Chapter 5: 5. Chapter 5: The Ritual (Third update, requesting recommendation votes)

Chapter 5: The Ritual

Free? Things that are free are the most expensive! Zhou Mingrui muttered silently, intending to firmly refuse any additional services, no matter what they were.

If you’re so capable, why don’t you divine that I’m a transmigrator!

Thinking this, Zhou Mingrui followed behind the woman whose face was painted with red and yellow greasepaint, stooping to enter the low tent.

The interior of the tent was very dark, with only a sliver of light seeping in, vaguely illuminating a table covered in cards.

The woman wearing the pointed hat was completely unaffected. Her black dress drifted like water as she circled the table, sat down opposite him, and lit a candle.

The dim, flickering light made the tent seem to shift between brightness and shadow, instantly adding a touch of mystery.

Zhou Mingrui sat down calmly. His gaze swept over the tarot cards on the table, and he discovered major arcana cards he was familiar with, such as "The Magician," "The Emperor," "The Hanged Man," and "Temperance."

"Could Comrade Roselle really be a 'predecessor'... I wonder if he’s a fellow countryman from my Great Empire of Foodies..." Zhou Mingrui’s mouth twitched, and he felt a moment of trance.

Before he could finish looking at the cards spread out on the table, the woman who claimed to be "very accurate at divination" had already reached out, gathered all the tarot cards together, stacked them into a pile, and pushed them toward him.

"You shuffle and cut the cards," the circus fortune-teller said in a hoarse voice.

"I shuffle?" Zhou Mingrui asked subconsciously.

The red and yellow greasepaint on the fortune-teller’s face shifted, revealing a faint smile as she said

"Of course. One’s destiny can only be divined by oneself; I am merely an interpreter."

Zhou Mingrui immediately asked with vigilance

"The interpretation doesn't cost extra, right?"

As a keyboard folklorist, I’ve seen plenty of tricks like this!

The fortune-teller was clearly stunned for a moment before she replied sullenly

"It’s free."

Zhou Mingrui felt relieved. He pushed his revolver a little deeper into his pocket, then calmly extended both palms to skillfully shuffle and cut the cards.

"Done." He placed the shuffled tarot cards in the center of the table.

The fortune-teller clasped her hands together and looked at the cards earnestly for a while before suddenly speaking

"I’m sorry, I forgot to ask—what do you want to divine?"

Back when he was pursuing an unrequited first love, Zhou Mingrui had studied tarot cards, so he said without hesitation

"The past, the present, and the future."

This was a tarot spread where three cards are laid out in sequence, symbolizing the past, the present, and the future respectively.

The fortune-teller nodded first, then the corners of her mouth curled up into a smile

"Then please shuffle the cards again. You must understand what you want to ask to shuffle out cards with true symbolic meaning."

You were playing with me just now... Do you have to be so petty? Just because I kept emphasizing that it’s free... The muscles in Zhou Mingrui’s face twitched. He took a deep breath, took back the tarot cards, and shuffled and cut them again.

"Is it okay this time?" He placed the cut cards on the table.

"Yes." The fortune-teller extended a finger, picked up a card from the top, and placed it on Zhou Mingrui’s left side. Her voice grew even hoarser, "This card symbolizes the past."

"This card symbolizes the present." The fortune-teller placed the second card directly in front of Zhou Mingrui.

She picked up the third card and placed it on Zhou Mingrui’s right side

"This card symbolizes the future."

"Alright, which card would you like to see first?" After finishing all this, the fortune-teller raised her head and looked deeply at Zhou Mingrui with her gray-blue eyes.

"Let’s look at the 'present' first," Zhou Mingrui said after a moment of thought.

The fortune-teller nodded slowly and flipped over the card directly in front of him.

The card depicted a young man wearing gorgeous clothes and a brilliant headdress, carrying a staff on his shoulder with luggage hanging from the tip, and a small dog tugging at his heels. The number was "0."

"The Fool." The fortune-teller whispered the name of the card, her gray-blue eyes fixed on Zhou Mingrui.

The Fool? The zero card of the tarot? The beginning? A beginning that contains all possibilities? Zhou Mingrui couldn't even be considered a beginner tarot enthusiast; he could only make a rough interpretation based on his impressions.

Just as the fortune-teller was about to speak, the tent’s fabric door was suddenly lifted. Intense sunlight shone in, stinging the eyes of Zhou Mingrui, who was facing away from it, and causing him to instinctively squint.

"Why are you pretending to be me again! Divining for people is my job!" A female voice roared angrily. "Go back! You must remember, you are just a beast tamer!"

A beast tamer? Zhou Mingrui adjusted to the light and saw that at the entrance stood a woman who was also wearing a pointed hat, a black dress, and red and yellow greasepaint, only she was taller and thinner.

The woman sitting in front of him stood up hurriedly and said dejectedly

"Don't mind it, I just like this. I have to say, sometimes my divination and interpretation are quite accurate, really..."

As she spoke, she lifted her skirt, circled the table from the side, and quickly left the tent.

"Sir, do you need me to interpret for you?" The real fortune-teller looked at Zhou Mingrui and asked with a smile.

Zhou Mingrui twitched his mouth and asked sincerely

"Is it free?"

"...No," the real fortune-teller replied.

"Then never mind." Zhou Mingrui put his hand back into his pocket, pressed against his revolver and banknotes, and stooped to exit the tent.

This is ridiculous, to think they actually had a beast tamer doing tarot readings!

Is a beast tamer who doesn't want to be a diviner not a good clown?

Zhou Mingrui quickly put the matter behind him. At the "Lettuce and Meat" market, he spent 7 pence on a pound of mediocre lamb, and bought tender peas, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and other items. Including the bread from earlier, he spent a total of 25 copper pence, which was 2 soli and 1 penny.

