Chapter 582: Transformation

A delicate and exquisite Magic Structure landed on the muddy ground by the river, blue flames burning faintly around the structure, looking from afar like a cluster of ghost fire. But to be fair, Du Zhengyi could be certain that among the Mages of this generation, Liu Ziyi was the only one who could truly create Magic.

Du Zhengyi chanted the Communication Magic without effort, but to make it easier for Liu Ziyi to track, he formalized the entire incantation and slowed down the speed of casting. The incantation appeared on his fingers like a tattoo, extending like vines from his index finger and slowly crawling into the Magic Structure. A shallow pull appeared within the Magic Structure, accurately catching the power he had just released.

Luo Qi monitored the entire process, as if he could actually understand it. He pestered Liu Ziyi with a pile of questions, seemingly aimless, but Du Zhengyi could hear his objective.

Liu Ziyi was pestered into a daze, paused her work, and asked in confusion, "Can't I connect it to the name Du Tingxiu? If not, should I change to another name?"

"No..." Luo Qi said. "There's no problem."

Liu Ziyi shook her head in bewilderment; she had already configured the Magic Structure and now had to check the details again.

Luo Qi asked, "Can you tell me all the names that have used the local Communication Magic?"

"How far back does 'all' go? I can probably trace back about a hundred years, but you have to know that not everyone leaves their real name. Oh, wait, no, there are only the names of Du Tingxiu and Pei Shu in the last hundred years. Only six people in total have been here in a hundred years; the other four left their own Magic Signatures as communication addresses, just like humans sign with fingerprints. I don't know who they actually are; are their names of any use?" Liu Ziyi said.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know; I was just curious. Then can you know what they said when they communicated?" Luo Qi asked.

"How could that be possible?" Liu Ziyi cried, "That completely violates the basic principles of Magic..."

"I know it's impossible, too." Luo Qi said. "But..."

Liu Ziyi couldn't stand being pestered by him, jumped up, grabbed Guan Xinyue's hand, and forcibly pretended not to hear what Luo Qi said next, "My work is done for now, let's go eat some snacks and finish that episode of the TV series!"

Guan Xinyue nodded, gave Luo Qi an eye-roll, and loudly asked Liu Ziyi if she could also increase her brain's vitality and become smarter. She was so loud specifically so that Luo Qi couldn't interject or follow them.

Luo Qi watched them run away with a melancholy look, kicked the clods of dirt at his feet with a mind full of thoughts, and his gaze landed on the Magic Structure flickering with blue flames. If that magic came again next time, the flame would give a prompt, and this device of Liu Ziyi's might also capture the other party's magic. However, Du Zhengyi had also said that the magic was too weak; even if it appeared again, he might not be able to react to the magic in time.

"Pei Shu and Du Tingxiu have both been here, but what does that prove?" Du Zhengyi said suddenly, and only then did Luo Qi remember that he hadn't spoken for a long time.

Luo Qi continued to scrape the mud on the ground with the soles of his feet, "It doesn't prove anything either. Maybe when the two of them came last time, neither of them found the Seal Land."

He finished speaking dryly, then looked up at Du Zhengyi, "Do you believe that two Great Mages of that level, one a member of the Du Clan and the other the future Mage Supreme, actually came to the right place but didn't discover the entrance to the Seal Land?"

"Perhaps the two of them didn't come together," Du Zhengyi said.

This was very possible; they definitely didn't come together. Luo Qi had thought of this too, but he was thinking that if they had come here together, Du Tingxiu wouldn't have had to wait until he returned to the Qionglin to break with him. Two old things didn't need to have a flashy showdown at the Forbidden City; it was the same wherever they fought, and it would have been more convenient here. Luo Qi observed Du Zhengyi's expressionless face and suddenly said, "I won't casually say you're like my Baba in the future; such weapons of mass destruction shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary."

Du Zhengyi looked at him, "Likewise, I won't casually say you're like your Baba again; a fatal blow isn't fun."

"Exactly, with a great enemy at the gates, the most important thing is unity."

"I really want to meet your Baba."

"Do you miss him?" Luo Qi asked, thought for a moment, and then said "Hmm," "Look here, the ground is indeed evil; we really started arguing as soon as we arrived. Who knows why Du Tingxiu and Pei Shu fell out after they arrived here back then? If, by any chance, we two also have a century-long war here, later generations will definitely never guess that we fought because we were arguing about who is more like my dad."

"Oh, shut up," Du Zhengyi finally couldn't take it anymore, "No later generation has any interest in caring about you and me."

Luo Qi grinned and whistled, "My Baba is truly amazing."

"I was thinking just now, I want to break off our friendship," Du Zhengyi said thoughtfully.

"Why?" Luo Qi asked idly.

"You lower my IQ."

"Nonsense, I'm the most intellectually stimulating; I am Luo Qi the Intellectual," Luo Qi said, took out a piece of candy and shoved it into his mouth, holding the stick like a cigarette, "What was your father like? When you were little, did he beat you?"

"I don't remember clearly," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi pulled the lollipop out of his mouth, "Just based on that, you win over my dad."

"Shut up."

"Actually, you treat Pei Shu more like a father, don't you?" Luo Qi asked softly and suddenly.

Du Zhengyi did not answer him.

Luo Qi looked at the blue flames with concern, "We don't have to keep watching the fire, do we?"

"I heard that Pei Shu had a major change in stance once," Du Zhengyi said suddenly.

Luo Qi looked up at him in surprise.

"The specifics aren't important," Du Zhengyi said, "I haven't cared, and I don't know what the specifics were. This kind of thing is very common for Mages; humans mostly don't live past a hundred, and they often change their thinking around the age of fifty, let alone Mages who can live for two hundred years. Most Mages will change their important ideas, if they have a brain."

"I won't, because I happen to have no brain," Luo Qi stuck out his tongue and asked again, "Du Tingxiu's original intention remained unchanged, so they turned against each other?"

"Perhaps," Du Zhengyi said. "I just feel that very few things happen dramatically; no matter what happened at the time, the reason might not be particularly simple."

Luo Qi fell into deep thought. Pei Shu changed his stance; what was that stance? In his dreams, the younger Pei Shu he saw was much sharper than now, but not exactly shocking, and there didn't seem to be any irreconcilable contradiction between him and Du Tingxiu. At the very least, Du Tingxiu at that time had absolutely no intention of breaking with his friend. It was just that they were also arguing about Du Tingxiu's duties at the time; Luo Qi could tell that the Tingxiu of those years sought something similar to him, both coveting what the Gushan Guard was watching over.

That couldn't be that Pei Shu later had a change of temperament and didn't want what Du Tingxiu was guarding, and then Du Tingxiu got angry and wanted to kill him? Wouldn't that be pathetic?

Luo Qi shook his head; perhaps his IQ was too low. He had an intuition that he actually already possessed all the puzzle pieces, just missing putting them together. He also vaguely felt that the secret between Du Tingxiu and Pei Shu was very important; if he trusted his intuition, he should get to the bottom of this.

(End of chapter)