Chapter 203: Missions of the Past

"Kongsang Mountain," the old man said slowly, falling into a moment of contemplation, before shaking his head a moment later. "The history of Kongsang Mountain is too ancient; I don't know why you would think Kongsang Mountain would have a problem. I don't think you can blame Du Zhengyi for not believing you; even if I don't have as much faith in the Qionglin as he does, I still find your suspicions inconceivable."

"Then what about Xingtai Mountain?" Luo Qi asked anxiously.

"Xingtai Mountain is already empty; there is nothing left," Wan Pei said. He frowned and struggled to think, as if trying to recall the entire scene. "That was nearly a century ago. Du Zhengyi wasn't even in this world back then, so of course he wouldn't know the situation beneath Xingtai Mountain."

"The Head Venerable wasn't Pei Shu back then, right?" Luo Qi asked casually.

"Not yet; Pei Shu had only just become a Venerable at that time," Wan Pei said. "However, for that mission to Xingtai Mountain, the person leading the team was Pei Shu."

Luo Qi asked in surprise, "He has been to Xingtai Mountain too?"

"Yes, Pei Shu led the team. Back then, Pei Shu wasn't as steady as he is now," Wan Pei smiled slightly. "Pei Shu's temperament at the time was a bit like Du Zhengyi's is now—flamboyant and overbearing. Most importantly, he firmly believed in the ideals of the Qionglin and was full of enthusiasm for all his work. He was also a genius, and just like Du Zhengyi, he had a sense of responsibility, basically upholding the belief that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility, always charging to the front in everything."

"But, isn't Pei Shu a Telepath?" Luo Qi couldn't help but say. "Don't Mind Mages usually control the field from the periphery?"

"Pei Shu is a quite well-rounded Mage. He is a Mind Mage, but his other abilities are also extraordinary. The Pei Shu of a century ago had the same reputation and status in the Qionglin as Du Zhengyi does today." Wan Pei paused and said somewhat bitterly, "Actually, everyone understood that Pei Shu was very likely grooming Du Zhengyi as his successor. If he hadn't met with an accident, he would very likely have become a Venerable after middle age, and then replaced Pei Shu's position."

When Wan Pei said this, his voice finally lowered. Luo Qi did not speak either. This matter was like a fuse for an explosive; Luo Qi knew he couldn't think too much about it, otherwise... otherwise he might end up on the client blacklist of the Zhouqiao Grass Market for eating half a street's worth of brains.

The old warrior was lost in his own thoughts for a good few minutes before remembering he still had the task of continuing to recount the story to Luo Qi. He looked at Luo Qi apologetically. "It's a pity I don't have much to tell you. At the time, Pei Shu and I were in a two-man team, and we arrived at Xingtai Mountain in Shuozhou together. Pei Shu first engaged in a Soul Dialogue with the ancient soul guarding the place—that thing had been trapped in a High-Energy Crystal, I suspect for several thousand years, and was a bit insane. Pei Shu knew the Secret Language passed down by the Qionglin, and that thing obeyed him, albeit reluctantly. But most of their communication took place in the Consciousness World, which is a field I'm not very skilled in, so I don't know the specific details."

Luo Qi nodded in understanding. "That consciousness was indeed very sick; it was terrifying enough."

"You communicated with it too?" The old warrior looked at Luo Qi in surprise. "You know the Qionglin's Secret Language?"

"I don't. Strictly speaking, I woke it up, and it turned all the villagers nearby with unstable emotions and poor mental health into violent psychopaths," Luo Qi said wearily. He still felt a lingering fear whenever he thought about it. It was one thing to bring disaster upon oneself, but it was another thing entirely to bring disaster upon others.

"I understand," the old warrior nodded. "I also think that was likely its function. You eventually forcibly subdued it?"

"It wasn't me; the Lotus Burner's consciousness master pinched it to death," Luo Qi said, and he told the truth.

The old warrior's expression turned grave. "I think this is probably why Pei Shu and the Qionglin of that time decided to clean out Xingtai Mountain."

"How did you clean out that place?" Luo Qi asked the key question.

Unfortunately, the old man shook his head. "I was only responsible for opening the door there. After the first layer of the Seal was closed by Pei Shu, I was responsible for opening the main gate, and then Pei Shu told me to wait outside while he worked inside for an entire afternoon. Although I didn't see exactly what he was doing, I could feel the traces of all the Magic Energy, so I could distinguish what kind of Magic he was using. He was basically going room by room underground, methodically destroying and burning things. I think he must have destroyed everything underground completely."

"If Kongsang Mountain really has the ancient beast Qiongqi sealed inside, is it possible that Xingtai Mountain had the same thing?" Luo Qi asked.

"If you want me to speculate, my conclusion is the same as yours," Wan Pei said.

Luo Qi felt slightly more at ease. "But what exactly is that for? A tool left behind by Ancient Mages for their descendants to cleanse humanity?"

The Old Mage shrugged. "Since the Lotus Burners are searching for them desperately, I guess that's possible. However, the Progenitor Mage probably didn't expect humanity to develop so quickly. Today, it's not very difficult for human weapons to eliminate a Qiongqi."

"Not necessarily," Luo Qi said softly. The Old Mage's single eye looked over, and he came back to his senses and said, "Humanity has imagined more than once how fragile its own civilization is. A single Qiongqi might not hurt the vitality of humanity. But if there is more than one Kongsang Mountain... there's no need to say 'if' anymore; Xingtai Mountain was the second Kongsang Mountain, and perhaps there is a third, countless others, distributed in different regions. If the divine beasts Qiongqi inside were all unsealed at the same time and rushed toward unprepared human communities, the result would be a total massacre."

"What you say makes sense. I hadn't thought that this kind of ancient method of killing would still be effective," the old warrior said.

"Ancient? It's actually not that ancient," Luo Qi said. "If categorized under modern weapons, perhaps humans would call this a biochemical weapon."

"I am old and can no longer keep up with the pace of humanity. But I think if the Lotus Burners have set their sights on this, what you say is even more likely to be correct. Fortunately, Pei Shu already cleaned out the Qiongqi at Xingtai Mountain back then," the old man said.

"Then, are there any other sealed Qiongqi?" Luo Qi said worriedly. "My intuition is that there must be other places where Qiongqi exist, and the Lotus Burners have already begun to search for them."

"If there are any left, I think only Pei Shu would know," the old man said thoughtfully. "Or there is another possibility: that the Qionglin does not possess all the locations of the Seal Land. Whether it was Kongsang Mountain or Xingtai Mountain, in my impression, they both seemed to have been discovered by accident."

"Discovered by outsiders by accident," Luo Qi corrected. "Perhaps the Qionglin is intentionally hiding them."