World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 280 Be Blind First, Then See the Light
After reuniting with Zai, Lin An located the Countess based on the location of the "Little Man in the Bottle".

As he expected, Zai's "Dreamer" could cross the boundary between life and death, bringing Lin An to the same level as the Countess, and then causing the system to target her.

However, just like on the riverbank, the Countess always avoided death by relying on the "ascension" of the Lady with the Lantern and rode away on a red dragon.

Moreover, in order to take revenge on Lin An, she did not hesitate to abandon the idea of ​​using demons to fight against him in the illusion, but instead ordered all the demons in the "Great Demon Codex" who were in charge of war, chaos, lies, deception and division to come out in full force.

The evil born from the Great Key of King Solomon was like an uncontrolled wildfire, instantly setting the entire rainforest ablaze.

The Countess's radical and hateful revenge not only inadvertently caused Lin An's measurements to drop, but also enraged Zai.

His wavering affected the casting of the illusion, adding a lot of personal emotion. The third time, before Lin An could even get close, the Countess was startled and regained her senses, riding the red dragon away.

Although Lin An was worried about the situation of the Lion Clan, he knew that only by killing the instigator, Mariette, could the war be put out.

If we are distracted now to stop the fighting or to intervene with those rampant demons, we will not be able to stop the spread of war.

Because demons can return to the "Great Grimoire" at any time, the Countess only needs to move her staff and draw a few demonic incantations to start a new war.

Unfortunately, Zai didn't seem to understand this principle, because he said this to Lin An.

"This is the last time I'll take you into her dream, ranger. The rainforest cannot afford any more or greater losses."

“Mr. Zai, we cannot be distracted. We must concentrate on ending this mastermind. Otherwise, no matter how many demons we kill, we cannot cut off the mysterious source of the ‘War Emperor’. Moreover, once she regains consciousness, she may even bring more invaders.”

Lin An thought he couldn't bear the tragedy caused by the Countess, so he quickly advised him.

"We must not let her escape."

“I pray that your plan succeeds this time,” Zai said ambiguously, it was unclear whether he had taken it to heart. “In the ten minutes or so that we failed, hundreds more ghosts appeared in the rainforest, crying and cursing me for failing in my duty as a guardian.”

"..."

“As a father, I couldn’t protect my children; as a pastor, I couldn’t protect my believers; as the ‘ancestral spirit’ of the rainforest, I couldn’t protect any tribe.” Zai gave a self-deprecating smile. “The more you see, the blind you become.”

"Perhaps understanding the darkness allows us to better appreciate the light," Lin An said, putting an end to the dreamer's wild thoughts. "Let's try again."

"it is good."

Darkness flashed by and disappeared, followed by a somber and gloomy sky, resembling a scene from an 18th-century Dutch landscape painting. Lin An was situated on a fertile black soil, with daffodils blooming all over the hillsides.

All was silent except for the whispers of insects. The moon was dim and dull, its light clinging to the surface of everything like a veil of moon dust, outlining the silhouette of a distant church.

A clearly written house number is placed in the front yard, which reads "Kinssa, 215 Leopoldville Street".

A slight tremor came from behind the door. Lin An glanced at the door number on the ground and pushed the door open to enter.

"crunch..."

The scent of incense and candles wafted through the air, and the beams of light from the stained glass created a colorful triangle pattern on the floor.

The small, exquisite church had a dozen rows of wooden chairs, with hymns and scriptures placed in front of the kneeling cushions.

At the very front is a menacing cross, and on both sides of the corridor are magnificent altar paintings. T-shaped panels divide the scene into two diagonals, each composed of main characters.

A woman in a long dress was admiring a triptych. Lin An could make out her figure by the dim candlelight.

It was Countess Mariette van Hofwegen, her expression serene, her eyes filled with an empty, unvented love and overflowing sensuality.

Lin An held his breath and focused his consciousness into the "One Eye of God." The woman's upper body immediately transformed into a thick book about fifty centimeters wide, while her lower body remained human legs, dressed in somewhat tattered waterproof boots and trousers.

