Ji Ningshuang, who had personally watched Lin Mo take the God Refining Cauldron away, said somewhat unhappily, "Rulebound is so cautious. After eating, he even took the pot away."
Nether, however, didn't care.
He only looked at the A-rank divine artifact bracelet [One Heart] on Ji Ningshuang's wrist and said to her, "Can I borrow your divine artifact?"
"What for?", Ji Ningshuang hid the bracelet behind her and frowned, "You aren't thinking of taking my divine artifact, are you?"
"Just borrowing it," Nether said, "I'll return it later."
"Fine."
"If you screw me over, I'll kill you!"
After all, it was an A-rank divine artifact, a top-tier item at this stage.
Even though Ji Ningshuang was extremely reluctant to part with it, she still chose to trust Nether.
She took off [One Heart], removed its binding, and handed it to Nether.
Then Nether walked into the blacksmith shop.
He said to Mo Chen, who was using an ordinary forge to craft equipment, "Master, could you repair this item for me?"
Hearing this, Ji Ningshuang was stunned for a second.
Although she knew that equipment, divine artifacts, and similar items in the Divine Oracle world had durability and needed to be repaired when damaged.
That was precisely why blacksmiths existed.
But Ji Ningshuang clearly remembered that her divine artifact, One Heart, still had at least 80% durability.
"Is it broken?"
"It isn't broken! Wasn't it fine just now?"
"What is Nether doing?"
Just as Ji Ningshuang was completely confused, Mo Chen immediately recognized Nether as the person who had previously come to ask about the God Refining Cauldron, "It's you!"
After a pause, Mo Chen couldn't help feeling a little regretful, "You're too late. The God Refining Cauldron isn't with me anymore. Otherwise, with the God Refining Cauldron, I could easily repair any item for you."
"Right now, I only have an ordinary furnace, and I'll also need some repair materials."
Nether, however, immediately looked at the half-bottle of Divine Water sitting on the counter behind Mo Chen, left over from forging Lin Mo's Eternal Set just now.
He said, "But as far as I know, isn't Divine Water the most important core material for repairing a divine artifact?"
As soon as he finished speaking an old master craftsman from inside the blacksmith shop, who clearly looked like someone with an eye for money, came out and reminded him, "Divine Water is an extremely precious item on the Divine Oracle continent."
"Of course, if you're willing, you can use it to quickly repair a divine artifact. It's just that the price will be quite high."
Nether asked the old craftsman, "How much?"
The old craftsman held up one finger, "1,000 gold coins."
Nether didn't hesitate.
He turned around and looked at Ji Ningshuang behind him, "All my gold coins were dropped. Do you have money?"
She had also lost everything and dropped back to Level 0.
Yet even the shabby Level 0 beginner gear couldn't conceal Ji Ningshuang's striking figure. She folded her arms and said, "Guess."
1,000 gold coins.
At the official exchange rate of 1:0.21, that was equivalent to 2.1 million yuan.
Of course, for Ji Ningshuang, money was a minor issue.
She simply didn't understand, "Nether, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Forget it. I'll handle the money."
Ji Ningshuang couldn't be bothered to ask anymore.
She opened WeChat and made a few arrangements.
Before long, she withdrew 1,000 gold coins through the flashing mail.
As the "Boss's" goddaughter, Ji Ningshuang really did have some connections.
Nether handed the gold coins to the old craftsman.
Just as Mo Chen picked up the Divine Water and prepared to restore the divine artifact's durability in the ordinary furnace.
Nether suddenly said, "Forget it. Don't repair it for now."
"Please give me the Divine Water. I'll come back to repair it next time."
No one could figure out what Nether was trying to do.
But the old craftsman had already taken the money, so he still fetched a relatively small container, poured in the Divine Water, and handed it to Nether, "Adventurer, welcome back next time."
"This old bastard really has the style of a Divine Oracle merchant."
Ji Ningshuang suppressed the urge to kill the old craftsman and left the city with Nether.
———
Night covered the land.
After leaving Inferno City through the south gate, the two traveled to a dark graveyard.
The sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling came from all around, making one's hair stand on end.
And this place was none other than the Level 100 Forbidden Divine Land.
"Isn't this where that Ghost King is sealed?", Ji Ningshuang asked in confusion, "We didn't get the God Refining Cauldron, so we can't refine the Divine Binding Lock and release the Ghost King. Why are we here?"
Nether said, "Don't ask. You'll know soon."
According to the characteristics of the Forbidden Divine Land: the monsters in the Forbidden Divine Land would be sealed underground every night from ten to twelve.
It was currently ten-thirty at night.
Passing through this dead area, they went straight to the center of the Forbidden Divine Land, the Ghost King's Tomb.
