Whose trap is this?

  Xiao Gu had been feeling listless for a while, and he didn't go see the doctor because there was only one doctor in the town of Deke, who was none other than the high priest himself. Xiao Gu was qualified to learn divine magic, and as a temple priest, studying divine magic was part of his daily routine. However, not every priest was an excellent divine magician, which still depended on individual talent and cultivation.

  Xiao Gu spent several years just to awaken his powers, and it wasn't until the ceremony held by the great godmaster Ge Lie in the Temple of Syah that he finally succeeded. However, even now, he has only barely reached the standard of a second-level godmaster, able to use a limited number of low-level divine spells, including the Blessing Divine Spell, with the most important one being the Healing Divine Spell.

  The healing art in the ritual of praying for blessings is the most important practice content of a village temple priest, which not only guarantees his own respect from the villagers but also symbolizes a miracle.

  It's been almost a month since he spat blood and fainted in front of everyone. Xiao Gu had not used healing spells on himself sparingly, and after recovering, his body was no longer a problem, but he always felt listless, as if there was something stuck in his heart. He had a heart disease that needed to be eliminated, and finally waited for the opportunity. After finishing breakfast today, he called Ma Qi, the servant of the Temple.

  Xiao Gu is the only priest and scribe in town, but it's impossible for him to be the only one in the temple. There are many tasks that are completed by servants and assistants. Xiao Gu leads a life of luxury, and the work he usually handles personally is just registration. Ma Qi is his most capable assistant, helping with the daily affairs of the temple, managing other servants, and has already achieved third-level body technique.

  Xiao Guo smiled warmly and beckoned Ma Qi over: "Come on, sit down."

  "Sir, is it too presumptuous of me to sit at the same table as you?"

  Xiao Guo's face fell as he said, "What's going on here? You're my most trusted assistant and partner. What's wrong with sitting at the same table? Sit down quickly or I'll get angry!"

  Ma Qi sat down at the table, hunching over, and Xiao Gu pushed a plate of pastries in front of him. They were a type of fresh wild fruit that the servants had picked from the mountains east of town, sour and sweet to the taste. Ma Qi took one and ate it carefully. Xiao Gu smiled and asked, "Your martial skills have reached level three now, right? You're just one step away from becoming a mid-tier warrior."

  Ma Qi hastily replied, "I was originally just an ordinary miner in the town. It was you who told me that there were contents similar to Tai Chi in mining techniques and read books on practicing Tai Chi to me, so I could achieve this. Don't worry, sir, as per your instructions, I haven't told anyone else."

  Xiao Gu laughed happily: "What's not to trust? The person I trust the most is you. If you can become a mid-tier warrior, I can go to the big shots in the city-state and vouch for you. With luck, we might even find an opportunity to make you a noble, or at least a temple knight with a divine appointment."

  Ma Qi hastily stood up, pushed back his chair and took a step back to bow: "Thank you, Sir Xiao Guo, I don't know how to repay your kindness."

  Xiao Gu waved his hand: "Sit down and talk. ... Ma Qi, the thing I asked you to investigate a few days ago, have you figured it out?"

  Ma Qi sat back down and replied seriously: "As per your instructions, I have been paying attention to Ah Mon for the past ten days. Apart from frequently visiting Old Man Feng's house, he also goes alone to the Black Fire Forest in the middle of the night, taking a very hidden small path through the rocky area."

  Xiao furrowed his brow and said: "He really has a big nerve, a child entering the Black Fire Forest at midnight? What is he doing?"

  Ma Qi shook his head and said, "I don't know." After saying this sentence, he seemed to think that the answer was not suitable, so he thought for a moment and added, "Is he going to look for mineral cores again? Last time in the Black Fire Forest, he picked up so many mineral cores, and now he wants to try his luck again?"

  Going to find the mine core in the middle of the night? Xiao Gu's heart was somewhat puzzled, and he asked in a low voice: "What about the other thing I want you to do?"

  Ma Qi said in a low voice, "When Ah Meng went out at midnight, I went to his house three times. That drunkard didn't notice at all. There were very few and simple things in his house, no need to search, I found dozens of silver coins and two gold coins. As you instructed, nothing was touched without finding the divine stone. Those divine stones should have been carried by Ah Meng all the time, I remember they were wrapped in a sheepskin."

  Xiao Gu leaned in: "Ma Qi, tonight, I want you to do something for me..."

