Chu Linfeng's Earthsplitter was already at a masterful level—he could wield it with total ease. He fused the power of the five elements and lightning into his strike, making it nearly as powerful as his original Heaven-Cleave. Even though the opponent was a Fifth-Layer Saint Martial expert, he still couldn't withstand this blow.
The massive sword-qi slammed right into him, tearing a huge hole in his body. He flew dozens of meters away like a kite with a broken string, unable to get up for a long while.
Just one move—Chu Linfeng had seriously injured the strongest member of the group with a single attack. Such terrifying power made everyone feel threatened; this was the first time they'd encountered such overwhelming force in the Land of the Undead.
A female ghost with disheveled hair stepped out, clearly nervous as her body kept trembling. "Y-You... what do you want? We... we're not afraid of you!"
"Heh, if you're not afraid, why are you shaking? My goal is simple—I'm after your wooden tokens. I'm in a good mood today, so I don't want to go on a killing spree. If you don't believe me, that's not my problem. Leave your tokens and walk away, or don't blame me for being ruthless!" Chu Linfeng said coldly, unleashing an aura of absolute dominance.
The moment that aura was unleashed, everyone felt an urge to submit. Their hearts trembled in shock, finally realizing just how powerful this newcomer was. They exchanged glances, uncertain what to do.
"I'll give you ten breaths. If you haven't handed over your tokens by then, next time it'll be your lives on the line. Don't test my patience!" Chu Linfeng threatened.
The female ghost walked over to the big-headed ghost who'd been sent flying by Chu Linfeng. After checking his wounds, she found he was already at death's door, barely clinging to life.
The huge wound on his chest had turned pitch-black, with a burnt smell wafting from it. "Big Brother, wake up! What should we do now?" the female ghost whispered urgently.
Big-headed ghost opened his exhausted eyes and, barely able to breathe, said, "Survival comes first. I'm done for... This guy's strength is far beyond what you can handle. As long as the green hills remain, there's always firewood to burn."
After saying that, the big-headed ghost actually died, his eyes still filled with unwillingness. Clearly, he felt his death was pointless—killed in a single exchange without ever knowing who his killer was.
The female ghost turned to the crowd and said, "Let's all give him our wooden tokens. As long as he lets us go, there'll be other chances to get more tokens. Staying alive is what matters most!"
"Yeah, living is the most important thing!" another Ghost Clan member agreed. So everyone reluctantly put their tokens on the ground. Even though they were unhappy, in this era where strength rules, all they could do was endure.
Seeing how obedient they were, Chu Linfeng was quite pleased. This method avoided a lot of unnecessary trouble—looks like this is the best way to collect tokens from now on!
"Good, you understand the value of life. I won't make things hard for you—leave! Just hope you don't run into me again!" Chu Linfeng laughed, then used the Star-Siphon Method to pull all the tokens to himself. With a sweep of his divine sense, he sent them into his storage ring.
Watching this scene, everyone realized just how extraordinary this youth was. Chu Linfeng ignored their stares, activated his teleportation, and vanished from sight.
After Chu Linfeng left, the Ghost Clan felt like they'd just survived a disaster. The female ghost said, "Who is this guy? How can he be so strong? I heard the highest realm among the contestants is Seventh-Layer Saint Martial. Could this youth be that expert?"
"Sounds about right. No one without that realm could kill big-headed ghost in one move. At least he didn't wipe us out—otherwise, none of us would have left here alive today," another Ghost Clan member said.
Chu Linfeng was in a great mood—he'd just gotten more than ten tokens in one go. At this rate, if he ran into two or three more groups like this, he'd finish his mission in no time. He stopped teleporting and began flying slowly through the air, scanning the ground for Ghost Clan activity.
Over the next few days, Chu Linfeng encountered plenty of Ghost Clan—some alone, some in groups. He didn't spare a single one, killing them all.
These people weren't afraid of him at all, totally different from that first group. This annoyed Chu Linfeng, and the killing cost him quite a bit of Chaos Dragon Force. Still, he was happy about one thing—one Ghost Clan member he killed was carrying seven tokens, meaning he’d just wiped out seven people in one go.
Chu Linfeng counted the tokens in his storage ring—he now had ninety-three. He was just seven short of his goal, with about eight days left before he had to leave. The rest of the days should be easy.
Chu Linfeng then flew toward where he'd run into the Nether Viper before. He didn’t bother teleporting—he had nothing urgent to do, and it wasn’t the right time to break through his realm. Maybe he’d run into a few more Ghost Clan and finish collecting all one hundred tokens.
He flew for a whole day without meeting any Ghost Clan, but he did run into a few monsters carrying Phantasite. He killed them all and stored the Phantasite in his belt.
But when he was still a day away from the Nether Viper’s old haunt, he encountered something strange—a desert, endless yellow sand everywhere. Yet right in the middle of it, he saw green plants. It was the first time he’d seen any greenery since entering the Netherworld. Curious, he landed to take a closer look.
It was just a small tree, less than a meter tall, but its leaves weren't only green—they showed other colors too.
Five colors—gold, wood, water, fire, earth—were all present, and there were five fruits about the size of chicken eggs. Chu Linfeng instinctively knew this had to be something good, and not just good—extremely rare.
Before he could say anything, the sword spirit spoke up: "Wow, a Five-Element Tree actually appeared here! Linfeng, your luck is insane. If these Five-Element Fruits ripen, they'll be heaven-defying treasures."
"Five-Element Fruit? Does eating one boost your five-element power? But these fruits don’t look ripe. I don’t have time to wait around!" Chu Linfeng said dismissively. Luna made it sound amazing, but if the fruit wasn’t ripe, it was useless—he couldn’t take the whole tree with him, so he’d just have to miss out.
"Five-Element Fruit is something Immortal Realm experts dream of. Eating it really does boost your five-element power. You’ve already mastered all five elements, so you could eat all five fruits—who knows what kind of miracle could happen!" Luna said excitedly.
"Miracle? If these Five-Element Fruits actually ripen, that would be a miracle!" Chu Linfeng replied...