Chapter 518 The Mysterious Stone Mountain
Angel had her suspicions confirmed. The dude who swiped the Moon Bead and took it to the SA Guild was none other than Matthew.
"Man, this little box shows such a clear picture," Angel said, leaving Ethan totally speechless.
No wonder Angel didn't recognize a cell phone. She'd been stuck in that secret realm for ages, missing out on all the tech advancements.
"If you dig it, once you're back in your body, I'll hook you up with one. It's called a cell phone. Super common here, but since you're just a soul right now, you can't use it," Ethan said, half amused, half helpless.
"A cell phone, huh? You better give me one when I'm back in my body!" Angel's eyes lit up with excitement. Clearly, the glowing box had her super intrigued.
"By the way, can you give me a ballpark on when he saw you?" Ethan asked, switching gears.
"Not too long ago, I think. Pretty recent," Angel said, trying to recall.
Ethan sighed. She'd been trapped for so long that a few years probably felt like nothing. Time was a blur in that place.
"Alright, could you tell what his strength was like back then?" Ethan pressed on. If he couldn't pin down the time, maybe he could gauge Matthew's power level.
His gut told him Matthew was no ordinary Half-Step Grandmaster. Even with the Moon Bead, a Half-Step Grandmaster couldn't have found and entered that secret realm years ago.
"I couldn't gauge his strength exactly, but he felt super strong, and his spiritual sense was off the charts. He found me first," Angel remembered.
Just as Ethan thought, even if he couldn't pinpoint Matthew's exact strength, he knew the guy was no joke. Regular folks didn't have such powerful spiritual senses. Even Elmer hadn't sensed Angel in the Requiem Tower.
Looked like he needed to hit up Jessie for more deets. He'd asked her about the Moon Bead's origins before, but she'd blown him off. Now it seemed both the ancient books of the SA Guild and the Moon Bead were tied to Matthew.
After grilling Angel with a few more questions about Matthew, it was clear she didn't have much more info. She had no clue what Matthew had been up to in the secret realm.
"So, what's your deal with him?" Angel asked, curious.
"He's my dad," Ethan said after a pause, his voice low.
"No wonder you guys have such similar vibes and looks. When you came near the Requiem Tower, I thought he was back," Angel said, finally putting two and two together.
Once Ethan realized he wasn't getting any more clues from Angel, he dove into his nighttime training.
The next morning, Ethan hit the road again. After a full day of driving, they finally reached the desert area near the northwest border, guided by Angel.
Thank goodness she didn't say her body was smack in the middle of the desert. Otherwise, his car wouldn't make it, and he'd have to hoof it.
"Are you sure your body's around here?" Ethan asked, stepping out of the car and eyeing the vast desert and the stone mountain ahead, frowning.
This place was a total no-man's land. Even if there were roads nearby, no one would hang around here.
"Yeah, but there's some weird spatial thing going on here. I can't nail down exactly where my body is," Angel said, looking super frustrated and anxious. Being so close yet so far was driving her nuts.
"Can you at least give me a ballpark? Even if we gotta search inch by inch, we need a starting point," Ethan said, eyeing the stone mountain with a frown.
"About a 30-mile radius," Angel replied, giving him a rough estimate.
Ethan rolled his eyes. Even if he used his spiritual sense to comb through every inch, it would take forever—like ten days to two weeks. And with Angel not even sure why she couldn't sense her body, it might be hidden or in some special spot. He might not find it even if he flipped the whole area upside down.
"Alright, fine. Let's start with this stone mountain and see if we can find any clues," Ethan sighed, looking at the mountain and getting to work.
Just like Angel said, Ethan could sense something off about this place. It felt like an invisible aura was messing with his spiritual sense. Maybe he'd find something, or maybe he'd just waste his time.
After searching until late at night and reaching the top of the stone mountain, Ethan realized he was way too optimistic. There was nothing but sand and rocks—not even a hint of anything useful.
The desert night sky was stunning, especially from the top of the several-hundred-foot-high stone mountain. It felt like the stars were right there.
Ethan had planned to head back to the car to crash for the night, but he changed his mind. After snapping a few killer photos of the starry sky with his cell phone, he found a flat spot, sat down, and started his training. But then, something wild happened.
Usually, during training, the Sun and Moon Beads would chill in his Sea of Qi, soaking up spiritual energy and turning it into his own super energy. But this time, the beads actually popped out of his Sea of Qi.
Ethan was floored. He realized the aura here was different. The Sun and Moon Beads were absorbing it slower, but the energy they converted was way purer.
He'd seen this before, whether in the Tiger Mount secret realm or the SA Guild secret realm. But why this random desert spot had such an aura was beyond him.
After racking his brain and getting nowhere, Ethan decided to just roll with it. It was a good thing, after all, so he kept on training.
Under the brilliant starry sky, Ethan sat alone on the stone mountain. The Sun and Moon Beads floated in front of him, sucking up the surrounding aura like crazy.
As time went on, Ethan felt his training getting smoother. It seemed like he was about to break through the bottleneck in the fourth layer of the ZF knack. A massive energy vortex formed around him, pulling in spiritual energy.
Just then, a golden light flashed in the void above the mountain peak. A spatial passage, like the one in the Tiger Mount secret realm, appeared in mid-air.
Two middle-aged dudes in robes stepped out of the passage, looking down at Ethan in shock. They exchanged puzzled glances, clearly not expecting to see him there.
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