Chapter 8: Letting You Broaden Your Horizons

Three hours later.

The several drawings hand-drawn by Cheng Han were delivered elsewhere and spread flat across the surface of a wide peachwood table.

A man dressed in a black robe stood with his hands behind his back, staring unblinkingly at the drawings.

Outpost Chief Liu stood beside him and respectfully reported,

“Honored Mystic Master, the second drawing sent by the mysterious person depicts a short and fat young man. His lower body is shrouded in shadow, while his upper body is completely exposed. There is a black mole on the left side of his chest.”

A “Mystic Master” was an even more powerful type of extraordinary individual than a Warrior.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Warriors were the lofty ruling class. But in the eyes of Warriors, Mystic Masters were the true masters of this world.

Chief Liu continued,

“The Patrol Bureau dispatched an inspector to secretly investigate the factory. That young man really is an employee there. His name is Ma Tie.”

“The Patrol Bureau’s investigation discovered that four years ago, Ma Tie became involved in an Evil God incident, though he only suffered minor injuries.

“From that point onward, his personality underwent a drastic change. Previously, he had a rather violent temper, but afterward, he became gentle and polite…”

Hearing this, the black-robed Mystic Master lightly nodded.

“Many people who fall into becoming the lackeys of Evil Gods undergo drastic personality changes.”

Chief Liu continued speaking.

“In the two years following the Evil God incident, Ma Tie’s parents passed away one after another, and he has lived alone ever since.

“We interviewed Ma Tie’s neighbors. They all stated that every time Ma Tie went out to work, he would completely close all the curtains in his home…”

Chief Liu talked at length before finally arriving at a conclusion.

“The Patrol Bureau believes Ma Tie is extremely suspicious. The authenticity of the drawings sent by the mysterious person is highly credible.”

The black-robed Mystic Master remained silent for a moment before suddenly instructing,

“Zou Shan, bring over the Spirit Investigation Mystic Disk.”

Another black-clothed man standing nearby immediately responded,

“Yes!”

Very quickly, the black-clothed man hurried into the room carrying a metal disk with both hands.

Clang!

The metal disk was placed onto the table, producing an extremely dull sound.

One could tell from the sound alone that it was exceptionally heavy.

The disk was oval-shaped, about half a meter long, and entirely silver-white in color. Countless strange patterns had been carved across its surface in raised relief.

Chief Liu curiously glanced at it.

The instant his eyes touched those patterns, it felt as though his head had been struck by a giant hammer.

Boom!

A phantom sound exploded within his mind, and a nauseating discomfort surged through him.

Chief Liu jumped in fright and hurriedly shifted his gaze away.

The black-robed Mystic Master kindly reminded him,

“You haven’t condensed a Soul Tempering Seal yet. Your spirit cannot withstand the power of Mystic Patterns. It’s best not to stare at them too much.”

Chief Liu lowered his head, his attitude becoming even more respectful.

“I understand.”

The black-robed Mystic Master then opened a stone box and took out four black crystals the size of fists, placing them one by one into four indentations around the edge of the metal disk.

The crystals fit perfectly into the indentations. The gaps were so tiny they were almost invisible to the naked eye, displaying an extremely high level of craftsmanship.

Chief Liu secretly glanced at them from the corner of his eye and inwardly exclaimed:

What huge Mystic Crystals!

Mystic Crystals were far rarer than Gray Crystals. At the same size, the Origin Energy contained within a Mystic Crystal was at least five times greater than that of a Gray Crystal, while its value exceeded the latter by over tenfold.

The black-robed Mystic Master picked up one of the drawings and placed it at the center of the metal disk.

In an extremely awkward and obscure tone, he chanted a phrase:

“Moni… Lagu…”

The next moment, a gust of wind suddenly arose inside the room.

Whoosh!

A dark fluctuation instantly swept across the space.

The metal disk trembled lightly before erupting with hazy radiance.

Vaguely visible within the light were strange, illusory strands of light wandering about.

Chief Liu subconsciously closed his eyes.

One breath later, the light subsided.

The black-robed Mystic Master snorted.

“The mysterious person actually used anti-spirit-investigation methods. This person is even more cautious than I anticipated.”

Chief Liu grew increasingly curious.

Could it be that the Mystic Master had just used the legendary divination mystic arts? Then what exactly had he seen?

The black-robed Mystic Master rubbed his eyes and muttered softly,

“A giant crimson circular spot… Among fire-element schools of mystic arts, there doesn’t seem to be such a branch.”

In a low voice, he chuckled.

“This is most likely infighting between Evil Gods. Ma Tie is a believer of one Evil God, while the mysterious person worships another Evil God and wants to screw him over, which is why he secretly informed the authorities.”

Logically speaking, this was the most reasonable explanation.

Because only Mystic Masters could grasp anti-spirit-investigation methods.

Among the Mystic Masters of this world, they either served Evil Gods or worked for the authorities. Neutral parties such as wanderers or independents simply did not exist.

And if an official Mystic Master discovered clues about Evil God believers, why would they secretly deliver information in such a sneaky manner?

Shanyi District.

Cheng Han used the Omniscient Eye to perform a deduction.

Since the source of the deduction was himself, it succeeded on the very first try.

He “saw” the following scene:

Within a space filled with mysterious power, a black-robed figure looked upward at a blazing supermassive sphere of light, his face completely frozen in shock.

A line of information flashed forth:

“Analysis successful! Proficiency +4. Current proficiency: 38/1000. Spirit Value: 2.3/13.3.”

Cheng Han chuckled smugly.

“I knew it. Since this world possesses supernatural power, extraordinary individuals most likely have divination methods as well.

“To avoid exposing my identity, I deliberately used the skill to find a way to counter divination.”

“Still, I didn’t expect the True Flame Residual Seal to possess the ability to erase traces of aura and conceal my identity.”

Cheng Han’s method of dealing with the problem had been very simple.

He activated the residual seal to condense a sphere of light and then “ironed” all the drawings with it, just like using an iron on clothes.

As a result, his own aura was erased, replaced instead by the Origin Energy aura of the residual seal.

And the source of that aura came from the blazing sun of another spacetime. Since this world had no sun, it naturally left the Mystic Master utterly baffled.

“Meow~”

A cat’s cry sounded nearby.

Cheng Han turned around and discovered the black cat crouched beside the water bowl, noisily lapping up water.

The black cat now seemed to understand that this two-legged creature held no malice toward it. It no longer hid beneath the cabinet all day and instead treated this place as its own territory.

After all, there was food and drink here, and it no longer had to suffer from wind and rain outside. It was not stupid, so naturally it had no intention of escaping.

Cheng Han muttered,

“My savings aren’t exactly abundant. Raising a freeloader cat isn’t a long-term solution. I need to make use of this black cat.”

This young master does not raise idle cats!

Even a cat has to create value!

A thought immediately surfaced in his mind.

“Since the Omniscient Eye can analyze residual seals, it can probably deduce some method for taming small animals too.”

Just imagine it—

If he could completely control the black cat, then wouldn’t he be able to do many things that were inconvenient to do personally?

For example, if he wanted to pass information to the authorities again, he could simply send the black cat.

That would be far more convenient than using Kongming lanterns, and its concealment ability would surpass them by more than one level.

Cheng Han glanced at his remaining Spirit Value.

“I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

(End of Chapter)