Chapter 44: Su Chen’s Death
Upon hearing Patelocke’s explanation, Su Chen finally understood what legendary creature was buried in this territory.
Su Chen couldn’t suppress his excitement when he considered that he was stepping on the bones of an Origin Beast. “So do you know where the Origin Tool that suits me is?”
“The Arcana Masters who died possessed an extremely outstanding combat puppet. It wielded a weapon that was considered legendary even by the standards of that time period - the Lightless Ring. That weapon is extremely compatible with Arcana Techniques. If we are lucky enough, we might be able to rediscover it.”
“Might?”
“Yes, it’s only a possibility. After all, tens of thousands of years have gone by, and no one knows what has transpired during that time. Perhaps the Origin Tool decayed, perhaps it was taken away by someone else, or perhaps something else entirely happened. The same goes for the puppet - tens of thousands of years gives room for simply too many possibilities. I only know about what happened in the past and what could happen in the future, but I cannot give you a definite answer,” Patelocke replied very seriously.
“That’s true.” Su Chen acknowledged what Patelocke had said, but no matter what it was a good thing as long as he had hope.
“Right, where are we right now?” Su Chen glanced around.
They were completely lost. Different paths leading to potentially different locations were all around them.
“I’m not sure. The terrain here is simply too complicated.”
“Perhaps I should give this a try.” Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine and placed a few drops of his own blood inside. Very quickly, seventeen or so Su Chens took form.
These clones were not being used for battle but to determine which path was correct, so they were bestowed with the least amount of energy, and their consumption was not very high either.
The clones each picked a path and began to walk through it.
Because they were all linked to Su Chen"s consciousness, Su Chen was able to see what was in each path. He switched through the images one after another like he was flipping through camera feeds. Other people might have found this difficult, but it was no problem to Su Chen, who possessed the consciousness crystal. He could even use the consciousness crystal to observe multiple clones at the same time.
Very quickly, one of the clones came to a strange area of land.
This area was completely dark and extremely s.p.a.cious. There were even stone columns erected here off in the distance.
Because of Patelocke’s reminder, Su Chen immediately realized something. He said, “I see a bunch of ancient-looking columns here. They were probably built during the Arcana Kingdom’s time period...... does that sound familiar?”
“Yes, earth-type Arcana Techniques allowed Arcana Masters to quickly build shelter. Even though these buildings aren’t very st.u.r.dy, they are much cheaper than constructs made of iron, and another one can be raised in their place if they are destroyed. Many Arcana Masters rely on such techniques while they are on the move,” Patelocke replied.
“Yes, I have some experience of this as well,” Su Chen chuckled. His Boundless Sect had relied on these stone constructs as well.
“Since that’s the case, let’s go and take a look. There might be some clues around there,” Patelocke said.
His venture into the Moonstone Mine had already taken a bizarre twist. Where this twist would lead him was unknown, but regardless, such a twist was beneficial.
Whether or not this twist was related to the Harpies, Su Chen was determined to find the truth.
As that clone walked forward, Su Chen took Patelocke along with him as they quickly came to one of the collapsed stone rooms.
The stone room had been collapsed for a long time, and the Rong Clan’s miners had unearthed it many years later. Traces of this mining could be seen everywhere.
“The miners have already been here. You probably won’t find much,” Patelocke said somewhat regretfully.
“That might not be true.” Su chen glanced around. “Something interesting happened just a moment ago.”
“What? How come I didn’t notice that interesting occurrence?” Patelocke said with some surprise.
Su Chen said, “Because it was on the consciousness level. On my way here, I freed one of the clones from my control. But do you know what happened?”
“What?”
“That fragment of my consciousness disappeared, and now my consciousness power is slightly lower than before.”
“Something like that can happen?” Patelocke immediately grew excited.
Losing a small fragment of consciousness was no big deal. But how had that consciousness fragment just disappeared like that?
He was reminded of the bugs.
“Was it those bugs?” he asked.
“No.” Su Chen shook his head. “It felt like some kind of special environment, just like......”
Su Chen fell into thought, then said, “West Laina Castle.”
While in West Laina Castle, Kapius had concealed his treasures in a strange realm that only the Astrals, with their astoundingly powerful consciousnesses, would be able to discover. However, Su Chen had managed to open it as well by drastically boosting his own consciousness power, allowing him to grasp the secrets of the physical illusion realms and thereby increasing the effectiveness of Fata Morgana.
Su Chen felt a similar sensation at this moment in time.
“There is some kind of strange realm here that is probably very much related to consciousness power,” Su Chen said.
“So what are we waiting for? We just need to find it and open it, and all the secrets it contains will be laid bare before our eyes!” Patelocke said with excitement.
“Wait just a moment. I want to see what the outcome will be.” Su Chen pulled out the Origin Bone Scepter.
This strange realm was a complete enigma at this point. No one would know what was going to happen inside.
He would have gone in even without the Origin Bone Scepter, but since he had it, Su Chen naturally wanted to see what the outcome of going in would be.
This was a necessary precaution to take.
Patelocke seemed to think differently. “I don’t think there can be anything dangerous about a corpse that has been lying here for tens of thousands of years.”
