“Hmm?” He Kan instinctively showed a gentle smile. It was a habit he had developed over his two lifetimes. In his first life, he was a university student who hadn’t yet graduated, and in his second, he was a newly adult male spider cub. His spider mother loved it when he smiled sweetly.
At the very least, every time he smiled like this, they would always look at him with deep affection.
He Kan realized that the person in front of him had noticed his earlier actions.
There was nothing worth hiding, so He Kan spoke frankly: “I just felt like something was watching me, and it felt a bit oppressive.”
From the moment Li Sishi began speaking, everyone had already turned their attention to He Kan. He Kan tied back his long hair, which had been covering his face. He Kan tied his long hair that had been covering his face behind his head. His hair was too black, as black as ink, and his facial features were deep, but perhaps because of his young age, you could still see some of the childishness of a young man.
This young man was very tall, half a head taller than the tallest middle-aged man present. He looked like he would continue to grow even more. His slender frame, combined with his towering height, gave off a somewhat delicate impression.
Tall, slender, with inky-black eyes, and a gentle smile.
At first, everyone was a bit stunned, wondering why they hadn’t noticed him before. He clearly didn’t seem ordinary. After hearing Li Sishi’s words, they all looked toward the “Shou Lao” on the platform.
Everyone knew that from the moment they entered, “Shou Lao” had been staring at them with a ravenous expression.
“It’s not his gaze,” He Kan shook his head. “The one I felt was even more oppressive and greedy.”
“Then your talent must be quite remarkable,” Li Sishi said with a smile, but she didn’t elaborate further. Nor did she explain who exactly owned the gaze He Kan had felt.
Shou Lao also heard He Kan’s words and seemed to understand the reason. Floating in mid-air, he let out a raspy, menacing laugh, as if mocking them.
“Stretch out your hand,” Li Sishi said casually, indicating for He Kan to continue with the talent test.
He Kan raised an eyebrow slightly in thought.
It seemed he had been overthinking it. Although that hidden gaze felt strange, the people of Jiantiansi clearly knew about it. Judging by Li Sishi’s calm demeanor, it was nothing unusual, and anyone with knowledge should be aware of it.
Interesting.
He Kan silently extended his arm, and with a quick slash of the sharp dagger, a wound appeared on his arm, and fresh, red blood immediately started flowing.
“!” Shou Lao’s grim smile paused, and his old face looked straight at He Kan’s position, to be precise, He Kan’s arm. His pair of squinting eyes drooped down. He had never opened them seriously from the beginning. At this time, he finally opened them, revealing the inhuman green eyes inside.
His beast-like eyes were filled with a ravenous hunger.
With a swift motion, Shou Lao appeared beneath He Kan’s hand, his long, thin tongue licking the blood drops as they fell.
As soon as the blood hit his tongue, Shou Lao narrowed his eyes and showed a satisfied expression.
After a long moment, Shou Lao opened his eyes again, still staring intently at He Kan’s arm, clearly wanting to taste more blood.
But He Kan, already covering his wound, leisurely took a step back the moment Shou Lao eagerly approached. He completely ignored the creature’s longing gaze.
was somewhat reluctant, his old and disgusting face lowered, but his eyes still looked at He Kan’s position from time to time, and he had no intention of continuing to check.
Li Sishi frowned and urged him, “Hurry up.” She had no intention of indulging Shou Lao.
To put it bluntly, no matter how human Shou Lao’s exterior appeared, he was still a monster at his core.
One of the defining traits of monsters was their love for blood sacrifices. Shou Lao couldn’t care less about any mission; if Li Sishi gave him even the slightest opening, he would devour her and the entire group without hesitation.
Shou Lao hadn’t been killed when captured by Jiantiansi, and he was kept in this testing hall not because he was harmless, but because he was controllable. Essentially, he preyed on the weak but feared the strong.
Under Li Sishi’s urging, Shou Lao reluctantly continued the test, though clearly intimidated. A symbol appeared on the white paper atop the platform.
It was a talisman.
But this talisman was exceptionally radiant, its edges nearly glowing golden.
“Why is it a support-type talent?” Li Sishi’s expression changed. She instinctively grabbed the paper, repeatedly confirming the talisman symbol. Even so, she couldn’t help but glance at Shou Lao and frown. “Did you make a mistake?”
“How can someone who sensed the pressure from below be support-type?”
“Hiss!” Shou Lao, already dissatisfied by Li Sishi’s earlier threats, hissed angrily at her doubts. She was questioning his abilities. He immediately let out a furious snarl.
When had he ever been wrong about someone’s talent? This youth’s blood tasted exactly like that!
Seeing Shou Lao’s genuine anger, Li Sishi believed him. That meant this exceptionally gifted youth was really a support-type?
Wait, that can’t be right.
