I Can Extract Divine Power

In just a few breaths, the power of Heaven and Earth faded completely, and the lake before him returned to normal in an instant.

The monstrous face was gone, and everything had vanished without a trace. All that remained were gentle breezes arriving from all directions, sending ripples across the lake and causing the ethereal figure’s robes to flutter.

The scene before him began to blur, as if some mighty being were wiping it away by hand, erasing the landscape entirely.

When the scene sharpened once more, Shen Bai found he was back in the five-story building.

"Heaven and Earth as the Array, to Seal all things."

Shen Bai opened his eyes, having absorbed all the Information.

He raised his hand, forming an Array from his Qi.

A fist-sized Array bloomed in Shen Bai’s palm.

’Such powerful Sealing Power.’ Shen Bai’s eyes narrowed.

After reaching Level 6, his Mixed Element Array-Breaking Technique didn’t just double its previous attributes; it also gained a new one: the Seal Attribute.

Just as the name implied, the Seal could be used to suppress his enemies.

His original Arrays could also Seal, but that was an effect achieved by casting various specific Arrays, and none were as potent as this new, innate Attribute.

As long as an enemy was within the Seal’s range, Shen Bai could trap them for as long as he wished.

’This is really something,’ Shen Bai mused, rubbing his chin.

If he ever ran into an enemy he couldn’t defeat, he could use the Array’s sealing ability.

Even if it couldn’t trap them completely, it could still hinder them enough to buy him time to escape.

At this thought, Shen Bai decided to head out.

He had assigned the tasks yesterday.

The tasks were demanding, but with the large number of personnel dispatched from Nanxing Prefecture, they should have found some leads on the first one by now.

Though Shen Bai was eager to grind his Divination Divine Power, he decided to put it on hold. He would deal with it after resolving the current situation.

After all, the Mysterious City was set to descend tomorrow; he needed to get a clear picture of the situation first.

With this in mind, Shen Bai was about to open the door.

Just then, the sound of footsteps suddenly reached him.

Shen Bai recognized them as Zheng Xing’s.

He stopped and sat back down.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door.

"Lord Shen, we have news," Zheng Xing said from outside the door.

"Come in and tell me," Shen Bai said.

Zheng Xing pushed the door open.

Zheng Xing walked in, placed the folded report he was holding on Shen Bai’s desk, and said, "Lord Shen, we’ve finished our investigation into the Mysterious City. It’s all in here."

Shen Bai nodded, picked up the report, and began to read it carefully.

The report was dense with information. The further Shen Bai read, the more his brow furrowed.

Once, in an unknown age, there was an ancient city.

The city was exceptionally prosperous. Its industries flourished, growing as strong and bright as the midday sun.

Fengyue Street and Strong Sale Street, which Shen Bai had mentioned before, were also from that city.

The city was named Sunset City.

As time went on, the City Lord of Sunset City had a daughter.

But this very daughter would bring a devastating blow to Sunset City.

At the moment of the City Lord’s daughter’s birth, the skies changed color, and disaster fell upon the prosperous city like a meteor shower.

Within a few days and nights, the once-thriving city seemed to have plunged into hell.

And the source of it all was the City Lord’s daughter, a girl named Red Makeup.

The City Lord used his immense power to suppress the initial chaos, restoring the city’s former prosperity. He also raised his daughter to adulthood.

What had been a scene of divine wrath and public outrage was gradually brought under control by the City Lord’s skillful means.

Just when it seemed peace had been restored, Red Makeup began to grow up.

As Red Makeup grew, her stunning beauty was revealed to the world. But so too was the terror that clung to her, like a harbinger of calamity.

The disasters grew harder to contain. Even the City Lord’s power was becoming insufficient to suppress them.

Disaster once again swept through the city.

Public resentment flared, and the people were once again plunged into misery.

The City Lord of Sunset City made a decision.

He killed his own daughter with his own hands, burning her body to ashes in an attempt to resolve Sunset City’s crisis.

Once Red Makeup was turned to ash, gone from existence, all the disasters vanished.

The people cheered. The prosperity of Sunset City returned to the world once more.

Shen Bai paused his reading to collect his thoughts.

’There’s more to it than this,’ he thought.

If the story ended there, Sunset City wouldn’t have become the Mysterious City, and Red Makeup wouldn’t have appeared in that form.

With this in mind, Shen Bai continued to read.

After Sunset City returned to normal, life went on, and its prosperity grew with each passing day.

But then the City Lord received some news.

The widespread disasters hadn’t been caused by Red Makeup at all. Someone had merely used her birth as an opportunity to ensure he would have no heirs.

The report didn’t say who, only that the calamities that befell Sunset City were all part of an enemy’s plot to frame Red Makeup.

Having lost his daughter and been deceived, the City Lord flew into a rage and began hunting for his enemy.

But then, paper portraits of Red Makeup began to appear everywhere—on street corners, in back alleys, even falling from the sky.

In the portraits, Red Makeup wore a ferocious expression, like a vengeful spirit demanding a life.

The people grew terrified. Some claimed to have seen a paper-doll-like figure of Red Makeup at night, appearing deep within dark alleys.

The City Lord found his enemy and eliminated them, but he was powerless against the endless portraits of Red Makeup.

The enemy had used Red Makeup’s lingering resentment to create a terrifying paranormal entity.