Chapter 358: Scars

As time passed, Lu Mi felt his body temperature slowly draining away, and even the blazing sunlight outside the public carriage window could not stop this change.

His thoughts grew increasingly sluggish, and the skin on the back of his hands turned paler.

Finally, Lu Mi made it to the Market District.

When he stepped down from the public carriage, his limbs seemed slightly stiff.

As he turned onto White Coat Street, a gentleman walking toward him suddenly froze, gasped softly, and his eyes filled with fear.

Lu Mi instinctively glanced sideways, studying his reflection in the café's glass window.

His hair, gold-black in hue, looked unwashed for days; his face was pale, tinged with blue; purple-red patches and signs of decay crept along his neck; his eyes were cold and hollow, like those of a corpse long dead.

Lu Mi smiled at the gentleman and said:

"How's my performance as a living corpse?"

He heard his own voice growing colder, drawing nearer to that of "Madame Hela."

The gentleman muttered a silent curse and sidestepped the fellow who looked ready for a masquerade ball.

Lu Mi understood his contamination was worsening; he quickened his pace and, with a gait now uncoordinated, ran into the safehouse he had not yet vacated.

He swiftly arranged the altar, spread out the paper, and wrote a brief letter to the "Magician" lady:

"I completed the 'Justice' lady's commission and obtained the water from the 'Woman of Samaria's Spring,' but I've been contaminated—more and more severely. How do I cleanse it?"

Neatly folding the letter, Lu Mi summoned the "Magician" lady's messenger.

The "Doll" messenger appeared above the pale blue candle flame, gazed at Lu Mi, and nodded approvingly:

"I like your current aura—except your hair is too greasy."

A dying aura? Lu Mi felt even less urge than usual to mutter to himself.

After watching the "Doll" messenger depart, he set himself a fifteen-minute waiting limit: if the "Magician" lady had not replied by then, he would have to find another way to deal with his contamination—perhaps perform a ritual and directly petition the "Fool" sir.

Tick, tick—the hands of the pocket watch "borrowed" from the Wind Dance Hall moved with their usual rhythm, but Lu Mi had already noticed it was nearly ten minutes behind real time, as if it slowed the closer he got to the "Woman of Samaria's Spring."

Suddenly, shards of starlight flew from the void, instantly coalescing into a mysterious, dreamlike door.

The door opened, and the "Magician" lady, clad in a brown-yellow long dress, stepped out; behind her, darkness stretched deep, dotted with starlight.

This holder of a Major Arcana card in the Tarot Society glanced at Lu Mi and nodded lightly:

"Petition the 'Fool' sir for an angel's purification."

So I still have to petition the 'Fool' sir? Lu Mi asked no further questions; he performed the ritual at the already-prepared altar.

Following the correct order, he lit the candles, dripped in pure essence, and burned the herbs; then he stepped back, gazed at the flame, and intoned in a low voice:

"Fool of this age not belonging, mysterious sovereign above the gray mist, king of yellow and black who governs fortune…"

"I petition you;

"I petition you to purify the contamination upon me…"

When the ritual ended, Lu Mi saw once more the angel formed of light, once more enveloped by twelve pairs of feathered wings of radiance.

With only Yu Guang's vision remaining, he felt coldness within him evaporating, his body temperature rapidly returning.

Soon, the angel vanished; Lu Mi turned his gaze to the full-length mirror in the room and found his complexion, hair, and eyes fully restored; the purple-red corpse-spots had vanished entirely, though a few traces of decay remained—yet no longer worsening, as if requiring time to heal.

Lu Mi sincerely thanked the "Fool" sir and ended the ritual.

He was about to turn to the "Magician" lady when he suddenly remembered something and quickly raised his right hand, staring at his palm.

The wound from the Earthblood Ore corrosion still remained; though no longer as vividly crimson as when he first absorbed "Rust," it was far from faded—like several scars painted with blood.

Feeling the faint but persistent madness and brutality emanating from his right palm, Lu Mi frowned in confusion:

"Can't this be purified?"

The "Magician" lady stared at his right palm for several seconds, then replied not directly, but said:

"Tell me the full details."

She pulled over a chair and sat down, showing no intention to stand while speaking.

Lu Mi sat down on the chair before the wooden table, beginning from the "Justice" lady's commission, all the way to when he and "Madame Hela" each took one-third of the bottle of water from the "Woman of Samaria's Spring."

In his account, he emphasized the terrifying, monstrous figure and the strange force that pulled it back, and did not forget to mention Monite's appearance and actions, as well as the "return" of the Earthblood Ore.

