Published at 5th of March 2026 6:49 am

Chapter 2612: Wood Spirit

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"This kind of question doesn’t seem like one you’d ask." After listening to Angel’s question, Zhou glanced lightly at the only two apprentices present: "I guess it’s these two kids asking, right?"

Angel: "That’s not important. Besides, I am capable of asking such questions too."

Zhou snorted, "Being protected by demons, followed by strong winds, and surrounded by an illusionary realm, if you still dare to ask such a question, then you’re quite cowardly."

Angel: "Facing an unknown path, being a little cowardly is not a bad thing."

As Zhou and Angel exchanged words, the questioning Vay had long since lowered his head in embarrassment. If he had known it would make the adults be mocked by that demon, he—he shouldn’t have asked this question.

However, it feels pretty good to be defended by the adults...

While Vay’s thoughts were a mess, on the other side, after a bit of sarcasm, Zhou eventually answered the question.

"For you, there’s nothing ahead worth mentioning as dangerous. It’s just a bunch of Ghosteye Witches who go crazy at the sight of blood. If you can’t even deal with the Ghosteye Witches, then you needn’t confront that existence."

Setting aside the emotional language, Zhou’s answer was more or less as Angel had guessed.

Indeed, where there are Ghosteye Witches, the Hanging Jail Stairway is not far.

However, Angel was still a bit puzzled, "As guards, don’t you stop those Ghosteye Witches?"

"There’s no need to stop them. They have existed for a long time." After hesitating for a moment, Zhou said, "They are raised by that existence, supposedly to study some traits of the Ghosteye Witches."

After Zhou finished speaking, he paused for a while, seemingly sensing the feedback from a contract. After confirming there were no violations, he sighed in relief, "Years ago, the Ghosteye Witches often hovered around the Hanging Jail Stairway. Since they can’t enter the real prison, just treat them as guard dogs. However, as time goes by, the number of these guard dogs has grown."

As Zhou finished speaking, Angel heard Dox’s voice in the Mind Ribbon: "Raised for experiments but still allowed to roam freely... That existence is really carefree. And the most important thing is, others see it and don’t care, directly treating Ghosteye Witches as ’guard dogs’? I can imagine how crazy the Hanging Jail Stairway was once."

Angel agreed with Dox’s words, but these were thoughts he’d keep to himself, maintaining a calm expression when facing Zhou.

"And then, are there any other dangers besides Ghosteye Witches? Aren’t any Magical Creatures imprisoned in the Hanging Jail Stairway?" Angel asked.

"As long as you don’t enter the Hanging Jail Stairway, the only danger you’ll face is the Ghosteye Witches. As for entering the Hanging Jail Stairway..."

Zhou paused for a moment, "I can’t say more."

Everyone: "..."

Zhou: "However, I can tell you, the Hanging Jail Stairway has already broken, and you can’t get to the upper floors. As for the lower floors, even back then, there was nothing too dangerous."

Dox’s voice came through the Mind Ribbon again: "What do you mean can’t get to the upper floors? As long as it’s in the relic, I don’t believe we can’t reach it!"

Angel silently replied, "You don’t need to comment on every word Zhou says. As for the Hanging Jail Stairway, it might not be in the relic."

Dox paused for a moment, "What do you mean?"

Angel: "Different Space."

Once a ladder in a Different Space is broken between the upper and lower layers, no one knows where the broken piece will drift in the plane corridors. So, what Zhou said wasn’t actually wrong.

On the other side, after mentioning the broken ladder, Zhou remained silent for a while, "I’ve said all I can about your question. If you have any more questions, ask them quickly. If not, that’s fine; if you have them, don’t be as boring as this question."

Following Zhou’s words, Angel immediately raised a question that wasn’t so boring and childish.

It was Kaier’s question.

What ill intent could Kaier have? He just wanted to know the history of Naraku City, even if it’s merely the corners.

However, after listening to Angel’s question, Zhou pondered for a long time before managing to utter, "This question definitely wasn’t from you."

Angel responded with a faint smile, admitting, "Among my companions, there’s one who’s very interested in archaeology."

Zhou: "I can’t answer that question. Also, I take back what I said earlier; I allow you to ask boring and non-nutritious questions."

Angel had guessed that Zhou couldn’t answer Kaier’s question. But seeing Zhou awkwardly swallow back his own words with a frustrated and intriguing expression made Angel feel like the question was worth it.

