124 The Masks of Malice and Fury

Xiunan’s pupils dilated, though he remained outwardly composed.

Internally, however, his mind was churning like a stormy sea.

The Aoyin Rune—this was an ancient rune he had encountered while at the Milodalen School. When Xiunan first joined the school, his teacher, Omega, had been studying the Aoyin Rune and had even demonstrated it for him.

In that psychedelic dreamscape, Xiunan had witnessed a breathtaking starry sky. He felt as if he were traveling through the void, witnessing the beauty and grandeur of an entire galaxy.

The Aoyin Rune was the result of the White Saint venturing alone into the Vacuum Star Abyss to explore the ruins of the Mythological Era. Could it be that the Baikalan Mythological Era, represented by the Death Mask, was the era that preceded the Age of the Twin Saints?

Countless thoughts flashed through Xiunan’s mind in an instant.

"May I take it down to examine it?" he asked.

"Of course, I brought two pairs of gloves."

Crow took two pairs of white gloves from his pocket; they were extremely thin and quite silky.

Xiunan quickly put them on and picked up the Death Mask.

It was heavy, seemingly crafted from a material similar to bronze. The front featured a pattern of ferocious fangs, and the raised, jagged edges looked quite terrifying.

As his fingers brushed over it, he felt layers of texture on the mask’s surface. From top to bottom, the metal was covered in fine, worm-like lines, much like the fingerprints on a human hand. When viewed from a distance, the mask shifted colors as his palm moved, at times even reflecting the lamplight.

Naturally, its primary colors were black and red.

Xiunan carefully examined the forehead of the mask, where a crude rune symbol was embedded.

"Hmm? No, this doesn't seem to be an Aoyin Rune..."

He frowned and looked at it again closely.

"No, it’s a fake, engraved pattern."

Xiunan understood immediately; the lines and edges on the mask were too rounded. Furthermore, the number and placement of the circuits did not match the Aoyin Rune.

"Perhaps it's just a similar style? A style from the Baikalan Era?" Xiunan speculated vaguely.

"How is it?" Mask asked from the side.

Crow also turned to look.

"In all likelihood, it's a counterfeit. I need to find a quiet room to study it thoroughly before I can draw a conclusion..." Xiunan said after a moment of thought.

Ten minutes later, in a secluded study.

The room was quite spacious. On the left were three or four bookshelves leaning against the wall, piled high with books. On the right was a workbench by the window, made of natural wood.

The white curtains had been pulled back, and through the second-floor window, one could see the lush green grass outside.

A light breeze wafted through, bringing with it an inexplicable sense of comfort.

Xiunan sat before the wooden table. Using a magnifying glass, he observed the textures inch by inch. He placed a blank notebook on his right and, holding a pencil, quickly sketched out the fake Aoyin Rune.

After drawing for a moment, Xiunan took off the cumbersome gloves and let the pencil fly across the blank paper.

As his thumb accidentally brushed against the Death Mask on his left, a surge of coolness washed over his heart.

"This is..." Xiunan’s eyes widened.

There was no mistake; this sensation was Evolution Points.

A subtle energy within the Death Mask was being continuously drawn out, rapidly absorbed into his Secret Ring.

The Evolution Points ticked upward.

Energy surged forth, and Xiunan instantly gained fifty Evolution Points. But the next moment, the energy within the mask seemed completely exhausted, and the points stopped rising.

"The other mask..." He turned his head to look.

A light touch of his finger, and sure enough—a cold stream of energy was absorbed by the Sacred Bone Secret Ring and poured forth.

This second mask yielded fewer points than the first, totaling only thirty-five.

Combined, he had gained eighty-five Evolution Points.

An unexpected joy, which lifted his spirits.

Xiunan looked at the Evolution Point total and temporarily set his mind at ease; he would deal with allocating them once he returned.

He placed the masks back on the table and checked their condition. Both counterfeit Death Masks were damaged, each missing about a third of its structure.

Xiunan roughly sketched the shape of the masks and compared them to the image of the complete mask that Crow had sent to his phone, marking them one by one.

Five minutes later, he flipped one of the masks over. Suddenly, the eerie patterns on the inside revealed themselves to Xiunan: spirals that looked like rotating eyes.

