Chapter 708: Bait

In the abandoned land, after the citizens of Moon City left, Ke Lai En summoned Lei Kedun's historical projection from the historical fissure once again.

After a brief silence, Lei Kedun projected his consciousness over, looked at Ke Lai En, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Go find the Umbral Dark Wolf?"

Ke Lai En nodded, his tone calm, "Yes, I have already arranged for the Moon City residents to wait a while longer; next we will attempt to hunt the Umbral Dark Wolf, to help Silver City open the Giant King's Court."

He paused, then added, "Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?"

"None, but I have a piece of information."

As he spoke, Lei Kedun raised his right hand and pulled strands of data from the void, condensing them into an illusory orb of light.

He tossed the orb casually; it burst ahead, turning into a screen‑like display of light and shadow.

Within the light and shadow, the gray‑white solidified mist appeared; after a few seconds the mist surged, spitting out a black veil that resembled velvet.

It descended semi‑transparently from mid‑air, growing larger until it landed, completely covering a hill below.

The hill vanished instantly, leaving only a deep pit in its place.

The image flickered slightly, showing a subtle change that caused the veil and hill to reappear translucently.

Then an Umbral Dark Wolf covered in dim short fur, with eight limbs, arrived; its jet‑black pupils stared straight at the hidden hill, as if assessing something.

A moment later, it raised its head and let out a howl, yet strangely no sound was produced.

Around it, some monsters hidden in the darkness were transformed into secret constructs and walked toward the veil. After repeated attempts, the Umbral Dark Wolf finally seized the veil, which also triggered a mutation in the gray mist.

The nearby gray‑white mist writhed rapidly, forming a massive vortex that tried to draw both the Umbral Dark Wolf and the veil together.

The floating light‑shadow scene ended there; Lei Kedun glanced at the pondering Ke Lai En and said aloud,

"These are some scenes I saw through the 'Prophecy' when I was here last time; they occurred two years ago, more precisely on June 28, 1349."

Ke Lai En froze for a moment, eyes widening in bewilderment, and looked at Lei Kedun, saying,

"Is this anomaly here connected to me? And that Umbral Dark Wolf ultimately succeeded in staying on that veil? Is that the trait of the 'Mysterious Secret Servant'?"

Before Lei Kedun could answer, he continued muttering to himself, "So this is why the third 'Mysterious Secret Servant' trait vanished since the Second Era? It was drawn together by those gray‑white mists?"

"I previously asked A Luodesi about the 'Miracle Master' and 'Travel Mage'; in its answer, the traits of both were each missing, and they were both merged into that veil?"

"It wasn't the gray mist that merged them, but something above the mist." Lei Kedun corrected, then continued,

"As for the missing 'Travel Mage', 'Miracle Master', and 'Fate Trojan' traits, they were fashioned into a wishing lamp to seal that unlucky Lamp God."

"Seal the Lamp God?" Ke Lai En murmured softly, recalling the description of the wishing lamp when he previously asked about the 'Miracle Master'.

After a brief silence, he gave a wry smile and sighed, "To draw out the second‑sequence traits of all three paths at once and use them correctly—did the former master of Source Fortress do that?"

The former master of Source Fortress did leave many traces, though they're hard to spot without understanding; adjusting his mood, Ke Lai En spoke again,

"The secret‑construct town we saw earlier was the Umbral Dark Wolf preparing its ascension ritual? In that case it would be even more cautious; if I use the aura of Source Fortress as bait, might it run even farther away?"

Lei Kedun, pondering, said,

"Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't be able to resist the lure of Source Fortress; it's worth the risk."

"Not only because of Source Fortress's stature, power, and significance, but also due to the aggregation effect among higher‑level entities; driven by fate, it will gradually persuade itself to risk seizing Source Fortress."

"If A Meng interferes, some unexpected complications might arise, though the probability is low; an Umbral Dark Wolf that possesses a 'Mysterious Secret Servant' trait won't be so easily caught by A Meng's tail."

Ke Lai En, pondering, nodded and said, "Let's go farther away; trying here might affect Moon City."

Lei Kedun said nothing further, and together with Ke Lai En transformed into a torrent of data, rushing swiftly toward the southwest.

After moving away from Moon City, Lei Kedun and Ke Lai En casually found a city ruin where he set him down. Ke Lai En carefully summoned his own historical projection, then hid his true self within the historical mist.

