Tracking and Eavesdropping

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

He was a young man of about twenty-three, with an ordinary appearance and a tall, slender build. He carried no mission weapon, wore close-fitting clothes, and moved with great agility, deftly avoiding pedestrians and obstacles 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 the "Sparrowtail Mantis." It was a Rare Element that allowed Transcendents to use their physical strength to stimulate the "Force of Qi," unleashing immense destructive power in close combat in an instant.

A martial artist's strength was built upon Inner Qi. They excelled at close-quarters combat, using their bodies as weapons. All their attacks carried Inner Qi, giving them both speed and 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 also had a Secondary Soul, which gave him another Common Element called "Balance." This meant his profession was at level two, and he could not be underestimated.

"Such a young and promising martial artist is actually a follower of an evil god."

Rayne secretly felt relieved.

Fortunately, he had discovered the other man in advance. If he had been ambushed, he might not even have been able to withstand a single punch.

Watching the martial artist follow the carriage rapidly into the distance until it disappeared from sight, Rayne finally relaxed somewhat. He could now confirm one thing: the evil god's followers could not sense the Strife Mark from more than a hundred meters away. Otherwise, that martial artist would have noticed long ago that he was not in the carriage.

Of course, it was also possible that the sensing range was somewhat shorter. He simply could not be certain.

The moment he thought of the Strife Mark, Rayne developed a terrible headache. There were more followers of the evil god than he had expected. The Strife Mark on his body was like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

Unless he stayed inside his home and never went out, there was no way to guard against thieves forever.

"I have to find a way to get rid of the Strife Mark."

Rayne made up his mind, then began to think. To eliminate the Strife Mark, he still had to start with the evil god's followers.

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

Aside from believing in the evil god, did they have any other means?

If there was no way to solve the problem, then he would consider it from another angle: deal with the people who had raised the problem!

Strike first to gain the advantage. He could eliminate a group of the evil god's followers, reduce his chances of running into them, and devour their souls to recharge himself.

Moreover, this martial artist had most likely seen what he looked like. If he notified other followers of the evil god or directly reported him to the Shadow Blade assassin organization, things would become troublesome.

In any case, this man had to die!

Rayne had always been a proactive person. He would never passively let others manipulate him.

He stopped hesitating and turned back toward Silver Star District.

The carriage he had taken earlier had come from Silver Star District and had only recently crossed the bridge. That martial artist had certainly followed it from Silver Star District as well. Once he realized Rayne was not in the carriage, he would definitely turn back to search for him.

There was only one route from Los District back to Silver Star District that had to be taken: the bridge spanning the Feregron River.

Rayne soon reached the bridge. After walking to the Silver Star District side, he entered a bookstore nearly 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 flipped through it casually.

He waited for less than twenty minutes before a familiar figure appeared on the bridge. It was the young martial artist.

He walked over from the bridge, but his gaze swept around as if he were searching for someone.

"Hmph."

Rayne snorted inwardly. As expected, this follower of the evil god was unwilling to give up on his target and had come back searching for him.

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

The entire world fell silent. Countless sounds were filtered out, leaving only the martial artist's footsteps, which were clearly magnified in his ears. Even without looking, Rayne knew where he was, as if he were right beside him.

Only after the martial artist crossed the bridge and entered Silver Star District did Rayne leave the bookstore and follow him from a distance.

He carefully maintained a distance of over two hundred meters and never once appeared within the martial artist's line of sight. Unless the other man possessed extraordinarily keen senses, it was impossible for him to be discovered. Rayne could confirm that there was no such super-sensory element in the man's soul.

The martial artist walked neither quickly nor slowly, looking around along the way.

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

Both of them harbored ulterior motives, one in the open and one in the shadows. They walked and stopped for nearly an hour before the martial artist finally gave up the search and entered a tavern.

Rayne stopped far from the tavern and thought, Just as I expected. This isn't far from the Magic Soul Market. The martial artist must have encountered me in the market and sensed the Strife Mark.

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

Following the martial artist's footsteps came several sounds of doors opening and closing and chairs being moved. The man sat down beside a table. There seemed to be many others drinking nearby, and the surroundings were extremely noisy.

