Chapter 511: The Whole Story

"Nine-Heart Lotus?"

This time, not only did Zhang Xuan frown in confusion, but even Luo Zhu beside him looked puzzled, as if he had never heard of this name.

"Yes! The Seven-Heart Lotus is known as a sacred object; after refining it, one can form a physical body. But... the Nine-Heart Lotus is something that has never appeared on the Master Continent. If one had to rank it, it could definitely be called a divine object!" said the tomb owner.

"Divine object?" Everyone was stunned, standing frozen.

Treasures and techniques are similarly divided into five levels: divine, sacred, spiritual, ghostly, and mortal. A sacred object is a treasure that cannot be found even throughout the entire Ten Thousand Kingdoms Alliance, and a higher-level divine object exists only in legends. Whether even one can be found on the entire Master Continent is unknown.

And this pitch-black thing was actually of that level?

This was too terrifying!

A divine object was a treasure that even Master Kong had been unable to obtain.

"Forcibly refining a divine object, it was naturally impossible for me to succeed. Not only was all my wealth devoured, but my soul was also imprisoned within, unable to leave. This imprisonment lasted tens of thousands of years..."

Saying this, the tomb owner seemed very frustrated.

No wonder. He had originally thought to refine the lotus, condense a physical body, and then soar through the heavens, shooting straight up. In his dreams, he never imagined that not only would he fail, but he would be imprisoned without escape, unable even to die... It was already impressive that he hadn't gone mad from frustration.

It was like being thrown into prison, locked up for who knows how many years, unable to leave. To have endured until now, this fellow's willpower was already very strong.

"So, you wanted to substitute one thing for another, having one of us suffer in your place, so that you could regain your freedom?"

Zhang Xuan looked over.

"Yes!" the tomb owner replied. "Trapped for tens of thousands of years, I thought day and night about how to escape this fiend's clutches. After who knows how long, I finally came up with one!"

"Since the Nine-Heart Lotus imprisoned me but neither refined nor devoured me, it means it lacks the ability to kill me. If at this time I could find another fresh soul to replace me, perhaps I could escape!"

It was like a river where someone had drowned; every few years, a substitute victim would be found.

The Nine-Heart Lotus only needed a soul. If a replacement could be found, he could escape the sea of suffering and not have to stay in this pitch-black tomb every day.

"Having figured this out, I began to work hard at separating my soul. After who knows how long, I finally managed to separate one. But... its strength was too weak, only around the third level of Mortal Transformation. I thought that with such low strength, it wouldn't live long before being devoured by the Decay of Radiance and die on its own. But who knew... just then, this grave robber came!"

Everyone was startled, then all looked at Luo Zhu.

The latter's face reddened.

Being exposed in public made him feel somewhat embarrassed.

After all, this profession was not exactly honorable; it was like petty theft, not fit for the public eye.

"So, I had a bold idea! I deliberately made the entrance mechanisms relatively simple, allowing him to enter smoothly, and then... rushed over to possess him!"

The tomb owner continued: "As a result, it succeeded. Frightened, this fellow quickly left this place. Originally, my plan was simple: after successfully possessing him, I would use the Soul-Less Golden Man to attract more people, then carefully select the most suitable one to have their soul replace mine. Who knew that this fellow's will was firm, and after possession, my strength greatly diminished, so I never succeeded. In the end, I was even killed by a low-strength fatty..."

Saying this, the lotus trembled incessantly, carrying a strong resentment.

"Ahem!" Being called a low-strength fatty, Sun Qiang scratched his head awkwardly.

That soul had tried to possess him, but was devoured by the Heavenly Dao true energy left in his body by the young master. To be precise, his strength was indeed incomparably inferior to that opponent's.

Hearing this, everyone understood completely.

No wonder there was such a powerful being here. How could Luo Zhu have escaped smoothly on his first visit? It was deliberately letting him leave, aiming to attract more people.

Though the plan was good, he probably never dreamed of encountering Zhang Xuan, this freak. The soul he had spent who knows how many years of effort to condense was annihilated on the spot.

"Wait..."

Zhang Xuan waved his hand, frowned, and looked over: "Since you could separate a soul and leave the lotus, why did you still need to possess others?"

Since this fellow's greatest goal was to leave the lotus, and he could already separate a part of his soul to leave, why still lure others over and try to possess them?

After all, the separated soul was also a part of him, carrying his thoughts and consciousness, which already amounted to escaping the shackles.

"I... did separate a soul, but... this soul, when leaving the lotus, suffered severe damage and wouldn't live long! Even if possession succeeded, it was only a temporary fix. To truly escape this thing, someone must replace me with a new soul..."

said the tomb owner.

"Then... why didn't you directly tempt Luo Zhu to replace you? What if he left and never came back? Wouldn't that be hopeless?" Zhang Xuan continued asking.

