In simple terms, relying on a silver tongue, he capitalized on their unpreparedness, amplified emotions, heightened the atmosphere, and harvested feedback.
The only ones who saw through it were Angel and the Black Earl. Their insight revealed their uniqueness and also provided new intelligence to the Wise Sovereign.
Indeed, the Wise Sovereign now increasingly doubted Angel’s identity as a descendant of the Noah family.
However, the Black Earl’s Noah identity seemed increasingly credible.
...
Meanwhile, Angel’s mood was slightly dejected. Despite appearing to be just probing with words, the Wise Sovereign borrowed the guise of Angel’s broadcast illusionary realm to bring everyone into a state of empathy.
This made Angel regret including the Wise Sovereign in the illusionary realm.
Fortunately, the Wise Sovereign’s main focus was on testing him and the Black Earl. The Black Earl had no fear of being tested; as an avatar, he was confident. No matter what the Wise Sovereign wanted to do, if he died, the main body would arise to create trouble. In that event, the Wise Sovereign, who passively defended, would inevitably find himself at a disadvantage if he did not abandon the Underground Labyrinth. If he did abandon it, his millennia of waiting would be in vain. Therefore, the Black Earl was untroubled.
As for Angel, he had already given up resisting. The Wise Sovereign definitely realized he wasn’t a Noah descendant, and was merely probing his abilities now.
Let him find out, Angel didn’t mind. As for probing abilities, the Wise Sovereign had probed incorrectly.
He thought Angel could sense emotions because the illusionary realm enveloped them and the illusionary power monitored their feelings. In reality, this immersive broadcast illusionary realm was merely an ordinary illusionary realm; Angel’s emotional perception came from his talent.
So, although the Wise Sovereign gleaned some information from probing, he got both right and wrong things, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Nevertheless, through this event, Angel gained further understanding of the Wise Sovereign’s capabilities.
This ability did not refer to lethal spell techniques, but rather the Wise Sovereign’s skillful discourse and performance prowess.
Without expending any energy, he performed like a Joker, yet remained completely lucid while observing all manner of beings with a calm indifference. With just his silver tongue, he managed to set the atmosphere into a realm of empathy.
It must be said, this transformation emerging from the Wise Sovereign’s unfathomable accumulation over countless years was indeed formidable.
While Angel contemplated, noticeable sounds emerged behind him. Clearly, the others had snapped out of it and proceeded toward the door.
Angel collected his thoughts and set aside his mental sparring with the Wise Sovereign for the moment, turning his attention to observing the room, which wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.
...
Everyone entered through the wooden door, almost all harboring the same thought—
"Isn’t this... a bit too small?"
The room was roughly the size of a single room in a hotel, which might sound acceptable, but this was a prison. They had expected a corridor behind the wooden door, with separate cells along its path. In sharp contrast to their imagination, the wooden door led directly to such a cramped room.
According to the Wise Sovereign’s explanation, this was indeed the prison cell. The first layer of cells was indeed this small.
Gazing at this cramped room, even Kaier, who had been preoccupied with operating the photostone along the way, couldn’t help but remark, "Building such a long staircase just for a room this small?"
Isn’t that somewhat an overkill?
"Or are the other rooms here already damaged?"
The Wise Sovereign heard Kaier’s question but did not respond, only flashing a faint smile, his eyes wandering across the cramped room.
It was Angel who spoke up, "There are no other rooms here, just this one. There’s a reason for such a small build."
Pausing for a moment under their gazes, Angel softly said, "This is a crucial node of the magical energy array within the Hanging Jail Stairway."
The Wise Sovereign looked at Angel in mild surprise, "How did you discover that?"
"I didn’t actually discover it, just made a casual guess. But now, I’m pretty certain my hypothesis is correct," Angel glanced at the Wise Sovereign, whose reaction affirmed that Angel’s guess was right.
The Wise Sovereign chuckled lightly, "So you were bluffing me?"
Angel skipped over the question without replying, you bluff, I bluff; anyway, there’s mutual probing of intelligence between everyone.
Angel strolled to one side of the room, inspecting, while saying, "A bed made of deep-sea cedarwood, a desk made of deep-sea poplar, the floor made of deep-sea birch... everything here is made of deep-sea wood."
"Isn’t it peculiar for deep-sea wood to appear here?"
"What’s peculiar about it? Deep-sea wood has high production, the price isn’t steep, and its energy conducting effect is quite good," the Wise Sovereign asked, pretending to be puzzled.
"Because the timing doesn’t add up," Angel replied, "The greatest effect of deep-sea wood is in enhancing energy conduction. But have you heard of deep-sea wood possessing immortal properties?"
No sooner had Angel spoken than Kaier seemed to realize something, brushing his hand over the bed made of deep-sea wood.
Kaier’s movements were not light, but the wooden bed merely rocked with his force, without a hint of decay.
"How is it still intact? After a thousand years, not a trace of wear?" Kaier questioned in confusion.
"That’s what I wanted to point out as the oddity. I know deep-sea wood endures external pressure better than other woods due to its growth environment, but even the most pressure-resistant wood can’t escape the corrosion of time. Yet now, time hasn’t degraded it, and hefty shakes have not caused it to collapse. Most importantly, even the spatial tempest hasn’t utterly destroyed it."
The Wise Sovereign asked, "And from this, you inferred it’s a magical energy array node?"
Angel shook his head, "I said, I didn’t infer; I simply sensed strangeness here. Looking at these immortal woods, I made a guess."
"When does deep-sea wood remain unscathed? The answer is, when infused with copious amounts of similar energy, it immensely defers the corruption baseline of deep-sea wood. Therefore, I guessed that this room once held a great deal of energy, energy that was gentle, not violent, and akin to deep-sea wood. Under prolonged energy exposure, this kept the deep-sea wood in an immortal state."
"And what kind of energy qualifies as robust, stable, and long-lasting? The only option I could think of is a magical energy array’s energy node."
After Angel’s explanation, there were still many questions left in everyone’s minds. However, judging by the Wise Sovereign’s reaction, Angel was believed to be correct; this was indeed a crucial node of the magical energy array.