Chapter 195: Origin Bone Scepter
Su Chen knew who this visitor was as soon as he saw the Origin Bone scepter.
The Ravager Emperor, the Crazed Monarch Anubi Inferno.
As the Ravager Emperor, only Anubi would have the right to wield a staff fashioned from an Origin Bone — even though it had no practical use for him.
This Origin Bone had come from the core of the Shining Dragon’s skull. Technically speaking, it wasn’t really a bone; it was the physical essence of the Shining Dragon’s thoughts that had formed after its death. This essence had then been infused into a bone fragment and fashioned into its current shape.
But regardless of the Origin Bone’s past history, the most important thing was that this bone possessed temporal powers similar to that of the Sands of Time, and allowed the user to peer into both the past and the future.
Bone Diviners communed with this Origin Bone, using it to answer their questions while offering up their own lives in exchange.
It could be said that these Bone Diviners were nourishing the Origin Bone, and in return, the Origin Bone gave them the ability to peer into time.
This was all accomplished via an ethereal connection. No physical contact was ever actually required.
However, there was still a requirement to establish this connection, which was that the Origin Bone needed to be placed on the Divine Shrine’s altar. Only there could the Origin Bone communicate with the Bone Diviners.
As such, the Origin Bone should have been placed safely on the altar in the Divine Shrine, not moved around so casually.
However, the absurd personalities of the Ravagers had manifested itself yet again.
18,000 years ago, after Sorna Redeagle killed Uldritch of the Slaughter Axe and proclaimed herself the first female monarch, Barnard had fled because he rejected the Redeagle Tribe’s rule. As he fled, he had also taken with him the Origin Bone, which was the reason he had named his tribe the Ironbone Tribe.
Having lost the support of the Divine Shrine, Barnard had no way of accessing the Origin Bone’s ability to peer into time.
The Ravagers, who only feared thinking and not action, once again demonstrated their awe-inspiring intellect by attempting to use the Origin Bone in battle.
After a period of fighting that lasted for nearly a hundred years, they had actually succeeded.
The Ironbone Tribe killed a Demonic Emperor that also possessed temporal control abilities, removed its Origin Crystal, and embedded it into this Origin Bone, bestowing unique time Origin Skills upon the Origin Bone.
In other words, the divining Origin Bone had been turned into a weapon that not only had strategic value but also had actual combat capabilities.
However, this was not a good thing.
Because of the Ironbone Tribe’s blind and reckless acts, the power of the Shining Dragon Origin Bone’s temporal abilities were greatly decreased, along with its divining abilities.
Decreasing its strategic value to increase its combat abilities was something that only the Ravagers, who idolized strength, would do.
Well, they had done many idiotic things in the past, so what was one or two more?
However, a dispute over who owned the Origin Bone had then resulted.
After the Ironbone Tribe was exterminated, the Divine Shrine initially reclaimed the Origin Bone. However, the Redeagle Tribe firmly believed that, since the divining power of the Origin Bone had drastically decreased while its combat ability had increased, it should be reclassified as an imperial treasure and kept in the imperial palace.
The imperial family fought with the Divine Shrine for hundreds of years over this issue before eventually reaching a compromise.
Under normal circumstances, the Origin Bone scepter would be kept in the Divine Shrine so that its pitiful divining abilities could still be used. At the same time, however, it was a symbol of imperial authority. As such, during important ceremonies and when setting out on an expedition, the emperor had the authority to wield the scepter.
In simple terms, the emperor could take the scepter when he wanted to use it, and when he didn’t, the Divine Shrine took care of it.
This custom had continued all the way until the present day.
This was also why Su Chen had immediately identified Anubi as soon as he saw the Origin Bone scepter.
But why would Anubi suddenly appear here?
Even if he knew that a human had managed to sneak in, there was no need for him to personally come, right? And there was no need to take out the Origin Bone scepter either, right?
When he thought of these things, Su Chen knew that Anubi had most likely not come for him specifically but rather for a different reason.
Anubi walked forward casually, holding the scepter in his right hand and cradling a large rooster in his left.
