Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 641 The Cult of Spirits

With the activation of the Privilege Book, Pumpkin's memories, skills, profession, and destiny trajectory are revealed.

It was completely exposed to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran was the first to peruse Pumpkin's memories.

Pumpkin's status in Changchun Association is absolutely extraordinary. Back when Pumpkin was still a D-level student, he was assigned to take over the Seventh Middle School.

His strength wasn't particularly great, but the cursed artifacts he possessed were all incredibly rare.

Since the Seventh Middle School, she doesn't know how she cultivated, but she advanced to a professional in such a short time, and with the blessing of various spiritual entities, she is simply a humanoid tyrannosaurus when she fights.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Xiao Ran was able to defeat her in their last encounter. You should know that before she and Pumpkin even started fighting, Pumpkin herself was already severely injured. Wu Man destroyed a significant portion of her spiritual body, causing her strength to drop by at least a third.

He himself relied on the stitches of fate to cleverly disrupt the balance of the spirit attached to her, which allowed him to win easily.

To put it bluntly, the pumpkin was caught off guard, and the victory felt somewhat unfair. If the pumpkin knew his methods, it wouldn't be an easy task for him to defeat her.

Moreover, she still had a variety of props she hadn't had time to use. The reason she could win was just because Pumpkin had a preconceived notion that she was a corpse sculptor and that all of her methods were countered by her. So she didn't consider that the corpse sculptor's methods were precisely Xiao Ran's weakest point.

As for Pumpkin's identity, Xiao Ran did not find it in Beast Master's memories.

Because at the time, Beast Master was in charge of external expansion, he didn't pay much attention to the subsequent industrial restructuring.

Now Xiao Ran opens the memory book, wanting to see who is behind the pumpkin.

However, when Xiao Ran opened the memory book, the result greatly disappointed him.

It's all pixelated.

Don't misunderstand, that's not a partial mosaic from an island nation, but rather the memory content seems to be blocked by some force, making it impossible for Xiao Ran to see any valuable information from it.

Xiao Ran had seen this kind of blockade with other members of the Changchun Society, but they usually did so only when it involved secrets, while Pumpkin left no gaps for him.

"This ability must be... a Contract Master!"

Xiao Ran remembered encountering this profession when she signed a contract in Donglongfang. She thought her name was Zhang Linglong. She wondered if giving this memory book to her would allow her to remove the mosaic.

Xiao Ran temporarily put away the memory book, intending to find an opportunity to try it out. After all, she was a major customer of Donglongfang, and there was no reason why they wouldn't help her with this small favor.

As for Pumpkin's skills and profession, Xiao Ran hasn't touched them yet. On the one hand, she doesn't need them now, and on the other hand, Xiao Ran wants Pumpkin to retain her complete profession and skills so that after she becomes a Corpse Slave, she can use her Spirit Master abilities to enhance Sanli, Liumu, Wudang, and Butcher.

At the very least, it can improve the strength of the painters, archers, and spirit snakes—these corpse slaves.

"It's a pity that when Qinghai possessed Liwang, he destroyed the Golden Bull's corpse. Otherwise, I could have made another fortune from the treasures on that girl's body."

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran couldn't help but feel a little regretful, which forced him to postpone his plan to transform the pumpkin corpse. He wanted to wait and see if he could encounter another unlucky guy with a bandit profession.

Alternatively, we could later work with Donglongfang or the company to develop the pumpkin corpse together, striving to maximize the profits from it.

After all, this is the corpse of a professional, and its value is considerable, so it deserves to be treated with such care by Xiao Ran.

For the time being, one's profession, skills, and physical space are all immobile.

Xiao Ran certainly didn't bring out the pumpkin corpse for her to admire. As a smuggler, Xiao Ran naturally had to do her job.

His true purpose was to understand the pumpkin's destiny.

This woman is so lucky; people are paving the way for her along the way, which shows that she has an extremely good destiny.

If one is so fortunate, why did one still die?

This requires explaining a basic point: aside from some special circumstances, the ways people die can be broadly divided into two categories.

Died a natural death or died a violent death.

Those who are destined to die peacefully without illness, in their old age, and who know in advance when their time will come are able to say when they will pass away.

Such people are rare. In modern times, we often see videos of elderly people who are aware of their impending death.

It may seem ordinary, but in fact, those who die a natural death are extremely rare.

For a person to die a righteous death, the following conditions must be met: be well-fed and clothed, live in a peaceful and stable country, be in good health, avoid conflicts with neighbors and go to places of trouble, and have a fulfilling state of mind.

Of these conditions, only the first two can be achieved by a handful of prosperous eras, even after searching through history books.

Therefore, the vast majority of people die violent deaths.

To die a violent death is like a calamity.

It's not determined by fate. It's like a flower bud on a tree. You see it's about to bloom, and it really is about to bloom, but then a naughty kid comes along and smashes it down with a stick.

This is why the ancients always referred to this as an unexpected disaster.

Buddhist scriptures say that those who suffer unexpected calamities are often people who are troublemakers.

Whether it's Pumpkin or myself, we're all in the same boat. Being in a place like the Lost City, we're already burdened with the karma of killing. Misfortune can strike in an instant; who can say for sure?

But these things have nothing to do with her destiny.