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

The martial artist called Hogan seemed rather dejected. Only after several seconds did he reply, "Nothing much. I discovered an interesting target."

"What target? Tell us about it." Another man was asking this time. His voice was somewhat deep, and judging from his tone, his status was a little higher than Hogan's.

Hogan seemed unwilling to speak. The deep-voiced man let out an unhappy snort.

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

"What?" the woman cried out in alarm.

"Carida, keep your voice down." The man warned her before pressing on. "The Lord's mark? Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"Then where is he?" the man continued asking.

"I lost him." Hogan sounded somewhat lacking in confidence.

The man seemed furious, but he did not dare lose his temper in the tavern. He reprimanded Hogan harshly, "You lost such an important target? You're an experienced hand. Do I really need to teach you what to do? At the very least, you should have found a way to inform 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 leave in a carriage. I didn't have time to notify you."

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

"The person you discovered may very well be the culprit who desecrated the Lord's altar."

"I know you want to earn merit and please the god, but the other party killed an entire group of Trifer's people. With your strength, do you really think you can defeat him?"

Hogan did not argue. He muttered a few times before falling silent.

The three of them were silent for a moment before Wilt sighed and asked, "You saw what that person looked like, right? Can you identify him?"

"I saw him, but I'd never seen him before." Hogan hurriedly answered, then described him. "He was a man, very young, probably under twenty. He looked... well, he was extremely handsome, the kind women really liked. I can't describe him very well, but once you've seen him, you'd definitely never forget him."

"Under twenty? Are you sure?"

Wilt was somewhat doubtful. A Transcendent so young was usually only at level one. Could he really have killed Trifer, a level-two Shadow Dancer, along with an Iron Guard?

Hogan swore emphatically that he had not been mistaken and that the Strife Mark on the target was genuine as well.

Afterward, the three of them speculated about Rayne's identity. Wilt even asked Hogan to draw a picture, but Hogan could not draw him, nor could he describe him clearly.

Rayne eavesdropped outside the tavern for a long time. It felt rather strange to hear other people discussing him.

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

But when he remembered that these three followers of the evil god wanted to kill him, that little bit of vanity and smugness flew out the window, replaced by complete irritation.

It was evening before the three finally ended their conversation, left the tavern, and went their separate ways.

Rayne considered it and decided to continue following the martial artist Hogan. Only Hogan had seen him. The other two could be set aside for now.

Hogan noticed nothing amiss. He headed back and soon arrived at his home, a house by the river in the eastern part of Silver Star District.

Rayne memorized the address and quietly left.

After taking a carriage back to his apartment in Los District, Rayne set down the glass jar in his hand, still thinking about the followers of the evil god.

It was obvious that Hogan was still hiding something from his companions.

When he had pursued the carriage that afternoon, after discovering that Rayne was not inside, he had most likely acted against the coachman and pressed him for Rayne's address.

At the time, Rayne had not given the coachman his apartment's detailed address. He had only said to go to Cosham Street.

Cosham Street was one of the most crowded streets in Los District, with countless apartments for rent. At least five or six thousand tenants lived on that street. Finding one person there would not be easy.

However, relying on his ability to sense the Strife Mark, Hogan could come to Cosham Street several times. Even if he was merely relying on luck, he had a good chance of finding Rayne.

"This Hogan hasn't told them everything. He still wants to kill me himself, obtain the Strife Mark, and please the evil god."

"I can't stay in the apartment anymore."

Rayne felt a sense of urgency. Hogan might come looking for him by midnight.

Although it was only a possibility and the odds were not high—Hogan did not seem like a meticulous person—Rayne did not want to take the risk.

However, before leaving the apartment, he first had to kill the Gold-Eating Ants and use the Soul Stone to contain the Demon Soul. Otherwise, carrying them around would be inconvenient and could easily attract other people's attention.

Rayne picked up the glass jar and looked at the Gold-Eating Ants inside. Suddenly, he found himself in a difficult position.

He had no suitable tools. Killing the Gold-Eating Ants seemed a little difficult...