With a flash of dark light, Jacob appeared in the middle of darkness, but the next moment, as if sensing his arrival, ghostly blue flames started to light up around him, revealing the mysterious place.
Jacob found himself standing in the middle of a large runic array that seemed like a skeletal ghost face, and the surrounding space was a gloomy hall; skulls and bones were etched on the walls, creating cryptic yet eerie texts and images.
In the middle of this space was a fifty-meter-tall arc black door engraved with ghostly murals and starry dark gemstones.
Jacob instantly recognized this place from the Soulless Ghost King's memories, 'This is the Hall of Ghosts, and behind that door is the Treasury Vault of the Ghost Race…'
His eyes flickered with anticipation as he walked towards the door, and when he was only a meter away from it, his eyes locked on a large grove in the middle of the door surrounded by claw patterns.
Jacob knew this door could only be opened with a specific key. Without it, even if something managed to get into this hidden space located on an Elemental Planet, they would be destroyed by a very powerful formation here if they weren't recognized by the Throne of the Soulless.
Even if a Quasi-myth came and somehow managed to break this door, another mechanism would be triggered, and the entire Elemental World with this treasury would be destroyed!
After all, this elemental planet was discovered by the Ancestor of the Ghost Race, the first Soulless Ghost King, and he set up everything here.
However, when Jacob was about to take out the 'key,' unexpectedly, an ancient ghostly voice reverberated in the Hall of Ghosts, "You came again, for what?"
Jacob was alarmed, as he didn't know anything about someone else's presence in this place, but he didn't overreact and remained calm. He didn't sense any malicious intent, and he couldn't pinpoint the location of this voice.
Nonetheless, he knew he didn't know everything about the Soulless Ghost King, so all he could do was play along and hope to achieve his objective without any accident.
"I need something…" Jacob subtly replied as he looked back, and his eyes scanned the entire hall and even released his soul force.
But he didn't find anything, and at that moment, he missed his Eyes of Judge since whoever this was, they couldn't hide from his eyes. However, if he turns back to his real self, he knows the formation here will be activated, and he will find himself in the world of trouble!
He can't reveal himself now, even more so because he had no idea who this voice belonged to or what kind of purpose it served here. However, he was sure that since this voice was hidden here and with its familiar tone with 'him,' the voice had to be something important, and Soulless Ghost King should be very familiar with it.
"Keke~ you always need something whenever you come here." The voice replied sarcastically, "But it seemed you have forgotten that you had already used your three chances to retrieve treasures from the vault. If you want to enter again, you can only go by becoming the master of the Soulless Ghost Pagoda!"
Jacob's eyes contorted as he wasn't expecting this response, and a hint of grimace flashed past his eyes, 'What is going on? From what it said, the Soulless Ghost King can only enter the Treasury Vault three times. This means every owner of the Ghost King Scepter has the same restriction…
'And to remove this restriction, I need to become the master of this 'Soulless Ghost Pagoda'? I have no memories of this thing or about this restriction. Furthermore, it seemed even the Soul Ghost King didn't know about this, and only the owner of the Ghost King Scepter probably knew this secret.
'But what if she knew, and she was testing me?' Jacob became vigilant as he wasn't expecting this kind of turn of events. 'Here, I thought just the entrance method and knowledge about how to open the vault's door were more than enough to empty this place. However, I wasn't expecting something like this to be placed here.
'Furthermore, if even the Soulless Ghost King can only take three treasures from the vault, then what kind of secret is this vault hiding to have such restrictions?'
Jacob became intrigued when he thought about this mysterious treasury of the Ghost Race and what it was hiding inside. However, that voice should be the guardian of this place, and under its watch, he can't do anything irrational.
"There is a war upon us, and I need to enter the vault. What the point of having this treasury if our race were to annihilate?" Jacob coldly stated.
"War? Annihilation of Race? Kekekeke…" The voice suddenly burst into wanton laughter, making the flames in the hall flicker violently.
Jacob was startled by this reaction but remained silent before the voice stopped laughing and spoke with a hint of mockery, "You know, I've always liked you. Out of all the successors of the Soulless Ghost Ancestor, you resemble his personality the most.
"But if you think you can talk your way into bypassing the restrictions, you are not qualified to be the Herald of Soulless! So, what if the Ghost Race is annihilated? It simply means the current ghost race is incompetent and under the rule of inept fellows like you.
"Before his departure, the Soulless Ghost Ancestor said that if in the future the Ghost Race faced the threat of annihilation and at the time, if the generational Herald of Soulless didn't have the guts to enter the Soulless Ghost Pagoda, then such a ghost race deserve annihilation!" The voice was filled with cold fury and a hint of disappointment.
However, Jacob wasn't frustrated at all because he wanted more information without appearing suspicious, and now he had enough to make a conjecture.
'So, this Soulless Ghost Pagoda has some trial which even the Soulless Ghost King didn't dare to enter? Furthermore, this Soulless Ghost Pagoda has to be something extremely important to hold such high regard in Soulless Ghost Ancestor's mind, and whoever claimed it would get everything in this place…'
Jacob's eyes flickered in contemplation before he said, "Well, now that you put it this way, I can't ignore my kingdom falling apart like this. Alright, I'll enter the Soulless Ghost Pagoda!"
This time, the voice didn't reply for a while before finally saying, "Kekekeke, you at least have some gusts, I give you that. But you know what this means, right? If you fail, you'll become a part of Soulless Ghost Pagoda for eternity!"
"I'll be the judge of that…" Jacob coldly stated, an eerie smile breaking on his face. "Let's hurry up; I don't have much time to spare!"