Chapter 772: Egg

For a moment, Lu Mi couldn't tell whether the "Power Broker's Black Box," a supernatural item originating from the "Broker" Path, even had negative effects.

If it did, "encountering a transaction with devils or other evil entities" had, in a way, prevented a possible battle; without this "negative effect," Lu Mi suspected he'd have been attacked the instant the goat-faced devil spotted him, rather than merely asked if he wanted meat—this seemed like an expression of the "Shadow Merchant's" ability to reduce hostility from dangerous beings and mysterious entities.

But if it wasn't a "negative effect," that couldn't be right either—dealing with devils would never be simple or easy, and could be extremely dangerous, even if the devil was already dead.

After weighing it for several seconds, Lu Mi pointed at the half-body of the "Pus-Swollen Severed Hand" resting on the gray-white stone table and said:

"I want it all. What do I have to pay?"

He planned to first gauge the difficulty of the transaction; if it was too much, he'd ask the Adept of the Temperance Sect for help to jointly eliminate the rotting goat-faced devil.

"Encountering a transaction with devils or other evil entities" didn't mean he had to actually complete a transaction with them!

The moment Lu Mi finished speaking, his body stiffened, and a coldness spread through his veins.

He knew what was happening—he didn't resist or struggle—and then found his mouth moving on its own, producing a voice like sandpaper scraping rough metal, using dead vocal cords.

It repeated Lu Mi's question in an unknown language, and each word made his soul tremble, as if piercing his spiritual form.

The rotting devil, hunched over with a goat's face and black skin, replied in the same tongue, its hollow voice echoing endlessly.

One of those words made Lu Mi's soul and body feel as if gripped by a giant hand.

Had he not already been in a "death" state and protected by the Golden Mask of the Egges Family, such communication alone would have crippled him.

Soon, the faint voice of the "Sword Knight" Ma Li Qi echoed in his mind:

"I want Fabuti dead!"

Fabuti? The Demon King Fabuti, the true form of Naporedisli? The transaction required me to kill an Ancient God? Lu Mi's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the towering goat-faced devil and spoke with his regained voice:

"That's an Ancient God. I can't do it.

"Change the condition."

If the goat-faced devil refused to change it, then no need to change it!

If I can't face an Ancient God, can't I just kill you?

It's just a favor owed to one Adept!

I'll repay it slowly later!

Whether it was the "Sword Knight" or the Temperance Sect Adept, one of them now controlled Lu Mi's body and translated his words into a language the goat-faced devil could understand.

This also gave Lu Mi a strange sensation.

The goat-faced devil should have stood four or five meters tall, but because it was perpetually hunched, it appeared barely over three meters—now, after a silence, it spoke in a hollow, low tone:

"I want that egg."

Egg? Lu Mi murmured in confusion.

He could understand it directly because the "Sword Knight" had already synchronized the translation.

"Where is that egg?" Lu Mi asked.

After a member of the Temperance Sect inside him controlled his mouth to relay the question, the rotting goat-faced devil let its massive femur drop to the ground with a thunderous thud.

"In the palace," the devil replied simply.

This made the "Sword Knight's" translation work much easier.

Lu Mi confirmed:

"The 'Death God's' palace?"

Would the former divine residence be extremely dangerous?

The goat-faced devil's two dim, blood-and-pus-dripping eyes shifted slightly:

"Yes."

An egg inside the "Death God's" palace… Lu Mi hesitated between agreeing to the deal or just seizing it outright.

As he scanned the surroundings, he asked further:

"What does that egg look like?"

While waiting for the Temperance Sect member to translate, Lu Mi noticed a shattered statue lying beside the half-buried stone pillar—only fragments of its body remained.

It was faintly recognizable as a bird statue, its feathers seemingly woven from mysterious patterns, pale and dull.

Bird statue… Lu Mi's mind stirred—he connected it to the egg the goat-faced devil wanted.

Once the translation was complete and his mouth regained control, he added:

"Bird egg?"

After over ten seconds, the goat-faced devil dragged its pale femur forward two steps; the bone scraped against the ground with a grating, teeth-on-edge sound.

The devil spoke slowly, in broken phrases:

"Yes.

"It is large.

"Black. In fire."

It really was a bird egg—and clearly from an abnormal mother… Bird… Lu Mi suddenly recalled the premature child they were tracking in Oseto, and the state of the "Sirens" when they exerted their full power:

It looked like a bird—with claws and wings!

Though it clearly differed from this bird statue, both were birds… and since an abnormal bird egg existed in the "Death God's" palace, that meant a mother once existed—a mother in the esoteric sense… "Mother"… Lu Mi faintly grasped why Oseto had conceived such a corpse-infant and cast it into the Underworld.

Her goal was also that egg—she wanted to use it to do something to the Underworld?

