I Might As Well Quit This Lousy Wizard Profession

Chapter 175 - 175 164 I cant do it_2

?Chapter 175: 164 I can’t do it!_2 Chapter 175: 164 I can’t do it!_2 But…

Such unwillingness…

“I don’t want to die…”

In the dim room, Professor Cao murmured softly, hands propped on his knees, sitting as if he were a towering pillar.

“Lin An, my student, you must find a way out of this. Otherwise…”

“I… I…” His eyes were full of struggle, self-loathing for his meanness, yearning for life, and a tangle of sorrow and ambition.

“I will emerge from the antlers and take possession of your body, to continue the journey in your stead!”

Boom~
Countless clouds of dark gray smoke emanated from his body, taking on the shape of flames, within which a deer head, as if made of bronze or ink jade, wailed mournfully.

It no longer bore that impartial and peaceful demeanor, nor that noble appearance, nor that… purity.

Those crystal-clear, gem-like red eyes slowly turned blood-red.

“Witch-ghoul armorization?”

Professor Cao murmured softly, “Father, do you know? I really have found a way out, but it’s not the kind of way out you imagined.”

“If witch-ghouls can armorize, then why can’t the antlers do the same?”

“Devouring the witch-ghouls to fuse the Furnace Core, fortifying one’s own spirit…” As he spoke, he began breathing heavily as if suppressing something, “So why not devour the Furnace Core to condense a second Furnace Core, using myself, using the heritage passed down through generations, to fortify my own spirit?”

“A second-time fused Furnace Core is no longer an unconscious Stone Treasure, but a convergence of my very being!”

“So, why can’t the legacy passed down through generations be me in each generation?”

“If that’s the case, can’t I use the body of my student, Lin An the wizard, to continue my research?”

But, this second fusion faced a significant problem.

A problem that seemed simple to him, with no difficulty in execution and no thresholds to cross, yet was difficult to decide upon.

As he continued to refine the antlers, figures began to stir and emerge, appearing within the dark gray flames.

There was his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, his great-grandfather’s master, his ancestors of generations past.

Within that Furnace Core of antlers were the spirits, obsessions, wishes, and emotions of generations of Antler People…

Should all these be melted away?

Bear in mind that within the Conservative Demon Hunters, there is a well-known school of thought focused on research to revive these Stone Treasure Statues from the Purgatory World.

Once successful, these statutes of ancestors stored through generations in Purgatory could become the most formidable force against the Sorcerer Zombies that might emerge from the Spirit Realm.

In other words…

Professor Cao’s actions would cut off the hope of resurrection for his father, grandfather, and the ancestors of generations past!

Could he really bring himself to do it?

Boom~
The gray-black smoke, like flames, blazed as those figures looked at him, their eyes filled with sorrow, anger at his inaction, disappointment, disdain, grief, and acceptance…

Professor Cao looked at them, his face twisted in agony.

His mouth twitching, his eyes beginning to redden.

“Whimper…”

A huge burly man over two meters tall, he cried, tears streaming down his face.

“I can’t do it!”

“I can’t do it!”

“I can’t betray my teachers and ancestors, I can’t go against a lifetime of sacrificial faith, I can’t bear to harm my successor, I can’t be that selfish!”

“But I am so unwilling, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to turn to stone!”

In the midst of that gray-black smoky flame, the figure of the father smiled at him, “Child, you can do it, if you’re not doing it for your own sake, but for the Antlers to find a new world, then what’s wrong with that?”

“Come on, melt me down and make me your first stepping-stone.”

“No!” Professor Cao cried out in panic, his face filled with fear as he stumbled backward and fell to the ground, thrashing about a few times, without the strength to stand up.

“I…woo…woo…woo…”

“I’m just a despicable person, how could I have developed something like this, I…”

He lay there powerlessly on the ground, his eyes brimming with despair.

Why was his talent in this direction? Why did all his research either betray his mentors or harm his descendants? Why, after a lifetime of struggle and turmoil, had he ended up creating such a thing?

In the dark room, only his weak sobs could be heard, a burly man crying miserably.

An endless darkness enveloped him.

From the depths of that darkness, Lin An watched him calmly, holding his head in his arms.

“That’s not his father.” The head suddenly said to Lin An, gesturing him to look towards the shadowy figures in the smoke and ashy flames hovering over Professor Cao.

Those figures started to twist slowly, and one by one, they all turned into Professor Cao himself.

“That is his Heart Demon, his Seven Emotions and Six Desires.”

Lin An raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, watching intently.

As a person highly sensitive to spirituality, he seemed to sense something.

He licked his lips, somewhat puzzled, and said, “Is that spirituality? His Seven Emotions and Six Desires?”

“Nonsense!” The head rolled its eyes, “Didn’t you hear what your master just said, Lin An? Although Lu Jiao transmuted the roots of the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, they would still grow back under the influence of Spiritual Energy.”

“So, if they consume a Sorcerer Zombie every now and then and get replenished by Spiritual Energy, they’d always have a bit of those Seven Emotions and Six Desires.”

“Even though they’d still be melted away by the Furnace, it’s like drinking poison to quench thirst.”

Lin An shook his head, just looking intently at Professor Cao, “No, I’ve seen spirituality, the essence of the soul, these are things that can’t be ground away from the human heart!”

Mr. Cao’s dilemma, his longing, and his pain were torturing his soul.

And it was precisely this torture that ignited his soul, which had been devoured by Lu Jiao, and was now slowly levering the Spiritual Energy of the Spirit Realm.

Although it was faint, it was enough for Lin An to notice.

“Use Lu Jiao to cast spells!” Lin An’s eyes lit up as he looked down at the head, excitedly saying, “Use Lu Jiao to lever the Spiritual Energy of the Spirit Realm, to cast spells, and this way one could restore the soul to oneself!”

“A heart that has been refined, discarded but then found again, must be exceptionally clear and translucent, exceptionally resolute…”

The head was stunned, “A Witch-hunting Knight cannot cast spells!”

But Lin An just smiled and shrugged, “Well, it just so happens that I can.”

“!!!” The head looked at Lin An, blinked uncertainly, and asked, “What do you mean?”

Lin An grinned, “I have an intuition that Professor Cao’s research path was correct. Using the Furnace Core to lever the Spiritual Energy to cast spells, to seek back the refined soul, thus ‘I am still myself’, that is the attainment of ‘Truth’.”

“I’m really so lucky.”

“I, as a Wizard, became a Witch-hunting Knight, one who can cast spells, a Witch-hunting Knight capable of casting spells, and even if my soul is devoured by the Furnace Core in the end, there’s still a way to get it back!”

“Of course, Mr. Cao is lucky too, he can find a Wizard’s alter ego to take this path.”

“Ha~” The head laughed, looking at Lin An with a gaze similar to watching a clown, “That would be you, huh? Since Professor Cao has taken over your body, you’re a perfect Wizard.”

Lin An, however, just smiled and shook his head, “It doesn’t need to be that complicated, there’s a simpler way.”

The head suddenly looked confused, “Huh?”

Lin An squinted at Professor Cao, “Mr. Liu! He made an alter ego for himself, he even has a lot of alter egos, and this method seems to be a combination of ‘Heart-to-Heart Skewer Fragrance Witchcraft’ and the Breathing Skill Furnace.”

“Look, following this method, a Witch-hunting Knight branches out various Wizard’s alter egos, trying over and over, there has to be a way.”

“I need to figure out how Mr. Liu did it.”

“I have to find the original Mr. Liu to do it.”

It was to repay this master, and also to save himself.

The original Mr. Liu~Kapok~
Where are you?