Chapter 690: Respective Preparations

At the same time Lu Mian heard the heartbeat, a palm reached out from the opened door of the black ancient tomb.

That palm didn't show a state of rotting to the bone, nor was it wrapped in yellowing bandages. Its surface was covered in gold, flashing with a mysterious color under the dim crimson moonlight.

Upon seeing that golden palm, Lu Mian felt his soul being compressed inward by an invisible force, instantly losing contact with his body.

Immediately after, he discovered that his body seemed to have become a cold and solid wall, making his spirituality unable to spread out, nor under the control of his own consciousness.

At this moment, Lu Mian's soul was like being locked in a cage, unable to escape no matter what, only able to see limited images through his eyes and hear relatively loud sounds with his ears.

Everyone present had turned into statues, standing stiffly in place, unable to move.

Facing such a situation, Lu Mian suddenly remembered a sentence:

The body is the cage of the heart, and the world is the cage of the body.

In the static scene, the only person still moving was "Ciso" Tevanaco.

The golden mask on his face lit up with a faint glow, and he quickly approached the black ancient tomb, approached the golden palm reaching out of the tomb chamber.

Although Lu Mian couldn't move at this time and couldn't use his abilities, his soul was only "imprisoned," which didn't affect his thinking.

Seeing that "Ciso" Tevanaco was almost unaffected by the golden palm, Lu Mian quickly figured out many things:

*"The batch of gold 'Ciso' took away from the gold-mining city of Devis was likely all used on that cold corpse inside the black ancient tomb.

*"The item he obtained from that devil of the Noss family is likely the golden mask he is now wearing on his face.

*"The former is to allow the cold corpse to resurrect to a certain extent—equivalent to what Franca said about reshaping the golden body—and the latter can ensure that 'Ciso' can approach the target without being affected after the cold corpse 'resurrects,' achieving a certain purpose?

*"Did 'Ciso' once plan to use this to control that cold corpse, allowing himself to possess the strength of a demigod level?

*"After his real-world self was killed by me, did his dream self want to 'resurrect' through this?

*"Hmm, 'Ciso's' 'Wraith' power and that cold corpse are of the same source. Maybe he really has a way to make the corpse believe that he is its original spirit, thereby accepting his dominance...

*"From the information obtained earlier and what happened just now, it seems that humans who have received the gift of the black ancient tomb and the cold corpse can open the tomb chamber without waking the cold corpse. To wake the corpse, one must have an intruder be granted 'longevity' by an invisible figure, feather into a god, and enter the ancient tomb.

*"And intruders only get attacked by the invisible figure if they don't have a guide who has received the gift of the 'Dream Festival'...

*"Intruders are best kept conscious?

*"How did 'Ciso' know that outsiders would participate in the 'Dream Festival' this year and reach the black ancient tomb area?

*"He originally didn't have this plan? Because he didn't know he would die at the time. If this year's 'Dream Festival' couldn't complete the plan, the dream projection would completely dissipate in the following months, causing him to lose the last glimmer of hope for resurrection...

*"Was the participation of the outsiders an unexpected joy for him?

*"No, this is too coincidental. Reyasa could be said to have discovered I was investigating the 'Dream Festival' and worried that if this year passed, there would be no chance to obtain what he wanted, so he came specifically. Why did Ivelista happen to come to this primitive jungle to investigate something during this period, and why were there two extraordinarys who could remain conscious in the special dream who happened to arrive before the 'Dream Festival' opened?

*"Also, why did the 'Rose School of Thought' happen to send people to Matani in the last few months of this year to collect various detailed life intelligence?

*"'Ciso' Tevanaco originally intended to complete his plan during this year's 'Dream Festival' and deliberately threw out some information and clues to attract different forces that were interested?

*"The intelligence received by these forces wasn't detailed enough, so they had to send personnel in advance to conduct corresponding investigations or bribe members of the Matani patrol...

*"This is likely the truth, a truth that doesn't rely on coincidence. The only thing 'Ciso' didn't anticipate was that he would die before the 'Dream Festival' began.

*"Now, the 'Dream Festival' has become his last and only hope for resurrection.

*"If he fails to complete the scheduled plan, after today, he will die completely!

*"No wonder he talked about everything in the dream but was evasive about Tizamo Town...

*"'Ciso' really is a cunning devil who is good at playing with people's hearts. If he hadn't been bent on killing me, and if his identity hadn't given him a good opportunity, allowing him to choose to stay in Port Pylos, he wouldn't have been easy to get rid of. Hmm, if I had played by the rules and didn't have the kindness of some high-level figures, I might have already died in his hands.

*"That devil of the Noss family was also eyeing the cold corpse in the black tomb and also wanted to use the 'Dream Festival,' so after 'Ciso' mentioned the 'Dream Festival' in the dream, he immediately encountered the attack of the 'Shadow'...

