Chapter 2298: Eastern Relics

————Reserve members~~

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Very quickly, half a month passed.

Xia Duo had already collected all the artisan heritages preserved by the Mulan; during this period, he had almost toured the entirety of Yimaska.

It must be said that the population of Yimaska, even just on the surface, far exceeded that of Netheril, not to mention the large number of hidden dimensions and even Habitable Planes that could accommodate a massive population.

It could even be said that the Mulan, even as slaves, might not be fewer in number than the Netherese!

On this trip to Yimaska, Xia Duo had obtained nearly one hundred thousand Mulan in total; the Planting Area of his Floating City could no longer hold them, and he had to temporarily open the Residential Area, which had not yet finished all its basic infrastructure construction.

Originally, by this time, Xia Duo could have left Yimaska according to the plan he had when he arrived and continued toward the east to explore the boundaries of the Plane, but the mysterious methods of the Mulan Prophet had been lingering in his mind, occupying most of his thoughts.

Yet no matter how he thought about it, he could not figure out what kind of method the other party had used.

He had no heart to continue his travels until this problem was cleared up; it was different from other unknowns, as those were merely simple unknowns that had not yet touched his normal life.

But the Mulan Prophet's method, which was almost like a law of causality, had truly appeared in his life and had even made direct contact.

If it could be "every heritage corresponds to two inheritors" now, could it be "Xia Duo will inevitably die a violent death when going out" or some other bad result in the future?

This was very possible; even in the Main Plane, even possessing a Floating City, Xia Duo dared not say that he was absolutely free from all taboos.

To say nothing of anything else, he could not ignore the threats of the Dragon Madness Mythallar and the Demon Descendant, not to mention that the vast Main Plane surely hid even more existences capable of threatening him.

If it inevitably led to a worst-case scenario, that would be too terrifying.

Thus, Xia Duo once again had Sainide enter the city, and under the guise of investigating the slave market, he had him pass a message to the Prophet to request a meeting!

He wanted to ask the other party face-to-face how all this was achieved, and at the same time, observe what was going on with the Mist that could Avoidance of Detection on the other party.

Almost on the second day after Xia Duo had Sainide send the message, the Prophet replied, agreeing to Xia Duo's invitation.

……

Seti.

Xia Duo had been here once before to obtain heritage; he had not expected the Prophet to be hiding in this city. To avoid Jiamu's line of sight, Xia Duo had Sainide take his Magic Mark to meet with the Prophet.

It was inside a small Mulan settlement on the edge of Seti; not long after Sainide entered the settlement, he was led into a tent-like room.

Through Sainide's eyes, Xia Duo saw the old woman sitting in the innermost part of the tent—her face was withered, wrapped in a yellowing and blackened blanket; her state was as if she could pass away at any moment.

Like all the Mulan Xia Duo had seen before, this old woman had no hair, but unlike other Mulan, the other party had even shaved off her eyebrows, perhaps even pulled them out by force, as Xia Duo did not observe any stubble.

And the most peculiar point was on the other party's scalp, which actually had two rows of mysterious wedge-shaped symbols tattooed on it!

A brief Scrying showed the other party was almost like a blank sheet of paper; the Mist previously detected had disappeared without a trace, but the other party seemed to have been sitting here all along.

As for other Magic Aura, none could be perceived at all. Is this really a Mulan Prophet? Xia Duo could not help but raise such a question.

"Are you the Prophet?" Xia Duo asked through Sainide's mouth.

"Yes, noble Lord of the East."

The old woman nodded with difficulty and said slowly: "Thank you, my Lord, for everything you have done for the Mulan. Please forgive my current state for being unable to rise and salute. If you have any questions, just ask me directly!"

The other party's attitude was surprisingly friendly, and the person was surprisingly kind; if not for that fairly fluent Elvish, Xia Duo would never have been able to associate the other party with a mysterious Prophet.

After thinking it over, Xia Duo asked the first question: "Have you had contact with the Elves of Cormanthor?"

"Yes, that was several hundred years ago. At that time, 'Prophet' was just a fictional title used to unite the clans, until the Elves appeared, and then there was the first true Prophet."

"What did they do?"

"It was too long ago, and many heritages have been lost. What I know now is that the Yimaska had the means to peer into fate; every resistance of the Mulan was seen by them, until the Elves appeared and provided the Mulan with the means to obscure fate. Only then was there the first successful case of resistance. Of course, that resistance ultimately failed; compared to the Yimaska, the Mulan were far too inferior."

Before Xia Duo could ask, the Prophet explained the situation regarding the Mist of Avoidance of Detection, but Xia Duo still had confusion, and he continued to ask:

"Then why did the Elves do this? Out of sympathy for the Mulan? Or to incite civil strife in Yimaska?"

"I don't know the initial reason either; perhaps only the Elves of that time knew. As for now, I believe they want to use us to do one thing."

"Do one thing? What thing?"

"I am very sorry, this concerns the fate of the millions of Mulan currently within Yimaska, and even I cannot speak of it."

The old woman tried to open her mouth, but could not make any sound; instead, she seemed to have suffered some heavy blow, and her whole person withered.

During this process, Xia Duo observed a fleeting Magic Aura, realizing it might be some kind of Contract Magic established between the Elves and the Mulan.

Seeing that the other party still wanted to try to convey information through other means, Xia Duo hurriedly stopped her: "No need to try. If it involves Contract Magic of the ethnic group, it is indeed not something an individual can resist!"

"Then, does my Lord have anything else to ask?"

"Anything else?"

Several questions surfaced in Xia Duo's mind one after another, but one of them suppressed all the others: "I want to know, when the Prophet gave me the heritage before, how did you manage to have two inheritors every time?"

"That question!"

The old woman suddenly laughed happily, which even triggered a fit of coughing; only after recovering slightly did she explain to Xia Duo: "I guess my Lord might be overthinking it!"

"How could a fallen nation have the capital to play tricks? I just prepared for the possibility that my Lord might not have obtained the heritage and would come looking for me again; if you came looking for me again, I would just give it to you!"

"So that's how it is!" Xia Duo could not help but laugh.

Although he was meeting the Prophet via a Magic Mark and could not provide an Inspiration Headband to the other party, to ensure the authenticity of the information, he had cast Mind Magic almost as soon as they met. Although it was not as useful as an Inspiration Headband, it was no problem for simply judging truth from falsehood.

Especially since the other party seemed to have no defenses at all, just like an ordinary person.