With that, the Gray Merchant took out a small bundle wrapped in parchment.
Carefully unwrapping the parchment, a faintly reflective item inside is revealed. Taking a closer look, it turns out to be a piece of broken mirror. Covered in a thin fog that cannot be wiped away, through the mist, a shadowy figure can be vaguely seen in the mirror.
And the silhouette of this figure... is identical to the Traveling Merchant.
Seeing the figure inside the mirror, the atmosphere around the Traveling Merchant becomes increasingly cold. After a long while, he then injects the collected pheromones into the broken mirror.
The mirror has no reaction whatsoever.
"The mirror hasn’t turned red, it’s not the person we’re looking for," the Traveling Merchant said, after speaking, he put the broken mirror back into the parchment bundle and then seriously placed it into the storage space within his earring.
"Continue forward." The Traveling Merchant paused, turned and looked at the man wearing a Magic Elephant mask: "Magic Elephant, well done this time. If you discover any pheromone remnants again, remind me immediately."
Magic Elephant solemnly nodded.
"Let’s go." The Traveling Merchant did not say more and continued to fly downward.
Perhaps because Magic Elephant had broken the silence earlier, this time the atmosphere was finally not as tense.
A short girl with a mask used as a decorative item in her pink hair, who at first glance seemed barely of age, pouted and complained: "Actually, we’ve discovered quite a few pheromones along the way and should have collected them back then."
"What’s the point of saying this now?" A green-haired man wearing a Sheep Demon mask said while playing with a long flute in his hand, "Who could have thought, we would encounter that... crazy woman."
Magic Elephant frowned: "Shepherd, you should speak less."
The green-haired man—Shepherd, said resentfully: "What’s wrong with calling her a crazy woman, am I wrong?"
Magic Elephant wanted to intervene, when the Traveling Merchant spoke: "Shepherd is not wrong either. White Merchant told us from the start, those people left hints all along the way, and they didn’t destroy the entrance, so it’s very likely to be a sign of goodwill. Befriending them is of more value than engaging in combat."
Shepherd’s expression darkened as he responded: "Yes, we originally thought we could avoid fighting. But who would have thought we’d encounter that crazy woman hiding in the mirror..."
The pink-haired girl meanwhile had forgotten her earlier complaint, and joined Shepherd in indignant agreement: "Exactly, she actually trapped Lord Traveling Merchant in the mirror, and used it as a threat, it’s utterly vile!"
As she spoke, the pink-haired girl stamped her foot, her fluffy hair bouncing.
The Traveling Merchant sighed lightly: "Pinkful, I’m still here, don’t speak of me as though I’ve already died."
The girl called Pinkful muttered softly: "But, but..."
The Traveling Merchant understood what Pinkful was thinking and said softly: "Actually, I feel better now than before, after those memories disappeared, I only feel relieved."
Faced with the Traveling Merchant’s statement, the crowd fell silent.
The woman hiding in the mirror used some unknown method to seal the Traveling Merchant’s most important memories inside the mirror.
That figure in the broken mirror was actually the Traveling Merchant’s memory.
Indeed, after that segment of memories vanished, he appeared much calmer, no longer bearing the cold-faced demon aura. But as his longtime followers, they knew too well that this new Traveling Merchant was merely suppressing his emotions.
After suppressing emotions, the Traveling Merchant was much closer to his fully emotive, demon-like self than before.
Those crucial memories, though painful, were key to his transformation into "Traveling Merchant."
The current "Traveling Merchant," despite saying he feels relieved, his cautious handling of the broken mirror reveals he is just being stubborn.
Suppressing emotions and not letting them out, how could he truly feel relieved? The peace and tranquility are mere illusions.
"I’ve already seen the first layer, we need to prepare for response," as the crowd remained silent, the Traveling Merchant shifted the topic.
"Magic Elephant, keep an eye on the pheromone exploration." After reaching the first layer, the Traveling Merchant immediately issued instructions.
They were eager to collect pheromones not only because pheromones could help identify the person they were searching for.
There was another key reason, "the Crazy Woman" could use her abilities to curse directly through the pheromone owners.
However, "the Crazy Woman’s" abilities came from organ transplant, different from the Western Lands Efa lineage sorcery, unable to directly kill, but weakening, intense pain, and maladies... these negative attributes are effective. Sometimes, even a minor flaw could lead to defeat, let alone so many curses.
"It’s still just the Apprentice’s pheromone." Shortly thereafter, Magic Elephant came to a rather poor conclusion.
The Traveling Merchant was silent for a moment: "If none, so be it, we can collect pheromones during the battle later. Let’s proceed."
The group nodded and continued forward.
Seeing the winding staircase, Pinkful rubbed her slightly swollen temples: "Surely there are only three layers, this is the first layer, so logically we should be leaving, but we still have to go downstairs?"
Although she was grumbling, Pinkful’s actions did not pause, she sped swiftly downwards.
...
Meanwhile, outside the Hanging Jail Stairway.
The Wise Sovereign had completed his report about the group of Traveling Merchant.
To be precise, he only spoke about the Traveling Merchant and the Crazy Woman, as these two were Official Wizards. The other four, including "Pinkful, Magic Elephant, Shepherd, and Ghost Shadow" were still Wizard Apprentices, the Wise Sovereign only mentioned their branches, with no additional content. Mainly, there was nothing noteworthy about Apprentices.
Moreover, Angel wasn’t planning to fight this group of Apprentices.
"Traveling Merchant and Crazy Woman, turned out to be bloodline faction." After hearing the Wise Sovereign, the main characters hadn’t spoken yet, but instead, two Apprentices displayed concern.
It’s a universally acknowledged fact that among similar ranks, bloodline faction Wizards are the strongest.
Now that two bloodline faction Wizards have simultaneously appeared, it has deeply unsettled them, even though they don’t have to fight Official Wizards, but... Angel must!
Originally, without the third rule, it was perfectly acceptable to have Dox and Black Earl separately face off against two bloodline Wizards. Dox is also a bloodline faction, no one loses out; and Black Earl, with insight, vision, experience far surpassing the opponent, hardly loses in a one-on-one.
But now, regardless of whether it’s Crazy Woman or Traveling Merchant, Angel has to face one, this makes Vay and Kaier start worrying.
However, compared to the Apprentices’ anxiety, the three Official Wizards had practically no reaction.
Angel was contemplating, Black Earl was spacing out, and only Dox stroked his chin thoughtfully and remarked: "Traveling Merchant and Crazy Woman, with their combined combat capabilities, Traveling Merchant should be the strongest. But if Angel fights, I think you should face Traveling Merchant. Crazy Woman belongs to the alteration branch, making her methods more unpredictable..."