Chapter 406: Harvest

……

Li Mochen's expression tightened slightly as he sensed the two blood crystals faintly resonating with him, a feeling of bloodline connection.

These things—they should be related to the War Angel's Heart!

Yet his attention remained fixed on White Thomas.

“Who was it that attempted to assassinate me months ago? You knew about it but didn’t stop it, did you?”

White Thomas's face stiffened momentarily, then he shook his head: “I knew about it. At the time, I sensed something was wrong with you, Andrei. But I was powerless to stop it. They used a curse, beyond my expertise. I don’t know who it was either; they were very secretive—”

“And you didn’t bother to investigate thoroughly?”

Li Mochen gave a mocking smile: “Then one last question: what is the treasure that allowed you to deceive the curse mark and soul contract?”

Why did the four Stardust Stones fall into his hands only after the original Li Mochen’s death, and not earlier?

And why had White Thomas concealed those two crucial blood crystals until today?

Li Mochen knew this must have been aided by some spell or artifact, and he leaned toward the latter.

This time, White Thomas remained silent for a long while. Under Li Mochen’s gaze, he took a full two minutes before tremblingly raising his right hand. It was a black leather glove, emitting an eerie black light.

Hazel stepped forward with a cold expression and forcibly tore the glove off.

Before White Thomas could even be astonished by the girl’s immense strength, he felt excruciating pain. The blood tumor on his chest suddenly erupted, thick tumorous tubes spreading across his entire body.

This made him involuntarily let out a wail, his soul nearly shattered by the pain. He collapsed to the ground, rolling continuously, trying to escape the agony.

……

About an hour later, the cabin where Li Mochen had summoned White Thomas finally returned to calm.

Li Mochen had ultimately shown leniency, using medicine to put Thomas into a coma and injecting two strong doses of painkillers. Though this was a temporary fix, it freed him from the pain for now.

After the man was taken to the medical room, Hazel’s eyes were dark with fury and resentment: “You’re too soft, A Mo. You should have let him die in agony! He clearly wanted you dead. Those two crystals were so important, yet he hid them, unwilling to give them to you.”

“No need. If it continued, his divine soul would have suffered indelible scars, and he would never enter the Legendary rank.”

Li Mochen examined the items taken from White Thomas, speaking calmly: “Though he had selfish motives, he still delivered the items to me in the end, didn’t he?”

He first looked at the glove. From its inscriptions, he learned the name of this sacred artifact: Loki’s Hand of Deceit.

Loki was the Norse god of mischief and lies, so the glove’s purpose was self-evident.

Li Mochen was quite pleased; he could give Angela another new gift. In Thomas’s hands, this sacred artifact was only used to conceal curse marks and soul contracts, but in the hands of a supremely talented illusionist like Angela, it would be like a tiger gaining wings.

One of the simplest uses was to deceive enemies, making them believe in the reality of manifested magic. Used well, it could multiply her strength several times over.

Next were Li Chunchu’s relics. Among them were two sacred artifacts: one was the fifth-grade sacred artifact ‘Mithril Holy Shield,’ an excellent item for a magic-energy shield warrior; the other was the equally fifth-grade ‘Dragon Fang Flail,’ a three-headed flail forged from countless dragon fangs, possessing astonishing armor-piercing ability and capable of summoning the power of three legendary dragons to enhance the wielder.

Li Mochen guessed these were spoils Li Chunchu and his wife had taken during their flight. Given Li Chunchu’s financial means, he clearly couldn’t afford fifth-grade sacred artifacts worth over a billion gold shields.

After a moment’s thought, Li Mochen swept both items into his ‘Ring of Qiankun.’

For now, he couldn’t think of anyone suitable to wield them. Only Major General Michael Wood, a兼职 18th-level magic-energy warrior, could barely meet the requirements.

But this legendary hunter’s contributions were far from enough to warrant such precious artifacts, and he usually fought at long range.

So Li Mochen decided to keep them, seeing if he could use these two sacred artifacts to hire high-ranking legends later. Two fifth-grade sacred artifacts—he believed someone would be interested. Even demigods would find such treasures appealing.

Then there were the magic pouches Li Chunchu and his wife carried. Inside were numerous stone tablets inscribed with Mayan divine script, two deity statues, and some finely patterned, key-like objects, likely taken from the Mayan City of the Gods. The rest were miscellaneous items, including medicines and magic scrolls, but Li Chunchu and his wife had been pursued for a long time, depleting most of their supplies; what remained were low-end potions and scrolls.

Finally, Li Mochen turned his gaze to the two blood crystals.

“That wasn’t voluntary either.”

Hazel clearly couldn’t accept this: “He was originally Uncle Li’s subordinate, wasn’t he? This is outright betrayal.”

“My father clearly shared a common interest with someone behind him. And that person was likely a pawn placed by someone near my father.”

Li Mochen smiled: “The curse mark and soul contract on Thomas are very powerful; unless I die, he has almost no chance of escape. Hazel, I can’t find quasi-legendary combatants like him even with money now. Why should I let him die? That would be letting him off easy. Isn’t it better to use him as a reliable tool?”

Hazel’s emotions finally calmed a bit: “Then are you still going to Anatolia to see that ‘Blood-Eyed Angel’ Robert E. Vaughn?”

“Of course!”

Li Mochen said resolutely: “If that guy wasn’t lying, then Robert is probably on the verge of losing control now. I’ve been monitoring her situation; her strength grows every moment, and she’ll likely enter the Legendary rank soon. The only one who might keep her alive now is me.”

Regarding blood-forging magic like the ‘War Angel’s Heart’ or ‘Philosopher’s Stone,’ he had seen countless examples among the extraterrestrial demons, and now he understood these spells even better than the demons themselves.

As for the consequence of being devoured by myriad spirits that White Thomas mentioned, he had plenty of ways to resolve it.

More crucially—

At this moment, Li Mochen diverted a thread of his mind to observe the ‘Divine Fortune Purple-Gold Pagoda.’

After sniping that Void Night King, the merit power on his pagoda had accumulated to over eight hundred. But that wasn’t the main point.

The key was that as he drew closer to the Anatolia continent, more and more ‘additional merit’ was converging onto this pagoda.