Chapter 5: Sacrifice (2)

“I just have some ideas,” the illusory Shi Kaihuang said. “Earlier, you relied on the power from the Origin Energy Temple to create enough external pressure to compress your Lotus Platform and achieve the Light Shaking Realm. Even though your method is not repeatable, we can use it as a reference. Most importantly, you managed to bring back the Origin Energy Temple’s secret Origin Formations. I think that this is the way for us to continue advancing.”

“But the Origin Energy Temple is too expensive to use and would be hard to accomplish unless we had the support of the entire country. In addition, some of the necessary resources have gone extinct already. It is basically impossible for us to create a second Origin Energy Temple,” the illusory Su Chen said.

Shi Kaihuang chuckled. “You misunderstand me. I’m not saying that we should construct another Origin Energy Temple. Did you forget that the Origin Energy Temple is meant to give people who don’t have the ability to control Origin Energy to control it? What we are doing is to solidify Origin Energy for people who already know how to use it. The difference in the difficulty of the two cannot be compared.

Su Chen understood Shi Kaihuang’s meaning. “Instructor means to say......”

“Why not develop a kind of formation that is specifically used to break into the Light Shaking Realm?” Shi Kaihuang asked.

Upon hearing this, both the illusory Su Chen and the real Su Chen felt enlightened.

This time, Shi Kaihuang’s thought process had triumphed over the youth’s.

Su Chen had used the Arcanist thought process to resolve the problem of reaching the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline in the past, and had relied on the Three Yangs Medicine to break into the Yang Opening Realm. But it seemed like his brain had suddenly become rigid as soon as it came to researching a method for breaking into the Light Shaking Realm. He had been running in circles trying to figure out how to resolve this issue, but he had totally ignored the possibility of taking a similar path to the Three Yangs Medicine.

Yes, why not develop a special kind of formation for this purpose?

Since he had no way to accomplish this himself, he might as well develop a supplementary method to help him do so. He had done it in the past, so it was surprising to him now that he had suddenly become so rigid in his thinking.

But after thinking about it for a moment, he understood.

The reason he had become so rigid was because he was not proficient in handling Origin Formations.

He was able to develop the Three Yangs Medicine because he was a proficient alchemist, and he had managed to use Ancient Arcana Techniques to break through because he was proficient in those as well. However, his understanding of Origin Formations was limited, which was why he had subconsciously resisted exploring this potential path.

Perhaps this was human nature. People always refused to participate in things that they didn’t quite understand, so they would ignore paths that would clearly allow them to advance.

In comparison, as the person who had created the Origin Talisman Light Formation, which contained tens of thousands of Origin Energy Talismans, Shi Kaihuang understood Origin Formations quite well.

Not only so, but he was exceptionally proficient.

The picture disappeared. Su Chen knew that he had found his answer forward. However, a majority of the sacrifice was still left and continued to decay noticeably.

This meant that the remaining portion of the sacrifice was unnecessary.

“Dammit, I lost big time on this one,” Su Chen muttered to himself.

Even so, that was the Origin Bone Scepter. You could never completely optimize its use. Every time you used the scepter to divine the truth, you were basically guaranteed to lose money.

This also meant that you would have a sense of loss regardless of whether you obtained the result you were looking for or not. No matter what you used it for, you would never feel satisfied afterwards.

It really was a miraculous tool, but it always made its own user sorrowful. What a unique and one-of-a-kind item.

Once he figured out the right path, Su Chen informed Shi Kaihuang and handed matters over to him to continue researching. Then, Su Chen proceeded with his second formal prophecy.

This time, he chose the Thunder Spirit Totem.

During the Three Mountains battle, Su Chen had accidentally absorbed the Vitality Totem, which directly improved his physical attributes. It also caused him to become deeply aware of just how profound these ancient totems were.

After that, however, he had been unable to absorb the Thunder Spirit Totem no matter how much he played around with it.

Was it because he was lacking in the appropriate conditions to activate it?

Or was it impossible for him to absorb a second totem after absorbing the Vitality Totem?

Or was there another reason altogether?

Su Chen had no idea.

After countless useless experiments, Su Chen decided to give the Origin Bone Scepter a try.

In order to avoid too many losses, he greatly decreased the value of the sacrifice. This time, he only offered a high-tier Demonic Beast’s Origin Crystal, along with a few other sacrificial objects.

Last time, the sacrifice had been consumed slowly. This time, however, a cloud of smoke was sent up into the air with a bang, and all of the sacrificial items on the altar disappeared entirely, leaving behind nothing.

“Damn. It didn’t give me prophecy, but it sure took the sacrificial items quite quickly,” Su chen grimaced.

Of course, he knew that this was because the Origin Bone Scepter had been unable to find the answer with the sacrifices provided, which was why it would consume the sacrifices more rapidly if it failed. Even so, Su Chen couldn’t shake the feeling that he had just been robbed.

Since he had failed this time, Su Chen tried to restore the former sacrifice again, which had succeeded.

The result, however, left him quite stunned.

The Origin Bone Scepter still wasn’t able to give him an answer?

Why was that?

Su Chen didn’t know.

There would only be one reason for success, but there were many things that could cause the divination to fail.

But before he succeeded, Su Chen would never know why he had failed.

Well, you might be aware that the sacrifice was insufficient, but you would never know exactly how short you were.

Should he try again with a Demonic King’s Origin Crystal?

