metres tall, an irking bright white grin, and a scythe carried in its right hand…

 A scythe?!

“Hmm… can you not speak?” the undead said as it caressed its jaws with its free left hand.

“I want my scythe back.” the Wraith King said with barely suppressed rage. He knew that he was in a position of vast disadvantage and that he must humble himself, even if this was the first ever time that his scythe had been stolen from him.

Thinking of the strength and speed that the creature had shown thus far, he knew that he was probably having the most dangerous encounter of his life, and that he must be very, very careful.

Readying himself, he said: “I want…”