Although the Eighth-Rank Great Luo possesses immense supernatural abilities, he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent.
Especially when a being above the Sixth-Rank is determined to hide, it becomes extremely difficult to locate him.
However, there are distinctions within this.
After all, no one or deity could ever imagine that the foreigner who displayed extraordinary power in the New Territories harbor last time was connected to the newly emerged Supreme Council on the Sel Continent.
Wu Ming’s intention was precisely to lure the snake out of its cave.
He never truly expected the Mercenary Guild to provide useful information. However, if someone from that mysterious organization saw this and came looking for him, that would be even better.
No matter what schemes, traps, or assassination attempts they employed, would he ever be afraid?
Rather, those who came knocking would get to experience the thrill of hunting a Tyrannosaurus rex or fishing for a great white shark.
“If this matter were handed over to the Western pantheon, with the churches’ networks and resources, perhaps results could be achieved more quickly… Unfortunately… the matter of the Infinite Serpent is too confidential; fewer people who know about it is better.”
Even if the divine churches had the slightest clue about this Ouroboros organization, they would likely dismiss it as a false deity cult, never realizing the immense terror hidden behind it.
“A bounty task? And even an intelligence-based one?”
The girl behind the counter was clearly taken aback. She then accepted the ring, carefully recorded its appearance, not even overlooking the patterns engraved on it, meticulously sketching them down.
“Please wait a moment, sir!”
She returned the ring to Wu Ming and took the copied patterns into the back room, only coming out half an hour later: “We have confirmed that there is no similar information in our database, so it is temporarily categorized as a Class C task, with the difficulty level subject to future adjustments… Currently, you need to pay one thousand gold shields as a deposit. Of course, an equivalent value in gold Wu Zhu coins is also acceptable.”
“Do you accept gold notes from the Taozhu Mansion?”
Even with a small space ring, the wealthy rarely carried large amounts of gold coins on their person, preferring to use notes instead.
After all, they could arrange special withdrawal methods with the temple, and even if the gold notes were stolen, they could immediately halt the loss, while also offering great convenience.
“We do accept them!”
The girl was momentarily surprised but then smiled in reply: “However, it requires going through a procedure at our Wealth Temple, so a one percent handling fee is required…”
“That’s fine…”
Wu Ming handed over a note bearing a divine imprint, secretly amused at how the Western god of wealth probably didn’t hold Taozhu Gong, a competitor from the East, in particularly high regard.
He did have gold coins on him, but most were from the Sel Continent, bearing William’s portrait, which would naturally be too conspicuous for Wu Ming, who was temporarily disguising himself as an Easterner.
After paying an additional ten gold shields, the girl quickly returned with a response: “The Class C task registration is complete. The task list has been updated. Please, sir, leave your contact information so we can notify you immediately once we have any news!”
“Very well. However, I plan to travel across the Western Continent for a while. I can check in at the Mercenary Guilds periodically to collect any updates myself. How does that sound?”
Wu Ming replied casually.
“No problem at all. Our Mercenary Guild shares information across the entire Western Continent!”
The girl replied confidently.
…
After completing the procedures, Wu Ming left the counter and entered the task hall.
The noisy hall was filled with the smell of rum and roasted meat. In the middle were rows of long tables, where mercenaries gathered in small groups, eating roasted meat and drinking rum, discussing recent tasks—how an adventurer who explored a dragon’s lair had struck it rich, or how some unlucky fellow got soundly beaten while clearing kobolds and returned in disgrace.
Some drunken adventurers and mercenaries even started groping the buxom barmaids, prompting squeals of protest.
Of course, more people were gathered around the task board, watching the glowing letters shift and change.
Just like the Eastern Federation, the task board here was constantly updated, clearly manipulated by wizards behind the scenes.
“Class C Task—Clue Bounty! Mr. Wu from the East seeks information regarding a certain ring. If the information is initially verified, a reward of eight hundred gold shields will be offered!”
A new message popped up in the Class C task section, with an attached image and pattern of the Ouroboros ring at the end, appearing extremely realistic.
“3D imaging?”
Wu Ming looked on, slightly surprised, realizing that the Western nations’ light and shadow magic had developed to an astonishing degree.
“Ah… just providing a piece of information can fetch over eight hundred gold shields… gods above…”
A tipsy mercenary laughed loudly: “If someone actually knows something, they’d truly strike it rich!”