"Money really doesn't last long. Poor Benson..." Zhou Mingrui had not only lost the two banknotes he brought out but also spent a penny from his own pocket.

He sighed casually, stopped thinking about it, and hurried home.

With the staple food, he could perform the luck-enhancement ritual!

…………

After the tenants on the second floor had all left, Zhou Mingrui didn't rush to perform the ritual. Instead, he first translated phrases like "The Blessed Lord of Heaven and Earth" into Ancient Futhark and Loenese, planning that if the original incantation didn't work, he would try again the next day using the local language!

After all, he had to consider the differences between the two worlds and the need to adapt to local customs.

As for translating it into Hermes, the language used for ancient prayers and sacrifices, Zhou Mingrui couldn't complete it due to his insufficient vocabulary.

After doing all this, he took four loaves of rye bread from the paper bag. He placed one in the corner where the coal stove used to be, one inside the base of the wardrobe mirror, one on top of the cupboard where two walls met, and one on the right side of the desk where miscellaneous items were piled.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Mingrui went to the center of the room. He calmed himself for a few minutes before walking with a solemn gait, moving in a square in a counter-clockwise direction.

Taking the first step, he whispered

"The Blessed Lord of Heaven and Earth."

On the second step, he recited sincerely

"The Blessed Sovereign of Heaven and Earth."

On the third step, Zhou Mingrui held his breath and whispered

"The Blessed God of Heaven and Earth."

On the fourth step, he exhaled a turbid breath and recited with his heart

"The Blessed Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth."

After finishing the walk and returning to his position, Zhou Mingrui closed his eyes and waited for the result on the spot. His heart was filled with anticipation, unease, hope, and fear.

Can I go back?

Will it have an effect?

Will any unexpected situations occur?

The darkness before his eyes was stained with the deep red brought by the light. Thoughts surged in Zhou Mingrui’s mind, difficult to calm.

Just then, he suddenly felt the air around him stop flowing, becoming viscous and eerie.

Following that, whispers began to ring in his ears—sometimes dense, sometimes sharp, sometimes illusory, sometimes alluring, sometimes manic, and sometimes insane.

Even though he couldn't understand what the murmurs were saying, Zhou Mingrui couldn't help but listen and try to distinguish them.

His head ached again, as violently as if a steel rod had been driven into it.

Zhou Mingrui felt as if his head was about to explode, and his thoughts were stained with psychedelic colors.

He knew something was wrong and tried his best to open his eyes, but he couldn't complete this simple action.

His entire body grew increasingly tense, as if it might snap at any moment. Zhou Mingrui inexplicably had a self-deprecating thought

"If you don't court death, you won't die..."

He could no longer bear it. Just as the string in his mind was about to snap, the murmurs of countless overlapping voices receded. The surroundings became very quiet, and the atmosphere felt quite ethereal.

It wasn't just the atmosphere; Zhou Mingrui felt his own body was equally ethereal.

He tried to open his eyes again, and this time it was very easy.

Pervasive gray fog entered his vision—hazy, blurred, and boundless.

"What is this situation?" Zhou Mingrui looked around in astonishment, then looked down, discovering that he was floating at the edge of an endless expanse of gray fog.

The gray fog flowed like water, dotted with deep red "stars." Some were large, some were tiny, some were hidden in the depths, and some floated on the surface.

Looking at this holographic scene, Zhou Mingrui, half-bewildered and half-exploring, reached out his right hand, trying to touch a deep red "star" floating on the surface to his right, searching for a way to leave.

As soon as his finger touched the surface of the star, ripples suddenly surged from his body, triggering an eruption of "deep red" that looked like a dreamlike firework.

Zhou Mingrui was startled and hurriedly pulled back his right hand, accidentally touching another "deep red" star.

Consequently, this "star" also shone brightly.

As a result, Zhou Mingrui felt his head go empty and his spirit scatter.

…………

In the Loen Kingdom’s capital, Backlund, in the Empress Borough, inside a luxurious villa.

Audrey Hall sat in front of her vanity, stroking the copper mirror on the table, which had ancient patterns and cracks on its surface.

"Magic mirror, magic mirror, wake up quickly..."

"In the name of the Hall family, I command you to wake up!"

...

She tried one phrasing after another, but the mirror showed no reaction.

After more than ten minutes, she finally chose to give up. She pursed her lips in grievance and muttered softly

"Father was lying to me after all. Every time he tells me this mirror is a treasure of the Black Emperor of the ancient Solomon Empire, a Beyonder item..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the copper mirror on the table suddenly bloomed with deep red light, instantly enveloping her.

…………

On the Sonia Sea, a three-masted sailing ship that was clearly behind the times was traveling through a storm.

Alger Wilson stood on the deck, his body rising and falling with the pitching of the ship, maintaining his balance with ease.

He wore a robe embroidered with lightning patterns and held a strangely shaped glass bottle in his hand. Inside, bubbles rolled, frost gathered into snow, and wind left traces.

"Still missing the blood of a Ghost Shark..." Alger whispered.

Just then, a deep red light erupted between the glass bottle and his palm, instantly drowning out his surroundings.

…………

Above a gray-white fog, Audrey Hall regained her vision. She looked around in terror and confusion, seeing a man with a blurred head and hazy figure diagonally opposite her doing much the same.

Following that, they discovered almost simultaneously that there was another mysterious person standing not far away, shrouded in gray-white mist.

The "mysterious person," Zhou Mingrui, was also dumbfounded.

"Sir, where is this?"

"What are you trying to do?"

Audrey and Alger were stunned for a moment, falling into silence, before they spoke in unison.

PS: 1/7, making up for a chapter, please vote for recommendations~

(End of chapter)