Under the sunlight from behind, the interior of the mask appeared a dull black, but those spiral eye patterns glowed with a bizarre, scarlet hue.

"ki la ge li di..."

"What sound is that?"

Xiunan frowned in confusion, turning to scan the spacious room; there was no one else inside but him.

"ti yu li fi..."

Another sound resonated in his ears, like a murmur spoken in deep sleep—dreamy and illusory.

It sounded like an unknown incantation.

Xiunan glanced at his phone screen again, then looked up at the Death Mask in his hand. If he wasn't mistaken, the whispering was related to the mask.

Bracing himself, Xiunan focused his attention.

Sure enough, as he concentrated, that voice—neither male nor female—echoed incessantly in his ears, chanting an incantation that no one could understand.

Gradually, Xiunan’s vision went black. Although it was daytime, his surroundings became darker than the dead of night.

His heart skipped a beat, and an inexplicable sense of horror took hold.

He looked up abruptly.

In mid-air, about two or three meters away, a blood-red eye stared fixedly at him from the darkness, its pupil filled with cold, evil intent.

*Swish, swish, swish...*

Like toppling dominoes, more and more eyes sprouted from the surrounding darkness. Hundreds of blood-red pupils stared at Xiunan, growing closer and larger.

In his ears, the strange incantation suddenly became grand and soaring, as if thousands of people were praying in a cathedral, prostrate and pious, professing their faith, waiting for their god to respond to their sincerity.

*Ding!*

Just as the chanting reached a climax, the entire space of dark pupils shattered, sucked into a vortex like water down a drain. Behind the vortex, a bone-white Secret Ring rotated.

"This is... the Sacred Bone Secret Ring..."

Xiunan snapped out of his trance, waking up with a start.

He breathed heavily, his shirt soaked with cold sweat. Xiunan realized that he had somehow put on the Death Mask during his hallucination.

He raised his hand, the cold sensation traveling to his mind.

A ferocious mask was covering his face.

On the forehead, a blood-red eye was wide open, its searing red light impossible to conceal even in the sunlight.

[Name: Death Mask (Counterfeit)]
[Type: Accessory]
[Grade: ???]
[Description: This is a counterfeit of the Death Mask from Baikalan mythology, which held dominion over life and death. Although it is a fake, the craftsman who created it was also a master. Thus, this mask possesses some of the characteristics of the original, qualifying it as a Transcendent Item.]
[Trait: Related to ancient mythology.]
[Passive 1: Soul Collection: The counterfeit Death Mask can absorb the souls of those you kill and imprison them within the mask as a source of power. The strength of the soul depends on the individual's power. The maximum soul storage capacity of the counterfeit Death Mask is one hundred.]
[Skill 1: Evil Intent: The counterfeit possesses part of the original's characteristics. Every time the wielder kills someone, they can imprison the victim's soul. This ability allows the wielder to enter a state of "Evil Intent," reaching a state of absolute, ruthless calm. At the same time, the wielder's grasp of their own power, timing in combat, and analysis of combat maneuvers reach an extremely high level. The effectiveness of the Evil Intent ability depends on the number of souls imprisoned.]
[Note: Maintaining the Evil Intent state consumes the souls imprisoned within the mask. You must constantly replenish souls to satisfy the Death Mask's endless craving for human souls.]
[Note: The Evil Intent state can be used not only in combat but in any situation requiring calm and reason, such as: during rune modeling.]

Xiunan digested the information he had just received.

He hadn't expected that even a counterfeit Death Mask would possess such excellent item effects.

*Whoosh.* More subtitles flashed across his vision.

"Due to the presence of the Sacred Bone Secret Ring, you have been exempted from the bewitchment effect caused by the counterfeit Death Mask."

[Bewitchment: From the moment you put on the Death Mask, you will be bewitched by it. You will become a beast filled with the desire to kill, and your life will be reduced to nothing but slaughter. The mask craves human souls, and you will become its tool for acquiring them.]

"Things from the Mythological Era really are all problematic..." Xiunan muttered to himself, looking at the mask in his hand.

