Chapter 181: Spirit Tablet

As the boundless black fog rushed over them, a cold, chilly atmosphere began to set in. There were even strange, ethereal laughs floating around them, as if something was floating around in the dark.

“Couldn’t bait us in, so now you’re resorting to using force?” Su Chen coldly laughed as he glanced at his surroundings.

“Young man, it’s just like you said. Even though I’m just a specter, I can still use a few Arcana techniques. As a former Arcana Master, my power isn’t something you can withstand. Thus, if you don’t want to die, you’d better let me out of this prison obediently......” Patelocke said malevolently.

Everyone was stunned by his suddenly heartless demeanor. Everyone prepared to defend themselves.

However, Su Chen laughed coldly, “Arcana Master? Perhaps while you were still alive, but now that you’re dead, how much of your original strength do you have left? Enough, Patelock. The only skills that you have left are some consciousness techniques, given that you can’t contact physical objects. That’s the only thing you can do with your spirit body.”

Patelocke froze.

An illusion technique?

Was this all just an illusion technique?

Everyone present looked closely at their surroundings. Indeed, even though the black fog around them was sinister and dense, there weren’t any real attacks coming their way.

Patelocke yelled angrily, “Even if I only have consciousness techniques, I still have many ways of controlling you. If you anger me enough, I can even shatter your soul, turning you into an idiot immediately!”

“That’s right!” Su Chen nodded seriously. “Consciousness techniques can do that to someone, but that doesn’t mean that you know them. If you had that ability, that Purple-Scaled Beast there behind the wall wouldn’t just be sitting there dumbly. It should have charged over, released you from the stone tablet, and then wiped us all out. After all, you’re not a specialized illusions master; you can’t do it!”

Patelocke yelled, “Do you really think so? Yes, I’m not an illusions master in my spirit body, butut do you think that I’ve only been sleeping for thirty thousand years? No! Ten thousand years ago, I might not have been able to do anything, but things are different now. I just haven’t done it because I don’t want to pay such a high price to control that Demonic Beast. Even if I leave this stone tablet now, I don’t have an appropriate body......”

His voice suddenly died down.

Su Chen coldly said, “So you finally reveal the truth? Let me guess what you didn’t finish saying...... In reality, what you wanted to say was that even if you left the stone tablet, without an appropriate body to possess, you would still die, right?”

“No!” Patelocke began to yell.

“This is why you need us specifically to let you out,” Su Chen harrumphed. “It’s not just so you can be free, because while that stone tablet is your prison, it’s also your final lifeline. Without that spirit tablet, your soul will disappear from this world. That’s why you must not only escape but also find a suitable body. I don’t know whether you can control that Demonic Beast or not, but even if you could, you would probably prefer not to become a beast. That’s why you chose to sleep and wait.”

“No...... No......” Patelock howled. “I just want to be free; you’re not telling the truth!”

“You just want a new body,” Su Chen coldly said. “A newer, healthier body.”

Ji Ruoyu shivered when he thought about what might have happened if he had done what Patelocke had told him to by releasing this great Arcana Master’s specter. His body might’ve been forcibly seized by the other party. He couldn’t help but tremble as he realized the full implications and said, “This demon!”

“Bastards! You’ve pissed me off! Now, you’ll know the price of offending me!” Patelocke yelled in fury.

As he howled, a shrill, piercing screech suddenly began to echo in the room, the noise tunneling into their brains. Everyone simultaneously clutched their heads as they yelled out in pain.

What Patelocke said wasn’t wrong. Even though he could only use consciousness techniques, he could still kill people with them. Patelocke evidently still had techniques like that up his sleeves.

But just as he let out that blood-curdling screech, Su Chen charged forwards, snatched up the stone tablet, and said, “If you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll shatter this tablet!”

The howling and screeching immediately stopped.

Patelocke stared at Su Chen in disbelief. “How...... how did you know?”

Yes, Patelocke fantasized about leaving the spirit tablet, but that didn’t mean that just shattering the tablet would be enough. His spirit was bound to the tablet; if the tablet shattered, so would his spirit. Only through the divot mechanism on the wall, through which his spirit could be extracted from the tablet, would he be able to achieve freedom.

To most people, Patelocke appeared desperate to leave the tablet. Naturally, that tablet would be viewed as a chain, a prison. No one would think of using this prison to threaten Patelocke.

Su Chen, however, had instantly pinpointed Patelocke’s greatest weakness.

He laughed, “Didn’t you just teach us how to let you out? If there was an easier method, why wouldn’t you use it? Naturally, that’s because it isn’t the actual way of releasing you.”

Patelocke trembled.

That’s right. If he could achieve freedom simply by shattering the stone tablet, why did he need to do something so complex as to trick Ji Ruoyu into doing it for him?

Su Chen laughed coldly, “You put on strong airs but don’t have much strength. No matter how many skills or tricks you have, they cannot cover up the truth of your biggest flaw. From now on, you’d better listen to my orders carefully.”

As Su Chen spoke, he picked up the stone tablet.

“No!” Patelocke let out a despairing howl. “Don’t even think about it!”

As he howled, a large boom sounded out.

The wall on the side of the research lab had suddenly collapsed.

The Purple-Scaled Beast charged out from behind the rubble and pounced at Su Chen.

Patelocke actually got rid of the illusion the Purple-Scaled Beast had been placed under at this moment. The Demonic Beast had charged over purely based on instinct when it had seen everyone so close to Patelocke’s spirit tablet.

Su Chen pulled the stone tablet close to himself, placing it in between him and the Demonic Beast as a makeshift shield.

Shockingly, the Purple-Scaled Beast actually stopped moving.

“So that’s how it is, huh?” Su Chen smiled slightly. “Your mission is to guard, not to destroy, right?”

The Purple-Scaled Beast stared at him as it growled in warning.

Even though Demonic Beasts had the capacity to speak human language, there needed to be a human to teach it first. Without instruction or appropriate mimics, even humans could only babble incoherently.

As he watched the Purple-Scale Beast growl at him threateningly but without moving, Su Chen confirmed that it was stopping itself from destroying the stone tablet. He smiled and said, “I can leave it like this, but I would like to ask you not to make any trouble for us. Is that alright?”

Even though it couldn’t understand human speech, the Purple-Scaled Beast still had basic intelligence. It evidently understood Su Chen’s meaning. After growling at Su Chen a few more times, it slowly backed off.

“Very good.”

Su Chen laughed as he returned the stone tablet to its original place when Ji Ruoyu suddenly shouted, “Senior Brother Su, be careful!”

Behind Su Chen, an individual’s figure appeared, charging towards Su Chen like lightning and unleashing a vicious blow right at his back.

Danba!