Chapter 586: Performance

After a moment of silence, Sha Lun spoke again and asked:

"What have you encountered? I just sensed a very powerful aura; that heavy, imposing presence made it hard for me to breathe and act."

"An angelic-level aura attracted Lu En's Founder, but he should have left by now."

While speaking, Lei Ke Dun scanned the surroundings, and specks of starlight fell from his hand, coalescing behind him into a high-backed chair.

Listening quietly nearby, Ma Li Qi couldn't contain his surprise and exclaimed, "Wei Lian·Ao Gu Si Du I! He's still alive?"

Lei Ke Dun gave a gentle nod, leaning against the starlight-formed chair, and said calmly:

"He is an angel who once followed Solomon; time does not leave many marks on him. He has been covertly protecting the Lu En Kingdom, but few know of him, and fewer can see him."

"Did you clash with that Founder?"

Sha Lun still maintained the posture of a possessed mummy, her slightly ethereal voice emanating from the mummy's body.

Lei Ke Dun gave a slight nod, tossing the metal ring he had snatched from Saier Te in his hand, and said, "He and I only briefly tested each other; due to some concerns, he had no intention of staying entangled with me, and let me leave without much resistance."

"Why?" Ma Li Qi asked, puzzled.

Lei Ke Dun shrugged and replied, "Perhaps the Lu En royal family has more important schemes."

Then he turned his gaze to the possessed mummy Sha Lun and said calmly, "Don't forget our agreement: after you ascend to Puppet, you must help me clear the Rose Sect members beyond the Southern Continent and block their reinforcement to Xi Bai Lang."

"No problem," Sha Lun's voice was a bit ethereal, but her tone was resolute.

Lei Ke Dun nodded calmly and then asked, "Do you need me to escort you back to Beckland?"

"We were already prepared when we arrived," Sha Lun's voice, within the mummy, drifted and restrained.

Lei Ke Dun gave a gentle nod; his body instantly became transparent, as if turned into a statue formed of countless gathered starlights.

The statue, together with the chair beneath it, shattered, turning into brilliant starry sparks that surged through the cracks of surrounding walls and ceilings, rushing into the depths of the spirit realm.

In the spirit realm's depths, the continuously flowing brilliant starlight suddenly halted; fragments of starfire reconvened, revealing Lei Ke Dun's figure.

"The information-based ability stripped from me by Wei Lian·Ao Gu Si Du I has finally returned; after getting used to the convenience of information form, losing it suddenly is truly unsettling!"

While sighing softly, his figure became ethereal, disintegrating piece by piece into a massive, pure information flow that surged away like a torrent.

During this process, his inspiration was suddenly sparked, and his gaze naturally fell on the area beyond the spirit realm, at the junction of Su Ni Ya Sea and Kuang Bao Sea.

A massive sailing ship appeared in his view, its hull dark and somber with hints of murky green; the stark white mainsail bore a blooming black tulip, and the vessel carried almost no living crew, most duties performed by undead or spirits.

White skeletons, either unclothed or clad in leather armor, busily handled the sails; pale undead bearing long swords patrolled back and forth, their eyes tinged with murky green flame scanning the surroundings, while shadows, wraiths, and various odd spirit realm creatures fluttered and spiraled, sometimes slipping into the hull, their translucent faces with indistinct features jutting from the rail as if surveying.

"The Black Tulip, I didn't expect to see Ludwig here—coincidence?"

The massive, pure information flow dwelled in the spirit realm's depths; through information exchange between the spirit realm and reality, he could easily learn the situation in the real world.

Among the many undead piloting the Black Tulip, a pale blue portal materialized out of nowhere; amid the wary and hostile gazes of the ship's living and dead, the mad adventurer Ge Er Man·Si Pa Luo, clad in a white shirt, black vest, and a half-high silk top hat, stepped out from the portal.

Mysterious, elegant patterns faintly surfaced on his face, making him appear rather grim and cold, more like a living corpse than a living person.

His gaze fixed on Ludwig, the "Hell General" standing at the forefront of the undead and living, his eyes flashing cold light as if a lofty monarch.

Opposite him, Ludwig—wearing an exaggerated triangular hat adorned with a white skull and feathers, a white shirt trimmed with lace, and an ornate brown short coat, his body covered by a silver-white mask—trembled continuously, as if fiercely resisting and enduring something.

