'Ha! They're indeed plotting against me, ' Austin thought with a triumphant sneer as he eavesdropped
on the conversation between Prince Rondo and Elder Payne with the aid of his spiritual sense.
He had already suspected as much, but now, he had confirmed it.
For privacy and security purposes, the prince's mansion was lined with isolation arrays that could
prevent the perception of the spiritual sense.
However, Austin's spiritual sense was so incredibly powerful that it could bypass all those arrays.
So when Prince Rondo and Elder Payne suddenly showed up in his secret room together, he was
ready for them.
He had already teleported Princess Esther into his own continent so that he wouldn't have to worry
about protecting her in the battle that might ensue.
The prince walked up to Austin and stared at him eagerly.
"Hey, Gio!
Are you sure about what you said?
Do you really have a lead on the whereabouts of the spiritual tree?"
he asked impatiently.
"Yes, do you really know what the spiritual tree is?
This is no laughing matter. Don't lie to us, or the consequences will be very serious!" Elder Payne
chimed in.
His eyes bore into Austin, trying to read his expression.
Unnerved by his threat, Austin just gave a hearty laugh and said, "Of course I know the whereabouts of
the spiritual tree. I'm not making it up."
As he spoke, he conjured up a tree in the middle of the room using his spiritual soul energy.
"Yes!
This is the spiritual tree!" Prince Rondo remarked in wonder.
He and Elder Payne could barely contain their excitement. They had been looking for this for so long
that they couldn't believe their eyes. For a moment, they just started at the phantom of the spiritual tree
in awe.
The two of them had already seen a picture of the spiritual tree before, and they had even sensed its
aura in the ancestral temple of the spiritual race. So, they knew the appearance and the aura of the
tree, and had no doubt that it matched the phantom of the tree in front of them.
"Elder Payne, you see? He's right.
This is indeed the spiritual tree!"
Prince Rondo continued to gush, turning to Elder Payne.
He was so excited that he couldn't control the laughter bubbling out of him.
"It is!" Elder Payne nodded and turned to Austin.
"Gio, you must have seen the spiritual tree. Tell us, where is it?"
Elder Payne unintentionally shouted at Austin, feeling thrilled to the core.
He knew that Austin must have seen the spiritual tree, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to emulate its
aura.
Noticing the greedy look on their faces, Austin flashed them a playful smile.
"Not only did I see it, but I also touched it.
If you want, I can even show you the spiritual tree," he said casually.
"That's great! Take us to the spiritual tree now," Prince Rondo urged, staring at the phantom of the
spiritual tree with eager eyes.
"Yes, take us there now,"
Elder Payne echoed.
"What a pity.
It's meaningless for you to see the spiritual tree, because you will never get your hands on it," Austin
said with a shrug, shaking his head.
Just as he had expected, his words only piqued Prince Rondo and Elder Payne's interest even more.
They fell hook, line, and sinker.
"What? Why?"
the two of them asked with obvious confusion in their eyes.
"Come over here. I'll tell you the reason,"
Austin whispered on purpose, as if he was about to tell them a grave secret.
"Spit it out!" Prince Rondo commanded, even as he and Elder Payne hurried over to Austin.
Once they were in front of him, Austin slowly spoke, stressing every single syllable.
"Because the spiritual tree is mine."
As soon as he finished his sentence, he bombarded the two of them with a flurry of attacks.
He performed the Flying Swordsmanship, the Mind Sword Skill, the Secret Reincarnation Skill, the
Puppet Strings and several more secret skills related to the spiritual soul.
First, due to the Flying Swordsmanship, dazzling swords zoomed forward and slashed Prince Rondo's
and Elder Payne's bodies into pieces.
These bodies were nothing but vessels for Prince Rondo and Elder Payne, who were members of the
spiritual race. For them, having their flesh destroyed was akin to having their clothes burned. It was an
inconvenience, sure, but it was by no means the end of the world.
Of course, this was why Austin had also unleashed a stream of other attacks on them.
Without a sound, the mind sword released by Austin cut the prince and the elder in half.
Prince Rondo and Elder Payne's first instinctive move was to try to escape, but much to their shock,
they found themselves unable to move even an inch. After all, Austin had locked down the space using
the Secret Reincarnation Skill.
As they were trying to think of a way out of this situation, thousands of red strings rained down on
them, catching them off-guard yet again.
Slowly, they were beginning to realize their mistake. They had gotten so carried away by the prospect
of seeing the spiritual tree that they had trusted Austin and lowered all their defenses. It had never
occurred to them that Austin would assault them.
"Ah! Gio, what are you doing? Stop!"
Prince Rondo shouted in horror as he tried to fight against the torpedo of attacks on him.
"Gio, how dare you attack us? You're courting death!"
Elder Payne snarled, looking shocked and irritated at the same time.
Austin just smirked. He was used to his enemies underestimating him. It was what gave him an edge
over his opponents, even if he didn't really need it.
"Just surrender. It's pointless to resist," he drawled in an amused tone.
The mind swords sent forth by Austin kept slashing Prince Rondo and Elder Payne until serious
damage began to appear on their true forms.
The true form of a member of the spiritual race was a shadowy cloud of spiritual soul.
Since they were made from spiritual soul energy, only secret skills related to the spiritual soul could
harm them.
Attacking the members of the spiritual race with other skills was like whispering into the ear of a
corpse —it was just no use.
The Mind Sword Skill, however, could take a toll on them.
That was because this technique involved the use of the mind power.
The mind power was a kind of energy that people were still debating heatedly about.
Some said that it was the energy produced during the process of thinking.
To put it simply, it was the purest power of thought.
Others claimed that the mind power was the result of spiritual soul energy and spiritual sense being
condensed to the extreme. In other words, it was the combination of these two things.
Even a few more people said that the mind power was the original power of the spiritual soul. All
creatures were born with it, but it existed in the depths of the spiritual soul, a place that not many
creatures would be able to access in the first place.
That was why only a few creatures could master the mind power. Most couldn't even spot it, let alone
put it into use.
And all these explanations weren't even the half of it; there were several other theories that people had
put forward to explain the source and inner workings of the mysterious mind power.
In the end, regardless of what the mind power truly was, there was one thing that was widely
acknowledged and agreed upon by everyone —
the mind power had something to do with the spiritual soul.
Therefore, any skill that drew from the mind power could hurt spiritual souls.
Having studied the universe and tested various theories, Austin was more than aware of this fact. So,
he unrelentingly attacked Prince Rondo and Elder Payne using the Mind Sword Skill.
At the same time, he conjured up red puppet strings to tie up the prince and the elder.
With no delay, the puppet strings tried to enter Prince Rondo and Elder Payne.
Austin had learned other uses of the Puppet Strings thanks to the jade slips Rondo sent to him. Hence,
the power of the puppet strings he had unleashed was even more terrifying than usual.
Under his violent attacks, Prince Rondo and Elder Payne could barely react, let alone defend
themselves.
However, being a prince of the Spirit Cosmos, Rondo knew lots of brilliant secret skills and even
forbidden skills owned by the spiritual race. As a result, he wouldn't be controlled by the puppet strings
that easy.
As for Elder Payne, he had the strength of a genuine premium-grade divine god, and he had also
practiced many profound secret skills owned by the spiritual race. Thus, Austin couldn't turn him into
his slave immediately.
"Ahhh!"
In the secret room, the two of them screamed, struggling desperately against the puppet strings and
the slashing of the mind sword.
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