Soul Trigger

Chapter 546 The Safe House for the Tombstone
The tombstone emerged from the water, and the pursuers behind them could no longer be sensed.

Looking around, I realized I was in the middle of the canal, surrounded only by elevated highways. Apart from the speeding vehicles, there was hardly anyone around.

The shoreline was fenced off with barbed wire and huge warning signs were posted, suggesting that this was a reservoir.

"That was a close call..."

It raised its hand, which was enveloped by black and gold claws, and a flash of magenta color appeared on it:

"This shouldn't be the result. My ritual should have taken effect..."

The heavy full-body armor did not hinder its movement at all; it quickly came ashore, its wet surface steaming with a magenta mist that dried rapidly.

At that moment, a low growl came from behind it.

Turning my head, I saw a wet figure, its body swollen and smelly, yet its surface looked as if it had been scorched by fire, covered with various charred marks.

At this moment, it is being draped in a shadow puppet, quickly transforming into a normal human spirit.

"They actually followed us out?"

With a casual wave of his hand, the tombstone's crimson spiritual energy transformed into a cursed sword, pinning the malevolent entity to the water and instantly killing it. The fragments of its personality fell into the tombstone's hand.

Last night, six Imperial Guards chased after it. If it weren't for the sudden outbreak of the paradoxical aura, it would probably have had to force its way out despite the huge negative effects of the dragon vein.

Fortunately, the unknown paradoxical force erupted, and the tombstone that had escaped to the reservoir also found a place called Limbo in the water, where it stayed for a whole night.

The figure that was instantly killed by it was the master of the Spirit Prison's lair, a shadow puppeteer, who actually wanted to leave with it.

However, considering the possibility of pursuers still emerging, and the possibility that this Limbo prison might expose spiritual clues pointing to itself, the tombstone had no choice but to discard it after it had served its purpose, destroying this psychological connection to the soul.

Just then, it heard a startled cry:
"Fuck!"

Turning my head, I saw a man and a woman carrying photography equipment staring at me in surprise.
"Bro, cosplaying by the lake so early in the morning? Are you here to find the water ghost too?"

The tombstone didn't speak, nor did it look at the tombstone.

As a Dead Apostle, any interaction between it and the other party would lead to a psychological connection between them, though it did glance at the billboard the other party was pointing to.

Below the standard danger warning lettering, there was additional text written in red ink:
"Water ghosts have appeared."

It was followed by three big exclamation marks.

There shouldn't be any more water ghosts here from now on.

The two were instantly terrified, because the image of the tombstone disappeared in the blink of an eye.

A black-armored figure stood in the grass cage early in the morning, unresponsive to any calls. A cold wind blew, and the atmosphere around them suddenly became eerie.

The two men shuddered and quickly left the area, returning to their parked car, only to be dumbfounded:
"Where's my car!?"

Half an hour later in the city, a van screeched to a halt.

A young man with a blank expression and dark skin got off the bus. His skin was covered with cracks, which were being stitched up again by traces of magenta spiritual energy.

It was precisely by returning to a state of pretense that they borrowed someone else's car and used it as a tombstone.

The corpse they used before was torn up because of acting with Ji Li, so they could only be patched up and reused.

After abandoning the van, the tombstone driver circled around several times before hailing a taxi and heading towards the old town. Just as the driver was about to collect his fare, still enthusiastically telling him ghost stories from the old town, the tombstone driver disappeared into the back seat of the other driver.

After glancing at the taxi speeding away from the old town, the tombstone walked into a building.

This is a third-tier city, about half a province away from Mirage City. It was a well-planned location on its escape route. The reservoir is not far from here, just enough to reach its target point directly.

Apart from the twelve Dead Apostles and six hundred and sixty-six disciples, the Tower of Babel has no other members and no external organization.

All off-the-books operations are often carried out through the network of relationships of the 666 disciples as the Reflection Walkers, controlling some small and medium-sized societies, or parasitizing their own power in large societies to carry out operations and pursue various goals.

For example, during the Silla period, the organization of the King of Predators was actually controlled by them.

These organizations also serve as bridges and mediums for the Tower of Babel to use the "Crimson Ritual" to set up safe houses in Limbo in the spiritual ecosystems of various countries.

These safe houses are found all over the world, and are only available to Dead Apostles and Disciples, though the number varies.

Shulong is a region with very few safe houses; there are only three in the entire Shulong, which also means that there are very few societies within Shulong that can be controlled by them.

