Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 171 Countermeasures
After leaving the Golden Country Bank, Luo Xiu and Index found a famous local restaurant.

Luo Xiu ordered a rib-eye steak, a plate of smoked beef, a vegetable salad and a dessert; while Intis only ordered a grilled fish - enough grilled fish for two people, it was said that it was her favorite.

After quickly finishing his lunch, Luo Xiu showed a crimson token to the shop owner.

That was the token from the Supreme "Arbitrator" Randall, the token that he personally handed to Luo Xiu when he "visited" him for the first time.

When the shop owner saw the token, an expression of admiration and respect quickly appeared on his face.

"You are Lord Landor's guests! What can I do for you?" the innkeeper greeted cheerfully.

"Just keep the account in the name of Lord 'Arbitrator' Randall at the Law Office - Square Branch. Someone will come to pay our fees." Luo Xiu said to the shop owner.

"Okay, okay." The shop owner nodded repeatedly, "It is our honor to have Lord Randall's guests visit our shop..."

Luo Xiu nodded, stood up, and left the restaurant with Index.

……

After having lunch using Randall's identity, Luo Xiu felt happy. He and Index soon returned to the neighborhood where the "Wolf Hunting Tavern" was located.

At this time, the street where the tavern was located was still under martial law, but the guards in charge of guarding the street had signs of fatigue on their faces, as if they were struggling between doing their duty and taking advantage of the situation.

When they saw someone approaching, they perked up again, looked at the person with sharp eyes, and said loudly:

"Martial law ahead! No one is allowed to..."

The guard choked himself before he could finish his words, swallowed deeply, and his eyes were wide open.

The guards on duty here only saw that the person who was about to enter the block was holding an exquisite crimson token in his hand.

"Well, can we go in?" Luo Xiu asked with a smile.

"..."

"Please forgive my rudeness, this is official business... Please feel free to pass."

As the guards spoke, they all stood up and saluted, making way for Luo Xiu.

After walking for a distance, Luo Xiu let out a long sigh and rubbed the token in his hand with a playful expression.

"'Grand Arbitrator'...Landor's token...it's really useful."

Luo Xiu sighed from the bottom of his heart.

……

Wolf Hunter Tavern.

When Luo Xiu finally returned here, he saw from afar that the former "Knight of the Throne" and current owner of the tavern, Isaac Neves, was still sitting at the door of the tavern.

Isaac cast a scrutinizing look at Luo Xiu, and at the same time glanced at Intis beside him, his expression was indifferent and there was no change.

When Luo Xiu and Intis approached, Isaac said in a low voice:

"…The investigation into the Black Fang group should be almost complete."

"But based on past experience, this won't be the only time they act. You should all be careful."

Isaac did not see the true identity of Index, who was still in the cooling period of the "two-faced doll" and whose "resistance" attribute was maxed out, and who crushed three scarlet magic crystals to cover up her spirituality.

"Okay." Luo Xiu nodded with a smile, "Thanks for the reminder."

After saying that, Luo Xiu and Index walked past Isaac and headed into the tavern.

After returning to the room, Index changed back into the form of a civet cat. She jumped directly onto the windowsill and took a nap in the warm midday sun.

Luo Xiu also sat on the edge of the bed, closed his eyes and began to meditate.

Calculating the time, half a day has passed since the assassination of "Black Fang" the night before.

After not getting any feedback for a while, the "Executioner" Koros hiding in the dark must have performed divination on himself again... Luo Xiu thought to himself, he immediately opened the panel and opened the skill details page of the ancient inherited skill "Prisoner of the Thinker".

On the way back, Luo Xiu had been thinking about one thing - whether the "Prisoner of the Thinker" could realize the idea of ​​"incomplete countermeasure".

In the previous experiment with reference to the "Silver Sundial Compass", Luo Xiu was able to roughly guess that the specific effect of the "Prisoner of the Thinker" should be to completely prevent "hostile" divination, detection, etc., and to give the opponent a soul-level shock in reverse along the opponent's spiritual link.

However, this result was not what Luo Xiu needed - what he needed now was to grasp the enemy's whereabouts as much as possible, rather than a complete counterattack - that is to say, Luo Xiu actually wanted the enemy's prophet to "divine" him, but he wanted to "share" the results of their divination with the enemy!

