Nearly a thousand years ago, the European Papacy dispatched its highest combat power to hunt down the witch Circe. Severely wounded, Circe fled to her sanctuary and urgently initiated a transformation ritual.
It was a special formation that required a large number of sacrifices and special items. Through this formation, the witch was to be transformed into a lich.
However, the materials needed to perform such a ritual were numerous, and it consumed a vast amount of energy. But the witch Circe did not have all the materials at the time. Initiating this transformation ritual was a desperate measure, as her body could no longer hold on and she was on the verge of death.
If the materials were incomplete, the success rate of initiating the conversion ritual was terrifyingly low, barely in the single digits.
Yet, the witch Circe's luck was truly heaven-defying; this conversion ritual ultimately succeeded.
However, at the very moment the ritual succeeded, all the energy from the materials Circe had prepared was consumed. Even the magic power within Circe's lich body was drained.
Helpless, Circe had no choice but to fall into a deep slumber, a sleep that lasted for nearly a thousand years.
Decades ago, the ancient tomb where Circe slept was discovered next to a castle, and the witch Circe's body was treated as a mummy, becoming a collector's item.
Indeed, the blackened body of a lich looked quite similar to a mummy.
Later, this collector, needing money, sold the mummy to an American collector. Thus, the witch Circe, who had once been renowned throughout Europe a thousand years ago, was sold to the United States like an antique.
This American collector was a mining magnate, and the copper mine near the Cisco Farm was an industry under this magnate's ownership.
The copper mine had been abandoned at the time. The mining magnate had a sudden idea: could this abandoned mine shaft be converted into an underground museum to exhibit his collection, especially his specimens of mummies and desiccated corpses collected from all over the world?
This fellow had a truly expansive imagination and strong execution. He acted as soon as he conceived the idea, instructing a few trusted confidants to transfer these mummies to the mine shaft, which was the underground space where Ling Tian and the others were located.
As a result, the Yin Sha Qi that had accumulated in this underground space for a long time, along with the slowly reviving spiritual energy of heaven and earth, was absorbed by Circe's body, and the lich was resurrected!
The next day, the collector and his subordinates returned to the mine, only to fall victim to the lich's deadly grasp.
Although the witch Circe had been asleep for a thousand years, liches mastered a secret art: the ability to acquire a person's memories by devouring their soul.
The witch Circe devoured the souls of the collector and his subordinates. The lich's powerful mental strength also prevented him from suffering mental breakdown from these memories. Soon, Circe understood the era she was in.
The witch Circe was overjoyed because this place was far from Europe, and the Papacy, the force she detested, had long since vanished into the river of history.
Therefore, the witch Circe prepared to make a grand debut, ushering in an era belonging to witches.
Over the years, she had continuously absorbed the Yin Sha Qi underground to strengthen her body. Simultaneously, the witch dispatched stitched monsters and faceless ones to capture living humans for her experiments and to create an army of demons.
As for the faceless ones and the goat-headed monsters, although they rarely appeared in Europe, these creatures were brought to the United States by European witches.
A few surviving witches had also fled to the United States back then, concocting these sinister things. Circe quickly researched methods for mass-producing faceless ones and goat-headed monsters.
As for the crystal skull in the witch Circe's hand, it was also a product of that collector. The witch Circe discovered that the crystal skull was a magical artifact possessing extraordinary power.
Even more miraculously, the crystal skull could absorb the souls of the recently deceased and convert these souls into pure soul energy. This soul energy could greatly enhance a lich's mental strength.
At the same time, absorbing this refined soul energy brought the lich an unparalleled enjoyment.
After humans transformed into liches, many physiological functions were lost. The brain no longer secreted dopamine, and they could not savor delicious food, let alone have the company of beautiful women.
The only thing that could bring the witch Circe joy was the act of absorbing refined soul power with the crystal skull.
At this moment, a robust stitched monster walked over. This stitched monster held a knife in its hand. It approached the dozen or so hanged people, thrust the knife directly into their chests, and then extracted their stopped hearts from their chests.
At this point, the witch Circe stepped forward, took the heart in her hands, and chanted incantations. An energy fluctuation arose, enveloping the heart.
Ling Tian watched as the heart turned black and shiny, just like the surface of the lich's body. At this moment, the witch Circe suddenly raised her hand and threw the heart into the blood pool!
The instant the heart entered the blood pool, the entire blood pool seemed to boil. Bubbles began to rise from the surface of the liquid in the blood pool, and something within seemed to be churning continuously.
After more than ten minutes, with a splash, something emerged from the surface of the blood pool. Ling Tian was astonished to discover that what emerged from the blood pool was actually a faceless one!
Now, Ling Tian understood how these faceless ones were manufactured. It was simply too bizarre and perverted!
After emerging from the blood pool, the faceless one shook its body, flinging off the blood clinging to its surface. Immediately, the faceless one dropped to all fours and crawled before the witch Circe.
The witch extended her withered hand, her arm resembling a large chicken's claw. She placed her hand on the faceless one's head and began to chant incantations.
This was the use of magic to imprint her mental imprint onto the faceless one's body, allowing the faceless one to execute the witch Circe's commands!
Just then, a gurgling sound was heard. Ling Tian and Ali discovered a bird flying out from the passage they had just come from.
It was an owl, but this owl was about a size larger than an ordinary owl. Even more bizarrely, this owl's face was actually a woman's face!
This was no ordinary owl, but a legendary magical creature called a human-faced owl. Legends said that this creature favored attacking humans at night, digging out their eyes as food!