Lord of Mysteries: Return of the Stars!

Hastur felt this plan was quite feasible, and coincidentally, he also had a large estate in the countryside that he had yet to visit.

It was a good time to take a look, hopefully, it hadn't all been ruined by mosquitoes, snakes, and rats.

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Back home, Hastur talked with Butler Neil about the country estate.

"If we're going to live in the country estate, we'll need at least ten more people, maids, gardeners, laborers…"

"Try to minimize the staff as much as possible, but arrange the other things as you said."

"When do you plan to move there?"

"Within three days, is that okay?"

"If the estate is large, three days won't be enough to clean and set it up."

Hastur didn't know how to answer that. He had never been to the estate, only heard the old butler mention it was quite large. How large exactly, he had no clear idea.

"Hmm, just arrange it as you see fit. The sooner, the better."

Hastur decided to be a hands-off boss. These troublesome things would be left to Butler Neil. In his words, that was exactly the purpose of having a butler.

He checked his pocket watch; it was nearly seven o'clock.

Hastur rested a bit at home, then left and took a carriage to the Braveheart Bar.

He needed to discuss this matter with Maric and the others. Normally, Maric wouldn't refuse, but there was no guarantee they'd want to take the risk.

When Hastur arrived at the Braveheart Bar, before he could look around, Kaspars came to him first.

With a serious expression, he led Hastur to a secluded corner, and when no one was around, whispered:

"Because of the recent fight, Maric might be under surveillance and needs to hide for a while."

Hastur understood and said with a smile:

"I have a large estate outside the city. If he's willing, he can stay there as a guest."

"That is indeed a good place."

Kaspars whispered, looking much more relieved, then didn't say more to Hastur, acting as if they had just happened to meet, and turned to leave.

Hastur waited a moment before leaving too, then returned to the Braveheart Bar and ordered a cocktail called the Blue Jellyfish.

Thankfully it wasn't called Blue Enchantress, or it would have been awkward to drink.

He sat at the bar, ordered some snacks, and slowly enjoyed them with the cocktail.

After half an hour, Hastur left the Braveheart Bar and returned home, heading straight to the study.

To prepare for Miss Sharon's mysterious visits, he had specially placed a mirror on the right side of the study. In front of the mirror, he put a sofa, making it easier for conversations.

He believed Miss Sharon would understand his intention and wouldn't appear in his bathroom mirror just when he was about to shower.

While waiting for Miss Sharon, Hastur sat at his desk reading.

Although he no longer needed to play the role of a lawyer, studying law still helped with future sequence advancement.

Around eleven o'clock, Miss Sharon's figure appeared in the mirror.

She wore the same familiar Gothic court-style dress, with a small black hat in her blonde hair that looked quite cute.

"Sharon, that's my name."

Her voice was soft and flat, but Hastur liked it, he disliked noisy, chattering voices.

"Hastur Campbell. I'm glad to meet you, Miss Sharon."

Hastur moved to the sofa, looked at Miss Sharon in the mirror, and gave a brief introduction of his own.

"Maric does need to hide for a while. The country estate is a good place."

"I'm not sure how long it will take to get the estate ready, so I can't give you an exact time."

"Maric can wait near the estate first."

Hastur nodded, gave her the estate's address, and asked: "Will Miss Sharon also be going?"

"Not necessarily."

"Isn't it dangerous for you to stay here alone?"

"No, they can't find me."

Miss Sharon was truly confident in her strength.

Most likely, the Demigod chasing them wouldn't dare approach Backlund, and for anyone below Demigod level, finding a Wraith Beyonder in a city as big as Backlund was indeed very difficult.

Hastur chatted with Miss Sharon a bit more but soon found there wasn't much else to say.

Her personality wasn't one to actively start conversations. Even when answering, she kept it short and restrained. She would never take the initiative to bring up topics.

"Miss Sharon seems to really like this style of clothing?" Hastur tried to find a topic.

"Mm, I like it."

"Have you considered trying another style?"

Sharon only stared at Hastur without answering. From her gaze, he could tell she was at least somewhat interested in the idea.

"Miss Sharon, please wait a moment."

Hastur left the sofa, went to his desk, and took out paper and pen, starting to sketch.

He drew a simple design of a unique one piece outfit. This style wasn't too different from the Gothic court dress Sharon liked.

The main difference was in aesthetic elements: Sharon preferred black Gothic court dresses, emphasizing elegance, mystery, and a touch of death, very fitting for the field of mysticism.

And the sketch Hastur drew, mainly in blue and white tones, paired with lace and floral fabrics, had a classical and elegant yet innocent and cute style.

Because of the limitation of ink, Hastur specifically marked the corresponding colors on the side so Miss Sharon could see more clearly.