Was the decision to merge the Land of the Dead in the Lacrey region into her "Otherworld," or to perform a ritual to impregnate corpses and give birth to children, all for this purpose?

Sss, did she intend to fuse the Underworld with her "Otherworld"?

That's far too ambitious.

This is the legacy of a true god—the former divine realm!

But if Oseto succeeded, wouldn't the "Great Mother" be able to descend directly?

Even if she couldn't fully merge the Underworld yet, merely planting a seed would be an extremely dangerous event for our world!

Lu Mi immediately asked the goat-faced devil again:

"Have you seen a giant infant with bird claws?"

The rotting goat-faced devil stared at Lu Mi but gave no answer—whether it had never seen such a thing, or whether the "Broker" Path's influence was limited to the transaction itself, he couldn't tell.

Lu Mi fell silent for several seconds, then said:

"Deal."

The goat-faced devil gave a barely perceptible nod, turned its body, and dragged the pale femur back toward the gray-white stone table where the "Pus-Swollen Severed Hand" lay.

Lu Mi, keeping his voice low, relayed all he had just thought to the "Sword Knight" and the Temperance Sect Adept.

The "Sword Knight" Ma Li Qi responded swiftly:

"We go to the 'Death God's' palace now."

As if fearing Lu Mi's hesitation, the "Sword Knight" added:

"You wear the Egges Family mask—many dangers of the Underworld will automatically avoid you. We only need to worry about aberrant creatures like the 'Ferryman.' And if Oseto's monstrous child can approach the 'Death God's' palace and reach that bird egg, so can we. Even with Oseto's inherited blessings, the premature child is at most equivalent to Sequence 4."

Seeing the "Sword Knight" speak at such length, Lu Mi mused:

"Its state of existence and birth ritual are highly unusual—it may partially harness the Underworld's power. Even if it's premature and hasn't reached Angel rank, treat it as an Adept with Sequence 3 power within its environment."

After all, it was born from Darshe Lake through the fusion of the "Otherworld" and the Land of the Dead, undergoing gestation within a corpse, posthumous birth, return to the original body, and fusion mutation.

It absolutely cannot be considered a living being—living beings die instantly in the Underworld.

"Correct." The "Sword Knight" replied succinctly.

Under the pale glow of the bone torches atop the broken wall, Lu Mi confirmed with the two Temperance Sect members inside him:

"If we follow the path we came from straight into the darkness, we'll reach the 'Death God's' palace?"

Lu Mi remembered the "Sword Knight" had mentioned he'd read many notes from the "Death God's" descendants.

Before the "Sword Knight" could answer, the goat-faced devil standing before the gray-white stone table suddenly raised its massive pale femur.

It pointed the femur at a dark, gaping hole carved into the floor near the shattered statue.

It seemed to lead down into the basement of this black church.

Lu Mi paused, then blurted:

"You mean we can reach the 'Death God's' palace directly from here?"

According to the "Sword Knight's" account and what he'd seen earlier, Lu Mi believed the "Death God's" palace lay at the bottom of the dark Underworld, reachable only by descending deeper and deeper underground.

But if it was downward, then jumping straight into this bottomless "basement" seemed plausible too.

Emperor Luo Saier once said: All roads lead to Trill!

The rotting goat-faced devil slowly nodded.

Only then did Lu Mi suddenly realize:

This thing understands my Intis language!

Then why did it need a translator before?

Is a dead devil still a devil?

Lu Mi didn't waste time confronting the rotting goat-faced devil—he sprinted a few steps toward the dark, gaping hole.

He formed a ball of blazing white flame and held it near the hole's edge, illuminating part of the interior:

Massive stone pillars, blackened wooden racks, collapsed stone slabs, and a winding staircase extending downward into darkness.

"No problem," the "Sword Knight" spoke on behalf of the Temperance Sect Adept. "It leads to the 'Death God's' palace."

Lu Mi didn't hesitate—he leapt onto the partially collapsed staircase.

Instead of running down conventionally, he leapt repeatedly between pillars, racks, stairs, and walls, descending in a straight line.

During this descent, Lu Mi sometimes transformed into a spear of blazing white flame to cross collapsed sections with no foothold, and sometimes became a shadow-being to bypass special areas.

The surrounding darkness seemed to conceal something—something even the blazing white light couldn't illuminate—but Lu Mi ignored it, pretending he hadn't noticed.

After descending rapidly for an unknown length of time, Lu Mi's feet finally touched the ground.

Under the blazing white light, he saw shattered bones scattered all around—some white, some yellow-brown, some deep brown.

Not far from Lu Mi, a dark black stone wall stood firm, set with a massive wooden door large enough for a giant to pass through.

Lu Mi walked to the door, bent his waist, extended both palms, and began pushing outward with all his strength.

His intuition told him that beyond the door lay the Palace of the Death God.

(End of Chapter)