Soul Trigger

Chapter 622 Altar
At this moment, Clementine huddled inside the wall of the secret passage, trembling like a sieve.
"Have I completed my mission? Can I come back now?"

"Of course not, Jason hasn't found the altar yet."

"What happens after he discovers the altar? Will there be other mechanisms inside?"

"That depends on what happens next... You have an unlimited number of chances to revive, so why be afraid of dying?"

"You said you wouldn't let me die so easily again!"

"Aren't you alive and well now?"

"Damn it...you've never died, how do you know how painful death is!?"

"How do you know I've never died, and don't know how painful death is?"

Do you want to know what it feels like to experience a negative-distance explosion in a cold fusion reactor?
Seeing that it was still pitch black, and having already heard Jason groan as he got up, Ji Li knew he couldn't delay and reached for the cross. Clementine then struggled to speak:
"I need to recover, give me some time..."

Ji Li opened his eyes again, and beside him was Anya, who looked anxious.

"What happened? What just occurred?"

"It's nothing, just a little incident. Jason and my 'little elf' are both fine."

Ji Li and Clementine's telepathic communication didn't require them to speak, so Anya only saw the image on the wall zoom in rapidly, knocking Jason away, followed by a white laser beam, and then everything went black.

Seeing Ji Li sitting there motionless with his eyes closed, I thought something had happened to him.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief:

"That idiot Jason...did he just step on a trap?"

Ji Li narrowed his eyes:

"We'll find out soon."

Clementine quickly regained her composure, poked her head out from the wall of the secret passage, nearly bumping into Jason again, and quickly withdrew, changing her position—

Clementine has already interacted with Jason, so Jason has been able to see her for a while. Now he needs to be a little careful and make sure she's in Jason's blind spot.

Jason nervously touched his shoulder before looking at the disappearing spiritual circuit at the end of the passage, still shaken, and then shifted his gaze to the mechanism he had just stepped on:
"Damn it... there are traps?! Shouldn't this be Green family property? What? Grandpa just sent me in here to die like this?"

Anya looked at the image that had reappeared on the wall and also raised questions:
“That’s right, Mr. Green should have known there was a trap here, so why didn’t he stop Jason?”

But Ji Li gestured for him to look at Jansen's tree root pendant, or, to use a term from ancient texts: the World Tree Mark.

Anya then noticed that the mark was covered with numerous cracks and was slowly healing:
"That mechanism is meant to destroy the mark, not to prevent people from entering the secret passage?"

"You'll know once you try it."

At this moment, the mechanical doors of the library began to close, and the torches on the walls were lit with blue spiritual flames.

Jason was startled again, cursing as he cautiously moved forward.

Thanks to Old Green's earlier assist in throwing the book, the perilous trap couldn't extinguish the big, goofy man's curiosity to uncover the secrets and his sense of mission as a "favored one of Odin."

After watching Jason leave the passage, Ji Li had Clementine touch the mechanism that Jason had triggered earlier.

As the hidden pedal on the ground was pressed, nothing happened except for a soft "click," proving Ji Li's conjecture to be correct:
Mechanisms are not meant to harm people, but to destroy imprints.

Therefore, old Green was not worried at all about Jason discovering the secret passage, because he knew it wouldn't cause any problems. On the contrary, it would destroy the World Tree mark and make Jason give up completely.

As for why Clementine was hit by that attack, it was because she took the impact of the spiritual energy in place of the pendant.

So the question is, why would the spiritual circuits of the Duke of Ludwig's mansion destroy the World Tree Imprint?

"Is it because... the Duke Ludwig's mansion is the mastermind, wanting to bury everything related to the Odin faith, including the place you're looking for?"

Ji Li gave Anya, who was analyzing the situation intently, a meaningful look:
"Perhaps you are right."

Anya nervously clung to Ji Li's arm:
"Shouldn't we check on Jason? I'm really afraid he's dead in the secret passage..."