Having done so, he looked at Lei Kedun again, "Please take this historical projection of mine a bit farther, ensuring that even if trouble arises it won't affect my true self."

"You really treat me as a means of transport, huh."

He sighed, and Lei Kedun again became a data torrent, carrying Ke Lai En's historical projection farther away.

Along the edge of a dried riverbed, successive data torrents surged and converged, reconstituting the forms of Lei Kedun and Ke Lai En.

After setting Ke Lai En down, Lei Kedun's figure faded again, breaking into multiple data streams that vanished from Ke Lai En's sight in an instant.

He remained silent for two seconds, then lifted the dim yellow horse lantern, scanning the surroundings—dry cracked riverbed, bizarre twisted plants, and monsters hidden in the darkness—all fell within his gaze.

Exhaling deeply, he found a massive stone nearby, sat down, placed the lantern aside, and in Giant tongue whispered a reverent name: "Lord of the Umbral, co‑existent with history, embodiment of countless miracles, master of wishes."

As the prayer ended, shortly thereafter Ke Lai En felt a vague gaze from an unknown place fall upon him.

He showed no expression or emotional shift, continuing to chant the deity's exalted name, buying time for the Umbral Dark Wolf's observation: "Eternal blazing sun, you are the undying light, embodiment of order, god of contracts, guardian of commerce."

"Lord who creates all, sovereign behind the shadow veil, ruler of the spirit realm."

"Keeper of truth, the erudite one, you are the essence of all knowledge, source of endless mysteries, the brilliance of all civilizations."

As the final word fell, a pair of eyelash‑less, cold, indifferent eyes filled with countless shining stars emerged behind Ke Lai En, staring unblinking at the darkness above his head and meeting the gaze of the Umbral Dark Wolf looking through the prayer light.

Almost simultaneously, streams of fabricated data from Lei Kedun traveled along the prayer light's link to the Umbral Dark Wolf, and via the connection between its true form and historical projection, spread the information to its body hidden in the historical fissure.

Sensing something amiss, the Umbral Dark Wolf instantly snuffed out the prayer light.

Ke Lai En's praying historical projection simultaneously grew faint and vanished swiftly into the deep darkness.

Deep within the rolling mountains, an ancient, grand castle resembling a giant's dwelling stood.

Giants, elves, humans, and vampires roamed the castle, serving as guards, gardeners, cooks, male servants, female maids, and so on; they lived harmoniously, exchanging a few words when they met, exuding vitality and spirit.

Yet when they returned to their rooms, they immediately became vacant, eyes no longer moving, bodies drifting upward uncontrollably until they hung from the ceiling.

In the deepest part of the castle, a vast black hall, the silvery lightning outside illuminated the interior, and a massive silhouette abruptly materialized.

Its body was as huge as a small hill, bearing eight legs, covered in dim short fur; black pupils filled at least three‑quarters of its eyes, and a tuft of gray‑white hair on its forehead resembled a twisted, enlarged wild wolf.

Upon appearing, the Umbral Dark Wolf Ke Ta Er immediately began severing all connections with the outside, erasing its traces, and prepared to abandon this place to establish a new secret‑construct city elsewhere.

Those strange eyes earlier gave him a strong sense of unease, as if a terrifying presence had fixed its stare on him.

The next second, a vision sprang to its mind, an intuitive premonition: above the castle, countless pale‑blue star fragments flew from the void, swiftly forming a double‑door adorned with mysterious patterns and glittering starlight, from which a torrent of pure, complex information surged.

Regaining composure, Ke Ta Er instinctively looked upward; its body vanished instantly, and a vacant, soulless elf appeared in the hall's center.

Above the gray mist, Ke Lai En gazed at a new illusory star that emerged over the endless gray fog, a link forged by the Umbral Dark Wolf's earlier probing that it had not yet erased.

Without any hesitation, Ke Lai En reached into the historical fissure and retrieved a Time Worm corpse from A Meng, while his other hand lifted the ornate staff resting on the bronze tabletop.

As spirituality was infused, the staff inlaid with numerous sapphire-blue gems burst forth with clear starlight.

At the same time, Klein's eyes turned sapphire-blue, covered with a layer of starlight.

In that instant, he grasped a great deal of high-level knowledge, knowledge of the time domain! He used the time worm from A Meng to pry open the power corresponding to the "Thief" pathway in the "Source Fortress", simulating the release of an extraordinary ability that both A Meng and Parles had used before.

(End of chapter)