To this end, Luo Xiu thought about it for a long time, until he finally decided on the idea just now.

He raised his head and glanced at the cat Index on the windowsill. She was lying lazily by the window, closing her eyes and enjoying the sun, and did not notice the expression on her "master's" face.

Before doing the next thing, Luo Xiu wanted to let Index leave first, but after thinking about it, he decided to let Index stay in the room.

"...Fenrir." Luo Xiu called softly in a voice that only he could hear.

Inside the room, shadows began to strangely gather together, and dark purple flashes emerged from the void, quickly outlining the shape of a wolf.

At the same time, Luo Xiu exuded the spirituality of [Glory], which enveloped the spirituality of [Abyss] in front of him, preventing them from overflowing to prevent being noticed.

Index was still taking a nap, and she didn't realize what was happening next to her.

A moment later, the "Nightmare Wolf" Fenrir was successfully summoned from the Abyss. Its golden eyes stared at Luo Xiu, waiting for his instructions.

"—To the depths of my soul, Fenrir."

Through spiritual transmission, Luo Xiu issued a hidden instruction to Fenrir.

"..." Fenrir tilted his head. Although he didn't understand what his master meant, he still did as he was told.

It then transformed into a spirit and flowed into Luo Xiu's face like a wisp of smoke, just like when it invaded the enemy's soul.

But Fenrir was not prepared to weave nightmares in the depths of his master's soul, but quietly waited for Luo Xiu's next instructions.

……

When Fenrir flowed into the depths of his soul, Luo Xiu began to make the next attempt.

Luo Xiu once cast the "Mark of Domination" on the "Nightmare Wolf" Fenrir, so he could clearly sense Fenrir's current state.

After confirming that Fenrir was already lurking deep in his soul, Luo Xiu used "Prisoner of the Thinker".

From a spiritual inward perspective, Luo Xiu could see that several high red walls were gradually rising, and the "Nightmare Wolf" Fenrir was surrounded in the middle by those high walls.

"——Ah?" Fenrir made a puzzled sound through his spiritual power.

But soon, it received Luo Xiu's next instruction:
"——Fenrir, destroy a high wall."

"..."

"——Ouch!"

After receiving the exact instructions, the dark purple flame on Fenrir's body suddenly expanded and rushed towards one of the red walls.

On the soul level, Fenrir, known as the "Nightmare Wolf", was extremely powerful. The phantom purple magic flames he created bombarded the red wall again and again, causing pale ripples to appear on the wall.

After a fierce attack, a crack finally appeared on the red wall.

The crack gradually expanded and spread rapidly around.

Until a certain moment, a sound like glass breaking was heard. —— Bang! After Fenrir's last attack, the red wall finally collapsed, turned into spiritual dust, and disappeared without a trace.

This process was accompanied by pain. Luo Xiu felt a pain like a knife scraping his head, but he still endured it.

Until the wall completely collapsed, "Nightmare Wolf" Fenrir carried out his orders well, and Luo Xiu continued to instruct:

"——Fenrir, stay there. Pay attention to any external spiritual surges, intercept them, and find the source of the spirituality..."

“——Ah.”

Fenrir roared in a low voice, and then coiled in a circle on the spot, waiting for the arrival of the "foreign spirit".

"Huh... that's it, it's done."

Luo Xiu took a deep breath, adjusted his state, and began to wait for the enemy's possible actions.

If his prediction was correct, the enemy's second "divination" on him should come soon.

……

Hidden dark camp.

On an altar carved from obsidian crystal, a bronze compass is placed on the surface of the front and highest stone tablet.

The compass was filled with mercury, which was scattered into silver beads of varying sizes, trembling unnaturally.

The "Fallen Prophet" was dancing naked in the center of the altar.

It is said that it is a kind of dance that was passed down from the Age of Gods by a secret cult family in the Holy Tower Kingdom and is able to please the Mother Goddess.

According to the descendants of that family, the "Original Mother" likes pure sons, and being naked is a way of expressing "purity". Any clothing, no matter how exquisite or simple, is a rebellion against the word "purity", and is considered a blasphemous act that attempts to "cover up" filth.

The "Fallen Prophet" who became a disciple of Koros happened to be the descendant of this ancient family. He completely inherited the "Dance of the Divine Feast" and could obtain the revelation of the "Mother Goddess" more accurately through this dance.

