Yes, I became a god just by exercising.

Chapter 117 Divination, Secrecy, Progress
In the divination image, Xia Faqing clearly saw Pompeii kneeling on the ground.

This may have happened a few hours ago, or it may have happened even earlier, but it certainly didn't happen later than yesterday afternoon.

Because the basement in the divination image now showed obvious signs of disorder, with footprints everywhere, and the shrill, mournful howls of a snow demon could be heard from the cubicle.

When Shafa raided the Bald family's manor, he guessed that it would alert Pompeii, the demigod.

But his initial assumption was that Pompey, while seemingly indifferent to his son Baldé the Elder, appeared to be quite fond of his grandson Baldé the Younger.

If Pompey had killed Baldr and his son, he might have been enraged and launched a furious investigation and revenge.

That would be perfect. That way, Shafa could lure Pompeii into all sorts of traps and snares. He had devised more than twenty feasible plans for this, and some of them didn't even require any prior preparation.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that Pompeii was the mastermind behind the second Snow Demon outburst, and the Bald family was the force that orchestrated everything behind the scenes.

But Xia Fa didn't expect that this was not some mere demigod-level event at all.

It seems that a ruler is interfering!

Now is the time to make further determinations. The luminous sphere that Xia Fa has transformed into remains silent and continues to watch the divination results.

This divination was completely different from the last one. He could only see a corner of the divination in the vast and endless starry sky, like peeping into someone else's secret through a hole in the wall.

It will never feel as immersive as it did last time.

This made him even more suspicious that the divination might involve a higher level of existence.

In this scene that only reveals the tip of the iceberg, Xia Fa vaguely sees that the direction Pompeii is kneeling in is the same chair with the red velvet cushion that he was sitting on earlier.

At that moment, there was clearly someone sitting in that chair.

But Xia Fa could only see the person's feet, not even his upper body.

Because the divination only revealed so many images.

These were a pair of spotless black leather shoes, but unlike ordinary black leather boots, the toes were covered with gold scales.

Above that were perfectly pressed, wrinkle-free violet striped suit trousers.

Despite being a simple and casual sitting posture, it exuded an aura of supreme authority, so much so that Pompeii, the demigod, trembled in fear before the owner of these legs, his head bowed so low it almost touched the ground.

Beneath those legs lay the scattered corpses of refugees, but in addition, Xia Fa also saw many gray-white hairs lying on the ground.

The hair resembled that of a snow demon, stained with blood, and tangled together, giving off an extremely eerie feeling.

"The matter has been exposed, hasn't it?"

The owner of those legs spoke, and his voice was unusually young, yet it carried an unassailable air of authority.

Xia Fa could see clearly that Pompeii's forehead was instantly covered in large beads of sweat, his face was filled with extreme fear, and his voice trembled uncontrollably with his body:

"No...not necessarily. Maybe it's just that my foolish son and grandson have made some enemies."

The young yet authoritative voice carried a hint of mockery:
“Enemies? Indeed, after all, we are not planning any major moves recently. Even if someone discovers our plans and tries to sabotage them, they shouldn’t choose this time.”

After a slight pause, the young yet authoritative voice changed its tone and said:
"However, the deaths of the Bald father and son did not appear simple. The method of killing them with an extremely sharp weapon... they either provoked the Laughing Clown of the wandering circus in the secret realm, or..."

Pompeii raised his head, his face showing no trace of grief for the loss of his son and grandson, only a deep fear and a hint of inquiry:
"You wouldn't say it's silver—"

The owner of those legs seemed to raise his hand slightly, and Pompeii immediately trembled, unable to continue speaking.

At this moment, the owner of those legs slowly spoke:

"If the Bald father and son were truly blind to have provoked a superhuman who had signed the Silver Throne, a supreme-level secret pact, resulting in their sudden assassination in broad daylight and their utterly defenseless deaths, especially after they had used up all the Time Curse Dice, then things would be simple."

Pompeii remained silent, head bowed, awaiting the judgment of this esteemed man.

The owner of those legs continued:
"The reason is quite simple, as you probably understand. If a superhuman who has signed a hegemon-level secret pact becomes a demigod, he will pose a great threat to you. No, to be precise, even if you are both demigods, you will never be his match."

