Chapter 276: The Old Mage

The old man's cloudy eyes scrutinized the creature inside the Crystal Coffin, while Luo Qi, through the eyes of the Alien Queen and across the crystal wall, was also scrutinizing this Old Mage.

He was too old; in terms of a Mage's life cycle, he was nearing the end of the movement, a candle in the wind with only the last wisp of smoke remaining. The Old Mage's face was covered in age spots, his hair sparse and barely tied into a Daoist bun; he could no longer be bothered to maintain his mask, and the Venerable tattoo on his face had become distorted due to sagging skin and piled-up wrinkles.

The Queen in the Crystal Coffin still maintained the physical state of her prime, the passage of time showing very little on her. Through the Crystal Coffin, she seemed able to sense the scent of death on the Old Mage, a flavor that pleased her, and she bitingly radiated a malicious amusement within her Yajian.

The Old Mage looked at her indifferently, "Too much time has passed; dust to dust, earth to earth. Those you hate have long since ceased to exist."

He waved his hand, and the liquid in the Crystal Coffin began to be drained away. He operated with nonchalance, looking just like an old man puttering about in his own kitchen, frying an egg.

But through the Alien Queen—no, through the Mental Network of dozens of Alien creatures—Luo Qi felt a grand aura of Magic wafting toward him. The Old Mage sluggishly touched his ear, as if his train of thought had snapped, and after thinking it over carefully, dozens of Crystal Coffins opened one after another, intending to awaken the monsters from their Seal.

Luo Qi, through dozens of pairs of eyes, gazed at the Old Mage and this grand underground palace from various perspectives.

Countless Ancient Mage Language characters decorated this hall like patterns. A ray of natural light fell from the center of the hall, and in the dim shadows further away, more Crystal Coffins stood in silence; even with the vision of an Alien, one could not see clearly. Luo Qi could only vaguely discern that the sizes of the Crystal Coffins varied greatly; the smallest could probably only hold his cat, while the largest looked like it could hold an adult elephant.

Luo Qi felt a bit creeped out; he observed secretly, committing all the circumstances to memory. This place was strange; not to mention which era's aesthetic characteristics it belonged to, Luo Qi noticed that the light came from an irregular natural fissure. It had not been deliberately chiseled out to let in light; it seemed as if a natural cave had been utilized here.

He looked more closely at the hall walls covered in blue ancient script; the linguistic patterns were woven into metal chains, but where the chains did not cover, there was solid yellow earth. Luo Qi could not help but ponder: in what kind of place could one rely on earthen walls to last for thousands or tens of thousands of years? In other words, the natural climate here must be extremely dry.

Up to this point, this was all the information he could obtain regarding the Seal Land; he silently swallowed this information, and his attention returned to the Old Mage.

No, it was not his attention; it was actually the Alien Queen's attention.

She rotated her somewhat stiff wrists, noting every move the Old Mage made, and she performed a feint. The Old Mage had no reaction, as if she were a harmless little kitten, not an Alien creature with tentacles dripping with mucus.

"I need to ask you to do one thing," the Old Mage said.

Relatively speaking, his phrasing was very polite. Although the matter was not a "request" at all, and he had no need to say it—language was truly like noise, meaningless to the Alien Queen. What she received and felt were the Mage's actual thoughts, or rather, the Mage's actual will.

Luo Qi thought of this and realized that the Old Mage was truly old, rambling like an old man who forgets things, his Yajian and his language merged into one; he simply liked to ramble.

The Alien Queen flicked her fingers indifferently, looking as if she were grooming her nails. This place was very dry, and Luo Qi realized that this dryness was not friendly to creatures living in the rainforest; the Alien Queen was not very comfortable. However, this discomfort was not much of a problem for an Alien creature with such strong innate adaptability.

The Old Mage seemed to have forgotten where he was in his speech; he was dazed for a moment, then suddenly realized something, and continued to mutter to himself, "Oh right, right, for a race like yours, what else could I ask you to do? Of course, kill. No, that's not right, not killing, not the people who kill, but the Mages among those who kill. I... I have been picking and choosing in the storeroom all day; to kill Mages, to kill that branch of Mages, only you are the most suitable. The others... the others are no match for Mages, only you, hehe, you are fast enough. Crawling into their bedrooms through the windows at night, before they wake up, before they can finish their Spell, their throats are already slit."

"Of course," Luo Qi felt the Queen's mocking amusement, devoid of any joy, only cold sarcasm; she seemed to have adapted in her slumber to the large scar the Spear of Destiny had gouged into her. She responded sarcastically in her Yajian, "I am, of course, particularly suited to killing you."

The Old Mage also laughed, sounding like phlegm sliding in his throat.

"Killing them is a difficult decision," the Old Mage said.

Luo Qi sluggishly did not guess who he wanted to kill; he only knew it was not him or Du Zhengyi. This must be a bend in the upper reaches of the river of time; at this point in time, Luo Qi was likely not yet born. Even his father might not exist; this was the node where the Alien creature was used for the first time.

"They are good," the Old Mage said, "Most of them are good people, good people, loyal, responsible..."

He murmured and mumbled, shaking his head like someone with the aftereffects of a cerebral thrombosis. The Queen felt disgusted; she could not resist fate, but fortunately, she was quite satisfied with this errand. The Old Mage, however, suddenly shivered, and Luo Qi was truly afraid that he shivered because he had wet his pants.

Who would have thought the Old Mage would then shriek, "No! Cannot kill them! You ungrateful old turtle!"

Luo Qi was taken aback, stunned and bewildered, and the Queen was also startled, warily assessing the Old Mage.

"If killing could solve the problem, we wouldn't have reached this point today!" the Old Mage screamed.

Then he changed his tone, looking more like his former self, "There is no better choice; this is the result of weighing options. I can only follow the best route calculated; we have the best decision-making system, the only chance of survival in a desperate situation."

Luo Qi was a bit afraid; he looked like an old pervert, a schizophrenic so old he was starting to stink.

Suddenly, the Old Mage turned his face to look at the Queen, as if staring through the Queen at Luo Qi behind her, as if he knew Luo Qi was here. Luo Qi was truly about to wet his pants; this eerie feeling was like an Alien quietly crawling onto his spine.

"You think I'm about to die?" the Old Mage sneered. Luo Qi breathed a sigh of relief; he had only felt the Alien Queen's Curse. "Thanks to you, beauty, my life is still long. I am about to shed this dying body; the rebirth ritual is in these few days. It's just that I've been waiting for you; only after you complete this task can I be at ease to be reborn."