Chapter 7: The Reader - Douluo: Iron Pot Martial Soul, I Use It to Brew Potions

An Chen's tongue went numb from the bitterness. The Potion was icy cold, like countless little snakes writhing wildly through his body.

His whole body immediately froze in place. He could still think, but he could no longer move.

Then he "saw" some things he should not have seen.

The outhouse was pitch-black. He felt a shadow moving in the corner, slowly stretching out arms and legs.

An Chen suddenly turned to look, but there was nothing there.

Yet in the corner of his eye, in the places he was not looking, that thing was still there.

Then unknown whispers filled his ears, as if they had fallen from the starry sky.

An Chen covered his ears, but it was useless.

He remembered the Meditation Method he had just received and hurriedly began meditating according to its instructions. Slowly, he felt his scattered consciousness begin to gather.

The invisible things in the outhouse and the whispers in his ears gradually faded away as well.

An Chen slowly exhaled a foul breath. His back was already drenched in cold sweat.

He composed himself and recalled the method for opening Spirit Vision recorded in the Meditation Method.

He raised both hands before his eyes, placing his index fingers opposite each other without touching. He focused his gaze behind his hands, then slowly moved his fingers... once, twice, three times.

All of a sudden, An Chen saw a hint of color between his fingers. It was a faint red, like a thin halo enveloping his fingertips.

That was his aura, the "Ether Body" mentioned in the Meditation Method.

An Chen steadied his mind and continued moving his fingers. The reddish halo gradually became clearer.

He tried shifting his gaze beneath the outhouse, where a mass of gray-black mist was slowly squirming.

An Chen's heart lurched, but he soon relaxed. It was merely the filth within the outhouse. After drinking the Potion, some knowledge had appeared in his mind, including the fact that The Reader was sensitive to filthy things.

He did not look any longer and quickly withdrew his Spirit Vision. The gray-black mist disappeared along with it, leaving only the pitch-black outhouse.

An Chen felt that, aside from gaining some rituals involving sacrifices and magic-like ceremonies, his perception of the surroundings had also become much clearer. He could "see" some things outside the outhouse.

While An Chen was still considering the uses of those rituals, he suddenly felt the urge to pray to some great existence.

His hands unconsciously came together. If he had the materials, he wanted to use some ritual to draw the attention of a great existence right then.

The moment An Chen realized it, he hurriedly shook his head and pulled his hands apart.

He felt that he had changed. He was no longer the same person he had been before drinking the Potion.

As An Chen considered the reason, his mouth unconsciously began muttering again.

He felt that this was perfectly normal.

Just as he was about to finish a sentence, the Wuhun Mark on his hand trembled. A surge of gray mist poured into his mind, waking him up.

Gasping heavily, An Chen recalled his actions just now and felt a wave of lingering fear. It had been as though he had become another person.

He vaguely understood that if he had finished that sentence, something utterly terrifying would have happened.

Just as An Chen was still shaken, the system's voice rang out:

Ding! Detected that the host has advanced to Sequence 9 and drawn the attention of an Outer Deity.

The system will strengthen the barrier!

At once, An Chen felt that gaze, which had been about to descend upon him, vanish instantly.

An Chen summoned the system.


[Big Iron Pot System]

[Name]: An Chen

[Race]: Human

[Wuhun]: Big Iron Pot

[Soul Power]: Level 13

[Soul Ring]: Yellow

[Pathway]: The Hanged Man

[Sequence]: Sequence 9 The Reader

[Digestion]: 5%

[System Status]: Concealment Enabled (Strengthened)

[System Notice]: The Iron Pot can be used to brew Potions.

[Main Mission] Absorb the Second Soul Ring (Shadow Attribute). Reward One: Listener Potion formula and materials. Reward Two: System abilities based on the Soul Ring's age.

[Side Mission] Pray to the great The Fool! Reward: Potion Acting Method.

"What... what the hell is with that expression?" An Chen could not help complaining.

"I just drank the Potion, and now there's another Soul Ring mission. This time, there's even a side mission." An Chen stood up and stretched his legs, which had gone numb from squatting.

"What exactly is this digestion percentage? And what's an Outer Deity? Cthulhu? And what is this Acting Method?" An Chen shook out his hands again.