"But then again, a demigod who has signed a supreme-level secret pact wouldn't kill the mere Bald father and son in such a sneaky way, deliberately covering them with iron powder after the killing to avoid subsequent tracking and divination."

"In fact, as long as he can find a proper reason, such as catching the Bald father and son in the act of committing crimes, and go directly to their door to kill them, no one in the entire Kingdom of Augu will dare to say anything."

"So, as you've probably guessed, this is a weak, future transcendent monarch who hasn't yet become a demigod. So, at least for now, we don't need to pay too much attention to this person of unknown identity; he poses no threat."

At this point, the young yet authoritative voice suddenly chuckled twice:

"In fact, if he hadn't killed your son and grandson, I would have wanted to recruit him. That's the Silver Throne... Of course, on the other hand, I'm more inclined to believe that it was the Laughing Clown from the Wandering Circus in the Secret Realm who did it, but that would be another kind of trouble."

Pompeii suddenly kowtowed violently, the impact making the alloy floor of the basement thud loudly, and his voice became incredibly devout:

“You don’t need to care about my feelings. If he is truly an extraordinary person who has signed the Silver Throne, a supreme-level secret contract, you can recruit him. I will have no objection to this and will not secretly harm him.”

The owner of those legs waved his hand, seemingly indicating that he didn't need to say anything more, and then continued:
"Yes, I understand your loyalty to me, but in any case, it's time to move. We can't stay here any longer, whether it's been exposed or not. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you."

Upon hearing the last word, which sounded both comforting and comforting, Pompeii visibly trembled with joy and then suddenly kowtowed again.

"I will carry out your orders to the death!"

The owner of those legs said calmly:
"There's no other way this time. We have to be more vigilant. Originally, they were just some die-hard fans who couldn't interfere with anything. I can confirm who the real culprit is."

When Xia Fa heard this, his heart skipped a beat, but he immediately realized that something was wrong.

Sure enough, the young yet authoritative voice suddenly changed its tone:
"...But the power of the Time Curse Dice affected the flow of space and time. Combined with the interference of the Living Iron Powder, this caused the flow of information entering the Protoss Realm to become completely disordered, and I was unable to find out anything through divination."

He suddenly stood up, his movements swift and decisive.

"Well, speaking of which, I should be going too. Octavian seems to have gone senile, daring to let his most precious biological daughter participate in this Fog Carnival. This is quite an opportunity..."

Click!

The divination scene suddenly shattered like glass, the starry sky quickly receded, and the familiar bedroom and mahogany table reappeared.

The aroma of various fog carnival specialties wafted through the window, along with the sounds of tourists on the bustling, lively street.

Xia Fa, however, remained seated in his chair, somewhat dazed.

First of all, I can rest assured that I am not being targeted.

Previously, due to the striking coincidence between the two incidents, he genuinely believed he was being targeted. But now it seems that he wasn't.

Through Pompeii's conversation with the young man who seemed to be the ruler, it seems that neither of them even discovered his identity. They only deduced from the traces he left at the scene that he had signed the Silver Throne, a secret contract of the overlord level.

Some even suspect it was done by the Laughing Clown of the Wandering Circus in the Secret Realm.

"The Wandering Circus of the Secret Realm... Isn't that an organization within the Church of God called 'Paradox Clown'?"

He used to think that the Paradox Church's Secret Wandering Circus was similar in nature to the Silver Church's Solar Prominence Nebula, an organization exclusively for clergy members who were extraordinary beings within the church.

But now it seems... there's a big difference.

"Hmm... Next time you kill someone, remember to burn the body with a fireball..."

Xia Fa steadied himself and learned from this lesson.

But you can't blame him for that, after all, he was just a low-level employee in his previous life, and this was his first time taking action.

If someone were truly that skilled, knowing not only to sprinkle live iron powder after killing someone but also to burn the body, that would be abnormal.

Fortunately, neither Pompeii, the demigod, nor the young man who was suspected of being the ruler were able to find out his identity.

However, at least this time he learned from his mistakes and made progress. Xia Fa decided that in the future, he would try his best to leave no trace when he made a move.

If you want to apply this principle to other situations, you can even deliberately leave some misleading clues to make people investigate in the completely opposite direction.

"By the way, if it's a being of the Dominator rank divining and prying into secrets, even the interference of the living iron powder wouldn't work? Would it really need to interfere with the flow of space and time at the crime scene?"

