Chapter - 5924

Charlie was not a stingy person, but he was deeply concerned about the loss of his reiki.

Moreover, the amount of reiki taken from him this time was unprecedented. All the reiki within his body, coupled with the energy from the hand seal and the five Cultivation Pills, had vanished completely. This loss felt far worse than losing ten billion dollars.

Maria was taken aback to see that even after feeding Charlie five pills in quick succession, the reiki had vanished without a trace. She exclaimed, "This... this reiki shouldn’t just disappear like that, right? Could it have been absorbed by the ring again?"

Charlie shook his head, feeling hopeless. "This time it really wasn't that. I tried to guide all the reiki into the ring, but the energy from the hand seal escaped my control and seemed to have a consciousness of its own. It consumed my original reiki and surged straight into my sea of consciousness, leaving me unable to command my own energy. When you kept feeding me pills, it acted as if it were alive and sought out new reiki in my dantian to attack again. It struck five times in total. I suspect it was luring me into a trap from start to finish, offering me small rewards and making constant promises. I thought my reiki had doubled with its assistance, but it was just after my principal…"

He then recalled the five pills, covering his face in dismay. "This is like withdrawing all my funds and then being forced to chase after five times the leverage… Unbelievable! Isn’t that just like a special kind of stock market insider? Like a deceiver who lures in small investors just to prey on them?!"

Maria murmured, "But… that’s just the reiki cultivated by the Young Master using hand seals. The reiki shouldn’t have self-awareness. How could it be so devious…?"

Charlie shook his head again and replied, "I can’t wrap my head around it. It doesn’t make sense at all…"

Maria then asked, "Since the Young Master is certain that the reiki wasn't absorbed by the ring, could it have been taken by something else?"

"Something else?" Charlie shook his head once more. "Besides the ring you gave me, I also possess the ring I forced from the head of the Mystic Harmony Sect. Other than that, I haven’t acquired any ready-made magical tools from other sources. But this time, it’s not a ring, and it definitely isn’t a medicine cauldron."

Maria, puzzled, questioned, "But… such a massive amount of reiki couldn't possibly have simply vanished after reaching your sea of consciousness. I was right next to you just now, and I didn’t feel anything unusual. Logically, the reiki in your body shouldn’t have escaped without a trace. This is truly bizarre."

"Indeed..." Charlie sat up with effort and cursed in frustration, "This is like someone trying to eat several times their body weight in one sitting. It seems unbelievable, yet the reiki has disappeared without a trace once it reached my sea of consciousness."

Maria added, "Sir, have you considered why, when we stood beneath the Northern Lights, the Aurora morphed into those handprints? Could it be that someone has been setting a trap for you since then?"

Charlie asked skeptically, "Are you suggesting that someone deliberately caused the Aurora to teach me the handprints to entice me into giving up all my reiki?"

Maria nodded, saying, "Let’s reason this out together, Sir. If this is indeed a trap from start to finish, then the instigator must be either a person or an object."

Maria continued, "I think the likelihood of it being a person is quite low. Even if there were masters hiding near the aurora that day, it’s unlikely they would follow us across the ocean, then to Aurous Hill, and finally into this Villa's basement. Unless it were some supernatural being like a ghost, but that’s unproven and improbable."

Charlie agreed, acknowledging, "It certainly seems unlikely to be a person or a ghost. If it were a person, they would need to possess skills akin to the invisibility techniques found in fantasy novels to follow us without detection. As for ghosts, that’s even more dubious. There's no evidence of their existence, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to absorb reiki."

As he spoke, a thought struck him. "Oh, Miss Clark, you mentioned earlier that cultivators who fail their tribulations could dissolve into scattered immortals. Could it be that scattered immortals, like ghosts, are invisible and intangible to ordinary people or cultivators with lower cultivation levels? If that’s the case, could it be that I have become a target for a scattered immortal?"

