Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 425: Difficult Situation.

"What are you doing?" shouted the old man as he noticed Ozul’s hand almost touching the head of his corpse.

"Can I not touch?" he asked, his hand only a few inches from the corpse’s head.

He could feel it; the so-called Mind’s Eye was right between the corpse’s temples. But he didn’t know how sensitive it was and didn’t want to risk it. Ideally, if he wanted to extract it from the corpse without any repercussions, he would have to be in direct contact.

Squinting his eyes, the old man replied in an unsure tone, "You can satisfy your curiosity later. First, sit on that cushion, I will impart to you my legacy."

’Yet another lie... I must not sit on that cushion,’ Ozul thought silently but the stiff muscles on his face didn’t betray his emotions.

"Just one touch will be enough, why wait until I’ve received the inheritance?" As he said this, his hand again reached for the corpse’s forehead.

"Nuh-uh!" the old man’s image instantly appeared in front of him, his stretched hand passing through him.

As if realizing he wasn’t there in his physical body, the old man acted quickly. With a single thought, he teleported Ozul a few meters away.

All of it happened in a few seconds, but it let Ozul understand an important aspect of this situation: the old man physically couldn’t touch him.

Maybe since it had been thousands of years or maybe it was meant to be like that, but it felt like the old man was only in control of this Realm.

He could teleport himself and others, and maybe manipulate the environment, but that seemed to be the extent of his abilities.

While all those thoughts ran behind his unwavering eyes, he still had to act like anyone else would in this situation. Tilting his head, he muttered in fading confusion, "Hm??"

"Ahem!" the old man gruntled, "It is imperative that no one touches my body. A single touch might disrupt the flow of the runes, and then you won’t be able to receive my inheritance."

’Another lie... Now I am curious why he wouldn’t let me touch the body...’ thought Ozul, but he couldn’t be distracted by those thoughts.

"Though if you must satisfy your curiosity..." the old man trailed off as he flicked his hand and with that motion, something happened again.

A buzzing sound rang out and with it, emerged stone slabs a few meters behind the old man’s corpse.

Ozul walked up to it and was more than surprised to find yet another body of an old man with a sickly-looking appearance lying inside the stone coffin with his eyes closed.

The robes on this man were almost withering away; the difference between the conditions of this corpse and the other was undeniable. This one properly looked as if someone had died.

Yet, the fact that this body too wasn’t reduced to only bones went on to show that he too maybe had been a Sage. The particular energy he felt from this body’s forehead only added to his conclusion.

’Another Mind’s Eye...’

The old man confirmed his thoughts, "He was an old friend of mine..."

’A truth...?’

"When he was on his deathbed, he entrusted his body to me. He convinced me that we are buried together in death... And so here we are."

’A lie again... *sigh!*’

The amount of lies this old man had woven in this short while was exhausting for Ozul. Each time, his mind would wander to countless possibilities that his lies implied in the situation.

"I understand how your generation would be so fascinated by a Sage, so there you go. That brother of mine too was a Sage in his life. You can touch him," told the old man as he thought behind his mask, ’I can grant you this wish at least...’

Ozul didn’t question him any further and extended his hand to this corpse’s forehead.

As his hand touched the corpse, he could vividly imagine the internal structure and organs of the old man preserved as if he were still alive and breathing.

’There it is...’

The Mind’s Eye that Ember had asked him to retrieve was right there between the old man’s temples.

All he had to do was take it out, but that imposed another question in his mind, ’How do I get out of this realm...’

Except for the old man, he hadn’t seen any other method to leave this place.

With his hand still on the corpse’s forehead, he asked "Aren’t you afraid?"

"What?"

"Aren’t you afraid I will destroy this place after receiving your inheritance? I mean... can you even do anything to me?" Ozul asked in a flat tone.

The frown on the old man’s head increased the more he spoke.

"From what I can see, you are just a silhouette of your past. The most you can do is teleport around?"

