absurd deduction game.

The cultist's words instantly surprised several people around him, some of whom changed their indifference and began to seriously examine him.

Pure soul crystals only appear in kind and innocent people. Even among the deacons of the Church of the Harvest Mother Goddess, very few meet the requirements.

Most crystals come from young people who are not very old and have not experienced much, which is very rare. It is even rarer to find one in Yolikev Town. This guy is so lucky that he not only met such a person, but also succeeded in getting it even though the other party is a church deacon.

Not simple.

The cultist being watched trembled all over. Yu Xing studied his expression and found that beneath the excitement of being the center of attention, he was more fearful and timid.

This is a young man with a youthful face, probably eighteen or nineteen years old.

Surprisingly, he had changed his clothes before coming to the gathering. Underneath the cloak were ordinary everyday clothes, but the material was not bad, indicating that he was not usually short of money. Moreover, his skin was delicate, not the kind of person who was often exposed to the wind and sun. In contrast, the cloak was worn out, which seemed a bit strange.

Since entering the instance, Yu Xing only had time to wander around the town a few days ago. At that time, his consciousness was still in a particularly distorted state, so apart from a few townspeople he had some interaction with, he couldn't remember anyone else he had met on the road.

Therefore, he now guessed that the young man was a kid from the wealthy area, but he couldn't recognize his specific identity.

Unlike the female tantric practitioner just now, and most of the practitioners here who joined the tantric sect out of survival or resentment, this young man didn't seem to have such a strong motivation to stand firmly here.

His legs trembled, and his expression was complicated, more like a bewildered child who made a decision on a whim but was afraid to face the consequences.

Evan didn't bother to think too much. He looked at the man, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes beneath the hood: "Oh? Let me verify your Pure Soul Crystal."

The young man trembled as he took out a small box tightly wrapped in black cloth from inside his cloak.

He untied the black cloth, revealing a wooden box no bigger than the palm of his hand, its surface engraved with imprisoning runes.

He carefully opened the box.

In an instant, a pure, warm, yet lingering soul energy, imbued with endless sorrow and despair, spread out, utterly out of place with the surrounding filthy and evil environment.

In the center of the box, a crystal no bigger than a fingernail, with a soft, milky white color, lay quietly, its interior seemingly shimmering with light.

It truly is a crystallization of pure soul essence! And of extremely high quality!

Even Evan was slightly moved. He stepped forward, carefully sensed it, and then nodded in satisfaction: "Very good, the deal is done. Wait here tomorrow night, I will come to pick you up."

He reached out and took the wooden box, not even glancing at the cultist whose figure seemed somewhat dazed after handing over the soul crystal, and casually put the box away.

Then, Evan turned to Yu Xing and said, "Do you remember what I said? Now it's your turn. You won't let me down, will you?"

Yu Xing: "...Okay."

Before entering the gathering, Evan had said that Yu Xingye should also make a deal. This was proof that he had completely sided with the Secret Cult and the Ancient Gods, and it could also be considered a small pledge of allegiance.

Therefore, the transaction must never be a simple exchange of money, as that would be of no effect on Evan.

Yu Xing knew what Ai Wen wanted.

He could either trade with people using obscene materials that the Church of Mother Goddess explicitly forbids possession of, thus handing Evan leverage over him, or he would have to offer something to restrain himself, such as blood or eyeballs, to show Evan that he was indeed willing to integrate into this cruel and obscene community.

He didn't have anything on him that could be used as ritual material—mainly because he didn't follow the cultist storyline at the beginning, and he didn't know what cultists needed. The knowledge he brought from the City of Terror wasn't specific enough for him to become a ritual master.

Therefore, the latter option is the only choice.

Yu Xing glanced around and noticed that the gazes cast at him by the cultists had become much more humble and weak. They probably realized that Evan was a person of noble status, and since he was someone Evan had personally brought, the cultists guessed that he was not simple either. They dared not be too disrespectful when they spoke to each other, and even the host of the gathering remained silent.

Normally, if someone were to disrupt the proceedings of a rally in a high-profile manner, the person in charge of the rally would be furious.

Yu Xing readily accepted this position, looked around, and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Do you have anything else you want to sell? No matter what it is, no matter how difficult it is to sell, bring it out and let me see it."

At that moment, some people's eyes lit up.

They've almost finished trading everything. The items that haven't sold mean no one is interested. But of course, they still have a lot of items they haven't brought out. Most of them are items whose origins are too sensitive, so they plan to hold onto them for a while before selling them, or they've contacted people but no one dares to buy them, leaving them stuck with unsold stock.

