For a moment, The Undertaker's expression darkened, and he sneered as he spoke.
"No need to play dumb, John Chou. Although we can't monitor your every move through the Synthetic Souls implanted in your bodies, we can extract memory data to learn your situation. Emperor Yan managed to cure The Stilled using the three medicines—Aqua Leaf, Terra Root, and Ember Blossom. We've heard before of someone claiming to cure The Stilled, but for us, it holds no research value."
I looked at The Undertaker with some displeasure. At this moment, Earthly Soul, who had been silent, laughed.
"No value? That's just a world you can't comprehend."
"What research value is there in the remnants of power? It's like feces—no matter how much you study it, it's still just feces."
"What about Lydia Luo?"
Earthly Soul asked again, and The Undertaker shook his head.
"The specific research is still ongoing at Nightfall. All I know is that the sudden mutation of the soul occurred in her, but it's not that rare. We have plenty of soul specimens with sudden mutations here as well. As for her ability to repel most powers, it's because after her soul mutated, it naturally releases a deeper level of dark power—one you can't see. But for us, this power isn't special; we can see even deeper levels of darkness, and we've already reached that stage."
Listening to The Undertaker's confident words, it seemed he wasn't lying.
"The level of darkness you speak of—what does it really mean?"
"As you know, darkness absorbs light—but do you know to what extent? There are three types: superficial darkness, solid darkness, and pure darkness. These three tiers of dark power—the last one can devour everything. What you’re experiencing now is just superficial darkness, so you can use ghost energy. Though it’s affected by the darkness, you can still use it normally. The reason you can’t leave that room is because it’s filled with solid darkness. When you use your powers and see their effects, the power has already been absorbed by the darkness. It’s not that you can’t break the walls—it’s that you can’t break through the darkness itself."
My eyes widened, and Earthly Soul seemed to realize something.
"No wonder when I used the Endbringer’s Power before, I always felt the power was spent, but only the effect remained. Seems it wasn’t just my imagination."
At this moment, The Undertaker walked to the edge of the field, dug up some radishes from the soil, waved away the dirt, and tossed one to each of us before starting to eat his own.
"Try it, it's sweet and crisp."
"After all that talk, what’s the point of all this seemingly pointless research?"
After chewing down even the radish leaves, The Undertaker turned, smiled, and spoke.
"For perfectly structured souls."
"These things created by gods—do you really have the ability to structure them?"
The Undertaker nodded, raising his hand as he spoke.
"We've established about half of the structure. As for these connections, we can discuss them slowly in the future. Now, John Chou, can you tell me the second designated site for the Unreal Covenant? That way, we can continue our cooperation. The rest—wait until you're satisfied with our partnership before revealing the third site."
"I don't know."
With just a few words, The Undertaker's face was instantly filled with anger. He glared, eyes wide.
"What do you mean? Is this some kind of joke, John Chou? Are you taking this too far?"
"My sister, Isabelle Frost, has already gone to the Unreal Covenant."
With that single sentence, the anger faded from The Undertaker's face.
"It seems you understand the value here. Can we continue our cooperation now?"
"Of course. No wonder Isabelle Frost cured The Stilled but never returned. We always thought she was with the Founding Emperors in the Dark Forest!"
John Chou sneered as he spoke.
"Alright, now that we have a general understanding, can you take us to see the laboratory?"