The cover of "The Great Grimoire" depicts the organs of the human upper body, from the throat to the small intestine, constantly writhing. A menacing red dragon extends its claws to firmly protect them, though from a certain perspective, it also resembles a greedy imprisonment.

As the level of contamination increased, the countess's body began to resemble her mysterious prototype.

When she heard Lin An's greeting and turned around, she deliberately stretched out her still-existing hands and flipped through "The Great Demon's Codex" until she stopped at a certain page.

Interspersed among the Latin, demonic, and French annotations is a pair of bloodshot blue eyes that dart about, scrutinizing Lin An's figure.

"My dear, you've finally arrived. You're ten minutes late."

Lin An imitated Kevin's attitude, showing an expression that matched Kevin's personality as closely as possible.

"I'm sorry, Mother, there were quite a few red lights along the way."

This time, he and Zai learned from their previous three failures and changed their strategy from a direct, all-out attack.

Considering the Countess's rising pollution levels and clouded cognition, Lin An suggested that Zai create a reassuring environment for her, use the [Life Swap] ability to transform into Kevin, approach her, take the mysterious item containing the "Lady with the Lamp," and then deliver a fatal blow.

Perhaps this hallucination just happened to overlap with a time in her memory when she was with her son, so much so that the countess, immersed in grief, pain and regret, could not distinguish between truth and falsehood.

“I’m already very happy that you can come with me, anyway.” She smiled slightly. “Since we returned to Bantu, we’ve rarely visited churches, especially those inferior chimeras of the ‘World Pentecostal Charity Organization,’ haven’t we?”

"Pentecostalism?"

“These are a group of rebellious priests, not tolerated by the mainstream. Most of them come from across the ocean and have modified the scriptures without permission, translating them into tongues and distributing them,” the Countess said. “But if everyone agrees, we can’t rule them so easily.”

"Although they say they'll help whoever wins, in reality, whoever they help wins."

Lin An gave a perfunctory reply while taking another step closer to her.

“Ah, that’s so true.” The Countess’s smile gradually narrowed. “That Tower of Babel must collapse, otherwise we can’t manipulate reality by manipulating faith.”

"Mother, I've always wanted to ask..."

"what happened?"

Lin An slowed his tone as he approached the countess, who had her hands behind her back.

After the previous struggle, he identified the mysterious item containing the "Lady with the Lamp"—an ivory-white carved ornament, shaped somewhat like a cigarette case or an urn.

Based on observation, it is currently located on page 129.

“Once the orbits of ‘Comers’ no longer overlap, will we continue to create division and conflict in Bantu?” “Of course, that was true for the past hundred years, and it will be true tomorrow. Because we must be agents of history, not victims.” The Countess looked at Lin An. “But you, why do you insist on stopping the Red Poppy Merchant Guild? You clearly don’t belong to Bantu.”

She found out.

Indeed, a mother who truly cares about her child is hard to fool.

The moment the Countess recognized him, the "Switch Life" option became invalid, and Lin An reverted to his original appearance. However, while the Countess hesitated, he had already subtly shortened the distance between them and suddenly made his move.

The small world of the Philosopher's Stone rotates, air currents surge, the entries of the Missina are poised to be released, and the laws of imprisonment crawl like snakes up the Countess's ankles, which have not yet become pages.

"Hahaha, what a waste of your energy, Ranger! Let me tell you, you can't kill me! And I will keep letting the demons instigate war until your people die from infighting! Do you regret it? Do you regret killing my son?"

"Don't make false accusations, Countess. It was clearly you who accidentally killed your son."

The bloody words irritated the Countess's mind. As the pages turned, her features coalesced into a furious expression, her lips parting to utter angry words.

"I want this rainforest to be buried with my son!"

Despite saying this, she did not choose to continue fighting Lin An head-on, but instead summoned the red dragon and turned to run away.

Knowing that Zai had just backed out, Lin An was afraid that there wouldn't be another chance, so he quickly did everything he could to stop him from leaving.

He held the One Eye of God in his left hand and the Philosopher's Stone in his right, which kept turning. Missina's Candlelight Prayer manifested as Hebrew characters that meandered upwards, effectively imprisoning the Countess's wandering soul with all three.

