48: Chapter 48 The two volumes are not one book

Xie Feng used the Gate Guide to pour the gaze of the Primordial Immortals, the imprint of Ghatanothoa, and the aura of the Bloated Woman all into the core; to Tsathoggua, these three forces were simply three dishes of different flavors.

After it finished eating, it reached out and took Meng Yi, who was the last bit of residue, as well.

Such sacred laziness. It was even too lazy to come personally, extending only a single hand.

"But I'm truly done for now." Xie Feng looked at the bizarre derivatives lingering around and then at the completely empty Spiritual Qi within his six meridians, closing his eyes.

The Gate Guide in his right eye socket had also automatically closed, Ghatanothoa's imprint rested quietly on his chest like a cold stone, and the Bloated Woman's veil had been sucked away by the core.

The closest derivative stirred, tentatively moving forward half a foot, and the other derivatives moved along with it. They swarmed toward the center of the ruins simultaneously from the corners of the walls, behind the beams and pillars, and from the edges of the ice cracks.

Xie Feng laid his blind cane horizontally across his knees and closed his eyes.

Then he heard that loud crash.

At that very instant, the grayish-white light dome of the city-sealing grand array shattered all at once, smashed to pieces by a single blow.

The fragments of the light dome were blasted in all directions from high in the air by an immensely powerful force. The fragments, burning with a silvery-white afterglow, splashed outward from the center of the city toward the city walls like a reverse meteor shower.

As the fragments streaked across the night sky, they emitted a sharp piercing sound. After the light dome shattered, it revealed the true night sky outside.

The moon had already sunk westward, leaving only an extremely faint silver rim hanging upon the city wall. Stars densely covered the entire zenith, looking as though someone had scattered a handful of broken silver across a piece of black cloth.

A figure descended from the sky, slamming heavily onto the broken bricks of the main hall ruins of the City Defense Mansion. The shattered bricks splashed outward in all directions, landing in the mycelium ash around Xie Feng and kicking up small patches of gray powder.

The shockwave blew away several of the surrounding derivatives, sending them tumbling through the air as the chilly mist was deformed by the impact. The remaining derivatives stopped simultaneously, turning at once toward the figure that had landed in the center of the ruins.

"Brother Xie." The figure spoke. Gentle, unhurried, and carrying a just-right sense of being punchable.

Wen Yushu.

He wore a moon-white long robe, the hem stained with a few specks of mud splashed on during his journey, and carried an unsheathed longsword in his hand, the bronze decorations on the scabbard gleaming with a dull luster in the starlight. He glanced around at the derivatives crouching at the edge of the ruins and narrowed his eyes.

Sniffing the air, this scoundrel had actually perfumed himself before coming!

"I was helping you look up information in the Scripture Pavilion of the Qingyun Sect, while you were fighting a fifth-realm Cultivator in Cangyun City." He switched the longsword to his other hand, his tone as casual as chatting about the nice weather today. "Truly a youthful hero."

Xie Feng knelt on the broken bricks, his blind cane laid horizontally across his knees, his two empty eye sockets facing Wen Yushu's direction. He wanted to say something, but only managed to squeeze out two words from his throat.

"Help me up."

Wen Yushu ignored him.

Another figure fell from the night sky, a moment slower than Wen Yushu.

That was an old man wearing brocade robes, his hair mostly white and casually fastened at the back of his head with a wooden hairpin. His facial features bore a three-tenths resemblance to Wen Yushu's, but the temperament between his brows and eyes was completely different.

Exceptionally familiar—that was the Elder who sat beside the Sect Master last time.

Wen Heng.

Elder of the Scripture Pavilion in the inner Sect of the Qingyun Sect, and Wen Yushu's grandfather. A great Cultivator of the seventh realm.

After landing, Wen Heng did not look at those derivatives. His gaze swept across the ruins, and then he extended his right hand, lightly clenching his five fingers into a void.

All the derivatives in the ruins froze simultaneously. Their outlines trembled violently within the perception of spiritual power, and then, like a popped bubble, they silently deflated. The mists scattered and evaporated completely before hitting the ground.