As Clementine continued to follow, Jason reappeared before their eyes.

There were many traps in the secret passages. Even though Jason was very careful, he still couldn't help but touch them and almost triggered them, but Clementine always managed to avert danger by suddenly pushing them.

Anya was terrified as she watched:

"How could he have stepped on so many traps along the way... I even saw those stepping stones!"

Ji Li explained:
"Such traps are often designed to mimic human psychology, so the more you try to avoid them, the more you play right into the designer's hands."

Guided and rescued by "Odin," Jansen finally arrived at the end of the secret passage without any major incidents.

There is a sealed stone door here that needs to be triggered by spiritual energy. Ji Li asked Clementine to open the door with spiritual energy while Jason was searching for clues everywhere.

As the stone gate rose with a rumble, an altar was finally revealed to everyone.

The underground river flows into the ground from the side, enclosing the central plot of land.

Like a twisted tree root, the stone carving resembles a coiled dragon, spiraling upwards and expanding at a high place, forming the shape of a large tree.

The altar is located at the very front of this strange tree.

Jason was stunned for a moment, frozen in place, then picked up the World Tree mark in his hands and began to pray softly.

Anya looked at him strangely.

"This is... Odin's altar?"

"is there a problem?"

"...I think it looks more like an alien altar."

Ji Li smiled without saying a word.

Even though the stone carving was covered with damp moss, he could still tell that it was a product of "tree root technology," with the shape of the roots of the World Tree.

When a high-tech product is interpreted through stone carving, it does indeed give people a sense of absurdity, as if it were alien technology.

Just as the primitive civilizations of the Stone Age could not comprehend the existence of high technology and could only express their worship by carving stone sculptures.

After finishing his prayer, Jansen walked forward. At the front of the altar was an engraving that was exactly the same as the World Tree mark.

He intended to touch it casually, but it caused it to sink directly, and a row of hidden compartments popped up above the altar.

There were three hidden compartments, shaped exactly like the World Tree mark, suggesting that it was possible to directly insert the mark into them.

Anya immediately became excited:

"...This is the answer? You're right! The three school board members correspond to three marks. Inserting them into the mark will open the secret space!"

She excitedly hugged Ji Li, shaking uncontrollably like someone watching a drama at its climax.

But Ji Li poured cold water on the idea:
"I don't think things are that simple."

Sure enough, as Jensen tentatively inserted the World Tree imprint into it, he was suddenly dumbfounded:
"It won't fit?!" It's like the craftsmanship was poor when making a dent, the tolerance was too big. It's not even a perfect fit, and the volume is much smaller.

He tried again with brute force, and with a soft "snap," the thing went in, but the groove cracked and a large piece broke off.

Jansen froze on the spot, then knelt down with a thud and began to repent to Odin.

Anya stared blankly at the image:

"The altar of God... is broken?!"

"Is it possible that this is not a real altar of God at all, but a... fake made to imitate something?"

From an emotional perspective, Ji Li would never believe that the altar pointing at him would be such a broken stone sculpture.

From a rational perspective, these stones are not spiritual materials at all.

Even altars forged using the spiritual material system would never be made of ordinary materials.

"It means that somewhere there exists a real altar that looks exactly like the one in front of us, and this altar was made in imitation of that altar..."

Anya was immediately disheartened:

"Doesn't that mean that after all that effort, we got nothing but a counterfeit?"

"not necessarily."

Ji Li shook his head and gave Clementine some instructions, while the camera rapidly swooped down towards Jason.

Suddenly, the big, foolish man, who was still repenting, collapsed to the ground, his whole body going limp.

"...Is he alright?"

"It's alright, it's time for the 'little elf' to perform."

After an unknown amount of time, Jason slowly woke up:
"what happened?"

Seeing the solemn and magnificent altar before him, and the grooves he had violently damaged, he realized that he had just fainted, and his face immediately froze:
Could it be that my actions have truly angered the Father of the Gods?

So should I prepare some offerings to present to Odin...?

