31: Chapter 31 The Sect Leader!!!

Xie Feng pushed the iron ball down the mountain in pursuit.

The iron ball ground over the steps, making a sound, and wrapped inside was Tu Ziguan's miserable scream.

"Slow down! I am going to throw up!"

"Throw up then. Once you are done, roll away yourself."

"Do you have any humanity left?!"

"I have no humanity, I only have divinity. Divinity tells me that if we don't chase now, the thigh will walk too far away."

Sect Master Shen Du had not walked far.

He stood at the fork in the road behind the mountain, with his hands behind his back, as if waiting for them.

Hearing the rumbling sound of the iron ball rolling over, he turned around, looked at Xie Feng, and then looked at the iron ball.

"What kind of setup is this?"

"Hounds," Xie Feng said, panting.

"Hounds are afraid of balls? I thought this was your special Cultivation method."

"The hounds are not afraid of the ball, but the person inside the ball is afraid of the hounds."

A muffled voice came from inside the iron ball: "Sect Master, this Disciple Tu Ziguan pays respects to the Sect Master."

Sect Master Shen Du fell silent for a breath, feeling that those words sounded like something a concubine would say.

"Rise. Since you are in the ball, you don't need to bow."

"It's the thought that counts," Tu Ziguan said.

Sect Master Shen Du looked at Xie Feng, waiting for him to speak about serious matters.

Xie Feng tapped his blind staff on the ground. "Sect Master, I have something to show you. It's not on me, it's at my residence."

Sect Master Shen Du did not ask what it was, nor did he ask why they had to go to the residence to see it.

He simply nodded and said one word: "Let's go."

Ah! So reliable! Not a riddle-speaker and doesn't shirk responsibility, this is the real Sect Master! When trouble comes, he actually steps up! Why didn't I get to know you sooner!

If Xie Feng hadn't been blind, he would have been on the verge of tears.

Having come to this lousy world for over a year, turns out there is someone powerful to rely on!

The three of them, uh... two people and one ball.

Walked back along the mountain path, uh... two walking and one rolling, accompanied by miserable screams.

During this, Sect Master Shen Du couldn't stand it anymore, reached out with a wave of his hand, and the iron ball slowly floated up.

"I will go through fire and water for you, Sect Master!" Tu Ziguan immediately started sounding like Xie Feng.

The iron ball couldn't be pushed through the door, so Xie Feng told Tu Ziguan to come out from inside.

When Tu Ziguan crawled out of the ball, his face was pale, his hair smelled of rust, and he held onto the door frame while retching twice.

"Aren't you a military fan?" Xie Feng said.

"Military fans are not hamsters," Tu Ziguan wiped his mouth.

Sect Master Shen Du stood at the doorway and did not come inside.

Xie Feng walked over to the stone couch, crouched down, and pulled out a wooden box from under the couch.

The wooden box was not large, two palms wide and one palm thick, without a lock.

He opened the wooden box and took out a booklet from inside.

Inside were the things he had recorded stroke by stroke since entering the Qingyun Sect—all the settings of the cthulhu mythos, all the classics, all the magic, all the deities and servant races, independent races, and unique entities.

Sect Master Shen Du took it and opened the first page.

He looked at it for a very long time.

Then he turned to the second page and looked at it for a very long time.

He turned to the third page, the fourth page, the fifth page.

The booklet was closed.

"How long did you write this booklet for?"

"I wrote it on and off after entering the Sect," Xie Feng said.

"What is written on it?"

Xie Feng was stunned for a moment. "Sect Master, you... can't see it?"

Sect Master Shen Du handed the booklet back to Xie Feng.

Xie Feng took it and opened the first page.

Spiritual power swept across the paper surface, and the convex-concave texture of the ink felt like stars in the night sky within his spiritual perception; every single character was clearly visible.

"Sect Master, there are words on it."

"Don't I know there are words on it?"

Sect Master Shen Du's voice was very flat.

"When you wrote it, you used the ink of this world, the paper of this world, and the characters of this world, but someone made it so that anyone other than you cannot see these characters."

It wasn't Sect Master Shen Du's problem; it was the booklet's problem.

Who could it be?

Nyarlathotep? Yog-Sothoth? Lord Cthulhu? Black Goat?

He didn't let the people of this world see these characters, why?

Xie Feng did not know.

"Sect Master, I will dictate it." Xie Feng closed the booklet.

Are you kidding me? Without Butcher Zhang, do I have to eat hairy pigs?

Sect Master Shen Du nodded.

