Tracking and Eavesdropping

From half a street away, Rayne got a clear look at the other person.

The man was young, around twenty-three, with an ordinary face and a tall, lean build. He carried no mission weapon and wore close-fitting clothes. He moved swiftly, nimbly weaving around pedestrians and obstacles in the road as he sprinted, easily keeping up with the carriage.

Rayne discovered an element in the man's soul called "Inner Qi," confirming that he was a Martial Artist.

The Inner Qi element came from the Demon Soul of a Sparrowtail Mantis. It was a Rare Element that allowed a Transcendent to use physical strength to trigger the Force of Qi, unleashing immense destructive power in an instant during close combat.

A Martial Artist's strength was built upon Inner Qi. They excelled at close-quarters combat, using their body as a weapon. Every attack carried Inner Qi, combining speed with balanced offense and defense.

Martial Artists were not common, but every one of them was troublesome to deal with.

Besides his Primary Soul, this Martial Artist had a Secondary Soul that gave him another Common Element called "Balance." That meant his class level was Level 2, and he could not be underestimated.

Such a young and promising Martial Artist was actually a believer of the Evil God.

Rayne silently counted himself fortunate.

Luckily, he had spotted the man in advance. If he had been ambushed, he might not have been able to withstand even one punch.

Rayne watched the Martial Artist swiftly follow the carriage away until he vanished from sight. Only then did Rayne relax slightly. He could now confirm one thing: the Evil God Cultists' sensing range for the Strife Mark did not exceed a hundred meters. Otherwise, the Martial Artist would have noticed long ago that he was not in the carriage.

Of course, the range might have been even shorter. There was simply no way to be certain.

Whenever he thought of the Strife Mark, Rayne got a headache. There were more believers of the Evil God than he had expected, and the Strife Mark on his body was like a timed bomb that could explode at any moment.

Unless he hid at home and never went out, there was no way he could stay on guard against thieves forever.

I have to find a way to remove the Strife Mark.

Rayne made up his mind, then began to think. To remove the Strife Mark, he still had to start with the Evil God Cultists.

First, he needed to know how they sensed the Strife Mark.

Apart from worshipping the Evil God, did they have some other method?

If there was no way to solve the problem, then he would have to approach it from another angle and get rid of the people raising it!

He would strike first, eliminate a batch of Evil God Cultists, reduce his chances of running into them, and Devour their souls to recharge himself.

Moreover, this Martial Artist had most likely already seen his face. If he informed other Evil God Cultists or reported directly to the Shadow Blade Assassin Organization, things would become troublesome.

No matter what, this man had to die!

Rayne had always been proactive. He would not passively allow others to manipulate him.

He no longer hesitated and turned back toward the Silver Star District.

The carriage he had taken earlier had come from the Silver Star District, and it had not been long since it crossed the bridge. The Martial Artist must have followed him from the Silver Star District as well. Once he realized Rayne was not in the carriage, he would definitely turn back to search.

There was one unavoidable route from the Los District back to the Silver Star District: the bridge spanning the Feregron River.

Rayne soon reached the bridge. He went to the Silver Star District side, entered a bookstore about two hundred meters from the bridgehead, and went up to the second floor.

At a window overlooking the bridge, he picked up a book and casually flipped through it.

Less than twenty minutes later, a familiar figure appeared on the bridge. It was that young Martial Artist.

He crossed the bridge, his eyes searching all around as though he were looking for someone.

Hmph.

Rayne snorted inwardly. As expected, this Evil God Cultist was unwilling to lose his target and had come back along the route to search for him.

He activated the Voice of All Things and locked onto the target.

The whole world fell quiet. Countless sounds were filtered away, leaving only the Martial Artist's footsteps, magnified clearly in his ears. Even without looking, Rayne knew where the man was, as though he were right beside him.

Only after the Martial Artist crossed the bridge and entered the Silver Star District did Rayne leave the bookstore and follow from afar.

He carefully kept more than two hundred meters away, never once entering the Martial Artist's line of sight. Unless the other man also possessed extraordinarily sharp senses, there was no way he could be discovered. What was certain was that no such heightened sensory element existed in the man's soul.

The Martial Artist walked neither quickly nor slowly, looking around as he went.

He had no idea he was being followed, much less that his stalker was the very person he was searching for.

Both men had their own ulterior motives, one in the open and the other in the shadows. After walking and stopping for nearly an hour, the Martial Artist finally gave up searching and entered a tavern.

Rayne stopped far from the tavern and thought, Just as I expected. This is not far from the Magic Soul Market. The Martial Artist must have encountered me there and sensed the Strife Mark.

He judged the distance and moved a little closer to the tavern.

