Skill Extraction: Exploring Dungeons-Chapter 635 - 558: The Way to Survive

At this moment, within the territory of the Black Monarch.

The core region of the Black Monarch's territory, even though it is fully illuminated by the golden light emitted by the Golden Bridge, still exudes a sense of cold, damp darkness.

Withered trees in the outer zone, and ghost-like Ghost Trees surrounding the core region.

The very center of this area was once the Black Monarch's palace.

But now, it has long ceased to be the eerie palace made from massive skeletal remains, and has transformed into a gray-white stone octagonal palace.

At the octagonal corners and the central tower, black and white flames were burning fiercely, with statues of Centaur Knights positioned at each gate.

A soul-like glowing orb flew from the edge of the sky, following the fiercely burning flames atop the tower.

Then it fell to the doorway of the palace.

When this orb landed on the ground, it transformed into a human-shaped Ghost surrounded by Mist-like smoke.

This was a female Ghost, with a noble visage, elegant demeanor, and clothing exuding a rich and refined aura.

This was precisely the Prince Qing who had just committed suicide in front of Kane and the others.

She looked up at this place, different in appearance from the White Bone Palace she once knew, the Soul Return Place having transformed greatly.

She couldn't help but nod: "A lot better than my foolish brother's nauseating aesthetics."

She then examined the outer perimeter of the palace, walked over, and touched the gray-white stone wall with her soul-like fingers.

"Was it already built two months ago? Or just as I learned of the Black Monarch's death. The Red Monarch died before the Black Monarch?"

She could clearly sense that the palace was constructed using the Red Monarch's Authority of Creation, originating from the authority in the head of the scepter itself.

This indicates that the Black Monarch had already died before their elder brother, the Red Monarch, and during the attack on the Black Monarch, the usurpers had already seized the Red Monarch's authority.

"Obtain the death authority of the Black Monarch, and does the usurper immediately seize control?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Prince Qing perceived the construction time of this palace being very close to the time she sensed the Black Monarch's death, both within a day's time.

This time discrepancy is somewhat terrifying and incomprehensible.

To establish the Soul Return Place so perfectly on the day of obtaining the Authority of Death. Even though there was assistance from the Authority of Creation for creating and renovating.

Establishing the Soul Return Place completely, allowing it to function as intended, requires the mastery of the Authority of Death.

Although Prince Qing was the youngest among the monarchs, she wasn't foolish, she could indeed be considered smart.

After the border of the world turned into white Mist, Prince Qing faintly noticed the balance beginning to restore among the World Fragment, with external forces assisting in this fragment where she existed.

After a long period of judgment, she determined that the fragment of this world was being protected by something.

Then, the usurpers appeared.

The earliest batch of usurpers was actually born within her territory. With the Authority of Peace, Prince Qing was highly sensitive to all sorts of changes in her domain.

She instantly detected the changes among the usurpers and their outsider identities.

At that time, Prince Qing constantly hid nearby, observing this group of usurpers, she believed that these suddenly appearing outsiders were linked to the white Mist guarding the world's perimeter.

By following around this group of usurpers, she collected information until she sneakily slipped away.

Eventually, this group of usurpers met their demise elsewhere.

The second batch of usurpers was the group within the Red Monarch's territory, a month or two after their birth, Prince Qing detected their whereabouts.

She then conveyed the information she obtained from the first batch of usurpers to this batch through various means.

Then this batch of usurpers began their incomprehensible determination to attack the monarchs.

After two or three batches of usurpers, Prince Qing had a rough understanding of the goals of these usurpers.

It was not about the monarchs, but the authority in their hands and the Golden Bridge always hanging in the sky.

Obtaining the authority in their hands was also to confront the Golden Bridge in the sky.

Prince Qing was also the first to discover the birth cycle of usurpers, appearing once every ten years.

It was precisely because of this pattern that Prince Qing could always find the usurpers at the earliest time, even if they tried their best to conceal themselves, their incompatible demeanor and behavior were still striking.

She wanted to leverage the usurpers to help her achieve her goal of eliminating her siblings.

While always guiding covertly, she never revealed her true self, for she didn't want to become enemies with the usurpers.

Although the plan never succeeded, these usurpers were stronger than she thought, yet not strong enough.

However, with Kane and the others in this group, the previous patterns did not apply anymore.

Kane and the others appeared several years later compared to the previous group, and even appeared separately.

Then within a few days of their appearance, they learned various intelligence and then moved into action. Before Prince Qing realized it, they had taken down all her siblings.

She only knew about the usurpers' appearance shortly before the Black Monarch's demise.

After confirming the Black Monarch's death, she inexplicably heard the news of all four of her siblings' deaths.

It was clearly someone deliberately delivered the news to her ears, upon his investigation and confirmation of the news's authenticity, she immediately left.

Although she knew her departure was intended by the usurpers, she had no choice.

Since then, she constantly searched for ways to avoid death and prepared a fallback for her own demise.

Yet, looking at the Soul Return Place before her, this new group of usurpers is far more aggressive than she imagined.