Then he discovered that besides the Hounds of Tindalos, and a few other mythical creatures...

Sect Master Shen Du could not receive the rest either!

"Hmm, it seems that apart from the malice I have seen before, I cannot perceive the others."

"Malice?"

"We call this thing malice, and only Cultivators above the Seventh Realm can see it. Although it's a bit early to tell you, it doesn't matter. Malice is different from weirdness; they are purer. Some of those powerful malices have extraordinary attacks on the spirit. As for the mythical creatures you mentioned, they might just be alternative names."

Xie Feng reacted and realized.

No, Tu Wu can perceive it, and Tie Rong can too; neither of them has reached the Seventh Realm, right?

Sect Master Shen Du saw through Xie Feng's thoughts.

"Those who are with you can, but regarding what you just said, I could only hear a 'Great One', and I couldn't hear the rest. Even looking at your mouth shape didn't work."

Xie Feng knew that Sect Master Shen Du hadn't received anything.

Cthulhu.

That wasn't right either. If one said Tie Rong hadn't seen the actual body of the Dark Young, that would still be somewhat justifiable.

But why could Tu Ziguan hear it before? His Cultivation Realm wasn't high enough either, and he hadn't truly seen Lord Cthulhu, yet he could accurately receive the three characters of Cthulhu. Could it be because he wasn't from this world?

However, the most urgent task was to save Tu Ziguan's life, leaving no time for Xie Feng to think deeply.

Xie Feng explained the settings of the Hounds of Tindalos once more: the materialization of angles, the hollow long tongue, the blue mucus, and the aura of time travel. As long as a person performed time travel, the hounds might notice them and relentlessly pursue them.

"Horned Demons," Sect Master Shen Du said.

"... What?"

"Among the things I have seen, the hounds you spoke of are closest to the Horned Demons. We call them that because they appear from corners, but that malice doesn't look like hounds."

Sect Master Shen Du's voice was not loud, as if he were recounting an old matter from many years ago.

"That's right! The Hounds of Tindalos do not look like hounds at all, but rather some terrifying form; it's just that humans mistake them for hounds out of fear of wolves!"

Xie Feng grew excited, the genes of his past life's cthulhu mythos enthusiast dancing with joy.

"And because of their tracking habits, we call them hounds!"

Sect Master Shen Du nodded, seemingly agreeing, and then began to reminisce.

"Fifty years ago, when I was traveling in the Northern Continent, I saw a person being hunted down by a Horned Demon. That person said he had been to the future, and also said he had been to the past; I didn't believe him. He locked himself in a circular room with no wall corners and no table corners—just as you said, so-called nothing less than one hundred and twenty degrees... What is that called?"

"Angle, which is the size of the corner between two objects."

"Right, angle. He lived in that room for three years. My lifespan was also long, so I just watched him at the time while Cultivating nearby. One day three years later, he broke down, pushed open the door, and walked into a wall corner. A Horned Demon emerged from the wall corner and wanted to drag him away."

"Did that person die?" Xie Feng suddenly became a bit excited.

Xie Feng was also cheap; although he was afraid—that was his own fear—right in front of him was someone who had seen a real mythical creature and yet was still alive!

Xie Feng only knew about them theoretically; he himself had never seen a real Hounds of Tindalos.

The person before him was someone who had seen one and survived—a true, super, Cultivation investigator who beat up mythical creatures!

If Xie Feng were rolling such a character sheet, he would be beaten to death by the keeper; after all, what normal person would Cultivate!

This was no less than Randolph Carter!

"He died. I tried to attack the Horned Demon, but failed. That malice seemed immortal, though the Horned Demon was also injured, it still managed to drag the person away." Sect Master Shen Du said with some regret.

"Holy crap!!!!"

Xie Feng let out a shrill scream.

Sect Master Shen Du was startled.

"What is wrong with you?"

"It's fine, Daddy, please continue."

"My last name is not Xie, nor do I remember having a junior like you?"

"It's nothing, Daddy, be careful, the hounds... I mean the Horned Demons, hold grudges."

"Hmm, but they didn't attack me afterwards."

"That must be because you haven't traveled through time, and secondly, Sect Master, you are truly invincible, perfectly bypassing the method to avoid the hounds."

Xie Feng even switched to honorifics, showing how shocked he was, as a storm raged in his mind.

Because Sect Master Shen Du had shown Xie Feng another way of living: whenever you see something, give it a punch first to see if it has a health bar.

