The morning after the Battle of New York.
The sunlight of Malibu Beach made Lin Huai feel a hint of warmth for the first time. He leaned back on the luxurious sofa in the living room of the Stark mansion. After a night of rest, his spirituality had mostly recovered, but the mental hangover from that high-intensity manipulation still lingered in his brain like a dull ache.
Not far away, Tony Stark was reclining on another sofa, wrapped in thick medical bandages. His face was still pale, and several wires connected to vital sign monitors were taped to his skin. Every time he moved, it pulled at his wounds, making him frown involuntarily.
But in Stark contrast to his broken body were his frighteningly bright eyes and an unusually excited spirit.
Last night's battle had nearly cost him his life; right now, he was holding on purely through willpower and top-tier medical technology.
Lin Huai let out a breath of turbid air and pulled his focus back.
From a specially made containment box, he carefully took out the two main ingredients that shimmered with Beyonder light.
The fist-sized [star crystal], which seemed to condense the entire starry sky.
The [Lava Octopus blood] in a test tube, possessing a texture like liquid metal.
The main ingredients were ready; now all that was missing were the auxiliary materials.
"Hey, Lin, are you planning to start?"
Tony noticed his movements and immediately tried to sit up, but the simple action pulled at the wound on his chest, making him grimace and hiss in pain. He gave up and remained reclining, but his gaze drifted over like a cat smelling fish.
"A few things are still missing."
Lin Huai took out a pen and paper and wrote down the names of several herbs: Night Vanilla juice, Golden Mint leaves, Hemlock juice, Dragon Blood Grass powder.
Tony leaned over to take a look and said dismissively, "That's easy. I'll have Jarvis search the global plant gene database. In half an hour at most, I'll have them all sent to you by Drone."
Lin Huai shook his head.
"No, it's not the same," he explained. "Things of the Beyonder World must be sought in a Beyonder way. Golden Mint bought from a supermarket and Golden Mint grown in a specific environment, having absorbed free spirituality, are two completely different things."
This explanation made the expression on Tony's face freeze. He realized the seriousness of the problem.
"So, you mean we have to go be herb gatherers now?" Tony's lip twitched.
"I just need to divine their locations and then go get them," Lin Huai said nonchalantly.
"Divination?" Tony's eyes instantly lit up. "Is your divination like chanting a few spells, and then an arrow appears in your head pointing to what you want?"
His curiosity was completely ignited, and the fatigue and pain from last night seemed to be diluted by this desire for exploration.
"I want to see! See it live! I paid for this; that crystal in your hand was turned from my reactor!!!" Tony aggravated his wound again in his excitement, but this time he only let out a muffled groan, still maintaining a stubborn posture as if to say, 'if you don't let me watch, I'm not leaving this spot.'
"I'm warning you, keep those crappy instruments of yours away from me. Don't interfere," Lin Huai glanced at him.
Tony immediately commanded the mechanical arms to move the analyzers away, raising his hands to show his innocence.
Lin Huai sighed helplessly. He knew that if he didn't satisfy this guy's curiosity, he wouldn't be able to concoct the potion today.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, placing the [star crystal] and [Lava Octopus blood] in front of him, treating them as sacrificial offerings to "The Fool" to increase the success rate of the divination.
He closed his eyes, clasped his hands, concentrated his mind intensely, and began to whisper the honorific name of that existence in his heart.
"The Fool who doesn't belong to this era;"
"You are the mysterious ruler above the gray fog;"
"You are the king of yellow and black who wields good luck."
"I pray for your gaze; I pray for your guidance. Tell me where I should go to find the auxiliary materials for the potion..."
He wanted to pray for a revelation, to be told where he could find the auxiliary materials tainted with Beyonder characteristic.
However, at the very moment he uttered the last syllable...
Lin Huai's consciousness felt as if it were gripped tightly by an invisible giant hand and then suddenly jerked upward!
The entire World instantly receded and shrank in his perception, eventually turning into a speck of light. His spirit body pierced through the barrier of reality and ascended into a vast, grayish-white fog.
This is... Sefirah Castle?
Lin Huai was somewhat stunned. He only wanted to divine the location of the materials; how was he pulled up here directly?
He stood blankly in that familiar gray fog, looking up at the towering, ancient, and magnificent palace that seemed to have existed since time immemorial. At the highest point of the palace, the giant High-backed chair belonging to "The Fool" stood quietly, exuding an indescribable majesty and loneliness.
Before he could think further, a massive yet gentle will descended from the depths of the palace, enveloping his spirit body.
That will did not convey any words, but Lin Huai instantly understood its meaning.
Auxiliary materials? Unnecessary.
He felt a force sweep over his spirit body. Immediately after, the two main ingredients he had left in the real World—now reflected on his spirit body in illusory forms—the [star crystal] and [Lava Octopus blood], automatically emerged, turned into two streaks of light, and flew into the depths of the ancient palace.
