Mechanical Alchemist

Out of nowhere, a describable will descended upon the temple of Atlantis, and Su Lun immediately took off.

In the blink of an eye, he had teleported and hidden himself inside an inconspicuous house within the Ruins City.

It seemed as if he was panicking to avoid that magic.

This action was observed by Yale Robbins, who inhabited the crystal skull, his soul fire flickered with full of mockery and disdain.

The guy didn't pursue.

After all, no matter how much Su Lun ran, he couldn't possibly escape the range of the soul lock. Moreover, the Soul Cursing Technique was a secret technique that could be released regardless of spatial constraints.

In his view, everything was futile.

But in fact, Su Lun fled only to prevent the enemy from noticing Pestoia's possession, just to prevent the descending mysterious will from becoming wary.

Not only was there a fierce battle at the temple, but the Evernight, anchored outside the Ruins City, also signaled an attack at the same time.

Countless ghostly monsters launched a ferocious attack on the ship, including several very troublesome undead creatures.

This had all been planned by Robbins in advance, to prevent the Old Sword God Bartolo from coming to the aid.

Once he came to assist here, the ship would inevitably suffer devastating blows.

In the waters of the Ancient Dragon Country, without the ship, such a large team could almost be pronounced dead.

Overall, Robbins had calculated almost everything within his ability.

However, what he did not know was that in this shattered Alchemy Plane, there existed a Pestoia who had consolidated Divine Fire.

...

"Su Lun" took refuge in a house, suddenly revealing a playful and cute expression that seemed somewhat odd.

He seemed to have taken an interest in his body, touching here, pinching there, and his eyes were filled with a whimsical smile.

"Wow, Mr. Su Lun, you have become stronger recently~"

"Hey hey hey, don't mess with my body, okay?"

"Aiyaya~ Is that the tone of asking for a favor? You have a chance to rephrase that, call me junior sister~"

"..."

"Did you check the 'Death God's Fire' and the secret technique 'Wu Shi'? If you can learn it, you'll have a way to attack in the future."

Inside Su Lun, two souls were communicating.

Naturally, the one controlling the body now was Pestoia.

She had been staying in Su Lun's black umbrella all this time, in a semi-dormant state.

It's a rare opportunity for her to come out, and naturally, everything piqued her curiosity.

It wasn't that she didn't want to come out before, but this fragmented Alchemy Plane felt to her like a giant visiting a dwarf's house, which gave her a strong sense of oppression.

She had helped Su Lun once in Spiritualton and then went into dormancy for a long time.

It's only recently, since the plane's channel was opened, that she felt much better.

The curse space they were now in was even formed by the leakage of energy from a rift in the hell plane. The closer to the core, the higher the limit of the laws, and the less oppressive the feeling was. She had long wanted to come out.

Upon being questioned, "Su Lun" produced a green ghostly fire between his fingers and asked, "This? It wasn't very difficult, a bit of time spent studying it and I got it."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the little flame cheerfully danced and turned into a fire crow, circling around.

Seeing that skillful fire control, Su Lun was also slightly surprised.

Pestoia had already condensed Divine Fire, so this secret technique was naturally not difficult for her.

Now that she has this secret technique, she finally could be more than just a ghostly young lady's pendant and actually possess strong combat abilities.

At least in this plane, her burning soul fire was something no one would dare to touch.

Seeing this, Su Lun's surprise turned into relief.

The excellent genes of the Aisak family meant she was naturally good at learning; the ghostly young lady might seem flighty, but in private she was diligent.

Otherwise, in such a short time, she could not have mastered two secret techniques so proficiently.

The two hadn't spoken much when suddenly, a sensation like being stalked by a poison snake instantly surged into Su Lun's heart.

Even without controlling his body, he felt his soul targeted by a high-level curse powerful enough to obliterate it instantly.

Curse Magic inherently comes with "Magic Locking," and aside from brute resistance and protection from certain external objects, there really is no other way to deal with it.

It was precisely to guard against and be warned of Curse Magic that Su Lun always carried various curse defense artifacts collected from different places.

However, in an instant, "crack," "crack," a series of shattering sounds rang out as the various defensive objects he wore shattered almost simultaneously.

An absolutely overwhelming mysterious force destroyed these defenses.

It was like an arrow piercing through a paper mache armor, the attacker and defender were not on the same level of existence at all.

Su Lun also felt his heart trembling nonstop.

Divine-level Curse Magic is just so unreasonable.

When a lower plane being is targeted, it is almost certainly doomed to die.

After all, it is like a diminishment of dimensions when a will of a deity comes down personally, it is completely overpowering.

It's as if not even a human's little finger is something an ant can withstand.

The high-level curse hit "Su Lun" directly and fiercely on both soul and body.

Ordinarily, it was a curse that could kill a ninth level being instantly, but, against all odds, there was an accident.

The curse slammed into Su Lun as though it had hit an impenetrable armor.

After all, the undead grand magus Robins had only summoned a wisp of a deity's will, not a true divine descent.

