Lord of Mysteries: Taiyi

Backlund, Joewood District, Leah's house.

The kitchen echoed with banging sounds and Leah's cries. Ignoring his struggling companion on the ground, the hook-nosed man picked up a three-edged thorn from the table and pierced through the dense, giant plants, attempting to move the cabinet.

Just as he was about to exert force, his heart was suddenly lifted from his chest by the moonlight, which then gradually solidified. A slender hand pierced through his chest and crushed his heart... The crimson moon never disappeared.

"No wonder that masked man knew I could dodge bullets and still rushed over to his death. It turns out you were the one who fired the shot."

Kurt clicked his tongue, realizing he lacked combat experience and had almost been ambushed and killed.

At this moment, the masked man lying in the middle of the living room was not quite dead yet, and was about to put on the "invisibility cloak" and crawl towards the tea room.

But then a paintbrush taller than a person pierced his throat. He stared in disbelief at the sudden appearance of the second Kurt and the eerie paintbrush, slowly swallowed his last breath, and died.

The effect of the "delusion" spell dissipated, the second Kut disappeared, and the giant paintbrush fell straight down, crashing onto the living room floor covered with huge vines.

Then Kurt ended the "giant, hard, and sharp" finishing touch phase of the paintbrush, and the paintbrush instantly returned to its normal size. He then noticed with a heavy heart that the sounds in the kitchen were slowly disappearing.

The psychological suggestion Leah had been under should have been lifted with the death of the hook-man.

When the "soothing" effect of the "divine gift" wore off, Kurt realized he had crushed a person's heart with his bare hands, and then felt a spasm in his stomach.

His hands trembled slightly as he looked at the fragments of internal organs scattered across his hands. The stench of blood filled his nostrils, and the mental weakening caused by activating the "Eye of Möbius" twice made him feel intensely uncomfortable.

Kurt crouched down and, after a while, managed to stop himself from vomiting. Then he took out his pendulum and divined Leah's condition.

The pendulum was spinning counterclockwise with a slight amplitude, indicating that there was no immediate danger to its life, but it was probably collapsing.

Even after receiving the revelation, Kurt didn't dare open the kitchen door; he had already been tricked by the divination once that day.

As expected, divination without the gray fog is very ineffective. However, perhaps my visit to Leah today will save many lives, which aligns with my wishes, so the divination gave a suitable revelation... Kurt once again activated "Divine Gift" to completely seal off the tea room with plants, then looked at the two corpses on the ground. He wanted to communicate with spirits, but after thinking about it, he realized he hadn't systematically studied it yet...

So Kurt took out some powder to solidify the spirit body and sprinkled it next to the corpse, to facilitate the subsequent official extraordinary beings.

He decisively used up the few remaining talismans and then prayed to "Infinite Collapse," interfering with part of the divination... He didn't want the authorities to know that he could pray to an unknown entity. Although it could be the Earth Mother Goddess, that probably wouldn't fool the professionals, so to be on the safe side, he chose to use them all and then use "Infinite Collapse" to hide the traces.

Just as Kurt was about to go out to find the Night Watcher, there was a knock at the door, which startled the already fragile Kurt.

He carefully moved to the door, suddenly felt a moment of mental confusion, and then immediately regained his senses.

He knew he had been pulled into a dream...

Then he heard Utravsky's questioning voice, tinged with a hint of wariness:

"Kut?"

He instantly relaxed, an indescribable weariness washing over him. He forced himself to open the door and saw Bishop Utravsky. He quickly recounted the situation in the tea room, kitchen, and living room, then collapsed onto the bishop in his dream and lost consciousness.

"He fainted, get ready to break down the door."

A voice different from the bishop's rang out from outside the door.

……

Rose Street, Harvest Church.

Kurt was awakened by his restless blood. He sat up abruptly on the soft bed, found himself unharmed, and breathed a sigh of relief.

He took out two small vials of blood from inside his clothes, tilted his head back, and drank them down, temporarily relieving the ring's side effects. He then discovered that the bloodstains on his clothes and hands had disappeared.

Leaning against the bed, Kurt began to review the day's events.

Didn't Leah say that someone was going to give her a free potion, and it was tomorrow? Why has it now turned into a terrible ritual involving Leah and Mrs. Lucy? Why give Leah the opportunity to spread this news?

Did Leah receive a psychological suggestion on June 28th that prevented her from going to the police station or church? Why not just suggest directly that she shouldn't mention it to anyone?

