Wizard: I crush legends with martial arts.

Chapter 129 The Core of the Relics

Count Jürgen was furious and roared without any regard for decorum.

But the truth is undeniable: the soul that should have been inside the crystal is gone.

"That's strange. Logically speaking, Nabrialus shouldn't have enough power to be resurrected, so he shouldn't be able to leave here." Count Jürgen's shadow emerged, as if he were talking to himself.

"Nabriales is the heart of this ruin, and he's gone missing. What are we going to do now?" Count Jürgen asked in exasperation.

"This matter still requires contacting the Grand Elder," Youying replied calmly, not particularly angry.

"Should we have the Grand Elder find another demon lord's soul?" Count Jürgen asked, barely suppressing his anger.

"Heh, do you really think the soul of a demon lord is like a beet that can be bought anywhere? You can just ask for it whenever you want? That would require a lot of sacrifices."

The shadowy figure said leisurely, "This is also your responsibility. The soul of Briares actually disappeared in your territory. You need to give the Grand Elder an explanation for this."

Count Jürgen's chest heaved with rage as he roared, "Don't try to pin all the blame on me! My agreement to offer sacrifices and create a monument within the territory was also to achieve your plan to resurrect Nabriales!"

As she spoke, she pointed around, "You see, the magic array here hasn't been destroyed, nor are there any signs of intrusion. Tell me, how could Briales' soul have disappeared? Besides leaving on its own, could someone have taken its soul from this secret chamber?"

"I don't know about that. All I know is that the soul of Nabrialus has disappeared. It understands its duty very well. Before its resurrection, it would not disobey the Grand Elder's orders and would stay here to prepare the core of the ruins," said the Shadow.

"Stop with this nonsense!" Count Jürgen waved his hand sharply. "As long as you don't forget what you promised me! I'll pay any price! Contact the Grand Elder and have him bring me another demon lord's soul. I will investigate this matter thoroughly!"

"Alright," Shadow agreed. "When the moon rises tonight, I will hold a ceremony to contact the Grand Elder and invite him over. But I must remind you that to cross the dimensional gate and bring the soul of a demon lord to this world, you will need to prepare a sacrificial offering."

"Yes!" Count Jürgen nodded heavily.

Count Jürgen did not actually want to get involved with the demons.

His beloved wife died in childbirth, and he cherished his son, whom he had finally given birth to, as a precious treasure.

But his beloved son, whom he regarded as his heir, contracted a strange disease and left him.

No amount of wealth or high status could bring back her son's life.

The appearance of the demon race, however, brought him a glimmer of hope.

The demon elder told him that if a demon lord could successfully revive in this world, the power of desire he absorbed would be enough to reshape his son's body and bring him back to life.

The Grand Elder himself could not do it; he had already expended too much power to pass through the dimensional gate and come to this world.

A drowning person always tries to grasp at the last straw, and Count Jürgen was no exception. He was willing to pay any price to revive his son, even at the cost of selling his own soul.

Originally, everything was going smoothly.

A large number of flesh and blood sacrifices were offered, which allowed the Demon Elder to summon the soul of the Demon Lord Nabrialus and set up a magic circle to create this ruin.

All the monsters and materials in the ruins are magical creations.

Demons crave human flesh and blood, but they crave even more human desires and negative emotions, from which they draw power.

Mercenaries who venture into the ruins all possess strong desires, and the dead can provide negative emotions, all of which can become nourishment for the demon lord.

Once they come into contact with any of the items from the ruins, they face only one fate: to become slaves to their desires and, when the demons descend upon this land, to be transformed into demon soldiers.

The ruins will continue to expand as the demon lord grows stronger, and the monsters inside will also become stronger.

No matter how many monsters are killed or how much treasure is taken, there is no need to worry.

As long as the core demon lord exists, it will continue to generate.

However, this was solely to attract a large number of adventurers, providing the demon lord with the power of desire.

When the demon lord has accumulated enough power, he will be able to fully recover and reappear in the world.

Count Jürgen never imagined that the soul of the demon lord Nabrialus would disappear so mysteriously.

With the core demon lord gone, the monsters inside will weaken, and the ruins will gradually collapse.

This is something that Count Jürgen cannot accept.

Upon leaving the ruins, Count Jürgen summoned the captain of the guard and ordered him to check the list of adventurers who had recently entered the ruins to see which powerful mercenary teams had gone inside.

However, no one suspected Alphonse, simply because he had seen Alphonse and his group the previous night.

If they possessed the soul of Nabrialus, the Shadow Demon Kiva, lurking in his shadow, should have noticed long ago.

A few days have passed.

During his daily lodgings, Alphonse had already taken several medicinal baths.

He didn't neglect his cultivation at all. Apart from eating and sleeping, Alphonse devoted all his energy to internal energy cultivation.

Gradually, one feels the true energy within the body becoming abundant and unusually swollen, and the internal breath no longer increases; this is a sign that the bottleneck has been reached.

It's time for a breakthrough.

To break through this limit, one must connect the Ren and Du meridians, open the bridge between heaven and earth, and thus achieve harmony between Yin and Yang, continue to nourish with Qi, and broaden the meridians.

In past lives, countless martial arts practitioners were stuck at this hurdle.

Only those who can pass this test can be considered masters.

For safety reasons, Alphonse even asked Mia to stand guard outside his hotel room.

Although we have experience in making breakthroughs, we are always prepared for the worst.

You must not be disturbed by external things while practicing.

With everything prepared, Alphonse lit incense in the room, stood upside down, and began to circulate his inner energy.

At this point, the true qi of the yin and yang meridians are one cold and one hot, each forming its own cycle.

After circulating for two weeks, Alphonse began to draw two streams of true energy and gather them towards his brow.

In the human body, the center between the eyebrows is called the ancestral aperture, which connects to the brain and represents one's true nature. Injury to this area can be fatal, or at least cause some harm.

Brain damage can lead to headaches.

The ancestral aperture is the most important gateway to the Ren and Du meridians. Once this gateway is broken through and the two meridians are connected, true qi can circulate continuously.

There's more than just the ancestral aperture to overcome; there's also the aperture of life and death.

The "life-and-death acupoint" refers to the Tanzhong acupoint.

If the ancestral aperture is heaven, then the aperture of life and death is earth.

They must be connected together, like the relationship between a rudder and an oar; neither can be missing.

(End of this chapter)