  After the whisper, Ma Qi's face turned pale and his expression was a bit stiff, he didn't speak for a moment. Xiao Guo stood up and walked to his back, stretched out his hand and gently patted his shoulder: "Those twenty divine stones all belong to you now. As for the remaining blue divine stone, please offer it in the Mu Yun Goddess Temple, don't let anyone find out, this is an offering to the goddess. I won't be present, and you didn't give it to me either, remember?"

  Before Ma Qi could respond, Xiao Gu placed his hand on his shoulder and continued: "If you can become a mid-tier warrior, I will definitely apply for the position of Temple Warrior for you. You won't have to pay taxes and you'll receive a salary. As for that sum of money, if it's given as a gift to the lord of the city-state, who knows, you might even have the opportunity to become the third noble of this town. The path you take in life is up to you, but don't forget that right now, I'm treating you as my most trusted assistant."

  Ma Qi gritted his teeth and the muscles on his face twitched a few times before he finally nodded, "Yes, sir! I understand. Everything will be done according to your orders!"

  Xiao Gu walked to the corner and poured two cups of wine, sat down again and handed one to Ma Qi. He shook his head very seriously and said: "Wrong! You must remember that this is not my order! If someone finds out, you can only say that you want to follow Ah Meng yourself, trying to find where he picks up the mine core, and I don't know anything about it."

  ……

  In the dead of night, in a dark forest devoid of people, Ah Mon sat by the spring water, practicing his water element summoning. Tonight, he wasn't cultivating the divine technique taught by the old madman. After all, children's nature is to play, and Ah Mon treated the water element divine technique as a game. The water in the environment was controlled, condensed into tiny micro-crystals, like a layer of fog, floating back and forth on the water surface, changing into various shapes, very interesting!

  Sometimes it is tiny water droplets, sometimes it is fine ice crystals, and sometimes it disperses in the air.

  Amon was having a great time, but suddenly felt something off, the muscles on his back tensed up, as if someone was staring at him. He stopped and quietly took out the Azure Water Heart with his left hand, while grasping a stick beside him with his right hand. Crossing through the dark and eerie Black Fire Forest in the middle of the night, Amon certainly didn't go empty-handed; he brought a very special stick, which was the most valuable thing in his house aside from the Divine Stone.

  Amon's father was a drunkard, especially after Amon's mother died, but he had also been the best blacksmith in Duke Town when he was young. The stick was a memento left by his drunken father many years ago, which looked like an uneven tree branch with a mottled surface, yellow rust and black ash, almost unrecognizable as a top-grade iron ingot.

  The miners of Duketown were forbidden from forging the iron they produced into armor or weapons, and no one taught them how to do so. They only produced iron ingots and refined iron ingot materials. The highest quality refined iron ore was not mined in the mines but was instead extracted from the feces of a type of iron-plated beast that lived in the iron-rich mountains, which were extremely rare.

  Amon's father, when he was young, secretly collected the finest iron sand to test his craftsmanship and forged this piece of material. Later, he didn't even use it as a stick to exchange for wine, but placed it in the furnace room as a fire poker for stirring coal. Every time Amon passed through the dark forest at night, he would casually take this stick as a walking stick, which could also be used for self-defense.

  The dark forest of black fire doesn't seem as dangerous as it looks, if you don't get lost, this is actually a very quiet place. However, occasionally there will be wild rabbits and wild dogs appearing, hearing human voices and running away very far. But at the hungriest times, wild dogs may also attack people or sheep herds, being careful is always right.

  Amon grasped the staff, and quietly looked around in all directions. The moonlight was serene and silent, and nothing was discovered. The surroundings were filled with black boulders and dense shrubs, making it an ideal environment for hiding. Even if something was lurking, it would be hard to spot. For some reason, Amon felt uneasy, and he suddenly closed his eyes, his left hand tightly grasping the Azure Water Heart.

  The Azure Water Heart emitted a faint blue glow, but was grasped by Amun and did not shine out. Unbeknownst to him, a faint mist rose from the surface of the spring water and drifted into the surrounding thicket. Amun used the Azure Water Heart to summon his simplest water elemental spell to its maximum capacity, and indeed found something amiss!

  Within the range of his divine sense, the mist in the air was quietly summoned by him. Amun could feel the shape of rocks and tree clusters drifting between the mist even with his eyes closed. About a few dozen steps behind him, there was someone! The person was hiding behind a strange rock, revealing half of their head through the trees, staring at him, holding something in their hand, a familiar shape, it was the most common miner's pickaxe in Duketown.

