[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ring-of-fate":3,"chapter-the-ring-of-fate-the-ring-of-fate-chapter-42":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Ring of Fate",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2298011,4496,"Chapter 42: Night Lady","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-42",42,"\u003Cp>Lu Mi was also startled by the carriage pulled by the “Devil” and the reaction of the undead, momentarily forgetting to struggle, and was pushed by an invisible giant palm for another dozen seconds before stopping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the carriage was growing farther away, he still clearly saw the woman’s features thanks to his eagle-like vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her brown hair was pinned high, her brown eyes beautiful and bright, her light eyebrows slightly sparse, dressed in a fresh green dress, wearing a crown woven of flowers, her demeanor elegant and commanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Madame Pualis! Lu Mi’s first thought was that the lady in the carriage was the administrative officer’s wife and the parish priest’s mistress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But upon closer inspection, he felt there were clear differences—not only in demeanor, but also in appearance:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady in the carriage had softer, more mature features.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he had to compare, Lu Mi would rather call her the elder sister of Madame Pualis, born of the same father and mother, seven or eight years older.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the lady sat upright in the open carriage pulled by the “Devil,” surrounded by countless undead and death knights, racing toward the distant forests, as if on some strange procession.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora withdrew her gaze and hurried toward Lu Mi, shouting as she ran:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Seize the chance to escape this place!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi snapped back to himself, waited for his sister to catch up, then broke into a sprint, pounding toward the nearest edge of the wilderness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after, both felt a sensation of passing through a veil of illusion or a thick layer of water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scene before their eyes changed accordingly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wilderness vanished like foam; clear river water, fresh grass on both banks, and green trees appeared before their eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Lu Mi and Aurora, this scene was so familiar, so deeply known, that they made their judgment without needing to identify it:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were still around Kerdou Village!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the place Awa Lizie often herded geese!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back again… Lu Mi felt neither disappointment nor surprise, only a sense of “as expected” as he looked around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora took a breath and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whether Madame Pualis did this intentionally or by mistake, we can’t return to the village now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Keep going to Dariji!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi immediately suggested:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then let’s head to the nearest pasture—there’s a dangerous path down the mountain there, and with our abilities, we’ll have no trouble.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine.” Aurora turned and immediately broke into a run.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She, who had occasionally borrowed small horses from Madame Pualis, knew the highland pastures around Kerdou Village intimately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Lu Mi followed closely beside his sister.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt both relief and fear over what had just happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never imagined Madame Pualis could be so powerful—able to command so many undead, a “Devil,” and death knights.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, that might not have been Madame Pualis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they ran, Aurora’s pace slowed, her breathing grew heavier, her throat sounds more pronounced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?” Lu Mi’s stamina was still abundant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was one of the enhancements from the “Hunter” path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora stopped outright, gasping for air:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too tired—I expended too much energy casting spells earlier.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi didn’t hesitate:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then let me carry you—I’m not tired yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Given the urgency and time pressure, Aurora didn’t protest; she nodded, walked behind the crouching Lu Mi, and climbed onto his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi first removed the brooch from his chest and returned it to her, then stood up and sprinted off again, pounding steadily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is this a miraculous item?” he asked, still having energy to speak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora paused, then chuckled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Looks like you’ve learned quite a bit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s indeed a miraculous item—I call it the ‘Brooch of Integrity.’ It can generate holy sunlight or help me ignite materials to perform a secret technique against ghostly beings, but wearing it too long induces fanaticism, and as long as it’s worn, it suppresses certain thoughts—you know, in combat, immoral methods might work better, and this restricts them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora paused, then asked in a low voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where did you obtain the extraordinary trait?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi, still running, answered in fragments:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That Wand card—wasn’t it what kept me conscious in my dream?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What Wand card?” Aurora looked confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh, that was from the last cycle… Lu Mi rephrased:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At the old tavern, I met a mysterious woman. She gave me a Wand card.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“With that card, I became conscious in my dream and entered a strange realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There, I encountered some monsters and obtained the ‘Hunter’ extraordinary trait.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“‘Hunter’…” Aurora was familiar with this common sequence in Intis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she murmured, she suddenly let out a quiet laugh, as if recalling something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What’s so funny… Lu Mi was baffled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora asked again:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who gave you the formula? That mysterious woman?