The previous subverters were strong, but not strong enough, and this group of subverters is excessively strong.

Thinking of this, Prince Qing pushed open the door of the Soul Return Place before him.

Looking at the prominent centaur statue inside the palace, it was the subverter who wielded the Authority of Death.

Passing by the statue, he reached the center of the palace, where a fierce black-and-white flame was burning. At the center of the flame, there was a scene resembling a vortex.

She committed suicide in hopes that her soul could come to the Soul Return Place and be thrown into the vortex of rebirth to seek a final chance at life.

Her forced death meant that her soul would inevitably be drawn away by the Golden Bridge, as such a high-energy soul was the favorite sustenance of the Golden Bridge, needed to maintain itself.

In forced death, she couldn't control her soul at all, and eventually, even her soul would become food for the Golden Bridge.

Thus, suicide was her last resort.

Using the transparent dagger crafted by her sister Grey Queen, she could temporarily control her soul by committing suicide.

Only this way could she escape the devouring of the Golden Bridge.

However, afterward, she needed a place where she could ensure that when her control disappeared, she wouldn't be taken away.

She didn't know if Kane and the others had constructed the Soul Return Place, so she dared not commit suicide.

She kept delaying, waiting for Kane and the others to arrive.

When Kane and the others arrived, and Prince Qing confirmed the construction of the Soul Return Place, he unhesitatingly chose to commit suicide.

Staring at the slowly rotating vortex in the black-and-white flame ahead, Prince Qing closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped in directly.

As the soul leapt in, the black-and-white flame completely enveloped her soul body.

The transparent dagger she had used for suicide, stuck in her chest, became dull on the corpse.

And the soul body, which had returned to being spherical, was surrounded by a thin, transparent shield, jumping into the vortex.

She didn't perform the rebirth ceremony but stayed there because the rebirth ceremony had long since been interrupted and couldn't be executed.

At this time, the Soul Return Place couldn't operate, as the Golden Bridge was still oppressing this world from the sky, devouring the extremely dilapidated world fragment.

Only when the Golden Bridge was completely destroyed, and this shattered world regained freedom, would the rebirth process start functioning again.

Then, Prince Qing's soul would be the first to reincarnate.

After the soul reincarnated, the thin protective film could ensure she remained herself, with her memories intact.

As for Prince Qing's status, power, and strength, it all didn't matter because survival was all that she cared for.

...

"What do you mean?"

Kane asked Kreya in front of him, as her previous words puzzled everyone.

Kreya pondered how to explain and after thinking for a while, said, "Due to the existence of the Golden Bridge, the Soul Return Place couldn't operate, but just now, a dead soul was cast into the vortex of rebirth."

"The existence of the Golden Bridge disrupted the rebirth process, sucking all dead souls into itself to maintain its existence. Logically, all souls that died now would be consumed by the Golden Bridge."

"But the soul that just entered the vortex of rebirth, the moment she entered the flame, I noticed her face."

At this point, Kreya pointed to the fallen body in front of them.

Understanding Kreya's explanation, Kane suddenly realized the truth.

"So Prince Qing committed suicide not because she was reckless but because she cherished her life excessively, more than anyone else."

All power and strength were irrelevant, as Prince Qing, who had studied the rules holding authority for hundreds of years, must have long known the true nature of the Golden Bridge.

This implies that the reason for not fighting Kane and the others might be because if killed by them, she'd end up like any other dead soul, not entering the Soul Return Place but being devoured by the Golden Bridge.

To prevent such a situation, Prince Qing, knowing she was no match for Kane and the others, decided to take her own life and somehow control her soul to enter the Soul Return Place.

Moreover, Kane, looking at the already dim transparent crystal dagger on the corpse, was certain it had some special function.

"But wasn't she afraid that even entering the Soul Return Place, I would pull her out and finish her?" Kane asked, still puzzled.

Hearing Kane's words, Kreya looked at him and said, "Doing that is impossible. Once she entered the rebirth vortex, she was beyond my authority control, having entered the original rule flow of the world."

Thinking for a moment, Kreya added, "If we had set up some helpers in the Soul Return Place earlier, we might have stopped her, but now it's too late."

"I see; then when will the reincarnation happen, and will it have any effect on us after the reincarnation?" Kane asked.

Kreya shook her head and said, "It won't have any impact. This act of hers tells us she just wants to live. Moreover, she can only reincarnate after we destroy the Golden Bridge and the world starts functioning again."

"Whether she reincarnates with or without memories, she has to grow again from scratch. I can sense that the soul just cast into the vortex is no different from other souls."

Reassured by Kreya's explanation, Kane nodded calmly.

If she only wants to live, then let her live.

Once Kane and the others fully controlled this Dungeon, whether she lived or died wouldn't make much of a difference, as she'd no longer stir up trouble.

"Well, since our goal is already achieved, let's take a look at this final piece of loot."

As he spoke, Kane waved his hand, causing the soil to churn and envelop Prince Qing's body, burying it underground.

Kane, meanwhile, led Kreya and the others toward the last floating fragment.