51: Chapter 51 The translator has been found

Early the next morning, Xie Feng went to the Scripture Pavilion.

The Scripture Pavilion was located halfway up the main peak of the Qingyun Sect, inside a three-story wooden building. The tip of Xie Feng's blind cane tapped against the threshold of the Scripture Pavilion, the end knocking once against the wood, causing Wen Heng to raise his head.

"You're here." He set down the silk scroll and pressed a paperweight over its corner. "Elder Zhao came to see me yesterday evening. He said there's something in your Meridians that he's never seen before, and that you might come looking for me."

"I came to borrow a book," Xie Feng said.

"Which one?"

"You know which one."

"cultes des goules?"

Xie Feng nodded.

Wen Heng stood up from behind the low desk and walked to the bookshelf in the deepest part of the Scripture Pavilion.

The bookshelf was very tall, stretching all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Its shelves were densely packed with classical texts—silk scrolls, bamboo slips, paper copies—some brand new, others so old that the characters on their covers were blurred.

Wen Heng pulled a flat wooden box from the topmost shelf, walked back, and placed it on the low desk.

The box was made of agarwood, its surface carved with extremely intricate spirit-sealing runes that gleamed with a faint, dark gold light in the daylight outside the window.

Wen Heng pressed his hand on the lid of the box, and the runes dimmed layer by layer until the lid popped open a crack.

"This book," Wen Heng said, "I flipped through it once after bringing it back to the Scripture Pavilion. The things recorded in it do not belong to this world.

Last time you said it came from a place called the Dreamlands, and I believe you.

The text, symbols, and rituals in this book are completely different from the cultivation system of Jiuzhou.

But it can be understood by people. As long as someone possesses spiritual power, opening it and reading a few pages will allow them to understand it—the words will jump into their eyes on their own."

"I know," Xie Feng said. "All Lovecraftian texts are like that."

Speaking of which, Nyarlathotep said there were still mysteries unsolved and clues undiscovered. Come to think of it, this book was a French book, and a modern French book at that. How could it have been translated by someone from Jiuzhou?

Wen Heng glanced at him, not asking what "Lovecraftian" meant.

He opened the box lid completely.

cultes des goules lay at the bottom of the box, its cover board pressed from bone powder shimmering with a moist sheen under the dark golden runic light.

There were no words on the cover.

"Two hours a day," he said. "It cannot be taken out of the Scripture Pavilion, copied, or rubbed. I will watch over you as you read."

"Yes."

Xie Feng read books in the Scripture Pavilion for over a month. As for himself, his goal was very clear.

"Vrees Sign! I must learn this thing!"

Xie Feng was both excited and frustrated. What excited him was that he was about to truly master the magic he had been longing for; what frustrated him was that his cultivation would probably say goodbye to him.

And out of the entire book, what he wanted to learn most was the Vrees Sign.

This Spell was an ancient and powerful gesture used by sorcerers that enhanced the casting of other Spells.

It could reduce cost, shorten casting time, or slightly boost Spell effects, depending on the current Spell.

Legend had it that the Vrees Sign could temporarily suppress mythos creatures, making them extremely cautious of this sign and delaying their attacks until they learned the sorcerer's motive.

Xie Feng came every day during the hour of the Dragon and left during the hour of the Snake. Exactly two hours, no more, no less.

Wen Heng sat behind the low desk by the window, watching him.

Xie Feng sat on the other side of the low desk, cultes des goules spread across his lap. It had been a month, and only now could Xie Feng be considered to have learned from a real magic book for the first time.

Unfortunately, reality wasn't a game. The book was instilling knowledge into Xie Feng, but he couldn't choose the content of that knowledge.

In the end, Xie Feng successfully obtained a Spell he didn't want.

With a face full of distress, Xie Feng slammed the book onto the ground.

"Dammit! Black Goat Young Summoning Technique!!!"

That's right, Xie Feng had successfully learned two Spells: summoning and controlling the Dark Young.

Moreover, turning to the last page of the book, there was only a single line of text carved near the spine on the inner back cover.

It had been carved stroke by stroke with something sharp. The edges of the carvings were worn, but the strokes could still be distinguished.

It wasn't mythical script; it was Chinese.

Standard regular script, neat and orderly. The person who carved it had put a lifetime of strength into this single line of text:

"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you. But if you jump in, the abyss will make you fly."

"Come on, big shots! Can't you army of transmigrators stop memeing at a time like this?!"

Xie Feng really couldn't take it anymore. He finally understood how this damned magic book had turned into a Chinese text. If he could find this person one day, he would definitely beat him to death.

Wen Heng closed the box lid. The spirit-sealing runes lit up layer by layer, swallowing the moist sheen of the bone powder cover.

