After a moment of silence, Sharron asked again:
"What did you encounter? I just felt a very powerful aura, and that heavy sense of majesty made it difficult for me to breathe and move."
"The aura of an Angel attracted Loen's 'Founder', but he should have left by now."
As he spoke, Leyton glanced around, and points of starlight fell from his hand, coalescing behind him into a high-backed chair.
Maric, who had been listening quietly nearby, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise: "William Augustus I! He's still alive?"
Leyton nodded slightly, leaning back against the high-backed chair formed of starlight, and said calmly:
"That's an Angel who followed Solomon. Time doesn't leave many traces on him. He has been secretly protecting the Loen Kingdom, but few people know it, and few people can see him."
"Did you fight with that 'Founder'?"
Sharron still maintained her posture of possessing the Mummy, her slightly ethereal and fleeting voice emanating from the Mummy's body.
Leyton nodded slightly, tossing the metal ring he had snatched from Sertre's hand.
"He and I only briefly probed each other. Due to some concerns, he didn't intend to entangle with me for long and let me leave without much obstruction."
"Why?" Maric asked, puzzled.
Leyton shrugged: "Perhaps the Loen royal family has a more important plan."
Then he looked at Sharron, who was possessing the Mummy, and said calmly:
"Don't forget our agreement. After you advance to 'Puppet', you need to help me clear out Rose School of Thought members outside the Southern Continent and prevent them from returning to West Balam."
"No problem." Sharron's voice was a bit ethereal, but her tone was very firm.
Leyton nodded calmly, then asked: "Do you need me to send you back to Backlund?"
"We were already prepared when we came." Sharron's voice from within the Mummy was ethereal and restrained.
Leyton nodded gently, and his body instantly became transparent, as if turning into a statue composed of countless starlight.
The statue, along with the high-backed chair beneath him, shattered, turning into brilliant starlight that surged and flowed through the cracks in the surrounding walls and ceiling, pouring into the Spirit World Depths.
In the Spirit World Depths, the continuously flowing brilliant starlight suddenly stopped, and fragments of starlight reassembled within, revealing Leyton's figure.
"The informational ability stripped by William Augustus I has finally recovered. After getting used to the convenience of the information form, suddenly losing it was truly uncomfortable!"
While sighing softly, his figure became ethereal, gradually disintegrating into a complex, pure stream of information, surging like a torrent towards the distance.
During this process, his spiritual perception was suddenly touched, and his gaze naturally fell to the area outside the Spirit World, which was at the junction of the Sonia Sea and the Berserk Sea.
A huge sailing ship appeared in his sight. This ship was predominantly dark, with a greenish hue, and a blooming dark Tulip was depicted on its pale main sail. There were hardly any living people on this ship; most of the crew's work was replaced by Zombies or undead.
White skeletons, some unclothed and some wearing leather armor, busily manipulated the sails, while pale Zombies with long swords patrolled back and forth, their eyes, stained with eerie green flames, scanning the surroundings. Phantoms, resentful spirits, and various strange Spirit World creatures occasionally flew and hovered, or burrowed into the hull, revealing indistinct transparent faces on the side, as if patrolling the area.
"'Black Tulip', I didn't expect to see Ludwell here. Is it a coincidence?"
The complex and pure information flow was entrenched in the Spirit World Depths. Through the information exchange between the Spirit World and reality, he could easily know the situation in reality.
On the "Black Tulip" driven by numerous undead creatures, a blue door appeared out of thin air. Amidst the wary and malicious gazes of the living and dead on the ship, the mad adventurer Gehrman Sparrow, dressed in a white shirt, black vest, and a semi-tall silk top hat, stepped out of the "door."
On his face, strange patterns full of mysterious charm faintly emerged, making him appear quite sinister and cold, more like a Zombie than a living person.
His gaze was fixed on 'Admiral Hell' Ludwell, who stood at the forefront of the undead and living, his eyes flashing with cold light, like a supreme monarch.
Opposite him, Ludwell, wearing an exaggerated tricorn hat embroidered with white skulls and feathers, a white ruffled shirt, and an intricately ornate brown short jacket, with a silver-white mask covering his face, trembled continuously, as if struggling to resist something, enduring something.
Around the holes on the silver-white mask, which symbolized the eyes, nose, and mouth, water vapor condensed, as if the entire face beneath the mask was distorted.
