[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ring-of-fate":3,"chapter-the-ring-of-fate-the-ring-of-fate-chapter-852":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},2298821,4496,"Chapter 852: Slow Is Faster (End-of-Month Request for Monthly Tickets)","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-852",852,"\u003Cp>Inside a four-wheeled, four-seater carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina sat across from Lu Mi, gazing excitedly at the Intis sycamores beside the road, the shops still brightly lit, the magnificent arcaded streets, gentlemen and ladies strolling with turtles, and some citizens in bizarre attire, sincerely praising:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder it’s Teril—it’s even more beautiful than I imagined.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I hope you won’t retract that evaluation after staying longer,” Lu Mi replied, wanting to mock her slightly, but Teril had too many things worth mocking—he couldn’t pick the most representative one, so he answered this way instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina pulled her gaze back from the carriage window and said with regret:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too bad I have to return to Pailos Port at dawn.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She planned to apply for entrance exams at some universities in Teril after graduating from grammar school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina glanced at the driver’s seat ahead and lowered her voice to ask Lu Mi:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why don’t we just ‘teleport’ directly there?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi smiled calmly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re my guest—I naturally must show you around Teril.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina studied Lu Mi for a moment:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I feel you’re lying to me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your instinct is correct,” Lu Mi replied without concealment, smiling. “Moving slowly allows the Law of Anomalous Property Aggregation to take effect.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he had teleported Amandina straight to the entrance of the underground crypt and rushed at top speed to the “Well of the Samaritan Woman,” completed what needed doing, Harrison, the visitor from Resurrection Island, might not have reacted yet—hadn’t yet been affected by the Aggregation Law, hadn’t yet decided to sneak back into the “Well of the Samaritan Woman” under cover of night—everything would’ve ended too soon, utterly failing to achieve the intended goal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You must give the Law of Anomalous Property Aggregation enough time to act!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slow is faster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You—you want to aggregate what?” Amandina, having witnessed Lu Mi’s performance during the Dream Festival, grew tense at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A target I’m tracking,” Lu Mi leaned back against the carriage wall and replied with a smile. “Don’t worry—your safety is absolutely guaranteed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, Amandina quietly exhaled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Louis Berry was still a man of his word—he always kept his promises.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What she didn’t know was that if Francia or Jianna were here, they’d surely retort: “Just safety guaranteed? What about not getting hurt, not being tortured, not suffering psychological or spiritual effects?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina glanced again at the driver’s seat beyond the carriage wall and whispered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aren’t you afraid the driver will hear what you’re saying?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t lowered his voice at all just now!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi chuckled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He can’t hear.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina paused, trying to understand using her occult knowledge:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You—you quickly created a ‘Spiritual Wall’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You can think of it that way,” Lu Mi said, too lazy to explain to Amandina what a “Vessel of Fiction” was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina relaxed and smiled sweetly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Were those two ladies just now your lovers?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi snorted:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You should ask them that face to face.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That would be too embarrassing—they’d definitely get angry!” Amandina’s emotional intelligence was still decent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t I get angry?” Lu Mi asked, amused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina giggled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You don’t seem like the type to get angry over something like that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She suddenly pointed out the window:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is that the Teril Higher Normal College?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your skill at changing the subject is painfully obvious,” Lu Mi bluntly mocked Amandina.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the four-wheeled, four-seater carriage arrived at the Purgatory Square at a normal pace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Lu Mi descended the steps, he pulled out a white candle and tossed it to Amandina, then informed her of all the taboos within the underground crypt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina listened intently, igniting one of the candles with a friction of her spiritual energy:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve read about these in some magazines, but none were as detailed as your explanation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are these taboos truly mandatory? What happens if you break them? For example, what if I didn’t light the candle?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they spoke, the two arrived before the massive stone archway inscribed with the warning: “Stop! Ahead Lies the Empire of Death!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crypt keeper behind the arch, an elderly man with white hair, wearing a blue vest and yellow trousers, glanced at Lu Mi but made no move to stop the two from entering the crypt at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi stared straight ahead, walking through the piles of bones beside the path, speaking calmly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then you’d vanish from this world—your parents would forget they ever had a daughter, your former fiancé would forget he ever had a fiancée, your friends would forget you, your servants would forget you—perhaps only I would still remember you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Amandina was a Rank 7 Anomalous, and had witnessed some of the horrors of the Dream Festival, and though her former fiancé was especially skilled at summoning the dead, being inside this grim, dark, bone-strewn crypt, saturated with the aura of death, still made her heart race with fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Combined with Lu Mi’s words, this sent chills up her spine, her grip tightening on the white candle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The first time I entered the crypt, I thought: this is the perfect place to tell horror stories. Too bad, even now, such opportunities are rare,” Lu Mi’s face broke into a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina froze:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You were just telling a horror story?