*Whoosh—*
The spear thrust out like a dragon, yet when it chopped downward, it carried crushing weight and momentum—a stance strikingly reminiscent of swinging a blade.
Yet the instant the spear tip flickered—
Several glints of cold light whistled through the air with a *swish-swish*.
Rivets tied to tiny green vials struck the wall with sharp *thuds*.
*Chhh—*
The green vials burst open, dense clusters of dark green bubbles surging and foaming. In the blink of an eye, several large craters were corroded into the wall's surface.
"..."
Keeping his hand pressed against the mechanism's button at the spear-gun's rear, Bai Zhou held up the spear-gun, stared at the cross-anchor, fell silent for a moment, and turned to look at Crow beside him.
Crow didn't bat an eye. "I went to the research institute and procured some chemical reagents. It will enhance the spear-gun's power."
"My supply isn't large, though. Use them sparingly."
*No, this isn't a question of being sparing or not.*
Bai Zhou wore a bizarre expression.
Who on earth flings concealed weapons like that while trading spear thrusts?
Who could possibly defend against something like this...?
"There are many similar mechanisms built into it. Take your time studying them," Crow continued.
"I also crafted two explosive crossbow bolts. Don't fire them lightly; this is the button..."
Saying that, Crow shook her head.
"Actually, this wasn't originally my intention... It's just that every inch of this broken spear was full of designs like this, and I couldn't resist restoring them."
"Consequently, many of the mechanisms have empty slots. If you have any ideas, feel free to fill them as you see fit."
Bai Zhou's clear eyes blinked.
Then, from the bottom of his heart, he gave his evaluation:
"A brilliant design!"
Had this been the old him, he might have wondered whether fighting like this lacked martial virtue.
Now, however, he found it nothing short of perfect.
Honesty leads to death; righteousness only ends in defeat.
The lessons of the Ruin Realm civilization were not something he dared forget for a single second!
"This is already amazing," Bai Zhou said thoughtfully, eyeing the pits corroded into the wall. "But... I think we can make a tiny improvement."
With that, he carried the spear-gun toward the head of the bed and felt around.
Before long, he pulled out a small, pitch-black flashlight.
This was the military-grade high-intensity tactical flashlight he had received as a P1 commissioner after joining the Special Control Bureau.
Its defining feature was its brightness.
Extremely bright—every spot it illuminated turned as bright as day, impossible to look at directly.
With a *click*, he clamped the flashlight into the caliper mount near the spearhead.
Flashing a satisfied smile, Bai Zhou looked toward Crow, whose eyes were wide, and said brightly, "This way, the moment I thrust the spear, I can click on the tactical light. While they're blinded, I follow up with the flying rivets..."
"That should make it even more practical."
Besides that, he had several other whimsical ideas worth trying.
In Bai Zhou's eyes, this mechanical spear-gun—brimming with mechanisms and vacant slots—had practically become a beloved big toy, an open canvas for him to modify however his imagination saw fit.
"...What exactly did you do back in Wancheng again?" Crow asked, her voice laced with uncertainty.
Bai Zhou's face turned solemn. "I was a model student in the Youth Training Corps."
He was famously a good boy.
—It was entirely that damned civilization, along with that insidious bloated behemoth, that had corrupted him!
...
His research into his big toy had to be put on pause for now.
Because special training was about to resume.
The curtains were drawn, firelight flared up, and twelve secret veils hung suspended in the shadows.
Solemn and composed, Bai Zhou once again picked up that item he knew all too well... the stool leg.
No matter how fancy the spear-gun was, it was still an external tool. A secret combat technique was the true craft to rely on for survival.
He was clear-headed enough to grasp that much.
Crow leapt lightly into the air, settling crosswise onto the ribbon once more, and remarked flatly, "You've progressed quickly lately. Foundational training has moved along fast."
"By now, you should have experienced the learning boost granted by your Fate Principle talent."
Bai Zhou nodded sincerely in deep agreement.
He hadn't realized until he actually started studying, but even he had been startled. For the first time in his life, he was experiencing the perspective of a "genius."
It was as if an epiphany had suddenly unlocked his mind. His brain was extraordinarily active; he understood things as soon as they were explained, mastered them as soon as he practiced, and could deduce whole systems from single examples.