As soon as Yu Xing said this, several members of the secret cult immediately took out different items from under their cloaks, afraid of missing this good opportunity to make a move.

"Ahem, sir, this is a talisman I stole from a nobleman's corpse two months ago during a chaotic scene. It serves as a warning of danger; the family crest is engraved on this talisman, you see..."

"Sir, look at this! I even got on the church's wanted list because of it—"

"These are ritual materials cultivated by the Harvest Church and prohibited from being circulated outside..."

“I just received a small item from someone a couple of days ago. Although it looks ordinary, it contains a strong aura of death and can be used as a symbol in many death-related rituals! It’s just that its origin is a bit sensitive. The old gravedigger in the cemetery was turned into a monster by the high priest and his men, and then he was killed by the new investigator. The church was investigating him in secret before. This little item is part of the old gravedigger’s monster body!”

The last person to speak caught Yu Xing's attention. He raised an eyebrow and turned to look.

A short, middle-aged man with shifty eyes was holding a lantern that looked somewhat familiar to him and was trying to sell it. The lantern was filled with the aura of death and decay, but because it was turned off, the aura did not leak out very strongly.

But upon closer inspection, it's probably more than just familiar.

Yu Xing reached out and took the lantern. The falling object was cold and quite heavy. As he lowered his eyes, a familiar system notification sounded.

[Reverence for Death: A lantern from the spirit of the gravedigger, requiring only a little corpse oil to light. When equipped, it increases affinity with undead monsters and reduces the probability of being attacked by them, but the wearer will slowly become undead until becoming a new skeleton spirit.]

Case solved.

Isn't this the offering that fell after he killed the old gravedigger and the crows in the cemetery?

Because the side effects were too great and it was impractical, and it was unlikely that it would be used in the future, Yu Xing handed the lantern over to Carlos for safekeeping.

Well... calling it storage is really like stuffing garbage in; using Carlos's "magical skills," he put all the things he didn't need into his space and became a hands-off manager.

After all, it was a lantern that Yu Xing had touched himself, so of course he recognized it. Even the scratches on it were exactly the same, so it was obviously the same lantern.

So, the fact that this lantern, which should have been in Carlos's hands, appeared at the gathering of the Tantric practitioners means...

Carlos has gone quite deep into the cult's storyline. That guy always prefers to act alone. After entering the dungeon, Yu Xing focused on his own culinary desires, and since Carlos didn't share anything, he didn't bother to ask what the man had been doing. A magician of extraordinary skill always knows his limits.

Moreover, he had already lent Yiqing to Carlos, so the chances of things going wrong were slim. After returning from the City of Terror, Carlos hadn't returned to the agency before he went to sleep, and when he woke up, Carlos was still not there. He seemed to be quite busy, and Yiqing was nowhere to be seen either.

However, if Carlos needs his help, he will definitely ask directly; remaining silent means that he has everything under control.

Yu Xing was preoccupied with other things, but the cultist in front of him only saw him staring at the lantern for a long time and assumed he was very interested. He immediately pressed on, "You see, it only needs to be lit with corpse oil to work. I haven't dared to use it since I bought it, for fear that the church will be able to catch me through the tracking sensors in the cemetery. But with your status, sir..."

The cultists, of course, had no idea of ​​his status, but they readily offered flattery: "He'll definitely make the best use of everything! Let that useless old thing in the cemetery play some role even after death!"

Yu Xing came to her senses.

He asked slowly, "You just said that the high priest turned the old gravedigger in the cemetery into a monster?"

“Yes, it’s no secret.” The assembly host, who had been ignored for a long time, felt that his chance to speak had come. He stepped forward and answered before the cultist selling lamps could speak, with a reserved smile in his voice. “Oh, is this your first time at the assembly? It’s normal that you haven’t heard of this.”

“You know, we need corpses and bones for many of our rituals, both fresh and old. The opportunities to hunt living people are limited, so most of the time, stealing corpses from cemeteries is a more convenient option.”

The assembly leader chuckled softly: "That old gravedigger is a very old-fashioned and conservative fellow, which has greatly hindered our corpse-stealing operations. We can only succeed four or five times out of ten. It's not that we haven't thought about killing him, but if we kill him, the church will send someone else to take over the gravedigger's job, and it might even be a strong and healthy guy who is blessed by the Mother Goddess of Harvest. So, in order to avoid any unforeseen complications, we have kept that old gravedigger alive."

