The Lord Of Mysteries
Chapter 5: The Ritual

Free any? The most expensive free stuff!

Zhou Mingrui silently muttered and decided that he would not buy any additional services. He would resolutely reject them all.

If you are truly capable, try to predict that I transmigrated here!

With this thought in mind, Zhou Mingrui followed behind the woman whose face was painted red and yellow, bowing low to enter the low tent.

The inside of the tent was very dark, illuminated only by a few beams of light that managed to seep in. A table covered with paper cards can be faintly seen in low lighting.

The woman with the sharp pointed hat was not affected at all. Her long black dress slid as if moving on the water as she spun to the table. He sat on the opposite side and lit a candle.

A faint yellow light flickered, causing the inside of the tent to appear light and dark simultaneously. It instantly added a much more mysterious feel to the atmosphere.

Zhou Mingrui sat quietly, his gaze sweeping the tarot cards on the table where he found familiar cards such as "Witch," "Emperor," "Hanging Man," and "Temperance," etc.

Could it be that Roselle was a 'senior'. I wonder if she was also my compatriot.

Before she finished seeing the exposed cards on the table, the woman who claimed to have an accurate divination had reached out her hand to collect all the cards. He piled it into the deck and pushed it in front of him.

"Shake the cards first and cut the deck" said the circus clairvoyant in a soft voice.

"I? Random?" Zhou Mingrui asked reflexively.

The yellow and red paint on the diviner's face wriggled together as he revealed a slight smile, saying, "Of course, everyone's destiny can only unravel itself.I only serve as his reader."

Zhou Mingrui immediately questioned him warily, "This reading doesn't cost anything extra, does it?"

As a keyboard folklorist, I've seen too many such tricks!

The fortuneteller looked surprised before finally saying muffled, "Free."

Zhou Mingrui, relieved, stuffed the revolver further into his pocket. After which, he calmly stretched out his two hands to shuffle and skillfully cut the deck.

"Done." He placed the shuffled tarot card in the middle of the table.

The fortuneteller grasped the cards with both hands and carefully looked at the cards for a while. Then, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Sorry, I forgot to ask, but what do you want to ask?"

Back when she seduced her first love, Zhou Mingrui had also done some research on tarot cards. He asked without hesitation, "First, present, and future."

This is a type of divination as part of the three-card — tarot interpretation when opened consecutively symbolizes one's past, present, and future.

The fortuneteller nodded first, then curled his lips to show a smile and said, "Then, please change the card. you can only really get the card you want if you know what you want to ask."

Are you fooling me now? Do you have to be this small? Didn't I just ask a few times if this would be a free service? Zhou Mingrui's cheeks twitched slightly. He took a deep breath and took the tarot deck back to reshuffle and cut it off.

"There won't be a problem this time, will there?" He put the cut deck back to the table.

"No problem." The fortuneteller reached out his finger and took a card from the top of the deck. Then he placed it on Zhou Mingrui's left side. His voice grew lower as he spoke, "This card symbolizes your past."

"This card represents your gift." The fortuneteller placed a second card right in front of Zhou Mingrui.

Then, he took out a third card and placed it on Zhou Mingrui's right side.

"This card represents the future."

"Well, which card do you want to see first?" The fortuneteller raised his head after finishing the placement of his cards and looked at Zhou Mingrui with his grayish-blue eyes.

"I will see the 'gift' first," Zhou Mingrui said after giving it some thought.

The fortuneteller nodded slowly and flipped the tarot card that was right in front of Zhou Mingrui.

A colorful clothed character is depicted on this card, wearing a ragged headgear with a stick on his shoulder. There was a tie hanging at the end of the stick and a puppy followed behind it. It's numbered "0."

"The Fool," the clairvoyant lightly read out the name of the card with his grayish-blue eyes fixed on Zhou Mingrui.

A folly? Tarot card "0"? A beginning? A new beginning with all kinds of possibilities? Zhou Mingrui was not even considered an amateur tarot fan, so he could only make a rough interpretation based on his own impressions of the tarot.

Just when the fortune teller was about to say something, the curtain of tent cloth suddenly opened. The radiant sunlight was so dazzling that it caused the rear-facing Zhou Mingrui to instinctively narrow his eyes.

"Why do you imitate me again! It's my job to handle divination for people!" the voice of a woman growled furiously. "Go back to your post quickly! you have to remember that you're just an animal trainer!"

Animal trainer? Zhou Mingrui's eyes had already adapted to the light by now. He saw a similar-looking woman who was also wearing a sharp pointed hat in a black dress, with her face painted red and yellow as well. The only difference was that he was taller and had a slimmer physique.

The woman sitting in front of him immediately stood up and said dissatisfiedly, "Don't mind this, it's just that I like doing this. But I have to say, my predictions and interpretations can sometimes be very accurate…"

She spoke and lifted her dress to spin from the side of the table before quickly running away from the tent.

"Sir, do you want me to interpret your card for you?" the original astrologer looked at Zhou Mingrui and asked with a smile.

Zhou Mingrui's lips twitched and asked sincerely, "Is it free?"

"…No," answered the real astrologer.

"Then forget it." Zhou Mingrui pulled his hand back and stuffed it into his pocket. He gripped the revolver and his money before bending down again to get out of the tent.

Goddamn bum! He actually got an animal trainer to be his forecaster?

Is an animal trainer who doesn't want to be a fortune teller not a good clown?

Zhou Mingrui very quickly forgot about this matter. He spent seven pence at the 'Lettuce and Meat' market for a pound of not-so-good mutton. Later, he also bought some chickpeas, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and other tender items. Together with the bread he had bought earlier, he spent a total of 25 cents of copper, which was converted into two soli and one pence.

