When an ordinary person can use something that should not be usable by them, that is an anomaly. Zheng Yichen can wield the Sword of Hell, though he must consume his own Life Force to truly unleash the power of the sword. Yet an ordinary person wielding this sword would not even be able to produce a single spark from it, even if they exhausted all their Life Force.
In this regard, the difference between Zheng Yichen and ordinary people has been thoroughly established.
He’s definitely not a normal person. However, as a witch, her ability to accept things is still quite strong. They know much more than ordinary people could understand. If the church learns that Zheng Yichen can use the Sword of Hell, well, it won’t be long before their very own hunter-demon squad will come looking for him.
"Though the Tree of Death has withered, its branches still possess the power to connect life and death." The Forest Witch, having accepted something special from Zheng Yichen, spoke to him as she eagerly collected branches from the Tree of Death.
"That sounds great. Is the tree valuable now?"
"No one would want it." The Forest Witch shook her head. "Once others learn that it is the Tree of Death, they would only burn it. Not every witch needs this kind of thing."
"More importantly, the Tree of Death is withered too severely. There are very few usable parts."
Only the parts that retained vitality could fully function. The rest, for ordinary people, would be better burnt into charcoal. Of course, the smoke produced from burning this charcoal could induce hallucinations—or rather, it could lead to seeing things that shouldn’t be seen.
After gathering the usable branches, they would likely fetch a good price in Hazy City. However, here most people wouldn’t want such items, and openly carrying them could easily lead to confrontations with the church’s men.
Zheng Yichen was eager for another reason. The Forest Witch said that the material could be used to make a sword sheath, specifically for housing the Sword of Hell. Even though Zheng Yichen could wield the Sword of Hell, carrying it still drew away his Life Force. A sheath made from the wood of the Tree of Death could block this absorption.
Of course, after making the sheath, some of the leftover wood from the Tree of Death would belong to the Forest Witch.
This witch was skilled in crafting items, but she was powerless when it came to fixing a damaged fishing rod. She could handle wood, but for metallic objects like a fishing rod, she recommended that Zheng Yichen seek out a skilled blacksmith rather than her, a frail woman who couldn’t even lift her own weight.
Inside the cave, Katrina watched the bustling Forest Witch with a hint of frustration. She didn’t believe Zheng Yichen was some hybrid offspring of a Hell creature and a human. Zheng Yichen was just special in his own way. Her magic was White Magic of protection and blessing. If Zheng Yichen truly were a Hell creature, then the magic array formation drawn on his back would have tormented him as if a hot iron were pressed against his flesh.
He definitely wasn’t what the Forest Witch thought. The reason for the girl’s frustration was the lack of evidence. After the Headless Knight was killed by Zheng Yichen, its body turned to skeletal remains, and its horse decayed into a splatter of corrupted blood.
Even the Tree of Death had become desolate. Left out in the wind and rain, it would soon rot away completely. Underneath it, they found several heads that hadn’t decayed over time, all of which had been severed by the Headless Knight.
The reason these heads had not decayed was because they had been preserved in their original state by the influence of the Tree of Death. Now that the tree has withered, those heads would soon start to decay. Surely they couldn’t take them back as evidence, could they?
Doing so would only breed more suspicion. Katrina had developed a positive impression of Zheng Yichen. He was powerful and courageous, daring to battle the Headless Knight in adversity. But after the fight concluded, there was no proof of his deed—the only witnesses were two witches...
As for Zheng Yichen, taking the sword of the Headless Knight into the village as proof would no doubt make the flames of Hellfire on the blade self-evident. Yet doing that would be problematic for Zheng Yichen himself.
The best outcome for now would seem to be for Zheng Yichen to become an unsung hero.
"You want to learn magic?" The Forest Witch looked at Zheng Yichen, who was watching earnestly how she handled the wood, and immediately asked.
"This isn’t limited by gender, right?"
"Of course not."
Having received an answer, Zheng Yichen nodded and continued to ask another question, "A few days ago, I encountered some Vengeful Spirits in an abandoned graveyard, and there was one who kept watching me in the shadows before I left."
"Spirits of the deceased?" The Forest Witch took a careful look at Zheng Yichen, "It must be a powerful witch controlling the spirits of the dead, but it seems that the other party didn’t harbor any malicious intent towards you... or maybe thought it better not to provoke you."
Powerful... Having seen the magic used by the Forest Witch and the magic array formation drawn by Katrina, Zheng Yichen had his doubts about the strength of this world’s magic.
Their magic can’t be said to be completely misused, it’s just not that useful. Refuge magic could dispel the flames created by the Headless Knight, but such magic didn’t enhance an individual’s physical defense at all. Ordinary people, even if they emulated Zheng Yichen’s actions and drew a magic array formation on themselves, would still be taken down by one shot from a gun or bolt from a crossbow.
They might even be impaled by wood thrown by the Headless Knight.
The magic of this world was just too monotonous.
"I come from a realm of otherworldly phenomena," said Zheng Yichen, and Katrina, somewhat lost in thought, immediately showed a look of interest. She had previously thought Zheng Yichen was just a foreigner and was totally ignorant of his origins, not even sure of which country he came from. Now that he suddenly mentioned his origins, the young girl immediately perked up.
Because of her fondness for Zheng Yichen, she was very keen to know everything about him.
"Otherworldly phenomena? Wait a moment." The Forest Witch seemed to recall something and began searching through her messy cave, pulling out an ancient-looking book, not made from paper but apparently crafted from some animal’s hide. The recorded information seemed quite crude, and the illustrations were even more abstract.
"You really come from an otherworldly phenomenon?" After revisiting the knowledge in the book, the Forest Witch looked at Zheng Yichen as if he were an extraterrestrial being, "This, this is even rarer than the Undead from Hell. Otherworldly phenomena bring calamities but also extra things. Many witches have sought the existence of these phenomena, finding more possibilities within..."
Zheng Yichen was intrigued, there were indeed records: "And then?"
"And that’s it." The Forest Witch turned the book she held upside down in front of Zheng Yichen, "That’s all the records there are. Some witches might have found the phenomena, but since phenomena eventually fade away, those who didn’t return couldn’t leave any information behind... You want to find the otherworldly phenomena, seeking a way back home?"
She didn’t know what had become of those witch predecessors who had found the phenomena, but if Zheng Yichen truly came from an otherworldly phenomenon, then their experiences were probably similar to his, feeling out of place in a strange environment.