Chapter 232: Extradimensional Stone Box: Eldigi Ritual

The stone box holding the Mo God was not small, but considering the Mo God’s massive body, this box seemed hardly large at all.

Louis opened the stone box and released his Yin Spirit power to investigate.

The Yin Spirit power extended inward like sensory tentacles, “seeing” the internal structure of the box.

Surprisingly, the space inside was larger than imagined—equal to the size of a soccer field, shaped like a rocky cave, with very little greenery, only some moss and similar growths, and a few beetles present, proving life could survive here.

After carefully probing the rocky cave, Louis withdrew his Yin Spirit power.

Beyond the cave, more space existed, but it was a hazy gray, spreading all around and enveloping the rocky cave entirely, and this gray continued to corrode the outer yellowish rock layer.

Louis merely touched the gray, and a portion of his Yin Spirit power was instantly erased.

“Hss.”

Louis frowned, ignoring the phantom pain, and retracted his Yin Spirit power, deep in thought.

The situation inside was clear: this was a dying extradimensional space, once sizable but now nearly worn away; the gray encircling the rocky cave was likely some form of spatial decay—Louis could only speculate due to insufficient knowledge.

Estimating the rate of erosion, the rocky cave would be destroyed in roughly five years.

Considering the Mo God’s original status and origins, Louis had reason to suspect the Mo God had survived the crisis by hiding inside this box.

But could even a minor god of the Maya civilization create such an extradimensional space?

Wait.

Louis recalled that in Huaxia, minor deities like land gods also possessed similar domains, called Incense Domain.

Could this be similar?

Louis sent his Yin Spirit power back in, this time focusing on the rocky cave itself, penetrating deep into the rock, inch by inch, and probing the ground downward.

Fortunately, Louis had now reached Pure Yin Realm; his strength had increased. Otherwise, a typical Yin Spirit cultivator attempting this would have spent far longer.

After about fifteen minutes.

Louis opened his eyes, his expression uncertain.

In the central rock layer of the cave lay half a fist-sized, disintegrating white hexagonal crystal.

He dared not touch it—he could feel it was maintaining the stability of the entire extradimensional space; removing it would likely cause immediate collapse.

Destroying an extradimensional space for a mysterious crystal of unknown use was unwise.

“I’ll think about it later when I ascend to godhood. By the way, ascension…”

Preparations for the Ascension Ritual are extensive; it’s already 1995, and only a few years remain until the Cosmic Celestial Instrument Day—he must act soon.

The thought flashed through Louis’s mind, and he decided to properly handle these boxes while searching for monsters and demons, preparing everything in advance.

He wasn’t worried—his cultivated influence wasn’t built for nothing.

He put aside his thoughts and looked at the stone box.

He hesitated.

If only he fully mastered the art of crafting magic treasures, perhaps he could find a way to refine it into one.

For now, he’d store it away; someday, it might prove useful.

Shaking his head, Louis turned to the next box.

It contained a complete set of cursed Tarot cards.

The box was wooden, square, only two palms wide, and otherwise unremarkable except for the standard inverted pentagram pattern on its lid.

Louis opened it.

The Tarot cards inside were revealed.

Times had changed; under Louis’s Spirit Eyes, he clearly saw the curse aura on the cards and the soul hidden within the box.

Dressed in a black robe—it was the same black-robed soul that had once fought Louis fiercely and been grievously wounded, the unfortunate fortune-teller who had sacrificed himself to the demon Eldigi.

Now, the black-robed soul lay hidden in the box, nearly fully recovered; upon seeing Louis open the box, it instinctively tried to beguile him into a reading to trigger the curse.

But halfway through its lunge, it froze—its mind, stiff from a century of imprisonment, suddenly whirred back to life.

Zzzt!

Like a groundhog, it darted straight back inside.

Far faster than the Jester Demon.

Too bad.

No matter how fast, it couldn’t outpace Louis.

Whoosh!

Louis reached out and seized it; a flame serpent, empowered by his Fire magic power, slowly coiled up his arm and crept toward the Tarot cards.

The black-robed soul instantly froze.

It was forcibly dragged out, held in place.

The flame serpent wrapped around it; each coil burned its soul with the searing heat of Fire magic power.