Trapped in the tomb for who knows how many millennia, only one Luo Zhu had come. How could he be sure that the other would bring people back? Wouldn't it be better to tempt him to replace himself first?

"Grave robbers are naturally yin in nature. Such people cannot cultivate the Soul-Introduction Art!"

said the tomb owner. "Moreover, judging by his age, he was nearly done living. And with such low strength, what use would possession be? Would he face death again?"

Luo Zhu's face reddened.

He hadn't expected that right after Sun Qiang was scorned, he too would be scorned...

Hearing the explanation, Zhang Xuan nodded.

That made sense.

When a witch soul master seizes a body, there is a seizure decline; each time they seize, their own power decays once. Since that was the case, if they were to act, they should get a good one; making do... would be a waste of an opportunity.

"Later, the soul I split off was destroyed. I thought there was no hope, but then you came... The rest was simple!" said the tomb owner.

"Then you lured us into cultivating the Soul-Enticing Art. Once we could leave our bodies, you would, under the guise of a trial, make our souls touch the lotus... In this way, the souls would be automatically attracted and thus... become your scapegoats!"

Zhang Xuan said.

"Yes!" The tomb owner did not deny it.

Only then did everyone understand what had happened, and at the same time, cold sweat broke out on their backs.

Earlier, this guy had spoken nicely, saying he would test them. Now it seemed that if they had truly cultivated the Soul-Enticing Art and succeeded, their souls would have been devoured by that eerie flower, and their bodies completely taken over.

Fortunately, Master Zhang discovered it early; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"That's not right!" Zhao Feiwu frowned. "You are so strong; you should have been able to directly pull our souls out of our bodies and have them devoured by the lotus!"

Since this guy was a six-star soul master, capable even of setting up the Mirage Sea of the Giant Clam, it should have been easy for him to pull the souls out of their bodies—they were at most at the fourth level of Mortal Transcendence!

Why did he need to go through the trouble of having them cultivate the Soul-Enticing Art?

"Let me explain this!"

Zhang Xuan looked over calmly. "It's not that he didn't want to, but... he couldn't!"

"Couldn't?" Everyone was puzzled.

"There are two reasons. First, witch soul masters have a combat decline; forcibly using soul power to extract others' souls would cause great harm to themselves. Second, he is trapped in the lotus; controlling the mechanisms and ambushing me already took all his strength. To fight all of us, let alone kill us, is simply impossible! Otherwise, he would have acted long ago, instead of using mechanisms against us and even hiding himself to avoid detection!"

Zhang Xuan said.

When the other party used martial techniques to attack, the library generated a book, which let him see the trick.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so bold as to charge over and dig out the lotus.

Being trapped by a divine object, being able to extend his soul and aura to control mechanisms was already impressive. If he could easily kill everyone, he wouldn't have gone through so much trouble.

Then everyone suddenly understood.

No wonder such a strong man, facing a group of weaklings like them, still had to be cautious and hide his head and tail. It turned out... this guy was also all show, at most emitting an aura and using some mechanisms, but in reality, he couldn't do anything to them.

The tomb owner clearly hadn't expected that this young man would also see through his inability to exert his full strength. He was filled with terror and a sense of defeat.

Originally, he had thought that if the other party didn't know, he could still intimidate them with his aura. Now it seemed that even the last shred of hope was gone.

Especially since this guy's silver needles were inserted where the lotus's will could emanate, rendering him unable even to control the mechanisms, making life worse than death. Any further resistance was certainly impossible.

"Alright, let's talk about the Dragon-Breaking Lock."

With everything cleared up and the strongest six-star witch soul master subdued, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Zhang Xuan looked over.

Now that the passage was sealed, to leave, they had to open the Dragon-Breaking Lock. Since this guy had locked it, he surely had a way to open it.

"Well... I really can't open it!" The tomb owner's voice sounded somewhat embarrassed.

"Can't open it? Then how would you leave here after a successful seizure?"

Zhang Xuan couldn't help but ask.

Since this guy wanted to escape the lotus, he must have thought about how to leave. It couldn't be that after a successful seizure, he would trap himself here again because of the Dragon-Breaking Lock!

"I can leave using... witch soul master methods!" said the tomb owner.

"Witch soul master methods?" Everyone was puzzled.

"Look up. Above the tomb, there is a mechanism. If opened, it leads straight to the pool above... A witch soul master's soul is light and can fly freely. Even after a successful seizure, as long as I am willing to pay the price, I can fly out from here... But ordinary Mortal Transcendence cultivators cannot fly, so... even if I told you, it would be useless!"

The tomb owner said.

"Fly?"

Everyone looked up in unison and indeed saw that at the very top of the hall, a rock looked somewhat peculiar. At such a height, not to mention Zhang Xuan and the others, even the fourth-level Mortal Transcendence Pavilion Master Sai could not reach it.

Let alone use it to escape.