Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 407 Becoming a Disciple of the "Underworld Taoist"

Raphael uses his spirituality to examine the new abilities he gained after ascending to the rank of "Devil".

Besides abilities like "Hellfire," another core ability of the "Devil" is "Corruption."

The "Mystic" and "Lawyer" paths also possess the ability of "corruption," with similar effects. They both create a pool of black liquid on the target, causing them to develop corrupting thoughts and forming rust-like impurities on their body, thus freeing a portion of their body from the target's control.

The "degradation" ability of the "lawyer" path is not extended much, basically only reaching the level of a saint.

However, the "corruption" ability of the "Mystic" path can be strengthened step by step, eventually becoming one of the main powers of this path.

As the ability to "fall" strengthens, it can cause the target's physical and spiritual bodies to "fall" in an abstract sense. The most common way is to make the physical and spiritual bodies no longer loyal to the target's consciousness, but fall into new forms that fight against the target's will.

The "fall" of the "Demon" path is similar to the "fall" of the "Mystic" path, or rather, these two paths are implicitly interchangeable precisely because of their similarity in the authority of "fall".

However, the "fall" at Sequence 4 only causes the target's body to develop certain thoughts and no longer obey its own will; it is far from forming a separate individual.

In addition, the "devil's" "fall" has an additional ability: it can cause the target to fall into various "fallen" thoughts. Moreover, no matter how good the target's psychological quality is, some "fallen" thoughts will inevitably arise.

This is different from the "fall" of the "Mystic" path.

As for the abilities of the "Apostles of Desire," they have also undergone a qualitative change. They no longer need to create emotions such as fear or joy in their targets to seize and ignite desire. The "filthy language" has also expanded to include words such as "confusion," "sloth," and "blasphemy."

In fact, just like the "Devil" stage, the "Devil" didn't gain much power when he was an "Apostle of Desire," but after advancing to "Devil," he suddenly gained a lot more power.

Moreover, these abilities include melee, ranged, and control abilities, as well as mental abilities.

The ability to induce "corruption" in a target, causing a drastic change in their personality and turning them evil, is just one aspect of the mental realm.

It can also directly attack the target's mind, causing the target to lose their senses for a certain period of time. At the "devil" level, this also becomes a very important ability, allowing for the launch of attacks silently.

Of course, the duration of mental confusion depends on the level of the target. For ordinary "demons," if the opponent is also a saint with a strong spirit, the attack on the spirit may become a tug-of-war.

Even in a protracted battle, the "devil" can still gain a certain advantage and may be able to hold out for a longer period of time.

If the target's mind is not very strong, then a Saint-level being can generally make the target lose their senses for 1 to 2 seconds. During this time, the target is a complete madman, and the "devil" can also incite the target to attack their own companions.

If it's an extraordinary individual in the "middle sequence," they can first disorient the target within a certain range, for a period of 2 to 8 seconds. That's enough time for them to die several times over.

As for lower-sequence extraordinary individuals and ordinary people, encountering abilities like "demons" would most likely drive them completely insane. Moreover, ordinary people could very well turn into monsters due to the complete collapse of their mental bodies.

The "Devil's" physical enhancements include not only changing from "Demon State" to "Devil State," but also strengthening its self-healing ability, defense, and attack power. Furthermore, it gains additional effects of corrosion and poison mist in melee combat.

The key is that the "devil" can keep a part of the body in the state of a mythical creature. Although it doesn't last very long and only a part of it remains, it's still like having a cheat code in melee combat at the same level.

Other abilities, such as "malice perception," have also been enhanced. Now Raphael can clearly know which people within a certain range are inclined towards depravity, and he can even determine what desires led them to depravity.

After confirming his new abilities, Raphael breathed a sigh of relief. With such a wealth of abilities, coupled with the enhancement from "Dark Lodge," he already felt invincible below the level of angels, even though he had only just been promoted.

Raphael rubbed his hands together. Now that he had seen all the abilities he had acquired, he could use his spirituality to perceive the "compound technique" he had obtained.

