The rain poured down.

Lu Yuan walked silently along the highway. His body had already returned to its normal size, his large storm jacket soaked through, clinging coldly to his skin.

Rainwater dripped from the brim of his hat, flowing slowly down his smooth, coolly stern features.

A crow landed before him, blocking his path. A large vehicle tore through the curtain of rain, howling as it rushed past.

Under the orange glow of a lamppost, the crow flapped its wings and took flight, casting one last "cold" glance at Lu Yuan before it left, as if reminding him of something.

Lu Yuan stood still, squinting as he watched the crow fade into the distance, allowing the heavy rain to drench him. The occasional flash of lightning cast shifting light and shadow across his face.

He had the faint feeling of being "locked on."

The Crow God Sect's Strong Divine Servant he had killed earlier had placed a "curse" on him before dying.

Using the term "curse" might not be entirely accurate, because Lu Yuan hadn't suffered any injury; perhaps the damage was nullified for some unknown reason. But the Strong Divine Servant had succeeded in one respect: he had connected Lu Yuan with another powerful consciousness. Or rather, he had provided another powerful entity with... clues about Lu Yuan's identity.

More like some kind of duel contract that exists within the Crow God Sect... I was forced to accept it.

The crow that had just flown away seemed to be "reminding" him of the proper execution of this duel. It also seemed to be "monitoring" him, preventing him from "avoiding the fight and running away." It also served as a representative of a certain will, acting as a referee or a notary of sorts for this "contractual duel."

So, the one who 'locked on' to me... is likely a more powerful being within the Crow God Sect—his backer? His superior?

Lu Yuan's thoughts raced as he sorted out the main points in his mind.

With a soft sigh, he continued forward.

The formally trained Divine Servants of the Crow God Sect really have many tricks up their sleeves... even this kind of method…

Contrary to expectations, Lu Yuan wasn't anxious or frightened about the impending duel. Instead, he felt a burgeoning, eager anticipation.

With the continuous enhancement of his four-dimensional attributes and the unlocking of skills on the [Fighter] panel, Lu Yuan could clearly feel his growth and transformation, moment by moment, both physically and in terms of his will. He was gradually comprehending the core spirit of being a [Fighter]—to break through his own limits and yearn to conquer every challenge from the unknown!

Lu Yuan opened his class panel and reviewed his gains for the evening.

The improvement on the [Death Teller (Extraordinary)] panel went without saying. The [Fighter] class Experience Points increased by more than seven hundred, with the total exceeding three thousand five hundred, reaching the halfway mark for Lv.7. The Experience Points for Crane-shaped Step also increased slightly, nearing the breakthrough to Lv.4.

The three core martial arts techniques of the Crane Sect were like branches on the main trunk of Lu Yuan's current power system, making his techniques more refined and his combat methods more diverse. They were also indispensable prerequisites for comprehending the three esoteric True Skills.

[Death Teller (Extraordinary)] leveled up, and I gained 1 attribute point and 1 skill point...

Lu Yuan deliberated between the four Basic Attributes and several panels, but ultimately decided to postpone allocating the points. For the time being, he wasn't sure what to upgrade.

After braving the downpour to return home and taking a bath, Lu Yuan sat in front of his computer. Recalling the syllables of the few phrases spoken by the Crow God Sect's Strong Divine Servant, he began to search online for the corresponding ancient language. His [Ancient Lingual Expert] class had been idle for quite a while; he had only recently picked it up again. Previously, he had mainly explored the backgrounds of the Burrow Sect and the Elephant God Religion, but he didn't know much about the Crow God Sect. This was rather strange, as the Crow God Sect was the Evil God Sect with which Lu Yuan had the deepest contact; it was a bit like overlooking something right under his nose.

The search process was quite smooth, and he found a considerable amount of information online.

What the Crow God Servant spoke was an extremely niche ancient language called Ancient Lingual. It was also known as the "Language of the Black Crow," the "Language of the Underworld," the "Whispers of the Lost Souls," and so on. In Havel, a small number of people still learned and used this language. People who used this language typically had only one profession—Psychic. They could also be called Spirit Communicators.

Think of it... as a kind of professional language. In Havellian folklore, only those who understand "Ancient Lingual" are qualified to communicate with the Underworld and converse with the dead. If you don't know this language, you wouldn't last as a spirit medium in Havel. You'd be pelted with rotten eggs and called a "fraud" by your second day in business.

Lu Yuan's intelligence was as high as 17. While in the Lv.3 [Absolute Focus] state, his learning ability was maximized. He spent a little less than half an hour and, relying solely on fragmented information about Ancient Lingual he found online, successfully deciphered the few sentences spoken by the Crow God Servant.

The first sentence, spoken when they met, meant: "The King of Black Crow watches over Her every servant..." It seemed to be some sort of secret code among the Crow God Servants. Lu Yuan had repeated it, apparently getting it wrong but not entirely so, which had caused the other party to pause.

The second sentence, uttered after Lu Yuan kicked the Crow God Servant, was, "The Black Crow will peck your flesh apart, suck your marrow, imprison your soul in a bottle, and brew it into a wine of death and suffering..." This was a pure curse, with nothing worth researching.

The crucial part was the last sentence: "The goddess who presides over the Netherworld River will observe all that transpires, you Skin Thief lurking beneath crow feathers... Lord Calophis will avenge me! Under the witness of the mighty Crow God, he will personally seize your filthy, despicable, and rotten soul! Praise be to the Crow God! I offer my body! The pact... is now effective!"