He looked up at Xie Feng, drew his hands back from the box, and tucked them into his sleeves. "Finished reading?"

"Finished reading."

"Learned it?"

Xie Feng fell silent.

"Learned a load of crap."

Wen Heng returned the agarwood box to the topmost shelf of the bookcase, then walked back and sat behind the low desk by the window.

"Elder Zhao told me about the changes in your Meridians. He said part of your spiritual power was converted into something he didn't recognize. He said that stuff isn't spiritual power, but you can use it." Wen Heng's tone was calm. "Now that you've read this book and learned what's in it, do you have an answer yourself as to what that stuff is?"

"I do," Xie Feng said. "It's the energy needed to cast those Spells... that is, those Cultivation Techniques. All the Spells in this book are driven by it. The spiritual power in my Meridians is being converted into that stuff by the statue, and it can be converted back and forth with spiritual power."

"What statue?"

"The one you couldn't find. I won't pull it out. Although you're in the Seventh Realm, I estimate you ninety percent won't be able to see it either."

It couldn't be helped. Those in the Seventh Realm or above could see mythos creatures, but for a being at the level of Tsathoggua, if it didn't want Wen Heng to see it, Wen Heng likely really wouldn't be able to see it.

Wen Heng nodded and didn't make Xie Feng pull it out, merely continuing to ask.

"What's the ratio?"

"Converting spiritual power to it is about ten to one. Ten units of spiritual power convert to one unit. Converting it back to spiritual power is also one to ten. But after converting back to spiritual power, there's no loss of spiritual power."

"They can be converted into each other?"

"Not before, but after learning it, yes."

Wen Heng tapped his fingers lightly twice against his knee. "In other words, that substance in your Meridians has a density ten times that of spiritual power."

"Right."

"When it fills your entire Meridians, how far will your cultivation drop, calculated in terms of spiritual power?"

Xie Feng deduced one step further along Wen Heng's question. Ten units of spiritual power converted to one unit of mana. When mana completely filled his six Meridians, his total spiritual power would become one-tenth of what it was now, not even reaching the First Realm First Layer.

"It will drop to having almost no spiritual power."

"That doesn't count as a drop in cultivation," Wen Heng said. "Your cultivation is merely being stored in a different way. There is no such storage method in the cultivation system of Jiuzhou. Now that you understand that book, you should understand yourself. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Among the hundred skills of immortal arts, all can lead to the righteous path—it depends on how you use it."

Easy for him to say, but before long, Xie Feng's superficial cultivation would drop to almost nothing. A Second Realm Cultivator dropping to not even reaching the First Realm.

In Jiuzhou, cultivation was everything to a Cultivator. Cultivation determined status, determined resources, determined the way others looked at you.

After spending so long climbing from a one-meridian trash to the Second Realm, now the God of Toads was kicking away the ladder he had climbed up with.

Wen Heng looked at the distressed Xie Feng with a strange expression, his squinted eyes—just like Wen Yushu's—sweeping over him.

"You don't seem very happy?"

"You must be joking, Elder. You wouldn't be happy if your cultivation was completely drained either, even if it's just on the surface."

"What kind of talk is that? Isn't this a good thing?"

"Are you Brother Feng or something?"

"Who is that?"

"..."

Xie Feng didn't speak, the two black voids beneath his blindfold facing in Wen Heng's direction.

"You don't seem to understand. This thing can allow you to deceive enemies while weak, and it can also strengthen you." Wen Heng withdrew his hand from his sleeve and placed it on the low desk. "Your spiritual power has turned into that so-called magic power, and this stuff is ten times denser than spiritual power. In other words, originally your body could only store ten units of spiritual power, but now converting them into magic power, you can store ten units of magic power, which is equal to one hundred units of spiritual power. Why do you wear a troubled expression?"

Wen Heng hit the nail on the head. The insight of an old Cultivator was just that sharp, quickly noticing the advantage in this.

Xie Feng suddenly snapped his head up.

That's right! Why didn't I figure that out? This old man really has something!

Xie Feng suddenly recalled that line of text at the end of the book. What if Wen Heng recognized it too?

"Elder... There was a line of text on the inner side of the book's back cover. Did you see it?"

Wen Heng didn't answer. Xie Feng waited a moment, and seeing no response, he stepped over the threshold. His blind cane tapped against the bluestone steps in front of the Scripture Pavilion, tapping down one by one. When he reached the last step, Wen Heng's voice came from the window.

"I saw it."

"What does that line of text mean?"

Wen Heng's voice took a moment to come through. "I don't know, but the handwriting of that line of text is identical to the handwriting of your Xie Family's ancestor in your family study."