That's right, there is Cultivation in this world, and it's also a high-tier world. Weirdness can be fought once they reach the Fourth Realm and above. In the settings, general mythical creatures might not even be able to beat an ordinary person wielding a weapon! Let alone Cultivators!

I've been here for a year, why didn't I think of that earlier!

Inertia of thought really kills people! I was too deeply poisoned by the cthulhu mythos of my past life, always treating myself as an ordinary person!

I can't handle the Great Old Ones, but you stinky Deep Ones, you're just a canned sardine! Can't I even beat you now!?

Sect Master Shen Du looked strangely at Xie Feng and Tu Ziguan.

The way the two of them looked at Sect Master Shen Du was practically full of stars.

Sect Master Shen Du coughed and continued.

"When the Horned Demon appears, it first emits smoke, then reveals its head, and then its entire body. Its tongue is hollow, sucking him dry, and a pool of blue-green mucus is left on the ground, emitting an unbearable stench."

"What was that person's name?" Xie Feng asked.

"He left no name. When I met him, he hadn't spoken to anyone for three years and had almost lost the ability to speak. I was the last person he spoke to."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'I shouldn't have come back.'"

Tu Ziguan supported himself against the door frame, his face even paler than when he had just crawled out of the iron ball.

"What are you afraid of?" Sect Master Shen Du asked, puzzled.

"Sect Master, do you think I look like someone who can beat a Horned Demon?"

Tu Ziguan's face was deathly pale. Cultivators of the Eighth Realm in this world could be counted on one's fingers, and the Sect Master couldn't possibly follow him around every day.

He was not a great Cultivator; he was only at the Second Realm, Nine Heavens, and one needed to reach the Third Realm to enter the inner Sect.

Xie Feng also fell silent.

He didn't know the Great Prison of Nak-Tik, so he couldn't save Tu Ziguan.

"Take this."

Sect Master Shen Du fished out an item from his sleeve.

A necklace with a silver chain and a bead as the pendant.

The bead was transparent, and sealed inside was a small piece of light blue thing, resembling a torn rag or a piece of dried skin.

"What is this?"

Tu Ziguan took it, and Xie Feng beside him stared so hard his eyes almost popped out.

"It's cold," Tu Ziguan said.

"The skin of a Horned Demon is naturally cold," Sect Master Shen Du said calmly. "It contains my spiritual power aura inside; the Horned Demon will not dare to get close to you."

Xie Feng beside them went crazy.

"%￥...&*%%...#%..."

Tu Ziguan put on the necklace and then tucked it into his collar.

"Sect Master!!!"

Tu Ziguan's voice finally stopped shaking.

Sect Master Shen Du did not answer, but instead looked at Xie Feng, who was jumping around nearby.

"Put away your booklet properly. The things you wrote can only be seen by you. This is not a coincidence; someone has used means on you."

"This Disciple understands," Xie Feng said, trying to calm his emotions, and then smiled bitterly. "Naturally, this Disciple will strive to save himself."

"Why?" Sect Master Shen Du tilted his head in a puzzled manner.

"?" The two of them were stunned.

"Although it's uncommon, the two of you should be people from beyond the heavens, right?"

The two of them were shocked!

"No need to be startled. Since you attracted a Horned Demon and know about malice, you have naturally traveled through the long river of time, but since you lack great Cultivation, you can only be outsiders."

The two of them were shocked once more!!

Tu Ziguan asked with trembling voice.

"Are you not going to kill us, Sect Master?"

Sect Master Shen Du looked puzzled again and tapped Tu Ziguan's forehead.

"What kind of talk is that? In this Realm, one speaks with talent and Cultivation. Since you have entered my Sect, and I have looked through your files, neither of you has bullied the market or harmed the common people. Furthermore, you have helped the world eliminate weirdness, walking the righteous path. Why should I kill people who harbor righteousness in their hearts?"

The two of them wore silly expressions.

"And you, Xie Feng. Why do you need to save yourself? Having joined my Qingyun Sect, you naturally have the Sect's protection. Giving Tu Ziguan the necklace is also because I need to make a trip out to invite the Grand Elder and my friends to investigate together the means placed on you, brat Xie Feng."

The two of them began to drool and shed tears at the same time.

Oh, wait.

Xie Feng had no eyes; he only drooled.

"The skin of a Horned Demon has an expiration time; the shed skin will weather over time. This piece inside the bead, I have preserved it for fifty years, and it can probably still be used for ten years. Within ten years, I will naturally return."

Sect Master Shen Du walked out the door, his footsteps fading away along the corridor, gradually swallowed by the mountain wind.