“Whether or not there’s danger is something we will only know once we try it out. Origin Bone Scepter, please show me what will happen once I enter this void,” Su Chen said as he placed a high-tier Demonic Beast Origin crystal on the altar.
He was only making a small test, but unexpectedly the antic.i.p.ated outcome failed to appear.
Su Chen was momentarily dazed before he took out a Demonic Lord Origin Crystal.
However, he failed yet again.
“What is going on?” Even Patelocke was stunned.
Apprehension was written all over Su Chen’s face.
Based on his prior tests, if the prediction didn’t involve any other parties, then the cost of making the prediction should have been quite low.
Failure at this juncture could only indicate one thing: that there was some kind of shockingly powerful power hidden nearby.
He took a few steps back. “Then I would like to predict whether I am going to survive entering that s.p.a.ce.”
An image appeared. Su Chen’s vision was filled with a blood-red sea.
A corpse was floating in the middle of that sea.
Su Chen!
This scene completely stunned Patelocke and Su Chen.
“Died? You actually died?” Patelocke began to yell in shock. “What’s going on? How is that possible?”
“Do you think my actions are still excessive?” Su Chen said through gritted teeth as he stared intently at the image before him.
No wonder he had failed to complete the prediction even with a Demonic Lord Origin Crystal.
He had actually died! And from what he could tell based on that image, his death was incredibly tragic, and there was no sign that he had even been able to fight back.
What exactly was in that s.p.a.ce?
Unfortunately, the Origin Bone Scepter would not tell him who the killer was, not even with a Demonic Lord’s Origin Crystal as the sacrifice.
He could try again with a Demonic King-level sacrifice.
“No, no, it won’t make a difference even if I manage to predict it. It’s enough as long as I know there is some kind of powerful existence hidden in that realm. I don’t really need to know who it is. However, I do need to find some more information to guide my next steps,” Su Chen muttered.
He glanced cautiously at his surroundings.
Su Chen allowed his consciousness to wander and explore the surroundings but couldn’t discover any other presence nearby.
The Origin Bone Scepter’s prediction gave him gooseb.u.mps, however, as if there was something hiding in the shadows and watching them.
Patelocke also seemed to realize this. “I think we’d best leave soon.”
“No, the prediction only said that I would die if I went into that strange s.p.a.ce, not if I stayed in this place. Perhaps we should test that out first. Great s.h.i.+ning Dragon Bone, if I were to stay here, would I survive?”
As Su Chen spoke, he placed a low-tier Demonic Beast Origin Crystal on the altar.
Indeed, as he had expected, the result was that he would survive.
Because he would survive, Su Chen didn’t need to leave, which went along with the prediction and decreased the cost.
“But why does that matter?” Patelocke asked.
“It means that whatever is hiding in that strange realm won’t attack us of its own initiative. That makes things simple for us. As long as it doesn’t try to come out, I won’t need to fear it,” Su Chen replied.
“So now you’re just going to carefully investigate the situation?”
“That’s right.”
Su Chen made another prediction.
He wanted to know what would happen if he found the strange realm but didn’t try to enter.
The result was that there was no danger to him.
In other words, finding the strange realm wouldn’t cause the terrifying creature inside to come out either.
Next, Su Chen tried to predict what would happen if he sent a clone into the strange realm.
The end result was that the clone died, but the terrifying creature inside the realm wouldn’t spread into the outside world because of it.
He had only used three low-tier Demonic Beast Origin Crystals to obtain these three answers, but he was able to use these answers to confirm one important fact: the terrifying creature inside the strange realm wouldn’t come out.
Not in the near future, anyways.
Su Chen began to create clones from his blood.
He created seven all at once, three of them stronger than the other four.
Then, Su Chen began to lead them around in a search for the strange realm.
Once he heightened his consciousness perception to its greatest extent, he discovered energy fluctuations coming from an entrance to the strange realm.
“Unfortunately, Little Forty’s not around. Otherwise, he definitely would have been able to help me stabilize this spatial realm,” Su Chen sighed. “That’s not too big of a deal, though. After all, I still have his blood.”
As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out a vial of blood.
Su Chen had gathered countless vials of blood from the Hidden Dragon Inst.i.tute’s students for his research. Even though most of his findings were meaningless, he was still able to find some temporary uses for their blood.
Ji Ruoyu’s bloodline wouldn’t give Su Chen any spatial powers forever, but it was at least effective for a short period of time.
Su Chen tilted his head back and downed the mixture containing Ji Ruoyu’s blood. Very quickly, a profound sensation began to spread throughout his body.
“That’s more like it!” Su Chen muttered as he gazed at his surroundings with excitement. His microscopic eye was able to break down all of the energy flowing around him, and the spatial powers this bloodline medicine had temporarily given Su Chen allowed him to temporarily control the spatial fluctuations. He gestured, and a spatial vortex began to slowly open up under his careful control.
Even though it was merely a small hole that had been opened, Su Chen and Patelocke still felt the hair on the backs of their necks stand straight.
“Go in, right now!”
As Su Chen barked out the command, the seven clones simultaneously jumped into the void.
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