So... that's how it is! I don't need to concoct it myself at all!
A stormy sea surged in Lin Huai's heart as a possibility he had never considered appeared before him.
Just a few seconds later, a soft starlight flew out of the palace and landed in his hand, condensing into a simple silver cup. Inside the cup, a deep blue liquid swirled slowly, its surface seemingly dotted with countless tiny stars, emitting a dreamlike luster.
The potion was already concocted!
In the next second, the force that had pulled him up suddenly loosened, and Lin Huai's consciousness plummeted toward the real World like a weightless meteorite.
In the living room, Tony was staring wide-eyed at Lin Huai, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, without blinking.
Just now, Lin Huai's body suddenly stiffened, his eyes closed tightly, and his breathing became faint, as if he had suddenly lost power. Tony was about to have Jarvis check his vital signs. But in the next second, a scene appeared that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
A faint starlight appeared out of thin air in front of Lin Huai, quickly condensing. Finally, an elegantly shaped silver goblet appeared abruptly and without warning in his hands!
"Shit..." Tony muttered to himself. "Is this spatial teleportation? Or matter reorganization?"
His scientific worldview was crushed to pieces once again. He dared to swear by all his armors that there was absolutely nothing there just a moment ago!
Lin Huai's consciousness snapped back. He opened his eyes and saw Tony's face filled with shock and fanaticism. He looked down at the real, shimmering potion in his hand, a feeling of indescribable piety and excitement welling up in his heart.
"This is my Lord's gift," Lin Huai's voice carried a hint of dreamlike hoarseness.
With that, under Tony's gaze that looked like he wanted to devour him, he unhesitatingly raised the silver cup and drained the star-studded potion in one gulp.
As the potion entered his mouth, there was none of the soul-tearing pain or mad ravings described in the books—none of the suffering mentioned at all. It was as if it had always been a part of Lin Huai's body; the moment it entered, it dissolved, turning into the purest and gentlest torrent of spirituality, flowing smoothly into his limbs and bones, merging perfectly with his spirit body.
Lin Huai closed his eyes, but his vision was broader than ever before.
His spirit body seemed to float up passively. This time, he didn't enter Sefirah Castle but instead "saw" a grand slice of history.
It was a panoramic scroll centered on Stark Tower from last night, encompassing all the key figures.
He saw Pepper Potts in the control room, her eyes flashing with determination as she firmly pressed the button; he saw Tony Stark on the ruins, roaring with rage and relief as he swung down the warhammer; he saw Obadiah's final expression of shock and resentment as the iron monger fell into the light pillar; he even saw the man named "Hawkeye" on the roof of another building, his eyes so calm they seemed inhuman as he drew his bowstring.
Everyone's will, everyone's choices, and every insignificant action intertwined into a massive, unalterable web of causality, ultimately converging into that single conclusion.
At this moment, Lin Huai's mind suddenly cleared!
So that's how it is!
He clearly felt a higher-level power descending from above the gray fog. That power did not harm him; instead, it was incredibly gentle, copying the pure insights he had just gained regarding the wisdom of love's choices and sacrifices, then pulling them away to merge into the boundless gray fog.
Lin Huai's body stiffened as a thought uncontrollably emerged.
"Why? Why would a god need the 'humanity' insights of mortals? Could it be that the 'anchors' gods use to resist madness and maintain their humanity are the... humanity itself contributed by generations of believers? But the 'anchors' described in the original book weren't explained like this..."
Lin Huai slowly opened his eyes.
The power within him had settled. His new abilities and stronger spirituality made his perception of the World different.
The first thing he did wasn't to test his new abilities, but to perform another divination.
He remembered Bob, the engineer who had knelt before him in the deep-sea submarine for the sake of his daughter.
He didn't need tarot cards, or even any ritual.
The moment the thought moved in his mind, several keywords surfaced clearly in his brain like ripples on the water.
[Merciful Father Hospital].
[Lily Roberts].
[Late-stage kidney failure].
[Compensation - Unpaid].
Lin Huai turned to look at Tony, who was still in a daze from the miracle just now.
Lin Huai told him those keywords.
Tony fell silent. He looked down at the ice-blue reactor glowing on his chest again, a look of complexity flashing in his eyes. Yinsen, Obadiah, Bob... countless faces flashed through his mind.
After a long while, he whispered.
"Jarvis, in the name of the Stark Charitable Foundation, anonymously pay for all of Miss Lily Roberts' medical expenses."
"Also, initiate a global kidney donor matching program. Priority: highest."
"Even though it's a debt he owed, I've called him uncle for so long; it's time to help him pay it back."
Watching this scene, Lin Huai felt the submissive power within him, and a deep-seated doubt that even he was reluctant to touch surfaced for the first time.
Why... is my advancement completely different from the descriptions in the book? No pain, no madness, so smooth... as if I were just reclaiming something that already belonged to me.
"All the gifts of fate have already been priced in secret. Mr. Fool, then what is my price?"