The "Magician" lady listened in silence, then chuckled:

"True great figures are hard to die completely—even without their extraordinary traits, bodies, or souls, spiritual imprints, death marks, and residual auras remain; given the right conditions, they may return to the real world through a suitable vessel."

"Like the original Creator?" Lu Mi grasped roughly what the "Magician" lady meant and asked cautiously, "Which great figure was that figure?"

The "Magician" lady thought a moment, then said:

"It should be the Blood Emperor of the Fourth Era, Aristar Tudo."

The Blood Emperor? One of the Four Emperors? Lu Mi had heard this title and name from Gardener Martin.

The empire founded by Aristar Tudo encompassed today's Intis; the sunken Trill beneath the earth was His capital.

According to Gardener Martin, this Blood Emperor was a true deity, mastering the "Hunter" path—meaning He was Sequence 0, the Crimson Priest!

"Correct." The "Magician" lady nodded. "The War of the Four Emperors was a true divine war. Aristar Tudo perished in that Trill of the Fourth Era, causing His empire's capital to sink into the earth. Even in His madness, He did many things—rumor says He nearly took every god who fought in that war down with Him. Even today, many remnants of that battle linger beneath Trill, and one might say they profoundly shaped part of Fifth Era history."

The Fifth Era was the age Lu Mi and others lived in—the "Iron Age."

Nearly took every god in the war down with Him? The Blood Emperor truly was mad… Lu Mi felt a surge of curiosity:

"What exactly was the War of the Four Emperors like?"

"I don't know much." The "Magician" lady spread her hands. "I've only heard a few fragments from two beings who lived through it—they didn't know the full picture either. Remember: never gaze upon a god. Even a Sequence 4 Saint who has lost control and become an incomplete mythic creature."

Are there beings alive today who lived through the War of the Four Emperors? They must have been at least angels to have participated in that divine war… Two of the angels beside the "Fool" sir's throne? Hmm, the scriptures mention that the "Fool" sir's "Angel of Time" is an ancient angel—could He be one of them? Lu Mi, drawing on his knowledge, began to speculate.

He had heard Aurora mention the concept of mythic creatures and the related issues; he had no doubt about the phrase "never gaze upon a god."

Lu Mi asked eagerly:

"After the Blood Emperor's fall, did His spiritual imprint, death mark, or residual aura become sealed within the spring's source?"

"That should be a death mark, but I believe it also contains spiritual imprints, residual auras, and even some lingering spirits preserved for some reason. Otherwise, Aristar Tudo, the Blood Emperor, could not have remained in active combat within that spring's source. Heh—combat is a trait of the 'Hunter' path." The "Magician" lady voiced her speculation.

As she spoke, she reached her hand into the void, the tip vanishing from Lu Mi's sight.

After fumbling for a moment, the lady withdrew a cup of alluring pale red wine.

"You—you're forgetting what your sister taught you? When you have a guest, you must ask whether they'd like tea or wine, or a snack." The "Magician" lady sipped the pale red wine and shook her head.

At a time like this, how could I remember? Where did she get that wine from? Lu Mi realized he'd forgotten to ask the most important question.

He humbly accepted the lesson and raised another issue first:

"Where did that strange force come from that dragged the Blood Emperor back into the spring?"

"I don't know." The "Magician" lady answered bluntly. "Even a true god may not know. The only certainty is that it has nothing to do with the War of the Four Emperors."

Lu Mi set the matter aside for now and raised his right hand:

"What exactly are these marks? Even the 'Fool' sir couldn't purify them?"

"This isn't contamination—how do you purify it?" The "Magician" lady sipped her pale red wine slowly. "It's like a magical item embedded in your hand, bringing some negative effects. Negative effects can't be purified—unless you remove the item itself."

"A magical item… What does it do? What are its risks?" Lu Mi hadn't expected such an answer.

"It does nothing." The "Magician" lady laughed. "I said 'equivalent to'—not 'identical to.' Of course, it's not entirely useless; it just won't make you stronger directly. Rumor has it that beneath the Fourth Era Trill, in other hidden places, the Blood Emperor Aristar Tudo left multiple treasures—only those with Tudo family blood can open them. Now, you can too."

So my right palm now carries a trace of Tudo blood and aura, unrelated to the supernatural? Lu Mi extended his spirit toward the crimson scars on his palm.

The moment contact was made, he was instantly engulfed by a mad, violent, terrifying, and supremely arrogant aura; the entire room, even the whole apartment, shook uncontrollably.

(End of Chapter)