CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 8: DARK BLOOD SACRIFICE (PART 2)

Under the dim candlelight, a shadow descended from the Spirit Realm slowly stood up. It looked at the man in front of it and said, "The mission failed?"

The man bowed his head respectfully, "Yes, my lord Messenger."

The candlelight flickered.

In an instant, the shadow revealed a fierce and terrifying outline, its voice restrained with anger, "Useless! The master is very angry!..."

The man tried to explain, "They came too quickly."

"My Mind Demon Seeds didn’t have time to all sprout!..."

The Messenger’s cold voice sounded, "The master doesn’t want to hear any explanation."

"This mission’s failure has already alerted many of the old cronies."

"The master now has new orders."

The man immediately bowed his head respectfully upon hearing this. He knew the president’s Messenger had no patience for explanations. He humbly said, "What are the president’s orders?"

The Messenger gazed at his silhouette, a hint of greed in his eyes, "The master wants you to change your identity and re-infiltrate."

"Await the next instructions."

The man was silent for a moment, his expression showing a bit of struggle, "What identity?"

The Messenger said, "A widow of a wealthy man, newly arrived from the Dagon Region to Dorne City."

Hearing the Messenger’s words, the man’s expression was indescribable, "A woman?"

The Messenger’s lips curled with a mocking smile, teasingly, "What? In your current state? Do you still care about your gender?"

The man bowed his head, speechless.

The Messenger said coldly, "Deal with your current body properly, do not leave any clues."

The man took a deep breath, "My lord Messenger."

"I have already consumed a lot of Extraordinary Essence by planting ’Mind Demon Seeds’ in the previous mission."

"If I continue to change bodies and use the True Mind Exchange Technique, I might fall from my current Sequence and lose some of the Slave’s traits."

The Messenger said expressionlessly, "That’s because of your incompetence!"

"The master spent so much effort to send you to the real world, yet you couldn’t even conduct a Dark Ritual properly."

"If the ritual were successful, you would have advanced to your destiny with the identity of a ’Slave’ by now."

The man was somewhat at a loss for words, he forcefully explained, "The Night Watch Headquarters reacted too quickly. I had obviously diverted the Death Pilgrim."

"But they only took half a day..."

The Messenger said coldly, "No more explanations. A failure is a failure. Any explanation is useless."

"The master will arrange a new Mind Relic for you."

With that, its figure gradually dissipated, the mottled scene around returned to normal, regaining reality. Before leaving, it coldly said, "Clean everything up here."

"You don’t need to eat brains anymore! Don’t expose yourself because of this habit."

As if an illusion, the entire study returned to normal.

The mottled lines of paint returned to the oil painting, and the man remained silent for a long time before the ritual, finally turning slowly and walking out of the room.

Night fell.

A great fire suddenly erupted in the villa, the fierce flames quickly engulfing everything nearby.

Night Watch Headquarters.

Shawn returned here in the afternoon, one clue after another was sent back for analysis, several investigators on vacation had also rushed back, including someone he knew, Hank Brand. A group of investigators gathered around various bizarre ritual tools, attempting to find a clue to the enemy’s next move through a moment of inspiration.

Aside from Shawn’s discovery, other Night Watchers had new findings as well, the enemy had been in hiding longer than they had imagined.

"It’s the material for conducting a Dark Blood Sacrifice." Gemma, wearing glasses, analyzed the black wooden roots in front of her.

She was a Mystic Scholar, very skilled in rituals.

Basically, aside from those on combat paths, other Transcendents with Mystical Knowledge had come to help.

Not far away, Jason stood silently smoking at the entrance of the hallway. He was a Barbarian of the Fury Sequence, inherently illiterate, and found it difficult to absorb Mystical Knowledge. For now, he could only wait for the investigators and Mystic Scholars to analyze some clues before taking action.

On the other side.

A Death Pilgrim of the Ranger Path was still tracking the traces left by the enemy, a small-scale battle broke out in the Old Town District half an hour ago, the specific situation was still unclear to Shawn and the others.

"A High Sequence Polluter."

"It must be Mind Path."

Shawn and others exchanged opinions with the Mystic Scholars, and finally concluded, "The enemy planted Mind Demon Seeds in the Old Town District and used Mind Domination to secretly control some ordinary people."

"The goal is a grand Dark Blood Sacrifice."

"It may be some kind of promotion ceremony!"

The Old Town District was a place mixed with different kinds, populous, suitable for hiding identities.

