This settlement wasn’t large. Saul only walked a few steps before he saw the same people he had glimpsed before entering.

They were being led into an underground passage. The chains on their feet had been removed, but their eyes remained blindfolded.

This time, he noticed that the last person also had a hole in the sole of their foot.

The wound had long since healed, but there was still a faint reddish stain on the sole, as if blood had just recently flowed.

Saul watched those people disappear into the tunnel without turning his head. “What are these people doing? Why do they come back from outside covered in mud?”

Kismet still didn’t answer directly, only saying, “It’s just the norm here.”

He then turned the question back on Saul: “You… came because of the rumors about quicksand termites, didn’t you?”

The offhanded way Kismet asked this made Saul’s heart sink.

Could it be that a lot of people already knew about the quicksand termites?

Then how could he possibly steal the entire termite nest and bring it back in secret?

Wait—those words, coming out of Kismet’s mouth…

Saul abruptly looked up, and sure enough, Kismet’s eyes were squinting from laughter. “It’s actually a scam. What appeared in Survivor’s Ancient Grove wasn’t the quicksand termite at all, but a lookalike species called the humpback termite. Totally different abilities.”

“A scam… a scam?” Saul stared at Kismet.

Kismet’s smile slowly faded. He pointed to his own nose, puffed out his cheeks, and said, “…Just because it’s a scam, doesn’t mean I made it up, right?”

Thinking about how Kismet had helped him get in here earlier, Saul ultimately withdrew his suspicious gaze.

But deep down, he really wanted to nod.

Kismet tugged on Saul’s arm. “Come on, come on. Standing here is pointless. There may not be quicksand termites, but there are plenty of other good things.”

Other good things?

Saul thought for a moment and didn’t leave right away.

Getting into this settlement required a referral, so it probably held some rare and valuable magic materials.

Things that Jiajia gu, the traveling merchant, would have a hard time collecting for him.

If he could establish a supply channel here, it wouldn’t be bad—just a bit far.

Saul followed Kismet down a narrow path.

There were many ordinary people here, but most of them were gaunt and sallow-faced.

Occasionally he spotted a few wizard apprentices, and a small number of true wizards, but they all came and went in a hurry.

After observing for a while, Saul noticed that many of the wizards and apprentices were heading in the same direction as them.

It was just that their pace was quicker, so one by one they passed them and walked ahead.

And so, following the trickling stream of people, Saul and Kismet arrived at what looked from the outside like an ordinary one-story house.

Only upon entering did Saul realize that the house extended downward at a slant.

At the entrance, Kismet also presented something—apparently, you needed a pass to enter this place too.

The two of them descended dozens of steps and entered a hall obscured by layers of gauzy curtains.

Behind the veils, vague silhouettes of people could be seen.

When someone hurriedly passed them, lifting the veil and stepping inside, Saul immediately felt a wave of heat rush out from the gap.

It was like a tongue of fire from a furnace, suddenly licking his cheek.

“Strange… and yet kind of familiar.”

Kismet thought for a moment. “You might recognize the scent, but it’s not the same thing at all.”

With that, Kismet ducked inside first.

Saul stared at the red-and-purple veils in front of him, feeling like this place didn’t seem like a market for exchanging magic materials.

“Could it be that this place is actually…” A certain possibility crossed Saul’s mind. He glanced at his diary, but it showed no signs of danger, so in the end, he lifted the veil and stepped in.

The moment he entered, Saul was met with a sea of glistening, naked flesh.

There were both wizards and ordinary people.

The ordinary people, regardless of gender, were all draped in sheer gauze. As they walked, the fabric occasionally fluttered, transforming half-concealment into full exposure.

They were all exceptionally good-looking, with well-proportioned bodies—features that would make any regular person envious.

Kismet had actually brought him here? And said this was a good place?

Uh… though to be fair, it wasn’t necessarily a bad place.

Still, shouldn’t he be taking this a little more seriously?

At that moment, a beautiful young woman, dressed in white gauze, walked up and respectfully asked, “Sirs, please come inside. Would you like to rest in the main hall, or go to a private room?”

Saul looked the beauty up and down—from head to toe, and back from toe to head.

Kismet said nothing beside him.

Saul turned to him. “They’re all magic  constructs?”

“Yes. All nearing the end of their lifespan—used for apprentices to practice on.”

Hearing Kismet’s words, the young woman looked slightly uneasy, but her face still bore a flawlessly curved smile.

As if her eyes and her mouth didn’t even belong to the same person.

Saul had just finished a thorough inspection and had already confirmed that she was biologically under thirty years old, but had less than two years of life remaining.

Most likely, aside from those lightly trembling eyes, her entire body had been modified.

Saul hadn’t been interested to begin with—now, he had even less mood for this.

“Do you sell anything else here?”

The girl in white gauze quickly replied, “Since it’s your first visit, sir, allow me to inform you—at Pandeting, we only sell one item.”

She took a small cylinder from the sash at her waist. Holding it delicately between her middle finger and thumb, she popped off the lid, then raised her arm to present its contents to Saul.

“This is our only product—the Soul-Reading Candle.”

Saul didn’t take the candle right away. Instead, he scanned the hall again.

Only now did he notice that every wizard and apprentice here had a seemingly ordinary candle placed in front of them.

Even those cradling beauties in their arms had no mind for carnal pleasures. Their eyes were fixed blankly on the candles before them, taking deep breaths now and then.

Their expressions were blissful.

These wizards, in such a chaotic and crowded place, had completely let down their guard and allowed themselves to fall into this dazed state.

Something was off.

Saul used Messaging Spell to ask Kismet, “So this is the true nature of the scam you mentioned?”

Kismet’s eyes glinted with amusement. He responded with Messaging Spell as well, “Smart. In Survivor’s Ancient Grove, they raise humpback termites. These termites secrete a special acid when they bite. It paralyzes the body, but leaves the mind perfectly clear. The victims remain fully conscious as they’re slowly dismembered and offered to the termite queen at the heart of the nest.”

“The local great wizard, Monte, figured out how to detoxify the acid, then dilute and solidify it—to create the Soul-Reading Candle. When wizards and apprentices inhale the scent, their brains enter a state of extreme excitation. In this state, whether learning new spells or deciphering obscure runes, everything becomes much easier. It also temporarily enhances meditation.”

Kismet gestured subtly with his chin. “That’s why so many of the people here are those stuck at some bottleneck, unable to advance. They treat Pandeting as their last hope of promotion.”

“Of course,” he added with a shrug, “it’s just… a bit pricey.”

(End of Chapter)

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