Chapter 624: Chance Encounter

Lei Ke Dun did not answer Ke Lai En directly, but turned and said:

"If you wish to become a 'Mysterious Secret Attendant', the Sequence One trait on Cha La Tu is the safest."

Ke Lai En was stunned for a moment, hesitated a bit and said: "Are the other extraordinary traits unsafe?"

"At least he hasn't gone mad; after all, it's a trait that has been repeatedly assimilated, and its mental imprint has become mottled. Assimilating it will affect you far less."

Lei Ke Dun chuckled and replied, paused briefly, then continued:

"I've extracted a lot of occult knowledge from An Ti Ge Nu Si, which will take some time to digest. If anything happens, please don't come to me."

As the words fell, the deep crimson light that rose in the ancient palace quickly receded, and the deep crimson star representing Lei Ke Dun ceased flashing.

Ke Lai En stared at the now silent deep crimson star and muttered to himself: "He can cut the connection unilaterally; he seems to have a deeper understanding of this realm."

"I always have a bad premonition. Will I encounter something bad soon? Telling me not to seek him—does it mean I can solve it myself, or is there some extra development?"

After a moment of silence, Ke Lai En lifted the Fool card placed on the bronze long table to his eyes, infused it with spirit, and let its contents reveal themselves:

"Sequence Three: Ancient Scholar; Primary Materials: a pair of eyes from the Fugen Dog, a coagulated heart of the Mist Demon Wolf.

Auxiliary Materials: 100 ml of Fugen Dog blood + 30 g of Mist Demon Wolf white‑frost crystals + a large amount of authentic ancient historical records.

Ritual: Completely detach from reality for at least three hundred years, after you have become history and no longer belong to the current era, then ingest the demon elixir."

The description of the "Ancient Scholar" ascension ritual made Ke Lai En subconsciously frown. Isn't this too coincidental? In the occult world, there are no absolute coincidences, so this must have been arranged from the start by the former master of the Source Fortress, a post‑resurrection move of his own?

As thoughts drifted, Ke Lai En suddenly felt that his rapid sequence ascension wasn't solely due to his own experiences, but also driven by fate.

Just as An Ge Er Wei De could leave a mural in the City of Miracles, Levihe Dri, allowing the story to play out millennia later, the former master of the Source Fortress may have had similar means to manipulate fate.

However, the setup left by that former Source Fortress master seems flawed; neither the goddess nor Roselle chose any of the three paths, including the Diviner. If it hadn't been that page of Roselle's diary, I might have chosen the goddess's path diary. That diary appearing at that moment—was it fate's coincidence, the goddess's arrangement, or something else?

Thoughts kept swirling in his mind, finally turning into a long sigh. Ke Lai En quickly gathered his thoughts, his gaze returning to the Fool card in his hand: "For three hundred years I didn't know how many years I was hung on this gray mist; this ritual poses no difficulty for me. As long as I digest the demon elixir of the Trickster Mage on me, I can continue ascending at any time."

He muttered two sentences, then looked further down: "Sequence Two: Miracle Master; Sequence One: Mysterious Secret Attendant

Sequence Zero: Fool, Ritual requirement: fooling time, history, or fate once."

"That's a bit abstract. How does one fool time, history, or fate? Would stealing someone's fate like A Meng count?"

"Probably not. Ordinary 'theft' doesn't count. To truly fool fate, the stolen fate must be at least that of a Sequence One angel, perhaps even an Angel King, and by doing so deceive many talents."

Deep in the spirit realm, Lei Ke Dun, roaming rapidly in information form, suddenly caught sight of a somewhat familiar silhouette.

Hesitating briefly, he extracted a fragment of information from the information torrent and projected it into the real world corresponding to this spirit realm, in Yin Di Si's Upper Huo Na Qi Si Province.

Near the Huo Na Qi Si Mountains and the Intersea, in a small town, Meidiqi, clad in a dark crimson long coat splashed with blood, his red hair flamboyant, gazed leisurely at the shadows ahead, a pleasant curve at his mouth.

In the shadows within his sight, a light invisible to the naked eye descended from the spirit realm, reconstituting a somewhat illusory Lei Ke Dun body from massive pure knowledge.

"Hey~" Meidiqi sneered, each side of his cheeks bearing a scar that ran from the corner of his mouth to the ear root, sprouting illusory fangs and crimson tongues, like two lips torn from his body, uniformly echoing Meidiqi's words:

"Interesting, you 'Sages' can also divide your own information to create a duplicate?"

"But aren't you being a bit too cautious? This is just a border town of Yin Di Si, not a place like Te Li Er; steam won't cast its gaze without reason."