"Absolutely not enough to spend. Poor Benson ..." Zhou Mingrui not only finished off the two notes he had brought, but it was also necessary for him to add the one cent he had in his pocket.

He only sighed and did not think about it any further as he rushed back home.

With the staple food, he could now perform a fortune-enhancing ritual!

…

After the second floor tenant gradually left, Zhou Mingrui was still in no hurry to perform the ritual. Instead, he translated "Blessings of Blessing From the Eternal Sovereign of Heaven and Earth" and related phrases into the ancient Feysac language, as well as the Loen language. He intends to try the ritual again the next day in those local languages if the original spell does not work!

After all, he had to consider the difference between the two worlds. In Rome, do as the Romans did!

As for translating them into ancient ritual prayers that used the dedicated Hermes language, Zhou Mingrui had difficulty solving them due to a lack of vocabulary.

With a deep breath, Zhou Mingrui came to the center of the room and spent a few minutes calming down. Then, he took a serious step forward and went in a counter-clockwise direction in a square shape.

When he took the first step, he chanted a low whisper, "Great Comes From the Eternal Sovereign of Heaven and Earth."

The second step, he sincerely shouted, "Blessing Comes From the Sky Ruler of Heaven and Earth."

The third step, Zhou Mingrui sighed. "Breaks Come From The Great Arch of Heaven and Earth."

At the fourth step, he let out a foul breath and meditated in concentration. "God Comes From Heaven Worth Heaven and Earth."

When he returned to his original place, Zhou Mingrui closed his eyes and waited in his place for a result. He had some anticipation in him, some unease, some hope, and some fear.

Can he make it back?

Will there be an effect?

Could there be an unexpected situation?

The unknown in front of him was tainted with a red light of hope. Zhou Mingrui's thoughts swirled in his head and found it hard to extinguish them.

It was at this moment that he suddenly felt the air around him seem to stop, becoming thick and mysterious.

Soon after, a low whisper was heard beside his ear that sounded real, sometimes sharp, sometimes imaginary, sometimes alluring, sometimes maniacal, and sometimes crazy.

He clearly did not understand the muttering that was happening, but Zhou Mingrui still could not help but listen to him and discern what he was saying.

His head hurt again. It was so painful that it felt like someone was thrusting a steel drill rod into it.

Zhou Mingrui only felt his head was about to explode. His mind was filled with psychedelic colors.

He knew something was wrong and tried to open his eyes. However, he could not even complete such a simple action.

His entire body was getting tighter and tighter and it felt like he could break at any moment. At this moment, a self-deprecating thought appeared in Zhou Mingrui's mind:

"If you don't seek death, you won't die …"

He can no longer bear it. Just as his mind was about to break apart, the murmur of sound faded and his surroundings became extremely calm. The mood became uncertain.

It was not just the mood; zhou Mingrui felt his own body experience the same sensation as well.

He tried once again to open his eyes, a very easy task this time.

Gray fog appeared above his eyes— misty, hazy, and endless.

"What's wrong with this situation?" Zhou Mingrui suddenly looked at his surroundings and then lowered his head to find that he was floating on the edge of the endless mist.

The mist flowed like water and decorated many red 'stars. Some of them are very big while others are small. There was a feeling that they were hidden in the deep depths, while others floated above the surface of this water-like mist.

Looking at the seemingly holographic scene, Zhou Mingrui reached out his right hand half-confusedly, half-exploring to try to touch the red 'star' that seemed to be floating on the surface. He was trying to find a way to leave this place.

When his hand touched the surface of the star, a water mark suddenly appeared from within his body and made the stars into a "red" burst". It looked like a flame that was like a dream.

Zhou Mingrui was terrified by it. He pulled his right hand in a panic, but accidentally touched another crimson star.

As a result, this star exploded with a beautiful light as well.

On the contrary, Zhou Mingrui felt his mind was empty and his spirit was gone.

…

The capital of the Loen Kingdom, Backlund. Inside the luxurious-looking villa in the royal district.

Audrey Hall sat in front of the dresser. The marks on it were ancient and there was a cracked bronze mirror on its surface.

"Mirror, mirror, wake …

"On behalf of Hall's family, I order you to wake up!"

…

He switched between many different utterances, but there was no reaction from the mirror at all.

After more than 10 minutes, he finally chose to give up and pouted his lips with a complaint. He said with a soft mutter, "Dad did lie to me. He always told me that this mirror was a treasure of the Dark Emperor of the Roman Empire, and it was an incredible item…"

Voice disappeared. The bronze mirror that was on top of the dressing table suddenly shone with a deep red light that enveloped him completely.

…

In the Sonia Sea, a three-masted sailboat that looked like a clear relic was sailing through the storm.

Alger Wilson stood on the deck, his body surging along with the ocean currents, keeping his balance easily.

He was wearing a robe embroidered with lightning patterns, and in his hand was a uniquely shaped glass bottle. The bubbles billow inside the bottle sometimes, sometimes frost turns to snow, and signs of strong winds are sometimes seen.

"It's still lacking in the blood of the Ghost Shark." murmured Algeria.

Then at this moment, a red burst appeared in the space between the glass bottle and the surface of his palm. In an instant, it enveloped the surroundings as well.

…

In the gray fog, Audrey Hall regained her sight. He began to take into account the situation in a state of horror and confusion when he saw the blurry image of a man on the opposite side of him doing the same as well.

Soon after, the two of them found another mysterious person standing not far from them who was shrouded in gray fog.

'That 'mystery person' was none other than Zhou Mingrui. He was also dumbfounded.

"Sir, where is this?"

Audrey and Algeria were initially shocked, then fell silent in the process. Then, they immediately started talking in unison.

"What are you planning?"