Chapter 231: The Stone Jar and the Crystal Vial
The Gray Robe's Chambers
The pyramid didn't look large, but its interior space was quite expansive. There was a corridor on each side of the main hall. They curved at the ends and connected, forming a four-sided passage.
There were many rooms lining the corridors, seemingly serving as the Snake King's quarters. As for the warehouses used to store food... a snake is a snake. Whether they transformed from human or not, they couldn't change their filthy, bloodthirsty nature.
Turning out of the corridor, Luke arrived at the door at the end and turned back.
"Is this it?"
The Snake King nodded frantically, his mouth opening and closing in a grotesque and comical way.
Luke placed his hand on the door, and an energy blast shot from his palm, instantly shattering the stone door.
The Gray Robe's living quarters were unlike the Snake King's; they were very clean, the floor perfectly swept and spotless, even containing decorations from the human world. There wasn't much furniture in the room: only two bookshelves, a bed, and a desk.
Luke walked to the desk, picked up the photo on top, looked at it for a few seconds, and casually tossed it aside. He opened the drawer, and four egg-sized gemstones appeared in a flash of light.
Red, purple, blue, and cyan—the four gems radiated a dazzling halo. Luke picked up the gems, used the light to carefully observe the patterns inside, and couldn't help but nod after seeing them.
"These are great! Worth tens of millions at least. They'd be a good choice whether for wooing a girl or establishing authority."
After putting away the gems, Luke turned to the bookshelf and picked up the books.
Andrew White was dead, and the ancient demon Ghast behind him had been completely consumed by the green flame. This meant that the only way to find clues about the President's collusion with the cult was through physical evidence.
Luke waved his hand at Adam. Adam nodded slightly, grabbed the Snake King, and headed to the other rooms. Soon, miserable screams drifted over, but they were quickly stifled.
"Poor guy. Of all things to transform into, he had to pick a snake."
"If you had turned into a rabbit, I might have felt a little sympathy, but you're a snake, and the most disgusting kind of viper. I still remember the feeling of being bitten by one in my last life."
Luke scoffed, sitting down in the Gray Robe's chair and flipping through a notebook, page by page.
Perhaps it was due to a lifetime of misdeeds, but Andrew White actually had a habit of keeping a diary—who writes diaries anymore! The diary contained miscellaneous entries, mostly about black magic and daily trivia. It emphatically described the process, essentials, and personal notes on the Wicked Soul Sacrifice, showing that his control over the transformation ritual was already highly proficient.
As he flipped further, a familiar name appeared: Joel Nash, the current President of the United States. That page detailed how the two first met.
Luke straightened up, reading carefully. When he finished, his expression was one of disappointment.
It only recorded their daily interactions, with no mention of the election. The later entries were the same.
"What is going on? That makes no sense!"
Luke frowned, completely perplexed. Logically, such an important matter should have been mentioned in the diary, but there was no related description whatsoever.
"Could the diary be fake, or perhaps the FBI investigation was wrong?"
After a moment of thought, Luke returned to the bookshelf and took down all the books. He checked them one by one. Of the seventeen books, all were ancient legends, demon doctrine, and other forbidden texts, except for one detailing black magic.
"This is a problem!"
The person was dead, so they had to rely on physical evidence, but the evidence was missing.
Luke looked down in contemplation. He felt something was off, as if he had overlooked something important. Jack Harvey had said that Joel Nash and the cult used a Spiritualist Ritual as a means of communication, yet the magic books contained no record of a Spiritualist Ritual.
Did he forget? Or does the so-called Spiritualist Ritual not exist at all?
No, the whole thing feels wrong!
Luke faintly sensed something. He put down the books and went next door to Adam, who was still conducting the interrogation.
"Did you find out anything?"
"There's a secret room inside the pyramid."
"Where?"
"He said it's in Andrew White's bedroom, but no one has seen it."
Luke returned to the room, activated his scanner, and used the Super AI's data system to quickly analyze the room. Soon, an inconspicuous screw came into view.
He pressed the screw with his hand. With a click, a hidden door cracked open in the wall next to the bookshelf.
Behind the hidden door were downward stone steps. Following the steps, they reached a secret room illuminated by luminous pearls.
Piles of jewelry, ornaments, and gold were stacked in the corner, along with two sacks of hundred-dollar bills, worth at least ten million.
"A cult leader who likes money, seriously!"
Luke was speechless. After looking around the room, he focused on two items on the altar: a jar and a crystal vial filled with purplish-red liquid.
A jar made of stone?
Could it be...
Realizing something, Luke's expression changed slightly. He cautiously walked up to the altar and placed his hand, wreathed in green flame, on the jar.
Boom!
A powerful energy wave burst out, and countless dense symbols appeared on the jar's surface.
"Just as I thought!"
Luke took a sharp breath, retreated to the doorway, spread his fingers, and a column of green fire erupted.
Under attack, the mysterious symbols on the jar's surface emitted a blinding light. Layer upon layer of white halo surrounded the jar, isolating it from the green flame.
The two forces engaged in a constant standoff. Luke intensified the heat, and the pale green fire turned a sinister shade of emerald, surrounding the stone jar from all sides. Gradually, as time passed, the runes began to dim, and the halo flickered erratically. Under the green flame's corrosion, the light slowly dissipated, revealing the ancient stone jar carved with writings.
The green flame burned fiercely, penetrating the stone jar's interior, dyeing it from dark gray to a sinister emerald color.
Only after confirming that no residual energy remained did Luke extinguish the flame. He stepped forward and picked up the jar, which was made of an unknown material.
Judging by the jar's construction, it should have a lid.
Luke searched the room and found a chipped lid in the pile of gold. The lid rejoined the jar, and the mysterious symbols flashed again. This time, no halo emanated, but it instead gave off an inexplicable feeling of gravity and heaviness.
"That's interesting!"
Luke smiled. If he wasn't mistaken, this was the Red Jar of Klytus, the artifact used by the Timeless Ones to seal the demon Ghast. The jar likely had other uses. He would have to study it carefully once they got back.
Obtaining this treasure significantly improved Luke's depressed mood. He then turned his attention to the crystal vial next to it. The bottle looked unremarkable, but the purplish-red liquid inside gave him a peculiar sensation, like a wriggling, living entity.
The diary mentioned that the Wicked Soul Sacrifice transformation process required demon blood as a medium, and the purer the bloodline, the higher the success rate. Could the vial be filled with the demon's spilled blood?
Luke was not highly proficient in magic, but the Gray Robe had placed the stone jar and the crystal vial in the same location, suggesting their values were likely equal. If they were of equal value, they certainly deserved to be part of his collection.
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