"Of course, turning him to his side is also a good option. The high priest sent people to contact him, but they failed. That damned old fogey cursed us for blaspheming corpses and death, hahaha... He really is fearless and courageous!"

"But he also angered the high priest. Anyway, he had lived long enough, so the high priest planted the seeds of defilement in him, causing him to fall into darkness in madness, just to let him know what it means to desecrate a corpse and to desecrate death!"

Yu Xing recalled the old tomb keeper's appearance.

In the cemetery he knew best, he was devoured by countless ravens, dying amidst their hoarse cries.

Even after becoming a monster, he still appears at a specific time every night to patrol the cemetery, trying to bring peace to the souls beneath each tombstone.

But in the old gravedigger's realm, those souls were devoured by the horrible human-faced ravens by evil forces.

Unfortunately, the raven also became part of the old gravedigger's monster body, which meant that the old gravedigger destroyed what he was protecting with his own hands. Destroying his body also destroyed his faith.

That is truly blasphemous.

The very existence of the Old Gravekeeper monster is a desecration of death.

Tantric Buddhism knows how to be disgusting.

However, such a level of fusion ritual should only be accomplished by the high priest or a very small number of esoteric practitioners. The person presiding over the gathering is clearly not among them. He probably heard it from the high priest at a public gathering. After all, the person presiding over the gathering just said it, so this news is not a secret.

When the rally leader spoke of the operation, the pride and excitement in his tone made it seem as if he were talking about himself. He considered himself a member of the powerful Tantric community and felt honored to be a part of it.

"Later, that old bastard did indeed die, and died a horrible death! The fusion ritual for him was also successful, and he became a creation that the High Priest was very satisfied with. Unfortunately, before he could be put to use, the new investigators ruined it! Those damned investigators, meddling in other people's business..."

The sinister tone at the end drew a sneer from Evan. He was the only one who knew that Yu Xing was also being insulted, and he couldn't help but find it very amusing.

Yu Xing found the host ridiculous. He tilted his head and looked at the cultist selling lamps: "Name your price."

The cultist licked his lips: "I'm not short of money, and this thing is very useful in rituals. In that case, let's barter. You give me a ritual implement in return. Of course, the risk of using the lantern has reduced its value somewhat, but I'm not greedy. Something of slightly inferior quality will do."

“Okay, very fair.” Yu Xing smiled, first placing the lantern on the ground, and then raising her arm in front of all the cultists, revealing a common, sharp knife in her other hand.

As everyone watched in disbelief, he plunged the knife into his forearm without hesitation, slashing open a horrific wound that revealed the bone. The blade cut through the flesh, and to everyone's astonishment, he severed a bone from his forearm and dug it out.

Black lines appeared on the pale white bones, and the decay and curse they contained made people change color instantly. Before they could even be surprised by Yu Xing's decisiveness, the eyes of the cultists were filled with covetousness.

This bone... contains far more power than a broken lantern!

How could someone be so lucky as to exchange a broken lamp for such a treasure? Damn it!
Evan was shocked and took a step forward: "What is this?!"

Yu Xing's voice was quite calm: "My bones, is this what you wanted me to do?"

His severely injured arm had been retracted under his cloak, and the power of self-healing was rapidly repairing the wound, with even the bones immediately regenerating.

It won't affect his actions, it's just very painful.

But there was no need for others to know this. He picked up the bone with the hand that held the knife, ignoring Evan's sudden desire, and handed the bone to the dumbfounded trader.

"Consider yourself lucky. Here you go. The deal is done."

The cultist selling lamps immediately stuffed the bone into his robes, his eyes darting around as he sensed the malicious gazes of the others.

The phrase "You're lucky" served as a reminder to other Tantric practitioners.

Lucky?

Luck is the most unpredictable thing in esoteric Buddhism. Why should this person be so lucky? He certainly doesn't deserve it!
The high priest decreed that no one should harm fellow believers during the assembly, but outside of the assembly, the death of a cultist is just an ordinary occurrence... isn't it?

The premise is that after getting out, you can still find and recognize this despicable lucky guy.

The rally organizer swallowed hard.

He glanced at everyone, making sure no one wanted to trade anymore. A strange, mischievous excitement welled up inside him, and he said with some difficulty, "In that case, I declare this gathering over. Everyone, according to the usual rules, leave one by one..."

The cultist carrying the bone was about to run away, but was pulled back by someone nearby.

The female cultist who kept a pet mouse grinned and said, "I'm quite busy, so let me go first."

She will wait outside.

I believe most people here would do the same. (End of Chapter)