Chapter 474
It was clear that Xiao Zuo truly admired Shaer’s hands.
“Alright... Lord Shaer...” Tara took a deep breath to steady her emotions, then stepped up to the table, facing the otherworldly creature before her, and closed her eyes.
Xiao Zuo, having descended into the physical realm, was not strong enough to directly influence the minds of second-tier extraordinary beings. Among the ranks of otherworldly creatures, Xiao Zuo seemed to be the weakest—after all, Shaer had never summoned anything weaker than Xiao Zuo.
“Learn from her.”
Shaer issued a command to Xiao Zuo, then began to observe Tara’s live demonstration.
Lucy remained silent behind Shaer, even her breathing cautious, as if afraid that the slightest sound would disturb Shaer.
Tara noticed that Shaer seemed intent on making this terrifying otherworldly creature a follower or devotee of the Mother Goddess. As a “missionary,” Tara was naturally very dedicated to this task.
She selected the simplest and most memorable prayer and began to recite it before the otherworldly being.
Then, she turned the statue of the goddess around, presenting the complete figure, especially the symbols on the goddess’s face, to the creature before her.
Finally, Tara tentatively used her “missionary” abilities on the otherworldly being.
“Believe in the Mother Goddess...”
As Tara spoke, a phantom mental imprint seemed to begin forming slowly in Xiao Zuo’s mind—but at the moment the symbol took shape, it shattered into pieces.
“Hiss—”
Xiao Zuo suddenly arched its hand back, its body rising like a spider towards Tara, raising all its fingers to reveal a terrifying gash in its palm, roaring at Tara.
It seemed to sense that Tara intended to do something to it.
“Shh...” Shaer quickly reached out, gently placing her hand on Xiao Zuo’s hand, pressing it down slowly. “Quiet...”
Shaer’s restraint worked; Xiao Zuo returned to its position on the table, its evil eye on its knuckles warily watching Tara.
To maintain Xiao Zuo’s presence, Shaer squeezed out a few drops of blood for it to consume.
Tara, undeterred by her earlier failure, began a simpler teaching method.
After about three or four minutes of repeated demonstration, Tara extended the faceless goddess statue towards Xiao Zuo.
“Imitate her.” Shaer commanded Xiao Zuo.
This time, with Tara’s demonstration akin to teaching a child, Xiao Zuo seemed to finally understand what Shaer wanted it to do.
It pinched the statue between two fingers, its evil eye on its knuckles looking towards Shaer.
“Hiss...”
A serpentine hiss emanated from its palm, but in Shaer’s mind, she heard a faint, somewhat ethereal hiss, constructing a phantom of Xiao Zuo deep within her consciousness.
It could truly pray to itself through the **All-Knowing**...
Yet Shaer was unsure if such a prayer could penetrate the otherworld.
Xiao Zuo had done the right thing, and Shaer immediately squeezed out a drop of blood, smearing it on the table as a reward for completing the training.
Next, Shaer looked at Xiao Zuo, and through the **All-Knowing**, issued a command to the praying Xiao Zuo.
“Remember this carving knife.” Shaer lifted the knife in her hand, pressing it against one of Xiao Zuo’s fingers, and with a gentle stroke, she drew a line across Xiao Zuo’s finger.
The pale finger’s flesh turned up, but this seemed to cause no harm to Xiao Zuo; it continued to lick the table, oblivious to whether it had heard Shaer’s words.
“Do you want more blood?” Shaer continued to communicate with Xiao Zuo in her mind. “One call means ‘yes,’ two calls mean ‘no.’”
One of Xiao Zuo’s evil eyes turned towards Shaer, and a flash of red light flickered in Shaer’s mind.
“Good... Be obedient...”
Shaer squeezed out a few more drops of blood as a reward, smearing it on the table.
This seemed to excite Xiao Zuo immensely; the small portion of its arm behind it swayed like a tail, and it eagerly crawled to the fresh blood, continuing to lick.
Shaer pointed at the pendant clutched in Xiao Zuo’s fingers, using the **All-Knowing** ability to respond and command Xiao Zuo.
“Take this back... Inside, repeat the prayer from earlier...”
Xiao Zuo, still licking the blood, suddenly froze, its body stiffening as it looked around, finally locking its gaze back on Shaer.
Shaer repeated her earlier words in her mind.
Having finished licking the blood, Xiao Zuo reluctantly crawled over to the blood-red vortex, glanced at Shaer one last time, and then dove into the swirling crimson.
The blood strands in the air instantly vanished into the vortex, and the blood array in mid-air collapsed, falling like dark red powder.
Along with it fell the finger that had completely dried out, devoid of any extraordinary essence, shattering on the table like glass into dozens of pieces.
On the table, aside from the fragments, only the section that had been licked, resembling a surface scraped by dozens of blades, remained, a testament to Xiao Zuo’s existence.
In Shaer’s mind, the red light symbolizing Xiao Zuo flickered back to life.
“Can you feel the knife that harmed you earlier?” Shaer projected her voice outward.
In her mind, the red light flickered and emitted a faint hiss.
Shaer took a deep breath, gently biting her lip.
The otherworldly being could observe the outside world in some way...
The voice of the **All-Knowing** could transcend the otherworld to be heard...
Even if Xiao Zuo was in the otherworld, Shaer could still control it...
“Do you remember that white-haired man from before?” Shaer pulled out a map of Ansu City and spread it on the table. “Where is he now?”
Shaer picked up a pen and began to slowly trace the entire western district.
However, her feather pen seemed to glide across the entire western district without any reaction from the red light in her mind. Just as she thought she was about to fail, when her pen reached the residence of Qiangyin, the red light still did not flicker.
Shaer’s heart sank slightly.
Could Xiao Zuo still not understand? Or could it only see her in some way, but not comprehend physical objects like a map?
Or perhaps... it simply couldn’t read a map at all?
Logically, after feeding it so much blood, it should have evolved significantly...
But just as Shaer’s feather pen passed over Windsor Palace, the red light in her mind flickered slightly, and then her pen came to a halt.
“He’s here?”
The red light flashed.
“You can see him?”
The red light flickered again.
The breath Shaer had been holding slowly released, and the lips she had been pressing together now revealed a faint smile.
If that’s the case... she could locate Qiangyin...
But it was still unstable... Xiao Zuo’s intelligence was still a bit too low...
Every sacrifice she made seemed to transform Xiao Zuo significantly; perhaps she could increase the dosage, allowing Xiao Zuo to evolve further with her blood, and maybe its intelligence would improve.
Shaer didn’t hesitate; this was a necessary sacrifice—finding Qiangyin required Xiao Zuo as an essential part.
Shaer gathered all the fingers Lucy had sent over, taking them out of the reagent bottle and neatly arranging them on the table.
Then, she took the ritual carving knife that had previously cut Xiao Zuo’s finger and drew it across her own wrist. She clenched her fist on the table, letting her blood flow freely, watching as it etched a larger blood array on the surface.
A different, more terrifying aura erupted from the blood-red vortex above the array.
Lucy, who had been standing behind Shaer like a mountain, finally showed signs of movement; her face tightened as she struggled against the spiritual alarm ringing in her mind, instinctively taking a half-step back.
She was afraid...
What Shaer was doing had completely exceeded her understanding.
It was a fear of instinct, of the unknown.
Shaer’s blood continued to flow, but the blood-red vortex before her expanded to a certain extent and then ceased to change, its color deepening from red to black.
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