Just when he was in a state of confusion and didn't know what to do, he suddenly felt that something was wrong with the altar in front of him.

When he fainted, the altar in front of him was completely empty except for the three grooves.

But at this moment, the ancient book that should have been in his arms appeared on top, wide open.

Jason wasn't stupid. He touched the back of his head, which was throbbing slightly, and found several large bruises. He began to suspect that someone was playing a trick on him and had deliberately knocked him unconscious.

But when he looked around, he realized that the stone door had been closed after he went in.

The ground around was covered in a thick layer of dust, indicating that someone had been there and would have left footprints.

But now there is nothing there except for their own footprints.

In other words... the Holy Father came!?
He scrambled to his feet and rushed to the altar, picked up the ancient book, and was immediately dumbfounded when he saw the grotesque scribbles on it, resembling burnt charcoal.
What is this?
Jansen stared at it for a long time, unable to understand what it said, but as a devout follower of Odin, he suddenly realized:

“Runic runes…it’s runic writing! This is Odin’s oracle, He is truly guiding me!”

He couldn't contain his elation; his hand holding the notebook trembled, and only one thought occupied his mind:
We must immediately decipher what Odin is trying to tell us!
Meanwhile, on Ji Li's side, Anya breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from her face, and put down her pen:

"Finally caught up..."

At this moment, there was a large pile of books and cell phones on their desks, all of which contained information about Rune text.

The white paper also had a lot of information written on it, listing finished and semi-finished products. The translated content is:
"Return to the altar before sunset tomorrow afternoon."

If you're going to put on a show, you might as well go all the way. The real Odin wouldn't write you modern White Island English, would he?

So after spending half a day trying to piece together the runes, the key thing was that this sports student had good physical fitness; he woke up in just a few minutes after being knocked unconscious once, so Ji Li had to have Clementine watch over him.

As soon as the person wakes up, knock them unconscious immediately.

Finally, after Jason had five or six big bumps on the back of his head, the original text of the runes was prepared for him, and Clementine copied it down.

Although it wasn't physically demanding work, the hectic pace still left Anya drenched in sweat. So hot, she took off her coat and shirt, revealing a white tank top that barely covered her and a black lace bra.

While undressing, he asked:

"How is it now?"

"He believed it, so he should be able to decipher the contents soon, and then I can take action."

Ji Li watched the teenage girls' striptease while contacting Clementine to let her know she could return.

"I can't wait until tomorrow afternoon, I can't wait to see Jason's reaction..."

At this moment, Ji Li frowned, because there was a new development on Jason's side—

The stone door suddenly opened with a rumble, and a figure walked out from behind it:

"grandfather?!"

The newcomer was none other than old Green, who walked in slowly, leaning on his cane, his brow slightly furrowed.
"You actually got in..."

Then he immediately noticed the dent that Jensen had damaged, and a flash of anger crossed his eyes:

"What have you done? How could you so casually vandalize the Father's altar..."

But Jason rushed forward and hurriedly showed old Green the scorch marks on the ancient book:
"Grandpa, the Holy Father has answered me! He has responded to me with runes!!!"

Old Green was about to rebuke him, but when he looked at the pages of the book his grandson had presented to him, he froze, the words about to come out of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Ji Li's eyes lit up:
If Jason can successfully persuade Green, he might be able to get more inside information from him.

Old Green himself might even take action, bringing us one step closer to the spiritual realm...

But in Clementine's view, old Green snatched the ancient book from Jason's hand and pointed to its contents, saying:

"You're saying this is the Father's response?"

Jensen was extremely excited:
"Yes! This is the divine oracle He just wrote..."

"Nonsense! Do you think I've never seen the Father's oracle?!"

Old Green pointed to the marks on the ancient book again and again:

"Putting aside the fact that the runes are written in a mess, there are even two wrong symbols."

Furthermore, the Father's oracle could not possibly be in runes! His oracle could only be in runes!

(End of this chapter)