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On the coastal peak outside Bansy Port, Bansy appeared devout as he emerged from a cave in the cliff, his lips still bearing remnants of meat and faint bloodstains, as if he had just enjoyed a feast.
The natives of Bansy had a tradition of cannibalism, sacrificing to a self-created "Weather God," holding four rituals annually where they killed chosen so-called Blessed, shared their blood and flesh, and buried their heads in the altar.
After Loen conquered the area, such traditions were long replaced by Storm rituals, but for those like Bansy who secretly believed in the "Weather God," this ritual was the best way to communicate with God.
Bansy walked out of the dense fog and headed towards the port area of Bansy, completely disregarding the unique custom of Bansy Port not to go out on nights of heavy fog and drastic weather changes.
With the True Vision provided by the Nation of Disorder, Aaron could sense that Bansy, who had just emerged from the cliff, was merely a Beyonder of Sequence 9.
The reason he could ignore the dangers in the dense fog was due to a badge he wore on his chest; Aaron could clearly "see" waves of subtle fluctuations emanating from within the badge.
The Monsters drifting in the surrounding dense fog consciously avoided Bansy, seemingly regarding him as one of their own; ironically, the badge's surface was composed of symbols like strong winds, ocean waves, and thunder, which were precisely the holy emblem of the Church of the Lord of Storms.
Aaron's gaze lingered on that badge for a moment, then he thoughtfully withdrew his sight, watching Bansy enter a room in the port district, not far from the Bansy Port Telegraph Office and the Church of the Lord of Storms.
Bansy took off his black robe, looked at himself in the full-length mirror with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth, removed the "Storm Holy Emblem" from his chest, placed it by the bed, then went to the corner of the room, opened a secret compartment, and took out a letter with a Storm mark from his In arms, placing it in the secret compartment.
After doing all this, Bansy felt very sleepy for some reason; after putting all items back in their original places, he lay down on the soft bed.
Not far from the door, Aaron exited his hidden state, glanced at the secret compartment in the corner, and the Ring of Mysteries on his hand flickered with a faint glow; Bansy, who had just lain down on the bed, instantly broke into a blissful smile, as if entering some woven dream.
This was the Beyonder ability of Sequence 7 "Nightmare" recorded by the Ring of Mysteries, but this was far from enough, as recorded abilities inherently differ from the original.
Aaron closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, and after realizing that the door to Bansy's mind had been opened through the dream, he looked at Evelyn next to him.
It meowed, and the Chain of Hypnosis glowed, a layer of "scales" seemingly appearing beneath its snow-white fur, and a faint dragon's might emerged.
Since Aaron had already opened the door to Bansy's "Body of Mind and Heart" with the Nightmare ability, Evelyn only needed to go through a few necessary steps to directly modify his consciousness and thus influence his subconscious.
Evelyn is currently only a Sequence 7 Psychiatrist; although she can enter the subconscious ocean through self-hypnosis and other rituals, that is the extent of her ability, and she cannot yet influence the subconscious ocean.
Only through the combination of the Nightmare and psychological cue Beyonder abilities can one bypass the subconscious ocean and directly influence his subconscious.
As Evelyn's light golden eyes slowly opened, Bansy on the bed opened his vacant eyes and slowly stood up from the bed.
"Alright, although this guy is only Sequence 9, in some ways, his mind is quite firm, and he can be considered a devout believer; hypnotizing him required a lot of effort from me."
Seeing Evelyn looking at him expectantly, Aaron glanced at it sideways and said lightly:
"Alright, I'll let bygones be bygones. Tonight, after we get back, I'll have a Sailor catch you a merman, how about that?"
Evelyn wagged its tail, nodding very demurely, then seemed to remember something and added:
"Although we opened the door to his mind through Nightmare and psychological cue, by modifying his consciousness, we can make him unknowingly follow our arrangements and perform actions contrary to his true will."
"But this is limited; if it directly harms his life or the things he values most in his subconscious, he will strongly resist, causing the hypnosis to fail."
"During our contact just now, I found that the most important thing in this guy's subconscious is the false god he believes in, so you need to be careful later, otherwise, don't blame me if the hypnosis fails because I didn't warn you."
Aaron frowned slightly; didn't that mean he couldn't directly ask for information about that "Weather God"?
Then, with a thought, he used the Nightmare ability to implant the honorific name corresponding to himself into Bansy's open subconscious door.
