Chapter 682: The Ancestor's Gift (71)

Du Zhengyi left Qionglin smoothly; he knew that the supreme Contract was in effect. The last time he had emerged from Qionglin, he had sensed a trace of tracking Magic on his person; he did not know who had placed it, nor did he brush that trace of Magic away.

It would have been effortless to remove the tracking Magic, but he did not know if the person who left it behind did so to monitor him or to warn him. Yet, when he left this time, he clearly felt that unpleasant trace of tracking Magic had vanished.

The Magic cast by countless people interwove like fine threads into complex causal logic, forming this entire Magic World. There are many reasons why a piece of Magic might fail or disappear; perhaps it was canceled by a more fundamental causal logic, or perhaps it formed a paradox set with someone else's Magic. The deeper one's understanding of the principles of Magic, and the more complex one's Calculation, the more powerful the Magic one uses becomes.

His understanding of Magic is limited, but within his knowledge system, he is very clear that Magic has a distinct order of priority, and Magic related to Gushan has the highest priority. Therefore, when he is on the event trajectory of defending Gushan, Magic will extend its greatest goodwill toward him, and countless causes and effects will be dismantled and reassembled. Of course, this does not mean he will be invincible because of this, but many of the spells blocking him will indeed be canceled, leaving only the parts that are truly impossible to remove in terms of causal logic.

There is almost only one kind of Magic that is completely outside this set of logic, and that is Mind Magic. Mind Magic is the most special; perhaps, as many have pondered, Mind Magic comes from the Mage themselves, rather than from this world. One day, the Magic in this world will dry up, and most Mages will become no different from humans.

So when Du Zhengyi arrived at that temple, he did not encounter any obstruction, no malicious probing, and no sneaky tailing. The Magic World itself ensured he could stand before the temple gate smoothly, fulfilling the world's will as an executor of the world.

The temple was bustling; the late-arriving spring finally brought a hint of warmth, causing many humans to walk out of their homes. This Northern Dynasty temple is somewhat famous, and many humans enjoy visiting it. This is, of course, not Gushan, but it does have a close connection to Gushan; it would not be an exaggeration to call this the outskirts of Gushan.

The temple was filled with swirling incense smoke; it was humans who lit the incense, for Mages have no true faith and will not pray to gods or Buddhas. Humans knelt before the Buddha and burned incense in the courtyard of the ancient temple; the wooden temple could not withstand the risk of fire, and humans are always more adaptable than Mages.

Du Zhengyi could not find many traces of Magic here; he was certain some kind of attack or probing had occurred, but the perpetrator had been very cautious. Whatever the person who came here did, they did not disturb the human tourists. Human children held ice creams shaped like the temple, laughing and making noise. Young girls held up their creative-design ice creams to take photos with the temple; Du Zhengyi followed their gaze, but the ice creams in their hands only featured the thousand-year-old temple, with no sign of the towering pagoda behind it.

Humans cannot see that pagoda.

He stood too close to a stall in the courtyard; a girl selling the creative merchandise asked him with a blushing face if he wanted a temple ice cream, as it was a "check-in" item. He shook his head; if it were Luo Qi, he probably wouldn't pass up the chance to eat a temple. He wondered if, after everything was over, Luo Qi would still be the person happy to eat his way through temples of every color. The Magic of time tends to vibrate and correct back to the original path; Luo Qi might also head toward pain and darkness. All encounters and struggles seem like vibrations triggered only on the original straight line, and the curve will eventually return.

The crowd moved forward, and he followed the flow; the joy and excitement of the humans under the spring light pricked at his skin. Only now did he understand Luo Ruian's arrangements for Luo Qi; he wanted to send his son among these humans, and he was doing his utmost to change his son's fate. If one could muddle through a lifetime among humans, there would be nothing wrong with that. Perhaps, that is for the best.

Someone handed Du Zhengyi three sticks of incense; he had been silently thinking about these things and took them subconsciously. Only when he saw clearly that he was holding three sticks of incense did he snap out of it, realizing that everyone around him had received incense. The Lay Disciple in charge of distribution was still tirelessly instructing him, "You cannot bring your own incense; three sticks are enough for prostration and worship."

He was stunned, and since he couldn't return the incense, he had no choice but to hold it and move forward with the crowd.

Stepping over the temple's high threshold, the light suddenly became dim; forty-eight wooden pillars supported the thousand-year-old Buddha hall, and the Buddha gazed compassionately at all living beings from behind the pillars that exuded the scent of Pine Branch. He avoided the gaze of the gods and Buddhas and walked toward the corner of the hall; slanted light passed through the beams and fell upon the hall, and the standing Bodhisattva had its back to him, leaving only a dark silhouette. His chest suddenly felt stifled, his throat tightened, and he suddenly wanted to ask the Bodhisattva why it turned its back on the world, wanted to ask why it abandoned the world, wanted to ask... ask what? He could not speak, and there was no one to listen. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas would not favor him; he was a Mage.

He walked out of the temple, feeling somewhat dazed, not knowing how to dispose of the incense in his hand. He didn't know if an older woman strolling and exercising in the temple had noticed something; she stared at him and said unexpectedly, "Why hesitate when you have something on your mind? Light the incense, pay your respects; what if it works!"

Du Zhengyi was a bit embarrassed, "I..."

"You come here, young man, light the incense in the censer, bow in all four directions, and then stick the incense back in." The older woman made the decision for him. A human woman of this age can overcome any young man; she wanted him to light the incense, and even if he were Du Zhengyi, he had no way to defy her and still walk away.