"And what is this The Fool? A great existence? Is there really a great existence with that kind of name?" An Chen could not help muttering softly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the System Panel suddenly turned red. Dark clouds began gathering above the outhouse, and the originally fawning, cheerful emoticon in the side mission abruptly changed into ╬◣д◢.

While An Chen was still wondering why it had suddenly become so cloudy and why the System Panel had changed like that, the clouds dispersed again and the system returned to normal.

"How strange." An Chen scratched his head, put away the system, and got up to return to sleep.

Lying on the bed, An Chen's heart could not calm down for a long time.

He simply got back up to cultivate, using the Basic Meditation Cultivation Method that Grandmaster had given him to cultivate Soul Power.

Before long, An Chen was surprised to discover that his Spirituality was slowly calming down as well.

"Hm? I'm not using the Meditation Method given by the system. Why does Grandmaster's cultivation method have the same effect?" An Chen opened his eyes and felt his Spirituality slowly becoming more solid.

His perception had also strengthened somewhat.

"Grandmaster's cultivation Meditation Method can even cultivate the Spirituality brought by the Potion." An Chen was secretly shocked.

"Right, wasn't one of the system's rewards the Acting Method? Let's see how I'm supposed to complete that mission." An Chen remembered the system reward he had not paid attention to earlier.

"Pot, arise!" An Chen called out softly.

[Big Iron Pot System]

[Name]: An Chen

[Race]: Human

[Wuhun]: Big Iron Pot

[Soul Power]: Level 13

[Soul Ring]: Yellow

[Pathway]: The Hanged Man

[Sequence]: Sequence 9 The Reader

[Digestion]: 5%

[System Status]: Concealment Enabled (Strengthened)

[System Notice]: The Iron Pot can be used to brew Potions.


"It's here." An Chen spotted the mission prompt.

[Side Mission] Pray to the great The Fool! Reward: Potion Acting Method.


Drawing on the prayers he had seen in television dramas before transmigrating, An Chen pressed his hands together. "Please, The Fool, bless me."

The system did not react.

An Chen drew a cross over his chest. "Amen—no, no, The Fool."

The system did not react.

He tried forming a hand seal, then bowed toward the System Panel.

There was still no reaction.

An Chen tried again, kneeling and kowtowing, silently reciting the Heart Sutra. After struggling for quite a while, the System Panel remained completely motionless.

"Fine." He deflated, put away the system, and lay back down on the bed.

Moonlight streamed through the window. An Chen stared at the dark ceiling while Shitou's thunderous snoring rang in his ears.

"In those novels I read before transmigrating, when people prayed to gods, didn't they have to recite the god's honorific name?"

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. He could not help muttering softly, "Just calling him The Fool won't do. There should at least be a more formal honorific name..." The instant his words fell, the Wuhun Mark in An Chen's palm trembled violently.

A voice sounded beside his ear:

[Ding! Detected that the host has established an intention to pray... Bestowing The Fool's honorific name.]


The Fool who did not belong to this era;

The mysterious ruler above the gray mist;

The King of Yellow and Black who commands good fortune.

An Chen froze for a moment. "This sounds like a spell."

Above the gray mist... He subconsciously glanced at the Iron Pot in his palm. A faint layer of gray mist hovered within the pot.

He softly recited it once as instructed.

The instant the final word left his lips, he felt as though something was watching him through countless layers of worlds.

**Ding! [Side Mission] Pray to the great The Fool—Completed!**

[Reward] Potion Acting Method. Distributing...


A stream of information poured into his mind. An Chen accepted it instinctively, then suddenly widened his eyes.

The essence of the Acting Method was this: by imitating the behavioral patterns of the "profession" or "identity" corresponding to a Potion's name, one could harmonize body, mind, and spirit, thereby dissolving the residual mental influence within the Potion and completely digesting and absorbing it.

The core precautions of the Acting Method:

1. Remember, you are only acting.

2. Acting is a means, not the goal.

"So... The Reader means... secretly praying?"

He slowly exhaled and looked up at the panel.

[Digestion]: 7% ```

"This... counts as digestion?" An Chen was stunned for a moment.

"Just by praying once?" An Chen put away the system.

"The Reader... it probably isn't as simple as praying. How exactly am I supposed to act?" An Chen muttered to himself, turned over, and spent the entire night sleepless.

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The Reader