The soul stood there, motionless.

Louis wasted no words—he immediately used Soul Search Technique.

It has to be said that the Soul Search Technique was incredibly effective—completely eliminating the need to interrogate stubborn fools, simple, swift, and convenient. No wonder every slightly skilled dark cultivator carried it as standard equipment.

Big hand, stir, stir…

Soon, Louis got what he wanted.

The fortune-teller’s memories were chaotic—or rather, after a century trapped in the box under the curse’s influence, mental confusion was normal.

He removed the corrupted fragments and extracted only the memories concerning Eldigi.

His Yin Spirit power formed fingers, flipping through the “pages” like a book, reading the contents.

The fortune-teller was a prodigy—since childhood, she could see souls and converse with them, just like a medium, or rather, she was a medium of her time.

She simply chose the profession of fortune-telling.

After all, the environment for women was unfriendly then, and with the booming fortune-telling industry, the upper class deeply believed in fate and bloodline, so she entered this field, developed expertise, and even gained considerable fame.

Eventually, seeking stability, she became a noble’s personal diviner—only to lose everything due to one act of honesty.

The ritual came to her during a reading, obtained from a Hungarian.

The ritual’s name was Revenge: sacrifice a soul to gain the power of the demon Eldigi and exact vengeance upon one’s enemies.

But after studying it, she discovered the demon Eldigi referenced in the ritual was already dead—during divination, she could clearly sense its absence, not backlash, confirming its death.

Yet that didn’t mean the ritual was useless; though the original entity was gone, residual power remained, and the ritual still functioned.

Others might doubt it, but she had used it—she was certain it granted dark curse power.

Still, no sane person wanted to be cursed, so she didn’t intend to use this dangerous ritual and sealed it away to avoid trouble.

Unfortunately, unforeseen events pushed her to desperation, and she ultimately performed the ritual.

Now she existed as a half-mad soul barely retaining self-awareness.

Louis finished reading, frowning.

“Eldigi is dead?”

According to myth, Eldigi was a Hungarian demon who tempted humans, later absorbed into Christian mythology as one of Satan’s counterparts.

Yet he was already dead?

But his power remained, and the ritual still operated?

That sounds like a contingency plan.

Various conspiracy theories flooded his mind: a trap, or perhaps the ritual was designed to resurrect him…

“Eldigi… there’s too little documented material on this demon to trace anything. But if people call him Satan, whether orthodox or not, he must have been a great demon at least—possibly even a demon god.”

He paused, thinking.

Louis still couldn’t bring himself to abandon it—he carried the box to another spacious room.

One by one, condemned prisoners were dragged from their corners, forced to perform the ritual—all succeeded, yet none gained power; all were completely consumed by the ritual.

Watching their souls devoured by the pentagram on the box, Louis frowned deeply.

He hadn’t expected the ritual to be permanently fixed onto the box—and it clearly had requirements: ordinary humans were devoured, only those like the fortune-teller, extraordinary beings, received the curse power.

Also,

If their souls were absorbed, where did they go?

To Hell? Or some place in this world?

Or perhaps another extradimensional space, like the Mo God’s stone box?

Various theories surfaced in Louis’s mind.

In the end, Louis chose not to perform the ritual himself.

He wouldn’t risk himself on something with unknown consequences.

He re-stored the box in the room, placed multiple surveillance cameras for full coverage, and forbade anyone from approaching.

After finishing, Louis exited the room.

He returned to the surface of Rebirth Prison.

No sooner had he stepped out than he heard barking.

“Wang wang wang!”

A pack of large dogs surged forward, circling Louis; to outsiders, these ferocious beasts capable of tearing humans apart were merely obedient little pups to Louis.

Eighteen Fierce Dogs, Khor, Blackie, and Gold—all arrived; Khor and Blackie, leading the pack, rubbed against Louis’s legs on either side, tails wagging furiously.

The Eighteen Fierce Dogs outside, unable to squeeze in, all had glossy, healthy coats—clearly, their rations here were excellent.

At this moment, Louis’s gaze settled on Khor, who hadn’t joined Gold and Blackie in rubbing against him.

Come to think of it, among the three dogs, Khor had shouldered the most labor, always stationed here, tirelessly.

(End of chapter)