The other mercenaries laughed along, except for a few whose expressions turned serious: “Being classified as Class C means even the Mercenary Guild has no information on it—it must be no simple matter…”
“That… is the Ouroboros Ring?”
In a corner of the Mercenary Guild, several hooded figures looked at the image of the Ouroboros ring and suddenly tensed: “How daring of this person!”
“Damn it! Doesn’t this fool realize he’s alerting them?”
One hood was lifted, revealing a beautiful face with eyes like black pearls, smooth white skin, and a cascade of black hair flowing down—clearly of Eastern descent.
Yet at this moment, her face was filled with indignation: “Which reckless fool is this? Doesn’t he realize he’s alerting them?”
“Calm down, Yingyue!”
Seeing this, a burly man beside her could only console her helplessly: “This time, not only the Fufeng Protectorate but even the Empire has increased the reward. There are official teams involved, not to mention countless private noble families eyeing it greedily. How could we possibly keep track? This is just another rich brat; we don’t need to pay him any attention!”
“But…”
Yingyue, her chest heaving with anger, said: “He’s completely disrupted our plans!”
“Yeah, who is this reckless fool anyway!”
A handsome young man from the Dachang Empire muttered, lowering his voice: “That mysterious organization can deploy a group of high-level professionals without any reputation in the West, clearly indicating their immense power and mastery of concealment. This kid is so showy—he might have already drawn their attention. Tomorrow, his corpse might be dumped into a sewer!”
He couldn’t help but show a hint of schadenfreude, clearly harboring no goodwill towards this individual who had disrupted their team’s plans.
“That’s a bit pitiful…”
Yingyue’s face showed hesitation: “Uncle, should we rescue him? After all, he’s also a citizen of the Empire! Perhaps we even know his family!”
“Ah…”
The leader of the group, an old man with a white goatee beard, sighed deeply: “Alright then! I’ll stay up tonight and see what this reckless fool can attract…”
“I knew Uncle was the kindest!”
Yingyue smiled brightly, unaware of the glint of cunning that flashed across the old man’s eyes.
Indeed, as a seasoned veteran of the underworld, any traces of kindness or compassion had long been cast into some distant realm. Let alone risking his life for a stranger in a foreign land—did he still think of himself as an innocent young girl?
The old man’s true intention was to use that reckless young man as bait, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious organization’s traces.
If the person could be saved, then it was just his good fortune; if not, then it was his own fault—his bad luck.
Yet, even he failed to realize that their every word and action had already been noticed by the very “reckless fool” they were discussing.
“Never thought I’d see people from the Dachang Empire here, and even investigating the Ouroboros organization…”
Wu Ming occupied a long table alone. Although he wasn’t paying much attention, the entire Mercenary Guild’s reactions, especially the moment the task was posted, automatically flowed into his mind.
If the Ouroboros organization truly had spies here, their emotional fluctuations at that moment would not have escaped his notice.
Unfortunately, the mercenaries were still mostly astonished by the reward amount, without revealing any valuable clues.
By sheer coincidence, however, he had discovered a group with the same objective as his own.
“Not official investigators, but rather self-funded civilian groups—perhaps members of a noble family?”
After listening carefully to their entire conversation, Wu Ming stroked his chin: “That girl has a kind heart, but the rest are all sly old foxes…”
He had intended to lure the snake out, yet only caught a group like this, leaving Wu Ming feeling somewhat unimpressed.
“Of course… it’s still early. Once the news spreads, more people will come looking!”
As for this, Wu Ming was not in the least bit anxious.
After all, his current plan was to travel extensively across the Western Continent. Now that he had reached the Great Luo stage, time was infinite. Experiencing the vicissitudes of life, exploring more worlds, and understanding different power systems could all contribute to his accumulation, preparing him for future breakthroughs.
Once a power system reaches the Sixth-Rank or above, it begins to touch upon the essence and the forces of rules, essentially becoming interconnected.
Let alone the fact that in the West, besides the divine path, there are also powerful liches, archmages, and witchcraft masters, whose peak abilities rival those of deities!
Such paths naturally held a certain appeal for Wu Ming.
“And what about the Eastern cultivation system? I wonder how it compares to mine?”
Wu Ming’s own path initially drew from the cultivation system of the Great Zhou world. Then, with the aid of the Main Temple, he traversed countless realms, continuously improving, and ultimately established his foundation upon the Great Dao of the world, far surpassing the original scope of the “Huang Ting Yin Fu Jing.”
As for the cultivation system in this world, what form had it taken? It truly intrigued Wu Ming.
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