Lord of Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

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The spirit with long arms and tongue moved incredibly fast, and Hobert realized there was no time to escape.

However, the Spirit Necklace and the Lawyer abilities quickly revealed that this spirit had a weakness—fear of water.

Water!

There was water on the table over there!

But it was too late; the spirit had already raised its long arm, which transformed into a scythe, resembling the Grim Reaper ready to claim a life.

Ho-phuu~

In a panic, Hobert spat at the spirit.

What happened next was a rather comical sight through Hobert's spiritual vision: the terrifying spirit carefully avoided the spit on the ground.

It looked as if it were cautiously avoiding a landmine.

Although Xio and Upton couldn't see this through their spiritual vision, their instincts told them that the threat had suddenly paused.

Upton, in disbelief, exclaimed, "Damn, this is the first time I've seen holy water like this."

By this point, the spirit had circled around Hobert's spit, and Hobert hurriedly spat again. The spirit circled around once more, and Hobert spat again.

Thus, what had been a dangerous battle turned into a bizarre scene of Xio and Upton watching Hobert continuously spitting on the ground.

Soon, Hobert's mouth was dry, and he shouted to Xio, "Spit towards two o'clock!"

Xio quickly realized that the spit could repel this invisible threat. However, although she was usually quite bold, she was still a young woman with some sense of decorum.

Hobert, out of options, gathered the last bit of saliva and spat towards the "long-armed spirit," once again halting its advance. "Hurry! I'm out!"

Finally, Xio spat in the two o'clock direction, and Hobert took the opportunity to rush over, grab the glass of water on the table, and splash the remaining water at the "long-armed spirit."

Whoosh~

With a shrill howl, the "long-armed spirit" vanished.

Upton, gathering the last of his spirituality, said, "It's not over yet!"

Freed from the battle, Hobert finally had the chance to pull out his gun and point it at Upton, dry-mouthed and hoarse as he shouted, "We're not from the damn Tamara family. If you use another sealed or mystical item, I'll shoot you dead!"

Upton, having expended a lot of spirituality, was even paler than before, gasping for breath. He asked, "Then who are you?"

Hobert commanded, "Raise your hands!"

Not wanting to die, Upton quickly complied.

Xio, in sync with Hobert, began searching Upton and found a strand of glowing hair on his arm.

It was a sealed artifact. Hobert handed Xio a pair of gloves he had prepared in advance. "Don't touch the hair directly."

Xio nodded, put on the gloves, and carefully removed the glowing strand of hair, placing it on the table.

Hobert, once again holding a gun in one hand while rummaging through his coat pockets for vials with the other, asked, "Have you ever heard of spirit communication?"

"Y-yes," Upton replied, sensing something bad.

"Apologies," Hobert said sincerely. "Interrogating you is too troublesome, and I'd have to figure out whether you're telling the truth or not. So, I'll use spirit communication to get the answers I need.

"But you're still a living being, and spirit communication will completely mess up your thoughts and logic. After I get the answers, you'll have the intelligence of a two- or three-year-old."

"For that, I deeply apologize."

Upton turned deathly pale. "W-wait, wait! You haven't even asked me anything yet. How do you know I won't tell the truth?"

From Upton's reaction, it seemed he wasn't a very experienced Beyonder, because if he had known about spirit communication or had been properly informed, he would've realized that Hobert's words were only half true.

Given Hobert's current spirituality and mental strength, he wouldn't dare use spirit communication on a living person, as the overwhelming amount of information from the other person's spirituality would severely impact his mental state.

The result would likely be two new lunatics in the world.

"Alright then," Hobert said. "I'll ask the first question. Where did you get your potion formula and the main ingredients?

"You saw earlier that I can communicate with the spirit world to defeat the spirit you summoned. I can also use divination, and if you lie, I'll immediately resort to spirit communication."

Upton hurriedly replied, "My potion formula and the main ingredients come from the Tamara family! I swear I'm telling the truth."

Hobert hadn't tried using the Spirit Necklace for divination before, but theoretically, since the necklace enhanced the wearer's spiritual intuition, it could also assist with basic divination.

Of course, Hobert couldn't perform complex divination like a Seer, but he could manage simple yes-no answers.

He closed his eyes and silently repeated in his mind, "Upton is lying.

"Upton is lying.

"…"

After repeating this seven times, Hobert stood his cane upright and lightly let go. If the cane fell forward, Upton was lying; if it fell backward, Upton was telling the truth.

Hobert saw the cane fall backward and smiled. "Very good. Let's hope you continue to tell the truth. Second question, what are the abilities of the sealed artifact you just used? What are its negative effects? And where did it come from?"

Having been frightened by Hobert's divination, Upton gave up on lying entirely. "This sealed artifact is called the Astrologer's Hair. My father said it came from a runaway Astrologer.

"It has two abilities. One is a vague sense of danger that will happen within six hours. The other is opening a door to the spirit world. Behind that door, there might be nothing, but more often, a mysterious spirit with unknown abilities and intent appears, attacking both allies and enemies indiscriminately.

"The negative effects are that the wearer is easily noticed by certain entities in the spirit world. After using it for more than an hour, the wearer will merge into the spirit world and never return to the real world."

Hobert thought to himself: No wonder he knew we were coming to attack him. It's due to this sealed artifact's ability. But its abilities and negative effects sound like it's practically a suicide-type sealed artifact!

A spirit that attacks everyone; attention from certain entities in the spirit world; never being able to return to reality.

Both the abilities and the negative effects are terrifying.

Upton continued, "This sealed artifact was taken by my father from the Tamara family."

Hobert was taken aback. "What's your family's relationship with the Tamara family?"

It seemed like they were both enemies and capable of taking sealed artifacts from them?

Upton smiled bitterly. "I am part of the Tamara family, but ever since I was a child, my father has been trying to sever ties with them."

"Why sever ties?"

"My father said that the 'high-Sequence' members of the family seemed to be affected by some kind of mysterious corruption."