Subjects that took others an entire semester to learn required him only a single night of flipping through books and Crow's explanations to grasp almost entirely.
—This was what a Fate Principle talent of five feet four inches felt like.
For the first time, Bai Zhou's mindset underwent a subtle shift.
Because for the first time, he clearly recognized...
This was a "miracle" that his past self could never have achieved!
He truly seemed to have shed his mortal shell, undergoing an earth-shaking transformation from who he had been before.
...Still, the reason Bai Zhou's special training progressed so rapidly wasn't just due to his Fate Principle talent; it was also thanks to the foundation he had accumulated in the Fog of Knowledge.
The knowledge from the gray fog, which he had initially assumed would be of little use, was turning into nourishment for his growth one piece after another.
For instance, a book titled *Introduction to Sketching* had proved immensely helpful when it came to his exercises in tracing occult runes.
As he applied this knowledge, Bai Zhou seemed to "digest" it, constantly gaining fresh insights.
Never mind anything else—just taking drawing alone:
Give him a drawing board, and he could set up a stall on the street to sell portraits.
Back in Wancheng, if he had possessed a stellar skill like this, he would have dared to eat three packets of Four-Flavor Instant Noodles every meal!
And on that third packet, he would have been extravagant enough to leave the broth completely untouched!
Yet even with such talent and accumulation—
After three days, Bai Zhou still felt as though he had shed a layer of skin.
Crow was no celebrated pedagogue; in fact, she had no teaching experience whatsoever. Her method was nothing but relentless cramming.
It was like confronting an adult and trying to cram over a decade of missed compulsory education into him over the course of a few days.
It had nearly choked Bai Zhou to death.
"Fortunately, though the process was grueling, the results are gratifying."
Looking Bai Zhou over, Crow gave a satisfied nod.
A belly full of poetry and books naturally brings grace.
With his mind stuffed full of knowledge, even Bai Zhou's demeanor had subtly elevated.
"Next, we can proceed to advanced training."
The flickering firelight illuminated Crow's iridescent pupils as she held Bai Zhou's gaze.
"No need to ask; I know you must want to start learning the true secret technique, *Moon Cinder*, right?"
After swinging a blade tens of thousands of times in basic training, one always needed something to look forward to amidst the monotony.
Who wouldn't want to unleash a slash like Crow's—a one-stop service of killing the target and incinerating the corpse in a single stroke?
It was inhumanly cool.
—Yet right at that moment, Crow's expression grew solemn.
"However, there is one thing I must warn you about first."
"What is it?"
"You have already consumed the Enlightenment Potion and awakened your Fate Principle. Your next step is preparing to choose an Extraordinary Pathway."
Extraordinary... Pathway?
Crow continued, "For an Extraordinary in the first grand stage, whether through meditation or ascetic practice, physical conditioning or yoga, all paths lead to the same destination."
"They seek nothing other than the six elements: Body, Mind, Qi, Essence, Intent, and Spirit."
"Take the Confucian school of the Eastern Federation, for example. They emphasize the cultivation of the Six Arts: Rites, Music, Archery, Charioteering, Calligraphy, and Mathematics."
"These Six Arts correspond respectively to the six tier advancements in an Extraordinary's first grand stage."
"If one can integrate all six into one and sublimate oneself, one stands at the pinnacle of this realm, earning the right to be crowned with a Titled Name."
"The previous inheritor of *Moon Cinder*, the Twilight Flame, was precisely such a being."
A Title...
Bai Zhou couldn't help but feel a twinge of yearning.
"And *Moon Cinder* is a secret technique of the Hunter Pathway—a rare secret technique that tempers both Body and Mind simultaneously."
"Once you achieve initial mastery of *Moon Cinder*, you will complete the sublimation of your Body and become a Tier 1 Hunter."
"—A true Extraordinary."
Become... a Hunter?
Bai Zhou immediately recalled the dying words of the black robes.
In those words, he remembered mentions of a Tier 4 Butcher and a Tier 2 Kin.
Crow cautioned, "However, this also means stepping onto the Hunter Pathway. From then on, you can only use the secret techniques and inheritances of the Hunter Pathway."
