[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ring-of-fate":3,"chapter-the-ring-of-fate-the-ring-of-fate-chapter-866":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},2298835,4496,"Chapter 866: The Center of the Vortex","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-866",866,"\u003Cp>In District 14, within the botanical garden, a wooden cottage belonging to the administrator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a safehouse Lu Mi had prepared before going to Mogang; he hadn’t rented it, but had paid off the garden’s administrator, instructing him to vacate it whenever Lu Mi needed it, and to pretend he still lived there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After observing the lush trees around her, Fu Lan Ka turned her gaze back and walked over to Ludwig, who sat at the small wooden table munching on a doughnut, and asked with a deliberate smile:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shall I give you some homework?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ludwig snapped his head up, eyeing Fu Lan Ka with suspicion, instinctively shifting backward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Lan Ka burst into silent laughter, murmuring to herself:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I feel the angel’s suffering—I feel another fragment of the “Suffering” Elixir being digested!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How can you bully a child?” Jian Na remarked, amused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What child?” Fu Lan Ka smiled sweetly. “I’ve long suspected that making Ludwig suffer through studying and homework would help me digest the Elixir too—I just never dared try it, fearing I’d ruin Lu Mi’s ‘training’ and drive him away. Now, the vortex may be coming soon; every bit of digestion matters. Besides, Ludwig hasn’t yet developed any rapport with us; he doesn’t understand our thoughts.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ludwig stared at Fu Lan Ka, his brown eyes clearly conveying one thought:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You’re a witch!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After careful thought, Jian Na realized Fu Lan Ka’s logic held no flaw; once Lu Mi completed his advancement and she herself reached the “Suffering Witch” stage, this could become one method of digestion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ludwig’s gaze flickered several times between Fu Lan Ka and Jian Na, then declared with solemn assurance:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll work hard to build rapport with you!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good,” Lu Mi clapped, addressing Fu Lan Ka and Jian Na. “You both have the makings of ‘Conspirators’—now Ludwig doesn’t resist teaming up with you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I never expected this outcome… Fu Lan Ka glanced around, sensing that Lu Jianuo and Anthony’s eyes seemed to say: “See what you’ve done—you’ve driven the child to this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi tossed Ludwig a chocolate wrapped to resemble a gold coin, then asked thoughtfully:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After eating that chef’s stomach, you’ve probably recalled more knowledge, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ludwig swiftly unwrapped the chocolate and answered frankly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The training’s working well… Fu Lan Ka, surprised yet approving, looked at Lu Mi as Ludwig sat so obediently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi pulled up a chair and sat down, asking in a coaxing tone:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know anything about the ‘Broker’ Path? Do you know what they mean by ‘vortex’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his rush to train Ludwig and assign him tasks, Lu Mi had nearly forgotten that Ludwig was an angel from beyond the barrier—perhaps he understood the “Broker” Path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—After learning of the Vortex Plan and before going to Mogang, Lu Mi had asked Ludwig a similar question; back then, Ludwig had shaken his head, claiming no memory. But now, he’d regained some clarity and was more cooperative.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ludwig chewed the chocolate, his mouth falling into deep thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several seconds, he said uncertainly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems more complex—more traders involved, not just one-on-one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, Ludwig took a stack of bread slices from beside him and arranged them one by one on the table, representing different traders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, the boy pointed at the bread slices:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Transactions can happen between any pair, or among three, four, or more parties. Connect the lines between them, and it becomes a spiderweb—or a vortex—sweeping in many people.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi understood Ludwig’s meaning, then mused:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So the trade between the ‘Mother of Desires’ and the ‘Great Mother’ is just one link in the vortex—then where is the vortex’s center?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside a standalone villa in the Plaza District, housing several members of the “Rose Sect’s” hedonist faction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anguilem de Francois and a group of “Purifiers” had arrived nearby.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For this mission, he had borrowed a sealed artifact from the Religious Tribunal in the Market District: his preferred Level-1 sealed item, the “Sword of the Sun,” now embedded in the spine of a gray-white humanoid mechanical construct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anguilem glanced at the sky, dotted with white clouds and mild sunlight, then surveyed the area:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“First squad, follow me inside. Second squad, ambush below in Trill. Third squad, circle around to the back door…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After giving his orders, he opened his arms slightly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Saint Vieve and Saint Plaisir watch over us—we shall prevail!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Praise the Sun!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Praise the Sun!” Every Purifier responded in unison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once all squads were in position, Anguilem, clad in a brown wool overcoat, shifted from stillness to motion, sprinting toward the villa, the gray-white humanoid construct following close beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anguilem wasn’t overly concerned about this mission, rumored to involve a half-god of the “Rose Sect,” because Archbishop Saint Plaisir and the patron angel of Trill, Saint Vieve, weren’t merely watching—they had already arrived nearby, ready to purify the evil at any moment. Their main goal was to force the bloody “Rose Sect” members out of hiding; if necessary, they could destroy the entire villa, purifying both the adepts and the ordinary believers of the heretical gods.