Chapter 792: Section 580: Mane, Purple Convergence
“Oh, right,” Yuan Ci reminded just before leaving, “I almost forgot to tell you something small.”
“You also know that the Divine Dragon’s corpse in the Ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake has created an extremely precious time resource there.”
“In the Ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake, there exists a phenomenon where the flow of time is inconsistent.”
“Especially during a segment of our journey through the ice shards, where the flow of time sped up significantly.”
“So, when you, Ghost Vine Mage, return to the capital, and find that time has moved faster than you anticipated, do not be surprised.”
Upon hearing this advice, Zi Di stepped onto the Teleportation Array.
The next moment, the Teleportation Array activated, swiftly generating spatial fluctuations, which then disappeared.
Zi Di also vanished from the spot.
Watching the empty Teleportation Array, Elder Yuan Ci sighed deeply and murmured softly, “Finally awaited a Level 0 command.”
Zi Di’s vision changed dramatically, a feeling of dizziness assaulted her, but quickly vanished without a trace.
Her essence being that of a ghost, different from normal living beings, but teleportation involved drastic changes in spatial perception, still requiring her to adapt and adjust.
Zi Di found herself in a quaint Alchemy Laboratory.
The crude old alchemy devices and long-neglected window frames and doorframes revealed the dilapidation of the alchemy room.
The spatial fluctuations caused by the teleportation gradually settled, and the stirred-up dust floated in the air.
The Alchemy Laboratory was empty, which gave Zi Di a sense of relief.
The Alchemy Laboratory’s area was not large; Zi Di’s spiritual power spread out, easily observing the structure of the room, and she effortlessly made her way to the laboratory’s main door.
She pushed the door open, and the light immediately became dazzling.
As she stepped out, she found herself on a street filled with ice and snow.
Looking around, she saw several ice sculptures lining the roadsides, a castle in the distance, and beyond that, towering ice walls.
“It really is the Royal Capital,” Zi Di internally sighed.
She began walking, quickly blending into the flow of people.
In the early morning, the streets were not crowded, the people mostly in groups of two or three, nearly all dressed as Mages.
These Mages were mostly Snow Elves, with occasional members of the Human Race, Dwarves, and goblins.
Zi Di deliberately slowed her pace, observing them, and after a moment, a thoughtful expression appeared on her face, “Almost every building on this street is an alchemy laboratory. These Mages must be workers here.”
Like the Alchemy Laboratory she had just left, there seemed to be no shortage of them.
Zi Di continued to walk without stopping, eventually crossing several streets as the number of alchemy laboratories gradually decreased.
When she finally merged onto a main artery, the crowd became dense, surrounded by the noisy voices of people bartering and haggling.
“There’s a market here that mainly sells alchemy materials,” Zi Di quickly spotted the name of the market and found her location on the mental map.
Of course, she had memorized the map of the Ice Sculpture Royal Capital.
Zi Di, who had survived an ambush by luck, was not in a hurry to join up with Zong Ge. Instead, she entered the noisy market.
After observing the market, inspecting prices, and talking with many traders, her mind finally settled.
“Yuan Ci really let me go.”
“Being able to create a Level 0 Purple Vine command, it’s likely an ally status. But it’s still not completely certain, especially after the ambush I suffered.”
Zi Di, learning from her past experiences, became even more vigilant than before.
She feared this might be a trap within a trap, the enemy using Yuan Ci’s rescue to gain her trust.
If Zi Di now hurried to meet Zong Ge, and they trailed her or placed some tracking device on her, then she would have fallen right into their scheme.
“I mustn’t rush to meet up.”
“First, I need to retrieve the three lost Ice Ghost Statues!”
Zi Di thought for a moment and decisively changed her route.
Moments later, she returned near the Purple Vine Shop.
Of course, she did not show herself directly, but stopped three streets away.
From this distance, she could control the three Ice Ghost Statues.
Just as she predicted, the enemy lurking within the Purple Vine Shop had not detected these three Ice Ghost Statues.
Previously, Zi Di was ambushed in the shop and abruptly killed the enemy with these three Ice Ghost Statues, also unexpectedly capturing several Gold Level Restriction Chains.
The key was the layered Deception and Disguise Skills, as well as Anti-Intelligence Prophecy Skills on the Ice Ghost Statues.
The combination of these two Spells had an extraordinary effect.
Even after Zi Di lost contact with the three Ice Ghost Statues following her teleportation, the statues remained stationary, yet were never discovered by the enemy.
Even as they cleaned the battlefield and swept through the shop multiple times, bumping into the Ice Ghost Statues, they remained undetected.
To put it precisely, they were deceived.
They used many scouting alchemy tools and Spells but still could not break through the Deception and Disguise Skill plus Anti-Intelligence Prophecy Skill.
“This set of magic combinations is truly reliable and effective, it helped us avoid countless crises along the way!”
After Zi Di remotely controlled and successfully retrieved three Ice Sculpture Ghosts to her side, she couldn’t help but sigh.