Nether sprinkled the Divine Water he had just "scammed" from the blacksmith shop over the mound of earth.
The next moment...
Crack! Crack!
Green smoke immediately rose from the mound.
The golden chains sealing the mound, the Divine Binding Lock, actually began to corrode and dissolve under the Divine Water.
Seeing this, Ji Ningshuang was completely shocked.
"This... what's going on? How can this be happening!"
"Didn't they say that only the God Refining Cauldron could dissolve the Divine Binding Lock?"
The more shocked Ji Ningshuang was at this moment, the calmer Nether was.
The contrast between the two was stark.
"The only thing that can dissolve the Divine Binding Lock has always been Divine Water."
As soon as Nether finished speaking, Ji Ningshuang was even more baffled, "Then why did we enter the Dark Dungeon back then to find Mo Chen and specifically look for information about the God Refining Cauldron?"
"Could it be that what we were looking for back then wasn't the God Refining Cauldron at all, but Divine Water?"
"Mo Chen had Divine Water?"
Ji Ningshuang had guessed correctly.
After finding the Forbidden Divine Land and making their first deal with the Ghost King, Nether had learned from the Ghost King that the only thing capable of dissolving the Divine Binding Lock and releasing it from the Ghost King's Tomb was the Divine Water of the Divine Race.
Afterward, Nether made inquiries throughout Inferno City and learned that twenty years ago, the blacksmith Mo Chen of Inferno City had used Divine Water brought from the Divine Race by the seventh princess of the Divine Race, Siya, when repairing her Eternal Heart.
He suspected that Mo Chen might have some Divine Water left over.
So he deliberately went to great lengths to find Mo Chen's location, which led to their operation in the Dark Dungeon that night.
Ji Ningshuang realized it only afterward, "So if Rulebound hadn't entered the city and interfered that night, we might already have gotten the Divine Water from Mo Chen."
That night, their plan had been obstructed by Lin Mo. They failed to find Mo Chen and obtain the Divine Water from him.
They could only find another way.
Nether said, "Divine Water is a sacred treasure of the Divine Race, the highest race on the Divine Oracle continent. It only exists within the Divine Race's territory, and ordinary players can't enter the territory of a supreme race."
"That means we have no way of obtaining Divine Water ourselves."
"But Rulebound's pet, the Divine Descent Seraph, belongs to the Divine Race. With this divine-race pet, Rulebound can enter the territory of the Divine Race and obtain Divine Water much more easily than we can."
Ji Ningshuang suddenly understood, "So you deliberately let Rulebound believe that we needed to find the God Refining Cauldron and that only by using the God Refining Cauldron could we dissolve the Divine Binding Lock and release the Ghost King."
"You gave him the false information so that he would go looking for the God Refining Cauldron and prevent us from using it to release the Ghost King."
Nether said, "The God Refining Cauldron can only reach its full potential when combined with Divine Water. After Rulebound obtained the God Refining Cauldron, he would inevitably try every possible way to obtain Divine Water."
And later, through his inquiries with Mo Chen, Nether happened to learn that "Rulebound was also looking for these two things, Divine Water and the God Refining Cauldron, in order to forge the Eternal Set, the exclusive equipment for the Divine Descent Seraph."
Although Nether still didn't know that Lin Mo had deliberately let Mo Chen reveal this information to him at the time, with the purpose of making him believe that he was looking for the God Refining Cauldron and thereby using him and the "Boss" to help Lin Mo quickly obtain the remaining map fragments of the God Refining Cauldron from the other four Beast Race secondary main cities.
Of course, Lin Mo likewise didn't know that Nether's real target was Divine Water, not the God Refining Cauldron.
So the two were using each other.
A scheme within a scheme.
A trap within a trap.
A plan within a plan.
After learning the truth, Ji Ningshuang looked at Nether again, her eyes filled with shock.
She felt as if she and Nether were people from completely different worlds.
"I stupidly kept thinking that the thing we were looking for was really the God Refining Cauldron."
"So you're saying that when we later fought Rulebound for the God-Sealing Diagram fragments and the God Refining Cauldron, all of that was just an act for him to see, right? You wanted him to believe even more firmly that our target was the God Refining Cauldron."
"That way, your diversionary tactic could be carried out even more safely."
"Good! Good! Good! You really know how to play! You really know how to play! You even played me into it!"
Amid her shock, Ji Ningshuang thought of another question, "What method did you use to let Rulebound know that we needed to find the God Refining Cauldron to release the Ghost King?"
Nether remained silent and suddenly turned his head to look toward a dark area on his right.
BOOM!
As Nether lightly raised his right hand, a beam of red magical light descended from the sky, illuminating that dark area.
Within the darkness, a lurking figure suddenly appeared.
And that figure was the Level 68 Dark Wizard, Tyrannosaur!