Above the mage

Chapter 668 The Desolate Soul Domain

"Wake up, wake up, wake up..."

'

Gao De felt as if his head was being pierced repeatedly by countless fine needles, and a throbbing pain spread from the depths of his soul, sweeping through his entire body along the nerve endings.

This kind of pain is far more unbearable than simple physical injury; it feels like even one's consciousness is being crushed and shattered.

But amidst this extreme torment, a clear and melodious sound kept echoing in my ears.

Although the tone was extremely pleasant, it was still incredibly irritating in this situation.

It's like when you have a high fever and are delirious, with a splitting headache, and finally you fall into a deep sleep.

But someone nearby was persistently playing intermittent music; no matter how beautiful the melody, it was nothing more than torturous noise.

In this state of agitation, Gao De desperately wanted to open his eyes, to make the owner of the voice shut up, so that he could catch his breath in the chaos.

However, Gaode found this simple action to be surprisingly difficult.

My eyelids felt as heavy as if they were made of lead, and it took all my strength to lift them.

Consciousness was like falling into a swamp of thick fog, wavering and uncertain. One second she was thinking "keep her quiet," and the next she was overwhelmed by a surge of dizziness, wanting only to lose consciousness completely.

Fortunately, the sound didn't stop.

The clear, persistent call was like a thin but resilient thread, barely holding onto his collapsing consciousness.

Just hang in there a little longer... shut her up, then get a good night's sleep...

This thought sustained Gao De. He gritted his teeth, mustered his last bit of strength, and finally managed to open his heavy eyelids a crack.

Then, he witnessed an extremely unforgettable scene.

It is very likely to be a scene that he will never forget in his life.

Even now, his vision is blurred and his consciousness is hazy and erratic.

In the gray-black world, there is no light in the strict sense.

Against this oppressive and gloomy backdrop, a head of long, golden hair, as radiant as sunlight, cascaded down, filling most of his field of vision.

Her long hair shimmered with a faint, almost holy golden light, like silk woven from gold threads, or like golden seaweed swaying with the waves in the deep sea.

They stood out brightly in the gloomy environment, dispelling some of the deathly gloom. Between her long hair was an incredibly delicate, even indescribable, fair face of a young girl.

Her eyebrows were long and curved, beneath which were clear blue eyes, like lake water, with a faint golden halo around the edges of her pupils.

It looks absolutely beautiful.

It's also extremely luxurious.

It is like a work of art created by the most skilled jeweler with the most life-long dedication, but with an added touch of dynamism and purity.

It was such a beautiful scene, yet it carried a strange sense of incongruity.

Because this stunningly beautiful young woman was holding a broken piece of bone.

Judging from its shape, it resembled the finger bone of some large creature, its surface severely weathered—she was persistently poking his cheek with the relatively smooth end of the bone, repeatedly muttering, "Wake up, wake up..."

'

Yes, the annoying sound that Gaode heard in his "dream" was coming from the girl in front of him.

"Who are you...?" With his consciousness still hazy and his vision still swaying slightly, Gao De looked at the excessively delicate and completely unfamiliar face and asked subconsciously.

His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper being rubbed.

Upon seeing Gaode wake up, the girl's blue eyes instantly brimmed with undisguised joy.

She stopped poking at the bones and said in a light voice, "Liu Ying, my name is Liu Ying."

Her voice was still clear and crisp, but with a touch more joy, and the last syllable rose slightly.

This was one of the few times in her eighteen years that she had spoken so closely to someone outside her family.

"Liu Ying..." Gao De murmured the name softly, his mind too muddled to think clearly, and he could only follow his body's instincts. He frowned and said, "Okay, Liu Ying, shut up and let me sleep in peace for a while."

"Also, stop poking me with that bone." He raised his hand and waved it haphazardly in front of his face, avoiding the white bone in Liu Ying's hand, his tone carrying a hint of impatient "dissatisfaction."

That was a rather impolite remark, even bordering on disdain.

For Liu Ying, this was the first time in her life that she had experienced this kind of "disdain".

However, she clearly did not realize that this was "disdain".

She simply tilted her head, her long golden hair swaying as she explained with pure seriousness in her eyes, "You can't sleep. If you fall asleep, you'll never wake up again."