Whereas, Pestoya was an authentic specialty being that had coalesced divine fire!

The moment it made contact, that curse power instantly dissipated.

When Curse Magic fails to kill, the caster must necessarily suffer from spell backlash.

As the curse power scattered in an instant, Su Lun thought he could hear a scream coming from the source of the spell: "Aah...!!!!"

At the same time, inside that temple not far away, the eerie green soul flame within the crystal skeleton instantly dissipated.

At almost the same time, clarity returned to Su Lun's eyes, he sensed something and felt overjoyed, "Got him!"

That soul flame of Robins had dissipated!

Without any hesitation, Su Lun's figure dispersed on the spot.

....

The scenery changed all around, and Su Lun stepped out from a spatial rift in the temple's grand hall.

Looking at the shattered soul fire on the crystal skeleton in front of him, a shadow of Death itself unfurled behind him, and he chose to harvest without hesitation.

Perhaps that fellow's soul hadn't completely died yet, but to Su Lun at that moment, in its free state, it was utterly defenseless.

He didn't give his enemy a chance to recover, with a gesture of his hand, he devoured those scattered soul flames in large chunks.

Once these soul flames were devoured, they could no longer be revived!

Su Lun also found it quite theatrical.

After all that fighting, victory was decided in an instant.

It could be said that if this guy hadn't actively courted death with Curse Magic, Su Lun really wouldn't have thought of a good way to handle this Death God's Fire.

"You have stripped away the soul of 'Yale Robbins'"

"You have obtained a large number of 'Eighth-level Death Law Shards'"

"You have comprehended the skill [Divine Technique: Death God Fire], gaining +15599 insight points..."

"You have mastered a great deal of holy soul fire lineage undead mage related abilities, magic spells, rituals, production of Magic Scrolls, Forbidden Techniques..."

"You have mastered a vast amount of soul secret techniques, Necromancy Control, crafting methods..."

"You have stripped away the forbidden words: Is the essence of death the cessation of matter, or the crumbling of the soul? By understanding this, you gained insight related to 'Forbidden Technique: Death Immunity'..."

"You have gained intelligence on the holy military order, and learned of the belief system of the celestial Death God, Karas..."

"Spiritual power +2231..."

"..."

In an instant, a torrent of Soul Shards flooded his mind, and the brilliance in Su Lun's eyes was hard to hide.

I'm rich!

A windfall in my profession!

I've had my eye on this guy's secret techniques for a while, and now I've reaped them all at once.

Complete understanding of "Death God's Fire" and the entire eighth order of Death Laws.

Even though part of a mage's comprehension comes from the divine, this guy was, after all, a genuine eighth-order grand mage!

Even if only fifty to sixty percent was his own insights, Su Lun's harvest was enormous.

This could save him decades of hard cultivation!

Death Laws encompass everything, and Su Lun's understanding was like just one star in the night sky. And now, he had devoured the light of another star!

Alchemists and mages belong to two different systems, and even the directions of their research into the same laws are completely different. And the "Holy Soul Fire" lineage of necromancers has accumulated over a thousand years, with an absolutely profound foundation in the realm of souls.

This was a domain that Su Lun lacked before.

Now that he has harvested this guy's soul, he instantly feels as though his eyes have been opened to a whole new world, as if his knowledge and understanding have surged forward!

And this is only just the beginning of the harvest.

He's certain that once he has fully digested these memories, they will greatly benefit his own professional advancement in the future.

...

With Yale Robbins's death, the "Descartes' Crystal Skull" on the ground immediately lost its control.

The ghostly creatures inside and outside of the temple, now lacking command, plunged into chaos.

Su Lun distinctly felt that the moment he approached the skull, a strange force sucked away some of his soul's power.

He knew this was the soul-draining characteristic innate to the skull, but it was of no concern, thanks to the protection of Pestoya's soul.

Su Lun picked up the skull and then took out a rune-encrypted casket to store this cursed object away.

The moment the casket closed, it was as if the connection with the temple's ghostly creatures was severed, and all the spectral beings in the ruins became disorderly. Although they continued to attack Su Lun, the living being, most of them drifted around aimlessly like headless flies.

Su Lun didn't bother with the ghosts any longer and, after storing the crystal skull, surveyed the temple's interior.

He hadn't forgotten that the temple was filled with various treasures left from the ancient past.

With the divine will of the temple's deity erased and the crisis averted, a female ghost drifted out from Su Lun's black umbrella.

Su Lun looked at her and asked, "Pestoya, are you alright?"

"Of course I'm fine. That was just a wisp of divine will, after all. Besides, that guy's divine fire is no match for mine."

Pestoya responded.

Seemingly feeling that she hadn't been out for a long time, she floated around in front of Su Lun as she spoke.

Su Lun, feeling dizzy from her movements, joked with a laugh, "Flying so high, you're going to expose yourself!"

From his angle, he could see right up her skirt.

Hearing this, Pestoya was utterly unconcerned, "Heh, no one can see anyway."

Su Lun twitched the corner of his eye. Am I not a person?