Finishing and putting down his pen, Hastur looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction, imagining the scene of Miss Sharon wearing this blue-and-white-themed cute outfit.

Would Miss Sharon look very cute like that?

"..."

Sharon looked at the outfit sketch, remaining silent for a long time before disappearing under Hastur's surprised gaze.

"Is it that she can't accept a style that's too cute?"

Hastur regretfully put away the sketch. He hadn't even used pink yet; if he added cakes, candies, and small animal patterns, the cuteness level would definitely be off the charts.

Ahem, he felt that he didn't have any strange hobbies; it was just that when he saw Miss Sharon, who looked as delicate as a doll, he couldn't help wanting to design several outfits of different styles for her.

"Maybe my drawing was too ugly, and Miss Sharon disliked it."

Hastur admitted his drawing skills were average; he wasn't a professional.

Late at night, Hastur arrived at the Hall of Stars, skipping past the star where the Son of Chaos resided and fixing his gaze on the star where the Mother Tree of Desire was located.

He really wanted to give Them a test whip, otherwise, pulling Them into the Hall of Stars later would feel a bit uneasy.

Hmm, just one whip will do.

Better to whip Them now than to bring Them into the Hall of Stars and then be on guard.

There was definitely risk, but he couldn't keep having face-to-face meetings only with the Son of Chaos.

Before that, Hastur first changed his own form, appearing as the master of the Hall of Stars.

Then, with a thought, he drove a chain of order to extend outside the star where the Mother Tree of Desire was, and the chain bent and lashed down like lightning.

Starlight shattered, and the chain of order struck a fruit with a human face. The human-faced fruit trembled in shock, emitting a baby's wailing cry.

The crying sound startled other nearby human-faced fruits, and soon the wailing cries of babies converged like an ocean, resounding deafeningly!

At the same time, Hastur quickly dissipated that section of the chain of order into starlight at its original place and withdrew his gaze from that star.

He was sure that if he had been in the same space-time as the Mother Tree of Desire just now, he would definitely have been contaminated, devoured, by that chorus of babies wailing!

In that final moment, he could sense the Mother Tree of Desire waking up, Their gaze about to peer over.

After waiting for a while, apart from the swirling black light around the star of the Mother Tree of Desire, there was no other movement.

Hastur again looked at that star.

The Mother Tree of Desire was indeed watching here, even extending a branch to whip twice at the spot where the chain of order had just disappeared.

But no matter how They thrashed, Their power could not pass through the starry sky to reach the Hall of Stars.

This scene made Hastur both delighted and puzzled.

How exactly did the Hall of Stars connect the space-times of two locations?

Why was he able to drive the chain of order to reach the position of the Mother Tree of Desire, but They couldn't follow the chain of order to find the Hall of Stars?

Could it be that the Hall of Stars was not a real place? So that neither the Son of Chaos nor the Mother Tree of Desire could find it, nor could their power affect it?

Was it a place that existed entirely in illusion?

Hastur looked around the Hall of Stars, feeling that everything here didn't seem completely fictional; maybe his current sequence was too low to comprehend the secret of the Hall of Stars.

Perhaps there was another possibility. The Hall of Stars truly existed, but it was not outside the starry sky; rather, it was within the barrier left by the original Creator!

So the Mother Tree of Desire couldn't directly affect this place through the barrier.

What about the Son of Chaos then? What was the reason there? Could it be that It was simply too weak now?

Sealed by the Lord of Mysteries in the Magic Wishing Lamp, relying on its high level and the Magic Wishing Lamp, Its defense was indeed formidable, so strong that even a true god would find it hard to break.

But the power It could display was already very weak, unable to traverse the starry sky to reach the Hall of Stars.

If It truly had great power, It wouldn't have remained in Bernadette's possession for so long and would have already corrupted her and returned to the starry sky.

Unable to deal with even a Sequence 3, being unable to deal with the Hall of Stars was only natural.

Hastur pondered deeply but still felt it wasn't so simple. The origin of the Hall of Stars might be more mysterious than he had imagined.

The nine Sefirot's on Earth: the Chaos Sea, the Sefirah Castle, the Brood Hive, the River of Eternal Darkness, the City of Calamity, the Nation of Disorder, the Tenebrous World, the Knowledge Moor, and the Key of Light.

None of these primordial essences corresponded to the authority and abilities displayed by the Hall of Stars.

At first, Hastur thought the Hall of Stars might be part of the Nation of Disorder, but when the Son of Chaos couldn't interfere with the Hall of Stars, he rejected that guess.

The Nation of Disorder originally belonged to the Son of Chaos; if the Son of Chaos came here, It would definitely react, even forcibly seizing the Land of Disorder to break the seal.

"The power of the stars…" Hastur recalled what the Son of Chaos had said.

Order and rules were only part of the Hall of Stars; the stars themselves were its true master.