Aaron, his brows now relaxed, said to Evelyn with a smile:
"Plant a psychological cue in him: whenever he goes to the coastal peak to participate in the ritual, he will unconsciously recite the words I just implanted in his subconscious, without him realizing it."
In this way, during each ritual, Aaron could observe the true situation of the altar in the valley through the True Vision provided by the prayer light spot.
This way, there was no need to kill Bansy and alert the enemy, and he could still obtain the desired information; this method of probing for information through prayer light spots could almost evade all checks, making it extremely covert.
The bewildered Evelyn planted the psychological cue as Aaron requested, while Aaron walked to the corner of the room and opened the secret compartment.
Inside, besides a good amount of gold pounds and spiritual materials, the rest were letters from other believers who worshipped the "Weather God."
And the letter placed at the very front was signed by Bishop Miller; Aaron didn't care about the traitors of the Church of the Lord of Storms, but he also didn't mind sending a tip-off letter to that irritable elder brother in Bayam.
Finding no other valuable items, Aaron put the letters back in place and closed the secret compartment.
Seeing that Evelyn had completed the psychological cue, Aaron stepped forward, picked it up, and his figure disappeared into the vibrant, dense patches of color.
-----------------
Bayam, St. George Borough, Daffodil Street, No. 20.
Sharron sat quietly on the sofa, wearing an intricately elegant black Gothic court gown and a small black soft hat.
Across from the sofa, Louise was very curiously observing this member of the Chaos Council, whom she was meeting in person for the first time.
Despite only brief interactions in reality, the restrained and taciturn Sharron still left a deep impression on Louise, though Louise understood this was due to the influence of her adherence to temperance and ascetic ideals.
Just then, both of them felt a slight stir in their spiritual senses, almost simultaneously looking towards the window.
Through the understatedly luxurious window, scarlet moonlight poured in, and patches of red scales emerged, forming a hazy, illusory figure that gradually solidified as the moonlight surged in.
The tall, silver-haired, blood-eyed Count Mistral, using his moonlight transformation ability, bypassed the surveillance of the Punishers team and arrived at Louise's residence.
Count Mistral, whose figure had just solidified, narrowed his blood-red eyes, looked at Sharron on the sofa, then turned his head to glance at Louise, who was constantly winking at him.
Taking a step, his figure had already appeared like a ghost in the main seat of the living room; Count Mistral looked at Sharron and said with a very certain tone:
"Rose School of Thought Temperance Faction..."
Sharron nodded slightly, stood up, and bowed, acknowledging it.
Count Mistral tapped his finger lightly on the back of the chair and said in an indifferent tone:
"Louise has already told me your thoughts, and I can give you one last chance."
"With that Sealed Artifact, you can, to some extent, rival a Sequence 5, and everyone knows there's still a Sea King in Bayam."
"In such a situation, if the Rose School of Thought decides to act against you here, it will definitely not be as simple as just a Admiral of Blood; at least a Demigod will need to act to resolve all combat."
"So, if you abandon this plan, I can pretend nothing happened."
Sharron said nothing more, merely gripping the "Wraith Dagger" tightly, her gaze firmly fixed on Count Mistral.
A smile spread across Mistral's face; he nodded in satisfaction, then raised his hand and pressed it down, and a viscous, blood-like liquid appeared before Sharron's eyes.
"This is a special potion I concocted, which can help you accelerate your integration into the Spirit World to complete the ritual; it can also be considered a token of sincerity from the Sanguine, represented by me."
Looking at the crimson, blood-like liquid before her, Sharron hesitated for a moment, but still put it away, saying in a voice without the slightest fluctuation:
"Thank you for your generosity. I will be advancing the night after tomorrow, at Oak Manor outside Bayam City; it's sparsely populated and won't cause too many casualties."
Count Mistral was somewhat surprised that the timing was so tight, but after a moment of thought, he gave an affirmative reply.
Seeing the deal concluded, Sharron stood up, bowed her farewell, and the "Wraith Dagger" flickered with a faint light, disappearing from the room using its Mirror Flash ability.
Seeing the Temperance Faction member depart, Count Mistral turned to Louise beside him and said lightly:
"Is she also one of the members of that gathering you attended?"
Though a question, his tone was affirmative; Louise sat gracefully in her chair, a subtle smile on her face:
"Grandfather, that's not hard to guess, is it?"
