Chapter 104: Swallow Up

Everyone began to leave when they saw that the situation had been resolved.

Only Su Chen, who was collecting the instruments in the research lab, remained. He had said that these materials needed to be carefully handled to preserve their usefulness; otherwise, it would result in colossal waste. He had then proceeded to list out a bunch of different herb names, giving everyone who heard it a headache.

Before leaving, Ji Hanyan asked him quietly, “What skill did you use earlier?”

“What skill?” Su Chen wore a confused expression.

“Still pretending?” Ji Hanyan glanced at him disdainfully. “What was that white energy? I’ve never seen you use that skill before.”

Su Chen laughed, “Every person has their own secrets. Is there a need to get to the bottom of this?”

Ji Hanyan punched him. “I’m not the only one who saw. You’d better be careful.”

“Don’t worry about me. I know what I need to do,” Su Chen said with a slight smile.

Ji Hanyan left.

As he watched everyone leave, Su Chen’s expression sank slightly.

He knew that Silence’s earlier attack had forced out one of his trump cards, but the situation was dire, and there was nothing he could do.

There was no point in worrying about this now, however. Su Chen casually gestured, stowing all the things on his workbench away in his Origin Ring. He came to an empty patch of land.

There was a newly-dug grave there, the words “Wei Xiaofeng’s Grave” inscribed on the tombstone above.

This was the grave that Su Chen and Ji Hanyan had dug earlier.

“Alright, everyone else is gone. You can come out now,” Su Chen said faintly.

There was no response.

Su Chen harrumphed. “If I need to ask you again, I won’t be as polite.”

Pu!

A hand penetrated the ground, reaching out from below the surface.

The other hand emerged after.

The “dead” Wei Xiaofeng slowly emerged bit by bit from the ground. The wound Su Chen had inflicted was still on his chest, and the blood was already dry, but he could still move.

His dull eyes gazed intently at Su Chen as he asked, “How did you know I was here?”

“You should be asking yourself why you thought you could trick me,” Su Chen replied. “Don’t forget, I’ve seen through your schemes twice already.”

As he spoke, a shadow floated out of Wei Xiaofeng’s body and reformed in the air. It was Silence.

This Silence, however, was much smaller. It looked like a much younger version of his former self.

Silence said as he floated in the air, “I must admit that I made a mistake. I had thought that that Light Shaking cultivator was the biggest threat, but you were actually the biggest threat. You shattered my Illusion Realm and ignored my Chaotic Heart technique, and you have a powerful consciousness that far exceeds what you should have with your cultivation base. None of my confusion techniques worked against you, but I really cannot comprehend how you were able to see through my Spirit Dwelling technique. That’s something that cannot be sensed even by consciousnesses.”

“You could say that my vision is pretty good,” Su Chen replied. “I don’t think that what I did was very special anyways; at the very least, your Chaotic Heart technique wasn’t only ineffective against me.”

“No, no!” Silence shook his head. “There truly were a few people who weren’t affected by it, but that wasn’t because they resisted it, but because the Chaotic Heart is placed in the shadows of a person’s heart, amplifying these hidden thoughts and turning longings into impulsive action. Some people don’t have these kinds of thoughts, so amplifying them will have no effect. But you’re different. I can tell that there are people in your heart that you don’t like and wanted to finish off, but you did not do that. This means that my technique wasn’t ineffective against you; it’s just that you were able to successfully resist it!”

So that’s how it was!

No wonder it was ineffective against Ji Hanyan and her underlings. They had only arrived recently and hadn’t built up any relationships with the people here. They had no evil intent and no hidden grudges to take care of, so there was nothing to be amplified.

Then, Lu Qingguang......

Su Chen thought for a moment, then laughed, “Your thoughts are quite malicious. Even now, you are still trying to instigate conflict between me and my allies.”

“Whether or not I was instigating things you know the best,” Silence replied.

“Whatever, that’s not what I care about anyways.” Su Chen glanced at Silence and smiled. “I stayed behind not to hear you spout nonsense.”

Silence chuckled darkly, “Your biggest mistake was this, young man. You’re too greedy; without the help of others, do you really think you can win against me?”

“If I was up against you at your peak strength, of course not. But now? It’s hard to say.”

Su Chen stretched his hand out. The Shadow Flame Giant once again appeared, howling and exuding boundless strength.

The Shadow Flame Giant attacked as soon as it appeared.

A shimmering screen of light erected itself in front of Silence.

This was the real Crystal Wall.

Silence laughed with delight as he used the Crystal Wall to block the Shadow Flame Giant’s attack. “Young man, you’re still too naive. I admit that my strength is not as great as it was formerly, but do you really think you can beat me because of that? Even if I only have a third of the strength that I used to have, I can still deal with you easily!”

A claw made of black light slashed at Su Chen.

Su Chen easily dodged the attack. “A third? There were ten or so Streaming Light Clones, not three. If you said that you had one-thirtieth of your original strength, I might believe you, but one-third? Do you think I can’t count?”

As he spoke, a kettle of Firehawks soared into the sky, then divebombed in Silence’s direction.

Silence flew backward with a strange yell. The Crystal Wall couldn’t resist such ferocious attacks and exploded on the spot. The Shadow Flame Giant howled and reached out to grab Silence.

Silence’s figure instantly turned on to a streak of light as he attempted to evade. “I’ll give you whatever you want, just let me go!”

This time, he had finally stopped putting on an act.

After using Streaming Light Clones, his strength had greatly decreased. Su Chen’s consciousness was strong enough to completely ignore his consciousness attacks, already putting Silence in a bad spot. He had no hope of winning this battle.

When he heard Silence say this, Su Chen smiled slightly. “What do I want? Of course I want all the knowledge you have.”

“If you stop, I’ll tell you!” Silence yelled. “I can give all of my knowledge to you.”

Su Chen stopped the Shadow Flame Giant’s movements.

Silence finally stopped flying around. Perhaps because he had been beaten quite badly by the Shadow Flame Giant, he knelt on the ground, gasping for air as he said, “I can transfer all my knowledge to you. The transfer of memories is very simple and convenient. As long as you let me put my hand on your head......”

As he spoke, he reached out and put his hand on Su Chen’s forehead.

Just as his hand was about to make contact, lightning suddenly struck.

Boom!

The lightning exploded on Silence’s arm, followed by a torrent of flames that blasted around him.

Silence howled as he flew backward. He stared at Su Chen in disbelief. “You......”

“Did you really think I would believe you would surrender so easily? And I would allow you to put your hand on my forehead?” Su Chen laughed. “You thought things would go that well, but you’ve underestimated me far too much. I’ll take the things I want myself!”

As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out the Specter Tablet. Patelocke’s image appeared above it.

“This is......” Silence blurted out, “A specter?”

“A real specter,” Su Chen replied. “To him, creatures like you are quite the feast.”

“No!” Silence began to yell. He seemed to realize what was going to happen to him and frantically tried to escape.

But how could he get away?

Patelocke, who couldn’t launch any physical attacks at the humans, seemed to be completely harmless, but he was the mortal enemy of someone like the Spirit Race - as long as he could defeat them.

In that instant, Patelocke laughed loudly as he floated into the air, his specter-like body morphing into a massive beast that opened its maw wide and swallowed Silence whole.

As he swallowed, muffled tragic cries could be heard coming from within his body.

After burping with contentment a few times, Patelocke patted his belly with satisfaction. “It’s been thirty thousand years since I had a full meal like this.”

“I’m more curious about what you obtained.”

“Some evil memories and a sea’s worth of knowledge!” Patelocke replied.