Mystery: A Spark

"After preparing the hot pot base, you can put all kinds of ingredients you want to eat into it and cook them. The most delicious hot pot is the red oil hot pot with chili peppers, which can make you sweat all over and experience both pain and pleasure."

"This tastes absolutely delicious, you have to try it!"

After listening to Arthur's description, Bernadette found it interesting, but she didn't quite understand how it had to do with the evil spirit's dark history.

But she didn't ask.

Bernadette was well aware that her role in this operation was essentially that of a bodyguard.

As for communicating with people, that's Arthur's job.

"How much else do you know?" The voice of the hotpot demon was cold, carrying a hint of murderous intent.

Arthur nestled slightly behind Bernadette and said, not particularly nervously:

“I know a lot more, but I don’t think we need to go that far, don’t you think, Your Excellency Medici?”

"Heh, you think you can get the Red Priest's Token with this?" the Hotpot Evil Spirit sneered.

“Of course not, this is just a bargaining chip I'm using to negotiate,” Arthur said, shaking his head.

"Your offer isn't enough. I don't care if you go out and spread this around; it doesn't threaten me at all."

"You're no threat?"

"of course."

Arthur nodded, seemingly agreeing with this statement.

Then he offered the flame in his palm to Bernadette.

"Madam, draw your sword."

Chapter 131 There's an old saying in my hometown: "Hehe, 50% off!" (Wei Junjie)

Before the massive stone gate.

Seeing Arthur hand the flame to Bernadette, the Hotpot Demon couldn't help but laugh.

"Since you know I'm the Red Angel, you still want to play with fire in front of me?"

Arthur ignored him and remained in that position, looking at Bernadette.

Bernadette understood.

The next second, the phantom of an ice-blue greatsword appeared above the flame used for illumination.

Bernadette reached out and grasped the phantom of the greatsword.

"Ah, that's interesting. So you're an angel who's been observing the path of the secret beings. Could you perhaps be subordinates of Stiano?"

The evil spirit of the hotpot didn't care about Bernadette's actions at all, because the seal restricted it, preventing it from wandering around outside.

However, at the same time, this seal also prevented external influences on Him, thus protecting Him in a certain sense.

Although Bernadette is an angel, she cannot harm the Hotpot Evil by ordinary means unless she can break the seal.

So the evil spirit from the hotpot was completely fearless, and kept chattering:

"Little hunter, it's not impossible for me to give you the Red Priest's Card, as long as you help me break the seal. I'll give you the card as soon as I get out."

"You don't need to worry about me breaking my promise. After all, you're someone who can hire angels as bodyguards. I wouldn't be foolish enough to rashly make an enemy of someone like you."

"What do you think? As long as you..."

The evil spirit's voice abruptly stopped, for it saw that an icy blue greatsword emanating an ominous aura had appeared in the hand of the female angel outside the door.

At the same time, the female angel's chestnut hair turned white, and her face became bloodless.

"Keep talking, why did you stop?" Arthur hid behind Bernadette, whose appearance had drastically changed, his expression unusually irritating.

If one were to aptly describe him at this moment, the idiom "a dog relying on its master's power" would undoubtedly be very suitable.

The evil spirit of the hotpot remained silent, not uttering a single word.

If He was fearless and didn't care what methods others used to deal with Him just now, the situation is completely different now.

Because He recognized at a glance that what the female angel outside was holding was a high-ranking item from the Death Path.

As is well known, the Death Path is extremely effective against undead creatures.

Of course, saying "restraint" might not be entirely accurate; a more precise word would be "suppression."

Those who traverse the Shinigami Path wield immense power to suppress and dominate those who traverse it.

If the evil spirit in the hotpot is one of the three angel kings who were in good condition back then, then this sword might be able to harm it, but it wouldn't have a serious impact.

However, after it transformed into an evil spirit, this terrifying ice-blue greatsword was able to completely suppress and dominate it, and even the obstruction of the seal was ineffective.

“My dear Red Angel, there’s an old saying in my hometown: ‘A wise man submits to circumstances.’ Do you think we can have a proper talk under these circumstances?” Arthur said with a slight smile.

"Tell me your conditions. You don't think you can make me submit and hand over the Red Priest's Card with just this kind of threat, do you?" The Hotpot Evil Spirit finally spoke after a moment of silence.

"Of course not, Your Grace, I had absolutely no intention of threatening you." Arthur uttered nonsense that even Arthas wouldn't believe.

The hotpot demon sneered, and Bernadette's lips twitched slightly.

Arthur ignored these statements and continued:

"As is well known, before negotiations, both sides need to demonstrate their military strength to determine their respective positions in the negotiations."

There's an old saying in my hometown: "Having no sword in your hand is not the same as having a sword but not using it."

"So what I was doing just now was simply following the tradition of my hometown, making a show of force. This will help our peaceful exchanges in the future, don't you think?"

