16: Chapter 16 The Book of Ibon

Wu Xi lifted his eyes, surveying his surroundings.

The trees of the Mimei Forest were towering; the trunks were so thick that it would take three or five people to encircle them. The bark was dark brown, and sticky sap oozed from the gullies, emitting a musty odor.

Sunlight was sliced into fragments by the canopy overhead, falling onto the ground in mottled patches, illuminating the surroundings in a half-light, half-shadow state.

He took a step forward, and the sole of his foot stepped on something soft. Looking down, it was a cluster of mycelium, white, like soaked vermicelli, emerging from a pile of fallen leaves.

Wu Xi stepped around it and continued walking. After a few steps, his field of vision suddenly opened up, and entire patches of giant mushroom caps came into view.

The tall ones were over two people high, the caps spread out like a thatched cottage. The short ones reached his waist, crowded together in clusters, with colors ranging from pale white to dark purple.

The most eerie thing was those patterns—the caps were covered in ring-shaped marks, one circle inside another, gathering inward like eyeballs. If you stared at them for too long, those "eyes" seemed to blink.

Wu Xi looked away, bypassed the mushroom colony, and walked into the depths of the forest. After walking about a hundred paces, a circle of megaliths appeared in the depths of the forest.

Each stone was the size of a house, the cut surfaces frighteningly square, as if they had been hacked out by something in one stroke. The edges and corners were distinct, yet the surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting sparse patches of light. Twelve giant stones formed a perfect circle, and a stone platform rose in the center of the circle. It wasn't high, looking like it had three or four steps, but the moment Wu Xi's gaze fell upon it, he couldn't move it away.

As if something were summoning him, Wu Xi's foot stepped forward uncontrollably.

Just then, he heard a sound. He slowly turned his head and looked at the shadows outside the megalith circle.

One pair. Two pairs. Three pairs.

Those eyes lit up in the darkness, yellow-green, like fireflies, but colder and brighter than fireflies. Every pair was staring at him, or rather, staring at the stone platform he was about to approach.

The sound of breathing stopped, and the air solidified.

Wu Xi's hand reached toward his waist, but it was empty; his weapon had been lost earlier.

"Squeak—" A sound came from behind, sticking close, like a needle pricking behind his ear.

Wu Xi turned around abruptly, his back tensed like a bowstring. "Come out."

The shadows squirmed. From the shadows behind the stone platform, a gray, fluffy thing crawled out, its fat body dragging a thick, short tail.

It was that Mimei Rat from before, its fur oily and shiny, its two front teeth exposed, gleaming with a yellow light.

"What are you being fierce for?" The Mimei Rat stood up on its two hind legs and rubbed its face with its front paws. "I just felt that the fate between us wouldn't end, didn't I?"

Wu Xi didn't respond; his gaze swept toward the surroundings of the stone platform.

Those eyes were still shining, dense and numerous, blinking not once in the darkness. He could feel the weight of the gazes landing on his skin, like being pressed against by countless needle tips.

"Are these all your offspring?"

The Mimei Rat cleared its throat and cupped its paws in a salute, which was surprisingly proper. "Old Gray Fur, I have a hundred thousand descendants under my command. From this sea of mushrooms to the megaliths, this is all my territory—"

"Speak seriously." Wu Xi interrupted it, his voice dry and hoarse.

Gray Fur rolled its eyes and pointed a claw at the stone platform. "See that black book?"

Wu Xi only then noticed the object on the stone platform: a black book.

It was spread open in the center of the stone platform, its leather cover gleaming with a dim light. There were no words on the cover, only three claw marks deeply carved into the leather.

The spine was wrapped with several coils of dark red thread, with tiny bone beads strung on the lines, each bead carved into the shape of a twisted human face.

"That is the famous book of eibon." Gray Fur's voice lowered a bit. "It's been sitting here for nearly a hundred years, and it is also a heavily monitored site for our Mimei Rat clan."

"Monitored?"

"Keep an eye on it, don't let any fools touch it." Gray Fur grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "There was a Great Mage of your Human Race who recorded the complete oracle from the Toad God in this thing."

"Oracle?"

"Oracle." Gray Fur pointed at the book from a distance with its claw, but its movements were cautious, not daring to get close. "Gloomy and horrifying, evil and profound, a masterpiece of Major Achievement. It is said to record how to make dreams collapse, how to make reality dissolve, how to turn you two-legged beasts into—" It paused, "Into other things."

Wu Xi stared at the book; the red thread on the spine seemed to have life, squirming slightly.

"Why is it enshrined here?"

