Sha Ming was far more than his apparent rank suggested.
That wasn't a difficult conclusion to reach, considering that even his own explanation made perfect sense.
Seekers only appeared before divine targets, and Sha Ming could tell whether a Seeker was genuine. The simplest explanation was that he, too, was a divine target.
More important, though, was what that implied: I was Second Order, yet I couldn't sense him at all.
From our first meeting until now, despite being in such close proximity, he hadn't shown the slightest abnormality in front of my ninety-nine Inspiration.
One explanation for such a feat was that his rank was absurdly high, so high that he could overwhelm even me.
But aside from that terrifying possibility, there was another: he might have a tool like my Dazzling Face, one specifically designed to hide this sort of thing.
It might sound outrageous, but it wasn't impossible.
Don't forget where we were. This place was full of things that operated on the level of rules.
If there were a way to make those things serve him, achieving this wouldn't be hard to imagine.
And even from what he'd shown so far, it was clear that Sha Ming knew far more about this place than just a little.
I recognized the pattern he'd been gesturing at earlier, too. It was the route we'd taken after coming down here. Drawn casually by him, it had taken on an even stranger, more abstract quality.
Of course, whichever theory was right, dealing with him wouldn't be easy.
But they said to look on the bright side. Third Xun Brother had appeared again, and he didn't look particularly friendly. Perhaps he could help me warm up.
Sanity Value -1.
Sure enough, he gave me a surprise right away.
He