"He won't wake up..." Liu Ying's words were like a thunderclap, exploding in Gao De's chaotic consciousness and instantly waking him up.

This is the clarity brought about by a sense of crisis, and also the instinctive resistance to death deep within the soul.

Gaode finally realized that something was wrong.

"Where am I?" Gao De struggled to sit up, but found his limbs weak and powerless, and his head still throbbed, though the dizzying sensation had lessened considerably.

"This is a derivative plane of the inner plane, the Silent Plane, the Realm of the Desolate Souls," Liu Ying replied immediately.

Her speech was steady and clear: "The Desolate Soul Realm is an absolutely magic-free plane. No spells, regardless of level or school, can be cast here."

Supernatural items will also lose all their special effects. If you currently have any supernatural items, they are now no different from ordinary items.

Liu Ying paused for a moment, then continued, "But none of that matters right now. The most urgent thing is to find a safe place."

"Every now and then, a withered soul wind rises in this plane. The wind carries tiny fragments of souls. Being blown by it will intensify the erosion of the soul and cause additional soul damage. Given our situation, we simply cannot withstand even one withered soul wind."

Liu Ying slowly recounted an extremely horrifying and terrible situation in an extremely calm and descriptive tone.

As Gao De gradually regained consciousness, he finally realized the abnormality in his own state.

There is no doubt that they encountered a dimensional teleportation at the entrance of the Obsidian Merchant Guild.

The problem is that he has experienced multiple astral teleportations and knows perfectly well that his current state of headache, weakness, and sluggish consciousness is not a common aftereffect of teleportation.

"Why do I feel so bad?" Gao De rubbed his temples, trying to relieve his headache. "It's just interdimensional teleportation, I shouldn't have such a strong reaction."

"Because your body is experiencing a stress response due to a lack of magic power," the girl immediately replied, a hint of understanding in her blue eyes.

She spoke with some hesitation and caution, as if afraid that her explanation was too complicated and that Gaode would not understand.

"We come from the prime plane where magic is most abundant."

"In the Mage Plane, the abundant magic is everywhere, causing both mages and ordinary creatures to become subtly dependent on the magical environment for both body and soul."

"In this situation, if a creature from the mage plane suddenly enters the absolutely magic-free, desolate, and barren Soul Realm, its magic supply will be interrupted instantly, and its soul and body will produce a strong stress response."

As she spoke, she pointed the white bone in her hand at Gao De's temple: "Your headache, confusion, and weakness in your limbs are all typical symptoms of stress response."

In addition to the continuous erosion from the withered soul energy, the combined effect of these two factors makes you feel exceptionally uncomfortable.

She seemed to suddenly realize that pointing at people with withered bones was impolite, so she quickly hid the bones behind her back.

This is basically a magical version of altitude sickness... Gao De felt a chill run down his spine, realizing his exact condition.

People who suffer from acute altitude sickness may never wake up again once they fall into a deep sleep.

From this perspective, the girl's "noisy" behavior just now really saved his life.

Thinking this, Gao De tried to mobilize the magic power in his body, and sure enough, he found that the magic power pool was completely silent. The originally surging magic power was as if it had been frozen, and no matter how he mobilized it, there was no response.

Fortunately, he had regained consciousness, and his survival instinct overcame his physical discomfort.

Gao De struggled to his feet, but the loose, sinking ground beneath his feet caused him to stumble.

"What's going on... wait..." He looked at the girl in front of him who had begun to observe her surroundings, staring at her striking blonde hair that shone brightly in the gray world, and suddenly realized, "Who are you?"

Liu Ying had already told Gao De his name, so that wasn't what Gao De was asking.

Instead, he clearly remembered that he and that ordinary girl had fallen into the suddenly appearing rift together.

What? The girl has disappeared, replaced by Liu Ying in front of me.

However, as soon as the question arose, Gaode Maps realized the specific situation on its own.

"You are her, but the magic-free environment has rendered your disguise spell ineffective."

Liu Ying wasn't embarrassed at all. She nodded and continued to observe her surroundings, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the stone towers in the distance, as if searching for something.

"Liu Ying·Wang Mian?" Gao De confirmed further.

Liu Ying nodded slightly as always.

Her father never told her that she needed to hide her surname and identity—even though this was because she had absolutely no opportunity to contact outsiders who didn't know her identity.