A rooster?
A buck-naked, featherless rooster?
Su Chen couldn’t help but rub his eyes in disbelief.
What was going on?
And why did this rooster seem so familiar?
Before he could even react, someone thundered at him. “His Majesty Anubi Inferno is personally gracing the room with his presence. Why have you not kneeled yet!”
Su Chen put on a confused expression before he knelt down on one knee. “Lontu greets His Majesty Anubi. Long live His Majesty, the Divine Emperor, ruler of all!”
Anubi walked over, cradling the rooster in his hands. “Your name is Lontu? You are very obedient. I appreciate what you said. As a reward……”
He struck out with his palm at Su Chen.
Su Chen never would have dreamed that this emperor would suddenly attack when his words had been so positive. He instinctively moved his Origin Energy to defend against the blow. With a resounding boom, Su Chen was sent flying.
Anubi hadn’t used his full power when attacking, and Su Chen’s strength now could not be compared to before. Both his command of Origin Energy and his physical strength had increased dramatically; otherwise, this palm strike would have heavily injured him if not killed him on the spot.
Su Chen knew that the situation wasn’t good. He bit down on his tongue, spitting out a long trail of blood before allowing himself to sink to the ground.
Thankfully, Anubi didn’t follow up with another palm strike. When he saw that Su Chen hadn’t died, he chuckled. “Oh? It seems that you are quite strong, but you shouldn’t have made me wait outside for so long.”
Su Chen finally understood why this guy had attacked him. Anubi had likely been waiting here for a while. Since the Origin Energy Temple was still being used and could not be opened, this “Divine Emperor” Anubi could only stand outside and wait.
Obviously, this had made him very unhappy.
Fine, I guess I’m just unlucky.
Su Chen could only complain silently in his heart.
The group of Ravager soldiers walked inside, completely ignoring him. Su Chen silently retreated.
Danba walked over and asked in a low voice, “Are you alright?”
“I’m okay,” Su Chen replied. “Why is he here?”
“Did you not see the rooster he was cradling?”
Su Chen seemed taken aback for a moment before he suddenly realized something. His expression shifted. “Could it be……”
Danba nodded. “The one we lost.”
“Damn! Now we’re in trouble.” Su Chen sucked in a mouthful of cold air.
He immediately realized why Anubi had appeared at the Origin Energy Temple.
It was because this rooster had undergone a baptism.
No matter how stupid the Ravagers were, they could not possibly ignore the signs of an Origin Energy baptism. After all, they had been carrying out this procedure for nearly ten thousand years.
As such, as soon as this rooster was brought to Eketala Palace, all of the Ravagers there were stunned.
Why did a rooster have traces of a baptism lingering on it?
How had it managed to withstand the baptism?
Why had the baptism increased its intelligence along with its strength, unlike its effects on the Ravagers themselves?
These suspicious signs immediately caught the attention of everyone in Eketala Palace. Countless Ravager officials began arguing incessantly with one another about it, and even Anubi himself became extremely interested.
Even though he was the Crazed Monarch, he was not an idiot, and he recognized the immense implications behind this matter.
As such, he took appropriate measures and personally took this rooster to the Origin Energy Temple, in stark contrast to his usual pleasure-seeking attitude. He wanted to see if he could find any clues. However, his personality was one that enjoyed making a grand, majestic display. So even though it wasn’t a big matter, he still insisted on bringing the Origin Bone scepter with him. He even secretly thought to himself that since the scepter had stored up quite a bit of Origin Energy recently, he could increase the size of his appendage and experience more pleasure that way.
If Sachar was still alive, there was no way he would have dared to use a national treasure to do something like this. However, with no one left to keep him in check, he could do anything he desired without fear.
Of course, nobody else knew about this idea of his. All they saw was Anubi being unusually diligent. And the fact of the matter was that this situation really was quite important, which also helped to explain why he had personally come.
However, after entering the Origin Energy Temple, no one knew what to do.
Both the rooster and the temple were here.
But could you ask the rooster or the temple about how they had managed to work together?
