"What kind of Soul doesn't matter."
As she spoke, Christie snapped her fingers, returning Lex's ability to walk, allowing this 'Great Being' to stand with dignity instead of lying prostrate.
She continued, "The key is the quality of the Soul. If it's the spirit body of an ordinary person, I need at least thirty or more to maintain my existence and abilities."
"But if it's the spirit body of a Beyonder, like yours, just one is enough."
Through this conversation, Lex roughly understood that Mrs. Christie needed to imprison enough spirit bodies to maintain her existence.
Taking ordinary people as an example, a minimum of thirty spirit bodies were needed, but if it were Beyonder, one Sequence 7 would suffice.
If it were Sequence 8 or Sequence 9, then two or three at most would be needed.
In that case, he could hunt down those wicked pirate Beyonder and hand their Souls over to Christie.
If only two or three were needed, it wouldn't be difficult at all. After all, in two months at Sea, several pirate Beyonder had already died at Lex's hands.
"I understand."
Lex nodded, "As you said, release another one-third of the spirit bodies. Later, I will capture the spirit bodies of Beyonder for you. At that time, you can release all the remaining ordinary human spirit bodies."
"Now, let me and the spirit body you just captured be released first."
"As you wish, Sir." Christie lifted the sides of her skirt and curtsied. Then, she opened her mouth, her jaw stretching long, and let out a silent shriek.
Lex suddenly felt himself lose weight, floating up, out of the castle, and hovering in mid-air.
He saw twenty or thirty spirit bodies float out simultaneously from behind the castle's windows. These hazy figures, emitting a faint gray glow, floated upwards with him.
After a moment of daze, Lex came to his senses again and saw Rowley's floor.
He pushed himself up with his hand, sitting up in Josh's room, and saw Kaven and the others also lying on the ground.
While they were still unconscious, Lex plucked a few hairs from the heads of Hardy and his son.
He would find time to have Kaven Seer whether the Hardy family were Mania's descendants.
A moment later, Kaven and the others gradually woke up, rising in confusion.
"What just happened?"
Rowley rubbed his temples, looking around, "I remember Mrs. Christie appearing from the wall, and then I didn't know anything."
"We were all pulled into the painting world by Christie, but it's fine now. After a tense and fierce negotiation, she agreed to release us and Josh."
"It seems she didn't break her word." Lex said lightly, glossing over what happened in the painting world in a few sentences.
Hardy and Rowley exchanged glances. As ordinary people, they couldn't even imagine what kind of scene Lex and Christie's negotiation was like.
"Sir, you... you are truly an amazing person." Rowley thought of his son and quickly said, "I'm going to the hospital now to see how Josh is doing."
Hardy looked at the oil painting on the ground, "How should this be handled? Should it still be sent to the church?"
Lex was about to 'volunteer' to take on this task, then quietly 'pocket' the oil painting, when he heard Hardy exclaim 'Eh,' as if he had discovered something strange.
The old man bent down and picked up the oil painting, saying to his son, "Rowley, look, is Mrs. Christie bowing? Am I seeing things?"
Although Rowley was in a hurry to go to the hospital, he still walked over and immediately saw Mrs. Christie on the castle's terrace in the oil painting, lifting the sides of her skirt and bowing.
When Lex also came closer, everyone saw that Mrs. Christie in the painting changed direction, maintaining her posture, and was bowing towards Lex.
"This is incredible!"
Hardy looked at Lex in surprise, then made a decision. He handed the oil painting to Lex, saying, "It seems this painting has chosen you, Rayleigh. It's yours!"
"This, this isn't good."
"After all, it's your father's relic." Lex 'falsely' demurred for a moment before finally accepting the oil painting.
Next, they went to the hospital and found that Josh had indeed woken up, which finally brought a smile to Hardy's face.
After leaving the hospital, Lex and Kaven agreed to meet at the Evil Dragon Bar at two in the afternoon. They both wanted to go to the underground trading market to see if they could buy the materials they desired.
After temporarily separating from the Seer, Lex returned to the Violet Hotel. He didn't even bother to eat lunch. He drew the curtains, closed the doors and windows, stood in the center of the room, and raised both hands level, summoning the 'Mysterious Book'.
When a heavy feeling came from his hands, Lex looked up and saw the thick, glowing tome appear between his hands.
He turned to the 'Artisan of Mysteries' page, picked up the oil painting, and released a strong thought: Appraisal!
After spending 37 dimensional crystal, a series of images flashed through Lex's mind.
In those images, he saw a blurred figure painting in front of an easel. On the canvas was a black castle, while the surroundings were still blank.
The scene shifted, and Lex saw the finished product of 'Mrs. Christie', already embedded in a frame and hanging on the wall.
In the next scene, this oil painting had fallen into the hands of a man with hard facial features. The new owner of the oil painting had neatly combed brown hair and wore extravagant and luxurious clothes, appearing to be an Intis noble.
In the following scenes, Lex saw that noble stealing his opponent's abilities, stealing other people's items, and stealing other people's dreams.
In one of the scenes, that noble even turned into a cat, a cat capable of using Beyonder abilities.
But in the end, that noble died. He lay on the ground, pressing down on the oil painting 'Mrs. Christie'. His Spirituality, his blood, seeped into the oil painting.
The scene ended there.
Lex exhaled, and then saw lines of appraisal information appear on the pages of the Mysterious Book.
'Mrs. Christie', an oil painting created by an unnamed painter, combined with the 'Parasite' beyonder characteristics, caused it to undergo a certain mutation, possessing magical and strange abilities, and having the characteristic of being 'alive'.'
'This item is very dangerous, but it is currently in a state of submission, so it can be utilized.'
Seeing this, Lex remembered how Mrs. Christie's attitude in the painting world had suddenly taken a 180-degree turn, which was indeed strange.
He gently tapped his head again, "I always feel like I've forgotten something."
...
Painting World.
Due to the release of nearly two-thirds of the spirit bodies, the castle's scale had shrunk considerably. It no longer had the skyscraper-like volume that Lex had seen before.
Within the castle, at the end of a long, secluded corridor, stood a red wooden door.
It was very different from the wooden doors of other rooms. Besides its color, there were also various strange symbols on the door.
At this moment, Christie appeared before this red wooden door. On her face, concealed by the black veil, flashed expressions of hesitation and fear, before she finally made up her mind, reached out, and gently pushed the door open.