Each previous promotion granted him a unique ability, and this time was no exception. Raphael gained the ability of "Puppet," which allows him to transform a target into his "puppet" without the target's knowledge.

These puppets still appear to be perfectly normal, but they will be completely under Raphael's control when needed.

However, this ability has a hierarchical limitation; it can only transform targets below sequence 3.

Moreover, the probability of converting to level 4 of sequence is only one-third. If it fails even once, the other party will notice and it will be difficult to carry out a new round of conversion.

Those below the Saint level can achieve 100% success.

Having achieved the goal of transformation, they have no concept of having become "puppets," and all methods such as divination and visits are difficult to detect; they can only guess based on the other party's words and actions.

It is a capability that is very difficult to defend against.

The most remarkable thing is that this transformation can accompany the "puppet" for its entire life, unless the "puppet" surpasses Raphael in level, or Raphael dies.

Otherwise, the target will forever remain Raphael's "puppet," and the key target will not even realize it.

Raphael wasn't surprised by this ability. First, the "Bound Ones" pathway possesses the authority of the "Others," one manifestation of which is the ability to transform normal beings into monsters. This was evident in the "Werewolf" sequence, where the target could be transformed into a "puppet" in a short period.

The "Abyss" pathway also possesses similar abilities in the "Demon" sequence.

However, the ability to "transform" only undergoes a qualitative change after reaching the level of an angel.

Raphael can now use the transformed "Transformation" ahead of time, and it's even better than the original "Transformation" because both the "Bound One" and "Abyss" pathways require the target to complete the "Transformation" process in extreme pain. After the process is complete, the target becomes a monster.

Raphael's "transformation" ability at this point is clearly more advanced and more covert.

With that thought, Raphael breathed a sigh of relief. Now that he knew the abilities in the real world, it was time to go to the "Dark Lodge" to see if he had acquired any new abilities.

When Raphael entered the "Dark Abode" earlier, he was experiencing hallucinations and didn't have time to fully experience it.

Upon entering the "Dark Abode" and sitting in a high-backed chair made of crystal, Raphael felt the surging power around him converging towards him and sensed a qualitative change.

Using his spiritual senses, Raphael quickly realized that after entering the "Dark Abode," he had probably reached the level of an angel.

This also signifies that the "Lord of Evil Desires" has reached the level of an angel, possessing a portion of the authority of the "Bound Ones" and "Abyss" pathways, as well as the basic abilities of angels who possess these two pathways.

Overjoyed, Raphael looked at the "colorful lights" created by "God's" arrangement outside, and the "Super Star Overlord" that was sealed tightly.

Raphael's spiritual senses indicated that he could have been further strengthened, but the Dark Lodge had too much power maintaining those seals, which reduced the power Raphael received, so there was no other way to strengthen himself.

Then, Raphael glanced at "The Beginning" floating above "Super Star Overlord" with a somewhat gloomy look in his eyes.

From the very beginning, Raphael knew that "Initially" had no good intentions in approaching him, but things were developing in a way that was worse than he had imagined. The "dual pathway" had huge hidden dangers, and if he was not careful, Raphael's body and spirit might completely collapse.

If we want to avoid a complete breakdown, we might need to ask "the beginning" for help.

Or rather, in order to survive, Raphael might have had to invite, or even beg, the "original" to become his primary consciousness.

Thinking about this made Raphael feel very unhappy.

Suddenly, he looked at the seat next to the high-backed chair.

There used to be a phantom of the "Netherworld Man" at that spot, but now there's nothing there.

Raphael realized that "harmony with the Way" might be his last path.

After thinking for a moment, he said to the "demon personality," "From now on, I will try not to speak. You can handle whatever happens. I will only step in when there is a battle."

The "demon personality" laughed and said, "That would be great."

Then he asked, "What are your plans next?"

Raphael thought to himself: First, I need to cultivate the "True Scripture of the Demonic Source". For the next period of time, I cannot make any major moves and must fully assist the actions on the Western Continent.

Communication between the two personalities can be completed internally, but Raphael is unsure whether "Initial" can hear it.

The Western Continent, a land of extreme Yin.