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. The most terrifying part of this horror story is that every word is true,” Lu Mi replied with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...” Amandina was frightened again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She quickened her pace, afraid of being left behind by Lu Mi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they descended deeper into the crypt’s fourth level, bones occasionally twitched, trying to trip Amandina, nearly causing the girl to scream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, Lu Mi brought Amandina to the entrance of the massive, rotting, weathered crypt housing the “Well of the Samaritan Woman.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced left and right, murmuring silently:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This time I didn’t encounter a shadow resembling Krismana...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Was she wandering the fourth level before, searching for a female ‘witch’? And once she achieved her goal, that obsession faded?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi turned his gaze back and tossed a mirror to Amandina:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hold this. Wait here for me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait here?” Amandina glanced nervously around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The darkness was deep and absolute, the crypts numerous, decaying and ruined, shadows hiding unknown things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Quickly,” Lu Mi didn’t soothe her—he stepped directly through the half-open stone door into the crypt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After only a few steps, he met the crypt keeper—his face deeply wrinkled, more corpse than living man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The same elderly keeper, clad in blue vest and yellow trousers, made no move to stop Lu Mi, standing silently as he passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arriving at the gentle downward slope, Lu Mi took from “The Traveler’s Satchel” a mirror and the “Black Tear” forehead ornament, burned for over half an hour.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside the massive crypt, Amandina, bathed in the dim yellow glow of the white candle, saw Lu Mi’s face appear on the mirror’s surface, and heard his voice in her ear:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Place your hand on the mirror.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With prior experience, Amandina swiftly pressed the hand holding the white candle against the mirror’s surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Again came the familiar sensation of passing through cold water, the familiar terrifying pull and weightless fall—soon, Amandina found herself standing beside Lu Mi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi tucked away the “Black Tear” and the mirror, pointing into the depths of the slope:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s down there.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the narrow gap between two ancient crypts, twenty to thirty meters from the crypt housing the “Well of the Samaritan Woman.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Francia, holding the white candle, cautiously peered out, glancing toward the target location.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She immediately pulled back and muttered to Jianna:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This candle is such a nuisance—we can’t hide properly at all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How are we supposed to ambush Harrison?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dim yellow glow of the white candle stood out sharply against the deep, pure darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna looked at Francia and smiled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The same applies to Harrison—he can’t approach silently without us noticing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, hiding in this corner significantly reduces the candle’s visibility—it doesn’t spread far.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Francia knew all this—she’d only complained aloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, she remembered something and asked with a slight twitch of her lips:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you seen Anthony?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh...” Jianna also froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Anthony’s voice came from outside the gap:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve been right here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With his voice, Francia and Jianna finally saw their companion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood openly on the path outside, holding a lit white candle—yet the two “witches” had not noticed him at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Psychological invisibility is amazing...” Francia admired.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Psychological invisibility” works entirely differently from other “invisibility” abilities—it primarily places oneself within others’ psychological blind spots and unconscious blind angles, making them overlook your presence; thus, whether or not you hold a lit candle doesn’t hinder Anthony’s invisibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anthony replied simply:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The candlelight here is a powerful attention-grabber—it weakens my psychological invisibility. I must concentrate intensely to maintain it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Francia and Jianna fell silent, hiding within the crypt gap, listening to the sounds around them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the faint, pale gray mist, gently contracting and expanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian once again examined his own condition:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A coldness bursting from within his heart had taken hold of his body, causing most of his emotions and desires to wither, yet the malice and irritability stemming from the contract’s negative effects remained, growing even stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His current state was quite good; he had endured it with little reliance on the “Ascetic” ability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amandina exhibited a similar reaction: one side of her face was frozen pale, while she clenched her teeth tightly, preventing the stranger within from emerging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian seized her arm and extended his left hand, clutching the white candle, toward the gray-white mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As warmth surged in his chest, the two stepped smoothly into the mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything grew even quieter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: End of the month—please support with monthly votes~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1611,"2026-06-20T06:22:37.987Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b121c410f3c336fc48b589f197866e95e98cd8485f1e5a5b802b7a20408ab83d","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-853","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-851",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ring-of-fate-cover.jpg"]