A Late-Night Visit

After a while, just as An Chen was about to persuade her to leave the shore.

The woman's movements stopped, and her body no longer trembled.

An Chen seemed to sense something and hurriedly retreated ten meters.

The next second, the woman's skin began to change. Her smooth skin, merely covered with a little mud and sand before, started to crack. From her face downward, her entire body gradually took on the texture of tree bark.

An Chen's eyes widened at the sight.

Then, her hair spread out like branches, growing denser and denser as its color shifted from jet-black to dark green.

From afar, she looked like a great tree standing there, and the place where her face had been was no longer visible.

This... wasn't this the same abnormality that had happened to Li Yusong that day?

An Chen could not help looking around, afraid that Flender might be watching him from somewhere in the distance.

Fortunately, there was no one nearby, but he still could not help taking several more steps back.

Although the woman's hair had stopped growing, new branches began sprouting from within her body.

Beneath the bark—no, beneath the woman's shriveled, cracked skin—something writhed, about to burst out. Then, with a sharp crack, several branches grew out of her body.

Watching from afar, An Chen's stomach churned, and he nearly vomited.

He saw that a section of intestine still hung from a branch that had pierced out through the woman's stomach.

Other than that forked branch, the other branches were also draped with internal organs.

So fucking disgusting.

Just as An Chen was about to leave.

He heard a sound he had heard from Li Yusong before.

It was the sound of bark rubbing together. Listening closely, it seemed to be saying something.

"...I want... to have children... with you..."

An Chen's scalp prickled. He hurriedly backed away several more meters and summoned the Iron Pot in front of himself, just in case.

However, nothing happened. Just as An Chen relaxed his guard, the sound rang out again.

But this time, he could not make out its meaning. It was a murmur made by countless people speaking at once, voices of men, women, old people, and children all blended together, saying who knew what.

The next second, a thunderous boom rang out!

The tree the woman had become suddenly exploded. Countless branches and leaves scattered everywhere, along with chunks of flesh and blood, including the intestine An Chen had seen earlier.

The massive noise carried far, and people in the distance turned toward it one after another before gradually rushing over.

An Chen frowned. Without hesitation, he lowered his head and ran toward the other side of town under the cover of the reefs.

He did not want to cause unnecessary trouble.

After making a wide detour, An Chen returned to the inn.

The inn's hall was buzzing with voices, everyone discussing what had just happened.

"Did you hear that huge noise just now?"

"Of course I did. Weren't Lord Soul Masters fighting?"

"I don't know, but I heard it happened by the shore. There were trees and flesh scattered everywhere, all stuck together."

"Trees? Flesh? Stuck together? That's disgusting."

"Yeah. They say it was probably some mutated plant-type Soul Beast."

"Why would there be a plant-type Soul Beast by the sea?"

"Why don't we go take a look together later?"

"No. I just finished eating."

"..."

Without exception, everyone in the hall was discussing the matter.

Why had it suddenly exploded?

Listening to them, An Chen could not help frowning. He went straight upstairs to his room.

Back in his room, An Chen fell into deep thought.

Li Yusong hadn't exploded last time. Was it because Flender had intervened?

The system's warning hadn't sounded this time either. Was it because I had been standing far away and wasn't close enough to the blast center to be affected? Was that why there was no warning?

An Chen sat in the chair by the window and watched Spirit Hall soldiers and Soul Masters racing down the street toward the shore.

A small jar suddenly appeared in his hand. He shook his head, shut the window, and opened the jar.

A fishy smell of raw fish immediately wafted out. An Chen looked inside and found a slightly cloudy, pale-yellow paste, like jelly.

Fine grayish-white impurities were visible to the naked eye in the Whale Rubber.

This was hundred-year Whale Rubber? Maybe the kind over a thousand years old would be better.

An Chen thought to himself.

Suddenly, his Spirituality felt a stabbing pain again, exactly like when he had observed Mokai earlier.

At the time, he had thought it was because he had not rested well.

Now, it seemed there was likely a problem.

An Chen frowned slightly and activated Spirit Vision to examine the jar of Whale Rubber.

He discovered that the Whale Rubber's aura was a faint yellow glow. But upon closer inspection, there were wisps of purplish-red light floating over it, like several purplish-red oil slicks on water.

An Chen's heart sank. He knew there was definitely something wrong with those purplish-red traces; they were not naturally part of the Whale Rubber.

After thinking for a moment, he connected them to the purplish-red wounds on Mokai's hand and decided to investigate Mokai's courtyard tonight to see what exactly was going on.

With that thought, An Chen put the lid back on. He had originally intended to test the Whale Rubber's effects, but this had happened instead. He could only give up on that for now.

Late at night, because of what had happened at the shore, the streets of Sanchao Post were especially quiet.

An Chen lay in bed, then suddenly opened his eyes and got up.

Walking through the silent streets, An Chen used the cover of night to release Black Fog around his body and silently made his way toward Mokai's courtyard.

A moment later, An Chen arrived at the entrance to the courtyard. He felt his way to the wall, lightly leaped over it, and entered.

After crossing over, An Chen did not act immediately. Instead, he stood where he was and cocked his head, listening to the sounds around him.

After confirming that it was safe, An Chen continued onward.

At once, he spotted the Old Banyan Tree in the courtyard, its leaves swaying from side to side in the sea breeze.

An Chen glanced at the warehouse-like side rooms on both sides and decided to check the main hall ahead first for traces of Mokai.

The tea set was still sitting on the Eight Immortals Table where they had drunk tea that morning. An Chen stepped forward to inspect it but found nothing unusual.

He went to each room in turn and listened at the doors, but found no trace of Mokai.

Strange. No one's here. Where would he go in the middle of the night?

Somewhat puzzled, An Chen simply stopped worrying about where Mokai had gone. He returned to the courtyard and went to inspect the two side rooms.

A bronze lock hung on the side-room door, but its clasp was somewhat loose.

An Chen lightly pried it with his Short Saber, and the bronze lock fell off with a click.

He gently pushed open the door, and the fishy smell of raw fish rushed at him. It was identical to the smell from the jar in his hand.

An Chen activated Spirit Vision and saw clusters of pale-yellow glows neatly arranged along the wall.

This was Whale Rubber. Moving closer for a look, he found that within every yellow glow of Whale Rubber, a thread of purplish-red light flickered in and out of sight.

It seemed they all had a problem.

An Chen deactivated Spirit Vision and used the moonlight to inspect the other items.

He quickly discovered that besides the Whale Rubber on the wooden racks, two large boxes were stacked in the corner.

Taking a closer look, An Chen discovered they were two Storage Soul Tools.

He crouched down and tried to open one of them.

Because he had consumed Potions, An Chen's spiritual power was considerably stronger than that of ordinary Soul Masters.

Before long, he opened the box.

Inside were some candles that gave off a peculiar scent, along with small glass bottles containing unknown Essential Oils and Powder.

Materials for Ritual Magic?

A chill rose in An Chen's heart. When he had first consumed a Potion, he had obtained some Ritual Magic materials and procedures from it.

But he had obtained that knowledge from the Potion, and the Potion had come from the system. Why would Mokai know about it too?

Could he have a system too?

An Chen shook his head. That possibility was unlikely.

Then was it a coincidence? Could it really be that much of a coincidence?

An Chen opened the other one as well.

It contained the same things.

An Chen turned his head and listened. Finding nothing unusual, he stored the materials from both boxes in his Ring.

He continued deeper inside. Along the way, he encountered quite a bit of Whale Rubber, but found no other boxes.

An Chen halted and turned his head to listen carefully, noticing some movement.

Breathing? More than three people?!