Chapter 1893: 528 Blissful Spring_2

Matthew swiftly switched his consciousness to the Lost Paradise.

Using the incantation given by Camela,

he immediately deciphered a very complex Magic Matrix from the talisman–

“Soul Editing.”

“Magic Matrix” might not be an exact term.

Matthew discovered that the matrix contained a powerful and complex soul editing skill, with many effects similar or even overlapping, each achieved through different means–

Divine Spell, spells, psionic power, mental power…

Almost any kind of extraordinary power could, through the techniques in the matrix, gain entrance to a vast mental world and then edit, tailor, erase, or even completely obliterate its soul, memory, and even feelings!

Soul Editing.

That equated to a skill that reshaped a soul from the ground up!

“In the current spell system of Aindor, to achieve a similar effect, one would have to enter the Superior Legend tier and learn an incantation named ‘Spiritual Distortion,'”

“The only other connection seems to be with the Deep Dive program where Hibbert’s daughter is involved, but that’s not complete soul editing.”

“The content of this Magic Matrix, though, as long as your mental power is strong enough, you could accomplish it around the legendary stage…”

One must understand.

Even the gods of the Heavenly Family Palace, who claimed to be more proficient in the realm of the mind, could only tamper with a soul at a very superficial level, and there would often be serious side effects and recurrences.

Compared to that,

the methods in this matrix were incredibly sophisticated.

It was almost identical to the technique Giza used to hypnotize the Tauren youth, Konda!

But the amount of knowledge in this matrix was simply too vast.

Even with Matthew’s mental power, it would be difficult to completely interpret it in a short amount of time.

He only gave it a quick look

before withdrawing his consciousness, as a throbbing pain developed at his temples.

But this matrix did not disappoint him.

With the support of “Extraordinary Wisdom,”

Matthew quickly mastered the spell version of the “Powerful Brainwashing Technique” contained within the matrix,

as well as a portion of “Soul Destruction.”

The latter’s effect was to utterly shatter a person’s soul through close contact–

provided there must be a certain degree of physical contact with the place where the opponent’s soul is stored.

And if one wished to bypass this condition,

a range of additional casting materials would be necessary.

Matthew glanced over them and found most could be gathered by himself, with only a few being quite rare.

And just so, the rarest of these materials was named “River Bed Sand from the Rootless River”!

This was also the most important material for performing Soul Destruction from a distance.

“It seems this River Bed Sand from the Rootless River is quite valuable.”

“It’s needed for the creation of projection doppelgangers, and Soul Destruction also requires its use…”

“It must be a peculiar material that can act directly on a Soul Mark…”

Matthew silently noted the key points.

With the leverage of Lost Paradise, he could also enter the Secret Realm of the Rootless River.

However, Matthew did not hurry to explore again.

Because he sensed that there was a limit to the number of times he could enter the Rootless River, meaning it was best to maximize benefits with each entry, lest it be wasted.

“I’ll have to find a chance to consult with Link later.”

“He is the only person in the Alliance who has been inside the Rootless River…”

As Matthew absently pondered,

the caravan successfully arrived at the checkpoint.

The two Intermediate demons in charge of the checkpoint were clearly not to be trifled with.

Fortunately, Sandrine was a genuine native of purgatory and could answer all kinds of questions with ease.

And Camela’s Divine Spells were sublime.

Together with Lorraine’s Alley Gossip,

after spending more than an hour, they finally passed through the numerous checkpoints and successfully entered the territory of the Phantom Baron.

But there was still a distance to the true Barthor Purgatory.

Due to the layout of the plane, at least one-third of the Baron’s territory was the barren Wind-Supporting Slope–

This was a seventy-degree upward-curving slope.

Apart from a few Wind Demons and Bird Demons residing on the slope,

most demons preferred living on the plains or in the mountains at the top.

As a result, the Wind-Supporting Slope was sparsely populated except for a few military roads.

Soon,

the group emerged from the checkpoint, ascending the steep path until they reached a three-way intersection.

“Left side is Morgan’s Purgatory.”

“To the right is Freyza.”

“We will follow the middle path.”

Sandrine swiftly read the signpost at the intersection.

“Wait.”

Matthew suddenly popped his head out of the carriage and flung a small bag of acid rock powder at the signpost–

This powder had a slight corrosive quality.

It was generally hard to cause serious damage, but it was quite effective at identifying camouflage.

The next second,

A slight distortion of light and shadow appeared in the area covered by the acid rock powder.

A sharp cry rang out quickly.

A bird-headed, winged creature suddenly leaped down from the signpost!

At the same time,

The content on the signpost also changed its order–

The left pointed to Morgan’s Purgatory;

The right was Barthor Purgatory;

Freyza Purgatory was right in the middle!

Boom!

A ball of fire was hurled out.

The cursing Bird Demon was instantly ignited, struggled for a while, and then died miserably by the roadside.

“Let’s go, to the right.”

Matthew calmly drew the carriage curtain.

“It seems Freyza Purgatory is also short of people…”

Lorraine pondered aloud:

“Regular traders would definitely not be fooled by this kind of trickery, if any newcomers were deceived into taking the middle path, they might end up being refined into Soul Coins by some demon lord in Freyza.”

Matthew nodded:

“It feels like all the Purgatory Lords are scrambling for people.”

That was the comprehensive feeling he got along the way.

Compared to robbery,

They encountered more demons snatching people.

Perhaps this was because a fresh, uncontracted soul held extremely high value in the hands of demons.

They always tried every trick in the book to lure the living into purgatory.

This sharply contrasted with demons who were always trying to break out.

Past the fork in the road,

The group continued their journey up the Wind-Supporting Slope on the spacious military path.

Half a day later,

They passed a Wind Demon Inn.

Matthew and the others did not stop but kept on traveling.

However, as they passed by,

They saw several promotional paintings of a magnificent manor outside the Wind Demon Inn.

The content of the paintings seemed to be calling on the demons along the way to join in some celebratory event.

Matthew didn’t have time to look closely.

But no matter,

The bard was there.

“That’s a manor called ‘Blissful Spring,’ whose owner is the lord of this land, the Phantom Baron.”

“Legend has it that in this manor, all entrants must strictly adhere to two radically different sets of rules.”

“Indulge during the day, be silent at night.”

“It’s said that during the daytime in the manor, every encountered life must vent their desires to the fullest, or they would be deemed unqualified by the manor and forcibly expelled…”

Lorraine’s ears twitched, and Alley Gossip smoothly followed.

Sandrine asked curiously:

“What if it’s a group of people?”

The other three looked at her as if she were a fool.

She immediately became incredibly embarrassed.

“As for the night, one must keep their peace, hide in their own room, and not step out of the doorway, or they might meet with a mishap!”

“The manor’s daytime may be enviable, but the night is truly its essence. It’s said many powerful demons died in the corridors outside their rooms, and their deaths were very gruesome…”

Lorraine introduced with relish.

Matthew found it strange:

“If there’s a possibility of death, then why would demons still want to visit? Just for the pleasure during the day?”

That didn’t quite fit the orderly style of demons.

Lorraine answered:

“That’s right, it’s rumored that one of the rooms in the manor holds a treasure personally placed by the Demoness of Desire, a treasure allegedly related to Barthor, the former Lord of the Nine Hells. Only when night falls does the treasure reveal itself…”

Upon hearing this,

Matthew just felt it was another story concocted by rumor-mongers.

But at that moment,

He suddenly sensed that the purgatory black marketeer he had imprisoned in Lost Paradise was slowly recovering!

…