The large investigative campaign lacked any intelligent direction, so a rather comical argument immediately broke out on the scene.
The Ravagers were debating and analyzing amongst themselves, but Su Chen and Danba had begun to whisper to one another.
“That thing is pretty decent,” Su Chen said to Danba, his gaze locked onto the Origin Bone scepter.
“You’re thinking of getting your hands on it again? Don’t even think about it. I won’t help you with this right now,” Danba replied.
“Don’t be like that. Besides, I remember agreeing to hand over the secret Ravager cultivation technique only if you gave me the Origin Bone……”
“But you’ve already given me the secret technique,” Danba replied.
“...... Isn’t there another level?”
“Ignoring the fact that you haven’t managed to develop it yet, would you even be willing to hand it over?” Danba countered.
“I have already developed a way to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline. Letting the Ravagers grow one level stronger as well is not a problem.”
“But your technique is not universal!”
Su Chen calmly replied, “If I have that thing, I will be able to find a way to make it universal.”
Danba froze for a moment before he understood. “You want to conduct experiments with the Origin Bone scepter?”
Su Chen nodded. “A treasure that can peer into both the past and the future should be very useful in discovering the truth.”
“The future can change, but the truth never changes. If you plan on using the Origin Bone Scepter to determine whether or not you can successfully resolve this issue, as well as confirm the how you can fully develop this technique, then that would……”
“It’d save me lots of time,” Su Chen replied.
Predicting the future was very difficult, because the future was never certain. Actually, the act of predicting the future could change the future.
Because of this, the Ravagers could only get a rough estimate of what might happen in the future every time they tried to divine something with the Origin Bone. Most of the answers they received were vague and lacked detail.
And after the Origin Bone scepter's abilities had deteriorated, even obtaining these vague answers was quite difficult.
However, if the question being asked was about the fundamental truths of nature, then the situation was altogether different, because the truth was constant and eternal.
This was equivalent to asking if there existed such a force as gravity. The answer was obviously yes and would never change. Even if you used an Origin Skill to counteract this force and flew into the air, this truth would never change.
Of course, the Origin Bone was not all-knowing. Actually, it didn't know anything on its own.
But it could still see the future.
For instance, Su Chen might be able to perceive a path to an answer with the aid of the Origin Bone scepter that might have taken Su Chen ten years to come to. That way, he could finish it immediately.
Through this process, ten years might turn into a single night, but the result would not change, and that was enough.
As such, Su Chen was still the one providing the answers.
As long as it was something that Su Chen had the capability of figuring out, the Origin Bone scepter would be able to give him the answer.
On the other hand, if Su Chen could not figure it out within his lifetime, the Origin Bone scepter could not give him any answers either.
This was also fine, because it meant that Su Chen wouldn’t need to bother wasting his time on going down paths that only led to dead ends.
The value of the Origin Bone scepter to Su Chen was apparent.
Of course, there were a number of restrictions on the use of the Origin Bone scepter, so Su Chen could not just use it as he pleased, and the answers might not be too clear. But having it was still better than not having it, and seeing a vague picture was better than not seeing anything at all.
The Origin Bone scepter would become a compass for Su Chen in the future. If he could obtain it, it would be one of Su Chen's most important tools right behind his microscopic eyes and his consciousness crystal.
How could he not be excited by the thought of having it or try to think of a way to obtain it?
Danba shook His head. "Keep dreaming. It's impossible for you to steal it. Do you know how powerful Anubi is? Do you know how many experts are protecting him right now?"
Su Chen chuckled. "I never said that I was going to forcefully seize it."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Get close to him. Since he wields the scepter, getting close to him by becoming his subordinate is the best decision."
Danba shook his head. "He will not accept a stranger into the ranks of his personal guards that easily."
"It is impossible for a normal monarch, but nothing is impossible when he's crazy," Su Chen replied.
How could the Crazed Monarch be crazy if he didn't break the rules and ignore common sense?
"Then how are you planning on getting his attention?"
"Do you even need to ask? What is he holding in his hand right now?" Su Chen asked as he chuckled.