According to the intelligence Leilin had previously obtained, the Supremes each ruled a separate continent within the Purgatory World.
The Heier Continent was the territory of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, yet a port that worshipped the Filth Bird had appeared along its coast — this was already a probing move and a provocation.
"The Filth Bird is indeed at odds with the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents!" Leilin nodded, recalling the moment he had pierced through the boundary membrane.
"But I have a feeling things won't be that simple..."
Leilin stroked his chin, as if something had occurred to him. "That father and son — Geger and Gegeduor — there's definitely something off about them."
They were members of the Evil Eye race, worshippers of the ancient Eye of Judgment, yet here they were in a port sheltered by the Filth Bird. Even for a free port, their presence here was rather conspicuous.
Of course, during the age of pirates and seafaring, thriving free ports were essentially fencing outposts for pirates. They would take in and shelter even the most vicious buccaneers, so trading with a few Evil Eyes was nothing out of the ordinary.
But Leilin kept feeling something was off.
Even during the last rampage of the Spiny-backed Iron Whale, Gegeduor had only displayed the power of his original bloodline race. He hadn't shown a single hint of anything related to the Path of Ritual or Beast Soul Techniques, as though he knew nothing about them at all — clearly hiding something.
"In that case! I might as well activate that. It was just a little contingency I set up out of boredom!"
Leilin stroked his chin. For him, even if they hadn't come to his aid, he could have made his way here on his own. All they had provided was intelligence services and passage on their ships, and those were already paid off through his earlier assistance and the gift of Whale Ambergris.
So he felt no guilt whatsoever about prying into their secrets.
"Chip, begin!" Leilin commanded calmly.
【Ding! Task established. Connecting to Stardust Bugs. Collecting data!】 The Chip's mechanical voice faithfully reported back. Streams of fluorescent light flickered before Leilin's eyes, forming a flowing screen, and a torrent of audio poured through.
Before departing, Leilin had secretly placed Stardust Bugs on both Geger and Gegeduor as a precaution.
Since neither of them had even reached the Morning Star level in the Late Stage, they had absolutely no resistance to the Stardust Bugs — they couldn't even detect them.
Now the image zoomed in on a space that resembled a cellar. The dim orange candlelight flickered uncertainly, illuminating the massive pupils of Geger and Gegeduor.
"Oh? This situation..." Leilin's interest was immediately piqued.
And the spiritual communication between them, decoded and parsed by the Chip, continued to stream across the screen.
"My lord, the cargo on this run is all fine. We did encounter a Spiny-backed Iron Whale along the way, but fortunately there were no casualties!"
Inside the cellar, there was a third person present. They wore a voluminous cloak that concealed even their race and gender.
Their status seemed to be quite high — Geger could only kneel to one side, while Gegeduor reported respectfully.
"Also, in the coastal waters, we encountered a humanoid Transcendent. He called himself 'Lei,' possessing powerful spellcasting abilities — able to kill a Spiny-backed Iron Whale head-on. He specializes in metal-type spells..."
Then Gegeduor proceeded to sell Leilin out completely, without a shred of hesitation.
"'Lei'? That name doesn't ring a bell. A humanoid powerhouse? There's no intelligence on him in the nearby waters!" A mechanical voice emanated from the dark figure.
"But..." Its tone shifted, making Gegeduor's tentacles tremble involuntarily.
"Don't you know that for any powerhouse above the Third Rank, our organization's rules require us to do our utmost to recruit them — even have them undergo the 'Sacred Eye Baptism' to experience the justice and majesty of the great and ancient Eye of Judgment?"
"My lord! That's not how it was, my lord! We did our best to invite Mr. Lei to stay, but he was absolutely resolute. We feared he might discover something, so we didn't press the matter..."
Seeing that the lord seemed on the verge of anger, Geger, who had been kneeling on the ground the entire time, immediately cried out.
"Geger!" Gegeduor turned and snapped nervously, a Spiritual Power Whip already forming.
But it was already too late.
"You seem... rather dissatisfied with my inquiry?" The dark figure cast a cold glance at Geger. With its words, the temperature inside the cellar plummeted.
"Hsss..." Accompanied by a bone-chilling serpent hiss, a spectral image of a colossal snake materialized from beneath the dark figure's cloak and lunged at Geger.