Just as the Astral Beast was at its dying breath, Orica controlled Eric's soul and forced him to sign a contract. If Eric showed the slightest hint of rebellion, his soul would be obliterated.

Orica believed that nothing would go wrong thanks to this precaution.

Thus, he began his own soul transfer ritual. He wanted to expel the Astral Beast's soul from its body and transfer his own soul into it.

But during this process, something unexpected happened.

The apprentice, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly acted out during the ritual and interrupted its process.

Although Eric was only a Wizard Apprentice, he was very clear about what would happen if the ritual succeeded.

His teacher's mind had already been close to insanity. Once he was in control of the Astral Beast's body, Feinan would be in for an unprecedented disaster.

He risked his life and ruined the ritual.

Thanks to this spanner in the works, the disaster was prevented.

The Astral Beast's soul was released, but not expelled.

Orica was shocked and furious. He crushed Eric's soul and then fled, escaping to the Garden of Eden.

The original plan failed and Orica was left alone in the garden feeling incomparably frustrated. While he was brooding, he noticed the Magic Medicine he had planted here which had a very powerful lifeforce and the ability to consume and absorb others.

Another crazy plan formed in his mind.

He fused himself with the Magic Medicine and swallowed its soul to take on his new appearance.

He hid in the First Garden of Eden for a very long time. He didn't know how many years had passed after he finished swallowing all the Magic Medicines in there. He couldn't help but leave and take a look outside again.

It turned out that the Secret Garden was silent and devoid of people, while the Magic Medicines had propagated wildly.

That Astral Beast's corpse already had no signs of life. As for the body of Wizard Apprentice Eric, it was laying down next to the Astral Beast's remains.

After Orica cut Eric's remains into tiny pieces, he realized that he could use Eric's name.

The Ancient Gods had considered soul transfer a taboo. If he was found by some powerful Gods, he would be punished. After all, there was no Universe Magic Pool at that time.

Thus, he chose to fully assume the identity of Eric. That way, if the Ancient Gods used Divine Spells to look into the matter, there would be some deviation.

The greedy and cowardly Orica began taking control over the Secret Garden over a long period of time.

He removed his own resentment that had built up and condensed it into a Mana Wraith that would control the opening and closing of the Secret Garden.

The Nine-Headed Vines guarding the Mills Garden was also a branch of his main body. Because he had swallowed so many Magic Medicines, his strength was very frightening.

Naturally, because of the Magic Medicine body, he couldn't deliberately cast spells anymore.

Especially after Lance set up the Universe Magic Pool, he discovered with shock that his ability to absorb Chaos Magic Power had sharply declined.

This greatly infuriated Orica, but he didn't dare leave this world.

His longevity method still had a flaw and he needed more souls to fuse completely.

This was the truth hidden behind the Secret Garden!

...

The old man's bellows were getting progressively louder.

His expression while looking at Ivan and Marvin was also starting to become filled with greed.

"Rest assured, this process won't be very painful."

"Wait till you become part of my body. You'll be proud!"

"We will rule over the Universe!"

The last sentence was shouted by all the bloody faces on the plants.

Marvin and Ivan didn't seem impressed.

The former sighed, "You made two mistakes."

Orica waved his vines menacingly, spreading them across the area and ready to lash out anytime.

He scowled at Marvin angrily. "What nonsense are you talking about!"

"First of all, you thought Eric died a long time ago. But in reality, he didn't die," Marvin said calmly.

"This can't be!" Orica's face distorted. "Are you making fun of me? I already crushed his soul!"

"Maybe." Marvin shrugged. "But why are you hiding here, not daring to go out?" he asked rhetorically.

"The Astral Beast's body is full of treasures, so why don't you swallow it?"

"That gradually recovering aura, as a Legend Wizard who is also an expert on the domain of soul, shouldn't you feel something strange about it?"

Orica snarled in denial, "Absolutely impossible!"

"That was my body! How could it be snatched by a mere Wizard Apprentice!"

He became extremely violent, the barbed vines that filled the sky sweeping over from all sides.

Each vine had countless faces covering it!

These were all distorted and some were even missing facial features!

But they each had a bloody mouth as well as saw-like teeth!

Facing this, the two didn't cower.

Marvin knew this was merely an illusion.

He could feel that Orica was bluffing. After all, that guy had already fused with the Magic Medicine King, which was only an expert in illusions.

But Marvin didn't get rid of the illusion.

He had no way to do it, but that wasn't true of the Elven Prince beside him.

Ivan had previously affirmed that he could handle the Magic Medicine King's illusions.