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Anguilem believed some ordinary people might still be salvageable—perhaps not all had fully embraced the “Mother of Desires”—salvation depended first on ensuring his team’s safety.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As captain, his first duty was to his subordinates!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud-thud-thud, Anguilem charged through the garden and reached the villa’s main entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, he saw white, thin mist spreading within, twisting and contorting, forming on the glass windows and walls one after another lifelike faces of agony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anguilem halted, preparing to summon “Sacred Light” to purify the mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, from deep within the pale mist, in a second-floor room of the villa, streaks of crimson moonlight flared to life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They swiftly shaped into a stiff, sluggish, blurred, twisted figure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For some reason, upon seeing that crimson figure, Anguilem and his team felt a profound shock of supreme beauty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They stared, entranced, as the crimson figure slowly approached the window, completely forgetting their mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A chorus of infant wails echoed in their ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Accompanying the cries came a cold, genderless voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve come just in time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deep within the Primitive Island, where the trees abruptly vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to the aid of the “Mystic Queen” Bernadette—who had circumvented her father’s “ban”—she once again saw the black mausoleum carved into the hollowed mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mausoleum was mostly part of the mountain itself, with only minor artificial traces; its surface bore no weeds or vines, stood over a hundred meters tall, and radiated grandeur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here slept Bernadette’s father: the former Emperor of the Intis Empire, the epoch-making Luo Saier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mausoleum’s surface bore inscriptions of Luo Saier’s enacted Civil Code, his newly established social customs, and certain inventions he had created.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor Luo Saier had forcibly switched from the “Secret Seeker” Path to the “Lawyer” Path, attempting to become a Sequence 0 “Black Emperor,” but perished during the deification ritual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was precisely what he intended: having visited the Moon in his later years and suffered severe, hidden contamination, he sought to escape it by relying on the Black Emperor’s trait—that his nine mausoleums would never perish, his order would never collapse, and he might one day return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After his death, the original extraordinary traits from the “Secret Seeker” and “Generalist” Paths would fully separate; when he revived, only the pure “Black Emperor” trait would be summoned back into his body, preventing him from descending into half-madness like the Fourth Era’s “Blood Emperor,” who had forcibly switched to a non-adjacent Path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, Luo Saier, now possessing the true godhood of the “Black Emperor” after completing the ritual, discovered that the hidden contamination could not be escaped even by death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It kept regenerating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, Luo Saier, neither fully dead nor truly alive, sealed himself away to prevent total transformation by the contamination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bernadette had once visited this “Black Emperor” mausoleum, using the power of a Level-0 sealed item and the aid of the “Fool” to further seal and protect her father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today, she had come to use the balance among multiple contaminations to help her father break free from his current state and revive—afterward, she could wait for the “Fool” to awaken and perform the optimal sealing of the contamination; even if it was not the “Fool” who awoke, but the “Fuxuan Huang Tian Zun,” her father’s own balance would allow him to endure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To this end, she was willing to risk engaging in gray transactions. Of course, based on the future she had foreseen, she had prepared extensively to prevent the situation from worsening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On this journey, Bernadette encountered no obstacles or attacks as she had before; she reached her father’s mausoleum without hindrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through this, she confirmed the identity of one of the traders Broker Perle had recruited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this transaction may involve more than two parties!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You may now begin the ritual to let the contamination you desire enter the mausoleum,” Broker Perle smiled at the “Mystic Queen” Bernadette. “But I require the ‘Wish Lantern’ as a medium.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“0—05,” the “Wish Lantern”!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bernadette spoke calmly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That is not part of the transaction.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perle sighed and smiled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It would make the ritual simpler and more effective.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But it doesn’t matter. Your help in bringing me here has pleased my Master greatly—I’ve received a new blessing and can attempt to complete the ritual myself using the corresponding artifact.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, Perle opened his arms, his body gradually dissolving into white mist, the mist expanding and slowly rotating into a vortex.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1586,"2026-06-20T06:22:37.987Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","ff68885cf2e4a027c7b46e61fa7009fc0538f7ca72f15c46fded7d19e205e1d9","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-867","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-865",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ring-of-fate-cover.jpg"]