“Unfortunately, during the battle beneath the Ice Lake, in order to buy time, I lost several Ice Sculpture Ghosts. Now I can’t gather a complete formation of twelve anymore.”
With some regret, Zi Di examined the three Ice Sculpture Ghosts and found no issues.
She began to assign them.
She kept one Ice Sculpture Ghost by her side and dispatched the second one back to the Purple Vine Shop.
Finally, she set the last one with information to find Zong Ge.
“Yuan Ci told me that the people who ambushed me were spies from the empire.”
“This is one side of the story, though it’s likely true, I still need to verify it myself.”
Zi Di stayed away from the Purple Vine Shop, but always maintained contact with the three Ice Sculpture Ghosts.
Before long, the third Ice Sculpture Ghost moved out of her control range, proceeding forward according to her preset instructions.
The path of the Ice Sculpture Ghost was set by Zi Di on the rooftops; although it lacked intelligence, it was equipped with many excellent magic circuits by Jia Bing Mage, capable of executing relatively complex temporary commands.
The Deception and Disguise Skill and Anti-Intelligence Prophecy Skill, always stable, allowed the Ice Sculpture Ghost to successfully come to Zong Ge’s side.
Zong Ge immediately spotted the Ice Sculpture Ghost.
A key aspect of the Deception and Disguise Skill is that it cannot deceive those who are aware of it.
Thus, even though there were many people around Zong Ge, the Ice Sculpture Ghost successfully arrived in front of him.
A Silver Level Transcendent from the Lijian family was apologizing to Zong Ge.
The Ice Sculpture Ghost knocked him to the ground.
The Silver Level, feeling nothing, stood up, wanting to return to his original spot, his face directly colliding with the Ice Sculpture Ghost’s chilling Ice Armor.
The Silver Level was knocked so that he looked upwards.
Zong Ge couldn’t stand it, so he pulled him aside, keeping him in place, so as not to crowd with the Ice Sculpture Ghost.
The Silver Level, oblivious, continued to assure Zong Ge that he would strengthen his defenses and thoroughly investigate the motivations behind Hua Tang’s actions.
Zong Ge originally intended to pressure him further to leverage more power from the Lijian family, but with the arrival of the Ice Sculpture Ghost, he decisively ended the conversation.
He went to a new room on the first floor of the inn, closed the door, and after crushing a Pearl Bubble, he then communicated with the Ice Sculpture Ghost.
Far away, Zi Di’s spirit rallied, activating the alchemy communication device, and soon Zong Ge’s voice came through.
Zong Ge was quite straightforward, with his first sentence being the password.
Zi Di correctly responded with the password and informed Zong Ge of what had happened to her.
Zong Ge furrowed his brow, “Empire’s spies ambushed you?”
“They specifically used a Restriction Chain, and during the battle beneath the Ice Lake, your Dead Souls were also countered by similar measures.”
“This indicates that they have been waiting for you.”
Zi Di nodded and shared her guess, “There is no information about the ransom note in the Flying Communication Station here, which confirms that we never sent it out.”
“The Flying Communication Station at Twin Eyes Island must have been tampered with, and the store manager, Yan Yi, is likely problematic.”
“I was ambushed after checking the communication record.”
“It indicates that before this, the opposition couldn’t confirm my identity. Only here did they manage to, hence why they made a move.”
“I believe they might have mistaken me for Cang Xu.”
During a battle at Twin Eyes Island, Zi Di and Cang Xu disguised themselves as unfamiliar elders of Purple Vine and attended an auction, gaining significant attention. Afterwards, because of Demon Coins, Cang Xu, in a battle with Ya Ma, exposed his identity as an Undead Mage.
Subsequently, under the deliberate complacency of Yan Yi, codenamed Shadow from Iron Lump, Cang Xu successfully left Twin Eyes Island to join in the subsequent Songfeng Sea battle.
Zi Di’s reasoning was plausible, and Zong Ge pondered for a moment before expressing his approval.
“You did the right thing.”
“Don’t meet up with me soon, to prevent the enemy from recognizing your link with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group.”
“You need to confirm first if the people who ambushed you were indeed empire’s spies.”
“This matter is very important.”
Zong Ge then sighed, “I was hoping the Royal Capital would investigate the Purple Vine Shop, as a spatial disturbance had occurred inside.”
“But hearing what you said, combined with the absence of anyone from the Royal Capital coming to investigate, it seems the records about the spatial disturbance in the shop are in order.”
“To be honest, I never imagined that a nation’s capital would have such lax restrictions on spatial transportation!”
“There are far too many security risks.”
Zi Di, however, showed understanding, “It must be a historical legacy issue.”
“When the Ice Sculpture Kingdom was founded, the national policy was set, and it’s hard to overturn.”
“Most importantly, according to this policy, too many people benefit. The alchemy technology of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom itself, because of various alchemy laboratories, continues to innovate and leads the world.”
“Plus, in terms of spatial transportation, since there have never been severe problems, even if some within the Ice Sculpture Kingdom recognize this issue, they are either too weak alone or are beneficiaries themselves, making it hard to overturn this policy.”