With a single grip, completely wiped out.

Wen Heng withdrew his hand and tucked it into his sleeve.

Only then did Wen Yushu walk over, bend down, and support Xie Feng up from the broken bricks. Xie Feng draped his left arm over Wen Yushu's shoulder, propped the ground with his blind cane in his right hand, and slowly straightened up.

Wen Yushu supported Xie Feng as they walked toward the doorway.

The thick darkness inside the doorway had completely dissipated when the light dome shattered. Moonlight shone in through the doorway, illuminating the broken bricks and rubble in the front courtyard of the City Defense Mansion. Tu Ziguan stood outside the doorway, still holding the earth-shaking thunder in his hand, its bronze shell covered in mycelium ash.

Only Tu Ziguan.

On the entire street outside the gate of the City Defense Mansion, aside from Tu Ziguan, there was not a single soul. Xie Feng raised his head from Wen Yushu's shoulder, recovered slightly, and spread out his spiritual power perception.

Everyone in the entire city was present, except for the people of the Xie Family.

In the direction of the Xie Residence, when his spiritual power swept over, there was nothing. The western courtyard, the side courtyard, the ancestral hall, the genealogy room—the doors of every single room were wide open, and every window stood agape.

Every member of the Xie Family, from the direct lineage to collateral branches, farm tenants, and servants—everyone carrying the Bloodline of the Xie Family had completely vanished.

Supporting Xie Feng, Wen Yushu felt the muscles on his shoulders tense abruptly.

"Xie Feng."

"Sigh, what an awkward family..." Xie Feng sighed.

They had left without waiting for him to come out, without saying goodbye, taking all suspicions and accusations away with them. The people left behind knew nothing, saw nothing, and had nothing to do with him.

Xie Feng retracted his spiritual power, letting it fall onto his blind cane. The tip of the cane tapped against the broken bricks at the entrance of the City Defense Mansion, leaving a very shallow mark on the brick.

Tu Ziguan stood outside the doorway, holding the bronze shell of the earth-shaking thunder until it grew warm in his hand. When he saw Xie Feng being supported out, the corners of his mouth twitched as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words back down. He took Xie Feng's other arm from Wen Yushu and helped support him.

Xie Feng did not ask "They left?" He stood there, facing the direction of the Xie Residence for a moment.

"Let's head back, there are probably some good items."

Wen Heng walked out from the doorway, the hem of his robes stained with a few specks of mycelium ash. He lowered his head to look, then reached out and gently brushed them off. After that, he walked over to Xie Feng, fished out an extremely small cyan porcelain bottle from his sleeve, pulled out the stopper, and poured out a dark red Medicinal Pill.

"Eat it."

Xie Feng took it and popped it into his mouth. The Medicinal Pill dissolved on the surface of his tongue, sliding down his throat as his flesh and skin began to heal.

"Thank you, Elder."

Wen Heng stuffed the cyan porcelain bottle back into his sleeve, sat down on the stone steps beside him, and looked up at the stars overhead.

"Speak."

Xie Feng recounted everything from the beginning.

There was nothing left to hide now. The Sect Master had said that Cultivators above the seventh realm could see it, so he might as well report it to the Elder. Besides, the Sect Master was not currently at the Sect anyway. The two of them also exchanged thoughts on some ambiguous points.

By the time Xie Feng finished speaking, the sky was almost bright. A very faint fish-belly white emerged atop the eastern city wall, and the stars began to shrink back one by one. Wen Heng withdrew his hand from his sleeve and placed it on his knees.

"You said that Meng Yi has fragments of immortal realm classics in his hands? Three items brought back by the ancestors of the Xie Family in total? Upper and lower volumes of books, an imprint, and a sculpture?"

"Correct."

"But you just said that the cult in the Black Pine Forest summoned a Three-legged Greed Nightmare?"

Xie Feng rested the back of his head against the stone lion and paused.

The ghoul manuscript recorded knowledge related to Ghouls. The summoning spell of the Black Goat's young did not belong to the ghoul manuscript. Those five believers in the Black Pine Forest should be Meng Yi's subordinates, so where did this summoning spell come from?

