Chapter 188: The Tarot Club and the City of Calamity

The Fool. Miss Kelaien nodded slightly, glanced around, and said, "Sun, I have a mission I need to entrust to you."

Derrick's heart tightened, and he assumed a posture of attentive listening.

He did not know whether it was about the City of Silver, but not only he—even the Chief seemed to be watching The Fool's next instruction, hoping that the light of expectation would arrive soon.

"Find a way to have puppets, substitutes, and the like call out the true name of the Eternal Blazing Sun, Aurosiocus, in the wilderness," Miss Kelaien took out a few talismans from his hand and instructed:

"Calling a deity's true name in the Land of the Forsaken will trigger the divine power left behind on the battlefield of the gods. Heh, Aurosiocus's temper will probably not let you finish calling it out—by the time you utter the first syllable, he will have purified you and the surrounding area."

This was a shocking great secret! Hearing the words from The Fool's mouth, everyone's thoughts surged within them.

"When the Eternal Blazing Sun's divine power is triggered, leave these few talismans suspended within it."

Miss Kelaien displayed the few talismans inscribed with strange symbols in front of Derrick.

"Understood." Derrick did not ask why; he only needed to carry out Mr. Fool's divine oracle.

"When doing this, first, it must be carried out in secret; second, be careful of the Creator's son, Amon." Miss Kelaien, saying this, deliberately raised his voice slightly, revealing a sense of pleasure:

"I want to play a game with Amon, but unfortunately, I am about to enter a temporary slumber."

"World, you will take over this chess piece for me and play with him properly."

Miss Kelaien controlled the dummy "World" to answer: "Understood."

Apart from Su Lin, Zhongli, and Lu Mingfei, everyone else felt a vast and profound meaning spreading in their hearts, the shock and excitement coursing up their spines to their entire bodies.

That Amon is an Angel King, the son of the ancient Sun God! And Mr. World is still only a Sequence 3 Saint—Mr. Fool actually entrusted such a mission to him.

Not to mention what exactly Mr. Fool's chess piece is, but as Mr. Fool's Blessed, can World participate in a contest approaching the level of the gods at Sequence 3?

The Mr. Fool seated at the head of the bronze long table grew more unfathomable with each passing time; whenever everyone grew accustomed to Mr. Fool's capabilities, Mr. Fool would inadvertently reveal an even vaster "sky."

Alger recalled his thoughts when he first joined the Tarot Club; back then he had thought Mr. Fool was merely a high-sequence Beyonder.

Gods are unfathomable.

He looked at World with a mixture of envy and fear—playing a "game" with an Angel King on a battlefield left behind by the gods.

Even with Mr. Fool's help, Gehrman Sparrow had unknowingly grown to this point.

'He was on the same level as me just last year.'

'Not only he, many people are about to catch up to me.' The urgent desire to grow stronger burned ever fiercer in Alger's heart; he could hardly wait to earn merit in this war and become a Sequence 4 demigod.

At the same time, everyone was also pondering a question in their minds.

'After this game, Mr. World won't be about to become an Angel, will he?!'

What an absurd thought, yet the possibility was extremely high.

If they had heard such a thing before joining the Tarot Club, they would have certainly thought it was some script fantasized by a Beyonder who had lost control.

Only Audrey, besides feeling envy, also felt some worry for World—Miss Kelaien.

She knew that behind this mad adventurer's persona was a weary traveler, body and soul, searching for a way home.

Miss Kelaien, seeing that it was about enough, gently tapped the long table:

"You may begin."

Su Lin, who had been holding his pose for a long time, could finally relax his body slightly. Once or twice was fine, but striking this pious believer's posture every time was a bit tiring.

He looked at Zhongli across from him; the other was still drinking tea atop the gray fog, looking utterly at ease.

"Can you get me a cup?" Su Lin did not want to keep up the act; he and Zhongli, unlike the others, could touch physical objects on Source Castle.

"Of course."

The others did not feel much about it; whatever these two did was no surprise.

"Do you want some?" Zhongli said to the others.

Everyone shook their heads in unison—those two could act casually, but they could not.

"I'll have one."

Everyone looked in shock at the one who spoke—it was the Emperor?!

How bold. But then again, it was normal; he had only just come into contact with Beyonder matters not long ago.

"Mr. 'World,' my teacher says he can agree to your transaction, and will use a certain Grade 0 Sealed Artifact managed by the Abraham family to exchange with you for the 'Box of the Old Days' obtained from hunting the Secrets Sorcerer."

"If you can lift the curse on my teacher's family... he... is even willing to offer two Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts as payment."