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.” Lu Mi nodded as he ran.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora sighed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even my foolish little brother has his own secrets… I can’t confirm whether what you say is true or not, so I’ll take it as such.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi couldn’t bear to see his sister disappointed and quickly changed the subject:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Was that person in the carriage just now Madame Pualis?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Very similar, yet very different,” Aurora said, contradicting herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a few seconds of thought, she said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Since you’re now an extraordinary being, I’ll tell you directly—my companions, those pen pals of mine, once mentioned certain things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They said that in recent years, in southern Ruen, southern Intis, and the Kingdom of Fenepot, similar strange phenomena have occurred repeatedly: a woman rides in a carriage pulled by a ‘Devil’—or what appears to be a Devil—traveling through wilderness and mountains, followed by countless undead scattered across the land; some extraordinary beings who master the corresponding secret arts take the opportunity to let their spirits leave their bodies and follow the carriage for a while, seemingly gaining some peculiar experience and acquiring certain esoteric knowledge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One of my companions obtained the notebook of one such extraordinary being, which mentioned that the woman was called ‘Night Lady,’ and the notebook’s owner gained a recipe for an invisibility potion made from infant corpses through his experience following the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Investigations show that the women in these similar phenomena in different places are not the same, but the events always occur at night.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi exclaimed in shock:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But it’s daytime now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could the anomaly in Kerdou Village have caused this change?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So I can’t be certain,” Aurora recalled, “Perhaps sending Naroka to the ‘Other Side’ caused a difference, or perhaps that wilderness *is* the ‘Other Side,’ and the ‘Night Ladies’ patrol there during the day and appear in human society at night. Hmm—given how much she resembled Madame Pualis, I lean toward the first guess.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi had no knowledge of this esoteric lore, but intuitively felt his sister’s suspicion was correct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He ran in silence for a while longer, then finally couldn’t help asking:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why did you sacrifice yourself to save me? I’d rather you were selfish.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am selfish,” Aurora laughed. “I did consider abandoning you to escape, waiting until I became stronger to avenge you—but then I thought carefully: even if I gave you the ‘Brooch of Integrity’ and taught you how to use it, you still couldn’t draw away most of the undead to give me a chance to flee. Only I, as a ‘Wizard,’ can do that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Between both of us dying and at least one of us surviving, the choice is obvious, isn’t it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Making such a choice isn’t as easy as you make it sound… Lu Mi could accept it rationally, but emotionally, he couldn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He muttered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We might as well have died together.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you die, who will avenge me? Who will resurrect me? In the esoteric world, anything is possible!” Aurora scolded her brother. “That’s why I deliberately said those emotional lines—so you’d remember, and never forget to strive to bring me back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s true… Lu Mi slowly began to accept his sister’s choice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After running further, the nearest highland pasture was now visible, and Lu Mi, carrying Aurora, clearly felt exhaustion setting in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t stop to rest; summoning his last strength, he dashed up the slope covered in green pasture grass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were several animal pens and huts: the pens were made of stones and branches, with compacted earth and flattened manure on the ground, one end having a narrow exit just wide enough for a single sheep; the huts resembled primitive tents:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, a low wall of stones was built, leaving a door and smoke vent; then, a row of lattices was erected against the wall, the lower part buried in the soil, the upper part supporting a wooden frame, atop which a roof of grass and mud was laid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was where the shepherds lived—conditions were extremely harsh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi no longer carried Aurora, leading her along to the other side of the slope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dangerous path lay hidden below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the path, which required jumping across a seven- or eight-meter cliff, Aurora said to Lu Mi:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Though you can now climb, don’t waste time—I’ll just fly you down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright.” Lu Mi wanted to test what would happen upon leaving Kerdou Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora grabbed Lu Mi’s arm with one hand and scattered silver dust with the other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both floated upward, slowly descending toward the cliff below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mid-air, Lu Mi’s head suddenly throbbed, as if struck hard by a hammer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora had a similar reaction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi’s vision darkened rapidly; everything around him shattered into fragments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a flash, Lu Mi sat up, seeing the familiar wooden table, chairs, bookshelf, and wardrobe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back to the beginning again… He got out of bed thoughtfully, went downstairs, and unsurprisingly found Aurora wearing her light blue dress, preparing dinner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aurora, what date is it today?” Lu Mi asked tentatively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora glared at him:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Call me sister!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you slept yourself stupid? Today is the 29th.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1650,"2026-06-20T06:22:34.374Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","289c6754be5abc6f04f387e66717ffd2dc8232e5af0dbffdcc4cd5a82e5dfdef","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-43","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-41",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ring-of-fate-cover.jpg"]