Lu Jun pressed again, "Is it him?"
Mochizuki Chikako turned around, nodding excitedly, and quickly spoke in Japanese to the person in the stone chamber.
A low voice responded from within.
Moments later, her expression turned angry. She came back to Lu Jun and said, "Damn General Takagi, guarding the Eastern Pavilion and still lining his own pockets."
"It turns out the curse formation of the prison doesn't let the prisoners' soul source dissipate. Instead, it gathers together, forming something called an Evil Condensing Pearl."
"Takagi wants to keep that thing for himself, to help his summoned beast break through to the Monarch level."
"When my brother Iwada found out, he was thrown into prison."
"No, we can't let him succeed."
But the more Mochizuki spoke, the more off it felt. Then she realized it and stared blankly at Lu Jun, her pretty face looking a bit embarrassed.
"That's right, as agreed, that Evil Condensing Pearl belongs to us now."
Seeing this, Lu Jun smiled and nodded gracefully.
"Damn it!" Mochizuki Chikako cursed under her breath, realizing she had been played.
She was unwilling this Evil Condensing Pearl was clearly a treasure, yet now it would fall into someone else's hands. But she couldn't bring herself to object.
Lu Jun chuckled and said, "Hehehe, don't rush. Let's secure the Evil Condensing Pearl first."
Beside them, Mo Fan faintly understood. That Evil Condensing Pearl was probably something like a demonic relic an extraordinary spiritual item formed by the gathering of evil power.
They followed the direction Iwada had indicated. The Condensing Pearl was hidden in the lowest level of the Pavillion. Due to the complex structure of the entire fortress, without guidance, it would be nearly impossible to reach the node that absorbed the souls of the prisoners in the Eastern Pavilion.
Fortunately, Iwada had already given Mochizuki Chikako directions and warned her about the dark labyrinth.
There weren't any guards in this area at all. It looked just like a broken-down basement, nothing special.
Yet, in the center of the room, a murky, malevolent pearl hovered in the air.
Mo Fan immediately grew alert, psychic senses tingling. He said, "This thing reeks of evil."
As for Mochizuki Chikako, the moment she saw the Evil Condensing Pearl, for some reason, an intense desire welled up in her heart.
She acted on it, stepping forward to take it.
But the next moment, Lu Jun reached out and grabbed Mochizuki Chikako's fair wrist, calmly stopping her. "Wait a moment."
At those words, rage exploded in Mochizuki Chikako's heart, evolving into a deadly killing intent.
She flung off Lu Jun's hand and screamed, "What's that supposed to mean?! You groped me earlier and I didn't say anything, and now you want to steal our national treasure?! You're going too far!"
Her emotions were spiraling, and gray-blue light shimmered on her hand t looked like she was about to cast a spell.
Lu Jun just sneered. The moment he entered this place, he had sensed a faint invasive negative emotion.
The attack came from the subconscious spiritual domain without advanced Psychic magic, most people wouldn't even notice it.
More importantly, Lu Jun noticed this sinister influence was on the same level as the undead malevolence emitted by the Ancient King's Armor Robe. Very similar in nature. Thanks to his past experiences, he could resist it.
In fact, ever since he left Ding Yumian and Xiao Lu, who helped suppress the Ancient King's Armor Robe, its corruptive influence had started to rise again. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten handsy with Mochizuki tonight. Thankfully, he still had some control.
If he let himself go, it would be the same as letting his desires run wild he'd eventually be dragged into the abyss.
This worried Lu Jun. After a year of training outside, he feared things might become serious.
"Whatever, one step at a time."
Lu Jun shook his head, then coldly stared at the now nearly out-of-control mature beauty in front of him.
Among them, he had the strength. Mo Fan had also undergone demonization and had resistance. Only Mochizuki Chikako, an ordinary woman, had already begun succumbing to the evil influence after just a short stay here.
Behind her, cast on the wall, loomed a massive shadow headless, only a torso, with centipede-like arms branching out from both sides of its body, waving in rows, thick and muscular.
What was most terrifying was its chest, covered in dozens of blood-red eyeballs. There were no eye sockets just eyeballs and each one squirmed constantly.
"You dare speak to me like that?!"
Lu Jun barked coldly. As he took a step forward, his aura surged violently. His Psychic domain reflected into reality, and behind him emerged the towering phantom of a ghostly god, distorting the space around him part like a Dark Nether King, part like a White Tiger Evil Deity.
With each step Lu Jun took, Mochizuki Chikako paled and retreated one step. Her mind was under immense pressure. The shadow cast on the wall behind her, that black evil form, seemed startled and began to shrink back.
Eventually, she was backed against the wall, completely regaining her clarity. Her beautiful eyes turned from murky to bright, and the shadow returned to normal. She looked at the floating pearl in the center with horror.
"Just now… what exactly is that pearl?!"
Mochizuki Chikako said in lingering fear. Ever since stepping into this place, she had felt a wicked voice circling in her mind, constantly tempting her to cross the line.
"You've finally sobered up. Just because your brother said something, does it make it the truth? Don't believe one-sided words."
Lu Jun said meaningfully, "And this matter… is already beyond your ability to handle."
All of this left Mo Fan bewildered on the side. He gasped and muttered to himself—Holy crap, I don't even want this pearl anymore. It's too cursed.
Then, as Lu Jun approached the Evil Condensing Pearl, he casually remarked, "Only something this cursed can trigger your demonization."
He reached out and grasped the murky, eyeball-like pearl. Upon being touched, the Evil Condensing Pearl didn't respond at all playing dead.
Because it had clearly sensed the peerless fiend slumbering deep within Lu Jun's body. Forget that it hadn't even incubated into a Red Demon yet even if a first-generation Red Demon showed up in person, it would still be suppressed.
Lu Jun was curious and attempted to use Curse magic to draw out this extremely evil energy.
The result? Inside his spiritual world, the black-red starry sea suddenly quaked, and the armor-shaped brand within it trembled not with its usual calm, but with strong resistance and disdain toward the Evil Condensing Pearl's energy, as if it found it beneath notice.
Understandable. The Ancient King's Armor had always radiated the chill of the Nether Abyss. If mixed with the Evil Condensing Pearl's energy, it would probably spiral out of control on the spot.
Seeing this, Lu Jun regretfully handed the Evil Condensing Pearl over to Mo Fan. But before that, he figured he might be able to imitate the pearl's subconscious influence ability.
"Let's go. Time to find your father."
Lu Jun called the three of them and quietly left the Eastern Pavilion.
Mochizuki Chikako and the others had no objections. They also felt this was a big matter that had to be brought to a high-ranking official.
Soon after, deep in the night, the dutiful daughter went and directly woke up Mochizuki Meiken.
The old man, bleary-eyed and drowsy, looked at the three of them with a bitter smile. Even though he'd been disturbed, he still maintained a gentle tone, "What's the matter that you came looking for me?"
When Lu Jun brought out the Evil Condensing Pearl, his face changed completely, eyes turning razor sharp.
Mochizuki Meiken asked gravely, "Where did you get this thing?"
When he heard Mochizuki Chikako recount everything, he sighed, "That child Iwada… I owe you an apology."
"It's not that I didn't care about Iwada. In fact, I suspected he was imprisoned in the Eastern Pavilion and was investigating in secret. I didn't expect it to cause you such misunderstanding."
He then spoke of old matters about the Evil Condensing Pearl.
He emphasized, "This Evil Condensing Pearl must be purified."
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