Since Shawn learned from the Butcher’s mouth that he had been hit by Mind Suggestion before, he studied all abilities of the Mind Path. In Lady Hecate’s Maze Library, most Mind Abilities were recorded, the one closest to the current situation being Personality Parasite and Mind Demon Seed.

Shawn estimated that Mind Demon Seed was most likely, because Personality Parasite required a long time to lurk and wouldn’t erupt so suddenly.

——"Mind Demon Seed (Sixth Ring): You imprint all your mind into the subject’s subconscious. If the implantation is successful, the seed of the mind will ’sprout’ a week later. During this period, the subject will unconsciously exhibit some of your special habits. Once assimilation is complete (approximately one week later), the subject’s mind will become you when this superpower was cast, becoming your Spiritual Clone and possessing part of your Mind Abilities. You can own multiple Spiritual Clones." [Casting this ability requires consuming your own Extraordinary Essence or using some Extraordinary Medium.]

There might be only one enemy!

But he planted Mind Demon Seeds in the Old Town District, which caused such a violent outbreak that even mythical creatures were summoned.

Nearby patrols, including the Night Watchers, had previously found nothing unusual; it’s possible they had been caught by the enemy’s Mind Suggestion.

Spells above the Sixth Ring of the Casting Path were already strong, while the High Tier spells of the Mind Path were even more fearsome and weird.

When Shawn read the introduction to this spell in the Magic Book, he remembered it very vividly.

"Immediately lock down the Old Town District."

"Check if anyone else has been hit by Mind Demon Seeds!"

The middle-aged man in the conference room had a livid expression and said in a deep voice, "Notify the Church. Request to use Sealed Object No. 33."

Among many Extraordinary Paths, Mind Path Polluters posed the greatest threat.

Not to mention ordinary people, even Low Sequence Transcendents might not withstand his Mind Domination and Mind Demon Seeds. If this ticking time bomb is not found, Dorne City might once again fall into crisis at any time.

A High Sequence Polluter had the capability to destroy a city.

Shawn was hesitating.

With so many High Tier Investigators present, as a newcomer, he didn’t want to be too conspicuous, so he walked to Benjamin’s side and whispered, "High Sequence Mind Path also has an ability called True Mind Exchange Technique."

"It can directly swap bodies with another person, be careful if he has changed identity."

Not many people knew about this ability.

Since investigating with the Butcher, Shawn had been researching all Mind Path abilities after discovering that he had been hit by Mind Suggestion in the past. In Lady Hecate’s Maze Library, most of the extraordinary abilities of the Mind Path were recorded, such as Personality Parasite and Mind Demon Seed.

Shawn estimated the most likely was Mind Demon Seed, because Personality Parasite must hide for a long time, but Mind Demon Seeds only took a week.

The number of Transcendents on this path was already extremely rare, while those able to advance to High Sequence were only a handful, either possessing remarkable will or extraordinary talent.

The Extraordinary Relics of this path were also very rare, with little records available even in Lady Hecate’s library.

——"True Mind Exchange Technique: Directly swap bodies with another person."

About this ability, there are not many records in Lady Hecate’s library either.

Since discovering from the Butcher’s mouth that he had fallen prey to Mind Suggestion before, Shawn had researched all Mind Path abilities. In his estimation, Mind Demon Seed was the most likely because Personality Parasite must remain dormant for a long time, whereas Mind Demon Seed needs only a week to ’sprout’.

If they had enough materials for casting, they could continually create ’Spiritual Clones’, simultaneously changing identities, erasing all traces related to themselves.

This time they were able to detect the anomaly in advance, partly by luck.

When he was tracking down from the Butcher’s mouth, Shawn had learned about the effects of Mind Suggestion he once fell victim to, realizing all Mind Path abilities were among the most dangerous.

If enough casting material was provided, they could keep creating ’Spiritual Clones’ and swap bodies frequently, erasing any link to themselves every time.

Last time, timely detection of anomalies involved some luck as well.

At that time, when pursuing a clue from the Butcher, Shawn found out he had been targeted by Mind Suggestion, and thus he started researching every Mind Path ability available. According to Lady Hecate’s Maze Library, it contained only limited records of this Path’s Extraordinary Relics, indicating their rarity.

It was also some luck this time that let anomalies be discovered early.

During that time, a Barbarian from the Fury Sequence, Jason Tangel, who had been unable to digest Mystical Knowledge due to being an inherent ’illiterate’, had additional Willpower support.

High level investigators were many, and he being a newcomer was not supposed to be too high-profile, thus he quietly waited for the Mystic Scholars and Investigators to analyze a clue before taking action.