Following the Martial Artist's footsteps, he heard several doors opening and closing and chairs being moved. The man sat at a table. There seemed to be many people drinking nearby, and the environment was extremely noisy.

"Hogan, didn't you say you'd be back quickly after going to the Magic Soul Market? Why were you gone so long?" a woman asked.

The Martial Artist called Hogan seemed somewhat unhappy. After several seconds, he replied, "Nothing much. I found an interesting target."

"What target? Let's hear it." Another man spoke. His voice was somewhat deep, and judging from his tone, his status was higher than Hogan's.

Hogan seemed reluctant to say it. The deep-voiced man gave an unhappy snort.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Hogan reluctantly lowered his voice. "I ran into someone in the market. He had a Strife Mark on him." When he mentioned the Strife Mark, he lowered his voice to the barest whisper, almost inaudible.

"What?" The woman cried out in shock.

"Carida, keep your voice down," the man warned, then pressed, "The Lord's mark. Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"Then where is he?" the man continued.

"I lost him." Hogan sounded uncertain.

The man seemed furious, but he did not dare to erupt in the tavern. He rebuked him harshly, "You lost such an important target? You're an old hand. Do I need to teach you what to do? At the very least, you should have found a way to notify us so we could act together. And what happened?"

"Sorry, Wilt," Hogan explained. "The situation was urgent. That person happened to come out of the Magic Soul Market and got into a carriage right away. I didn't have time to notify you."

"Hmph. Don't think I don't know what you were thinking." Wilt did not accept the explanation and said in a low voice, "A few days ago, Trifer was discovered at his estate outside the city. Not only was he killed, several brothers died with him, and the Lord's altar was destroyed."

"The person you found was very likely the culprit who Desecrated the Lord's altar."

"I know you want to earn merit and please the god, but the other party was capable of killing Trifer's entire team. Do you think you're a match for him with your strength?"

Hogan did not argue. He muttered a few words under his breath, then fell silent.

The three were quiet for a moment. Wilt sighed and asked, "You saw that person's face, right? Can you identify him?"

"I did, but I've never seen him before," Hogan quickly answered. He described, "He was a man, very young, probably under twenty. He was... well, extremely handsome. The kind women would really like. I can't describe him exactly, but as long as you saw him once, you definitely wouldn't forget him."

"Under twenty? Are you sure?"

Wilt was doubtful. A Transcendent that young would usually only be Level 1. Could he really have the strength to kill Trifer, a Level 2 Shadow Dancer, along with an Iron Guard?

Hogan swore that he had not seen wrong and that the Strife Mark on the target was real.

After that, the three speculated about Rayne's identity. Wilt even wanted Hogan to draw a portrait, but Hogan could not draw him and could not even describe him clearly.

Rayne eavesdropped outside the tavern for a long time. The feeling of listening to others discuss him was rather strange.

Especially when he heard them talk about his handsome appearance, he felt a little secretly pleased.

But when he remembered that these three Evil God Cultists wanted to kill him, that tiny bit of narcissistic pride was flung far away and replaced by utter displeasure.

It was not until evening that the three finished talking, left the tavern, and went their separate ways.

After considering it, Rayne decided to keep following the Martial Artist, Hogan. Only Hogan had seen him; the other two could be dealt with later.

Hogan noticed nothing amiss. He headed home and soon arrived at a house by the river on the eastern side of the Silver Star District.

Rayne memorized the address and quietly left.

After taking a carriage back to his apartment in the Los District, Rayne set down the glass jar in his hand, still thinking about the Evil God Cultists.

It was obvious that Hogan had still concealed something from his companions.

When he had been following the carriage that afternoon and discovered that Rayne was not inside, he had very likely gone after the driver to ask for Rayne's address.

At the time, Rayne had not given the driver his exact apartment address. He had only said Cosham Street.

Cosham Street was one of the most crowded streets in the Los District. A large number of apartments were rented out there, and at least five or six thousand tenants lived along the street. Finding one person there would not be easy.

But with his ability to sense the Strife Mark, if Hogan came to Cosham Street a few more times, he might very well discover Rayne even through pure luck.

Hogan didn't tell the whole truth. He still wants to act alone, kill me, take the Strife Mark, and please the Evil God.

I can't keep living in this apartment.

Rayne felt a sense of urgency. Hogan might come looking for him in the middle of the night.

It was only a possibility, and not a high one. Hogan did not seem like a particularly meticulous person, but Rayne did not want to take the risk.

Before leaving the apartment, however, he had to kill the Gold-Eating Ants and use Soul Stones to contain their Demon Souls. Otherwise, carrying them around would be inconvenient and could easily draw attention.

Rayne picked up the glass jar and looked at the Gold-Eating Ants inside, suddenly at a loss.

He did not have a suitable tool. Killing the Gold-Eating Ants seemed a little difficult...