Li Sishi recalled her encounter earlier with the people from the Yizhengsi Division, when Commander Zhou Ping had mentioned that a promising youth would arrive in the next few days. He had even shown her a portrait, and she remembered clearly—it was young man.
But Commander Zhou Ping had said that this young man’s talent was exceptional. When he encountered a monster, his talent had awakened and instinctively retaliated, devouring the creature that was being sacrificed.
This highly aggressive ability clearly belongs to the combat class, and now you’re saying it suddenly turned into a support class?
Li Sishi didn’t want to believe it, but everything that was happening told her it was true. Oh, Zhou Ping had also said one thing right—Li Sishi looked at the talisman on the white paper in her hand, its golden edges nearly bursting out, and that was that this kid’s ability was indeed powerful.
“Actually, Shou Lao might not be wrong.” A voice suddenly appeared in the conversation, and both the furious person and the monster simultaneously looked at He Kan not far away.
“It’s likely that my ability is just a little unusual. It really might be support-based.” Under Li Sishi’s gaze, He Kan gave a somewhat embarrassed, polite smile.
In fact, He Kan was quite surprised himself when he first saw the talisman on the paper. No matter how you look at it, judging by the nature of the Buddha Bone Demon Spider, it clearly wasn’t a support ability, right? Especially during the time when the immature Buddha Bone Demon Spiders were dominated by their appetite—they devoured everything in their path like locusts.
But upon closer, more careful reflection, He Kan thought it didn’t seem so wrong after all. Strictly speaking, the Buddha Bone Demon Spider might really be considered a support class, given that it once served as the totem of a human empire.
The bronze vessels that appeared in He Kan’s vision earlier were related to this reason.
Overseeing sacrifices, offerings, and veneration—from honoring the heavens above to respecting the customs of the seasons below—how could this not be considered support? The only problem was that the Buddha Bone Demon Spider’s brutal nature had warped its supportive role into something more violent.
He Kan rested his chin in his hand, pondering. The ability of this monster called “Shou Lao” seemed interesting, being able to detect something so deep.
“…” Hearing this, Li Sishi had a complicated expression. Did he even realize what he was saying?
If Zhou Pingsi hadn’t already briefed her beforehand, Li Sishi might have actually believed his nonsense. Who has a support ability that devours mosnters?
Looking at the black-haired young man’s smile, with his towering height and aggressive features, this innocent smile somehow softened the sharpness of his looks, leaving Li Sishi with a strange stomachache. She had a gut feeling that this kid wasn’t as harmless as he appeared.
His personality was definitely just like his ability—a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Li Sishi silently vowed in her heart.
But then again, the Jiantiansi had its fair share of oddballs, and Li Sishi had grown used to it. This one was just a little more peculiar than usual. No big deal, she convinced herself.
…
“Alright, fine. Your ability is special, so I won’t say much. In the end, it’s not my headache to deal with anyway.” Li Sishi waved her hand dismissively as she spoke, her tone almost gleeful as if glad to pass on the problem. “You could be a mage or a monster specialist, either works.”
He Kan sensed that this didn’t sound like a compliment, and was about to ask more when—
“Ahem, now that everyone’s been tested, I’ll take you all to the Confucian Pavilion. There are people there who specialize in guidance,” Li Sishi quickly moved on to the next step, turning to address the rest of the group.
At some point, Shou Lao had already returned to the Buddha shrine, resuming his statue-like form, his menacing face quietly watching the group.
Meanwhile…
The Jiantiansi prison in Daqi City was truly impenetrable—nothing, not even a fly, could get in.
Of course, there were always exceptions.
For example, when the leader of the merchant caravan died, far away in the capital of the Daxia Dynasty—Shangdu, a family mansion with strict guards, swarms of slaves, and carved beams and painted buildings. The dark and damp ancestral hall seemed as though it could drip water. Various ancestral tablets silently watched over the place from above.
At the bottom of the hall, on the lowest platform.
A precariously flickering bronze lamp remained, its oil still intact, though the flame had already extinguished.
Once the person guarding the lamp confirmed the flame was truly out, they respectfully exited the ancestral hall and made their way to a study deep within the family’s old residence to report to a certain important figure.
“You’re saying Zhongze is dead?”
“Yes, master. Lord Ze took his own life after receiving the message. I saw the life lamp extinguished with my own eyes.”
“Ah, the Jiantiansi… if those patrolling officers were not too difficult to deal with and had not made trouble in front of the Grand Supervisor from time to time, I would not have resorted to such a desperate measure.” The important figure sat upright in the unlit study, their appearance obscured by the darkness. They seemed to be lamenting something, their tone full of dissatisfaction with the Jiantiansi.
The servant remained deeply bowed, displaying utmost respect.
“That blood sacrifice was rather fortunate, awakening during the sacrificial ceremony and even being noticed by those stick-in-the-mud folks in Daqi City. It seems I’ll need to come up with another plan.”