"Then I’ll ask another question, also posed by my companion." This time, Angel didn’t hide the identity of the questioner and directly brought Dox into the conversation.

"This companion of mine has a hobby of recovering bodies of pioneers and loves collecting valuable items. Zhou, do you have any advice for him?"

Zhou looked at the bewildered Dox who was dragged into the spotlight by Angel and let out a cold chuckle, "You said it best earlier, what pioneers? They’re all robbers."

With that, Zhou didn’t continue to mock Dox, thinking to himself, is there anyone here not out for profit? Zhou didn’t believe it.

So, although he mocked Dox a bit, he felt that Dox might be the most genuine among this group of people.

"Pursuing profit is not shameful, but unfortunately, there are very few benefits you can gain upfront. If you’re interested in the bodies of Ghosteye Witches, you can kill some of them. If I remember correctly, there are two Wizard-Level Ghosteye Witches there, and even at prices from ten thousand years ago, those two Ghosteye Witches are quite valuable."

Dox silently added in his mind: Now, even more valuable!

Wizard-level Magic Creatures are becoming increasingly rare in the Southern Domain, and to obtain them, you have to go to other worlds. For a Wandering Wizard like Dox, it doesn’t matter much which world he goes to. But the methods to go to other worlds, aside from knowing the location yourself and traveling through the Void, are mostly controlled by large organizations and Extreme Sects, making it hard for Dox to obtain the usage rights.

Even if the rights were granted, upon returning, if an Extreme Sect wants to inspect Otherworldly items, without a background, you could only accept it.

This leads to Wizard-level Magic Creature bodies being extremely frightening in value now. Furthermore, Ghosteye Witches, which are very difficult to grow to Wizard-Level from a Low-level Demon, would at least be among the final highlights at an auction.

Considering this, Dox was already drafting a plan in his mind... thinking about how to convince Angel to go and kill those two Ghosteye Witches.

In case it really doesn’t work out, he’d have to weigh the pros and cons of leaving the group versus staying with the group before making a decision.

However, before Dox could persuade Angel, or even start weighing the pros and cons, Zhou added another crucial point, "By the way, those two Wizard-Level Ghosteye Witches were originally raised by that existence and are the only two still alive. Although that existence hasn’t paid much attention to them over the years, if you kill them, you might offend that existence."

Dox: "...What if we kill them and leave?"

This time, Zhou wasn’t bothered by Dox’s interruption: "If that existence truly cares about the lives of those two Ghosteye Witches, even using a Plane Corridor, you won’t be able to escape. If not, you can kill them and continue wandering here, it’s no problem."

In other words, it’s a gamble of a choice.

Killing them could mean death, or living.

Faced with such a choice, Dox had no doubt and chose... not to kill.

Even if there was only a ten percent chance of death, if it hit, it would be certain death. For long-living wizards, gambling with their lives is something they’d only do as a last resort.

The Southern Domain is so vast and there are so many worlds. If they can’t harvest here, they can go elsewhere. There’s no need to gamble everything here.

"Other than the Ghosteye Witch, what about the remains of the pioneers? Are there other good things in the Hanging Jail Stairway?"

Day: "The remains of those who entered first were torn and devoured by the Ghosteye Witch long ago. As for what they left behind, perhaps it’s in the stomach of some Ghosteye Witch? Or maybe in some corner inside. Spend some time searching carefully, and you might find something."

"As for the Hanging Jail Stairway..."

At this point, Day paused for a long time, muttering words under their breath. From the occasional whispers that slipped out, it was clear Day was testing the limits of a contract.

After a while, Day looked up: "There are indeed some useful things in the Hanging Jail Stairway, but without the help of an Official Wizard from the Space Series, you basically can’t get them. And I also can’t say where exactly they are."

There was indeed someone with Space abilities present, but Kaier was still an apprentice, clearly not meeting Day’s specified conditions.

"However, there is one thing that you are eligible to take. If you can get it, it would be tremendously beneficial to you." As Day said this last part, their gaze settled on Angel. "You" turned into a singular "you."

"What does that mean?" Angel asked.

"Don’t you want to find that existence? There’s something in the Hanging Jail Stairway that it really likes. If you get that item and bring it before it, it might fulfill your wish."

After listening to Day’s words, Angel showed no emotional fluctuation because Day’s response was indeed full of temptation.

It seemed eager to urge Angel to do this.