Pestoya, noticing the odd look in Su Lun's eyes, shifted her watery eyes and pretended to be resentful, "Mr. Su Lun, were you peeking at me just now?"

Su Lun had no interest in peeping.

Seeing the cunning in her eyes, he guessed she was probably up to some mischief again.

He ignored her and didn't engage with the banter.

Seeing that he didn't respond, Pestoya became even more interested. Suddenly, she put on a mischievous smile, lifted her skirt, stuck out her tongue, and teased, "Nyeh nyeh nyeh... you can't see, you can't see~"

Su Lun glanced at her and rolled his eyes, unamused.

Pestoya's clothing was an illusion, but as she was from a millennium ago, her style of dress was of that era.

Her classical gothic court dress was short, and even if she lifted her skirt, there were fluffy shorts underneath, naturally revealing nothing.

It seemed that teasing Su Lun brought the girl joy—laughter like tinkling bells filled the temple.

Pestoya was tirelessly floating about, while a smile remained on Su Lun's face.

At that moment, a skeleton, with its limbs twisting at the joints, came in and casually asked, "What's so funny?"

Pestoya revealed herself and immediately greeted politely, "Sister Qian Tiao."

Qian Tiao nodded with a smile and said, "Oh, it's Pestoya."

Pestoya nodded.

Qian Tiao smiled, placed the skeleton on the ground, then turned and asked, "Su Lun, do you think this skeleton frame is still of any use?"

Su Lun looked at the skeleton, which had been chopped in half, and recognized that it was indeed the previous Skeleton Sword Deity.

"Of course."

He replied and then asked, "How is it on your end?"

Qian Tiao seemed not entirely satisfied as she shrugged her shoulders, "Sigh, I actually wanted to fight a bit more with this Sword Dao predecessor. I didn't expect the skeleton to suddenly fall apart..."

However, as she spoke, she raised her hand to show the Famed Sword "Buddha Slayer," whose scabbard was already decaying, and her face could not hide her delight, "But I managed to get my hands on this famed sword as I wished."

Su Lun looked at the famed sword, which seemed even more sinister than the Demon Blade "Ghost Maru Hyakume Sojyou," and his expression showed a slight change.

From such a close distance, he clearly felt that strange and eerie fluctuation of the laws that were both Buddha-like and demonic.

Even with Qian Tiao holding it in her hand, her grip seemed to be constantly encompassed with a dominating aura, as if she were forcibly suppressing that power.

Seeing the look that Su Lun gave her, she flashed a sharp light in her eyes and explained, "The Buddha patterns on the blade seal a very powerful high-level Power of Laws. Tsk, it's still not settling down even in my hands..."

Hearing this, Su Lun wasn't surprised anymore.

Famed swords choose their masters. Qian Tiao had experienced such a situation before when she tamed "Ghost Maru Hyakume Sojyou."

...

With the crisis fully resolved, Su Lun released Tanni and the others from the small void realm, as well as Mr. Hei, the Scholar.

In the grand hall of the temple, the group continued the treasure hunting from before.

"Wow... so many treasures!"

"My God, look everyone, this 'Gauntlet' seems to be another piece of gold equipment!"

"Oh, what a pity, this magic wand must have been a legendary item, but the long years have caused its magic power to dissipate completely..."

"..."

Everyone sifted through the items one by one, collecting what was still intact.

But material things decay, and after the passage of countless years, the majority of the items in this temple had rotted and been damaged.

Even those skeletons and equipment that appeared intact crumbled into dust upon touch.

The remaining equipment had also seen their extraordinary powers nearly completely dissipated. The piece of dark gold shield they found on the steps earlier was considered exceptionally well-preserved.

Su Lun was in a good state of mind.

He thought that even if the equipment was decayed, the forging materials and basic runes were of excellent quality. Reinforcing them in a forge would not result in poor quality.

Moreover, having already obtained the "Descartes' Crystal Skull," Su Lun felt quite content.

With that, the ambush plan this time could be considered perfect.

However, it was at this moment that Mr. Hei's shout suddenly came from inside the temple: "Su Lun, come over here and take a look. I think I've found something."

Hearing this, Su Lun walked over.

Compared to the treasures, Mr. Hei was clearly more interested in the murals and reliefs on the walls.

He had been observing these reliefs and murals all this time.

As a Scholar, Mr. Hei was proficient in codes, mechanisms, architecture, ancient scripts, relic archaeology, and artifact appraisal, among other skills.

It was his careful observation that identified some clues on the mural.

He said in a slightly complex tone, "From the clues on the murals and the structure of this temple, there may be a secret chamber beneath this floor. And from the deciphered text I've read, it seems there is a huge secret tightly related to alchemy sealed beneath..."

"A secret chamber?"

Upon hearing Mr. Hei's words, Su Lun seemed to instantly grasp the key point.

In this grand hall, all these skeletons must have been top-tier powerhouses in life. So the question was, what made them fight to the death here?

It was obvious that this temple must be hiding something.