Volume I: Hell-Tier Lord World Chapter 166: Dying Words of a Thousand Needles

After all the elf and undead corpses present finally scattered away with the wind, Gu Chen took a step forward.

At this moment, he was suffering a heavy blow.

He no longer dared to claim how thoroughly he had mastered illusion spells.

To be able to play with illusions to such an extent, that was true skill.

Such an illusion space had been operating for so many years. If Gu Chen had not accidentally wandered in, perhaps this illusion space could have continued to run indefinitely.

With a sigh, Gu Chen prepared to walk over and check what was left behind here.

The crystal ball on the throne was the item Gu Chen wanted to get the most.

Yet just as he was about to walk over, he suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise.

Gu Chen discovered that there were actually corpses in the ruins that had not been blown away by the wind.

A trace of alarm arose in Gu Chen's heart; what kind of situation was this?

His subordinates quickly gathered around to protect Gu Chen.

At the same time, Blood Fiend also rushed out with several Blood Shadow Wolves and carried back a corpse from nearby.

After examining the condition of the corpse, Gu Chen understood that these were the bodies of people who had entered the illusion space at a later time and ultimately ended up trapped to death inside it.

This corpse bore no wounds on its body, but from its emaciated appearance, it was easy to tell.

He had been starved to death alive within the illusion space.

If Gu Chen had not discovered the problem with the illusion space and used certain methods to dissolve it, perhaps he and his soldiers would have become part of the crowd that starved to death.

"Corpse-eating Vine, help bury these bodies. No matter who they were to begin with, they are no longer considered enemies now."

Gu Chen showed a rare streak of kindness.

After arranging this matter, Gu Chen walked toward the pine needle throne.

By this time, the entire Thousand Needle Forest was completely gone, so there was no need to count on finding a City Heart or architectural stones here.

At the same time, the Thousand Needle Forest was not like Longfeng City, which was an important city controlling the surrounding region.

The Thousand Needle Forest was actually a city used to anchor the defensive line at the edge of the continent.

Whether there was a city here or not was actually of little importance.

Gu Chen did not plan to build a city here again.

He intended to take the crystal ball and head directly south from this location to capture another city in the south.

Using that city, called Nanyang City, as a foothold, he would begin clearing out all the undead in the southern part of the Elven Kingdom.

As for the Thousand Needle Forest, he would just let it go at that.

However, the moment Gu Chen picked up the blue crystal ball, everything changed.

Gu Chen only felt the scene before him flash, and upon the pine needle throne in front of him, an elven mage seemed to have appeared.

He looked at Gu Chen with empty eyes and said, "Welcome, outsider. Have the undead outside been driven away?"

Gu Chen realized instantly that he had been dragged into an illusion space.

Still, he suppressed the shock in his heart and forced himself to remain calm.

"Who are you?"

"The lord of the Thousand Needle Forest. You may call me Wallace."

"Then where is this?" Gu Chen asked again.

"This is the true Thousand Needle Forest, a city wedged at the edge of the world, a city suspended between illusion and reality."

Wallace said as he looked at Gu Chen, though his hollow eyes made Gu Chen understand that this was merely the last piece of information left behind by Wallace, not that Wallace was still alive.

Under Wallace's explanation, Gu Chen gradually understood the situation of the Thousand Needle Forest.

Because the Thousand Needle Forest was a city at the edge of this lord world, this city ordinarily happened to be wedged between the lord world and the marginal space.

In the eyes of normal people, this city did not exist.

Only the Elven Queen and a few archmages knew the location of this city.

Anyone else would find it entirely impossible to locate the Thousand Needle Forest, which was hidden within illusions.

Wallace was the last lord of the Thousand Needle Forest.

At that time, the elven race had retreated all the way under the attacks of the Undead Calamity.

A portion of them headed south, while another portion came west.

The scene Gu Chen had witnessed was just as he had imagined: the elven troop that had retreated to the Thousand Needle Forest fighting a battle against the undead.

At that time, among the undead was a powerful lich who led a company of liches and ruthlessly seized the opportunity when the Thousand Needle Forest transitioned between reality and illusion, trapping the elven garrison and leaving the Thousand Needle Forest stranded in place.

At the final moment, Wallace detonated the Thousand Needle Forest, drawing illusory power from the marginal space to transform the place into a massive illusion space.

This kept time frozen at the exact moment the Thousand Needle Forest was breached.

With a single city, he destroyed three legions of the undead.

Afterward, all of Wallace's power was exhausted, leaving behind only this single obsession that continuously repeated the day the Thousand Needle Forest was breached right here.

Having finished explaining all this, Wallace spoke to Gu Chen.

"You have already obtained everything I left behind here, so there is a favor I would like to ask of you.

The Thousand Needle Forest is a boundary city of this lord world, but it is also the most important city."

Hearing these words, Gu Chen rolled his eyes. Every city lord believed their own city was the most important one, and every city lord could rattle off seven or eight reasons to prove it.

Gu Chen merely listened to these words and did not take them to heart.

However, the very next sentence made Gu Chen's eyes light up.

"This city can be destroyed, but it cannot cease to exist. The fact that you can see the information I left behind shows that the illusion space I previously set up is gone. Therefore, I would like to ask you to bury a new architectural stone beneath my throne.

Rebuild the Thousand Needle Forest here.

As long as you are willing to help me with this favor, I can prepare a one-time-use illusion legion for you.

This is the last thing I can do for you."

An illusion legion?

Gu Chen couldn't help but turn the thought over in his mind before asking, "What level of City Heart is required? After the City Heart is buried, does someone need to manage it, and how strong is the illusion legion?"

It was no wonder Gu Chen reacted this way.

Although the troops under Gu Chen's command all called themselves legions, they were still quite a distance away from being true legions.

Not to mention Tier-A legions, even Tier-B legions hadn't met the standard; at best, they could only be considered regional patrol forces.

Now that he could obtain a proper legion for free, why wouldn't Gu Chen be willing to do it?

"It is a legion formed by the original Thousand Needle Forest troops combined with the retreating elven forces. When they retreated inside, I conducted a final reorganization and left behind an illusion for them.

Their strength is equivalent to a Tier-A legion, and in terms of troop numbers, they even exceed a Tier-A legion.

However, the illusion can only be used once. After use, they will vanish.

As for the City Heart, as long as you don't use one with an undead attribute, it will do. Bury it beneath the throne, and there is no need to send anyone to manage it; just let it develop on its own. The original Thousand Needle Forest was the same."

Hearing this, Gu Chen hesitated slightly, but he immediately snapped back to reality.

An illusion was fine too. As long as it was a legion that he could command and deploy, there was no problem. This illusion legion, he was determined to have.