Lord of Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

Chapter 103: Gained a Follower

In the living room, Upton carefully recited the honorable name of the "Creator":

"Creator in the Shadow of Order;

"You are the source and end of all Order;

"You are the lord who governs the Clock of Order.

"I pray for your gaze and favor;

"I pray that you merge the spirituality of this person on the altar with my own, so my enemies' divinations fail."

Upton had gone over his father's notes countless times and rehearsed it in his mind many more. But today was his first time performing the ritual.

His father's notes warned him never to casually utter the honorable name of the "indefinable Mist," as doing so could inadvertently offend that Great Existence.

After finishing his prayer, Upton anxiously stared at the altar.

Suddenly, a surge of powerful energy descended, and a majestic figure appeared above the altar, seated on a throne forged from sharp swords, gazing down upon everything beneath him.

…

When Upton mentioned needing a corpse from the Tamara family earlier, Hobert, with his wealth of mysticism knowledge, thought it over and quickly understood Upton's intent to cover his tracks with the corpse.

Only individuals from the same family could effectively merge their spiritualities. By using a high-level distortion power to partially fuse Upton's spirituality with that of the corpse, any divination attempts on Upton's whereabouts would point to the spirituality of the corpse—located in the spirit world—rendering the divination ineffective.

Hobert had estimated that his powers from the Nation of Disorder could achieve this.

Additionally, high-Sequence Beyonders from the Death pathway could also perform this, as manipulating spirituality is a specialty of that pathway.

The Lawyer pathway could also manipulate spirituality, as high Sequence Beyonders from that pathway can exploit loopholes in death itself, not to mention those in spirituality.

So, after Upton completed his prayer, Hobert, from within the Nation of Disorder, grabbed the residual spirituality of the corpse before the altar. Using disorder and distortion power, he intertwined it with part of Upton's own spirituality.

This caused Upton, standing before the altar, to show a pained expression, as it twisted his spirit body.

Hobert then used the power of Order to solidify the previous operation, allowing the residual spirituality of the corpse to remain firmly within Upton's body.

After completing all this, Hobert withdrew his power from the altar. He glanced at a piece of paper near the armrest and then placed it on the nearby stone platform.

Hobert vaguely recalled that the Indefinable Mist was likely composed of the "leftovers" from the Nation of Disorder and the "Son of Chaos," making 'Him' a relatively weak Outer Deity.

Judging by the honorable name, the deity held authority over some aspects of "Distortion and Disorder," making it easier for them to find the vulnerabilities in the protections the Original Creator had set up on Earth.

Or perhaps part of the deity's power remained on Earth after being torn away from the Son of Chaos.

Furthermore, the fact that the Son of Chaos was sealed on Earth so early shows the special nature of this pathway, which naturally gives them an advantage in infiltrating Earth.

Hobert believed that in the future, if he became the Black Emperor and even reached the level of "King of Angels," he could try to seize some of the authority of the Indefinable Mist to strengthen his own power.

But that was a long way off. Until then, Hobert planned to maintain contact with Upton, intending to use him in the future to set traps and track down the Indefinable Mist.

Of course, before becoming a King of Angels, it was best not to even think about such matters.

After exiting the Nation of Disorder, Hobert began cleaning the altar.

At that moment, the corpse of the Astrologer suddenly sat up, startling Hobert. He quickly activated his spiritl vision, only to remember that the Spirit Necklace was still in the Nation of Disorder. Without it, his spirit vision couldn't detect undead creatures.

"I'll help you take care of these corpses," came the voice of Dorphus.

Hobert breathed a sigh of relief. "Mr. Dorphus, your assistance is terrifying!"

The Astrologer let out a ghostly laugh as it, along with the other corpses, stiffly rose. The Judge, whose body had been split in half, also experienced partial restoration, with only faint scars visible in the light.

The corpses marched away like ordinary people, causing Upton outside to scream in panic.

This led Hobert to speculate that Dorphus might be a Beyonder from the Corpse Collector pathway, as controlling dead bodies was a hallmark of that path. Meanwhile, possession from the Prisoner pathway usually only worked on a single target.

Returning to the living room, Hobert said to Upton, "That was a friend helping us dispose of the corpses."

He had initially wanted to say "a servant," but felt it might be disrespectful to refer to Dorphus that way.

Upton almost broke into tears, but then awkwardly chuckled, "I've gained another ten years of freedom!"

Hobert glanced at him. "Shouldn't we settle our account now?"

Previously, Upton had promised Hobert some benefits if he helped defeat the family pursuers.

Upton, feeling the sting, began to unravel the Astrologer's Hair wrapped around his arm.

Hobert quickly said, "I don't want something that could kill me at any moment!"

"I'll give you the potion recipes I know…"

"I don't need those anymore," Hobert replied. "What I want is the Beyonder characteristics of the 'Briber' and 'Astrologer.'"

Upton forced a bitter smile, knowing those were the most valuable things he had left—especially the Beyonder characteristic of the "Briber," which he had planned to use for his future promotion.

But then he thought it over. With the potion recipes in hand, he could still have a chance to advance in the future.

"Alright," Upton said, "but I'll need two more days before I can give them to you."

"No rush," Hobert replied. "Recover first. We'll meet at Harvest Church in a week."

He smiled and added, "You look quite unwell. I'm guessing the potion is putting a lot of pressure on your spirituality?"

Upton paused, then nodded repeatedly. "I've been using the 'Astrologer's Hair' too frequently lately, and the whispers in my ears have been getting worse."

Hobert said, "I won't take your Beyonder characteristics for nothing. I'll also teach you how to effectively avoid losing control when the time comes.

"After all, you are now a follower of 'That One.' I can't just stand by and watch you slide toward madness."

Thinking of the majestic figure from earlier, Upton immediately lowered his head to pray but suddenly realized he didn't yet know the hand gestures and prayer words for the "Creator."

Hobert sternly warned, "Without the 'Creator's' permission, you must not reveal your status as a follower!"

"Yes!" Upton replied, "Thank you for your guidance."

Hobert's mouth twitched. It dawned on him that he had just recruited his own follower.

Did the Seven Gods also have to recruit their followers this way during their early days?