After obtaining the two fragments of the castellan’s seal, Lin Huang and the other two were not idle. They spent the next few days searching for information on the last fragment.
After ruling out the four-faced individual, as well as the three-tailed snake lady whom they had investigated before, they took stock of the remaining four overlords out of the original six, one after the other.
Finally, they set their sights on the Nine Gloom Vine.
The Nine Gloom Vine was a monster with the body of a vine. It consumed the negative emotions of various monsters as food.
According to the various pieces of information Lin Huang and the rest obtained, the Nine Gloom Vine in the inner world was known to everyone as the monster who had lived there the longest—there was no other. In terms of seniority, he ranked higher than even the four-faced individual and the rest.
However, his actual rise to prominence as an overlord of the inner world came much later compared to the four-faced individual and the three-tailed snake lady.
Among the six overlords, he was ranked second last.
According to Lin Huang, Saber9, and Virtuoso’s investigations, there was a high possibility that his rise as an overlord had something to do with the castellan’s seal fragment.
“Of the four remaining overlords, the Nine Gloom Vine is the biggest suspect. The last fragment is most probably with him,” Virtuoso concluded the results of their investigation over the last few days.
“For now, let’s not think about what happens if he doesn’t have the fragment of the castellan’s seal. Let’s assume that he does have it, and we’re now devising a plan of attack,” Lin Huang quickly listed out the points that he had thought of.
“After all, it’s been three days since we obtained the castellan’s seal fragment from the four-faced individual. We have to consider the worst-case scenario, which is that the four-faced individual knows the Nine Gloom Vine has the fragment of the castellan’s seal, and he has already informed the Nine Gloom Vine about the loss of his own fragment.
“If that’s the case, there’s a high chance that they might join forces. They might even have set up a trap and are waiting for us to fall into it.”
What Lin Huang said made Saber9 frown from where he was off to the side.
Although Virtuoso’s expression could not be seen through the mask, they had fallen silent as well.
“What’s the success rate of using your previous technique—switching the item out with a fake after stealing it—if we were to use it on the Nine Gloom Vine?” Noticing that the other two were not saying anything, Lin Huang turned his head toward Virtuoso and inquired.
“If the situation is as you said, then the success rate is practically zero,” Virtuoso answered with barely any hesitation, “It succeeded with the four-faced individual because he didn’t see it coming. However, if both of them have communicated, the Nine Gloom Vine will be fully on his guard.
“That’s not the biggest obstacle either. The four-faced individual’s item was hidden in his storage ring, and the people closest to him were aware of that. Meanwhile, the Nine Gloom Vine has no trusted aides. Although he has many plant monsters under his command, no one can approach the area where he lives, let alone know where he’s hiding the castellan’s seal fragment.”
“If stealing the item and leaving a replacement doesn’t work, we can’t take it by storm either, right?” Saber9 frowned hard.
The three of them fell silent, as they knew that such a tactic would be even worse.
Even if the Nine Gloom Vine were alone, the three of them still might not have the advantage. Being an overlord in the inner world meant that the Nine Gloom Vine’s ability could not be compared to that of ordinary ninth-rank heavenly gods. Even if he had yet to achieve half-step lord-level, he might not be far from it.
Opponents of such ability were beyond the trio’s capacity to handle, more so when taking into consideration that the other overlord—the four-faced individual—might already be collaborating with the Nine Gloom Vine.
The three of them fell silent for a long time.
“Actually, there might still be a way,” Lin Huang spoke up after some thought, “Apart from the four-faced individual, the Nine Gloom Vine and ourselves, there are many others who have their eyes on the castellan’s seal fragment. At the very least, the other four overlords are most certainly interested in it…”
Lin Huang explained his plan in detail very quickly, and Virtuoso and Saber9 nodded repeatedly after they heard what he had to say. The two of them also swiftly came up with ideas to perfect the various details of the plan.
That afternoon, a shocking piece of news spread throughout the entire inner world.
Almost all the organizations in the inner world, no matter how big or small, were discussing the same topic.
“Did you hear? There’s news of the castellan’s seal fragments! One of them is said to be with the Nine Gloom Vine!”
“I knew one of the six overlords would definitely have a fragment of the castellan’s seal!”
“I always thought the so-called castellan’s seal fragment was just a legend. I can’t believe it’s actually real!”
…
A man clad in a suit of silver battle armor sat high on a throne in the inner sanctum of a grand building.
“How true is the news about the castellan’s seal fragment?” His voice was like a low, electronically synthesized sound.
“It’s probably true that the Nine Gloom Vine has the fragment. However, I can’t be sure how many of the other details are true.”
“Have you found the source of this piece of news?” The man in battle armor inquired further.
“No. The information this time was disseminated suddenly from multiple sources at once. I found a few of these individuals after some investigation. However, they can’t recall where exactly they heard the news from; it’s as if a portion of their memories has been erased.”
“Keep a close eye on any further news, and inform me as soon as anything comes up!”
…
The next day.
A giant purplish-red sarcoma occupied almost half of a massive building that looked like a stadium.
The sarcoma was covered in capillary-like veins and even had countless tentacles of various sizes and thicknesses growing out of it.
Not too far from the stadium entrance stood a tall, slender figure.
“New information came in early this morning. It alleges that the four-faced individual has a castellan’s seal fragment too. Not only that, he seems to have formed an alliance with the Nine Gloom Vine and is secretly plotting something…”
“The four-faced individual, huh? That’s not surprising at all!” The sarcoma’s voice came from some part of its body and sounded abnormally gravelly and hoarse.
“For the time being, we can’t verify how true this news is yet. However, some of our spies have already reported that the four-faced individual is definitely not in his foothold,” the slender figure put forward the facts of the investigative results.
“Continue to investigate and see if the four-faced individual has really made an alliance with the Nine Gloom Vine.”
…
The third day.
In the pitch-black underground, a crimson light suddenly flared up.
From afar, it looked like a huge, red-hot soldering iron. However, through the halo of light surrounding it, one could see it was a giant eyeball.
It did not look like a mammal’s eyeball. Instead, it bore more resemblance to a bug’s compound eye that was made of countless tiny eyes.
As the eyeball lit up, a black figure slowly materialized at the mouth of the cave.
“New information has just come to light. The four-faced individual has formed an alliance with the Nine Gloom Vine, and both of them are working together to search for the last fragment of the castellan’s seal!
“However, not long after this news surfaced, both of them made an appearance to dismiss the rumors. Both of them denied that they possessed any castellan’s seal fragments, and also denied any alliance between them. They also said that the news currently being disseminated is all rumors and that someone is secretly trying to stir up trouble…”
The crimson eye listened to all of this. In an extraordinarily calm tone, it commented, “The veracity of the news is no longer important. What’s important is that this inner world is poised on the brink of change.”