"Otherwise..."
Crow paused slightly.
"The conflict of knowledge will cause an Extraordinary's mind to derange. In severe cases, they lose control or even die."
With a low *hum*—
Shadows surged across the floor as if alive, countless fine threads woven of shadow leaping from the ground to encircle Crow, bowing down in homage to her as she sat crosswise in midair.
"Incidentally," Crow added, crossing her legs atop the ribbon and casually flicking a few wisps of shadow, "I too am a Hunter who walks in shadow."
"..."
Watching those colossal shadows, coalesced almost into solid substance, Bai Zhou felt a shiver run through him.
—Is this "Hunter" of yours a beast hunter, or a man-hunter?
Bai Zhou asked cautiously, "So... what else needs to be cautioned against?"
He recalled Crow mentioning before his exploration of the fog that in the modern era, occult knowledge was strictly monopolized by various factions.
Yet Crow was a Hunter herself. Beyond doubt, she possessed a vast reservoir of knowledge related to Hunters.
One generation plants the trees, the next enjoys the shade.
With such a sturdy thigh to cling to right in front of him, if he didn't pick the Hunter Pathway, what else would he choose?
"Entering the Hunter Pathway through *Moon Cinder*, and then systematically learning the knowledge I impart to you—this is the only path I can prepare for you right now, and the best one."
Crow sighed softly.
"However... it may not be the most suitable."
"I don't understand."
Bai Zhou shook his head.
If it was the best, how could it not be suitable?
It couldn't be that his talent was lacking...
"Because your Fate Principle is Chen," Crow said.
Bai Zhou indeed had told Crow that his Fate Principle was a sun.
Crow had been quite perplexed by this at the time:
While this Fate Principle undoubtedly belonged to the Chen attribute, its color was different from a normal Chen.
—Whose sun was white?
With a harsh, grating screech of friction, Crow landed on the floor and pulled an iron table between them.
A few wisps of shadow crept onto the tabletop, carrying over a sheet of blank paper and spreading it out, blurring into yellow under the firelight and shadows.
Crow's cold voice always carried a faint rasp:
"The Fate Principle is the principle of life, reflecting the very essence of a person's existence."
"The so-called essence of an Extraordinary Pathway is nothing more than strengthening the Fate Principle and ascending the tiers of life."
"...Look here." A thread of fire danced at Crow's fingertip, tracing characters across the air toward the paper on the table.
A faint scorch smell drifted up as wisps of pale smoke curled, and soon an intricate pattern took shape on the sheet.
Bai Zhou leaned in closer and saw countless pitch-black lines wildly twisting, overlapping and crisscrossing into a pair of trembling wings.
Under the firelight, a moth composed of countless black lines sprang to life on the page, as though struggling to break free from the parchment.
"This is Moth."
"Those with a Moth-attribute Fate Principle can easily perceive flows, whispers, and the forms of indescribable entities that ordinary people cannot reach."
"They are natural riddle-solvers, and thus brimming with curiosity toward all things."
Crow paused, her eyes lowering.
"The cost, however, is that curiosity often invites fatal danger. The secrets they perceive can drag them into a vortex of eternal madness at any moment."
"—Between an elegant moth of secrets and a crazed moth diving into flame, there is often only a razor-thin line."
The flame on the floor suddenly surged upward, light and shadow violently oscillating across Crow's face.
Shifting her fingertip, she burned another blackened pattern onto the paper.
"And this one," Crow continued.
"Ring."
At first glance, the symbol looked like two interconnected yet separate rings, but upon closer inspection, it was merely a single twisted loop. Bizarrely, it seemed to possess only one "surface."
The Ouroboros symbol Crow had drawn last time flashed across Bai Zhou's mind; the two bore an indescribable resemblance.
"Those who possess this Fate Principle attribute often harbor both reason and frenzy, good and evil united. They excel at forging miracles out of desperate straits."
"Yet the price is that fate mocks them, and will ultimately conquer them—"
"Even as it grants every manner of hope, it has already prepared a destined finale of despair not far ahead."
Crow's descriptions of Moth and Ring merely scratched the surface, revealing only the tip of the iceberg.
Even so, it was enough to send Bai Zhou's imagination racing.
