Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

"But Lingling is still too young, I've been doing some investigations over the past few years, and I've discovered that those who could produce a special death mark like that were no ordinary creatures, to the extent that I didn't even dare to look into it further, as I've begun to feel that something is threatening my life," said Leng Qing sternly.

Mo Fan was astounded. Leng Qing was a Vice Elder of the Magic Court, yet even she could not solve the case despite her power and strength?

What exactly were the things that would produce these dark red souls? Judging from Leng Qing's words, he was clearly aware that Lingling's father was a very outstanding Hunter!

"So about the investigations that Lingling is doing… she is so keen to hunt down demon beasts, and accept all kinds of quests, just to collect more information?" Mo Fan asked.

"Indeed. My identity is rather special, so once I go any deeper, the factions hiding in the dark would start interfering. It's more effective for Lingling to find clues from incidents related to demon beasts. After all, when I'm involved, things became different. Anything that's related would be wiped clean," said Leng Qing.

Mo Fan frowned. He could tell that the whole thing involved a huge secret.

However, Mo Fan was only worried about Leng Qing's safety. If Leng Qing had mentioned that the factions hiding in the dark would interfere once they investigated too deeply into the matter, didn't that mean Lingling would eventually stumble into them?

"Lingling isn't as simple as you think she is, just let her be. Even if we tried to stop her, she would still do it… she's only investigating the dark red soul, so it's not too big of a deal," Leng Qing said calmly.

"Senior Sister Leng Qing, it sounds like you know something discrete," said Mo Fan.

"Would it make any difference? Doing anything before you're powerful enough would only get yourself killed," said Leng Qing.

----

Leng Qing did not discuss the topic any further, but Mo Fan was already intrigued.

Mo Fan proceeded to find out more information about Lingling's father, and to his great surprise, her father, Qin Zhan, was a Senior Hunter!

The only time Mo Fan had met a Senior Hunter was during the incident of the Mother Scale Skin Phantom. He could never forget the astonishing sight of the giant blue beast stomping the stadium from above. The Senior Hunter was incredibly dignified, their presence accompanied by an imperious aura and epic background music!

How terrifying was a quest that killed a Senior Hunter without leaving any trace?

As Mo Fan tried to investigate further, he could no longer find anything useful. He was only an Advanced Hunter, thus the information he had access to was fairly limited...

Mo Fan tried asking Professor Qiu Yuhua, to see if he knew anything about the death mark.

The dark red mark was very unique. If he could understand the reason behind the color change of one's soul, he might be able to find more useful clues.

Unfortunately, even someone knowledgeable like Professor Qiu Yuhua was utterly clueless. He just raised his brows and asked curiously, "Since when can a soul be dark red?"

In the end, Mo Fan still could not find any useful information. Left with no choice, he decided to sell the Warrior-level Soul Essence.

There was no point in keeping it, since he was desperately in need of money to get himself a Contracted Beast. It was said that a Contracted Beast was a real money-burning commitment.

----

The vampire's Soul Essence was sold at a fairly high price: twenty-five million RMB, a huge sum of money.

Combined with the money he had earned from selling the Xuanwu Giant Lizard's corpse, he now had around forty million RMB. Even though the best Contracted Beasts were priced at around fifty million RMB, Mo Fan had no time to wait any further. It was best to improve his strength as soon as possible!

Mo Fan picked his lucky day. He always thought he had the plot armor and the temperament of a main protagonist. If the others were able to stumble upon dragon eggs, ancient phoenixes, or younglings of powerful beasts by only spending the money needed to buy a pigeon egg, his luck should not be any worse.

"Zhao Manyan, what is going on there? Why does it look like they are trading some kind of scrolls? Are you guys selling Star Atlas Books?" asked Mo Fan.

When Mo Fan arrived at the Zhao Family's marketplace, he immediately discovered some fascinating stuff.

The auction was very high-class, yet there were not many people around. Most of the items had quickly gone over ten million RMB, thus it was quite difficult for an auction like this to be crowded with people.

However, Mo Fan saw that the hall at the back of the auction was relatively lively, with a huge crowd.

"Oh, those aren't magic scrolls, it's like a lottery," said Zhao Manyan.

"Jackpots? Are you kidding me? Those people are all Magicians!" exclaimed Mo Fan.

"Allow me to explain. Most of the quests listed at the Hunter Union have reliable sources of information, hence the person submitting the quest only needs to sign the contract, and pay the commission, so that the Hunters won't be wasting their time and effort. However, most people will find some clues and traces while they were hunting in the wild, which aren't necessarily reliable. Such information isn't valid enough to be submitted as a quest, so they will store this valuable, yet uncertain information in the scrolls, and sell them accordingly," explained Zhao Manyan.

"Are you serious? Do people actually buy them?" asked Mo Fan.

It was most likely that the information was mere speculations or rumors. Most of the time, people would just share them around, but they were actually selling them like a lottery. Were these Magicians running out of ideas on how to spend their money?

"Brother, we're now in the information age. Surviving alone is not enough for the Hunters, it's all about getting reliable information and tips! You've seen it yourself, the people are lining up to buy them," said Zhao Manyan calmly as he glanced at the crowd at the back of the hall.

"It does sound like a lottery, now that you've mentioned it. If the tip is real, it would be a win, as they would save the money needed to get reliable information or post a quest. But if the information is fake, or outdated, it would be a waste of effort," said Mo Fan.

"Every Magician has some money to spare, and everyone likes the idea of winning a lottery. Besides, these Secret Tipping Scrolls aren't expensive at all. Many people would buy a few in a row, and even if the information wasn't exactly what they were looking for, just treat it as a chance to learn something. If you're lucky enough to buy two scrolls that have relevant information, it's very likely to be a piece of real information. Those who buy them as soon as possible usually have a higher chance of earning a profit! Which places are showing the presence of Soul Seed Pieces or Soul Seeds? Where are the places that the rare demon beasts have been spotted a number of times? Which places have a strong Elemental presence that is possibly hinting at the existence of some rare materials..." Zhao Manyan went on.