Chapter 172: The Qiongqi Case of Kongsang Mountain

"If you can track Dai Wei, I suggest you start with him. Since he is willing to gamble, he won't be able to quit; you can try your luck at the casino. Additionally, a large quantity of High-Energy Crystals has been bought up, so there must be a use for them. In this regard, what are your thoughts?" Du Zhengyi said, "This should be the purpose of you contacting us today, right? If you have any ideas, don't waste any more time. We can talk about it; perhaps we can exchange some views."

Wen Lin's expression was hesitant. She used almost the same method to make her phone float in the air to follow her, and she was pacing back and forth in a small county hotel room. However, her emotions were clearly unstable, lacking the effect of Du Zhengyi's seemingly built-in handheld gimbal, and her phone's image appeared shaky from time to time.

She seemed deeply troubled and unsure of how to speak. She kept restraining herself, though she still had an emotional outburst, saying, "I don't know how to put it, but this place makes me feel particularly oppressed."

Du Zhengyi was expressionless, "I thought Battle Mages weren't suited for being so sentimental."

Frustration appeared on Wen Lin's face, but it quickly transformed into self-protective aggression, "I remember a year ago, you gave a speech to all the Battle Mages and Reserve Battle Mages. At that time, Venerable Pei hoped you could share some experience. You might not remember me, but I was there. I remember you saying that for a Battle Mage, one shouldn't blindly trust techniques; what's important is intuition."

Du Zhengyi's expression remained unchanged, "What I meant was, you idiots, no matter how hard you try, it's useless; you will never catch up to a genius."

Wen Lin was startled. Seeing the pile of blankets on the sofa behind Du Zhengyi trembling, she knew the Great Raccoon King was already laughing to the point of convulsions.

Wen Lin remarked with emotion, "Humility really is a virtue."

Du Zhengyi shrugged and said, "I'm just a person; no one is perfect."

The pile of blankets immediately trembled again. Wen Lin could faintly hear suppressed laughter. What else could she say?

"Fine, then let's talk rationally," Wen Lin said helplessly. Her anxiety was visible even through the camera. "We have monitored many places here, and I can only say that there is currently no large-scale energy abnormality. However, there aren't many Mages in this place, Ganzhou. Even in the human world, this isn't an important city; it's just a small county town with a population of 400,000."

Du Zhengyi recalled that Luo Qi had once said that Ganzhou and Kongsang Mountain had geographical features somewhat similar to Qionglin and Gushan, so he couldn't help but ask, "Have you been to Kongsang Mountain?"

Wen Lin took a deep breath and looked up at the phone's camera, "What made you think of Kongsang Mountain?"

Du Zhengyi did not answer; he made a gesture for Wen Lin to continue.

"Alright," Wen Lin sighed wearily, "Regardless, I hope to find a real Great Mage to talk to. I need to find someone to analyze this with me. My current situation is worrying. I can't ask Fan Shi; if I did, I would have to explain to him exactly what I'm doing. Among Mages of a similar level to me, only Shi Qian is willing to help, but his experience is limited after all. And he's actually just here to help a friend; he has no proactive desire to be involved in this matter at all."

She looked at Du Zhengyi, "Do you remember the Kongsang Mountain Qiongqi case?"

Du Zhengyi pondered, unable to place it for a moment.

"Don't think about history books; it's that Qionglin scandal. We handled it internally according to custom and it was a case never made public. However, it can still be found in the chronicles of the Battle Mages," Wen Lin said.

Du Zhengyi suddenly realized, "You mean the Qionglin Great Mage who created the Qiongqi?"

"Yes," Wen Lin nodded, "That was a long time ago. The beginning of the matter wasn't very eye-catching; at first, it was just a legend circulating in the human villages near Ganzhou. It was said that there was an ancient Tomb in Kongsang Mountain where an immortal had once sealed an ancient evil spirit."

Du Zhengyi didn't know the full cause and effect of this matter. Following the habits of a Mage, he only understood the core outline of the event. Wen Lin was now telling the first half of the story; perhaps only women would have so much romanticism to focus on these somewhat literary implications.

Wen Lin continued, "At first, no one cared at all. Humans are always making a fuss, or else they are endlessly having unrealistic dreams. Until one day, the human legend suddenly changed. They said that lightning fell from the sky, splitting the Seal Stone at the entrance of the Tomb and breaking the Seal."

She looked at Du Zhengyi, but Du Zhengyi still didn't recall anything.

"The human villagers were panicked. They said that demonic beasts and evil ghosts appeared at the same time. By this time, the Qionglin of that era still didn't pay attention. Then, the disaster descended just like that," Wen Lin said.

The story finally connected to Du Zhengyi's memory, "Several villages were slaughtered by the Qiongqi."

"Yes," Wen Lin said, "It was only then that we arrived late to send Mages to observe what was happening to the humans. The result was somewhat ironic; we discovered the Qiongqi, this monster that shouldn't exist in the world."

"Someone touched the ancient Seal," Du Zhengyi concisely took over Wen Lin's words, "Someone activated what shouldn't have been activated, letting an Ancient Divine Beast that shouldn't exist in the world appear. A few unruly Mages stirred up trouble. They even formed a connection with the Ancient Divine Beast in the form of a Psychic Beast, controlling the divine beast, likely intending to create a monster army."

"Moreover, the Qiongqi really isn't a good thing. The person who created this incident was very vicious," Wen Lin added, "We sacrificed quite a few Mages before we stabilized the situation."

"What do you mean?" Du Zhengyi asked, "Do you believe that such an ancient Seal really exists in Kongsang Mountain? If Kongsang Mountain is still an ancient Seal Land now, then Qionglin should have discovered it long ago."

"What you say makes sense," Wen Lin said hesitantly, "I also know that things should be that way, but I have been living here for a while, and what makes me feel afraid is that many rumors and legends have started once again. I know that saying this might be irrational, but I feel the situation is very similar to the last time. I know no one will agree with this thought of mine, which is one of the reasons why I have no one to discuss it with. I think if anyone could understand, it would only be you. I don't know what you think, but I think the Great Raccoon King might understand me; after all, this legend also has the shadow of evil ghosts."