On the silver-white mask, the openings for the eyes, nose, and mouth were surrounded by condensed moisture, as if the entire face beneath the mask were twisting.

The undead on the Black Tulip all shivered and crawled aside, as if worshipping their king.

Among the few surviving crew, some joined the undead, overwhelmed by an immense, indescribable mental pressure, trembling as they crawled on the deck; others remained confused, standing dazed, only feeling that this suddenly appearing mad adventurer seemed far from a living being, his aura dreadfully gloomy. In the spirit realm's depths, before the pure information-flow creature that was Lei Ke Dun, a figure suddenly materialized.

He wore a silk top hat and a black tuxedo, of medium build and bronze skin, a tiny black mole below his right ear, his eyes bearing a weary, restrained expression that gave an unusually cold impression.

The massive information flow contracted inward, converging, and reconstituted Lei Ke Dun's body from its tangled, pure knowledge.

He bowed slightly toward the suddenly appearing person and said, "Good evening, Mr. Azk."

Azk gave a slight nod, sighing, "Good evening. I didn't expect you to have become a Sage; even a deity's devotee would find such rapid advancement hard to achieve."

Speaking, he suddenly turned and looked toward the Black Tulip beyond the spirit realm, saying:

"I've almost fully recalled the memories I lost, only the final part remains; I can probably guess what happened to me before."

"I plan to go to Kuang Bao Sea; something there is calling me, but to pinpoint the exact location I still need the ring left by the Death God."

"I have a premonition that I may fall into another slumber and forget my memories again; before that, the help I can give him is a secret companion and a chance to act."

At this point, Azk's tone became reflective; the coldness in his eyes faded, his gaze turning gentle and warm.

Lei Ke Dun nodded calmly, paused two seconds, then said, "Below Trill's domain lies the Samaritan Woman Spring; its water can heal soul damage, and it has extraordinary effects for the Death God and the adjacent pathways."

This information came from the Hidden Sage; to him, the Hidden Sage is an encyclopedia he can browse at any time, and when idle he consults it for knowledge, including the Samaritan Woman Spring hidden beneath Yin Di Si.

Azk frowned slightly, searched his memory to no avail, shook his head and said, "Samaritan Woman Spring? I have no memory of it; its appearance must have been after I fell into continual forgetting and then awoke, right?"

Lei Ke Dun nodded lightly and said, "Indeed, it originates from the Pale Disaster, a influence imposed by the Eternal Dark River through a seal."

"It seems the participants of that Pale Disaster knew more than I did."

"Unfortunately, I probably no longer have time to seek that spring."

Azk sighed with a somewhat complex tone.

As they talked, Ludwig on the Black Tulip's deck trembled, then his posture became slow and rigid; a faint green glow flickered in his chest and abdomen as the powerful spirit he had sealed inside tried to force its way out.

The next second, it shrank back into Ludwig's body.

In its perception, that instant, a terrifying, alien eye sprouted twistedly from the deck's fissures where shadows merged, staring directly at it; its survival instinct made it promptly retract back into Ludwig.

The silver-white mask's eye sockets, glowing with hollow azure light, revealed desperation.

The spirit thread on his body had been partially seized, suppressed by higher-level beings of the same path; he could not muster even a hint of resistance, only feeling his thoughts slow, his body stiffen, and his movements become sluggish.

For the extraordinary beings on the Black Tulip who are not of the Death God path, this scene resembled Ludwig, the Hell General, and the mad adventurer locked in confrontation.

Bang! At the opposite end of the deck, Ge Er Man·Si Pa Luo suddenly snapped his fingers, and Ludwig, whose spirit thread was already partially seized and unable to resist, mirrored the finger snap.

Under the bewildered gazes of nearby crew, the undead and skeletons crawling on the deck fell one by one, as if turning into genuine corpses and bones.

Maintaining Ge Er Man·Si Pa Luo's appearance, Ke Lai En forced an incongruous cold smile onto his face and said calmly, "Very well."

"Very well."

"Very well," Ludwig croaked, repeating his words.

This scene fell upon the living crew members on the "Black Tulip" and appeared especially eerie; a layer of goosebumps rose on their bodies, and on the faces of the overly excited "sailor" a fine layer of scales surfaced.

(End of chapter)