“A sealing mark....” His first thought was that the members of the Blackmountain tribe must have been courting death by trying to con him. But soon, he realized that that was probably not the case. Based on what he could detect, the sealing mark seemed to be just as ancient as the soulhoarding pagoda itself.
After a bit of thought, his eyes glittered, and he attempted to open the sealing mark and see what exactly was inside. But after a few tries, he found that the mark was apparently fabricated from an aura of death. Without a massive blast of divine sense, it would be impossible to open. In fact, Bai Xiaochun could tell that he was currently incapable of getting past it!
“Interesting. A seemingly-ordinary soulhoarding pagoda turns out to have an ancient sealing mark inside....” He retracted his divine sense and then sat there thinking, his eyes shining brightly.
“If I want to open it, I have to blast it with incredible power.... My cultivation base isn’t strong enough at the moment, but... that doesn’t necessarily mean I'm out of options!
“Alright, soulhoarding pagoda, you just watch and see how Lord Bai does things!” With that, he slapped his bag of holding to produce a large bucket!
It was as tall as a person, and almost two meters wide, and as soon as it appeared, it erupted with powerful spiritual power. Shockingly, that bucket was filled to the brim with... Heavenspan River water!!
Back during the haunting of the River-Defying Sect, Bai Xiaochun had, in his fear, submerged his mask in this very bucket. Even he had forgotten about that matter for a while. Considering that he needed a big blast of spiritual power to deal with the soulhoarding pagoda, this was the perfect item to retrieve from his bag of holding.
“Heavenspan River water is a major rarity in the Wildlands. This bucket might not make me the richest person here, but definitely a big moneybags.” Licking his lips, he looked at the bucket and then back at the crystalline soulhoarding pagoda.
“With the spiritual power in this bucket, I should be able to blast open that sealing mark.” Eyes sparkling, he performed a right-handed incantation gesture and then waved his finger at the soulhoarding pagoda. Instantly, a gravitational force sprang up, causing more than half of the water in the bucket to surge toward the sealing mark in the depths of the pagoda.
The soulhoarding pagoda shook physically as Bai Xiaochun sent his divine sense inside to watch the sealing mark falling apart under the barrage of Heavenspan River water. And yet, even as it broke apart, it began to heal itself.
Bai Xiaochun quickly performed another incantation gesture, sending more water into the pagoda. The healing signs vanished, and more cracks appeared; it looked like the sealing mark would fall apart at any moment.
However, it was in that very moment... that suddenly, a terrifying aura leaked out that caused Bai Xiaochun’s face to immediately fall!
Even just brushing against that aura with his divine sense left him utterly shaken and gasping for air. Leaping to his feet, he exclaimed, “That’s... that’s....”
He quickly performed an incantation gesture to pull all of the Heavenspan River water back from inside of the pagoda.
Thankfully, after he did that, the sealing mark ceased collapsing. However, it had apparently lost its ability to repair itself, and now remained in a dilapidated state, as if only a bit more power could destroy it.
Bai Xiaochun got his breathing under control and then stared back into the pagoda, his eyes shining with fear....
“That aura surpasses anything I’ve ever felt from any person, even from devas.... It's very similar to the aura I sensed back in the trial by fire in the labyrinth, when I performed the twenty-onefold spirit enhancement on that leaf.... That’s an aura which surpasses devas. Don’t tell me it’s... the Demigod Realm! What exactly is sealed inside of this pagoda!?”
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Chapter
581: Trump Card
Bai Xiaochun was so nervous his throat was completely dry. After a long moment passed, he carefully sent his divine sense back into the soulhoarding pagoda and inched it toward the sealed area.
From the perspective of his divine sense, the sealed area looked like it was covered with countless cracks, as though the slightest nudge would break it. Bai Xiaochun remained there hesitantly, analyzing the faint pulses of energy which occasionally emerged from the other side.
“I'm finished. Kaput. I’ve caused another disaster....” Depressed, he realized that it wasn't an option to just run away, and that he really needed to take a look to understand what he was dealing with. Exercising utmost caution in his control of his divine sense, he slowly sent it into one of the cracks.
He didn't send much in, only a teeny bit, but that was enough to give him a general idea of what was inside the sealed area!
Shockingly, there was a dimension inside!
It was an empty space filled with gray light, in the depths of which could be seen... an old man sitting there cross-legged in meditation!!
His face was a mass of wrinkles, and he had no hair. Shockingly, he was being tightly restrained by 999 chains formed from magical symbols.
His aura vastly surpassed that of a deva, and to Bai Xiaochun, he looked like some sort of god or deity. The mere pressure emanating off of him left Bai Xiaochun trembling!
“Is he... a demigod...?” Bai Xiaochun thought, barely able to breathe. What he was seeing via his divine sense almost defied belief. Fearful of attracting the old man’s attention, he carefully began to retract his divine sense. At the same time, he decided that he didn’t really want this soulhoarding pagoda after all....
However, it was in that same moment that the old man’s eyes snapped open to reveal light as bright as a shining sun. At the same time, he suddenly transformed into a crimson, three-headed python. Bai Xiaochun couldn’t hold back from letting out a shriek.
“Spare me, Senior....” he wailed as he pulled his divine sense back. However, a moment later, he stopped his divine sense from moving.
“Eee?” he murmured. It was only at this point that he realized the chained old man didn’t seem corporeal. Rather, he was partially translucent, almost as if he weren’t complete....
Even more telling was that his gaze, despite being fiercely powerful, was somewhat blank, almost as if he weren’t conscious....
“He's a discarnate soul?” Bai Xiaochun gasped and looked a bit closer. “A discarnate demigod soul!!”
After confirming what he was looking at, Bai Xiaochun carefully retracted his divine sense. Then, he sat there, heart pounding, looking at the crystalline soulhoarding pagoda he held in his trembling hands.
“If there are deva souls, then it makes sense that there would be demigod souls.... Although the soul in the pagoda is discarnate and incomplete, it still counts as a demigod soul!
“Clearly, it didn’t originally belong to a cultivator, but rather, to a demigod-level beast.... It must have been some almighty entity in ages past, which was killed by some cultivator. Its discarnate soul was then sealed, either by whoever killed it, or perhaps even by itself. Whatever exactly occurred, it ended up in this soulhoarding pagoda....”
Bai Xiaochun licked his lips at the thought of how precious this treasure was that he had acquired. Unable to hold back his curiosity, he sent his divine sense back into the pagoda to study it further. The following day at noon, he finally finished his inspection, whereupon his eyes shone with enlightenment.
“It really is an unconscious discarnate soul that was fused into the pagoda.... If the pagoda were to be destroyed, the sealed soul would also be destroyed. However, that would simultaneously result in a blast of destructive energy that would probably kill even a deva, or at least inflict serious injuries....