The hotpot demon remained silent, perhaps shocked by Arthur's shamelessness.

“Your Excellency, the Red Angel, you may have misunderstood me. I did not intend to take the Red Priest's Card from your hand,” Arthur said calmly.

Those who don't know him might think he's a reasonable person, trying to reason with others politely, rather than engaging in extortion.

"So what do you want?" the hotpot demon asked coldly.

"I just want to take a look. As long as you show me the Red Priest's Tablet from beginning to end, I promise to leave immediately and never bother you again to reminisce about your glorious past."

"After all, there's an old saying in my hometown that a person of high moral character will not take away what others love. I know that the Red Priest's Plaque is your beloved possession, Your Excellency Red Angel, since both of your surnames are 'Red'."

“As a person of high moral character, I would naturally not steal your favorite items that share your surname.” Arthur stood tall and proud, his face seemingly radiating righteousness.

"Why do you have so many of those damn old sayings from your hometown?" The hotpot demon finally couldn't help but complain.

Bernadette lowered her head, gritting her teeth to suppress a laugh.

To be fair, even if she is now Arthur's accomplice, no, his partner.

She almost wanted to stab the arrogant guy behind her to death with a sword, not to mention the unfortunate evil spirit inside who was being relentlessly attacked by Arthur's mouth.

Bernadette was unaware of the evil spirit's mental state, while Arthur was too lazy to care what the hotpot-shaped evil spirit was thinking.

He is now completely immersed in the pleasure of frantically criticizing others, while they are left powerless and furious.

As mentioned before, Arthur has a wicked streak in his bones, and what he likes most is to make others dislike him but unable to get rid of him.

Of course, Arthur wasn't just doing it for a moment's pleasure; he also wanted to digest the potion in his body as quickly as possible.

Because although arsonists can ignite the anger in others' hearts, this can, to some extent, help them digest the potion within their bodies.

However, unlike provocateurs, arsonists need time to process the anger in others' hearts.

To put it bluntly, arsonists need to let the impact of their actions escalate, rather than just making people angry at the time, as provocateurs do.

To commit arson, the fire has to start burning for it to be considered arson.

You can't just say that lighting a single spark counts as arson, can you?

So what Arthur is doing now is letting the influence he has created penetrate deep into the hearts of the evil spirits, so that in the days to come they will be in a state of "getting angry whenever they think of Arthur".

Since these three are sealed inside the ruins anyway, and they're just sitting around doing nothing, we might as well let them contribute to Arthur's advancement.

Moreover, Arthur provoked three people at once, which means three times the fun.

If he were alone, his anger might gradually subside over time, and he might even come to see Arthur's appearance as something amusing, a small diversion in his long life.

But it's different with three people.

Because the three of them can communicate and chat, if they talk about Arthur and one of them gets angry, the other two will definitely get angry as well.

It's like when people rebel in ancient times. A person's dissatisfaction is nothing. If no one agrees with him, he will gradually adapt to his anger and become submissive.

However, if someone agrees with him at this moment, his anger will ignite like dry tinder.

One person's anger can turn into two people's anger, and two people's anger can turn into three people's anger.

Once anger spreads, even those who were originally able to remain rational will be swept up in it and become angry as well.

Then came all sorts of classic rebellious quotes throughout history.

After Arthur's barrage of words and the intimidating Frostmourne in Bernadette's hand, the evil spirit inside the stone gate finally agreed to let Arthur see the Red Priest's Card.

Of course, it's impossible to do it willingly; it's just that circumstances force us to swallow our anger for the time being.

Therefore, it's impossible to expect this hotpot demon to be very friendly or to properly display the Red Priest's Card.

He simply took out the red priest's tablet from inside the stone gate, quickly flipped through it, and that was it.

However, this was no challenge for Bernadette, who was a spy.

Out of caution, she did not use her Eye of Secrets to look inside, but instead moved the image of the red priest's tablet outside so that Arthur could see it clearly.

Of course, she herself also saw all the recipes and rituals of the Hunter Path from Sequence Nine to Sequence Zero during this process.

Arthur didn't use his ghost vision to peek inside. He waited for Bernadette to bring out the images inside, and then memorized the recipe and ritual.

"Thank you for your gift, Your Excellency Red Angel. We will not disturb your reminiscing about the past any longer. Farewell." Having achieved his goal, Arthur had no intention of staying any longer.

After a brief farewell, he left with Bernadette.

With their departure, the underground ruins returned to their former darkness and tranquility.

……

After leaving the ruins by the same route, Arthur and Bernadette arrived on the street outside.

It was now late at night, and the streets were deserted. The crimson moonlight cascaded down, as if casting a thin layer of red gauze.

Arthur and Bernadette walked side by side in another phase space, and no one could see them.