Hearing this, even Fors felt it was somewhat unbelievable. Although she knew the Abraham family had once been glorious, she had not expected her teacher's family to have such deep reserves.

Fors felt that compared to Master Kao Yi's life, her teacher valued the promise to lift the curse more, because she had experienced it firsthand and knew exactly how miserable her teacher's family was.

That delirium, that pain, that fear—for endless years, her teacher's family had endured it all along.

Two Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts were enough to prove the Abraham family's sincerity, although she felt her teacher had many doubts about this matter.

"Heh heh." Miss Kelaien let out a low laugh: "Looks like we can move. How about tonight?"

Has he gone mad?!

The Hermit. Cattleya and the others could hardly believe it—moving against a demigod wielding a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact in such haste?

Shouldn't they prepare more... No. World should be fully confident, but this manner made them somewhat unaccustomed.

"I'll follow your command." Cattleya spoke up.

With Cattleya, the highest in sequence, saying so, the others naturally had no objections, except—

'Am I about to become bait this soon?' Fors was on the verge of tears.

Fors had just been about to speak when her body instinctively tensed up. She then recalled that humanity's anthem is the anthem of courage, and with a "resolute" attitude of closing her eyes and charging toward death, she said:

"Besides this, I have another commission."

"Mm, I know. You're about to reach Sequence 5, so you want me to send you somewhere else?" Miss Kelaien folded his hands together and said in a cold tone.

"Yes..." Fors felt that 'World' Gehrman Sparrow was becoming more and more terrifying—he even knew what she was about to say: "I wonder what kind of payment you require."

"As for payment, let Mr. Sacrificial receive it."

Fors' eyes went wide—how did this involve that ancient god again? It can't be something dangerous, can it...

She looked toward the priest Mr. holding a teacup over there, and he gave her a kindly smile.

"I heard you're a writer." Su Lin said to Fors. "I'd like to ask you to help me investigate something—it might be connected to Adam."

When the Tarot Gathering had ended.

Fors returned to her own body, her eyes vacant as she gazed at the sky outside the window.

After a long while, she collapsed onto the bed, her dazed expression as though an illusion had shattered.

'I just wanted to live a peaceful life.'

Bait, Demigod, Ancient God, Angel King—and I'm only Sequence 6!

She hugged her pillow, trying to escape reality.

Today's events gave her the urge to run, but if she ran, Mr. World would definitely turn her into fresh Beyonder characteristics, wouldn't he?

Wuu wuu wuu!

Fors let out a muffled, buzzing sound from inside the pillow.

All the matters had been arranged, and only four group friends remained seated above the Source Castle.

Miss Kelaien thought for a moment, conjured a mahjong table, and tried to extend an invitation: "Care for a few rounds?"

"No thanks." Lu Mingfei shook his head, declining: "Anything else? If not, I'll head back first—Trissy will be looking for me soon."

"Haha..." Miss Kelaien hesitated, then gave an awkward chuckle and said: "About that Beyonder potion I gave you before—there's actually something I've been keeping from you."

Miss Kelaien summoned a bronze cross from the pile of miscellaneous goods above the gray fog.

"That potion at Sequence 7 will forcibly change your gender, so—before you go from brother to sister—use this Cross of No Darkness to force the Beyonder characteristics out of your body."

"Hehe, don't be angry." Miss Kelaien laid a few Blasphemy Cards on the table: "As compensation, I can offer you a pathway switch."

Lu Mingfei's eyes went wide, looking as though he'd been deceived, then grew somewhat furious: "You bastard! After I trusted you so much!"

"You tricked me so badly!"

"Actually, you could consider advancing into a Witch." Su Lin teased with a smile: "Trust me, who doesn't like a magical girl? A Witch can also be called a magical girl, hahahaha."

"Don't tell me you had a hand in this too?" Lu Mingfei squeezed his eyes and bared his teeth in anger.

"At first there wasn't, but if you want to advance to Sequence 7, I can give you a potion for free." Su Lin said with a playful grin: "To save the Lord of Mysteries world on the verge of collapse, Lu Mingfei has decided to become a magical girl."

"Mm, this could be a book."

Su Lin said frankly, a regretful expression on his face: "Honestly, I really do want to see what you look like after drinking it—that expression would definitely be hilarious, hahahahaha."

"You're beautiful when you smile—no wait, you're beautiful in women's clothes." Miss Kelaien covered his mouth to keep from laughing out loud: "Mm, don't worry, once you reach Sequence 4 and switch to the Hunter pathway, you can change back."

Zhongli gave a helpless smile and said: "According to universal reason, before coming into contact with the unknown, one still needs to understand enough information."