Encountering this kind of situation usually isn’t a good thing. — Said Angel, who was often tempted by Jon in a similar manner as a child.

Day also noticed Angel’s wary gaze and, after a quick thought, roughly understood why Angel suddenly became cautious.

Day chuckled lightly: "Do you think I’m tricking you?"

Angel didn’t speak, but Dox chimed in: "This is obviously a trap. Something that the one you mentioned couldn’t even get, why should we?"

Day: "You don’t understand the situation."

In the following minutes, Day briefly explained the ins and outs of the matter.

In the lower levels of the Hanging Jail Stairway, there is a "Spirit," not a soul, but a spirit born of all things, like the Mirror Lady and the Tree Spirit.

This spirit hasn’t been born for long, just a few hundred years.

It’s a Wood Spirit.

Maybe because it hasn’t been in contact with the outside world and wasn’t well-guided after being discovered, this Wood Spirit has a peculiar personality.

It’s very... cowardly.

Its birthplace was outside the Hanging Jail Stairway. At that time, there were a lot of Ghosteye Witches outside, and upon seeing so many cruel and ugly monsters, it directly... fainted from fright.

When it woke up, it played dead for more than half a year, fearing it would be torn apart by the Ghosteye Witch. During this time, Day and the other guards didn’t find it, indicating its strong concealment ability, probably honed during that period.

Once its spirit became more robust, it rushed into the Hanging Jail Stairway at the first opportunity.

It was only then that the guards discovered its existence. However, due to their limited action range, they can’t leave here and can’t observe the specific situation inside the Hanging Jail Stairway.

A hundred years ago, an existence with the title of The Sage was wandering in the Underground Labyrinth and wandered near Day.

Day then told it about the situation. At that time, Day didn’t think much of it, but later, Day found that The Sage became very curious about that spirit.

It made many trips to the Hanging Jail Stairway, but unfortunately, it returned empty-handed every time.

Initially, Day thought it hadn’t found the Wood Spirit, but upon inquiry later, it turned out... The Sage discovered the Wood Spirit on the first visit.

The Wood Spirit had disguised itself as the bars of the jail, and without attention, it was indeed hard to find. But The Sage’s rank far exceeded the Wood Spirit, and it easily discovered it.

After multiple exchanges, The Sage found that this Wood Spirit was truly very "cowardly." It was so cowardly that it initially dared not answer The Sage’s words.

Even after many years, despite The Sage teaching the Wood Spirit many things, the Wood Spirit still didn’t trust and was very wary of The Sage because its appearance... was scarier than the Ghosteye Witch.

"That existence likes the Wood Spirit very much and even regards it as a successor. However, the Wood Spirit just doesn’t trust it. That existence is also very courteous and wouldn’t take the Wood Spirit out without its approval. So, that Wood Spirit is still in the Hanging Jail Stairway." Day paused: "If you gain its approval and bring it out, I believe that existence will be lenient with you."

After listening to Day’s entire narration, Angel roughly understood the situation.

If it’s true, perhaps it could be worth a try. Wood Spirit, Wood Spirit... He had seen the Tree Spirit and been in contact with it for a long time, even carrying its leaves, which might help the Wood Spirit trust him.

Seeing Angel showing some interest, Day added another sentence: "However, if you can’t get its approval and forcefully try to take it away... that existence will surely appear."

Dox: "So, that existence you mentioned, is it always watching the Wood Spirit? If we go, won’t it also discover us?"

Day: "I previously stated that it considers the Wood Spirit as a successor and will naturally bestow it with appropriate protective objects. As for monitoring the Wood Spirit, that’s impossible."

Day did not explain why monitoring the Wood Spirit was impossible. However, Angel explained it to Dox through the Mind Ribbon.

And the explanation was quite straightforward: "Different Space."

Angel had previously mentioned that the Hanging Jail Stairway was a Different Space, which Dox clearly hadn’t taken to heart.

"Can you tell me more about that Wood Spirit?"

Angel was already interested and decided to go and meet this special Wood Spirit. If he could get through the hall of that existence via the Wood Spirit, that would naturally be best.

If that was not feasible, then once they were out, they would have to try another entrance and test their luck.

Of course, Angel also had a final plan, the "Summoning Ritual." However, if he summoned the Ironclad Granny, it’s likely the Black Earl would also be alerted, and the outcome of this relic could become unpredictable.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Angel wouldn’t resort to this tactic.

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