Volume One: Hell-Level Lord World Chapter 118: Purging the Heart of the City

After Kebas left again, Chen Gu shifted his focus to the City Heart and the architectural stones.

Kebas’s earlier thoughts had sparked a new idea. If previous attempts to cleanse the undead aura had failed, it was simply because the materials lacked sufficient potency. Now that he possessed the Material Synthesis Cabinet, he could simply enhance those materials. This provided a potential solution for purifying the Level 9 City Heart.

Chen Gu quickly gathered the various materials he had collected and began combining and upgrading them. Soon, he realized that among his supplies, he had exactly what was needed to process the Level 9 City Heart. These were the patches of soil he had excavated from Holy Lake Island, originally intended for synthesizing Holy Light Magma. After mastering the spell to summon Holy Light Magma, he had no further use for the soil—until now.

He placed the soil into the Material Synthesis Cabinet and activated the synthesis function. The result was a much denser, more solid earth.

[Holy Soil (Green): Soil imbued with powerful holy energy. Can be used for crafting jewelry or as a synthesis material.]

Looking at the attributes, Chen Gu shook his head. It wasn't enough; green-tier Holy Soil was insufficient to affect a Level 9 City Heart. He placed the synthesized Holy Soil back into the cabinet, and after another round of synthesis, he retrieved a piece of black soil the size of a brick.

[Holy Soil (Blue): Soil compressed to the limit with holy energy. Can be used for crafting blue-tier jewelry or as a synthesis material.]

He considered compressing it further, but he had exhausted his supply of soil; there was no more to be had. He turned to other items scavenged from Holy Lake Island: World Tree branches, aquatic weeds, barnacles, and mussels. He threw everything he had into the mix.

After several rounds of processing, he had several blue-tier items: the brick-sized Holy Soil, an arm-thick branch, a fist-sized barnacle, a palm-sized mussel, and a three-meter-long strand of aquatic weed. All were imbued with intense holy energy. With these five items, Chen Gu prepared to cleanse the City Heart. He intended to strip away the undead properties first, then decide how to reshape the heart afterward.

[Lair Synthesis Initiated...]
[Please provide one architectural stone or City Heart (0/1), one successfully synthesized formula (0/1), and ten portions of synthesis materials (0/10).]

Chen Gu lacked a pre-existing formula and did not have enough individual materials. The five items he had synthesized counted as holy-attribute materials, but they only accounted for five portions. As he prepared to proceed, a warning appeared: forced synthesis carried a high risk of failure, which would result in the erasure of all attributes currently held by the City Heart.

This was exactly what Chen Gu wanted. He intended to strip the undead attributes, regardless of whether the level dropped. After all, he had no way to control an undead city.

With a command, the items placed beside the City Heart dissolved into powder, and a brilliant white light enveloped the heart. The humanoid statues carved into its surface began to twist and contort, attempting to resist the light, but the force was too great; any movement only caused the statues to shatter.

Moments later, the outer shell of the City Heart cracked open, revealing a dark green core within. The "Breath of the Elves" ring on Chen Gu’s finger pulsed, and the dark green core shifted to a vibrant, tender green.

Chen Gu realized then that the natural magic mark he had encountered earlier hadn't been brought by the undead forces themselves. It had been a City Heart seized from the elves and corrupted by undead energy. The undead had simply injected their aura into the heart to convert it. Chen Gu had stumbled upon the perfect opportunity: by neutralizing the undead aura with the power of the Holy Light, the original nature of the City Heart had been restored. Furthermore, this was clearly one of the core City Hearts of the Elven race.

Under the influence of the Breath of the Elves ring, the City Heart shed its lethargy and glowed with a renewed, tender light. Chen Gu received the corresponding notification:

[You have obtained City Heart - Garden of the Woods]
[City Heart - Garden of the Woods: Can be used to build a nature-aligned city at a designated location. Primarily supports Elven and other nature-affiliated units. City level cap: 11.]

"Level 11?" Chen Gu was startled. He had never expected the heart to be Level 11. In the Lord’s World, the difference between Level 11 and 12 was minor—Level 12 cities were designated as capitals, allowing the council hall to be upgraded to capital status, while Level 11 cities were known as main cities. Their size and influence were largely similar, but the revelation still shocked him.

Then, something clicked. "Wait, Garden of the Woods?"

He pulled out his Elven map and began searching. He quickly found the 11th-level main city in the northern part of the Elven Kingdom, labeled "Garden of the Woods." The map detailed the city's status: if the Elven Holy City was the primary residence of the elves, the Garden of the Woods was the main city for the vassal races. It housed elves, dwarves, fairies, dryads, treants, centaurs, unicorns, pegasi, and owl-bears. It was essentially the most important source of auxiliary troops for the Elven Kingdom.

Staring at the City Heart, a thought occurred to Chen Gu: when the undead conquered the Garden of the Woods, had they simply dismantled the heart itself?