Chapter 320: Witch Patna Los (12)

Dusk.

Luosen followed Fuke all the way, walking through a narrow, desolate valley.

The valley was littered with jagged rocks, not a single tree, and even weeds were scarce.

The road was also tough to travel, often requiring climbing over blocking stones.

Goo-goo~~ribbit-ribbit~~gurgle~gurgle~~

From the cracks in the stones and deep in the weeds, various strange little animal cries sounded off and on, yet this made the valley seem even more silent.

This place is far off the pilgrim's road.

In the valley, aside from Fuke leading the way ahead, there was only Luosen following behind.

Within Luosen's perception, there was no sign of any elves within a two-kilometer radius.

This should count as one of the few remote wilderness areas in the Holy Elf Empire.

Luosen trailed leisurely behind Fuke and remarked, 'This place is really remote.'

Fuke nodded repeatedly.

'It's indeed a bit remote, but still quite safe.'

'After walking a bit further, once we reach the end of the valley, there will be a hidden cave; passing through it will make us completely safe.'

His tone sounded calm, but his soul revealed a fluctuation of anxiety and urgency combined, and the closer they got to the cave at the valley's bottom, the stronger the fluctuation became.

Obviously, the answer is likely inside the cave.

The cave is not far away.

Luosen focused his senses on the cave's interior and found it shrouded in an extremely thick soul mist, rendering his clairvoyance completely ineffective.

He then tried various detection spells, but they likewise failed to penetrate the cave's mist.

'Mmm~~interesting.'

Such concealment ability is certainly beyond what a low-ranking elf with four-ring mana could set up, and it doesn't even seem like something a powerful god could do.

'It must be some great god who has taken an interest in me.'

By this point, only a great god could have the power to mask Luosen's perception.

'Who could it be, and what do they want from me?'

Luosen felt quite curious, and it was necessary to get to the bottom of this.

What he was about to do was rather exciting, but he didn't want to unnecessarily add interference from a great god.

So, this trouble must be resolved.

Soon, the two reached the valley floor, less than fifty meters from the cave entrance.

Fuke waved at Luosen: 'I'll lead the way, stay close.'

He hesitated not, stepping forward, but the soul fluctuations told Luosen that this guy was being controlled by a strong fear, as if gambling his life.

Luosen stopped his steps.

He could feel that although there was still some distance to the cave entrance, taking just one more step forward would put him into the mist zone.

This final fifty-meter stretch before the cave is where the true essence of this mysterious mist field lies.

At a glance, this stretch seems empty, but upon careful sensing, one discovers it is actually set with extremely sophisticated illusions.

Here, illusion and reality almost completely overlap, nearly perfectly deceiving the investigator's perception.

But once stepped into, the illusion will instantly shift, immediately causing the scenery to change abruptly, trapping the person inside.

Luosen felt that any powerful god, or even a careless great god, would walk into the trap unknowingly, leaving themselves at the opponent's mercy.

But this certainly couldn't fool the fully alert Luosen.

Fuke took a few steps, saw Luosen not following, and urged, 'Come on, what are you hesitating for?'

Luosen wasn't stupid either; how could he willingly step into someone else's prepared trap?

He stepped back a few steps, shook his head, and said, 'Sorry, buddy, the game ends here.'

Having said that, he ignored Fuke, turned, and walked away.

'Hey~~don't go~~don't go~~'

Fuke panicked, turned, and chased after him.

Luosen quickened his pace.

The other also started a light jog, soon catching up to Luosen, panting as he asked, 'Luode, why are you running?'

Luosen had been waiting for him to catch up; with a thought, he used a Mage Hand to lift this unknown low-ranking elf into midair.

'Alright, drop the act. Now tell me, who is really pulling your strings.'

'Nobody is directing me.'

The Mage Hand immediately tightened its grip on his throat, and gradually constricted further.

'No no no~~I'll say, it's a high-ranking elf.'

'I don't know his name, nor even what he looks like; he said as long as I manage to bring you into the cave, that's enough.'

'His power is terrifying; he could easily take my life, and I had no room to refuse.'

Fuke's lips loosened easily; a slight threat made him spill everything.

The soul fluctuations told Luosen these were true words.

This low-ranking elf was just a small fry; Luosen naturally wouldn't quarrel with him, taking out a few sun nuts from his pocket and handing them over.

'Take this money and scram; keep today's affair to yourself, pretend nothing happened, or you'll die a truly miserable death.'

'Okay okay okay~~I'm leaving now~~'

The low-ranking elf scrambled away, vanishing in an instant.

Luosen returned once more to the edge of the mist field and shouted toward the cave forty meters away.

"Partner, if you want to fight me, just fight; if you have something to say, just say it—don't act all mysterious."

