The Top of the Tower

Mayton, despite being close to exhaustion after a long period of time running at full speed, still continued on in fear of getting caught by the ghost.

Thankfully, what Celyse said about the rest of the route to the top being clear proved to be true as he safely arrived in front of a weird looking iron door.

This door had engravings of ghosts swallowing souls and then, in turn, getting swallowed by a faceless cultivator who sat cross legged at one side, while on the other side the opposite was depicted. The faceless cultivator sitting cross legged as souls escaped from his body.

Mayton didn't know what any of that meant and didn't have the time to inspect it more to derive a meaning.

After glancing at the engravings for a second, he steeled his heart and pushed open the door without any more hesitation. Not to mention his desire for the treasures that supposedly existed here, there was only one way to go and the door in front of him blocked it, leaving him no option other than going through it.

Much to Mayton's surprise, the seemingly cumbersome door opened easily and smoothly with a light push.

What greeted Mayton at the other side of the door was another hall but unlike the ones he had been through in the Tower of Screams, this one had its walls plated with silver as various ornaments hanged down from the roof. With all its gaudiness, this hall looked more like a part of a temple than the entrance to the living quarters of someone.

''Hmm, how come this one is still alive...''

When Mayton was walking slowly, scrutinizing the place thoroughly as he moved forward, he heard a murmur which made him back up but then to his horror, realized that the door was shut behind.

''No need to be afraid. The living are safe in here. But you really presented me with a difficult situation. After all, you fit the criteria while you are still alive… Should I maybe ...''

The same voice reverberated in the hall, this time a bit louder. Mayton frantically looked around to locate the origin of the voice but failed. His meager qi left meant that he couldn't afford to use the Heat Sense here.

''Who is there? Show yourself!''

Mayton shouted. The ghosts shouldn't be able to talk as far as he knew. This meant the voice belonged to something he had no knowledge about.

''Huh? You can't see me? Strange, strange… Then maybe we can do it like that...''

As the voice sounded once more, plates of silver got ripped off from the walls and converged on right in front of Mayton to make up a rough outline of a man. With some of the adornments from the roof dangling from it randomly, this new construct looked like a mishmash of everything around.

''How is it now? Can you see me?''

The strange construct asked with his gender neutral voice. Seeing the strange thing in front of him reminded Mayton of the soul slave* he saw back in the Fair of Souls. But, unlike this one, that one looked like it had very limited intelligence.

''Are you a soul slave?''

''Yes, indeed I am. But that's not really important. Let us focus on your situation right now. You see, the door is supposed to open only for a matured material, a sufficiently strong soul. Your soul meets the criteria but I can't really process living souls. That would be against the wishes of- No, stop! I can't let you do that!''

Mayton started to strangle Celyse who was still laying unconsciously in his arms when he realized what Celyse really wanted from him. But before he could do so he felt his body freeze up. He was unable to move one bit.

''There are rules you have to abide by in here. You can't simply kill her. Since the material she brought meets the criteria I have to reward her appropriately.''

The soul slave said as it waved its hand to wake up Celyse.

''Ugh… You- you really hit me! Wait… HAHA! This is it! Finally! HAHAHA!''

Celyse saw Mayton's angry face as soon as she opened her eyes and started to chastise him but when she looked around, she saw that the place she was in seemed exactly like the place depicted in legends. So she couldn't hold back her laughter. The thing she dreamed of day and night was about to be realized.

''I have matters to attend to with the material you brought. State your wish and don't waste my time.''

The soul slave interrupted Celyse's crazy laughter with an emotionless voice.

''Haha, of course, of course. I won't keep you from taking care of the material. What I want is the Soul of the One. Then I want to be teleported to...''

Celyse's voice silenced when she was about to utter the place she wanted to be teleported to after she glanced at Mayton. But from the soul slave's reaction, it looked like she conversed with it without speaking out loud.

''Alright. Now begone.''

The soul slave picked up one of the adornments on his body and threw it to Celyse who was standing on her own feet by now like it was a worthless piece of stone. For Celyse, it meant the amalgamation of her dreams though, so she carefully caught it.

As soon as Celyse caught the adornment, her body rippled a few times, and in a moment she completely vanished under the hateful glare of Mayton.

''Damn that b!tch. I definitely won't let her off if I meet her once again!''

Mayton got control of his body after Celyse vanished and immediately cursed.

Despite looking angry, he was actually trying to think of a way to survive this ordeal. Just now, the soul slave immobilized him without even moving from where it stood. This meant he couldn't overpower him in a direct confrontation.

After quickly thinking through the options available to him, he decided to cooperate for now but try to stall whatever the soul slave wanted to do as much as possible, hoping that Leyzhen would arrive to intervene.

''That little girl can't stop me, but you don't have to worry. As I said, the living is safe here. Actually, that masked woman inadvertently helped you. I see that you have trouble with your soul. I can solve your problem if you promise to help me get out of this place in the future. How about it?''

The soul slave said to Mayton, ignoring how he plotted to stall it.

Mayton calmed down after an initial surprise when he realized the soul slave was able to read his mind. He saw too many strange things since he reincarnated and started cultivating to be stunned for a long time because of something like mind reading.

As for the soul slaves offer, it would be a lie to say he wasn't interested. Celyse's repeated betrayals made him trust people less and less, including Leyzhen who left a seal on his soul.

Mayton thought about his answer instead of voicing it out in order to test the soul slave's mind reading ability further;

'I promise to help you get out if you can really solve it.'

''Excellent! Then we have a deal.''

As soon as the soul slave completed his sentence, he vanished together with Mayton, leaving the now damaged hall empty.