Rise of The Abandoned Husband

The crowd at the Hundred Spirits Meeting was massive.

Strong or weak, everyone showed up to soak in the excitement.

Events like this usually drew people from similar backgrounds together.

Garcia Coleman stared coldly toward Mason Raymond's direction, a slight sneer playing at his mouth.

"My scheme can move forward," Garcia Coleman said with a grin.

...

Hours passed quickly, and soon darkness settled over everything.

The man with the mustache and I tracked down an inn where we could crash for the night. Before we could even reach for our wallets, some friendly guy nearby had already covered our bill.

"Pretty nice of him," I couldn't help saying.

"Yeah, you've become quite the celebrity at the Martial Arts Hall. You wouldn't believe how many folks see you as their hero now," the man with the mustache mumbled.

I just shrugged it off. The thought hadn't really crossed my mind before.

That day hadn't brought me much luck, since the Hundred Spirits Meeting stretched on forever.

We'd wandered around and barely covered a tenth of the whole thing.

Back in the room, I shut my eyes, planning to take another shot at finding that Martial Saint breakthrough.

But weirdly enough, even though I felt like I was just a hair away from reaching Martial Saint level, something always seemed to be missing.

"Damn..."

A few minutes later, I opened my eyes and found myself frowning.

"Weird," I muttered, rubbing my chin.

"Maybe there's still something wrong with the route I'm taking?"

The distance between me and Martial Saint status felt paper-thin, but I just couldn't break through.

"Looks like my mindset still isn't ready for stepping into the Martial Saint realm," I thought.

I glanced over at the man with the mustache, who was snoring like a freight train next to me.

"Wonder what this guy's path to power looks like?" I said quietly.

Right then, I found myself thinking about Watson Thompson.

She'd probably already made it to Martial Saint level. After all, with all those past-life memories floating around in her head, she knew the Martial Saint path inside and out.

With those thoughts swirling around, I dozed off.

What I didn't realize was that someone was pulling strings behind the scenes at that very moment.

——

In a poorly lit room.

Walton Greer stood before Garcia Coleman, wearing a vicious grin.

He ran his tongue across his lips and said, "What Iris Darren couldn't pull off, I can handle now, plus I'll have someone else to pin it on... it's perfect..."

Garcia Coleman spoke in an even tone, "Cut the chatter, get moving. Just remember, don't get caught."

Walton Greer gave a nod. "Relax, this is my specialty."

With that, Walton Greer spun around and walked out.

The following morning, several withered corpses showed up in different rooms.

But people didn't make a big deal of it, figuring it was just some kind of revenge killing, so it didn't create much buzz.

...

——

The man with the mustache and I checked out early and made our way back to the Hundred Spirits Meeting, still hunting for Heavenly Vanilla.

But the whole morning brought us nothing but dead ends.

"This year's Hundred Spirits Meeting seems pretty weak," the man with the mustache complained while tugging at his beard.

"Past years always had something mind-blowing show up."

"I remember the previous Hundred Spirits Meeting, someone found a busted Mighty Realm weapon."

My eyebrows shot up, and I gasped, "Wait, what? A Mighty Realm weapon?"

"Yeah, but it was damaged. Whether anyone can actually use it, nobody knows," the man with the mustache explained.

"Either way, I haven't seen anyone wield it yet."

I said quietly, "If someone got their hands on a Mighty Realm weapon, wouldn't they be pretty much unbeatable?"

"You could put it that way," the man with the mustache replied.

"But only if it actually works. If it doesn't, then it's all just hot air."

I grinned and said, "As long as we can grab it, we'll figure out how to fix it."

With that, we kept moving.

A long street was crammed with people.

Plenty of buildings lining the street had been rented out for selling magical items.

The man with the mustache and I strolled casually from shop to shop, finally pausing in front of a place with a pretty humble-looking front.

The man with the mustache grabbed a scroll from the side and asked, "What's this thing?"

The shop owner answered, "A Treasure Map."

When he heard that, the man with the mustache instantly lit up.

"A Treasure Map? Now that's my kind of thing!" he said happily.

After some back-and-forth bargaining, we scored the Treasure Map for three hundred thousand.

"Hey boss, any idea where I might find Heavenly Vanilla?" I asked.

The shop owner shook his head hard. "Never heard of it."

Seeing that, I couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

"Let's move on," I said, and the man with the mustache and I headed out.

After checking out several more shops, we were both starting to look pretty tired and stopped next to another store.

The place looked pretty basic and didn't have much stuff on display inside.

The man with the mustache went in first, studying the items on the table carefully.

I, meanwhile, sent out my divine sense, checking each piece one by one.

"That leaf sitting in the corner over there, grab it fast, it's valuable!"

Right then, Saron's voice rang out in my head.

I was shocked. "You're still kicking? I figured you were toast."

Saron said urgently, "No time for chatting, snatch that leaf!"

Without hesitating, I hurried over and scooped up the leaf.

"Boss, what's the price on this leaf?" I asked.

The boss said, "Fifty thousand, take it or leave it."

"Fifty thousand? That's pretty steep for something that looks so plain," I muttered.

"Don't try to bargain, buy it before someone else spots it!" Saron pressed anxiously.

Seeing the urgency, I quickly switched gears. "Boss, I'll take it."

Then I swiped my card to pay for the leaf and pocketed it.

After stuffing the leaf into my bag, I asked, "So what exactly is this leaf?"

Saron snorted. "You're one lucky bastard, kid. That thing's called a Emberlyn Flame Leaf, and what it does is pretty straightforward - it boosts your divine sense."

"The stronger your divine sense gets, the more powerful you'll be once you break into the Martial Saint realm."

I exclaimed, "It can boost divine sense directly? There's actually treasure like that?"

"If you don't trust me, hand it over," Saron said irritably.

I touched my nose, switching topics. "What happened to you before? You just vanished. I was about to ask you to take over my body."

Bringing this up made Saron tremble, muttering, "Damn, with that masked woman hanging around, I don't dare show my face."

I was surprised. "You know her?"

"I don't know her personally, but I've heard plenty of stories about her," Saron's voice shook a little.

"And once, in some huge tomb, I saw a painting of what the masked woman really looks like, and that sight... terrifying," Saron shuddered.

I raised an eyebrow and said, "Weren't you the one calling yourself the 'First God of Slaughter'? What, getting scared now?"

"You don't know jack!" Saron shot back, sounding pretty ticked off.

"You didn't live through her time. Let me tell you something, kid - you're screwed."

"With your talent and enough time, you definitely could've been unstoppable. But tough luck, in this lifetime, the masked woman's back from the dead."