"Enough!" bellowed the old man, "Do you believe I can’t burn you alive before you do that, brat!"

With his shouting, thunder raged in the background as the surroundings got a little darker. Any other cultivator would’ve felt anxious in the face of such power. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t fool Ozul.

’Mere theatrics again...’

This was a test from him. Any reply the old man could’ve given would give him his actual answer. As he could judge anyone’s emotions, he could see through the facade and notice the budding anxiety in the old man’s heart after his question.

"I don’t believe that you can," he spoke again. This time, he controlled The Purity as it left through his hand and dug into the head that he was touching.

The old man didn’t feel anything as there were no fluctuations from the Spiritual Essence, but it all became clear what he was doing when he removed his hand and there was a burning red crystal in his palm.

The red crystal Ozul assumed to be the Mind’s Eye was also the size of an eye. The dense energy that it radiated, however, was far beyond anything he had felt until now!

"What are you doing, boy!?" shouted the old man as he immediately teleported next to Ozul.

Fuming in rage, the old man’s eyes visibly reddened as he screamed at him, "How dare you violate the body of a Sage! Give the Mind’s Eye back! Do you even understand what that is?!"

"Why should I give it back? You planned to pass down all your legacy to me anyway, no?"

Once again, Ozul’s body was teleported a few meters away from the two corpses as the old man towered over him, "Do not test my patient, brat. Hand it over!"

But Ozul was in his own thoughts. While he was teleported, he noticed the Purity was teleported in proportion to him as well.

Even the wisps of faded Purity that he knew the old man hadn’t noticed were teleported with him.

The same could also be said for the Mind’s Eye that he had instantly wrapped in the Purity.

’If I can just wrap the other Mind’s Eye in the Purity and he teleports me outside...’

Since there were now two of them, it was obvious he was going to steal both. However, it all depended on the perfect timing.

While he thought everything through, a streak of Purity was already making its way toward the old man’s body.

"I..."

"You what?!"

"I don’t want to give it to you." He replied so innocently as if it was his, to begin with.

Anxiety grew in the old man’s thoughts as he was left speechless after Ozul’s actions.

"If you could, you would have taken it from me by force already. The truth is... You can’t do anything to me," he calmly explained while slowly walking toward the old man.

Having been read like an open book, the old man’s face darkened, but he didn’t lose his composure.

He was, after all, a Sage once. But whatever that meant, Ozul didn’t care at this point.

"I had considered there could be problems in my plan, but you... You really proved to be an anomaly."

There was a hint of defeat in his tone, but the anger and his killing intent overshadowed everything else.

The old man knew he couldn’t do anything to him. His most powerful weapons were the Mirror of Self-Reflection and taking away people’s ability to use the Spiritual Essence in this Realm. Sadly for him, none of that worked on Ozul.

Except for a few theatrics and teleporting, he could indeed do nothing, just as Ozul had figured out.

Even Ozul didn’t expect the old man to admit defeat so easily.

He was prepared to wreak havoc in this small Realm until the old man had no choice but to teleport him outside.

Luckily for him, the old man was once a Sage as well. He had also thought through everything.

"You will regret this..." he threatened with a darkened face, cursing his shit luck which let Ozul inside his Realm.

"Too bad, I can’t have you take revenge in the future," Ozul replied with a smile as an ominous feeling arose in the old man’s heart.

Ozul suddenly sped toward the old man’s body in the distance as the latter’s eyes widened in horror.

"Begone, you little rat!" he shouted as he flicked his fingers and Ozul disappeared from his spot, teleported outside the Realm.

The old man just sighed in relief when he noticed something strange.

One look at his corpse and it became clear what had happened in the span of a few seconds.

There was a hole in his body’s head and a drop of blood trailed out of it!

The old man didn’t even have time to think when his body started to fade from the bottom.

He shouted, "You bastar-!!" but his voice too faded into eventual nothingness.