It wasn't just the Death Mask; the Thorn Flower Rune was the same. These relics from the ancient Mythological Era all contained hidden traps; touch or use them, and you would eventually pay the price.

A normal person would have been killed by the trap long ago.

But fortunately, Xiunan was not a normal person—he had a cheat.

***

Putting down the mask, Xiunan picked up the other one. With the previous experience as a safety net, he was much more composed this time, focusing intently on the mask.

A moment later, Xiunan entered the illusion again.

The bewitchment was exempted for the second time by the Sacred Bone Secret Ring.

He obtained the information for the second mask.

The content was largely the same as the first, except the ability was not Evil Intent, but "Rage." The effect was not calm, but "Berserk."

The wielder's aura would increase rapidly to a state of rage. Various techniques and maneuvers would become more powerful and faster under the influence of this emotion.

Furthermore, this aura of rage would affect nearby enemies, causing them to gradually feel cowardly and eventually lose the upper hand in the clash of combat auras.

Two masks, two different effects. This made Xiunan think of the six stolen counterfeit masks, as well as the one suspected to be the genuine Death Mask.

Whether for the Evolution Points hidden within them or the effects of the masks themselves, he intended to get involved and retrieve the remaining seven masks.

Putting down his pen, Xiunan stood up slowly.

He pushed open the door; Crow was chatting with Mask.

"How was it?" Crow looked up and asked.

"Both are counterfeits, but they are indeed antiques from the ancient era," Xiunan said, holding the two masks.

As soon as he finished, he changed the subject, expressing his interest in the two masks and his willingness to make a commitment in exchange for them.

Crow thought for a moment and agreed directly.

This wasn't out of carelessness; the Fire Deer Antique Company had antique experts internally who had already concluded that these two Death Masks were counterfeits. Crow had known this all along and was simply going with the flow.

Furthermore, Xiunan, like Mask, was a member of the Eight-Person Council of the Golden Spiral organization, and Mask was one of the four directors of the Fire Deer Antique Company. With such social ties between them, there was no fear of Xiunan deceiving them.

The three walked along the corridor, chatting as they went.

"By the way, could I take a look at other antiques from the Baikalan Mythological Era?" Xiunan requested.

"Of course, let Mask take you," Crow said, pointing to Mask. He had his own matters to attend to and wouldn't be accompanying Xiunan on the tour.

Subsequently, Xiunan used his hands to probe other antiques from the Baikalan Mythological Era one by one, including two paintings of obscure significance. To his surprise, he gained some unexpected rewards; the two paintings seemed to be made of special substances, yielding a total of fifteen Evolution Points.

Although it wasn't much, it was a good sign.

It suggested that items from the Baikalan Era had a high probability of providing Evolution Points, a fact Xiunan noted firmly.

By the time everything was finished, it was already noon.

He decided to stay and have lunch with Mask and the others. On the dining table, the aroma of the charcoal-grilled beef ribs was extremely enticing. Xiunan sat at the window seat on the left.

He ate while calculating his gains this time.

Eighty-five points plus fifteen points—exactly one hundred.

He would have to calculate carefully how to use these hundred points to maximize the boost to his combat effectiveness.

Outside the window, the weather was bright, and the pale golden sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, forming long, strip-like patches of light.

Dining in such a warm environment improved one's mood; at the very least, Xiunan felt quite relaxed.

*Beep!*

Suddenly, Mask’s phone rang.

A second later, Xiunan’s phone rang as well.

The two exchanged glances and answered their phones.

A moment later, Xiunan put his phone down. Opposite him, Mask hung up his phone as well, using a napkin to wipe his mouth.

Two pieces of news had come from within the Golden Spiral organization.

First, according to internal intelligence, the headquarters of the Holy Flame Society had sent reinforcements. The Holy Flame Society in Nilodo would likely take major action in the coming days, and the Golden Spiral organization was undoubtedly the most prominent target. Which meant...

In a few days, the Holy Flame Society would move against the organization.

Second, a member of the Charm Club had arrived at the Golden Spiral organization's suburban base just moments ago. She brought intentions of cooperation and wanted to meet with Xiunan.

Mask looked up and met Xiunan’s eyes.

"So, are we heading back immediately?"