I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 626: The Finger in the Salt Shaker

Jie Ming refrained from rushing ahead.

Accessing the private channel via his magic network terminal, he brought up the map and meticulously examined the potential zones highlighted by Austin.

Countless red markers cluttered the map, spread out over all parts of the plane.

Finding an ideal starting spot was essential for him.

Too many wizards would spell trouble. Surrounded by that many watchful eyes, folks wouldn't hold back during the scramble for treasures.

A greater number of wizards meant a sharp drop in the odds of grabbing any rewards.

Yet picking an overly isolated spot wasn't wise either.

Should the Strange occurrence prove as perilous as rumored, heading solo into uncharted territory demanded caution, even from someone like him.

A red marker sat at the forest's border, far removed from the closest neighboring one.

According to the map annotations, recent bizarre villager fatalities had plagued that region.

“This is the one.”

Jie Ming stowed the map away. Transforming into a beam of radiant light, his form shot off toward the distant horizon.

En route, to prevent overly disrupting the plane with breakneck flight, Jie Ming kept his pace moderate and consistent.

Soaring through the upper atmosphere at a mere twenty times the speed of sound, he left a subtle trail of glow under the amber skies. Though this tiny glass garden plane resembled a plaything in its delicacy, its true expanse was vast enough.

From his starting teleportation platform to the destination, at this velocity, the journey would span roughly twenty minutes.

Such duration allowed ample opportunity for various tasks… like keeping tabs on rivals.

His spiritual power extended quietly, radiating outward from his position in every direction.

The enhancement to spiritual power from a Void Refinement Realm perfected true body proved staggering.

Prior to his breakthrough, his spiritual sense had already outstripped fellow-rank wizards by a wide margin, yet it possessed distinct limits.

Now, that unseen sensory expanse resembled an endlessly swelling ocean without fixed edges, merely fading in density over distance. Though sensitivity waned in the far-flung “thinned” edges, it remained adequate for urgent detections or warnings. Inside this “aqueous realm,” the existences of other spiritual entities stood out crystal clear to him.

Eight such presences moved toward his path.

A slight furrow creased Jie Ming's brow.

While the count seemed a tad elevated, delving into one site alongside so many wizards fell within his tolerance. Consider that the map listed over a hundred suspect zones.

Plenty of red dots drew ten or twenty wizards apiece, yet far more spots attracted merely a handful.

By numbers alone, this location's wizard influx ranked middling-to-high. Rivalry would be stiff, but so too would security rise. As he flew on, Jie Ming reactivated his magic network terminal to review the details for that marker once more.

Austin’s administrative androids maintained constant vigil there, feeding fresh intel straight to the terminal in real time.

He selected the data panel.

[Point Number: 017]

[Administrative Android: Old Herman]

[Latest Intelligence Update: Three standard hours ago]

Eyewitness Report Summary:

In the past two weeks, continuous abnormal phenomena have occurred in this town and surrounding villages.

Multiple residents reported finding something that should not exist inside seasoning bottles in their own kitchens—a human finger.

All eyewitness descriptions were highly consistent: deathly pale skin covered in age spots, with an unnatural moist state perpetually present in the nail crevices.

It did not appear in obvious positions but hid inside seasoning bottles, especially salt shakers.

Only when someone opened the salt shaker to take salt would they discover an extra finger that should not be there.

This finger would not actively attack or move (at least not in front of the eyewitnesses), but it would simply remain there.

Even if removed with tongs, thrown into fire or water, or if the salt shaker was replaced entirely, it would reappear the next time someone opened the salt shaker.

Death Case Summary:

Currently confirmed deaths: 47 people.

All victims shared one common point: within the 24 hours before death, they had consumed food cooked in a kitchen where the finger had appeared.

Common symptoms among the deceased: the food tasted “salty to the point of bitterness,” yet testing revealed sodium content in the food was not excessive.

Hours following ingestion, the afflicted suffered extreme thirst and desiccation, advancing to total-body swelling, and culminating in demise from sudden kidney collapse. Standard treatments (even entry-level healing spells) proved powerless to ease or undo the condition.

Administrative Android Notes:

“This isn’t mere salt poisoning. I inspected the remains of the dead—their kidneys were ‘pickled’ down to the cellular level. Their bodies seemed dunked in vast quantities of salt, transformed forcibly into cured meat.”

“That finger acts quite ‘playful.’ It didn’t slaughter the entire town outright, but struck household by household. Each strike targeted a single kitchen, salting only that family’s meal to lethal levels. After eradicating them, it advanced to the next.”

“I’m convinced it relishes the ordeal.”

Jie Ming shut the data display. His face stayed impassive, yet his gaze shadowed faintly.

Forty-seven lives.

In this garden plane, vigilantly shielded by an eighth-rank great wizard, commoners savored serene, isolated days.

Then one day, they uncapped the salt shaker, spotted an anomalous finger, and recoiled in shock.

Regaining composure from the scare, the family gathered for a meal, brushing off the overly salty fare as a minor quirk.

Hours afterward—thirst, dehydration, edema, death.

The finger observed the tragedy in silence, before shifting to the subsequent home.

“Playful.”

The administrative android’s verdict on this Strange phenomenon resurfaced in Jie Ming’s thoughts.

That descriptor now rang with eerie exactness, stirring profound disquiet.

He pressed onward through the skies.

Twenty minutes passed before Jie Ming descended upon a modest hillock at the town’s fringe.

From that elevated perch, the town sprawled far grander than anticipated.

Structures of diverse heights lined the shores of a modest river. Stone-paved trails linked every dwelling, chimney plumes wafted cooking fumes, and distant alleys rang with children’s playful pursuits.

All seemed utterly normal.

However, Jie Ming’s spiritual sense had already discerned a faint “anomaly” tainting the atmosphere.

It proved an elusive sensation to articulate…

Resembling a lone ink droplet stirred into pristine water—so scant it left the hue unchanged, yet its existence unmistakable.

He pivoted to regard the successive arrivals touching down in his wake.

Eight individuals.

Six males and two females. Their aura ripples confirmed them as sixth-ring wizards all.

Apparel differed among them. Some donned elegant wizard robes, others tight garments suited for agility, and one sported a lab-like white coat, evidently rushed here from research directly.