"It's my fault for dragging you down with me."

Just then, as if it had finally found a satisfactory target, Liu Ying turned its gaze away from the distant stone tower.

She turned to look at Gao De, her long golden hair swaying gently with the movement. Her expression was exceptionally serious, her blue eyes filled with apology, and even her voice lowered slightly: "Their target is me."

"Implicate them?..." Gao Degang wanted to ask the question that was on his mind.

"I don't know who they are either, but we just encountered a seventh-circle spell, [Spatial Rift - Conduction]." Liu Ying's intelligence surprised Gao De, as she completely understood what Gao De was concerned about.

As he spoke, he began to grope around his neck and chest.

Finally, under Gao De's gaze, she pulled out a silver necklace from her neckline.

The necklace features a moon-white shield-shaped gemstone at its center, clearly indicating that it is no ordinary object.

"This is my amulet, the Breath of Divine Shield. It grants me immunity to all targeted spells of the seventh rank and below, whether they are attacks, controls, or curses. They cannot affect me."

"Damn it..." Upon hearing Liu Ying's introduction, even though Gao De already knew that the Wang Mian family had a deep background, he still couldn't help but utter a curse in his mind.

The Seven Rings of Immunity spell.

What level of treasure is this?!

That's outrageous!

"However, [Spatial Rift - Conduction] is not aimed at me, but at the space around me, so the Holy Shield is ineffective."

"They know my situation very well and they also know the weakness of the Holy Shield Breath. You just happened to be next to me at the time, which is why you were pulled in by the spatial rift and were also transported into the Desolate Soul Domain."

She looked up at Gao De, her eyes filled with even more apology. She paused for a moment, as if carefully choosing her words: "The Desolate Soul Realm is an ancient prison plane specifically used to banish forbidden necromancers."

It has no natural entrance or exit; entry is only possible through spatial magic, and leaving is virtually impossible.

"The space of this plane itself contains a rich energy of withered souls. You can think of it as a kind of poison that can erode the soul and will continuously erode all soul-bearing beings that enter the plane."

"Under the corrosive influence of withered soul energy, the soul of a living being will be continuously damaged."

"First comes mild dizziness and headache, then the stabbing pain in the soul intensifies, memory begins to decline, and finally the soul begins to show signs of withering. If you cannot leave in time, the soul will completely dissipate once it withers to a certain extent."

She raised her eyes and looked at Gao De frankly, without any concealment: "My situation is special. Even in the Desolate Soul Domain, I can last for more than ten days."

"Given your soul strength as a third-ring mage, you probably wouldn't last more than three days."

It cannot exceed three days.

In other words, because of this sudden entanglement, Gaode's life was reduced to only three days.

But faced with these horrifying words, Liu Ying didn't see Gao De show much of a reaction.

He merely frowned slightly, a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes, before regaining his composure.

That air of nonchalance, as if disregarding life and death, startled Liu Ying, who blinked her long eyelashes rapidly.

Is Gaode Maps not afraid of death?

Not really.

Liu Ying said that she had a special constitution and could endure for a very long time in the desolate and barren soul domain... which is indeed quite special.

But when it comes to having a special physique, if he claims to be second, who in this world would dare to claim to be first?

[Prolonged exposure to the erosive effects of the Soul-Destroying Toxin causes your soul to instinctively condense, compress, and...]

Strengthened to combat this relentless erosion, your soul solidification increases by 1.6%... Soul healing ability increases by 2.1%...

[With external magic completely severed, your internal mana has fallen into a state of stagnation. Your body has activated its emergency adaptation mechanism, attempting to autonomously find new ways to circulate mana. Your internal mana circulation capacity has increased by 4.5%... Your body is gradually accepting the state without magic, and the stress response caused by magic withdrawal will gradually lessen. Your adaptation to the state without magic has increased by 7.1%...]

Yes, after regaining full consciousness, Gaode noticed that his "Adaptive" progress bar was moving at an unprecedented speed, both frantically and steadily.

To this day, there has never been a more extreme environment than the desolate and barren Soul Domain where we are now.

The more extreme the environment, the faster the adaptive evolution.

The three-day deadline that Liu Ying mentioned was more like an evolutionary challenge for him.

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