Mistral smiled and shook his head, looking out at the red moon through the window, his eyes flickering, lost in thought.
-----------------
Berserk Sea, waters near Tiana Island.
Aaron, following the positioning mark left before his departure, returned to his ship's bedroom from Bansy Port via Spirit World travel.
Just as he had sent Evelyn away and was about to go to sleep, Aaron suddenly heard layers of prayers, a female voice, calm and indifferent.
"Sharron?"
Aaron, in his pajamas, sighed helplessly and sat up from the bed again, moving to the adjacent compartment.
Passing through the boundless, dark golden mist, Aaron sat upon the throne, seeing the contracting and expanding prayer light spots on the stone chairs below; his spiritual sense penetrated, hearing the complete prayer sentences.
"Great Lord of Order, please inform Mr. Blessed that I wish to extract the Sequence 5 "Wraith" Beyonder characteristic from the "Wraith Dagger" to use as the main ingredient for the potion."
"I am willing to offer several low-to-mid Sequence Beyonder characteristics as compensation. Additionally, I have reached a cooperation agreement with the Sanguine and will begin my advancement the night after tomorrow."
Aaron slightly raised his finger, spiritual energy surged in, and the prayer light spot expanded into a dark golden bi-fold door, somewhere between illusory and real.
A strange dagger, sometimes illusory and sometimes real, along with several other light clusters emitting different spiritual fluctuations, flew out from the golden bi-fold door.
Reaching into the pile of miscellaneous items, Aaron summoned the Sun Chaser Scepter, shrouded in dark golden mist; even through layers of obstruction, Aaron could still sense the scorching heat that seemed capable of burning souls.
Aaron forcefully pressed the strange dagger onto the Sun Chaser Scepter; before he could react, a pure, scorching light completely enveloped the "Wraith Dagger," turning it into a reddish, gelatinous substance.
A moment later, a translucent liquid detached, transforming into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic crystal—precisely the Beyonder characteristic corresponding to Sequence 5 "Wraith."
Seeing this extraction speed, which was immeasurably faster than before, Aaron's brow twitched violently; extracting Beyonder characteristics was, to be precise, one of the Sun Chaser Scepter's negative effects.
From this, one could indirectly infer the terrifying negative effects of the Sun Chaser Scepter once its seal was broken.
He re-wrapped the somewhat active Sun Chaser Scepter in layers of dark golden mist and tossed the "Wraith" Beyonder characteristic into the still-dissipating Sacrifice and Grant door.
Without further delay, Aaron quickly returned to the real world, lay on his bed, and soon fell asleep.
After an unknown amount of time, Aaron awoke in a dream, finding himself unknowingly in a barren plain, with black stones beneath his feet and not a single blade of grass.
In the center of the plain stood a black spire, around which coiled a gigantic, scale-less, silver-white long serpent, its body covered in dense patterns and symbols; these formed interconnected revolving wheels, each with different markings around its periphery.
At this moment, its head was raised, its crimson eyes coldly watching Aaron; unlike before, a small boy stood in front of the black spire.
Aaron was a bit surprised, wondering if he hadn't used his paper cranes recently, but his movements didn't stop; he proactively bowed and said:
"Good evening, honored Chairman, may I ask what brings you here?"
Will Auceptin withdrew his gaze from the scale-less, silver-white long serpent on the black spire, turned to scrutinize Aaron up and down for a moment, then clicked his tongue:
"Your Sequence isn't high, but your knack for causing trouble is truly outstanding. The previous Blood Moon appeared because of you, didn't it?"
"Let me give you a warning, lest you die inexplicably: something has set its eyes on you. I have already sensed the fluctuations of fate."
Without giving Aaron a chance to ask, he continued:
"The fluctuations of fate indicate that in the coming days, revelations will be subjected to unknown interference, and I am unable to obtain accurate information."
Aaron's expression had already become exceptionally solemn; for Will Auceptin to warn him through a dream, combined with what he had been doing recently, it was easy to conclude:
He had been targeted by that Outer God, and there was even a certain possibility of being tracked.
Looking at the deeply furrowed brows of Aaron, Will Auceptin warned, seemingly with a hint:
"That existence is extremely terrifying. My current state is not good, and I cannot help you."
Then he slyly pointed to the sky and whispered:
"You need to find an existence that can help you, like the one behind you."
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