Adrian ordered Charon to sweep the city in order to detect the artifact. It seems that Adrian could use his soulbounds as his eyes and ears but only Charon fits the stealth type. Adrian could now sense what his soulbounds sense thanks to him being overpowered now.
He tried to search the best area which is the shrine but it came out with nothing. The shrine is so huge that it took a whole day just to scan due to Charon's speed. Adrian could not see if he will finish in time because war is just around the corner.
Diao Chan entered the room once more to entertain Adrian. She wants to earn more brownie points so to speak and Adrian.
"Can you explain what happened when the Soul Reflecting Mirror disappeared?" Adrian asked.
"If I remember correctly at that time, the head monk of the shrine is said to have died due to old age but I do not believe that. The last time that I saw that old man he was still healthy and alive even though I did not like him because of the air he has with him." Diao Chan stated.
While Adrian is talking with Diao Chan, Charon suddenly hit something that repelled him. It seemed some sort of barrier that repels anyone that enters it. Adrian and his soulbounds suddenly disappeared from the room in the teahouse that is in.
Adrian reappeared at a house that is just a few meters away from the shrine. The house is surrounded by a warding magic which makes it appear invisible to others. It seemed that the barrier protecting the house does not let any ghost in even though Charon is considered level 500.
The barrier covering the house is not dome shaped like what he normally sees. The barrier is actually shaped like a box and it is colored blue. Adrian tried touching the barrier but it gave resistance which is strange because the barrier did not feel like it stopped him physically.
"It is as if the barrier itself rejected my soul. Magic using the soul is considered forbidden because it uses lots of sacrifices if the caster will not use his own soul as the medium." Adrian thought as he checked every section of the barrier if it has a weak spot.
Adrian checked every inch of the barrier but nothing. He even tried blinking inside but his soul felt a rejection which made him vomit blood. Amidst the pain that he felt though is a tugging sensation to his soul. He felt this last time but now it is more pronounced because he is closer to the source.
He even felt hot and cold for a brief moment and that was the indication that the artifact is there. Adrian felt that this is supposed to be a quest for him for a Psyche Armament but fate is a weird mistress so it also became a quest to save the two guardian birds.
Adrian thought this is a quest to save the two guardian birds because he saw that death was near for both of them. He can see it as the souls of the two guardian birds are waning and only have little time left before they die. They say that phoenixes do not die but Adrian knew that death of the soul meant true death.
Adrian did not care for subtlety right now because time is running out for the two guardian birds. Even though the quest to retrieve the mirror did not have a time limit, Adrian knew that his power is on borrowed time.
"If I use Soul Recall and summon a god then I might just serve my head to a silver platter." Adrian thought as he knows that gods do not want others messing things up but Adrian did not know that someone already messed things up.
There was a reason why a Psyche Armament can only be found in the past because someone from the present sent it there. The two guardian birds were not a thing because if history panned out correctly, Shangri-La should still be standing right now. It might have been destroyed to a certain degree but not erased from the map.
Before Eldritch became the Envoy of the Dark Gods, he accidentally fell into a temporal portal. He was looking for the temple of a dark god that can manipulate time so maybe it was not that accidental. That temple is located in the eastern continent which he was the first one to access.
Eldritch managed to find a deranged monk that practiced different ways and aid him in finding a certain mirror. Eldritch was pulled out in the past and returned to the present because anymore will change the entire history of the east if he stayed there longer. The AI in the guise of the dark god that can manipulate time pulled him out or else apocalypse might have come for the east continent.
The gods of the central continent did not interfere because the eastern continent is covered by a veil of created by fallen gods. Even the divining orb that the twin gods possess can only see fog when they direct their attention to the east continent.
"I should make a distraction because destroying a barrier is not going to be silent. A loud breaking sound like glass would be heard due to how powerful this barrier is." Adrian muttered to himself and then he remembered that he had a dragon.
"Kanlaon, why don't you greet the citizens of the city with a bang?" Adrian stated with a smile.
Kanlaon then slowly shifted from his human for to his dragon form. He rose up towards the sky and emitted a roar loud enough to divert the attention of everyone in the city. Even those inside their houses opened their windows because this roar is familiar.
Those in the streets began praying for protection while those in their houses prayed for war to not come to their doorstep. Adrian though has already enlarged his demi-gauntlets in order to strike at the barrier.
"Nether Soul Strike" Adrian stated as his claw like giant gauntlets with nether flames hit the barrier.
The sound of the barrier breaking did not emit a glass like breaking sound but instead wails of sorrow. It was not just one sorrowful wail but a thousand. Adrian knew that this is not an ordinary wail because he had a system notification. The sound of the wails were drowned out by Kanlaon's roar but that is only the case for the city inhabitants not Adrian.
[You have destroyed the Barrier of a Thousand Souls. You have freed ten thousand souls of the innocent from the anguish of being used as a power source.]
"It seems that I have a very rude guest." An old monk holding a mirror stated.
Adrian felt a thug when he saw the mirror and it even reacted to him but it seems the influence of the monk is forcing it in the hands of the monk.