Pain!
So painful!
My head hurts so much!
…
Even though the wound on his head had completely returned to normal, leaving only a shallow mark, Zhou Mingrui still felt a dull ache when he recalled his encounter early this morning.
This wildly imaginative way of transmigrating truly opened his eyes.
Fortunately, it seemed that a perk accompanying the transmigration had repaired this mere fatal wound, otherwise he probably would have kicked the bucket on the spot.
Where would he ever get the chance to stand here preparing for the luck-enhancement ritual?
Waiting for the tenants on the second floor to leave one after another, Zhou Mingrui did not rush to perform the ritual.
He first translated words like “Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings” from the luck-enhancement ritual into Ancient Feysac and Loenese, then pulled out four loaves of rye bread from the paper bag and placed them in the four corners of the room.
“I wonder if these loaves of bread will still be edible after the luck-enhancement ritual is done.” He frowned slightly, instinctively beginning to ponder this question.
After all, there was a saying that food which had been offered as a sacrifice would taste like chewing wax and become inedible.
Who knew if the ritual would be the same?
Four loaves of rye bread, which meant 2 pounds, cost a full two and a quarter pence.
This was only because the “Corn Laws” had been repealed; a couple of days earlier it would have been half a penny more expensive, and the month before last it would have cost another one and a half pence more…
Zhou Mingrui took a deep breath, deciding not to think about these things for now.
Even if it tasted like chewing wax, it should still fill his stomach, right?
He came to the center of the room, calmed down for a few minutes, and then took a solemn step, walking a square in a counterclockwise direction.
Four steps out, chanting the honorific name, finishing the walk and returning to his position.
Zhou Mingrui closed his eyes and waited in place for the result.
If it really was this luck-enhancement ritual that had sent him here, he hoped it could send him back as well.
Tomorrow was Mother’s surgery, and he didn’t know how it would turn out in the end.
He just prayed that his time-travel wouldn’t affect the surgery results.
Roselle was suspected to be a senior transmigrator.
Was his final ending truly being assassinated?
Could it be…
that he successfully returned?
And Lin Chuan, that guy couldn’t really be a transmigrator, could he?
He had sworn up and down that he was going to seek immortals and inquire about the Dao.
Could the world before his transmigration actually be unfathomably deep?
The “Classic of Mountains and Seas” couldn’t possibly be a work of non-fiction, right?
The Darkness before his eyes was stained with the deep red brought by the light, and the thoughts in Zhou Mingrui’s mind surged endlessly, hard to calm down.
Right at this moment, he suddenly felt as though the air around him had stopped flowing, becoming viscous and bizarre.
Interwoven, chaotic murmurs rang out by his ears, only receding when he could no longer bear it.
When he opened his eyes once more, Zhou Mingrui was astonished to find himself floating at the edge of a boundless expanse of gray fog.
The gray fog was billowing, hazy, blurry, endless, and flowing like water, dotted with deep red “stars” within it.
“What is this situation?” He felt puzzled;
“Should I reach out and touch one to try?” He was somewhat curious;
“We can’t just remain deadlocked here; why not give it a try…” He reached out his hand.
Thus, two “stars” burst with brilliant light.
Deep red waves erupted simultaneously in a villa in the Empress Borough of Backlund and aboard a three-masted schooner amidst a storm on the Sonia Sea, engulfing their surroundings.
Zhou Mingrui only felt his head grow hollow and his spirit scatter, his entire person feeling as though he had been completely drained.
Meanwhile, above the gray fog.
A brilliant door stained with a hint of cyan-black stood tall above the condensed gray clouds.
Hanging down from the door were lines of black thread, from which hung one nearly completely transparent “cocoon” after another.
Those “cocoons” respectively wrapped around different souls of various ethnicities.
Three of the “cocoons” had already broken open, empty inside and swaying in the wind.
As the gray fog rolled, shifted, and mobilized time and time again, within another “cocoon,” a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses quietly opened his eyes.
…
“Your Excellency, has the attempt ended?
Can you let us go back?”
Audrey Hall looked apprehensively at the mysterious man whose entire body was shrouded in grayish-white mist, asking tentatively.
As for Alger, after instinctively asking a question at the very beginning, he controlled himself to remain silent, merely watching everything unfold.
She heard the other party chuckle, replying in a calm and amiable tone: “Of course, if you formally request it, I can let you go back right now.
“Hearing no malice, Audrey breathed a sigh of relief, her spirits calming down slightly.
Having obtained the promise that she could leave at any time, she instead wasn’t in a rush to propose leaving.
Instead, she threw her previous fear and panic to the back of her mind, speaking with eager anticipation:
“This truly is a wonderful experience…
Um, I have always looked forward to similar things.
I mean, I like the mystical, I like miracles that transcend nature.
No, my point—what I mean is, Your Excellency, what should I do to become a Beyonder?”
Before Audrey received a reply, she saw the gray fog suddenly churn, startling both her and Alger.
In the span of a breath, towering stone pillars appeared all around, and the upper part was enveloped by a vast dome.
The entire structure was magnificent, grand, and towering, just like the palace of a giant from legends.
Directly beneath the dome, amidst the clustering gray fog, appeared a bronze long table with ten high-backed chairs on each of its left and right sides, while identical seats were also placed at the front and back.
On the backs of the chairs, brilliance flickered and deep red concealed itself, outlining strange constellations that did not correspond to reality.
The two of them were seated directly opposite each other, occupying the positions closest to the head of the table.
“Truly wondrous…”
The young lady looked left and right, expressing her heartfelt admiration.
Alger was the same; he looked around the palace, preparing to speak up and answer Audrey’s previous question on behalf of the host.
This could serve as a probe without being abrupt, while also displaying his own value—even though a high-ranking entity like the mysterious person couldn’t possibly not know such common sense, it was still better than saying nothing at all.
Right at this moment, someone spoke up:
“Indeed very wondrous, isn’t it?”
The sudden voice carried a trace of delight; the speaker seemed to be in a very good mood, breaking the brief silence within the palace.
Audrey instinctively wanted to express agreement.
Today’s events were simply like a miracle, capable of bringing someone directly here from Backlund and manifesting such a magnificent palace in an instant…
How wonderful, how unimaginable.
But she quickly snapped back to reality, the words she originally wanted to say stuck in her throat, her entire body freezing in place.
That’s not right!
This voice did not come from the mysterious person shrouded in gray fog, nor did it come from the silent gentleman sitting opposite her.
Was there a fourth person present here?
Following the sound, Audrey turned her head, only to see a thin-faced young man wearing black-rimmed glasses stepping out from the gray fog beside the long table.
He tilted his head slightly, sizing up the surrounding stone pillars as he naturally stepped forward, pulled open the seventh bronze high-backed chair on the left, and sat down.