"..." Koros looked speechlessly at the prophet who was singing and dancing in front of him, with a complicated expression on his face.

Before the prophet performed the divination ceremony, Koros dismissed everyone in advance and only served as a witness to the prophet's ceremony.

It’s not that he’s afraid that the specific content of the ceremony will be leaked, but it’s really too... damaging to the reputation of the Principality’s “Executioner”.

"——The origin of the birth, the mother of all spirits..."

The prophet chanted hymns to the Mother Goddess in a loud voice. In his left hand, he held a small drum, which swayed from side to side, and the sound stones embedded inside made a "dong dong dong" sound. In his right hand, he held "Said's Notes", which was surrounded by gray and black mist, emitting an ancient and profound spiritual surge.

"——Please have mercy on me and show me grace..."

"——Please show me the truth and lead me to the holy path..."

"..."

As the prophet "prayed" again and again, at a certain moment, a thick black fog suddenly rushed up from the black crystal altar where he was!

Koros' eyes lit up, and he opened his spiritual vision, trying to glimpse the scene behind the black fog.

He then saw that the prophet had stopped dancing and was kneeling weakly on the altar, gasping for breath.

The prophet was sweating profusely, but as he had received a death order before, he had already placed the "Said's Notes" safely on the ground in front of him before himself, and it was not damaged by the sudden change.

The next moment, the prophet suddenly lay on his back, and dozens of silky dark green light bands were drawn out from his body and injected into the silver sundial compass on the altar stone tablet.

Koros saw that the eyes, ears, mouth and nose of the fallen prophet were all bleeding dark blood, and his face was horribly hideous, as if he was experiencing great pain.

Koros frowned, but didn't take it to heart.

He knew that for lost believers like the Fallen Prophet, gaining power or praying for miracles often came at a price.

"Divination" is a kind of prayer for miracles, and the fallen prophet's state of excruciating pain at this time is also one of the prices paid.

Koros then stood up and walked forward with an expressionless face.

The black fog was still spreading in the altar, but Koros waved his hand lightly, and the black fog rolled to both sides like waves, clearing a path for Koros.

Koros then stepped over the prophet's body and walked straight to the stone tablet.

On the stone tablet, the mercury in the "Silver Sundial Compass" no longer vibrates violently. The repulsive force between them disappears, and they converge into a silver sundial needle, pointing firmly in a certain direction.

That is exactly the direction of "Songyuan City".

"……very good."

Koros picked up the compass, a gentle smile appeared on his face. He looked back at the naked fallen prophet lying on the ground and said approvingly: "You did a good job."

"Cough... cough..." The prophet was still in intense pain and did not hear clearly what Koros said.

Koros didn't wait for his response.

"Executioner" Koros took a big step and once again stepped over the body of the fallen prophet and walked out of the camp.

The fallen prophet was left alone on the altar, enduring the pain bestowed by the Mother Goddess.

"Koro...Ko..."

The prophet spoke in a hoarse voice and reached out his hand to Koros' back, as if he wanted to grab something and say something.

But Koros's back was getting farther and farther away, and finally disappeared from the prophet's sight.

The prophet could not say anything, and then he felt dazed and then fainted.

……

"……alright."

Luo Xiu looked at the compass in his hand and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Just now, Fenrir, the "Nightmare Wolf", did intercept a suspicious spiritual being from outside.

It was indeed a hostile divination targeting his whereabouts, and the divination spirit bypassed the red wall surrounding Luo Xiu's soul on its own, found a gap guarded by Fenrir, and took the opportunity to invade.

However, the "prophet" obviously did not expect that this place had already been transformed into a cage specially prepared for his spirituality.

The prophet's spirit was quickly captured by Fenrir, who quickly created a spirit of the same origin, and then "returned" the spirit to the prophet after adding the means of counterattack.

The fictitious spirituality flowed out of Luo Xiu's body along with his own spirituality and was pressed into the "Silver Sundial Compass" in his hand.

In this way, the "Silver Sundial Compass" in my hand can reversely locate the whereabouts of the holder of the other compass...

Luo Xiu stroked the compass with his fingers, and a subtle smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The identities of the assassin and the assassinated, the hunter and the prey, have changed.

Luo Xiu thought to himself.

And you will be the "ultimate hunter".

……

(End of this chapter)