Xiao Ran looked over and, with the blessing of the [Suppressing Calamity Token - Thief of Fortune], could directly see the four life-threatening evil spirits on the pumpkin life pillar.

Goodness, that's a rare stroke of good fortune.

The four inauspicious fates are: Gold and Silver Treasure Ship, Heavenly Mansion Canopy, Venus Shining at the Gate, and Willow Shade.

"They're all lucky fates." Xiao Ran looked on with envy. He took out the fate chart that Sister Liu had given him and compared the two fates.

[Year Pillar - Gold and Silver Treasure Ship] First-class Destiny Inauspicious Star

According to fortune telling: If one is destined to have many treasures, their fortune will be long-lasting, and they will be able to create a treasure ship. Every once in a while, the light of treasure will soar into the sky, and they will surely obtain great treasures.

[Month Pillar - Tianfu and Huagai] First-class Destiny Star

According to fortune telling: You are good at learning and skilled in various arts. The more you learn, the easier it is to trigger a flash of inspiration and sudden enlightenment.

[Tianzhu: Venus Shines at the Gate] Class B Fate Inauspicious Star

According to Chinese astrology: Staying in one's place of residence often brings unexpected benefits, and the longer one stays there, the more obvious the effects will be.

[Hour Pillar: Shady Willow Trees] C-Rank Life Inauspicious Star

According to fortune telling: You will often encounter some ghostly spirits, but these spirits will not pose a threat to you. On the contrary, they will provide some help.

The four inauspicious stars failed to form a complete destiny chart, but two of them were of the highest grade (A) and one was of the lowest grade (B), which is already considered an excellent destiny chart.

Moreover, even the lowest grade, C, is still a very good destiny for Pumpkin, the spiritual master.

After Xiao Ran saw through Pumpkin's fate, she placed her left hand on Pumpkin's chest. Immediately, threads of destiny, like a large net, pierced into Pumpkin's body, penetrating her corpse and piercing into the darkness.

After Xiao Ran tentatively scooped around a few times, she immediately felt as if she had scooped up something. So she pulled hard, and the sutures quickly tightened.

In a moment, Xiao Ran retrieved a cluster of life-threatening energy shimmering with golden light.

"It's a treasure ship of gold and silver!!"

When Xiao Ran first saw the golden light, her eyes lit up, thinking that she had gotten lucky and won a prize.

However, upon closer inspection, he discovered it was actually a second-class inauspicious fate of Venus shining brightly, and he was immediately disappointed.

"Well, although it's a second-grade fate, it's not bad. There seems to be a fate chart in the Fate Chart for Lingbao Jinshan, which is a fate chart specifically for making money. It requires this fate. Once I finish what I'm doing and return to the Amazing Pavilion, I can consider changing the fate of the second-in-command so that he can become a small manager."

Xiao Ran collected the corpses of Ming Sha and Nan Gua.

He then stood up and walked out of the cellar.

He had been in seclusion for so many days without hearing any noise from outside, and he had no idea what Wu Man and the others were doing now.

"Oh, sir, you've come out."

When the waiter saw Xiao Ran come out, he immediately walked up to her with a smile and poured her a cup of hot tea.

"Where are my companions?"

"They went out early this morning. It's been really lively here these past few days, with lots of fun and interesting things to do everywhere."

The waiter looked outside the door and said to Xiao Ran.

"Oh, what's all the commotion about?"

"Hey, it's the Ling Shen Sect under King Wu who came to spread their teachings, and they brought us a lot of good things."

"What is the Spirit God Cult?"

Xiao Ran pressed for an answer, puzzled.

"Oh dear, sir, you're putting me in a difficult position. I'm just a waiter, how would I know so much? There are quite a few families in the city who believe in spirits and gods. If you want to know, you might as well go out and take a walk."

"Thank you very much."

"You're welcome."

After the waiter left, Xiao Ran got up and walked out.

Just as the waiter said, the streets outside were even more lively than when Xiao Ran and the others came last time, with everyone wearing smiles on their faces.

If it weren't for Xiao Ran's ability to see through the essence of the city and understand its true nature, one would truly believe this place was a paradise on earth.

"May the spirits bless you and bring you peace and prosperity. Your blessings have arrived today. The spirits are preaching today, so please do not miss it."

On the streets, you can often see children dressed in white handing out leaflets to passersby.

These children were all chubby and fair-skinned, and their appearances were very cute and endearing.

But when Xiao Ran looked closely, she could tell at a glance that these children were neither human, ghost, demon, nor monster, but rather some kind of creation, a messy jumble of things, and finally covered with a layer of human skin.

Xiao Ran went over, and a boy immediately handed her a leaflet with both hands.

Xiao Ran picked it up and looked at it; it was covered in scribbles that even he couldn't understand.

However, as soon as Xiao Ran received the flyer, a side quest appeared in front of her.

Triggering Side Quest 1: Slaying Evil and Protecting the Righteous Path

Mission Description: Disrupt the proselytizing of the heretical Ling Shen Cult and slay its leader.

Task Difficulty: Level A

Mission Requirements: The people of the City of All Beings have an extremely high level of goodwill towards this religion. Do not launch a forced attack before the people begin to question it, otherwise it will provoke hostility from the City of All Beings!
(End of this chapter)