Anyway, he could never enter the cave.

After shouting, besides the valley's echo, there was no response.

Luosen shrugged: "No matter who you are, I don't have time to play games with you. Since you won't show up, goodbye." He turned to leave, and as he walked, he began counting down in his mind.

"109"

When the count reached three, that mysterious presence finally couldn't hold back.

A vague, illusory voice came from inside the cave.

"Your Majesty Luosen, guess who I am?"

Luosen paused, thought a moment, and said: "I guess you're the witch Patna Luosi."

There are only seven great gods in the void.

The Supreme God Gaomier is asleep, the Life Goddess Adela is upright and wouldn't play tricks.

The Night Sovereign Alamanini has already settled things with him.

The remaining four great beings are: the 18th-level War God Hercules, the 17th-level Destruction God Karl, the 18th-level Order God Taros, and the 17th-level witch Patna Luosi.

The first three have nothing to do with Luosen; only the latter has some connection.

So Luosen naturally guessed the latter.

"Guess wrong, guess again."

Luosen couldn't judge the truth of those words, but Laifu's new ability "Mind Reading" could.

That ability could determine an opponent's intent by comprehensively analyzing sound waves, magical fluctuations, soul fluctuations, etc.

Luosen's identity is emperor; he meets countless people daily and has seen many void gods and demons, having trained "Mind Reading" to an incredible degree.

At this moment, the mind-reading result was: "98% likely a lie."

That is, the other party is probably the witch.

Luosen recalled rumors about the witch and felt her actions matched her mischievous personality perfectly.

So he could be almost 100% certain this was the witch.

This let Luosen breathe a little easier, because he and the witch had no major grudge; although she liked to tease people, she had no evil deeds in the mortal world.

So most likely, she just wanted to play a prank on him.

But nobody likes being pranked, and Luosen naturally didn't either.

Thus he lightly said: "Miss Patna Luosi, if you're this free, go find a place to sleep. Why bother coming to me for fun?"

"I'm not the witch."

"Don't be stubborn, the Moon Lord Sha'er told me you might come cause me trouble, so I've been waiting for you."

"Besides, whether you admit it or not doesn't matter, because I don't care."

After saying that, Luosen continued moving away from the cave.

"Alright, I am."

Her tone shifted from vague and illusory to clear and gentle, making Luosen think of Alice's cat.

He turned toward the cave mouth: "Then stop hiding—say what you want, if you're looking for trouble just come, I'll take it."

From the pitch-black cave came a voice: "I just like hiding."

"Then I'm leaving."

Luosen turned and walked away decisively.

"Wait!"

Luosen didn't stop his steps.

"I'm waiting for you deep in the cave; I've also set up a very interesting maze inside. If you can navigate the maze and find me, I'll tell you how to deal with the Extinction Law Sword."

Luosen halted, half-turned, and said: "What if what you set up isn't a maze but a death trap? I'd just be falling for your trick."

"I guarantee it's a maze; I swear on my reputation."

"This is our first meeting; we know nothing about each other. Whatever you swear by is useless."

Saying that, Luosen shifted tone: "Of course, if you want me to believe you, you can pledge an artifact to me."

"Hmph~ you wish."

"No artifact as collateral, nothing to discuss."

After saying that, Luosen turned and kept walking; after about five steps, he heard a faint breaking‑air sound behind him.

The sound wasn't loud or fast; he slightly shifted his body, then heard a "plop" beside him—a deep‑blue fist‑sized "stone" fell to the ground.

"Freezing Stone—pour enough power into it and it can freeze everything, even the souls of great gods."

Luosen broke off two twigs as makeshift "chopsticks," picked up the deep‑blue stone, examined it carefully, thought a bit, then plucked a leaf, wrapped the stone in it, slipped it into his pocket, and turned to leave.

"Thanks for the artifact, witch—I'm leaving."

"What do you mean?"

"I believe you set up a maze in the cave, but I never said I'd enter the maze to play games with you, right?"

"As for this artifact, since you gave it to me willingly, it's mine."

"So, goodbye."

Luosen didn't look back, walked away quickly, and at the same time the alert level of the "Heart of the War God" rose to maximum, ready for the witch's attack at any moment.

After walking about twenty steps, sure enough he heard an angry voice behind him.

"Luosen, I'm really angry now!"

The sky suddenly changed.

"Swish"—just like that, from the dusky reddish‑orange it turned into an eerie deep purple.

Right after, Luosen also saw a thick deep-purple mist appear around his body, pressing in from all directions.

This mischievous witch voluntarily gave up the so-called 'cave maze game' and directly attacked Luosen.

This is exactly what Luosen wanted.

He does not fear impulsive attacks, but fears carefully laid traps.

(End of chapter)