Knowledge

He was the one who sent the shadow after me?!?!

Cui Len'an was dumbfounded and couldn't help but blurt out, "Why?"

"Why? It was a mere test to see if you are able to keep your calm in a desperate situation. The shadow was merely a manifestation of my desire to spy on your actions," Old Lao said with a satisfied smile, "I am rather impressed with your quick thinking."

"I do apologize for intruding into your life…" He coughed lightly.

Seriously?!?

"I also apologize for leaving abruptly yesterday, I had some other things to do," He didn't leave any chance for Cui Len'an to speak and continued with a deadpan expression.

"Old Man, you can't just come without telling me in advance…" Cui Len'an raised his eyebrows with annoyance, Old Lao looked at him with a deadpan face.

This Old Man is unpredictable!

He felt he was unable to guess what Old Lao is thinking in his head, he also didn't want to know…

"I mean it's a pretty huge house, I could come in without making my presence known," He grinned smugly, "I see you're keeping the dagger safe with you."

"You were right about one thing last night; the dagger was indeed attracting the shadow."

Cui Len'an came up with a deduction last night that the dagger had some sort of effect on the shadow but he didn't think it could have had any connection to Old Lao.

If Cui Len'an were to know Old Lao personally, he would've known by then Old Lao was the one who sent the shadow. After all, Old Lao who had gifted him the dagger…

Then again, Cui Len'an hasn't known him for more than a day. Today, he figured out one of Old Lao's traits, he is a mischievous old man!

I am not sure if I am able to trust him...

"You don't have to worry about it, I always send the shadow after my clients to see if they listen to me. You aren't that special," He continued with a deadpan expression and revealed, "The dagger is a living artifact."

"…"

This! He believed I should have already known by now…

Old Lao wasn't shocked by Cui Len'an's unsurprised face and coughed light, "I am still outside. What kind of person let their guests stay outside?"

Cui Len'an was knocked out of his thought and remembered to open the doors widely, to let Old Lao and the young lady pushing him to enter.

He was still thinking of the eyes from last night, the question remained unanswered. He wanted to ask Old Lao but his hidden intuition had silently signaled for him not to say anything, sending him a shudder.

It indirectly informed him of his current status, a weak and incapable man.

"The dagger is the only living artifact out of the three materials I gave you," He was pushed to the living room and stayed next to the cushion in his wheelchair, "It has quite an impressive background and was also extremely challenging to forge it."

"Plus, the only way to subdue its attraction of shadows and aura is to wear it along with the Mind-Calming necklace I gifted you. I didn't deliberately tell you in advance in order for you to go through some difficulty and get used to it."

No wonder it had stopped trembling and emitting its aura after I had donned the necklace…

Forge it? It was forged?

Cui Len'an stopped in his track and made a guess,

A living artifact? An impressive background? Challenging to forge? If I were to put it simply and altogether, it would have sounded like the artifact was forged with a lady's hand while she was still living or suffering, no?

It sounded non-sense but the appearance of the dagger does indicate something of its background…

"Forged with the blood of a maiden. The maiden had her wrists cut by a bunch of your kind, nasty and filthy rich people," He stared forward without giving him any look, "Apparently, she stole their money to give away to the suffering children and was eventually caught."

"She was tortured for seven nights and eventually bled to death, filled with resentment and hatred for the upper-classmen," Old Lao lowered his head and spoke gloomily, "Her death is one of the many unreported cases where the upper-classmen hid them away from the public eyes."

Cui Len'an wasn't surprised, he had known how the upperclassmen had acted back in his glorious days. He had seen with his own eyes the way he and others had treated lower caste citizens.

Money and pleasure blinded their views to the constant abuse others had to face while they party in their villas.

"How did you retrieve her blood? Who even dared do this?"

"The Above had sent a revelation and I was sent to retrieve her blood," He continued as he turned his face toward Cui Len'an and said meaningfully, "Wen Dong and Zhu Bai."

Those two f*ckers!

Cui Len'an eyes shook with unrestrained disgust and hatred, he knew the two of them very well.

Wen Dong and Zhu Bai, two troublemakers in the rich social circle, were from partnering families and rivals to the Cui Family. They were much worse and more extreme than Cui Len'an. Rumors of them abusing their servants were countless and all of them were too extreme.

One of those rumors was Zhu Bai throwing acid at the servant and damaging her face…They were all dismissed by the Zhu Family as fake news and were strongly backed by the Wen Family.

The case was eventually blacked out of existence, the servant disappeared as well.

Disgusting pieces of trash!

Fury ignited inside of Cui Len'an's head; the dagger next to him slightly trembled as he gripped it tightly.

"Don't you think it's heart-wrenching for her to die this way? By the time I had found her, her corpse was ridden by rats," Old Lao said with regret, "The dagger was forged using her resentment and her hatred."

"Its power is quite special and suitable to couple it with your power and background," He laughed bitterly and pointed at the dagger on him, "It seems to have accepted you as its owner."

Cui Len'an continued holding it and took it out, the handle adjusted comfortably to his hand, "What are its power and goal?"

"Its most mighty power is…" He smiled mysteriously, "To absorb the power of others."

"And also stabbing people," He added at the end.

"Others? Do you mean anything as in things and people?" Cui Len'an asked him.

"Uh-huh! You could use it to absorb someone's energy or any item, especially Soul Fragments."

Soul Fragments? What is that?

Old Lao noticed his confusion and continued talking, "Soul Fragments are special abilities a particular group of fortunate humans could have."