"Indeed, so I've been flipping through Lord of the Mysteries these past few days—hehe, it's a good book." Lu Mingfei nodded and said: "Oh right, after becoming a Witch, can I still use this cross to change back into a man?"

Miss Kelaien denied it: "Of course not—that's a fundamental change to the body itself. If you become female and then use the Cross of No Darkness to extract the Beyonder characteristics, you'll only end up as an ordinary woman."

"Why are you asking? Got ideas? I wholeheartedly approve." Miss Kelaien raised an eyebrow and teased.

"Really not considering it?" Su Lin said, with a slightly pleading tone, having somehow procured a sailor uniform: "Please! Fei-chan! I have a friend named Huang Tao, and he said his last wish is to see a Witch one more time."

"Get lost." Lu Mingfei said with a forced smile: "Why don't you turn into a Witch yourself? Oh, that's called a Saint—a Light Saint must be quite beautiful, right?"

"Haha, I've never had that kind of novel experience." Su Lin tossed the sailor uniform aside: "You have a prior offense."

Su Lin had expected Lu Mingfei to be somewhat shaken, but the other party merely smiled faintly and said: "Hehe, yes, a prior offense."

"Miss Kelaien, Su Lin, do you know? Maybe everyone has their own feminine side."

Su Lin and Miss Kelaien looked at Lu Mingfei, momentarily at a loss for words. What did he just say? A feminine side.

"What I mean is, the Supreme Ultimate gives rise to the Two Forms, and these Two Forms are Yin and Yang. All things are born from the unity of Yin and Yang, from contradiction and dialectics." Lu Mingfei said, looking at the two of them: "Hehe, sorry, I had a bit of a recent realization—please excuse the laugh."

Miss Kelaien and Su Lin suddenly fell silent. How strange... this Lu Mingfei had suddenly become very strange. What was going on? Had his brain broken?

Zhongli also cast a suspicious glance at Lu Mingfei: "Yang has its end and beginning, Yin at its extreme reverts to Yang. What you say is not without reason—masculinity represents the power of Yang, femininity represents the power of Yin, but the power of Yin and Yang exists within all things."

The reason the Hunter pathway and the Witch pathway in this world are adjacent pathways is also for this reason—it represents the Creator's two-sided nature. The two different pathways only bring one closer to one side, but in essence they remain a unity of Yin and Yang.

It is precisely because of this that adjacent pathways can perform a single mutual switch.

"Let's talk about Bansy. What do you two know about that place?" Lu Mingfei changed the subject: "I'm planning to leave Trissy's pirate crew soon to investigate that place."

"From the description in the book, it seems to be a kind of Primordial Deity as well."

"She deliberately lingered there probably to investigate who's tracking her. Before you leave, help me leave a mark on her ship." Miss Kelaien drew in a page from above the gray fog—inside was a memory he had sealed:

"Bansy Harbor connects to the City of Calamity. Before the end of the previous era, there was a name we all know very well there."

"Magic City."

——————————

When Watching Lu Mingfei returned from above the gray fog, her disguise faded away, and a head of glossy black long hair fell from her head, naturally draping over both shoulders.

Her expression was calm, her eyes carrying a hint of coldness, as she murmured to herself: "Has a conscience, but not much."

Those two scumbags—oh, plus this scumbag inside me—make three.

"Even after all this, you still want me to disguise you?" Old Lu glanced somewhat guiltily at the beautiful girl who looked somewhat similar to him.

Lu Mingfei shot him a cold look. The most troublesome thing was that this thing had no shame, no skin, and no bottom line—would she herself in the future really go down this wrong path?

They say a person's maturity begins with conquering their immature self. She must have had her head squeezed by a door.

'One day I'll just sever my past and future and be done with it.'

Lu Mingfei silently sighed in her heart, then opened her mouth and said: "Besides advancing step by step to Sequence 4 and then switching pathways, what about the plan involving Bansy Harbor?"

"It should be feasible, but there are some complications there. Unless—" Old Lu drew out the syllable and looked toward Lu Mingfei's side, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Unless what?" Lu Mingfei followed his gaze, fell silent for a few seconds, then laughed. Her smile was like a flower, like a blooming seven-colored ixia:

"Fine, I'll wear it."

Han Xin could bear the humiliation of crawling between someone's legs; Goujian could sleep on brushwood and taste gall.

It's just wearing women's clothes, hehe.

Watching Lu Mingfei, her eyes curved into crescents with a smile, but within those narrowed eyes a faint golden light flickered.

Wait until I master the City of Calamity.

Zhou Mingrui? Zhou Mingrui? Zhou Mingrui?

Su Lin? Su Lin?

(End of this chapter)