Chapter 164: Obtained
Restrained by the enemy’s methods, Li Wen could only wait. As time passed and the darkness slowly receded, there was nothing left before her eyes. Neither the Wrathful Soul Walker nor the Walking Corpse remained.
Did they run away?
This was truly perplexing. A Stage Three Transcendent would never choose to avoid a fight because of a mere Stage One. If it was because they were afraid of the Disciplinary Bureau finding them by following the commotion, that would be even more unrealistic. They were already too busy putting out fires everywhere to care about this area, and even if they did, they wouldn’t arrive that quickly.
Perhaps it was because the other party lacked the confidence to quickly deal with Li Wen? But there was no reason for that either… After all, why would a Stage Three Wrathful Soul Walker appear here, and what was their goal?
Li Wen pondered this line of thought.
The first thing that could be confirmed was that the Walking Corpse she controlled was wearing the Disciplinary Bureau’s uniform, which indicated that they were very likely an investigator in their lifetime. Judging by the state of decomposition of the Walking Corpse, the time of death and its transformation into a Walking Corpse should have been within these past few days.
And these past few days happened to be when some events occurred that would trouble the entire Leicester Disciplinary Bureau, namely the battle for the Sage Ovum Sheath and the Truth Society’s attack on the Bird Association.
Perhaps this Wrathful Soul Walker was also one of the many Transcendent beings involved in these events. This would explain why she chose to avoid a direct confrontation with Li Wen when she encountered her, as the other party was likely seriously injured in the previous conflicts. From the beginning of their encounter, the opponent either used magic attacks or ambushed with the advantage of being a wrathful soul, never directly engaging Li Wen, which further supported this speculation.
And there was a good explanation for why the opponent appeared here. The Wanderer’s Tavern served as a neutral gathering place for Transcendent beings, and a large number of Transcendent beings would conduct clandestine transactions here. In this place, the Wrathful Soul Walker could conveniently find some potions or materials for healing and recovery. Illegal potions and materials were difficult to obtain through normal channels.
However, it seemed that the opponent had a conflict with the tavern owner, killed him by accident, and then searched for the needed items alone.
Li Wen felt no sympathy for the tragic death of the tavern owner. He who could organize such an illegal trading post in Leicester’s Old Town was by no means a good person, and his hands were likely not clean. If he died, he died; someone else would take his place in a few days.
Compared to these matters, Li Wen was more concerned about her original objective: collecting the promotion materials for Stage Two of the Path of Light Chasing.
After carefully inspecting the first floor and finding nothing, she went directly to the second floor. The Wrathful Soul Walker had been here before Li Wen arrived, indicating that the second floor should be where the tavern owner hid his goods. As soon as Li Wen went upstairs, she saw a hidden door at the end of the second-floor corridor. It was located between two rooms. From the outside, it seemed insufficient to accommodate a room, but this was not a problem for magic.
Li Wen felt residual mana at the doorway, indicating that the door had been magically concealed.
She walked in and found that it was indeed the warehouse where the tavern owner hid his goods.
It was not a large room, with several rows of shelves inside, already in disarray from being searched. The floor was covered with withered plant roots, leaves, lusterless ores of various colors, and various animal limbs, organs, and semi-finished processed materials. Li Wen glanced at them and withdrew her gaze; they were all common goods of little value, no wonder they were scattered everywhere.
Li Wen had no intention of collecting things that even the Wrathful Soul Walker disdained. She already had a large pile of similar quality materials in her Fairy Treasure Pouch, and she had more than enough.
After all, it had already been ransacked, so she didn’t hold out hope that the other party would have overlooked some valuable materials. However, the Dim Candle Blood that Li Wen needed for her promotion was not a high-quality magical material, which was why she came here to check.
As expected, after her patient searching and rummaging, Li Wen found the Dim Candle Blood she needed on a shelf displaying various bottles and jars in a corner. It was contained in a conical glass bottle, with a gray, viscous liquid resting peacefully inside, adorned with tiny red light spots, like sparks remaining on the embers when a flame extinguishes.
Li Wen opened the bottle stopper and brought her nose close to smell it. A dry, potent, and pungent smell, like burning fuel, immediately filled her nostrils.
It was indeed Dim Candle Blood, and of superior quality.
Having obtained what she needed without spending too much energy or time, the cheerful girl was about to leave to find the next material. However, as soon as she turned around, she noticed an obvious problem: if this was just a warehouse for storing ordinary materials, was it really necessary to conceal it with magic and a hidden door? Or perhaps these common materials were a form of misdirection?
Did the Wrathful Soul Walker really just come for healing potions, or was it for some other purpose?
After a moment of hesitation, Li Wen decisively summoned her Original Text and cast Poem of Paradise repeatedly until she rolled Gift of Temperance.
Gift of Temperance could purify most low-level abnormal states or magical effects. If there were any imperceptible magical mechanisms in this secret room, they would be broken down by the spell’s effect. If they couldn’t be broken down, then Li Wen would have no other method, and the existence or non-existence of these hypothetical magical mechanisms would be meaningless.
An ethereal and elegant melody emanated from the Original Text, covering the entire secret room. With a sound of shattering objects, the most conspicuous shelf in the secret room emitted a strange glow. In just a blink of an eye, the cheap common materials on it were replaced by three different items.
Li Wen didn’t have time to examine them closely. She vaguely smelled an ominous scent and had to quickly put the three items into her Treasure Pouch. Just as she was about to activate the Sacrifice to Light and Fire to escape from here, a brilliant light and heat suddenly spread. Originating from this secret room, the entire tavern turned into ruins in a fierce explosion.
Li Wen opened her eyes. Before her was an ordinary hotel room, the “safe house” she had prepared in advance to seize the Sage Ovum Sheath, but it was being used in the most unexpected situation.
It couldn’t be said that she was careless. After all, no one would have expected someone to bury a large amount of high-intensity Ash Fire under their own tavern.
The girl guessed that some imperceptible magic was hiding something, but she didn’t expect that if the magic wasn’t removed through normal means, it would trigger the tavern owner’s hidden backroom, directly igniting the Ash Fire underground. The force of that explosion was enough to blow up the entire tavern and attract the attention of everyone in the Old Town.
Thus, even if she survived the magic, she would definitely be severely injured and caught by the arriving Transcendent beings.
It was a pity that Li Wen was still a Player. Even if she died due to carelessness, she had the chance to revive.
The Wrathful Soul Walker’s easy departure was likely because she didn’t think Li Wen would notice the hidden magic in the secret room, and also because she realized the danger buried beneath the tavern. Without any means to dispel the magic, she could only retreat for the time being.
Suppressing the various thoughts in her mind, Li Wen was about to check the gains from this trip, but unexpectedly, her vision went black, and she was directly removed from the game.