All the undead on the "Black Tulip" trembled and prostrated themselves, as if worshiping their king.
As for the few living Sailors on the ship, some joined the undead, overwhelmed by the immense, indescribable mental pressure, trembling and prostrating on the ground; others, still unclear about the situation, stood in place, only feeling that this suddenly appearing mad adventurer did not seem like a living creature, his aura terrifyingly gloomy.
In the Spirit World Depths, before Leyton, who had become a pure information-flow creature entrenched in the Spirit World, a figure suddenly appeared.
He wore a silk top hat and a black suit, was of medium height, had a tanned complexion, a tiny black mole below his right ear, and his eyes held a profound and restrained look, giving off an exceptionally indifferent feeling.
The vast information flow contracted inward, converging, and reassembled Leyton's body with complex and pure knowledge.
He bowed slightly to the person who had suddenly appeared before him:
"Good evening, Azik."
Azik nodded slightly, saying with a touch of emotion:
"Good evening. I didn't expect you to have already become a 'Sage.' This speed of advancement is difficult to achieve even for a Deity's Blessed."
Saying this, he suddenly turned and looked at the "Black Tulip" outside the Spirit World, saying:
"I have almost completely recalled my lost memories, only the last part remains. I can probably guess what happened to me."
"I plan to go to the Berserk Sea; something there is calling me. However, to find the exact location, I still need that ring left behind by Death."
"I have a premonition that I might fall into slumber again and forget my memories once more. Before that, the help I can give him is a Puppet and an opportunity to act."
At this point, Azik's tone suddenly became emotional, the indifference in his eyes fading considerably, replaced by a softer, warmer gaze.
Leyton nodded calmly. After two seconds of silence, he spoke:
"Deep beneath Trier, there is a Samaritan Woman's Spring. Its water can repair soul damage, and for 'Death' and the adjacent pathways, it has an extraordinary effect."
This was information from the 'Hidden Sage.' For him, the 'Hidden Sage' was an encyclopedia from which he could browse information at any time. When he had nothing to do, he would ask the 'Hidden Sage' to read some knowledge, including the 'Samaritan Woman's Spring' hidden deep beneath Intis.
Azik frowned slightly, and after searching his memories in vain, he shook his head and said:
"Samaritan Woman's Spring? I have no memory of it. Its appearance must have been after I fell into constant memory loss and then reawakened, right?"
Leyton nodded gently: "Indeed, it came from the 'Pale Disaster' and was some influence exerted by the 'River of Eternal Darkness' through the seal."
"It seems that there were more participants in that Pale Disaster than I knew."
"Unfortunately, I probably don't have time to go find that spring anymore."
Azik sighed with a complex tone.
While the two were talking, Ludwell's body on the "Black Tulip" suddenly began to tremble more slowly and stiffly. A faint green light flickered in his chest and abdomen, as the powerful spiritual entity sealed within him tried to forcefully break free.
The next second, it retreated back into Ludwell's body.
In its perception, at that very moment, in the shadows intertwined within the deck's crevices on the ship, terrifying, evil eyes were twisting and growing, all looking at it. The instinct for survival made it decisively retreat back into Ludwell's body.
On the silver-white mask, despair was evident in the eye sockets that glowed with a hollow, blue light.
His Spirit Body threads had been initially controlled, suppressed by a higher Sequence of the same pathway. He couldn't even muster a single thought of resistance, only gradually feeling his thoughts slow down, his body stiffen, and his movements become sluggish.
To the Beyonders on the "Black Tulip" who were not from the "Death" pathway, this scene looked as if 'Admiral Hell' Ludwell and the mad adventurer were locked in a standoff.
Snap!
Gehrman Sparrow, standing at the other end of the deck, suddenly raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Ludwell, whose Spirit Body threads were already initially controlled and who couldn't muster any thought of resistance, followed him in making a snapping motion.
Under the astonished gazes of the surrounding crew, the Zombies and skeletons prostrated on the deck fell one by one, as if they had turned into true corpses and skeletons.
Klein, maintaining Gehrman Sparrow's appearance, forced a cold smile that didn't quite fit his persona, and said calmly and indifferently:
"Very good."
"Very good," Ludwell repeated his words in a low, hoarse voice.
This scene appeared particularly bizarre to the living Sailors on the "Black Tulip"; a layer of goosebumps rose on their skin, and the "Sailor" whose emotions were too agitated developed a fine layer of scales on his face.