Zhou Fei, also known as Raphael from the Western Continent, stood atop the mountain, quietly gazing at the extremely yin land where the sunlight was blocked by darkness.

Now that he has finally reached Sequence 3, he can go and ask the "Underworld Taoist" how to achieve harmony with the Tao.

After a moment of reflection, Raphael quickly descended the mountain, crossed the river, and entered the land of extreme yin.

Thanks to previous explorations, Raphael quickly arrived at the ruins of the research institute and used "Adam's Gift" to enter the dream world, arriving at the headquarters of the Haoli Ming Cult, a city not far from the "River of Eternal Darkness".

He had just arrived on the outskirts of the city when he came into contact with the city's "ghost messengers" and eventually met the ethereal "Underworld Taoist".

The "Netherworld Man" was still sitting cross-legged on his enormous throne in the same simple hall, giving Raphael the illusion that the "Netherworld Man" hadn't moved since he left last time.

Raphael performed a Daoist bow: "I have come as promised to learn the Dao of Union. I humbly request that the Daoist of the Underworld accept me as his disciple."

son. "

He particularly emphasized the term "disciple".

"The Underworld Taoist" remarked, "Your advancement speed is quite fast."

He took a deep breath: "I remember now, you do need a teacher on the Northern Continent."

"Very well, then I will accept you as my disciple."

Raphael bowed again, saying nothing, but expressing his gratitude to the "Netherworld Man" for thinking of him in this way.

The "Witch Doctor" continued, "Let's set aside these worldly formalities. From today onward, you will reside in the side hall and diligently practice the 'Harmony with the Dao' method I have taught you."

Raphael: "Yes."

"Since you have already practiced the 'True Scripture of the Demon Source,' you should be able to sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth." "The Daoist of the Underworld" immediately got to the point: "But that is only the first step."

"The large world and the small world we inhabit were once a whole, encompassing various rules and extraordinary characteristics."

Power and symbols once resided within a single individual.

"In a concept we can better understand, you can think of all of this as a grand unified theory of the universe," a theory that can explain all the phenomena in the entire universe.

"Theoretically speaking, all characteristics, authorities, and symbols can be adjacent pathways or adjacent old symbols."

Raphael listened intently: This theoretically establishes the basis for the existence of the "Primordial Creator," but why establish this theoretically first? — Oh, I understand now. The ultimate goal of merging with the Dao is to better align with the "Source Matter." And all "Source Matter" originates from the "Primordial," so we must first understand the theoretical basis for the existence of the "Primordial" to ensure that the process of merging with the Dao does not go astray.

"The Underworld Man" waited a moment for Raphael to catch his train of thought. Seeing that Raphael's expression gradually relaxed and that he had understood his meaning, he continued, "What I said is only theoretically feasible, but practically difficult to achieve. At least for ordinary people, it would be very difficult to do."

"But in theory, humans can do this because humans can maintain a certain degree of self-identity even when faced with divine invasion after taking any kind of potion."

"This shows that when humans encounter extraordinary characteristics, there is sufficient universality, and there is no path of characteristics that humans cannot master due to some innate defects."

"When you reach a certain level, you may achieve this goal by making certain compromises with divinity."

"But then it becomes unclear whether that is human consciousness or not."

Raphael opened his mouth, something he hadn't considered before, but after seriously considering the words of the "Netherworld Man," he felt somewhat bewildered: Are humans really that powerful?

Having experienced the unforeseen events during his previous promotion, he believed that the human spirit and body were completely unable to support the characteristics of both pathways.

However, the theory presented by the "Underworld Man" seems to have no obvious flaws; at least the line of reasoning behind this "proof by contradiction" is generally correct.

However, reality is quite different from this line of thinking.

"The Man of the Underworld" seemed to see through Raphael's thoughts, and he smiled gently: "You may think that this is only theoretically feasible, but in practice, it is impossible to achieve."

"Hehe, at first, I also thought my thinking was wrong, but after I achieved enlightenment, I realized that someone—"

"No, the pillars" altered some of the rules of the universe, making humanity incredibly vulnerable.