[You have comprehended a new skill: [Ancient Lingual Lv.1]]

[You have focused on studying for twenty minutes. Your understanding of the new skill has improved. Experience Points +13]

Lu Yuan calmly stared at the translation he had written on the paper. After examining it carefully for a moment, he tore it up, crumpled it, and casually tossed it into the waste bin beside him.

It was just as he had originally guessed: he was indeed... being watched by some "Lord" of the Crow God Sect.

Lu Yuan rose from his desk and walked over to the window. Opening it, he saw the downpour outside was still falling incessantly. Hardly any pedestrians were visible on the road below; only the dim yellow glow of the street lamps shone vaguely through the rain.

Two crows were perched on a lamppost. They remained unmoved by the heavy rain, their feathers drenched, and stared fixedly at Lu Yuan, showing no intention of leaving.

Lu Yuan quietly met their gaze. Soon, his eyes shifted, looking towards the dim, dark sky in the distance.

Crow God Sect... Calophis, is it...?

「The full moon. The Netherworld River. Other Shore Flowers.」

Lu Yuan calmly stood up, completely unfazed by the scene before him.

Every time he made a breakthrough with his [Death Teller (Extraordinary)] panel, the Crow Dreamscape would inevitably manifest.

Sometimes he wondered if this was some kind of standard "new member recruitment technique" of the Crow God. In the Crow God Sect, would it be known as a Divine Prophecy? A Divine Dream? The favor and revelation of the Crow God? He didn't know.

On the banks of the quietly flowing Netherworld River, his "old friend," the woman in the black dress, sat peacefully. Her long black hair flowed into the river as she faced the giant moon, a strikingly beautiful sight.

Lu Yuan's eyes twinkled, and he suddenly strode towards the woman.

"Hey!" Lu Yuan shouted at her. "There's someone under you who wants to make trouble for me… Are you going to do anything about it?"

Lu Yuan had already come to regard the woman as Lamashtu, the Death Teller Goddess in the legends of the Crow God Sect. He wasn't sure what this dreamscape meant or what it would bring him. He couldn't do anything in this dreamscape.

It was just like being stuck on a game level, unable to progress and without any clues. So he gradually let himself go.

Lu Yuan held no hope that the woman in the black dress would respond.

But this time… the woman who heard Lu Yuan's shout… surprisingly, slowly, bit by bit, turned her head towards him.

Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment. For the first time, he saw the woman's face clearly, though it was only her profile. On her porcelain-like, soft, and beautiful cheeks, black and red Other Shore Flower patterns intertwined.

Lu Yuan couldn't describe the beauty of her profile; it was as if he had fallen into an even deeper dreamscape. His expression grew dazed, and he muttered as if sleep-talking, "If you don't do anything... then I'll have to kill him....."

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK—

The sound of moderate knocking on the door woke Lu Yuan from his sleep.

Bright sunshine streamed in from the window, splashing onto his small bed. Squinting, Lu Yuan looked out the window. The corner of the sky visible past the adjacent apartment building was as blue as if it had been washed with water.

He picked up his phone and checked the time. It was already half-past eight in the morning. He had never woken up this late before.

"School seems to start today. Are you going?" The door opened, and Lu Jing, a face mask still on, curiously asked Lu Yuan.

"Yes, I'm going." Lu Yuan nodded.

At this stage, he had no intention of completely giving up his studies. Although it wasn't realistic for him to attend school every day, he couldn't sever this connection completely.

"Breakfast is on the table. I woke up early specifically to go out and buy it." Lu Jing gently patted her cheeks—PAT, PAT, PAT, PAT—then sauntered over to the living room sofa, sat down, and began to idly scroll through her phone.

Lu Yuan went to the bathroom and quickly washed up, then returned to the living room. The table was piled high with breakfast; Lu Jing knew his appetite best.

While eating, he asked Lu Jing, "How's the situation with the archaeological team? Have they found the missing professor?"

Xia Weimin was dead, so Lu Yuan was just asking casually.

"Not yet..." Lu Jing shook her head, her mood visibly deflating. "I heard that those mysterious stone spheres excavated from the Xixu Elephant God Religion temple... there weren't just eight of them..."

Lu Yuan's chopsticks paused mid-air as he turned to Lu Jing. "What do you mean?"

Lu Jing said in a low voice, "Some people say more than ten were actually excavated. But because of the monster incident, the Sum Country military got involved. A few professors, worried that getting involved in such mysterious events would lead to the military seizing all the excavated items and stopping their research, secretly hid a few of the spheres. Professor Xia was the one specifically responsible for bringing back these extra spheres... Now... he and the spheres... are all gone."

Lu Jing grew increasingly frightened, her voice trembling slightly. "Yuan... do curses really exist?"

Lu Yuan remained silent for a moment, then said, "I'm not sure. But even if curses do exist, they would only target those professors who had the most contact with the spheres. As for you, you were just playing a minor role; the curse probably doesn't even remember you."

"Alright, I'm heading off to register," Lu Yuan said, putting down his chopsticks and picking up the backpack he had tossed on the sofa. "Remember to go to the martial arts gym. The Yang Qi there is strong. Even if there really are malicious entities, they wouldn't dare target you."

Perhaps his comforting words had some effect, as Lu Jing's expression eased a little.

"Are you having lunch at the martial arts gym?" Lu Jing asked.

"We'll see."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.