*"Among these people present, who is the minion of that devil?

*"Or, has the person of that devil from the Noss family not arrived yet, wanting to wait until the end, wait until the situation is clear before entering the field to complete the harvest?

*"With only dream projections and without the cooperation of the main body, 'Ciso's' plan should have huge loopholes. Where are those loopholes?"*

Imprisoned in his own body, Lu Mian couldn't stop "Ciso" and watched helplessly as he ran to the opened door of the black ancient tomb.

*"This...

*"Since the black ancient tomb gives me the feeling of the 'Samaritan Woman's Spring,' I can try that method..."*

Lu Mian thought and did it without any hesitation, concentrating his consciousness on the position of his spirit body's right hand.

The residual aura of Alista Tudor didn't just erode the flesh!

And this "Red Emperor" had a close relationship with the "Samaritan Woman's Spring"!

Wearing the golden mask, his body uncontrollably etherealizing, "Ciso" Tevanaco suddenly felt an extremely terrifying, extremely crazy, and extremely violent aura appear behind him, rushing straight into the sky like an explosion, sweeping through the surroundings.

The light of the red moon became increasingly dim. "Ciso" Tevanaco's body stiffened instinctively and trembled violently.

*Splash! *

An illusory sound of flowing water rang out in the black ancient tomb, and the palm covered in gold seemed to be dragged by something, being forcibly pulled back into the tomb chamber.

The feeling of everyone else present being imprisoned by their bodies disappeared. Lu Mian immediately interrupted the outward release of the "Red Emperor's" aura.

Amandina, Camus, Devaho, and the others, although they instinctively felt fear, because their spirits were imprisoned by their bodies and their eye angles were fixed, they had no way to discover where that aura that conquered everything came from or originated.

Too busy to search for the source of the terrifying aura, the vicious-eyed Ivelista followed his most instinctive desire and took an item from the hidden pocket of his clothes.

That was a palm-sized rag doll. It was wearing a black Gothic dress wrapped in gloomy vines, with golden long hair, and eyes as red as blood.

This rag doll was very evil. Just seeing it made Lu Mian feel as if the flesh under his skin was starting to itch.

*Thump! Thump! Thump! *

The heartbeat inside the black ancient tomb became intense and loud.

"Ciso" Tevanaco, who was right next to the tomb door, felt cold all over, as if he were being stared at by an evil thing.

He instinctively recalled one thing:

Many years ago, the tomb keepers picked up a half-withered evil heart near the black ancient tomb.

The tomb keepers believed that this was lost by the ancient corpse inside the tomb chamber due to some anomaly—after all, the traits of the power were the same, and the level seemed to be about the same—so they put that heart back into the tomb chamber.

Just now, that heart, which had long been dead, started beating, and now, it was beating more powerfully and urgently!

Not far from Ivelista, Reyasa also had an action.

He took out a mask.

That mask was also made of gold, very similar to the one "Ciso" was wearing on his face, with white or black oil paint around the eyes and on the face!

The difference between the two golden masks was that the one in Reyasa's hand was darker in color, as if it had experienced the erosion of death.

Then, Reyasa took out a human skull that looked like it was carved from crystal.

He put that dark golden mask on the face of the crystal skull.

A cold and chilly wind blew, winding into a huge vortex, supporting the crystal skull wearing the golden mask to float, making it seem to grow an invisible body made of wind.

Intense cold and chill dissipated toward the surroundings, causing a layer of white frost to condense on the ground.

The man called Devaho reached his hand toward the back of his head and grabbed something in his hair.

He pulled hard, tearing off his skin along with the dark gray formal suit.

Devaho turned into another appearance: black hair, brown eyes, cold expression, high cheekbones, thirty or forty years old, wearing a white shirt and black trousers.

He turned the human skin in his hand over, revealing the dense, dizzying blood embroidery underneath.

Devaho opened his mouth and spat out large mouthfuls of blood into the human skin, blood that emitted a strong smell of sulfur.

Those fresh bloods instantly supported the human skin, forming a man in a dark gray formal suit with green eyes.

This "man" walked toward the black ancient tomb with a playful smile.

Lu Mian scanned the area quickly, his eyelids jumping three times in a row.

He couldn't help but mutter to himself:

*"You all have divine-level powers that can be utilized? Although they all look one-time use...

*"Are you bullying me because I don't have any?"*

Lu Mian muttered to himself, but his mouth quickly recited a sequence of honorifics in ancient Hermes.

That was the honorific for the "Magician" lady.

However, this couldn't penetrate this special, hidden dream.

Lu Mian wasn't discouraged, because his goal wasn't that black ancient tomb, nor that cold corpse and its beating heart.

After figuring out the whereabouts of "Ciso's" batch of gold, the only thing he wanted to do now was:

Kill "Ciso's" dream projection, take away that golden mask, and make him die completely!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 691 =====