Maria explained, "The concept of scattered immortals is just a legend I stumbled upon in some rare and unofficial historical accounts. I have no proof of their existence. Furthermore, the odds of surviving a tribulation are one in a hundred, meaning that the remaining ninety-nine invariably meet their end in ashes. Thus, the probability of someone becoming a scattered immortal after failing a tribulation is likely even smaller, so we shouldn't expect to encounter one, right? Also, the records suggest that even if an immortal is forced to dissolve, their strength is still second only to that of a cultivator who has successfully passed their tribulation. They are called immortals because they are trapped in the mortal realm."

At that point, Maria regarded Charlie carefully and added, "Sir, I don’t mean to imply anything negative… But even if we did cross paths with an immortal in Northern Europe, I'm sure that being wouldn't look down upon the reiki in your body..."

Charlie nodded in acknowledgment, "Morvel Bazin has trained for a thousand years without ever reaching a tribulation. This indicates how formidable cultivators at that stage are, let alone an immortal. It’s very likely that even Morvel Bazin couldn’t be perceived by an immortal, not to mention me."

Maria continued, "So, we can mostly rule out the possibilities of people or ghosts, leaving only 'things.' If it is indeed a thing, it certainly can't be an ordinary one. The ring left by my father wouldn’t have such capabilities, so the 'thing' at play here is likely much more powerful than that ring. Young Master, think carefully. Have you encountered any magical weapon? Is it possible that a magical weapon is lodged in your body, or even concealed in your sea of consciousness?"

Charlie wracked his mind and muttered, "Honestly, I haven’t come across many significant items since I began my cultivation. Nothing truly stands out in relation to this situation."

Then a thought crossed his mind regarding the Four-sided Treasure Tower, and he unintentionally remarked, "If we’re discussing valuable artifacts, the Four-sided Treasure must rank among them. It’s a national treasure created by Master Moksadeva and countless monks, but I returned the Four-sided Treasure Tower completely intact."

Although the Four-sided Treasure Tower is indeed a magical weapon, it serves as a Feng Shui treasure designed for the nation's fortune, and Charlie had quietly returned it to the country. He never sensed any abnormalities during his interactions with it, leading him to discount any connection to this incident.

Maria did not relent and pressed Charlie, "Did you notice anything unusual about the Four-sided Treasure Tower that puzzled you during your time with it?"

"No," Charlie replied firmly, shaking his head. "Aside from transmitting a video of the past, there was nothing particularly special about the Four-sided Treasure Tower. Moreover, my use of reiki merely activated one of the formations to hide the image. In theory, it was just the Four-sided Treasure Tower playing a documentary recorded on it for me. Beyond that, there was no further interaction, and I didn’t detect any other unique features."

Maria asked, "Since that time, have you discovered anything strange about yourself?"

"No," Charlie assured her. "My consciousness departed the Four-sided Treasure Tower after viewing that video material. I exited the place without encountering anything unusual."

Maria responded, "The Four-sided Treasure Tower was collectively created by Master Moksadeva and the leading monks of the Tang Dynasty. To a degree, it’s considered a Buddhist artifact. Additionally, the phenomenon we witnessed in the sky over Northern Europe was also a Buddhist handprint. There may indeed be a connection between the two."

Even though Charlie could not sense any presence related to the Four-sided Treasure Tower, Maria's mention of it did instill some suspicion within him. He said, "In that case, the Four-sided Treasure Tower does warrant scrutiny. Logically speaking, there are no Buddhist nations in Europe. Even if peculiar occurrences arise in the sky near the Arctic Circle, the aurora should take the form of a Christian cross rather than a Buddhist swastika. Yet, I truly don’t feel any links to the Four-sided Treasure Tower. I am genuinely perplexed."

Maria proposed, "Sir, why don’t I contact Keagan to see if we can arrange for you to revisit the Four-sided Treasure Tower? Perhaps we might uncover some details that were overlooked the first time?"