Wen Heng stood up and turned back into the ruins of the City Defense Mansion. Xie Feng heard his footsteps moving among the broken bricks and mycelium ash, followed by the sound of bricks and stones being lifted away.

Xie Feng perceived an extremely gentle spiritual power spreading into the gaps between the broken bricks, lifting the piled-up bricks one by one and silently placing them aside.

When Wen Heng walked back, he was holding something extra in his hand.

A book.

It was the leather-bound manuscript of the kind Xie Tianxiong held, with the same cover material. When spiritual power swept across it, the touch on the cover carried an extremely subtle grainy texture, as if it were a thin board pressed from countless tiny bone fragments ground into powder.

Xie Feng took the book. The moment his fingertips touched the cover, the Gate Guide in his right eye socket twitched slightly. He opened the cover and swept across it line by line with his spiritual power perception.

The cover Materials of the two books were almost identical—that thin board pressed from bone powder, that cool, smooth touch with a subtle grainy texture. They came from the same place, or rather, were brought out of the Dreamlands by the same person.

Wen Heng stood in front of him, the hem of his gray robes swaying slightly in the morning breeze.

"The sculpture wasn't found. Do you recognize this book?"

"I don't know, let me take a look."

Xie Feng's fingers felt the back cover. Near the spine, extremely shallow carved marks were etched onto the cover board pressed from bone powder. They were not printed, but carved stroke by stroke with some sharp object. The edges of the marks were worn, but the strokes could still be distinguished.

Five words.

"cultes des goules".

Xie Feng's fingers stopped on the back cover.

So that was how it was.

These two books were indeed extremely similar; had the ancestors of the Xie Family mistaken them for upper and lower volumes? Xie Feng roughly understood why Meng Yi's subordinates knew the Black Goat summoning spell.

What Meng Yi read was not the ghoul manuscript, but "cultes des goules". That was why he used the summoning spell of the Dark Young, and why his inner self remained human. Reading this book would make a person increasingly resemble a Ghoul, but would not transform them into a Ghoul.

The magic of the two books was completely different.

Meng Yi had read it for goodness knows how long; he hadn't turned into a Ghoul, but his cognition had been completely altered by this book. Therefore, he could smile and drink tea with Xie Feng in the floral hall while using living people as Materials. He didn't feel he was doing evil; he felt he was approaching the truth.

Xie Feng closed the book.

"No wonder."

Wen Heng did not ask what was no wonder, but simply reached out and pulled that book away from Xie Feng's hands.

"Hey, hey, hey?"

"I will bring this book back to the Qingyun Sect," he said, his voice not loud. "Your father's matter, the Xie Family's matter, and Meng Yi's matter—we will discuss them once we return to the Sect. Recover from your injuries first."

He turned and walked outside the City Defense Mansion. After taking two steps, he stopped, tilted his head, and glanced in the direction Xie Tianxiong had left. The hills outside the city gate glowed with a greenish-gray outline in the morning light, and an extremely faint wisp of cooking smoke rose from the direction of Liushu Village; the people of the Xie Family had already walked far away.

Wen Heng looked in that direction for a moment, then withdrew his hand from his sleeve and executed a very simple cupped-fist salute toward that direction.

He tucked his hand back into his sleeve and continued walking outside the city.

Wen Yushu straightened up from the other side of the stone lion, switched his longsword to his other hand, and followed behind Wen Heng, pausing for a moment when passing by Tu Ziguan.

"The spiritual power conversion rate between the third and fourth layers of your earth-shaking thunder rune circuit is too low. Bring it to me to take a look after we return."

Tu Ziguan was stunned for a moment, and then the corners of his mouth split open into a grin.

Xie Feng sat on the stone steps, leaning his back against the stone lion. Tu Ziguan stood up and patted the dust off his trousers.

"Heading back?"

"Let's go, we're about to enter the intermission."

"What is an intermission?"

A bizarre sculpture in the corner flashed a trace of dim light, and then slowly disappeared.