Chapter 177: The Honest Man and the Veteran Schemer

"The Divine Abandoned Land." The Hanged Man A'erjie's tone mixed longing and surprise at Mr. Fool's ability to reach the Divine Abandoned Land.

The magician Foersi pursed his lips, and his voice, unable to hide his shock, said:

"Divine Abandoned Land? Is it the one I understand as the Divine Abandoned Land?"

At that moment, Mr. Fool lightly tapped the table twice, indicating that Justice Ao Daili's request for a private discussion was over; the others ceased speaking, and the scene fell silent in an instant.

Ao Daili looked around and saw thoughtful or surprised expressions on everyone's faces, clearly indicating that during her private discussion, the other companions at the Tarot meeting had already finished a round of communication.

Honestly, they all didn't wait for me; I'm also curious about what they discussed!

Kelei En, manipulating his minor world, slightly raised his hand and said:

"I seek some magical items from the Solar Realm; does anyone have any leads?"

The others exchanged glances and simultaneously shook their heads.

Ao Daili looked at Mr. Shijie seated at the lower left, thought briefly, and said:

"Sorry, Mr. Shijie, if you're not in a hurry, I can keep an eye out for you."

"No problem!"

Under Kelei En's control, Mr. Shijie gave a stiff nod without extra expression or movement.

The magician Foersi thought of the extraordinary being of the Solar Path who previously helped exorcise the restless, slightly raised his hand and also made a promise:

"I will also keep an eye out for such magical items for you, Mr. Shijie."

Kelei En, manipulating his minor world, glanced at Leike Dun and then withdrew his gaze.

Leike Dun gestured and said, "I have them, but you can't use them."

As for Solar Realm magical items, Leike Dun only has that unicorn figurine and the Divine Blood of the Eternal Blazing Sun, but Kelei En cannot use either.

The Solar Realm talismans made from the Divine Blood of the Eternal Blazing Sun were all given to Kelei En before the last trip to Weirdi Street.

Kelei En, controlling Mr. Shijie, gave a slight nod and then fell silent.

Seeing the conversation end, the Hanged Man A'erjie surveyed the group and, as if with a prepared script, began:

"I've recently taken on an investigation; in the past two or three years, many indigenous tribes on the Southern Continent have been plundered clean, and in various plantations and island chains, slaves have strangely fled in numbers."

"Since the northern nations abolished the slave trade, this hasn't occurred for a long time; have you heard any rumors about it?"

A'erjie's gaze swept over everyone except Xiao Taiyang.

Justice Ao Daili recalled the usual aristocratic gossip, and after a moment shook her head, saying:

"No, I haven't even heard of anything like that."

The Hanged Man A'erjie then turned his gaze to the remaining people, and they, along with Xiao Taiyang, all shook their heads, indicating they knew nothing.

Leike Dun, still leaning on the high-backed chair, said before A'erjie could start the next topic:

"Such large-scale population movement inevitably requires a maritime power's support; otherwise, this scale of relocation is impossible."

The Hanged Man glanced at the languid Leike Dun and said, somewhat astonished:

"Are you talking about the pirate general?"

"But the pirate general is watched by too many; if they transport slaves for long periods, they'll surely be noticed."

Leike Dun turned his head toward the Hanged Man A'erjie and said:

"Does the pirate general really have to do everything himself? With their influence, controlling scattered pirate crews is easy."

The Hanged Man A'erjie frowned, pondering, and the more he thought, the more he agreed with this view.

Kelei En, seeing this, also manipulated the dummy world and chuckled, saying:

"Heh~, you could also start investigating where so many slaves are needed."

"Where do they need so many slaves?"

Mr. Shijie's words made the listeners Ao Daili and Foersi ponder as well.

Leike Dun answered aloud: "Several great kingdoms."

The group again fell into uncertain contemplation.

Xiao Taiyang Dairike looked around several times, waited a while, and when truly no one spoke, he raised his hand, nervously saying:

"I've been assigned a mission to explore the half-destruction temple mentioned earlier, uh, the temple of the True Creator, in the near future."

"The leader of this operation is Shepherd Elder Luo Weiya; do you have any advice?"

"Advice? My advice is not to go."

Seeing Xiao Taiyang's questioning gaze, Leike Dun continued:

"You are too close to the True Creator; He has gone mad. If you don't provoke Him it's fine, but actively exploring His temple easily draws His attention and even malice."

The Hanged Man A'erjie originally intended to seize the chance to extract more information about the Divine Abandoned Land from Xiao Taiyang, but now the topic has been taken by Leike Dun, making the original pretext unsuitable.