Gray Fur sneered. "That lunatic thought this place was closer to the Toad God. You humans love to put on this act of piety. You think by enshrining evil objects in the Holy Land, you can receive the mercy of the gods? It's simply ridiculous."

It suddenly leaned in, its nose almost touching the back of Wu Xi's hand, a cunning light flashing in its eyes. "—Do you want to open it and take a look?"

"No." Two words, crisp and decisive.

Gray Fur was stunned.

Its eyeballs rolled around in their sockets, and it burst into a shrill laugh, laughing until it swayed back and forth, its paws clutching its belly. "Interesting! You humans actually have good sense!"

It laughed enough, sat back down, and scratched its belly with a claw. "If it could be opened, I would have opened it long ago, would it be your turn?"

"This book cannot be touched." Gray Fur's tone suddenly became serious. "The previous High Priest of the Snake People tried to take it away and became fertilizer for this book on the spot."

Wu Xi's gaze fell on those three claw marks.

The marks were very deep, the edges black, as if they had been burned by fire.

"So," Gray Fur turned around, speaking earnestly, and tapped its tail on the stone platform, "just look, don't have any crooked thoughts. Kid, you'd better step back..."

Its voice stopped abruptly.

On the stone platform, it was empty; the book was gone.

Gray Fur's eyeballs bulged round, almost popping out of their sockets. It slowly turned its head to look at Wu Xi.

Wu Xi stood in place, holding the book with both hands.

He held it in front of his belly, half a foot away from his chest. His fingers were hooked on both sides of the spine, his knuckles turning white.

"You..." Gray Fur's voice sounded like it was squeezed out from between its teeth, trembling. "When did you..."

Wu Xi didn't answer; he didn't know either.

Just now, while listening, his right hand had reached out unconsciously. His fingertips touched the leather cover, as cold as ice, and then with a flick of his wrist, the book was in his hands.

The whole process, his mind was blank, as if something had taken over his body.

By the time he realized it, the book was already in his arms.

A voice exploded in his mind.

[Warning: High-risk evil object detected, Sanity value begins to drop]

Red numbers jumped before his eyes, red enough to be blinding, like blood.

Wu Xi felt as if someone was hitting his skull with a hammer. Once, twice, every time it hit, something was shattering. Not his skull shattering, but something deeper, memories? Thoughts? He couldn't tell.

His vision began to turn black, with snow-like spots appearing at the edges.

Something was moving on the cover of the book, a blurry shadow, as if it wanted to crawl out from those three claw marks. A pale hand, with slender fingers, was reaching out from the depths of the claw marks.

Wu Xi wanted to close his eyes, but his eyelids wouldn't obey. He wanted to let go, but his fingers seemed welded to the spine.

The numbers were jumping.

[Host's life in danger detected]

[Sanyuan Art (Incomplete) passively triggered: Using essence and blood as an anchor to lock Sanity value]

[Current Sanity value: 1]

...

...

[Lock successful]

Boom! Wu Xi took a sharp breath, his lungs feeling like they were about to explode, his chest heaving violently.

He looked down at his hands; the book was still there. His fingers were still there. It was just that he was shaking violently, from his fingertips all the way to his shoulders, unable to stop at all.

The red thread on the spine wrapped around his wrist, digging into his skin and flesh, seeping out trickles of blood.

"You..." Gray Fur asked nervously, its voice trembling. It took two steps back, its paws unconsciously reaching behind itself. "Are you okay?"

Wu Xi wanted to say he was fine, but when he opened his mouth, what came out of his throat was a hoarse gasp.

He lifted his eyes and looked at Gray Fur. Gray Fur's expression changed; it saw Wu Xi's eyes—those eyes were bloodshot at this moment, pupils dilated, the whites of his eyes taking up a huge proportion, like a corpse.

"Put the book down!" Gray Fur screamed. "Put it down quickly! You will lure Him over!"

Wu Xi wanted to let go.

But his fingers wouldn't obey. Not only that, he felt the book was absorbing him, absorbing his body temperature, absorbing his blood, absorbing his soul.

The pages began to turn automatically, making a rustling sound. Every page was filled with twisted text, and those characters were squirming on the paper like earthworms.

His Sanity value was locked, with only a sliver of clarity left, like a candle in the wind.

Wu Xi bit his tongue, the taste of blood exploding in his mouth. The pain allowed him to regain a little control over his body.

"I..." He opened his mouth, his voice like sandpaper rubbing. "Can't control it..."

Before the words fell, a rustling sound rang out from outside the megalith circle. Those eyes, the dense, numerous eyes, surged out from the shadows.