  Elemental divination is not usually used for detection, as its sensing range is much smaller than that of the detection spell, and it also casts slowly. If the opponent is a clever spellcaster, they may notice in an instant. Detection spells are mid-level spells, with the most typical being Scrying, which can investigate situations over a large area and at great distances.

  Amon currently doesn't know what detection magic is, and hasn't even heard of puppet eye technique. But he did this unintentionally, using the simplest water element magic to achieve the effect of detection magic, which also conforms to the most basic principle of detection magic. Ma Qi, who followed secretly and hid in the dark, still didn't know that he had been exposed.

  Amon didn't move, still quietly sitting there. The night grew deeper, the surrounding cold air seemed to grow heavier, Ma Qi finally couldn't bear it, he almost thought Amon had fallen asleep sitting there, so he quietly walked out of the woods with his large hammer.

  First-class warriors possess superhuman explosive power, second-class warriors usually require agility beyond strength, and to reach the third level of martial arts, one needs to master the coordination of strength, speed, and endurance. The third-class warriors in Lord Dick's personal guard can pierce several heads of cattle with a single spear thrust. Although Ma Qi has not undergone such training, he swings his heavy war hammer as lightly as a nimble lynx, making almost no sound.

  By the spring water's edge was a small open area, Ma Qi walked out of the woods and came to a position where Ah Mon could see him by turning his head, only twenty or so steps away. At this time he revealed a fierce glint in his eyes, suddenly accelerated and charged over, his right hand brandishing a pickaxe. This distance for a third-class warrior was covered in an instant, fundamentally not giving Ah Mon any chance to react, Ah Mon seemed to have no reaction at all.

  However, Ma Qiang had only taken two steps when an accident occurred. His foot slipped and his body swayed, he tried to steady himself, but the other foot also slipped. Due to the inertia of rushing forward, he couldn't stand still anymore, and with a thud, he fell to the ground, the pickaxe slipping out of his hand and sliding into the spring water. When he came to and wanted to get up, he was suddenly hit hard on the shoulder, almost fainting from pain.

  Ma Qi struggled to lift his head, and saw Ah Meng already standing in front of him, holding a tree branch pointing at his face, with one foot stepping on his shoulder. This kid's strength was really great, he couldn't even turn over, the cold ground made him want to shiver, only to hear Ah Meng ask in surprise: "Ma Qi, how is it you? What are you doing following me here in the middle of the night?"

  It serves Ma Qi right for being unlucky today. Normally, a third-level warrior would not have to fear a first-level divine master in close combat if they were on guard and prepared. But Ma Qi never thought that Ah Mon would use divine magic, although it was just the simplest first-order water element divine magic, the control and application effect was so abnormal!

  Amon discovered Ma Qi after, just on the road he came over quietly condensed a layer of slippery ice, and covered with thin fog to prevent reflection, if Ma Qi walked slowly maybe it would be better, but rushing forward would inevitably lead to a heavy fall. This is the power of magic, not requiring great strength but mastering another kind of power, Amon also used the Azure Water Heart.

  Ma Qi was furious, stretching out one hand to grab Ah Meng's ankle, shouting: "Ah Meng, let me go quickly! If you can come here, why can't I? You child, how can you be so rude?"

  "You can certainly come to the Black Fire Forest, but why are you following me in the middle of the night?" Ah Mon didn't let up, and the "branch" in his hand lightly tapped Ma Qi's wrist. Ma Qi winced in pain, and it was a wonder that his bones hadn't been broken. Only then did he realize that the stick in Ah Mon's hand wasn't actually a branch, but something even harder and heavier than raw iron.

  Ma Qi's heart panicked, and he suddenly realized that in this place, Ah Meng's stick could kill him with just one heavy blow, and no one would find out. His original idea was to quietly get rid of Ah Meng in a secluded area, but now the situation had turned around, and he hastily explained: "Ah Meng, I followed you just to see where you picked up those mineral cores. I also want to try my luck!"

  Amun narrowed his eyes: "You think I'm here for the mine core, at this late hour?"

  Ma Qi: "Isn't it? Otherwise, what are you doing in the Black Fire Forest every day?"

  Amun couldn't possibly tell Ma Qi that he was secretly practicing magic, and suddenly realized something else - just now when he used magic to knock Ma Qi down, this person must have sensed it, which was a secret that couldn't be revealed. The iron rod in his hand rose up, but didn't fall, coldly asking: "Ma Qi? Have you been following me many times? Why did you rush over with a big hammer just now?"

  **