Man on the ark, forced to become king

Texas is new to the area and doesn't seem like a wealthy person, so it's normal for him to have these kinds of worries.

"If you're short on cash, I can lend you some."

Taking a sip of her drink, Lin Lu said gently.

He had a fairly good impression of Texas, and he felt it was no problem to help out if he could.

Wow! You were never this quick to lend me money when I needed it!

Nian, who was standing to the side, immediately started shouting and angrily criticizing this differential treatment, only to be met with a contemptuous look from Lin Lu.

"You? Sorry, your credit score with me has already been reduced to multiples. You'll have to pay back what you borrowed before first."

"Hey, stingy."

Nian gave an awkward laugh, shrank his neck, picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, his face immediately scrunching up like a bun.

She thought it was alcohol, but it turned out to be just a sweet, cloying beverage mixed with alcohol... She hates sweet things the most!

"Excuse me, I must take my leave now, I have work to do."

Texas also downed her drink in one gulp, nodded slightly, and stood up again as soon as she sat down, showing great professionalism—or perhaps she desperately needed the commission to pay rent and make a living.

After she left, only Lin Lu and Nian remained in the bar. As for the Emperor, after obtaining the dewdrop, he had gone to the back in a frenzy, and faint wails could still be heard coming from the rooms at the back of the bar, probably because he was searching for some kind of 'inspiration for a king-level singer'.

"Honestly, being targeted is a real problem. How do you plan to deal with it?"

With a bitter expression, Nian put down his wine glass, his gaze fixed on the exposed blackness at Lin Lu's waist. His eyes were filled with apprehension as he spoke in a warning tone: "I admit that you possess powerful knowledge and your own strength is probably not weak either. However, trouble from Him is rarely direct. Intrigue and scheming are what He excels at. I suggest you don't let your guard down."

"Isn't it because you're here? Since you said you could handle it, what do I have to worry about?"

Lin Lu's answer nearly choked Nian to death, and she rolled her beautiful eyes wide.

It's true that she made similar bold statements, but how can you guard against thieves for a thousand days if you're a thief for a thousand days?

What if her second brother is still planning and doesn't intend to make a move anytime soon? Does that mean she has to keep waiting?

If possible, the best approach is to address the issue at its source.

"Don't worry, it's just a mark. I've already thought of a way to deal with it."

Seeing her hesitant and conflicted expression, Lin Lu found it amusing and stopped teasing her.

He certainly didn't want to just let things slide, nor did he want to make himself a target for others to attack.

If we didn't know, that would be fine, but now that we know we have a hidden mark left by a god, we must completely remove it. This might be very difficult for others, since it is directly related to a god. Even Nian, who is also a god, couldn't erase the mark when he took action.

However, for him, all these marks and hidden attacks could be categorized as 'abnormal states,' which made things much easier.

After finishing her drink, Lin Lu stood up, took out the Holy Seal for Flame Prayer from her pocket, and closed her eyes.

He didn't bring much with him when he returned, let alone an aid like the Holy Mark.

The most versatile finger seal had already been given to Chen, and now he only had this one seal for using fire-based prayers. Although it didn't provide any bonuses and its effects might be weakened to some extent, it was still usable.

hum~

The air inside the bar vibrated slightly, and a golden glow seeped out from the void.

Lin Lu stretched out her arms, and the ground beneath her feet suddenly lit up. A huge triangle was drawn out of thin air on the floor, and three nested circular patterns were engraved on the triangle's mark, forming a complex and mysterious pattern. An inexplicable power surged from the pattern, and golden light burst forth, illuminating the entire bar.

Golden Law Fundamentalism Prayer: The Principle of Return!

Fundamentalism interprets the Golden Law with two forces—regression and causality. Regression refers to the convergence of all things toward the unchanging, which is a kind of gravitational force in meaning. Therefore, prayers that carry the power of regression can heal all abnormal states, eliminate special effects, remove all mimicry, and reveal the true nature of things.

In this world where the Golden Law does not exist, the power of this prayer is greatly weakened, but it can still rely on the power of the Golden Tree to take effect and achieve its intended purpose.

Bathed in golden light, everything deemed abnormal is subdued and dissolved by the force of reversion, ultimately returning to nothingness, even the power of true gods is no exception.

From Nian's perspective, she could clearly see the power from her second brother that was wrapped around Lin Lu weakening layer by layer under the washing of the golden light, disappearing like ice and snow exposed to the sunlight, melting rapidly until it was completely annihilated.

It's another completely unknown spell, a power I've never seen before!

The power used by the god is different from the so-called Originium Arts. It is stronger in both quality and power. It is a 'authority' that is a level higher than the magic used by humans. It is directly connected to a certain rule of the world. However, such authority is powerless to resist this power. The impact it brought to her was no less than that 'destined death'.

If the authority of God is so restrained and rendered ineffective, then what is the difference between so-called gods and ordinary people?

This is a power powerful enough to threaten the very foundation of their divine existence!

Chapter 109 The Shadow of the Year-Keeping Terrace

For some very subtle reasons, although the mark on her body was removed, Lin Lu still tacitly allowed Nian to stay by her side and obtained some information about that god from her.

However, according to Nian's account, the other party should be suppressed in the capital of Yan Kingdom. Although it is unknown how a fragment turned into a chess piece ended up in Wei Yanwu's hands, it would be quite troublesome to find the capital of Yan Kingdom to take revenge, so he can only give up for the time being.

A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years. Anyway, this person has already remembered it, and there will be an opportunity sooner or later.

For now, Lin Lu decided to focus her energy on the 'theater troupe' stationed at the border of Kazdel.