Lei Ke Dun, using a duplicate formed from his stripped information, stared expressionlessly at Meidiqi and said evenly: "You being here isn't without cause."

Meidiqi sneered once, dropped the topic, and turned his gaze toward the Huo Na Qi Si Mountains, saying:

"You shouldn't have come here without reason; you went to An Ti Ge Nu Si, didn't you?"

"I just noticed it; some unusual aura is spreading."

Lei Ke Dun cast a sideways glance at Meidiqi, his tone unchanged, and said:

"That place is shrouded in the secret of night; you, a Conqueror who is neither all‑knowing nor all‑powerful, how could you notice any unusual aura?"

Meidiqi let out a chuckle, curled his lip corner, and said with a hint of pleasure:

"I am indeed not all‑knowing nor all‑powerful, but your answer and attitude confirm you just went to the main peak of the Huo Na Qi Si Mountains." "So?" Lei Ke Dun retorted.

Meidiqi took two steps forward, leaning casually against a gas streetlamp post, and said in a leisurely manner:

"I suddenly recall leaving too hastily last time; you probably still have words unfinished with me, why not tell me now."

"If you are sincere enough, we could still cooperate briefly."

"Ha, the once most powerful Conspirator suddenly finds no reliable allies and can only revert to the option he previously abandoned?"

Lei Ke Dun sneered and mocked Meidiqi, paused two seconds, then continued:

"Somewhere underground in Te Li Er, there is a rogue Conqueror."

The mouth on Meidiqi's right cheek spoke first:

"Te Li Er is a descendant of the Suo Lun family?"

"Out of control? Ha, Suo Lun, your descendants are as useless as you."

The mouth on Meidiqi's left cheek immediately burst into a mocking laugh.

"All quiet." Meidiqi lowered his voice and roared, using his strength to temporarily silence Suo Lun and Ai Yin Huoen's consciousness; the two mouths on his cheeks reverted to deep scars.

Then he turned his gaze to Lei Ke Dun, chuckling: "Sorry for the laugh; what I wanted to tell you last time probably wasn't this."

"Allies and brief partners aren't the same, are they?"

Lei Ke Dun chuckled in reply, and as his words ended, his somewhat illusory body instantly shattered into pure information streams, rushing toward the location of his true form deep in the spirit realm.

Meidiqi watched the spot where Lei Ke Dun vanished, his expression growing solemn; his crimson eyes showed no emotion, as if engaged in serious contemplation.

A moment later, the mouth formed from the consciousness of Suo Lun's ancestor reappeared on his right cheek, and in a low voice he said: "Such an obvious conspiracy—do you really believe him?"

Then the consciousness of Ai Yin Huoen on his left cheek also spoke:

"A clumsy scheme; he wants us to draw the attention of steam and the Eternal Blazing Sun for him, then seize the chance to fulfill his own goal."

Meidiqi twitched his mouth corner and mused:

"At least he didn't lie, right? Moreover, regardless of what's underground in Te Li Er, we must retrieve that Conqueror trait."

"Always so anxious, I truly doubt how you two ascended to Sequence One—did you jump from the Witch path?"

As if enraged, Suo Lun's consciousness grew fierce: "Foolish Meidiqi, you've already paid one price for your arrogance; will you be killed a second time in the same trap?"

"Die once more, and we won't even have a chance to become a monster spirit."

Having died once already, it's still this easy to be provoked.

With a scoff, Mei Diqi suddenly lunged forward, his body igniting inch by inch, turning into a crimson-purple flame that then condensed into a long spear, shooting straight toward the horizon.

Within the Spirit Realm, streams of information without physical form swept over from afar and sank into Lei Kedun's body.

He closed his eyes, feeling the new information that had appeared in his mind, and quickly finished deciphering it:

It seems Suo Lun and Ai Yin Hoen's influence on Mei Diqi is greater than I imagined; not only do three consciousnesses need to unite to act, but even their thought patterns have changed.

One can certainly sense the aura of the City of Calamity on him, but it's faint and rather concealed, making it hard to detect under normal circumstances.

Perhaps they themselves haven't noticed, but their thought patterns and personalities have changed unconsciously.

The reclamation of traits and authority stems from the obsession of the City of Calamity; they will soon achieve unity and head for Te Li Er, at which point I need only amplify the influence of the City of Calamity within him to easily throw Te Li Er into chaos, sparking calamity, and thus I can easily take the trait of the Emperor of Knowledge.

After a moment's thought, he gathered his thoughts, using the power of Obscurity to erase the information generated from his recent interaction with the Spirit Realm, then turned into streams of pure, tangled information that flowed away into the distance.

(End of chapter)