Du Zhengyi hadn't thought of a way to escape before the older woman had arranged everything for him; he could only reach out and light the incense. He already had a premonition that if he didn't do it, the older woman would say that a big young man shouldn't be so hesitant about such a small thing, not acting like a man.

He awkwardly lit the incense, but he truly couldn't bring himself to bow in four directions. He held the incense, the smoke curling, yet it seemed as if he were truly communicating with the gods and Buddhas in the ethereal haze.

He did not bow, but stood quietly for a while, lost in thought while holding the incense. The older woman saw him as if he were praying silently, so she let him be and stopped bothering him. In the end, he still silently stuck the three lit sticks of incense back into the censer and raised his head to gaze from afar at the Buddha's lowered compassion.

Du Zhengyi turned and walked toward the back of the temple, passing through a moon gate that humans could not see. The back of the temple was the monks' quarters, and the layout of the monks' quarters was strange, as if it were bypassing an invisible area. When humans did this, they believed their reasons were perfectly sound, but as time passed, they no longer remembered why they had to bypass the invisible area. Later, if anyone occasionally had the wisdom to notice this layout, they would also forget their original intention when they walked too close.

Now Du Zhengyi walked straight across the open space, raising his head to gaze at the towering ancient pagoda. If any human were observing Du Zhengyi at this moment, they would only see him gazing at the distant farmland.

This is one of the territories of the Qionglin Calculators; some Calculators are periodically transferred to work at Gushan, but most of the time they have their own workplaces. The workplaces of Calculators are not necessarily identical, but the layout is always somewhat similar. For instance, Calculators always need a large amount of energy, and this pagoda itself is energy. The Mages' workplace is underground, or rather, in the underground palace beneath the pagoda.

Sometimes, in such ancient pagodas, besides energy, many souls are also enshrined; some say many souls are detained. Du Zhengyi could not confirm this; he didn't even remember who had said it. He had come into contact with too many core secrets of the Magic World and had dealt with too many special individuals in the Magic World; he tried his best not to remember their crazy talk, but some of it always ended up in his ears.

Human pagodas are for enshrining sarira or Buddhist scriptures, but for Mages who have no gods, this Thirteen-Story Pagoda is more like a place for suppressing the dead.

Du Zhengyi looked at this Eight-Sided Pagoda; the eaves were of the dense-eave style, and the base had a tall Sumeru Pedestal. The niches in the pagoda body enshrined seated Buddhas, and above them were reliefs of flying celestials. When spring comes to this land, it is always discounted; spring grass had not yet grown on the ground, and the trees by the pagoda seemed to have been dead for a long time. The grayness of the pagoda body seemed more like it was absorbing the surrounding Sunlight, making this place always darker than elsewhere.

Du Zhengyi walked slowly toward the pagoda; a man in a black trench coat circled out from behind the pagoda with a gloomy expression. He looked at Du Zhengyi, his gaze dropping; he must have also sensed the special aura of a Gushan Guard. Du Zhengyi also identified him; he must be a newly filled-in Gushan Guard.

The man nodded stiffly at Du Zhengyi, did not introduce himself, and did not want to get to know Du Zhengyi. "The attack happened on the upper levels of the pagoda; this is a brick pagoda, a hollow brick pagoda, but there are no stairs inside. There were guards on duty here, the guards launched a counterattack, and the Calculators also rushed over to resist. No one died, but the person who attacked here was a Mind Archmage, so no deaths doesn't mean no one's mind was polluted. The Calculators believe the attacker wanted to steal souls."

"What kind of Mind Archmage was it?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Witnesses said it was a short male Mage. But witnesses who have come into contact with a Mind Archmage are not reliable; we have never trusted this." The male Mage said, looking at Du Zhengyi, "Your rank is higher than mine; I can feel it. Then I will go; I leave this place to you."

"Where did the two recent Gushan Guard death incidents occur?" Du Zhengyi asked.

"Don't know. The incidents happened suddenly and ended just as suddenly; it is suspected to be Gushan." The male Mage said briefly; he had been standing in the shadow of the gray pagoda, and seeing that Du Zhengyi didn't seem to have any more questions, he took a few steps back and left in another direction.

Gushan Guards cannot even stand each other.

Du Zhengyi used several detection spells to check the pagoda; there was no excessive Magic, and Mind Magic is inherently very difficult to monitor using ordinary methods. The tests he performed only proved that the Mind Archmage had acted extremely quickly and retreated just as fast.

He opened the entrance to the underground palace and Shixian into an underground corridor. Two Calculators were walking out from inside while talking, presumably intending to leave this place from this corridor. As soon as they saw Du Zhengyi, they shut their mouths; Du Zhengyi clearly saw one Calculator's nostrils twitch slightly. No one greeted him; they all looked at Du Zhengyi vigilantly, as if guarding against Du Zhengyi suddenly attacking them.

Du Zhengyi stood still. They waited quietly for a few seconds, seeing that the Gushan Guard had no intention of taking them away, and they immediately took action, disappearing into the corridor simultaneously.

Calculators are very special; they always seem to know more than others, but they are unwilling to deal with other Mage groups, and even less willing to explain what they know to them. They have always disliked Gushan Guards; when Du Zhengyi was younger, he heard them say that the smell of blood on Gushan Guards was too heavy.

Du Zhengyi walked through the corridor and entered the Calculators' main door; behind the door, a dozen Calculators immediately fell silent, and a dozen pairs of eyes looked toward him.