Is it because I possess "Source Matter," or is it due to the limitations of that mirror's power? What is the connection between the potion and this ritual? My sudden visit today may have interrupted their ritual, but they did not attack when Leah was beside me.

This suggests that Leah is a key figure in the ritual, and recalling the spike, Kurt guesses that perhaps the key lies in Leah's blood...

Then, using blood ties as a medium, summon an evil god? Why not just kill Leah directly, or forcibly bleed her out?

Lacking sufficient clues, Kurt abandoned his own reasoning and decided to ask the bishop later.

The man with the hooked nose is probably a Sequence 7 "Hermit" of the Hanged Man pathway, and he has a mirror that can suggest and quickly control other people's minds.

Kurt was less certain about the other person, but he speculated that he was a Sequence 7 "serial killer" from the Abyss Path. He had very strong physical abilities, and when I captured him, he even uttered the word "die," possibly intending to attack me verbally. This was an ability he gained when he reached the Sequence 8 "Cold-Blooded" stage...

He possesses an "invisibility cloak," which Kurt cannot see the person inside with his current psychic vision.

That was close! Luckily, he had the "Divine Gift" and "Delusion" talismans, otherwise he would have been doomed today. Even with the "Eye of Möbius" that can slow down time, without the power and speed boost from the Divine Gift that is comparable to the Sequence 5 "Crimson Scholar," it would have been a slow death.

Fortunately, the "Delusion" spell brought Kurt's dream into reality. His "id" shared his conscious awareness, forcing Kurt to wake up immediately, leaving an illusion behind to secretly observe what the "hermit" was up to, before finally stabbing him to death...

As expected, even a single Sequence 5 can be killed by several low- to mid-sequence units working together if it's not a high-sequence unit. Of course, I'm just a low-end version of Sequence 5.

Why did I encounter two Sequence 7 items at the same time? And two extraordinary items of a high level. Extraordinary items are not common, and Sequence 7 items are actually quite rare. I actually encountered two of them this time... Is it aggregation? But my "Source Matter" has nothing to do with these pathways.

The mysterious world is indeed hellishly difficult. Judging from the original owner's personality, she might have been looking forward to the potion with Leah, only to be torn to pieces by the summoned monsters or become part of the ritual... Even now, I almost lost my life. All I wanted was to eat hot pot...

Thinking of this, Kurt couldn't help but sigh. Leah may not have realized anything before losing her mother and nearly dying, turning into a monster, yet she had no way to resist.

……

Finally, Kurt obtained the full account of what happened from the bishop:

The two men were from the Aurora Society and were indeed a "hermit" and a "serial killer." The specifics were that a hermit who had been listening to the whispers of the true creator received a ritual to summon a demigod spirit and found a serial killer who also believed in the true creator to help set up the ritual.

It requires two blood-related people to construct a symbol of the true creator in their living place. Then, one of them becomes an extraordinary being and goes out of control, or another extraordinary being goes out of control. Finally, the symbol is watered with the blood of the out-of-control monster to summon the evil spirit.

The serial killer had already sacrificed Mrs. Lucy to the true Creator, leaving only her body behind...

As for why they sought out Leah's family, it's because Leah is a half-Sequence Nine "lawyer," and if she drinks any other potion, she will lose control.

Her father had left her an amulet that, for some reason, caused her to suddenly break free from mind control when she was near Kurt, and she recounted what had happened.

This led the two members to risk being discovered as suspicious by breaking into Leah's home, killing Lucy, and taking control of Leah.

That's how the rest happened...

Kurt was taken aback. This meant that Leah's father was likely a "Chaos Mentor" or even a demigod. That explained why the special amulet activated suddenly upon touching him, instead of activating under mental suggestion.

Furthermore, based on the original work, the painting most likely depicts the inverted image of the true creator rather than a symbol. Of course, in most people's minds, God does not have a concrete image. Also, the bishop described in detail the amulet and his meeting with Leah...

Is this a test to see if I've seen the image, or if it might have been contaminated? And about the amulet, that amulet might be related to "infinite collapse".

Although Kurt was eager to investigate, reason led him to abandon the idea. "Source Matter" and "Uniqueness" were his greatest secrets, even if the Mother Goddess might already know them...

After hearing this, he only showed a look of lingering fear and indignation:

"This ritual is truly wicked. Poor Leah, may Mother Goddess protect her."

Another noteworthy event is that the Mother Goddess truly heard his prayers and sent Bishop Utravsky to rescue him, along with the Night Watchmen.

The night watchman was quick too; he arrived with the bishop...