Su Chen ebgan to hesitate.

The Origin Bone Scepter was like a huge gambling machine that drew Su Chen in deeply.

Su Chen forcefully attempted to resist this attraction as he pondered over things carefully.

The value of the Thunder Spirit Totem wouldn’t be greater than the bloodline-less technique for reaching the Light Shaking Realm, but the Origin Bone Scepter didn’t consider future value, only current circumstances. This meant that either Su Chen wouldn’t be able to find the answer for a while, or that the process of finding the answer involved some difficulties. Because the Origin Bone Scepter only gave predictions, not answers, it could only give an answer if the prophecy contained one. Otherwise, there would be no answer to be had.

Su Chen realized that this was probably very closely related to how he would find the answer in the future.

In other words, if he were to crack the Thunder Spirit Totem in the future, it would not be through making a breakthrough in the lab, but......

In the same manner that he had obtained the Vitality Totem?

On the battlefield?

Or was it some other special environment?

Su Chen couldn’t help but start thinking about these things.

If that was the case, continuing to make sacrifices was pointless, because the cost to obtain an answer would probably be insurmountably large.

When he thought to this point, Su Chen decisively gave up on continuing to predict the situation. He put his research of the Thunder Spirit Totem on hold, instead deciding to carry it along with him for a while. This was because he believed that he would probably find an answer about this Thunder Spirit Totem outside of his research lab.

As such, a failed prediction by the Origin Bone Scepter wasn’t without its benefits. If Su Chen could use this failure to its greatest potential, he could greatly mitigate the losses he had experienced.

Actually, he could use this failure to obtain an answer.

In any case, the Origin Bone Scepter was a good item, but the user’s talent affected how much value they would get out of it.

After failing with the Thunder Spirit Totem, Su Chen turned his attention to researching another item.

This time, he was able to come to an answer very quickly.

Sun-Escaping Peak.

This peak was behind the Heaven-Upholding Peak. It wasn’t very tall, but it was completely made out of one solid chunk of rock.

At this moment, Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and a bunch of other Boundless Sect elders stood atop this peak.

A few large boulders had been placed around them, the boulders completely covered in mystical inscriptions. They weaved and combined with each other to form a massive Origin Formation.

Su Chen stood at the center of this formation, finishing up his final inscriptions.

“Are you sure this will work?” Chu Yingwan asked with some curiosity.

Su Chen replied without raising his head, “This was something that I saw from the future. It cannot be wrong.”

“I’m not saying that you might have remembered the formation. I’m saying that the consequences could be disastrous. What if we lose control of the situation?” Chu Yingwan asked.

Su Chen replied, “The Origin Bone Scepter only reports good news and not bad news, so that kind of scenario is impossible.”

“But this good news is only as perceived by you before the actual situation occurs, right?” Chu Yingwan immediately said. “The reason the Origin Bone Scepter only reports good news is because it instinctively attempts to uphold the accuracy of its predictions, so what is considered good or bad depends not on what will really happen but on the user’s perception at that moment in time. For instance, if you think a certain outcome is good, you won’t try to change it, and the Origin Bone Scepter will be able to offer a prediction. But what if your judgment is wrong? What if you think you can control the situation, but the fact is that you can’t? If the Origin Bone Scepter doesn’t tell you that, you won’t know. So because you think you have control over the situation, you won’t attempt to change the outcome, and the Origin Bone Scepter also gave you an answer......”

Chu Yingwan had approached the topic in a somewhat roundabout way, but Su Chen still understood what she meant.

The Origin Bone Scepter could only ever provide fragments of insight, but life was one long continuum. You never knew what might happen at what point in time.

Perhaps the Origin Bone Scepter showed you a scene were you succeeded, but the consequences that would result from that success would not be seen. As such, even a terrible event might seem like good news to the user before then.

This was the true situation of the scepter.

Su Chen thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “Interesting. That is possible. Do you think we will fail?”

Chu Yingwan replied, “No, I just think that we should consider our use of the Origin Bone Scepter a little more. What I mentioned is just one possibility; I don’t actually think it will happen today. But since it is a possibility, it will rear its ugly head sooner or later, right?”

Su Chen nodded. “You’re absolutely correct. I was too hasty.”

Li Chongshan said, “Time is the most intangible, unfathomable existence. It is hard to predict. All unknowns are, in the end, still unknown; we can probe into the future, but we cannot rely on the answers given to us. Yingwan is telling you this not because she doesn’t want you to believe it but because she doesn’t want you to rely on it.”

Su Chen nodded once again. “I understand. We can believe it without following blindly, and we can need it without relying on it completely. This is the attitude we should have towards the Origin Bone Scepter.”

Li Chongshan and the others chuckled. “That’s more like it.”

This verbal exchange was just a small detour. Next, Su Chen finished the last section of the Origin Formation and then activated it.

The inscriptions carved into the stone began to glow intensely, weaving together and shifting constantly through the air, eventually forming a large black vortex.

Next, this vortex slowly expanded and morphed, taking on the shape of a black door.

A wave of dense darkness began to spread out from behind the door. The darkness gradually began to coalesce, taking on the form of the Darkness Demon that Su Chen had encountered before in West Laina Castle.

“ROAR! I am here, I will conquer!”

The Darkness Demon howled arrogantly.

However, when the Darkness Demon discovered that it was standing next to a group of humans, it was immediately dumbfounded.