Chapter 118: An Entity Near The Peak
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"Hmm... What do you think, Whitey? Are you feeling the same thing that I'm feeling," Lucifer asked.
While watching the floofer tilt his head up at him in a confused manner, he figured that the floofer was not feeling what he was feeling. Putting his attention back on the miniature shrine, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What... or rather, who are you?"
For some reason, he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of kinship with the gorgeous lady in the photo.
Lost in his own thoughts, Lucifer failed to notice that one of the dozens of candles on the shrine suddenly blew out. From this occurrence, the translucent ghost-like figure of a woman materialized into view.
Appearing eerily similar to the lady in the photo, this ghost woman watched the black-haired youngster with a keen glint in her hollowed gaze.
"???"
Feeling something staring at him from a corner of the shrine, Lucifer shot his head in that direction. But rather than seeing the ghost Lady, all he saw was a few specks of candle ashes billowing in the light air flow of the shrine.
"How odd, indeed..."
Understanding that this place might be a tad bit too mysterious, Lucifer was prepared to vacate the place with his floofer. But the moment he reached the shrine exit, he was restricted by some barrier filament. Preventing him from moving a single step further, there was also a rather strong breeze of air seeping into the shrine's cracks.
"Well, f*ck... This definitely isn't any good..."
Awkwardly chuckling to himself, Lucifer tried to use Clone Switch and phase away from his main body, but that was deemed a major no-go.
"Ai, well it does appear that I have been trapped in here by some unknown force... F*cking great..." slowly turning his head in the direction that all the wind was flowing toward, he saw something attempting to come into the world of the living.
Causing slight fluctuations in the air and shooting off bright blue sparks of energy, Lucifer was able to make a few guesses on what was about to happen. The one he ultnlay ended up landing on was, "I think we're screwed, Whitey. Prepare your floofy butt, because I don't think we're making it out of this in one piece..."
Tightly holding his floofer, Lucifer could do nothing but stand in still motion and watch as a humanoid-sized silhouette came into existence.
When it did fully come into being, Lucifer was immediately able to tell that this mysterious existence looked exactly the same as the one in the memorial photo...
"I know I have that Xue Lan ghost girl as an example, but I never would've thought I would meet another one so soon..."
"Woof..."
Lucifer was analyzing the mysterious ghost Lady, whereas Whitey was simply trying to understand why it could never seem to catch some z's with a very, very long nap.
Bzzzttt...
Causing the blue energy surrounding her body to fluctuate and flicker, the ghost Lady finally obtained the ability to speak. The first thing she said was, "You may have felt a certain familiarity with the version of inside that picture, and I have brought my incorporeal form into the corporeal realm to tell you that we are family."
"We are f*cking what now!?"
'If what this powerful ghost says is true, then I am... Oh shit, I am rurally f*cked, aren't I...?'
Recalling everything that he had done to the large majority of his 'family', Lucifer knew there was really only one way to come out of this encounter unscathed. Puckering his lips and bowing at an angle of reverence, he shouted, "This little one greets the old one! Please have pity on this small one's existence! If I offended you in any way, then please instruct me of how I should change!"
"Oh...?"
Seeing how well her great, great grandson adapted to what she said, Zhi Chun, the Oldest Ancestor of the Devildukes slowly floated to the ground. Wearing an understanding and motherly smile on her flawless face, she approached the bowing Lucifer and laid one of her hands on his shoulder.
Causing him to look up with this physical contact, she looked him straight through the soul and said, "You, Lucifer Devilduke, are my Great, Great Grandson. And as such, I will bestow upon you a way to utilize the power of this forest for your own devices.
I see that you are already very exceptional when it comes to your Qi Cultivation, but having an additional Cultivation Path with superb talent like yours will do nothing but help you."
'Hmm... So that Soul search just a second ago was unable to discover anything past my Qi Cultivation base...? If that's the case, then she probably just thinks that I'm a genius for having reached the Late Golden Core Realm at 18 years of age.'
'In some areas, such talent is nothing out of the norm, and as long as she doesn't learn of my millions of Sources and the fact that my Battle Power is astronomical, I believe that I can take advantage of this 'Grandma' of mine.'
Lucifer never would've expected to met one of the Founding Ancestors of the Devilduke Family in the Nightmare Realm, let alone this rather ordinary shrine in the middle of nowhere.
But now that he had met her, he would make sure to take full advantage of this 'furtuipud encounter'!
"This small one greets Great Great Grandma! Although this one is not worthy of receiving your estemeed favor, if you wish to bestow something to this lowly one, then accept I shall!"
Thud!
Getting on one knee, Lucifer extended out both his hands. Then, as if he had rehearsed this move a million times, he visibly oozed a devout aura!
Slightly taken aback by the devoutness of this filial grandson of hers, Zhi Chun silently praised whoever had raised this descendant. As her mood was improved by a few degrees, she overlooked the inconspicuous floofer in Lucifer's hands. Instead, she swiped her sleeves and conjured forth a thick black book with a large menacing skull on the front of it.
Levitating this book to the outstretched hands of her grandson, Zhi Chun said, "This here is a way for you to begin treading a path other than that of Qi Cultivation. The Evil Path. Though this path name might sound rather misleading, I guarantee you that you won't need to commit any heinous acts to progress in this path."
Looking down at the name of the Evil Path book, Lucifer read the words 'Evil Sovereignty'. It was a name that exuded dominance, and it was also something that he had been looking for.
'Due to the lack of diversity among my high-ranking Evil Path Techniques, I was unable to derive something that could be used before the High-Mortal Realms. But with this magnamious Great, Great Grandma of mine, I now have a way to begin advancing in my fourth Qi Path ahead of schedule!'
Although Lucifer inwardly smirked an evil smirk, on the outside, he showed nothing other than immense gratitude and slight curiosity.
Taking her grandson's appreciation quite well, Zhi Chun said, "You need not worry about having the necessary talent for the Evil Path. Everything you need lay within the confines of that book in your hands. Simply read it and the relevant knowledge will come flooding-"
Bzzztt...
Out of nowhere, Zhi Chun's illusory figure started to vibrate and fluctuate out of existence. Causing her words to split up and break apart, what she said after 'flooding' came out as intelligible gibberish.
'Umu? What the hell is she trying to say?'
Tilting his head in confusion, Lucifer attempted to piece together her laggy speech. But in the end, all he managed to understand was, 'Not enough time', 'Even though I was a Mahayana Realm', and 'Take care. Until next we meet'.
From these little bits and pieces, Lucifer entered a rather perplexing state. Thinking to himself in an intuitive manner, he failed to notice the complete disappearance of his ghost Grandma. From her illusory figure to the fire above the shrine candles, everything vanished without a trace.
Leaving the spooky shrine with a dimly lit unnerving atmosphere, Lucifer was left to solemnly contemplate the last words spoken by his grandma. He was also curious about she was able to materialize a book out of thin air as a ghost, but that was more of a secondary concern.
"From what I can gather, great granny either meant she was out of time, or the holy barrier surrounding this shrine was out of time. And from the reappearance of the howls of truly terrifying monsters, I am inclined to believe that she was referring to both options..."
While listening to the high-pitched screeches slowly but surely get louder and louder, it became abundantly clear that the barrier around the shrine was on the verge of crumbling away.
"The last message was simple enough, but as for the 2nd message... Ai, it does appear that Granny was in the Mahayana Realm, making her an entity nearing the very pinnacle of this world. Well, that does soothe my worries on the quality of this booky book here."
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