He took a step forward while spreading out his palm and a golden light burst out!

The dazzling golden light was bright like the sun and pierced through the entire room.

All the souls began to howl in grief as the vines were ignited.

Orica was utterly frightened. He realized in consternation that the entire space was starting to collapse!

"No! No!"

"What's this… Why is it like this?"

Ivan gave him a look of pity. "Your body already fused with the Garden of Eden?"

"No wonder the space itself is getting affected."

"And you think you are unrivalled here? Unfortunately, you are wrong."

"However powerful the lie, it can still be defeated by the truth."

"Falsehood is the only foundation you rely on. Now, what will be left once I destroy your foundation?"

The next second, the whole space thoroughly collapsed!

The huge plant was turned to dust under the golden light.

An intense energy condensed in the air as an ugly soul was being stabbed by the bright light.

A sense of loss could be seen on Ivan's face.

The Magic Medicines assimilated by Orica had already wholly become part of him and couldn't be recovered anymore.

These tribulations in the Dead Area still weren't enough to find a medicine to cure the Great Elven King's injuries.

...

Marvin looked somewhat awed when he saw this.

He had thought that Ivan meant he had some treasures to get rid of illusions, nothing more.

But he hadn't expected that this guy would pull out a fragment of a Fate Tablet!

A Fate Tablet fragment!

Marvin had handled Ding's main body, so this was something he was very familiar with. But the Plane Law carved on this fragment was [Truth] and not [Luck]!

It was amazing that the Wood Elven family had such a treasure!

Who knew what the person who held the fragment had thought at the time. That person didn't use it to ascend to Godhood.

And now, this Fate Tablet fragment had the aura of life. It was close to being incarnated into a living creature.

This meant that this Fate Tablet fragment might become like Ding, and gradually form a flesh body.

A Truth Fairy.

This was something mortals couldn't imagine.

An ordinary person would definitely choose to ascend upon gaining a Fate Tablet fragment, but clearly, that ancestor of the Wood Elves didn't choose to do so. He might have been the former Great Elven King, chasing after the traces of the High Elves who left for the distant Eternal Country.

And this Fate Tablet fragment was left behind.

The successive generations of Wood Elven Kings also didn't choose to ascend to Godhood.

This was very praiseworthy.

Before the Truth Tablet fragment, all illusions were nothing but falsehoods!

Marvin sighed while watching as Orica's soul was slowly scattered.

This was a bit different from what he had planned.

But he also knew that Ivan chose to use the Truth Tablet because of his apprehensions.

In his opinion, people like Orica were stains that couldn't be left on this world.

Even if they wanted to keep this Magic Medicine that was full of lies and illusions, Orica's soul would still be intermixed with it and couldn't be separated.

That guy was an expert at playing with people's feelings and there could be some terrible consequences one day if they didn't eliminate him.

Thus, despite the fact that killing Orica would make his endeavor in looking for a Magic Medicine to cure his father a wasted effort, Ivan still didn't hesitate to do so.

This former Legend Wizard was no longer worthy of anyone's respect. He had become a threat to this world.

This filthy soul was bound to perish.

...

Orica's soul was still struggling to live on.

In front of the Truth Tablet, this Legend Wizard's soul had displayed amazing tenacity.

Most of his soul energy had already been crushed thoroughly by the Law of Truth.

But there was still a round sphere.

Ivan and Marvin weren't worried that he'd survive. How long Orica's soul could last was only a question of time.

But then a huge change took place!

Orica bellowed with his distorted expression, "Go fuck the truth!"

"If you want to kill me, you'll also have to pay the price!"

In an instant, the remnants of his soul energy condensed together.

Ivan immediately felt uneasy and told Marvin, "Run!"

Marvin noticed the danger at the same time!

This guy wanted them to share his fate!

Ivan had the Truth Tablet, so the other side couldn't harm him. But the Truth Tablet could only protect its user. It wasn't a conscious Truth Fairy yet!

Marvin used Shadow Escape and fled.

But Orica's resentful expression followed closely, apparently breaking through the restrictions of space, firmly locked on Marvin's body.

"Enjoy this soul energy. I might not be able to see you explode, but that scene will most certainly be beautiful!"

Orica laughed his head off as he disappeared.

At the same time, a frightening soul energy poured into Marvin's body!

He felt like his body was expanding to the limit as he heard the howls of countless ghosts!

'No good… Will I die in such a depressing way?'

Marvin felt a swelling pain. He was nauseated and felt like throwing up as this thought passed through his mind.

However, a log option appeared before his eyes:

[Open Essence Pool to absorb surplus Essences?]