The information provided by the Emperor was quite rudimentary, with almost no other clues besides the fact that the other party had a close relationship with Letania and possessed the technology of soul transfer and puppet making.

Lin Lu's initial idea was to go over there first, get some information, and then send people over.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. This principle applies everywhere.

But now it seems there are better options.

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"Lin Lu took Nian to the Koi Detective Agency? And then Old Koi set off from Lungmen, heading towards Kazdel?"

Inside the study, Wei Yanwu listened to the report from the man in the black raincoat, his narrow dragon eyes slightly narrowed, surrounded by swirling smoke.

His fingers tapped lightly on the table, making a rhythmic sound, his expression revealing neither joy nor anger.

The vast Longmen is a melting pot of all walks of life; it can be said that no other city on the entire continent has a more complex population composition than Longmen.

Most of the registered citizens or temporary residents are ordinary people busy making a living or wanting to make money. The other part are wanderers from the martial arts world who have settled in Longmen and are burdened with all sorts of pasts. In Yan Kingdom terms, they are 'extraordinary people'.

Old Li of the Longmen Carp Detective Agency is such a person. Wei Yanwu has also cooperated with him privately a few times. Although he seems to take on any kind of job, there are very few things that are truly worth his personal attention, and the price of hiring him is quite high.

Lin Lu can definitely afford the payment. The question is, what do these two want to achieve by hanging out together?

Wei Yanwu always remembered what happened in Kazdel: the divine fragments hidden in the chess pieces suddenly erupted, creating a crazed monster that almost caused trouble.

He knew what it was, so he had been using the cooperation as a cover-up, afraid that Lin Lu would focus her attention on that matter at this point in time. However, it seems that Lao Li's journey was towards Kazdel, not the heartland of Yan Kingdom, so it should have nothing to do with the fragments of the gods.

Kazdel... what's there?

"Lord Wei, our brothers have discovered several infiltrators at Longmen, suspected to be from Sishuitai. They didn't enter Longmen through official channels; we don't know what their plans are. Should we..."

"Si Suitai?"

Hearing this name, even someone of Wei Yanwu's status couldn't help but feel a headache.

As far as he knew, there had been much controversy in the court in recent years regarding the handling of the twelve fragments that split from the 'Sui'. The Ministry of Rites and the Office of the Sui were at odds. The Ministry of Rites belonged to the appeasement faction, and their idea was to wait and see. Although there were unstable elements among the twelve fragments, most members had not yet expressed their positions, and there were also a few who had cooperated with the court and could stand on the side of Yan. They should be properly won over, rather than being forced.

Compared to the Ministry of Rites, the Sisuitai (司岁台) advocated a much more radical approach—they believed that all fragments of the Year Beast must be suppressed and destroyed with overwhelming force to ensure a safe future.

Their viewpoint is very simple: "Those who are not of our kind must have different hearts!"

The second-ranked character in the twelve-year-old film once caused a cholera outbreak in the capital and directly led to the disappearance of another fragment, 'Jie'. This is the best evidence of the danger of the Sui Beast fragments.

Due to the maneuvering of other high-ranking officials in the court, especially the one sitting on the dragon throne who never made a clear statement, the radical proposals of the Director of the Imperial Household Department ultimately failed to be fully implemented.

But this doesn't mean they've given up. As long as they find out that fragments of the Sui Beast are active in a certain area, the Si Sui Platform will gather there like sharks smelling blood, causing quite a bit of trouble in the past.

Those people's unbridled and extremely radical actions were undoubtedly a great provocation to local stability. No local official would want to see the people from the Si Sui Tai appear on their territory, and Wei Yanwu was no exception.

It should be said that he was even more disgusted with Si Suitai's behavior than the officials within Yan. In the chaotic Longmen, if they really caused trouble, it could lead to more complex power struggles. At that time, Si Suitai could just leave and at most receive some criticism from above, but the trouble he left behind would have to be borne by Longmen.

Unfortunately, these birdmen had special identities, so Wei Yanwu really couldn't do anything to them openly.

"It's easy to guess that the Si Suitai sneaked in here, probably to avoid the Supervision Department. They're like a bunch of rats in the gutter."

"Lord Wei, should we take them into custody?"

The man in the black raincoat lowered his head and spoke in a deep voice.

This wasn't the first time they'd done something like this. They'd serve fine wine to friends and hunting rifles to wolves; they were experts at sabotaging others behind the scenes.

"Longmen does not interfere in matters of the imperial court."

After a moment's thought, Wei Yanwu waved his hand in rejection.

"Don't worry about him."

"Isn't their goal to find the Nian beast? Let them go look for it. As long as the Nian beast isn't at Longmen, they won't be able to cause any trouble."

Since they're here for the Nian beast, wouldn't it be fine as long as the Nian beast isn't at the Dragon Gate? Wei Yanwu didn't intend to clash with the Si Suitai. Let them come if they want; they'll leave on their own if they can't find their target.

Now that the Nian beast is with Lin Lu, it's much easier for him to operate.

According to current intelligence, the Golden Tree should be an ancient force that has just been revived. There are too many secrets hidden in this land, so it is not incomprehensible that such a force occasionally appears.

They have just awakened from their slumber, possessing only a foundation but unable to translate it into true strength. They would likely not refuse cooperation from the outside world, as that would allow them to recover more quickly, and Lin Lu's performance proved this point.

So, if he pays some price, he might be able to bring the Nian beast outside the Dragon Gate, and then all the troubles will be resolved.

"Go and invite Lin Lu over. Be polite and tell him I have a business deal to discuss with him."

Chapter 110 Gentlemen, is there really no room for negotiation?

"It's all sand, nothing but sand. I really can't like this place."