Therefore, this region is considered a high-risk area within the Tower of Babel, and the location of the tombstone is currently within one of the safe houses. The original route to take Ji Li away from Shu Long didn't require passing through this area, but the exposure of their plan made him uneasy.

As a life form closely connected to the underworld, the Crimson Ritual and its practices of the Dead Apostles are very likely to connect with various spiritual psychological connections, that is, mystical connections.

This connection can be used to achieve many familiar means, such as remotely "cursing" someone, predicting the development of abstract things, or actively spreading this connection to the spirits of other people, etc.

The act of actively creating such a connection, or using such a connection to achieve a certain purpose, is called the "Crimson Ritual".

It sounds a lot like a "spiritual ritual," but the biggest difference between a ritual and a ritual is that a ritual is a means of achieving a goal by driving the spiritual essence itself.

By starting from the underlying logic of the three dimensions, namely the theory that the three dimensions influence each other, we can see the biggest difference between rituals and ceremonies.

A city with an extremely high happiness index may appear as a dangerous and terrifying place in the underworld due to the shadows and negative emotions generated by the clusters of human spirits. However, this is just a normal reflection of the underworld.

If an immortal casts a spell of mass destruction, slaughtering the entire city.

The various separations and deaths, as well as the fear and hatred of the people that arise during the slaughter, will cause the corresponding location in the underworld to continue to sink, turning it into a deep underworld that even a perfectly enlightened being would find difficult to escape alive.

It could even be something like the Hell of Vengeful Dragons.

This is the effect of the technique; when it comes to the ritual, it's the complete opposite.

Similarly, in a city with an extremely high happiness index, rituals are used to connect with the soul through psychology, transforming one's inner world into a hellish, deeper inner world, thereby affecting the present world.

Transform the corresponding geographical location in the present world and the gathering place of human spirits into a purgatory on earth.

This is a privilege unique to fully-fledged Dead Apostles, and also the true, unknown danger they face.

However, it is still very difficult to actually achieve what is shown in the example.

Using corpses to achieve the characteristics of "shadow puppeteers" is a method obtained through rituals on tombstones.

The kingdom of Shulong possesses the dragon veins of the Divine Land, making it like a prison for the Dead Apostles—difficult to enter and difficult to leave.

Therefore, after devising the plan to leave Shulong, the tombstone had already influenced the underworld through a crimson ritual of the Tower of Babel, constructing an "absolute escape path".

Whatever happens along this path, the influence of the inner world will be projected onto the present world, ensuring that it and Ji Li will leave Shulong along the predetermined route.

Even if Nirvana Dragon General were present, he shouldn't have been able to see through the dead apostle nature of the tombstone. In fact, Nirvana Dragon General might not have been present at all, or might not have been present on time.

Even if the territory of Shulong is engulfed in a terrible war, and large-scale battles occur wherever the two go, this route will be almost completely blocked, which will definitely allow the two to leave.

But it didn't expect that a problem would still arise, and that the Nirvana Dragon General would see right through it.

Was it Odin's own high status that influenced its ritual, or... was someone interfering with its ritual?

The tombstone did not consider the possibility of being manipulated, because the very fact that it could be manipulated could indicate that the ritual had failed or been interfered with.

The only beings capable of influencing its rituals are other Dead Apostles.

Considering that Nirvana Dragon was preparing to attack him directly, was the person who interfered with the ritual trying to kill him?

The tombstone couldn't understand, so when arranging its escape route, it pointed directly to the safe house in this area.

The changes in the underworld are also influenced by geographical location. In other words, if one were to interfere with the ritual of the Dragon of Slaughter from outside the Dragon of Slaughter, one would have to be an extremely powerful Dead Apostle. As far as it knows, only the chief of the Tower of Babel, the "Stained Knight," could do it.

The only variable could come from within the Shulong territory, and as far as he knew, the only remaining Dead Apostles within the Shulong territory were the two scattered Tower of Babel disciples at the three safe houses.

During the brainstorming session, the tombstone had already arrived at a bustling street in the old town.

The moment you step into the alley, you are in a strange state, directly entering a store, opening the inner door and going inside.

Meanwhile, the owner was busy dealing with customers haggling over prices and ignored its existence.

As the surrounding environment changed, the tombstone stepped into Limbo and froze instantly.

What came into view was a long, narrow, endless corridor, the walls of which were covered with a large number of dark purple knife marks.

Hearing strange, otherworldly murmurs emanating from the surrounding shadows, the tombstone once again shed its shadow puppet disguise, revealing its royal armor, and drew its intricate black and gold knight's greatsword:

"Has it been hacked...?"

(End of this chapter)