"This world is divided into black and white, yin and yang, the Four Images and Five Elements. Fate Principles are likewise categorized into twelve attributes."
"They influence personality, reflect past lives, and foreshadow future destiny. They are the most mystical phenomena in this world."
The firelight dimmed slightly. Beneath the shadows of the layered veils, the shadow behind Crow gradually lengthened.
"What I just mentioned, as well as your Chen, each make up one-twelfth of them."
Her finger traced through the air once more, and the moth and the ring vanished.
Only a black sun woven from tangled lines remained suspended on the paper.
—Its name was Chen.
"There is a secret little-known even within occult circles..."
Crow said, "In truth, every Fate Principle attribute has a most compatible Extraordinary Pathway."
"You can embark upon any pathway to become an Extraordinary."
"However, only by aligning with that fated pathway can your upper limit be freed from constraint."
"Not only does this imbue secret techniques with Fate Principle properties, multiplying their power..."
"As you delve deeper into the pathway, you may even awaken special talents like 'Incantationless Casting' or 'Danger Sense,' gaining miraculous and wondrous efficacy."
Crow waved her hand lightly through the air in front of her.
"Take me, for example—"
"My Fate Principle attribute is naturally compatible with the Hunter Pathway, which led me to serendipitously gain the power to command shadows."
Shadows, surging like living things, instantly crawled up from beneath Crow's feet, winding around her ankles like growing thorns and coiling continuously upward into the air.
They rose level with Crow's gaze.
Crow raised her hand lightly and plucked a pitch-black shadow rose from the tip of the thorn that had grown before her eyes.
"—Normally, people no longer refer to such individuals simply as 'Extraordinaries.'"
"Because their future lies far above that of ordinary Extraordinaries. They are the fortunate ones blessed by knowledge and favored by destiny."
"To distinguish them, people prefer to call them..."
"'The Destined.'"
"And the corresponding pathways are known as Destiny Sequences! Or the Twelve Destiny Pathways!"
The Twelve... Destiny Pathways.
Bai Zhou held his breath.
"Then the Destiny Sequence corresponding to my Fate Principle, Chen, is...?"
He caught the implication in Crow's words.
Crow was a Hunter, a Destined.
Yet the Destiny Sequence corresponding to Chen was almost certainly not the Hunter Pathway...
"That is precisely what I want to tell you."
Crow waved away the shadow rose into the air and looked down at the black sun traced upon the paper.
"The reason the Destined are so rare is that every Extraordinary Pathway is secret and fragmentary, and some pathways have been lost for a very long time."
"Even for me, the Hunter Pathway I possess is far from complete..."
She shook her head as she spoke.
"Unfortunately, the Destiny Sequence corresponding to Chen vanished hundreds of years ago."
"The last two recorded appearances of a Destined of this pathway..."
"One was hundreds of years ago in the Eastern Federation: Emperor Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, who buried the Eternal Heaven of the steppes."
"The other was an ancient, secret Extraordinary clan in Sweden of the Western Federation—the House of Beowulf."
"Rumor has it their ancestor was a dragon slayer who possessed a relatively complete inheritance of this pathway... but that clan was wiped out seven hundred years ago as well."
Saying so, Crow traced a light line on the table.
"This long-lost pathway once boasted an extraordinarily glorious history. In certain eras, it was even called the 'Dragon Slayer' Pathway..."
"Later on, people collectively came to call it..."
"'Adventurer'!"
A line of fire swept from her fingertip. Beside the tangled black sun, a symbol appeared.
It was a diamond-shaped shield, with a saber and a sword crossed in front of it.
"Balanced in offense and defense, daring in exploration."
"Among the Twelve Destiny Pathways, it ranks first in combat."
Crow explained, "This is the corresponding emblem of the Adventurer Pathway."
The Adventurer... Pathway?
Bai Zhou's pupils narrowed slightly.
He stared at the emblem on the table, his heart pounding hard.
*The lost Adventurer Pathway...?*
—Yet that exact same emblem was right there on *Holy Oath Slash*.
In fact, marks and symbols like this... on that ancient battlefield beneath the upside-down colossal city...
Were scattered everywhere!
Chapter 15