Reorganizing his words, the Hanged Man A'erjie also gave a suggestion:

"I agree with Mr. Bai Ta's view: absolutely do not go!"

"The True Creator is a genuine evil deity; even if the temple you explore has been destroyed, it may still harbor dangers that are hard to detect."

"Especially since the elder leading your team is Shepherd Elder Luo Weiya; the True Creator is the deity at the apex of this extraordinary path, so even if the temple itself is fine, her going could still cause various problems."

Xiao Taiyang Dairike fell silent, his expression conflicted, and after a while he said reluctantly:

"But the mission must be accepted."

The Hanged Man chuckled softly and offered a suggestion:

"Nothing is truly mandatory; you could find an opportunity beforehand to deliberately let a monster injure you. For specifics, you can refer to past cases in Bai Yin Cheng."

Leike Dun raised an eyebrow at the Hanged Man, then his gaze swept over Justice Ao Daili and magician Foersi across the bronze long table, noting their startled expressions and gestures.

In his mind he thought, "It seems everyone has reached a consensus on the Hanged Man's slacker, veteran schemer image."

Receiving the Hanged Man's advice, Xiao Taiyang Dairike frowned slightly, hesitantly saying:

"But I haven't had any patrol missions lately, making it hard to encounter monsters."

Mr. Hanged Man A'erjie, using his abundant experience, guided the good child Xiao Taiyang, saying:

"You can pretend you're nearing loss of control; in that case, I think your exploration mission will be cancelled."

"Here's a technique: if you keep your spirit in a rather dried‑out state for two consecutive days, you'll develop auditory hallucinations and show signs of loss of control; if you then stop pushing further, the situation will improve within a week."

"Of course, your Silver City surely has a way to treat those showing pre‑loss‑of‑control signs, so recovery will be faster; you need to estimate the timing well."

In the mysterious world, the relatively new Justice Odairi and the magician Foersi, like Xiao Taiyang, were all stunned into silence.

"But" the honest child Xiao Taiyang still hesitated a bit.

Mr. Hanged Man A'erjie shifted his sitting posture, leaned back, and said:

"You aren't pretending loss of control out of selfishness to deceive others; you're doing it to save Silver City!"

"You must understand that this mission carries huge risk; the danger you face comes from the True Creator, a genuine evil deity! If you unfortunately die in that half‑ruined temple, who will expose Shepherd Luo Weiya's oddities?"

Under Mr. Hanged Man A'erjie's half‑conning, half‑sincere words, Xiao Taiyang ultimately agreed to his suggestion.

"What a good con‑artist child," Odairi sighed silently in her heart, but she herself did not want the Tarot meeting's companions to suffer any loss, so she did not interject into the dialogue between Mr. Hanged Man and Xiao Taiyang.

Xiao Taiyang Dairike, after accepting Mr. Hanged Man A'erjie's advice, turned his gaze toward the magician Foersi and said:

"Miss Magician, the food‑spirit eater's stomach you need, I may only be able to fetch it for you after some time."

"No problem, I'm not in a hurry."

The magician Foersi lightly nodded in response.

It's not like that; actually I'm quite anxious, sigh—Foersi lamented inwardly that his magical potion ingredients were too hard to find, but fortunately the Beike Land serial murder case has been solved, and the myriad gatherings of extraordinary beings have become active again.

The Tarot meeting soon entered a free‑chat segment, and Justice Odairi, with keen interest, asked Mr. Hanged Man A'erjie about his experiences on the sea.

Xiao Taiyang Dairike, based on some paintings and textual records collected by Silver City and Mr. Hanged Man A'erjie's explanations, imagined the appearance of the sea in his mind.

Until Kelei En, shrouded in gray mist, announced the end of this Tarot meeting, everyone's figures vanished rapidly above the mist with the deep‑red light.

With today's Tarot meeting concluded, Leike Dun rose from his lounge chair, glanced at the gloomy sky outside the window, then looked at the wall clock.

He confirmed it wasn't that he had stayed too long above the mist, but that Beike Land's weather had turned gloomy too quickly.

Leike Dun prepared to get up, retrieve the materials, and set up a ritual in the room to communicate with the red light of the Seven Lights in the spirit realm, Ai Er Moria.

He intended to request some information from the counterpart about the mental realm, to study mystic arts related to emotions and desires.

He swiftly arranged the ritual, lit a candle, and dropped a drop of essential oil into the flame.

Leike Dun quickly rose, stepped back a pace, and began to chant:

"Ever‑lasting light of the spirit realm, embodiment of boundless knowledge, the red of authority and will."

(End of chapter)