Free Web NovelChapter 166: Chapter 117: Magic Holy Scripture
HUMMM!
The eerie blue flames burned relentlessly, emitting the sizzling sound of vaporizing flesh and blood.
They seemed to contain some kind of extreme heat, distorting the air and bending the light.
Lu Chao took two steps back, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Slowly, the black-robed old man’s corpse melted away, incinerated into a pile of black ash on the ground.
"He’s dead?"
Lu Chao watched this scene with a frown, his expression wary.
He recalled hearing about the destruction of a branch of the God-Worshiping Church. ’Could this man have been the final mastermind behind it all?’ freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
As he pondered, a night breeze blew through.
The pile of black ash swirled up and scattered, as if a departed soul was returning to the heavens—or perhaps, to the Abyssal Hell of a High-Dimensional Demon God.
Seeing this, and confirming there was no other danger around, Lu Chao gradually deactivated his Frenzy State.
An intense weakness assaulted him from all sides. It felt like his muscles were tearing, like his cells had been drained of all energy, sending constant signals of exhaustion.
His body swayed, and his face turned a little pale.
The black-robed old man’s methods had been too bizarre, like he had turned stage magic into real Magic, making him impossible to guard against.
If not for the [Fixed Star Observation Method] stabilizing his mind and allowing him to distinguish reality from illusion...
...he might have let the man escape just now.
"Huuuh..."
Lu Chao slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, steadying himself.
This fight had ended quickly, so the burden on his body wasn’t too great. The weakness was less severe than after he killed Qiu Shan.
Then...
"Hm?"
His gaze shifted, and he looked toward the spot where the black-robed old man had died.
The black ash from the incinerated corpse had been blown away by the night wind.
He hadn’t noticed before, but looking closely now, he could see two items left behind.
Under the faint moonlight, Lu Chao could barely make out their outlines.
After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped forward, a mixture of curiosity and caution in his heart.
He then crouched down slightly and picked up the two items.
The first was a black, rather heavy book.
The cover felt slightly cool to the touch, a sensation that seemed to strike directly at his soul, leaving him with an unsettling feeling.
"What is this book?"
Slightly puzzled, Lu Chao gently patted the book’s cover, dusting off the fine ash that clung to it.
On it was a strange design that looked like some kind of unfamiliar character, yet also resembled the English alphabet from the old Mira Country.
He couldn’t decipher it.
He wanted to open it, but the alley was dark. After a moment’s thought, he decided to put it away and looked at the other item in his right hand.
It was a pitch-black sphere, about the size of a fist.
It seemed to be made of metal, with several golden lines etched onto its surface that flashed intermittently, giving it a technological feel.
"A metal ball?"
Lu Chao frowned. His intuition picked up nothing from it.
Clearly, this was not an object that contained Biological Energy.
However, for the black-robed old man to carry it on his person, and for it to survive the earlier combustion of those eerie blue flames without being destroyed...
...it had to be something extraordinary.
As he was thinking, footsteps sounded from outside the alley.
It seemed someone had been attracted by the earlier commotion.
A glint in his eyes, Lu Chao grabbed the strange book and the metal sphere and quickly departed.
...
「In the boundless wilderness.」
An ancient-seeming tribe lived here. They had made their camp using only wooden fences and vines, enclosing a large area in a flat valley deep in the mountains.
The bonfire in the center burned continuously, its flames leaping four to five meters high.
Looking closely, one could see a huge, faceless idol standing behind the flames.
It was a deep brown color, stood six or seven meters tall, and gave off an inexplicable sense of grandeur.
CRACKLE... POP... The sounds echoed from the bonfire.
Looking around, one could see many men and women in primitive attire dancing around the fire.
It looked like some sort of ancient tradition, or perhaps a sacrificial ritual.
An ancient, rhythmic beat resounded through the tribe, drawing more and more people to join in, moving around the idol.
Witnessing this scene from inside a wooden hut, a brown-robed old man’s eyes were deep with thought, his mind inscrutable.
Finally...
The sound of rapid footsteps approached from behind, and a figure in similar primitive dress came to his side.
"High Priest, we have news."
"Oh?" The brown-robed old man snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to look.
"The Magic Perception Sphere just detected a unique fluctuation."
"It seems..." The newcomer chose his words for a moment, his eyes filled with excitement. "It’s related to the lost Holy Scripture of Magic."
The moment the words were spoken, the High Priest’s gaze sharpened.
It was as if the entire tribal land had fallen silent.
Several breaths passed as he seemed to digest this news. freёwebnovel.com
A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he asked for the source of the fluctuation.
The man reported truthfully, quickly naming a place.
Ring City!
...
CLICK!
The apartment door closed.
Lu Chao felt a little tired upon returning to his apartment.
After a brief, two-sentence exchange with Zhao Yuanqing, he hurried back to his bedroom.
He was now wearing only a thin, black, crew-neck long-sleeved shirt.
He had taken off his blood-stained jacket on the way back, turned it inside out, and was carrying it in his arms, with the items he’d acquired wrapped inside.
He didn’t feel the slightest bit of cold; his professional-grade physique was far beyond that of an ordinary person. Besides, his mind was filled with curiosity and questions.
Once the bedroom door was closed, Lu Chao glanced around before quickly drawing the curtains.
Due to the circumstances earlier, he hadn’t had a chance to examine the two items closely.
Now was the perfect time to study them properly.
CLATTER.
He put down his jacket, taking out the book and the gold-lined sphere from within.
First, the book.
He hadn’t seen it clearly in the alley. Now, he could see that it was yellowed with age, giving off an ancient, rustic feel.
Under the lamplight, the strange characters on the cover flashed with an inexplicably sinister luster.