Just a little bit more!
Sensing that death was imminent, the Countess quickly turned to page 129, where an ivory-white urn materialized, less than a few centimeters away from Lin An.

However, before he could use the gesture to communicate with the gods and extract the medium of the "Lady with the Lamp," the moon outside the rose window suddenly cast a spell, trapping Lin An in a magic circle.

A hazy, dreamlike shadow floated in the veil-like air.

"What the hell is wrong now?"

With one unexpected incident after another, even Lin An couldn't help but swear.

Fortunately, even though the scene changed, the countess did not escape. She was trapped not far from Lin An, her figure constantly struggling and rolling, seemingly enduring unimaginable pain.

The system's data shows that her contamination level is rising at an alarming rate and is about to break through the dangerous 60% mark.

Is this... a dreamer?
Why is it that Zai, a legendary being, can use space to trap and influence a mythical countess?

Previously, whenever the Countess realized she was trapped and began to ride the great red dragon, Zai's illusionary boundaries would immediately shatter, allowing her to instantly slip into reality and escape.

Lin An felt like there was someone hiding next to him. He turned his head and saw that Zai was sitting right next to him.

At this moment, he was completely different from his usual unshaven, unkempt, and dirty appearance. He was dressed in a magnificent long robe, and under the moonlight, he looked like a shimmering white light, like a preacher.

His appearance also underwent a subtle and indescribable change; his eyes became clear and bright, his black hair was combed into a hanging braid, revealing a handsome and refined face.

This was the first time Lin An had seen what Zai looked like.

“Why are you stopping me, sir?” he asked. “I’m so close to achieving my goal. Don’t you want me to kill that woman?”

“Of course, but I don’t want you to die because of her.” Zai spoke for the first time without anger. “The full name of the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ that the leader of the Red Poppy Merchant Guild knows is ‘Rose Ascension’.”

"Rose...ascended to heaven?"

Lin An was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Zai doesn't know the name of this divine medium. Who exactly are you?"

“I am Zai.” The person next to him made a praying gesture. “I will do whatever God asks of me.”

“You are the priest of Stanislas Vabracombe.” Lin An recognized him. “You are the one who transformed Mr. Zai from an ordinary person into a legendary mystic. You are from a Bantu family… an ancient family?”

“That’s right, I am the only survivor.”

"Let's talk about the useful things."

The family member who called himself Zai Stanislas Vabracombe stared at Lin An with his bright eyes. Under his gaze, Lin An felt as if he were being stared at by a patient python, and his soul seemed to be captured.

Things are never as simple as they seem.

After a while, the pastor looked away and continued speaking in a gentle, harmless voice.

Lin An felt uneasy about the man's demeanor, but because of the intense battle, he couldn't let his mind wander.

"After the light appears, suffering will come; after the suffering subsides, roses will appear; after the roses disappear, destruction will come."

"What do you mean?" Lin An frowned.

There are three interpretations of the Ascension of the Rose: the first is to immerse oneself in suffering and gain enlightenment; the second is to maintain consciousness after death and await resurrection; and the third is to kill the enemy by destroying oneself.

Holy crap, it comes with its own death tag.

When Kevin was captured by Lin An, he was powerless to resist, but the Countess was different. The priest feared that she would fight Lin An to the death before she died.

"If I nullify the 'Lady with the Lamp' of this mysterious item, can this condition still be triggered?" Lin An asked tentatively.

“I saw you ‘nullify’ that amulet; it was quite amazing,” the priest chuckled. “But my advice is, don’t gamble with your life. After all, being struck by the word ‘Lady with the Lamp’ is almost a death sentence.”

"So, what good ideas do you have, Pastor?"

"To deal with the 'Lady with the Lamp,' you'd better also know a term from that world for self-defense, otherwise you may very well face irreversible and extreme danger," Priest Zay said gently.

"I also wanted to, but unfortunately, the people who were supposed to guide me to merge with 'The Lady with the Lamp' were either obsessed with building railways and making voice calls, or they were space debris on the Earth."

“Oh, let me do it,” Zai said with a smile. “Forest ranger, would you like to hear a song from the Bantu?”

(End of this chapter)