Xia Fa's gaze sharpened slightly as he pondered.

It must be said that he learned a lot from this divination, even though it came from his enemy.

It seems that next, we'll need to find a secret treasure or even a sealing artifact that can interfere with the flow of time or space.

However, Xia Fa also speculated that it didn't need a high-ranking secret treasure. It should be enough to slightly affect time and space, plus the living iron powder, to interfere with the divination of the ruler level.

"Speaking of which, the fact that the Overlord suddenly invaded the Fog Carnival and made such a grand show of force was actually aimed at Princess Victoria..."

Xia Fa felt a mix of emotions, even a touch of immoral relief.

Looking back now, if the leader of the Mist People, who was also the ruler, hadn't intervened in time, Princess Victoria's ruby ​​alone probably wouldn't have been enough to stop anything.

The nostrils that seemed to occupy the entire sky, and the dense purplish-black tentacles inside them, still leave a very deep impression on Xia Fa.

"Well... in any case, at least I'm safe for now, provided that the Overlord or Pompeii don't find out about me through some other means..."

Xia Fa's gaze narrowed slightly. If he had known beforehand that there was a ruler behind Pompeii, he would not have chosen to act yesterday, but would have instead turned to guard against Bald and his son.

He had previously thought that the second instance of the snow demon going out of control was at most caused by Pompeii, a demigod.

"Dick Tudor probably doesn't know about this either, right? I need to find some time to visit him again. But killing a demigod is a world of difference in difficulty compared to killing a demigod with a ruler behind him. Hmm... I'll have to pay more!"

Seeing that the divination was over, Xia Fa stood up.

Until the turmoil caused by that ruler ends, it's not advisable to go out and freeload meals today, since the Mist People or even the Church might come knocking on his door at any time to question or investigate him.

Having just faced a ruler, he felt an excessive burning sensation in his body, and since his strength hadn't recovered, it wasn't a good time to exercise immediately.

Therefore, Xia Fa decided... to lie down for a while!

That's right, there's been so much going on these past few days. I was supposed to relax at the Fog Carnival, but I ended up getting involved in the battle for the Land of Gods and almost got sucked into my nostrils by a Sovereign.

It would be a real shame not to take this opportunity to lie down and rest for a while.

Immediately, Xia Fa lay down on the bed, put his hands behind his head, stared blankly at the ceiling.

I have to say, it's really comfortable to lie down like this; it feels like my body and mind are completely relaxed.

Gradually, Xia Fa felt herself falling asleep.

Suddenly, his spiritual intuition stirred slightly, as if he had sensed something.

Xia Fa slowly opened his eyes and, seeing that there was no movement in the room, couldn't help but feel puzzled.

However, he remained vigilant and did not choose to go back to sleep. Instead, he got out of bed, walked to the mahogany table, thought for a moment, and then simply flipped his hand over and took out a book.

The book is titled "A Record of Mystical Explorations of the Fog People," which he bought this morning at the Fog Carnival. Since he had just rested for a while and was full of energy, he could take a look now.

Unexpectedly, after he had only turned two pages, a huge eyeball suddenly appeared beside him.

The eyeballs were as big as water tanks, the whites of the eyes were covered with blood vessels, and a thin line was split where the pupils should have been, making it look quite eerie.

But that's not the key point. The key point is that the moment the eyeball appeared, Xia Fa clearly sensed that this eyeball actually possessed the status of a demigod!

"A demigod-level spirit?"

Xia Fa immediately thought of the eyeball he had seen in the Celestial Spirit Realm during the last divination. Without a doubt, this eyeball was indeed a type of ghost spirit.

However, because it was a ghostly spirit, rather than an evil spirit that would kill humans, Xia Fa wasn't too afraid.

Another reason he wasn't afraid was that the moment he saw the eyeball, he was reminded of Tyrene, the cold-faced but kind-hearted cardinal.

"Xia Fa, not bad. After going through such a big thing, you still have the mood to read a book."

Suddenly, the eyeball opened and emitted a muffled sound.

This tone was remarkably similar to Tyrene's, which surprised Shafa considerably.
"Lord Tyrion?"

The eyeballs smiled as they said:
"No, I am Tyrean's spirit, entrusted by him to come and tell you some things."

It paused slightly, then emphasized its tone:

“...some very important things.”

(End of this chapter)