A series of questions filled his head as he tried to make a guess,

"Soul Fragments are the power you currently have. I am more or less a messenger and helper for you so I cannot say I am knowledgeable about it. You can tell me when you want to even if you don't want to, I don't have the ability to force you."

"I noticed your special existence due to The Above's help and revelation, you were a rare case of soul transferring," His eyes dimmed, "Wei Yi was supposed to be the one with the power but it ended up in your hands…"

"Then again, both of you are one," He laughed wholeheartedly.

"Weren't you the one who had me reborn?"

"Somewhat...I only had to transfer remnants and do a couple of easy rituals to keep both of your mental stability balanced. It was like doing elementary school homework."

"..."

"Remnants are extremely rare with cases of death. Yours were the first I have ever encountered although I have studied about them for almost half of my lifetime."

Cui Len'an didn't speak for a whole while before asking strangely, "Could one of us take control of another?"

"Of course! The strong will eventually win," He smiled at him widely, "Its other uses include being able to merge with the innate body of its owner."

He paused for a while before continuing, "Only if they honored its wants and that is to make the wish they had when they were alive to come true."

"What is its goal exactly?"

"To kill Wen Dong and Zhu Bai, of course!"

I don't think I can go killing people…

Cui Len'an's features twitched as he refused inwardly.

"Don't you want to remake your image, An?" He quietly persuaded him using his calm and soothing voice, "You don't have to kill them directly. As long as they are gone, the dagger will eventually merge into your innate body, and could be used whenever and wherever you want."

No…I cannot kill anyone.

His morals wouldn't allow him to commit any wrongdoings, Old Lao tried to persuade him using a mind-pushing technique.

He sighed gloomily and stopped using the mind-pushing technique, "I know you can't eradicate anyone. Humiliating them is enough for the dagger."

"I can expose all of their crimes," Cui Len'an spoke after staying silent for a very long time, "but killing isn't in my list of ways of removing people."

"I'm sure humiliating and making their lives living hell are better than finishing them off," he said honestly with unemotional eyes.

"Good although it wouldn't be something I would do and plus it solely depends on the dagger's needs," Old Lao glanced at the dagger and advised, "Merging with it will be important later on."

"The Above expects a lot of things from you. You can say that they are depending on you."

"Do you mind if I ask what The Above is?" Cui Len'an asked eventually after multiple attempts to discern what The Above is in his head.

"It is one of the underground supernatural organizations. Its main goal is to collect the Soul Fragments of the ancient Elder God."

I have so many questions right now…

Is Soul Fragment the lie detector I currently have? It wasn't something anyone could just have…

"Many underground supernatural organizations want to collect all the soul fragments but they are unable to do so due to their lack of resources and information. Instead, they covet anyone having them such as you."

"You are one in a billion case of soul transmigration and also has potential. Although we can't uncover what power you have and certain things we do, we respect the privacy you have. Our organization operates independently and allows members to roam the world as long as they follow the rules."

"Since you were reborn, we have marked you as one of us…"

A fragment-collecting organization…one of the newest knowledge areas I have uncovered. Although I am not sure if I am considered to be blessed or cursed.

"You mentioned the Elder God? Could I ask who exactly is he or she?" Cui Len'an asked curiously and politely.

"The Elder God is the omnipotent and ominous ruler of the underground world! Before he died, he split his soul into fragments and were scattered across all universes. We aren't sure how many there are but those who have it are considered Blessed and also Cursed due to them having the potential to revive him but also face being coveted by evil organizations."

"You are one of them…" He muttered quietly.

"Soul Fragments? Are they all different from one another in appearance and with other usages?"

He believed not everyone will be a lie detector because that would be comical and unbelievable. Imagine being in a room and lying without knowing there are several lie-detecting humans dwelling…

"They are although I am not certain what powers they are," He said frankly, "The Above also cited even animals have the possibilities of having one!"

Oh, Lord! A lie-detecting dog…

He couldn't help but imagine the image of a dog looking suspiciously at him after he has lied to it about feeding it two cups of food.

"You may even find them among your family and friends," Old Lao muttered as he appeared solemn. He wasn't quite sure but it wasn't impossible to have more than one owner in one family.

Cui Len'an was dumbfounded and couldn't contain his inquisitiveness and excitement of obtaining new knowledge, asking multiple questions in one breath.

"What role do you play? What do I have to do? What does the Above want me to do? Is there any reward I get?"

"Are you deaf? I told you I am only here to provide you with help and guidance," Old Lao stared at him with a deadpan face and yawned, "You ask too many questions, my aged body cannot withstand all the questions."

"…"

"Old Lao was assigned to help you and The Above provided you with the Mind-Calming necklace and the Body-Strengthening," The young lady with a ponytail joined the conversation as she spoke softly in her sweet voice.

"You can call me Yue Lan. We came here specifically to inform you of certain things," She smiled sweetly at him, "It depends on how much you improve before we could tell you everything about our organization."

Oh! You're saying I have to work hard before I could learn about the function and all of the information of The Above. Old Lao could have just told me he could only tell certain things…

He immediately understood and nodded his head, with a warm smile.

Old Lao side-eyed him and sneered,

This dumb-braindead kid only appreciates it if a girl is explaining to him!

Yue Lan said politely, "We are giving you the opportunity to remake your image and inform you of the importance of the dagger for your future safety. It solely depends on you and what actions you need to take."

"We cannot provide any additional help other than this or control what you do."