Lord of Mysteries: Taiyi

To run or to stay...

Leah's house is like a ticking time bomb; Kurt feels it could explode at any moment.

Kurt preferred the former and ran quickly to the Church of the Night to ask the night watchman for help.

He clenched his fist, but this might kill Leah here—no, it was certain she would die here, and the entire neighborhood would die as well.

Under his spiritual vision, the painting had no spiritual radiance, but it emitted an extremely eerie aura. Using the knowledge in the book, Kurt roughly deduced that it must be some kind of evil ritual.

The key to the ritual is likely Leah, which explains why the easel lacks spiritual significance—it's not finished yet, there are still some steps to go, but there's still time.

Kurt wanted to take Leah directly to the Church of the Night, but his spirituality warned him that he couldn't do that, as it could cause the situation to spiral out of control.

After struggling, Kurt touched "God-given" and calmed down temporarily.

The thought just happened in an instant, and Kurt forced himself to remain calm, saying:

"Yes, Leah, where is Mrs. Lucy?"

Mrs. Lucy is Leah's mother.

He swallowed hard, his eyes flashing, and followed Leah slowly into the living room. Then, touching the ring, he prayed frantically in his heart:

"You are the symbol of life, the direction in which all life grows, merciful mother, please save me, and have Bishop Utravsky come to 47 Molly Street, Georgewood District, where there are suspected signs of an evil god's descent."

Now that he's become one of the Mother Goddess's "favored ones," it's quite possible she'll hear his prayers, even though the proper rituals are lacking. It's a sliver of hope, a last resort...

Leah seemed to pause for a moment, pausing for two seconds before replying as usual:

"My mother went to the Southern Continent to find my father two days ago, saying she's never coming back."

Lia replied somewhat coldly, as if she were talking about a stranger, with an indifferent attitude.

Kurt gasped and instinctively looked toward a room on the first floor, the tea room where Ms. Lucy usually liked to hang out.

When Kurt came last time, Ms. Lucy showed him an ivory tea set that was very characteristic of the Southern Continent...

Now, the once bright and spacious tea room is closed and lifeless, and Kurt has a bad feeling about it.

In the dimly lit room, Leah quietly approached the easel. Seeing nothing unusual, she wanted to turn the painting around for Kurt to admire.

She smiled and said to Kurt:

"Look at the portrait of the Lord that I drew."

Kurt felt a chill run down his spine. He braced his right hand against the easel, stopping Leah's movements, and gave a stiff smile:

"I prefer to see the finished product directly. Show it to me after you've finished."

Leah nodded, glanced at the ring on Kurt's left hand again, and returned to the easel without asking any questions, sitting down.

Seeing that Leah seemed to have no time for him, Kurt carefully began to collect spiritual materials, preparing to formally pray to the Earth Mother Goddess for power to purify the portrait that resembled the "true creator".

But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a long, thin, silver spike on the table next to the easel, the kind that was very useful for bleeding. He saw Leah about to pick up the spike, as if she was using the weapon as a painting tool.

Just as she was about to stab herself in the heart, Kurt, who had been stunned for a moment, quickly stopped her and took out a slumbering talisman he had made by praying to "Infinite Collapse":

"Lia, I want to eat some...dark bread. I haven't eaten for three days."

Leah stopped what she was doing and said somewhat angrily:

"Kurt, you're not here to freeload, are you?"

After saying that, she puffed out her cheeks, put down the thorn, stood up, and walked towards the kitchen.

If they hadn't been in a dark room, standing before a portrait of an "evil god," Leah's behavior would have been no different from usual...

Seeing Leah enter the kitchen, Kurt took out a "Spell of Perfection" and silently recited a phrase:

"The finishing touch."

Then infuse it with spirituality, targeting a tall wooden cabinet outside the kitchen.

He murmured in Hermes:

"Imbalance, left, silence."

Immediately afterwards, the wooden cabinet lost its balance and quietly fell down, landing against the other wall and blocking the kitchen at an angle.

Kurt breathed a sigh of relief, deciding to deal with the portrait first. Following his heart's desire, he didn't dare look at the front, but instead took out the spiritual materials from his clothes and began to set up the ritual.

But as he sprinkled the spiritual powder, something unexpected happened; he heard a gunshot.

The powder in his eyes almost stopped in mid-air, but upon closer inspection, one could still see that the powder was falling slightly. Countless intertwined, chaotic yet beautiful Möbius strips appeared in Kurt's eyes, each without a front or back. The spiritual energy he had accumulated earlier began to be consumed frantically.

The "divine gift" shone brightly, greatly enhancing Kurt's strength and speed. A red moon slowly appeared in the room, filling the entire room with moonlight.

He twisted his neck sharply, time resumed its normal flow, and the sound of bullets whistling through the air pierced his ears.

Kurt then took out a handful of seeds and scattered them around. When the second bullet came, it shattered him into a pile of moonlight. Kurt reappeared not far away.

He stared at the spot he had just been in and found that there was no one there.

"It can become invisible..."

The ring glowed again, and the seeds began to grow wildly, rapidly filling the surrounding space. He intended to force out the enemy hiding in the shadows.

Suddenly time began to slow down again. Kurt immediately rolled forward, dodging the attack with lightning speed. With his greatly enhanced physical abilities, he stomped his left foot hard, stopping his forward roll. He then twisted his waist and swung his arm to strike the enemy whose attack was not yet over.

He also saw the attacker clearly; he was wearing a transparent cloak, and his body inside the cloak seemed to have vanished into thin air. He was wearing an iron mask, so his expression was unreadable.

The masked man tried to dodge, but it was too late. With the red moon's blessing, Kurt's physical abilities reached an absurd level. The masked man was punched in the left chest, the sound of breaking ribs reaching his ears. Kurt changed his pull to a grab, pinching the man's chest flesh, making it impossible for him to remain hidden.

The man was about to open his mouth to say something:

"Ah... Ugh, I'm dying..."

Before he could finish speaking, Kurt slammed his left hand into his mask, thwarting his attack and shattering the mask, just as he was trying to see his face.

At this moment, Kurt suddenly felt a little dazed, and his heart tightened. It was a magical item from the realm of the mind.

Then the wildly growing plants all slowly stopped growing, and the red moon gradually disappeared.

Kurt gradually loosened his grip on his right hand, and the man struggled and fell to the ground. His lungs were ripped open, and pieces of lung and blood gushed out. He coughed violently.

Suddenly, a shadow rose from the corner and transformed into a bald, middle-aged man with hooked eyebrows and gray eyes, holding a strange square mirror in his hand.

He raised his revolver and fired a shot directly at the stunned Kurt. The bullet blew Kurt's head off, and he fell straight down.